The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

About this board game

The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 is a 1–2-player historical wargame with a listed play time of 360 minutes, covering the conflict through monthly turns. Its scale ranges from columns and brigades to divisions, with Corps headquarters for the Nationalists and Army headquarters for the Republic.

The game includes a 22-by-17-inch map and two half-inch counter sheets representing Nationalist, Republican, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, and British units. The turn sequence follows a classic structure, beginning with a mutual administrative phase for events, replacements, reinforcements, and withdrawals.

• Nationalist movement and combat
• Republican movement and combat
• Victory and attrition
• End-of-turn supply checks for both sides

A central challenge is modelling the transition from the improvised fighting of the war’s first months to a more conventional conflict during and after the battles for Madrid, from October 1936 through March 1937. Early forces were often small, mobile columns assembled from police, army, paramilitary units, volunteers, and other groups.

Many early Republican units have two steps: a column or militia side and an Ejército Popular side. During the Conversion or Militarization phase, which began in fall 1936, these forces can be flipped to represent their development into more orthodox military formations.

Nationalist columns are divided between Army of Africa columns and other forces. Colonial units use two-step counters and are withdrawn and replaced by brigades and divisions during 1937. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 also addresses the uncertainty surrounding early orders of battle, when units could be identified by commanders, operating areas, or differing names across sources.