Title: Breaking Teeth - The Battle of Teruel, Dec 15, 1937
Price: $*
Designer: Paul Rohrbaugh
Graphics Designer: Ilya Kudriashov
Publisher: High Flying Dice Games
Published Date: 2017
A little history: This is the debut game (first) in Paul's eight game series on The Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939. The game came out in 2017 and showed by it's wide acceptance by gamers that it was time to bring out individual battles on this fascinating time period of human history. And for this I am glad. This period of warfare foretold of what type of world war was coming in regards to tactics and weapons. It was also a training war for the Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy with other countries watching.
The city of Teruel, Spain was fought over for about 3 months starting on Dec 15, 1937 and ending later in February 1938, during one of the harshest winter storms to hit Spain in twenty years. Lack of food and warm clothing contributed to the numerous causalities as much as guns and artillery. Originally held by the Nationalists, the city fell in December to the Republicans, who were then counter-attacked by the Nationalists in Jan 1938 and finally re-captured in Feb 1937. Needless to say, it was very bloody and the casualties on both sides including civilians ran high.
👉 Note: $* this means I have no idea the cost these days. Sorry.
Scale: Each turn is equal to 3 days of time and the units represent regiments or brigades for infantry and battalions for Armor. I haven't figured out how big a hex is, yet, but I believe it is about 1 to 1.5 NM* each. (see 1.1)
Note - NM = Nautical Mile - aprx 6080 feet.
Player Supplied Components: Players will need to supply one D6 and a deck of cards in lieu of using the card deck that is available for the game.
Abbreviations Used: AF=Attack Factor, DF=Defense Factor, MF=Movement Factor, RP=Republican unit, NP=Nationalist unit, CD=Card Draw, ACT=Activation, 1D6=one die-6 sided, RE=Random event, VP=Victory Points, M=Morale Marker, FOW=Fog of War marker (or Fortunes of War marker), GT=Game Turn.
Components and Physical Quality: These are very good and the game arrived in a binder sleeve.
Now, I bought my copy in 2017, so this could have changed to a zip lock bag by now, though not sure (I'm too lazy to ask).
One can always tell who the artist is by their graphics. In this case, this game is by one of the most prolific game artists working now, Ilya Kudriashov, with aprx 171 different games to his credit. In addition to being a game artist, he also draws maps and charts and has designed 3 games. Being a Muscovite, he now lives in Lithuania. One of the things I like about Ilya is he also a Napoleonic re-enactor.
Counters: Sixty-three .5" in size, double sided counters that need to be mounted. Easy to do. If you need to see how to do this please go here for my guide. Or you can ask HFDG to mount these for you for a small fee, as making sure the front and back are lined up can be a little difficult. You will still need to cut them out.
The counter mix is of the following -
21 pinned/entrench markers,
1 FOW marker,
1 GT marker,
1 RP Morale marker
1 RP VP marker (x1, x10)
4 RP Armor units
10 RP Inf units
1 RP Arty Support marker & 1 Arty Strike marker
1 RP Air Support marker & 1 Air Strike marker
1 NP Morale marker
1 NP VP marker (x1, x10)
2 NP Armor units (only 1 step)
12 NP Inf units
1 NP Arty Support marker &
1 Arty Strike marker
1 NP Air Support marker & 1 Air Strike marker
63 total counters
These counters are color coded for the Division or Brigade they belong to. Nationalist are olive drab, while the Republicans are light yellow. A side view of the correct armor and aircraft with standard NATO unit markings for all other units and the AF, DF, and MF.
What is very nice are the two air strike support counters as they represent the actual aircraft both sides used - the Po I-15 for the Republicans and the He 51 A-1 for the Nationalist.
Though small in size, the graphics used are actually very well detailed. I had to use a magnifying glass the other day to look at something and noticed the detail in the planes, then the armor on a couple of counters next to what I was trying to see. Next time I need to mount counters in games that Ilya has put his magical touch, I am going to blow them up a little bit more just to look at them.
Game Map: 11"x17" in size and includes the following tracks on it - Morale, Game Turn, and Victory Points. There is also a Terrain Effects key (showing effects for combat and movement) and a counter breakdown.
The actual game map has 2 levels of terrain, woods, roads, and the Rio Guadalaviar (aka Rio Turio south of Teruel) river. A hex grid is super imposed over the game map to regulate movement and distance. Again, the game map reminds me, using graphics and the pastel wash of the colors used, of the time period the battle takes place. Of course it could be the meds talking here, but I still like the artistic ideas at work.
