Unboxing HazMo Scenario Pack 2

In November 1936, Franco’s columns reached the edge of Madrid and figured the city would fall by Christmas. It didn’t. The Republicans dug in at the university, and some defenders even stacked volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica as breastworks. That’s one way to use a library card.

That fight is one of ten in The Un-Civil Wars 1936-1949, Hazardous Movement’s HazMo Scenario Pack 2. It trades the World War for the civil wars around it, in Spain, China and Greece. I covered HazMo Scenario Pack 1 a couple of months back. Now I own the whole line, so I’m playing catch-up.

Getting It

Ritterkrieg lists the pack at $29.99. I honestly don’t remember what I paid, and my wallet won’t talk about it. Ritterkrieg was running a bundle deal on every HazMo pack in print, so I grabbed them all at once. Hazardous Movement’s own website is still down, so Ritterkrieg is the place to buy it. As usual, the link’s at the bottom of the article.

Contents:

• 10 scenarios, HazMo 11 to HazMo 20
• Scenario notes and tips
• Multi-applicable scenario parameters

Packaging

The pack arrives in the same folder layout as the first one. Scenario cards sit on one side, and player notes sit on the other.

Its cover tells you exactly what you’ll need to play. I appreciate that. On top of the 2nd Edition ASL Rulebook, you’ll want a long list of modules.

• Beyond Valor and Partisan!
• Code of Bushido or Rising Sun, plus Gung Ho!
• West of Alamein or For King and Country
• Croix de Guerre, Hollow Legions and The Last Hurrah
• Doomed Battalions, Armies of Oblivion and Hakkaa Päälle!

You’ll also need boards 8a, 9, 11a, 23, 45, 59, 64 and 67. Two more come from Bounding Fire Productions. DW-1a is from Blood and Jungle, and DW-5b is from Poland in Flames. Of course, if you play on VASL, you already own every board and counter you’ll ever need.

The back of the folder holds the pack’s multi-applicable scenario parameters. There are ten of them, UCW1 through UCW10. They apply to every scenario unless a card says otherwise. No Quarter and Hand-to-Hand CC are in effect in every fight, so nobody’s surrendering politely. Most of the rest deal with counters.

MMP’s Spanish Civil War module still doesn’t have a release date, so the pack leans on substitutions. Nationalists use Axis Minor counters, and Republicans use Allied Minor counters. Moroccan Regulares fight as Italians. The Greek and Chinese factions get their own swaps too. It’s tidy. The pack spells them out once, so the cards don’t have to repeat them.

Player Notes

My favorite part sits on the other side of the folder. Every scenario gets a page of notes written from a player’s point of view. There’s no historical background and no aftermath. Instead, you get what to watch for, broken out by nationality.

Take HazMo 12, Foreign Legions. The Nationalist notes say deploying can be your friend. They also push you to get creative with your AFVs, because they can be a real pain for the attacker. And your Moroccan troops are vicious in Hand-to-Hand CC, so use them wisely.

The first pack did the same thing, and I’d bet it’s a theme across the whole HazMo line. It’s a great idea. Most of us don’t play at tournament level, and a little nudge goes a long way for us mere mortals.

Counters That Look Like Counters

In my overview of the first pack, I griped that the counters on the cards were plain black-and-white blocks. You got a box with “8-1” or “2-4-8” typed in it, and that was it. That’s fixed. This pack uses VASL counter art with a colored border around each piece. I like it much better, even if it’s just the VASL artwork.

Every scenario also fits on one board or less. Most use half to three-quarters of a single board, so the playing areas are small and tight. Expect knife fights, not road trips.

My one real complaint is an old one. A couple of scenarios still spill onto a second sheet. Sophoclean Tragedy puts its epilogue and one extra counter on a tiny second page, and Mao’s Fifth Column runs over too. I know it happens, but I’m still not a fan. Watch, someday I’ll design a scenario, stretch it across two sheets and catch grief for it… and I’ll deserve it.

Three Wars, Ten Fights

The pack mixes five Spanish Civil War fights with three from China and two from Greece. Chuck Hammond and Chad Cummins split the design work. Four of the Spanish fights are on the Madrid front, so the map gives them their own panel. Red is Spain, blue is Greece and gold is China, and the numbers match the scenario table right under the map.

