VIVA ESPANA!

Original by Battleline Publications, Inc., 1977
ADC2 set by Joseph D. Oliver, 1999 (Jaydeeo@aol.com)

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INTRODUCTION

Over twenty years after its publication, VIVA ESPANA! remains 
one of only a handful of games on the subject of the Spanish 
Civil War.  The basic game is not overly complex, and at 
first glance physically it even looks to be a model of 
simplicity, with uncomplicated terrain and counters.  However, 
there are some rules subtleties that make it more challenging 
to play well and that illuminate the historical situation than 
first appearances would indicate.  For example, the variable 
and different types of supply for movement and attack can be 
particularly puzzling to the Republican player, as well as 
serving to illustrate the chaotic state of command and 
control at the beginning of the war.  Additionally, quite a 
few optional rules and foreign intervention variants are 
provided to make the game somewhat adjustable between players 
of differing skill levels, and to enable it to remain 
interesting on repeated playings.

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THIS ADC2 VERSION

MAP

The map is fairly close to the original.  The main changes 
are as follows:  

First, the original MORE garish orange clear & background 
terrain color has been toned down a bit.

Second, the original city terrain symbols, simple grids of 
tiny dots, have been changed to a clearer and more modern 
look.  Also, the very small anchor symbols that indicate 
port cities have been integrated with the city symbols.  

Next, a few color choices for names and borders have been 
changed, also in the interest of clarity.  

While some play-aid charts & tables have been omitted, I 
have added holding hex reinforcement tracks parallel to the 
Turn Record and a holding hex for Republican supply units. 

Some spelling typos of the original have been corrected.   

Two additional items of note are the neat frame surrounding 
the entire playing area (viewed best with grid turned off), 
and a further refinement of my continuing effort to represent
reasonably pleasing and accurate coastlines with a small 
amount of time invested, as well as with a modest total 
number of terrain hexes, about two dozen in this case.

UNITS

The units have been rendered as hand bitmaps (no scans), and 
are only my approximations of the original iconic artwork.  
Due to space constraints, I have omitted on all "special" 
units (garrison, airbase, aircraft, artillery, anti-tank, 
armor, anti-aircraft, & naval) the brackets or parentheses 
around their combat strengths, indicating restricted use.  Of 
course, the relevant class and piece data takes care of this 
by showing a "0" for attack or defense capability as needed.  
However, all such numbers are rendered in a smaller font size 
and in a constrasting color to that used for its function 
icon or on its "standard" infantry counterpart.  The sole 
exception is that of the black field color German units, 
where both numbers and icons are off-white.

The two "[*]" marked unit types, anti-tank and anti-aircraft, 
have extra special restricted uses, and correctly have a "0" 
strength for BOTH attack and defense.

NOTE:  The original function icons were drawn so finely that 
reduced scans of them proved to be useless, so as noted 
earlier, all were done by hand (blame me and not Battleline 
for any artistic deficiency).  I humbly request that any 
fellow firearms enthusiasts refrain from derisive commentary 
concerning the infantry and garrison "rifle" symbols.  I know 
that they are not ideal representations of Mauser and other 
bolt actions, but they're better than my first discarded 
efforts, which were dead-ringers for Browning "humpback" 
autoloading scatterguns!

PLAY DETAILS

Due to the large number of optional rules and intervention 
variants and to the very large number of combinations of 
different "games" theoretically possible, I have created an 
OPS file only for the Basic game, "VEbasic.OPS." However, the 
entire original 400 piece countermix has been provided, and 
all counters unused in the Basic game are present in the 
force pools with names with a " . . . -total" suffix.

All initial deployments of infantry and garrison units have 
been made on the map, and all reinforcements are deployed in 
holding hexes near the Turn Record Chart.  Clearly labelled 
empty force pools for reinforcements have been created should
they be preferred to map "clutter."

The display has been set to "1/4/4," but as a sinle piece 
almost fills a hex, it does look a bit jumbled on the 
reinforcement track hexes, so feel free to change it to the 
usual "1/1/1."  

Given the rule allowing free breakdown/buildup of units 
(1 "8" = 2 "4s" = 1 "4" + 2 "2s" etc.), players should feel 
free to adjust and to "make change" as required by swapping 
units between pools and/or reinforcement holding hexes.

As noted previously, Republican Supply units are located on 
the map in a holding hex immediately to the left of the Turn 
Record.  Of course, if preferred, they may be removed to the 
"Republican-total" force pool.  

As with the original, holding hexes for lost (destroyed) 
units, from which replacements are drawn for the next turn, 
have been provided.  Alternatively, empty force pools have 
been created, which may be used. 

Since there are no fixed movement allowances for most units 
(variable with season of year and with "movement supply" 
status), and since such were not printed on the original's 
counters, I have omitted them from class/piece data as well.

"VEundeployed.OPS" is a special "do-it-yourself" file, with 
an empty map and with the entire countermix in force pools, 
for those who may wish to use some of the optional rules 
and/or intervention variants.

Some of these would be quick and easy to implement, while 
others could be more involved.  For example, for use of the 
"hidden units" optional rule, eight appropriately colored 
blank counters have been created (located in the force pool 
named "markers-total"), but of course, player and class data 
would need to be edited.

Finally, "VEdisplaysample.OPS" is an artwork display only file.

Have fun.