Republican "El Gringo" Division
Divisional commander: "El Gringo" (fictional name)
- David Makin
Brigada Móvil de Choque "El Campesino"
Brigade commander: Valentin Gonzalez, aka "El Campesino" (historical name)
- Bob Mackenzie
48 Brigada Mixta
Brigade commander: Comandante Castro (historical name, no connection with Fidel!)
- Jaime de Miguel
XII Brigada Internacional
Brigade commander: General Luckács (historical name)
- Danny O'Hara
70 Brigada Mixta
Brigade commander: Comandante Grajiano (fictional name)
- Graziano Blanda
Nationalist "De Rivera" Division
Divisional commander: General De Rivera (fictional name)
- Rolfe Hedges
2 Brigada
Brigade commander: General Tella (historical name but not commander of this fictional unit)
- Richard Bennett
Regimiento de Infanteria "Valladolid"
Regimental commander (no name)
- Andrew Tiffany
Columna Lopez Cardoso
Column commander: Colonel Lopez Cardoso (fictional name)
- Terry Tolhurst
VI Legione Camicie Nere
Legion commander: Colonel Pittau (historical name)
Martin Rapier
Michele Armellini (Campaign designer, e-mail chief referee, and referee for some tabletop games)
Ivan Esposito (Referee for some tabletop games)
A total of 19 players played in the tabletop games, in two different gaming groups. Of these, 11 were already "regulars" of CD. 4 played in just one or two games, and they may play again from time to time, but weren't "hooked". 3 were new or almost new players and we can say CD and/or the campaign hooked them! 1 had played a couple of games, participated in a couple of campaign engagements, and was not satisfied.
Each player double-hatted as battalion commander, usually having control of two battalions (of the same side!!), in two different brigades; we hadn't enough players to have each battalion always commanded by the same person, and anyway the experience would have been pretty boring for, say, a player controlling only the Republican "Prieto" Btn or the Nationalist 1st "Valladolid" Btn, which were practically never engaged. From time to time a player had to be replaced, temporarily or not, but we tried to let each player develop a personal attachment to his own units. During engagements, the experienced players also controlled things as artillery assets or divisional reinforcements.
My campaign folder now counts 2,244 messages (many were easy forwarding jobs). We employed some 400 stands (a group playing in microscale, the other in 15mm); a group used some 35 20"-wide hexes, the other free-form terrain. Each turn requested, on average, 4 long gaming sessions; the largest engagement, around Castillo-Campobueno, required a multi-session treatment. Order phases usually lasted 2-3 weeks, Combat phases usually lasted 2 weeks.