The Scenarios Up Close

Here’s each one with its board layout. The layouts are approximate and don’t include every overlay or terrain change. They’re just a quick look at the battlefield.

HazMo 11, The Beleaguered Capital. Republicans vs. Nationalists, Boadilla del Monte, Spain, December 1936. Franco’s legionnaires try to cut the Corunna Road, Madrid’s lifeline to the north, with armored reinforcements on call. The XI International Brigade arrives on turn 3. The Nationalists win if the Republicans can’t trace a clear road path from R5 to EE6 at game end. Seven turns on board 64.

HazMo 12, Foreign Legions. Republicans vs. Nationalists, Pozuelo sector, Spain, December 1936. Four T-26s lead the Republican attack against legionnaires, Moroccan Regulares and six PzIB tanks. The Republicans need Building J4 and 11 more buildings to win. 7½ turns on board 67.

HazMo 13, Tin Men in Tianmen. Communists vs. Nationalists, Tianmen, China, August 1945. The war with Japan is over, but Chiang has the Japanese garrison fight on against the Communists. Take the S5 bridge, a ford and a rowhouse to win outright. Otherwise, whoever holds more rowhouse hexes wins. Six turns on part of board 59.

HazMo 14, A Sisyphean Task. Greek Democratic Army vs. Hellenic Army, Kalavryta, Greece, April 1948. A GDA infiltration team starts the game hidden, and the main assault force enters in three separate groups. The GDA needs three multi-hex buildings. 6½ turns on board 8a.

HazMo 15, Sticks and Stones. Republicans vs. Nationalists, Convent of San Marcial near Irún, Spain, September 1936. Militia and Asturian miners hold the convent against a Carlist column with armor support. Republican units on upper levels can hurl dynamite or rocks for extra firepower at point blank range. The Nationalists need the convent and all four trenches. 5½ turns on Bounding Fire’s DW-5b.

HazMo 16, L’Inferno Fascista. Republicans vs. Italians, near Guadalajara, Spain, March 1937. Mussolini’s volunteers hit the 50th Brigade with the L3 Lanciafiamme, a flamethrowing tankette. The Italians need 10 of the 13 buildings. Each Italian AFV that’s eliminated, immobilized or recalled raises that number by one. 5½ turns on part of board 11a.

HazMo 17, Stackin’ ‘Em High. Republicans vs. Nationalists, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, November 1936. Madrid’s defenders, Durruti Column militia and the XI International Brigade face the Army of Africa’s legionnaires. The Republicans win by holding the University, Building V6. 7½ turns on part of Bounding Fire’s DW-1a.

HazMo 18, Sophoclean Tragedy. ELAS vs. British and Greek Royalists, Athens, Greece, December 1944. Trapped British paras hold the four target buildings, while the 4th Infantry Division and Greek Royalist troops set up to the east. ELAS needs buildings M8, M9, O9 and P8. Eight turns on part of board 45.

HazMo 19, Mao’s Fifth Column. Nationalists vs. Communists, Shanghai, China, May 1949. The PLA storms the Nationalists’ last stand near the Shanghai Main Post Office, backed by Chi-Ha tanks with radios. The Communists need Building Y7 or four multi-hex stone buildings south of the river. Eight turns on board 23.

HazMo 20, 60 Seconds of Sacrifice. Nationalists vs. Communists, Yellow Cliff Mountain, Shandong Province, China, May 1947. The 25th Reorganized Division pushes to reach the trapped 74th Division, and the Communists stand in the way. Whoever holds most of the seven hexes in and around O5 wins. Seven turns on part of board 9.

Where to Buy

Ritterkrieg

Debriefing

HazMo Scenario Pack 2 keeps everything I liked about the first pack and fixes the thing that bugged me most. The counters on the cards finally look like counters. The player notes are back, and they’re still the best feature in the line. Every scenario fits on a single board or less, so none of them need the dining room table.

The civil war setting means a lot of counter swaps, but the pack explains them once and moves on. At about $30, it works out to $3 a scenario. If you want some minor nationality civil war fights in your rotation, start with one of the Madrid scenarios and keep the scenario parameters sheet next to the board. I’ll get to HazMo Scenario Pack 3 down the road.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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