Rules and Play: Seven pages of rules, explaining how to set up the game, the game play, the variant rules, nuances of the various rules, and designer notes with a reading list on the Spanish Civil War.
The heart of the game system is the card draw for both sides. As I said before, but going to repeat here, I like this system. 😀
Note: This is just like "A Scourge of Stone and Spirit: The Siege of Harfleur, 1415" that was reviewed here.
The game has 7 turns with each turn being many rounds. Each player turns over the top card and the highest CD wins the round. The same card, unlike some of the games that use the CD system, is also used to determine the number of ACTs available. Odd CD gives the player 3 ACTs and an Even CD gives the player 2 ACTS. And if both players tie in the card draw, the player who did not perform any actions in the previous round can perform 1 ACT. (see 3.0)
👉 Note: Since the Republicans attacked first in the battle, they get the first round. After both sides have setup, the RP rolls a 1D6. 1-2 = 2 ACTs, 3-4 = 3 ACTs, 5-6 = 4 ACTs. After this one time roll, the game plays normally with a CD. (see 2.1, 2.2)
Ok, How do I play the game?: The player who wins the round can perform one of the following actions, per ACT, per CD, per round. (see 3.1)
a) Artillery Support Strike (see 5.0, 4.2)
b) Air Support Strike (see 6.0, 4.2)
c) Move (see 3.2)
d) Assault (see 4.0, 4.1, 4.2)
e) Rally (see 7.0)
f) Entrench (see 3.3)
👉 Note: These different actions a unit can do per ACT, can be performed in any order, just incase you wanted to know. 😉
When the first Joker is turned over (doesn't matter who) that player loses their turn and rolls 1D6 on the Random Events Table (page 7) and the event is in effect for the remainder of the turn (notice this is for the whole turn until the next Joker is drawn). Some events can happen only once per game or can happen once per turn. Each event can happen for either player. When the 2nd Joker is turned over, play stops, and if not the last turn, move the GT up a space. Shuffle the decks and begin the next turn.
Other Important Game Info: I see I forgot to chat on several things, maybe important, maybe not. Well, here it goes.
1) Stacking - Infantry Units cannot stack, but one armor unit can stack with one friendly infantry unit. That's it. Also, an Armor unit cannot be attacked separately if stacked with an Infantry unit unless that Inf unit is pinned or retreats from that hex. (see 3.2, 4.0, 4.1)
2) Pinned Units (see 4.2) - This can happen several ways during the round.
Either by
a) Assault (see 4.0)
b) Artillery Support (see 5.0)
c) Air Support (see 6.0)
d) Units that are "pinned" are consider "disrupted". These units can attempt to remove the pinned effect by an ACT. Also, a "pinned" marker is removed at the end of the current turn (not round, unless rallied) (see 7.0)
3) Retreating (see 4.1) - This is important. Please be sure to read and understand this rule.
Morale and Winning: Morale is always figured immediately for either side when certain conditions happen. And if one side has "0" Morale after this figuring has been figured (lol, sorry, ran out of words to use), the game is over. (see 8.0)
If the game goes to the end of turn 7 and morale is any other number from 1-5 for either, then victory points need to be counted and a winner declared. (see 10.0)
Complexity: A little bit more than Introductory with four additional variant rules plus a new one from HFDG and see below in red. As always, play with the variant rules. They don't really add much to the complexity, but ramp up the fun, IMHO. (see 11.0)
Setup Time: With the low number of counters in play on Turn 1, setup is very fast. About 5 minutes if that long.
Playing Time: My games have played from 45 minutes to a couple of hours.
Solitaire Playability: Since I play mostly solo these days, I found the game (as with any game) easy to solo. If there are two ways of doing something, such as move a unit or attack, I settle it with a 1D6 roll.
For example, if there are two attacks where the air unit can come into play, I would roll on a 3- (or less) for one battle and 4+ for the other to see which attack the plane will be use in.
Addenda: I found just two small ones.
1) Under 6.0 Air Support, paragraph 3, third bullet - "a unit cannot be eliminated via an artillery strike". Need to add "Air Strike" and cross out"artillery" as it is covered under 5.0 Artillery
Support.
2) The "Fortunes of War" counter is marked as "Fog of War". (see 9.0)
There is an interesting variant rule Paul came up for all seven SPW games, that I found. Here it is:
Spanish Civil War Variant: The following momentum variant rule can be used with all of the Spanish Civil War Games published by High Flying Dice Games (Black Shirts-Red Blood, Breaking Teeth, Courageous Tragedy, Viva la Muerte!, Sad Days of Battle, No Pasaran, and Tercio De La Muerte).
Variant Momentum Rule:
At start of each turn, beginning with turn 2 the player who played the last ACT of the previous turn has the Momentum for the current turn.
A player with Momentum can perform a number of ACTs equal to half of the player’s ML (round up any fraction) before players perform the first CD for the current turn.
After these initial ACTs whenever a player gets a number or CDs in a row equal to half of their ML a die roll is then made by the player. If the DR is greater than the player’s ML the winning CD is ignored and the opposing player’s losing CD is used instead. If the DR is less than or equal to the player’s ML the winning CD is not ignored and play continues normally. Perform this Momentum DR check every time a player gets consecutive winning CDs.
Note: A die roll of 6 always loses the momentum DR check!
For example: The Republican player has the momentum at the start of turn 3 and has a ML of 3. That player can perform 2 ACTs before any CDs are made. The second winning CD is red so a Momentum DR check is made (this would be 2 CDs which equal to half of the Republican ML rounded up). The DR is 4, so the Republican player’s winning CD is ignored. The Nationalist player is considered the winner instead and will activate with that player’s CD.
In case of tie CDs follow the rules as written. Also, Joker CDs trigger a Random Event check or the Turn End and are still implemented immediately with no activations per the rules. Remember, Momentum for the next turn is conferred to the player who wins the last CD of the current turn.
This variant rule is not in effect during any activations performed after the second Joker is drawn.
Now, please don't ask me how this new rule plays as I honestly don't understand it, as my head has been acting up. But if Paul says it is good and offers this variant rule, then it is good and others can probably understand it.
Play-Balance: This game seems to be even balance, even with the differences in counter units AF/DF and the amount of Republican counters in the beginning. It might be 55% to 45% Republican/Nationalist, but that is just a guess and is still close to be evenly balance.
Like all wars, after the battle, out come the reporters. The man in the middle is Ernest Hemingway with 2 others, one Soviet (the "cool" one with the backwards beret) and one German (looking like he is POW at a concentration camp).
Summary: The game is very good and fun to play and easy to learn. Only a small number of counters to be mounted and cut out, a short amount of rules that answer all the questions and pretty much errata free, and inexpensive - what more could one ask for? I know, maybe one or two of Mahou Cinco Estrellas (a very good and tasty Spanish beer) should come with the game. 😂
Needless to say, like the majority of games I play these days, I enjoy this one. Not sure why I didn't look at it sooner.
Paul has another six "ground-pounder" Spanish Civil War games available with one Spanish Civil War Air game,"Muerte Desde Arriba" (which I just bought). These are in order by month and year of the actual battle, not published date -
No Pasaran - Battle of La Coruna Road (Jan 1937)
Sad Days of Battle - The Battle of the Jarama River (or Rio Jarama) (Feb 1937)
Black Shirts, Red Blood - The Battle of Guadalajara (March 1937)
Viva La Muerte - The Battle of Brunette (July 1937)
Courageous Tragedy - The Battle of Belchite (August-Sept 1937)
Breaking Teeth - Battle of Teruel (Dec 1937) (this one)
Tercio De La Muerte - The Battle of the Ebro River (or Rio Ebro) (Jul-Aug 1938)
There is a lot more interesting history on this battle at Spanish Civil War.org. Unfortunately, I believe this site is a labor of love and as it is not very active (parts since 2010, under construction for a very long time), but the primary battles are up. One can also do a wiki search and get the gist of the why's and hows of this civil war or buy one of the recommended books listed in the rules.
Soapbox Time: There is one more thing I am going to say about this battle as it is true in every war ever fought.
Civilians were killed and maimed in this battle like the present one with Hamas-Israel and in all wars past and probably the future.
There is no such thing as a civilian casualty-free war. People need to learn to think about this before engaging mouth and realize the simple fact of life that while civilians are not true combatants, civilians will always be involved in most, if not all in their country's war, whether thru giving first-aid, making the weapons of war or being in the area of a battle or supplying replacement soldiers. The only way to stop civilian casualties is to stop war, period. I do know I would like to have been out of that job when I was in (military).
But then, would we be playing wargames learning a little bit of the history of a battle or Euro-Trash games like rescuing kittens who lost their mittens? Ah, things that make one go "bluhhhh".
Oft the box.
Honestly, thank you for stopping by! I would like to hear any comments you may have on the game, good or bad.
and now for something truly awful...
🎄What do angry mice send to each other at Christmas? (look at bottom)🎅
Happy Holidays,
-ab
This blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information.
answer - Cross-mouse cards!
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