Spanish Civil War - A Boutique Project

Having wanted to get into SCW for a good 20 years or so, but never pulled the trigger, I came to a definite decision that I wanted to play the "Wargaming: An Introduction" WWII rules with this period. The rules offer a nice blend of skirmish feel and simplicity that will go well with the period, which is more remarkable for political differences than the troop and equipment differences beloved by WWII gamers. I think this will give the games lots of flavor, especially in scenarios.

I had some Peter Pig 15s for the period, buried among my WWII stuff [for ages].

However, using the figs for WAI basing demonstrations left me with the  impression that I didn't want to use 15s for WAI, and it was time to get something bigger.  

28s are too large for my humble office table, and of course a lot more expensive!  Still Empress Miniatures has lovely figures, and they are always tempting [CLICK]. However, the use of 20mm for a friend's WWII game got me thinking I should check that out, and in that scale the clear choice would be a Spanish company [suitably!] Minairons, which I was not familiar with [CLICK].

Some time spent on their page, checking exchange rates AND postage [very important] left me with the distinct impression that it wouldn't cost much more to do the project in 20mm, and I'd be able to see them a lot better!  I priced out the below forces, which seemed more than adequate for WAI:WWII, in both Peter Pig 15s and Minairons 20s.

REPUBLICANS

30 Rep Infantry

12 Rep HQ + wpns [Maxim HMG, 2 lmg, 1 lt mortar, 3 Rep Flags]

38 Militia [+2 MMG, 6 Anarchist Flags]

Republican flags

5th Regiment Commy Flags

80 total infantry [42 reg, 38 militia], HMG, 2 MMG, 1 Lt Mort

NATIONALISTS

30 Nat Infantry

12 Nat HQ + Wpns [HMG, 2 LMG, 1 lT Mortar]

18 Requete Militia [LMG, 3 Carlist Flags]

15 Moroccan Regulars

Moroccan Flag

Falangist Militia Flags

75 total infantry [57 reg, 18 militia]

EITHER Side

2 Dispatch Riders

4 casualties

9 Isa-caps

9 pasa caps [pillbox]

9 wool caps [ski]

2 AT Guns + 7 crew [or artillerists]

1 105mm Gun & 4 crew

2 T-26 tanks

3 FT17 Tanks

1 Trubia A4 MG tank

1 Trubia Naval Tank

1 Hispano-Suiza AC

1 Bilbao AC

172 figures = $155  [PP = $120, so $35 more for Infantry]

3 guns

2 lt mortars, 2 HMGs, 2 MMGs

2 motorcycles

9 Armored Vehicles = $70  [$60 by PP, so $10 more]

Ultimately, I placed the above order feeling that $45 more for a 20mm project was worth it, and I carefully got the order into the "free shipping" level to save a good $50 or so.

Their website worked quite well, the customer service was excellent, I did receive a disappointing email that due to stocking issues, the order would be delayed a few days.  Still, only a week later, the order shipped via Spanish Royal Mail, and I was happy to discover that I could track the package in Spain with the tracking number provided!  This made it easy to follow the surprisingly quick journey of the package to my house several days later, via New York:

The miniatures were well packed, and nothing appears damaged.

A more detailed review of the figures will come soon.  For now, I was content to check some of my assumptions, and I found them to be completely validated. For example, consider the significantly larger impression the 20mm office has on the eye over the 15mm figures next to him!

OK, he has puffy pants, but still, quite a bit more bulk over the similarly uniformed Italians next to him, 15mm Old Glory figures [which I very much like].

Again, it's not just the height, it's the bulk and the additional details that are easy to pick out - the ribbed sweater under the jacket, the buttons, etc.

For vehicles, altho the scale is 33% larger [15mm to 20mm] the vehicles have more like 66% more bulk, and are much more striking to the eye.

Top view:

For basing, it was quick to decide that I wanted substantial bases to make the single figs easy to handle, and my large stock of 20mm bases from GW Warhammer Fantasy days will be put to good use:

Crew-served weapons will need a full 40mm base, ones for the monsters and beasts, more or less.  I will probly need some more of them, unfortunately.

Overall, I am very excited to finally get into this period, and very pleased with the move up to 20mm for it!