Spanish Civil War Nationalist Infantry

Sargento Alfonso Guerra muttered a curse as he stumbled on a clump of grass. The fog was so thick in the ravine, he could only make out silhouettes where his men were standing. He glanced at his watch. The attack was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. There was no sound of gun fire, not even the sound of artillery laying down a covering barrage. He hoped his squad wasn’t lost.

The plan was simple. The captain had gathered the lieutenants and squad leaders at a mountaintop outpost yesterday morning. This part of the country was a rugged system of low mountains or tall hills depending on one’s point of view. The mountains were separated by small valleys composed mostly of twisting ravines, when you could see them. For at this time of year, the valleys were shrouded in thick mist until early afternoon. It was easy to see the lines. Nearly every mountaintop had an outpost with a flag. The enemy outposts had red or red and black flags. Their own outposts flew the yellow and red bicolor flag of the old royal period. To Alfonso the outposts looked like islands floating on a sea of clouds.

“Men,” the captain began, “before you, you see the enemy line. Each outpost has a flag and at the base of the flag, each outpost has a machine gun. The outpost directly across from us controls access to the roads to Madrid and Barcelona. We must take that outpost. Tonight, after the moon has set, we will descend into the valley and make our way to the enemy lines using darkness and the morning fog to conceal our movement. Shortly before noon our guns will bombard the outpost, after the bombardment we will charge out of the fog and seize the outpost from the Reds.”

Yet, even simple plans can go awry. They were late and hadn’t even begun their ascent on the mountain where the enemy outpost was located. That is, if they were heading in the right direction. The lieutenant had a compass, but no one had seen the lieutenant since the start of the mission. Preoccupied with these thoughts, Alfonso walked right into a man.

They bounced off of each other and each took a step back.  The man’s uniform was tattered; he was unshaven and had that haggard look of someone who had been in the trenches for several months.  Further down the line, someone shouted “The Reds, the Reds are among us!”  Firing broke out.  They had stumbled onto a Red patrol.  Alfonso pointed his Bergmann MP28 at the man, a clear gesture for the man to surrender.  The man’s eyes grew wild and he looked down as he fumbled with his rifle’s safety.

Before the man could bring his rifle to bear, Alfonso’s MP28 made the familiar “pip-pip-pip” sound as the submachine gun admonished the Red for not surrendering.

Minairons 1/72 (20mm) Spanish Civil War Nationalist Infantry

There’s no secret that I dislike painting 15mm figures.  For some reason I find them uninspiring to paint.  I think it has to do with a lack of poses (certainly dynamic poses) of every batch of 15mm figures I’ve ever tried to paint.

The Minairons 1/72 or 20mm figures are a different story.  The poses are interesting and they inspire me to research the equipment, weapons and clothing.  This time I painted up a box of the Nationalist Infantry.  The box contains 15 figures.  Two of the figures carry the Bergmann MP28 submachine gun.  Only two of the figures required some assembly and only required me to glue the rifle to the figure.  My favorite figures are those that require no assembly and I loved these two because the assembly was so easy.

As with the Militawomen box, the Nationalist Infantry box has a painting guide on the back with the names and numbers of Valejo paints.  After painting, I gave them a wash made from Reaper’s Brown Liner and then sealed them with Liquitex Matte Varnish.  For those who are interested, I primed the figures with Liquitex Black Gesso.

The next step is to snag some 20mm terrain and then start going through the “Stop! Boxes” in “Nuts! Final Version” from Two Hour Wargames.

As always, clicking on the pictures expands them to where you can see flaws in my painting!

There is a warning you need to be aware of.  If you collect this period you will find yourself singing or humming Viva La Quinte Brigada

Here’s an old photo which illustrates why I like dynamic figure poses: