Arriba é Non Pasaran - How it works

Here, you can see various bits and pieces from my 15mm Spanish Civil War collection. The rest of this post is about my Arriba é Non Pasaran rules for that conflict.  

The rules are still in their first draft-currently 10 sides of A4.  Below, is an extract on the card activation system and event card table.  This is the engine of the game. 

There is a lot of hurry up and wait about it.  You may know what you want a unit to do but you have to wait until there is a chance to do it.  Meantime the other side is doing stuff.  Attrition is built in.

If you are lucky a unit card may come up last on the previous turn and first on the current one. Such a unit can act in a very motivated fashion. 

The unexpected will happen. Sometimes to your benefit and other times not.  I've tried not to  let it unbalance the game.  That said war is a shockingly chancy business.

I wrote Arriba é Non Pasaran with solo gaming in mind and, so far, it is good for that.  On reflection I think it would work for two or more players too.

Obviously you have to make your own unit cards.  I enjoyed researching the pic's to do so.  You could of course, should you want to try the system, simply write the unit names on the cards.  The extract follows:

 

"Arriba é Non Pasaran 

This is a Spanish Civil War game of infantry companies.  Companies may vary in size but mostly all have either two or three sections. Armour, Artillery and Air support may appear always in short supply.  Higher command will not appear save through the actions of the player.  Arriba é Non Pasaran is a card driven game. It works like this.

The Card Deck

Place a Unit Card for each Company in the Card Deck add 1 Event Card for every three Unit cards in the deck.  When a Unit card is turned all of its sections and attached support can either move twice or move and fire once or shoot twice. Close combat happens after moving and firing.

When an Armour Card is turned that vehicle can either move twice or move and fire once or shoot twice.

When an Artillery Card is turned both sides artillery, depending on type, can either move twice or move and fire once or shoot twice.

When an Event Card is turned, throw a D8 and consult the Event Card Table below.

Score	Event	Effect
1	Anarchy	Anarchists need to have a meeting -no further movement from them this turn.
2	Vehicle Breakdown	The last vehicle to move breaks down.
3	Non Pasaran	Nominate one of your engaged Republican units as exempt from all guts checks for the rest of the game.
4	Arriba Espania	Nominate one of your engaged Nationalist units as exempt from all guts checks for the rest of the game.
5	Inertia	All infantry units currently engaged take no further action this move.
6	Panic	The last militia or conscript unit to receive its second pin panics and spends the next 2 turns retreating at a run.
7	Stray Artillery Rounds	Throw a D12 and measure the score in inches from the centre of the table in the direction indicated by a throw of the compass dice.
8	Wandering Dangerous Bull-   Infantry must not be contacted by the Bull and must move out of the way if contact is possible in the next turn.	1. Place a Bull on centre of the table. 2. Throw a compass dice then a D6. The Bull moves in the direction indicated for the D6 score in inches each turn.

After 3 turns add a Low on Ammo Card to the card deck. When this card comes up any side that has not replenished its ammo supply in the last 3 turns is now low on ammo’. Consequently, all of that side’s units now shoots at half effect until more ammo is provided.

You are now ready to play.  Shuffle the deck and place it face down.  Turn the first card and move the unit it shows.  When every card in the deck has been turned check for Reinforcement and Resupply. "

Currently, I'm looking to extend the Event Card Table to 12 possible events that would be triggered by a score on a D12.

I'm also looking at how reinforcement and resupply will work.  Each side can buy assets at the end of each turn.  When they actually arrive will be determined by a dice throw.  You will know the sort of thing I have in mind.

That's it so far.  It is a work in progress.  I hope it is of interest. 

I'm going to try a bigger game next and we will see how everything works.