by M1Tanker



Many of Franco’s counterparts saw Franco as wily as a fox. He had managed to keep Spain out of WW II while repaying some small interest on Germany’s help in the Spanish Civil War by sending a division to fight on the Eastern Front, as well as being a loyal trading partner. However that loyalty was tempered by an infidelity of sort, as Franco kept his options open somewhat, by overlooking Allied bomber crews used a network to escape through Spain among other things. Bomba’s article in Strategy and Tactics neatly runs through the balancing act Franco practiced to stay in power. As such, there was no cause for Operation Isabella.



One must wonder how Francisco Franco, aka the only surviving Fascistic European would state on its spoof news show that Franco is still dead. Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" is a catchphrase that originated in 1975 during the first season of NBC's Saturday which mocked the weeks-long media reports of the impending death of Francisco Franco.. Franco's presumed imminent death had been a headline story on NBC News and other news organizations for several weeks. On slow news days, United States network television newscasters sometimes noted that Franco was still alive. Chase developed the joke into a parody of the earlier news coverage of Franco's illness, treating his death as the top story. "This breaking news just in", Chase would announce – "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!" Occasionally, Chase would change the wording slightly in attempts to keep the joke fresh, e.g. "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still valiantly holding on in his fight to remain dead."

The British might have been more sanguine about invading Spain than us upstart Americans with our ability to think we can redefine a historical past of a nation solely by force of the American force of national personality. The British would recall the “The Bleeding Ulcer” and the graphic and horrific artwork of Goya, as Spain became a charnel house due to a near civil war between the monarchy, the Catholic Church, the Bontapartists and more.

COMPONENTS
All the game tracks and tables on the game map are big and easy to read. I can’t realistically fuss about they should have been placed in some other manner to make it easier for a solitaire player. Nope – this layout as is facilitates solitaire play. The map shadings make you think of Spain, so I endorse what Paul Stuhfaut did with his use of color here. One sees that Spain’s road infrastructure is seriously under-developed here in 1936. I wonder where they ranked in terms of paved roads in 1936, much less 1942. I am certain no real road building happened post the Spanish Civil War with that economy in shambles. Game counters give the impressions of being bigger than they actually are by the choice of the combination of font and print size. Every counter was legible and easy to read, even when I picked up my non-gaming glasses.

RULES
Often times I find many games laborious in terms of how either the rules are constructed in terms of a logic trail, or a slog. Are they a slog because they are poorly written or because the game is striving to accomplish too much? AS both one who helped edit and debate about rule structure here, I can say the rules came out pretty darn clear to me. I hope other gamers agree. Now I know games sometimes end up being published with the wrong set of rules. The CTP France 1940 game is an example as the rules I laboriously rewrote purged and properly aligned cases with like cases never got published. While writing this review tonight, I combed through every page of the rules and my AAR’s to see if I noted any subsequent issues with rules and found none by my standards.



PLAY
Set up is a snap as there are so few units. Your choice with the Allies is do you bring them all on at once or wait. I personally don’t see why you would wait. It’s not like the game allows for a feint or a second landing. Mind you that is accurate as shipping and landing craft management was an issue of galactic migraine proportions in 1942. The Spanish and several German units start on the board, with the Germans having the option of placement. The bulk of the German forces are in Vichy France, awaiting deployment. You also will need to roll to determine Spanish loyalties with the knowledge the Falangist I Corps always stays loyal as it was Suner’s power base, who is the basis for the game as he here launched the anti-Franco coup which triggers the Allied invasion.

Having lost my first game in three (3) turns, I thought it might be of some use to do a far better map reconnaissance than the lackluster one we did at the start. The first obvious conclusion was the Madrid area is a complex area to seize by a coup de main, sort of a duh. But attempting to out flank it for the Allies leaves you vulnerable. The Germans and Falangists have the issue of Tangiers – defend by Wehrmacht units or not. Tangiers defense is critical however to you winning the game so that is perhaps the most critical decision to make early. It just struck me that placing a Wehrmacht unit in Algerras could lead to interesting challenges for the Allied Player. The next issue is Zaragoza, a key corridor to get units from France south. If a Nationalist unit bails here and declares for the Allies, well it gets really dicey. Hence the corridor from Santander to Salamanca is of critical importance. Study the map well because you ain’t gonna zoom here.


Turn 2 We missed what happened here at first but this actually ended the game the Allied capture of Madrid - The SS seized me and marched me to the side of the road....

Why won’t you zoom? Because turns are alternating movement you won’t be zooming. In a sense here that neatly reflects a Green American Army, a ponderous British Army and an organizationally challenged as well as somewhat green German occupation type army, lightly seasoned, to oppose the Allies. Worse still for Blitzkrieg lovers, units are moved singularly. Again, no real sense of Blitzkrieg will rear up its head with this game.

Coupled the alternating move of one unit at a time, with two small force structures and a game with random air power, makes it hard to easily work a sweeping plan. Replacements are generated from dead units – roll a die and see what turn they return. British and American units are more encouraged to attack as each nationality every turn generates one replacement – the German Player only gets one each turn. There is also some special chrome. You might be able to resurrect the Spanish Republic. This event whacks German Victory Points hard. Patton may or may not show up according to a die roll – his modifier is a big help for the Americans. There is an option for both sides to invade Portugal - dicey high risk high rewards proposition. Last there is the what if of the Axis attacking Gibraltar. All of these are reasonable and add flavor to the game.


Still iffy at game's end

CONCLUSIONS
If there was any single takeaway from this game, it was the concept of invading the Iberian Peninsula is simply a non-starter. You are too far away to significantly do anything, and in 1942 your air power is shrugable. With that noted, it is an interesting exercise in what the Allies in particular were thinking and how the Allies expected for this to have played out. Operation Isabella doesn’t fall into the savage combat action thriller of a game. Instead it is perhaps more subtle, daring you to see if you can find a path to a decisive win for either player. For me, the threshold test was not losing early as either player, for with such a low density Order of Battle and a fast paced clock, you need to move and move hard and fast, else you won’t win but oh that can do more than crack the door open, almost taking it off the hinges dependent upon how much risk you will assume. Admittedly different, but a satisfying game.

RECOMMENDED READINGS
Bomba, Ty. “Operation Isabella, Spain 1942: What If.” World at War Magazine #94.


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