Triumph  of  Fascism:  Status  Update:  Dec  2012    D  B  Dockter:  Page:1  

     

TRIUMPH OF FASCISM: Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

Status Update: December 2012

Game Subject: Spanish Civil War

Expected Publish Date: 2013

Expected Preorder Date: 2Q2013

Designer: D.B.Dockter

Type: Two Player Card Driven Wargame (CDW)

Scale: Strategic

Description

Triumph of Fascism: The Spanish Civil War 1936 –1939 is a two-player a Card Driven Wargame: a strategic historical conflict board game, with a heavy emphasis on integration of the politics and military spheres with cards driving the game. Players assume the side of RED (Republican forces – the elected government) and BLUE (anti-Republican forces/ ”Nationalists”/ Fascists / Francoists – those seeking to overthrow the elected government) in the Spanish Civil War (SCW). This epic conflict involved the toppling of a democratically elected government, its replacement by a totalitarian regime, significant foreign intervention and a major component in the march towards WWII.

Each side begins by enlisting its political “camps” (BLUE: Nationalist Army, Carlist, Falange and Army of Africa, RED: PCE, Republican Army, UGT, Anarchist, POUM, Catalunya and the Northern Gobernitos) to build their national armies and by gaining support from foreign powers (BLUE: Germany, Italy and Portugal, RED: Britain, France and Russia) to improve their resources to wage the conflict. Players will also decide the their resource investment in force preparation: there is an "untried columns" mechanic very similar to the one first debuted by Panzergruppe Guderian.

There are three phases to a game turn: Strategic, Action and Logistics.

The Strategic Phase requires players to “spend” their Action Cards (think of ACs as currency) planning their

 

       Triumph  of  Fascism:  Status  Update:  Dec  2012    D  B  Dockter:  Page:2  

     

turn, influencing political dynamics (enlisting support of “camps” and “foreign powers”), impacting the battle for hearts & minds, pursuing alternative historical foreign policy paths), developing capabilities of its forces prior to their initial combat (there is an “untried unit” mechanic similar to one utilized in N/A) and shaping the air and naval war. Additionally, players construct the Hearts & Minds (H&M) pool. The H&M pool is supplemented during the turn by wide variety of actions and events (reflecting the vagaries of support for both sides); the more friendly H&M blocks placed into the pool, the greater the chance of a side gaining the H&M advantage throughout Spain provinces.

During the Action Phase, players utilize their respective decks of Action Cards to activate units for movement and combat, implement events (receive reinforcements, etc.), conduct a range of political operations, generate replacements or strategically redeploy units. And, in a twist from other games in the Paths of Glory genre, players must plan out their play of ACs in advance: players secretly specify the order of play of their ACs ("the AC stack") and allocate one AC to "the AC reserve". Limited air operations occur during the Action Phase.

The Logistics Phase addresses attrition, rebuilding units, determining province control and other odds and ends. Province control is a function of controlling Provincial Presence Locations and the associated Provincial Capital and making a successful Province Allegiance Attempt. One key H&M dynamic is a random draw of H&M blocks from the H&M pool, placing those H&M blocks on provinces and a variable ending to that phase; players are not quite sure when the music will actually stop.

The campaign game is playable in about six to eight hours, while a shorter introductory scenario takes between two and four hours.

The game is won by controlling key geographical locations (ex: dominant control of provinces and urban areas), which generates victory points. Triumph of Fascism is somewhat of a sequel to Triumph of Chaos. Both games utilize the Paths of Glory game engine, supplemented by a significant political “game” component, which has its roots in Days of Decision and The Persian Gulf Probable Components Two 22”x34” Standard Game Maps One half sheet 5/8” and two ½” counter sheets Three decks (Red & Blue action card deck plus a political card deck) One rulebook (48 pages), playaids, displays 40 red, 40 blue, 5 black small wooden cubes Dec 2012 Update Currently in playtest; rules, cards, map, counters almost complete. Still hope to have in preorder 2Q2013.

       Triumph  of  Fascism:  Status  Update:  Dec  2012    D  B  Dockter:  Page:3  

     

Art samples for the Work in Progress: Triumph of Fascism

Sample  Counters  Triumph  of  Chaos  December  2012  

       Triumph  of  Fascism:  Status  Update:  Dec  2012    D  B  Dockter:  Page:4  

     

Art samples for the Work in Progress: Triumph of Fascism

Sample  Cards  Triumph  of  Chaos  December  2012