SGS Spain at War

I eagerly awaited this release to be severely disappointed in the results. One Campaign scenario in the game and only viable for play as the Republican player. One other scenario, again, completely not viable for Nationalist play. Ai is insufficient as an attacker (typical in most games) but this severely hampers play as the Republican player in the two measly scenarios provided. Yet no Nationalist player balanced scenarios were provided (and the Republican AI is horrible as a defender). This was a poor value for the money, and a very disappointing release. This was underdeveloped and should not have been released.

Completely unbalanced game. Defeated The Republicans in 32 moves playing as the Nationalists, which is no where near the 150 moves allowed in the Grand Campaign. The Republican morale is set too low at 1 instead of 2 and they flee after the first round of combat. I cannot recommend purchasing this game at present until the low morale is fixed.

This is a great game and a faithful depiction of a crucial prequel to WW2. There are some initial issues to overcome in understanding the UI, and some explanations of mechanics and game events are not always clear. But if you give it the effort, you are rewarded. The two sides, the Republicans and Nationalists, play very differently. The Nationalists start out with the more professional army, including a steady flow of colonial troops from North Africa, and also benefit from significant assistance and troops from Fascist Italy (Corps of Volunteers) and Nazi Germany (Condor Legion)- Mussolini and Hitler viewed Spain as a crucial proving ground for their respective military. The Nationalists benefit from the loyalty of most of the regular army and police (the Guardia Civil), and also incorporate troops from factions like the Carlists (the Requetes), who are followers of a rival Spanish monarchy, and the Spanish Falange, the home-grown fascist movement. The Nationalists though are the "rebels" here, as they are rising up against the government. The Republicans start out with a more numerous, mostly untrained, and very polyglot force reflecting the wide range of ideologies s…

I think that the size of the units is what I like. They're big enough (battalions) that you don't get bogged down in minutiae (squad and platoon tactics) but small enough to conduct maneuver warfare and still retain the various unit characteristics and names of the actual participating units. For example, the old board game "Third Reich" used 'corps' sized units. It may have been the only way to have a playable game when the map board was all of Europe. But when playing it was impossible to duplicate the deep penetrating thrusts of the Panzers in Operation Barbarossa. I wish the fighters could strafe. I don't understand what I am to do with the naval units. I started on level 'advanced', playing the Nationalist side. I'm on my 4th game. I didn't play the first three to completion because I learned a lot quickly and didn't wish to live with the stupid mistakes that a rookie will make. Even so, I'm on the 15th turn on a potential 150 turn game and the Republicans are finished, unless a lot of reinforcements are coming soon. On 'advanced', I made some risky moves that couldn't be made in real life. The AI needs to be more aggressive, and might be in the 'expert' mode. Overall …

Rarely, a game comes along which ticks all the items you desire in a game, Spain at War did this for me. I have a long time interest with the Spanish Civil War. So far, one board game kind of filled that hole in my gaming desires; but now Spain at War has completed my search. It is well researched, easy to play mechanically sound, challenging to play well. It has some really nice history what if, for example, France not Russia is the Republics primary arms supplier in my current pbem game I find my options so grounded in the history of this war that each turn, no matter the outcome, it feels right.

Great game. As a Spaniard in origin it covers a historical period near and dear to my heart. Still has some minor bugs, not game breaking, but is fun to play and the learning curve is not too steep