To some degree, all wargames are hypothetical. Even the most detailed simulation of an actual, historic conflict, with lavishly researched orders of battle and start lines, festooned with elaborate rules governing supply, morale, command and control, and a hundred other factors, deviates from history—becomes hypothetical—the moment a player moves a unit or rolls a die. History has changed, and everything from that point becomes conjectural. And yet what is typically understood as a hypothetical wargame, simulating a conflict that did not actually happen, tends to be devalued in the hobby despite potentially providing the same types of lessons and insights that other, historically-grounded wargames can, at their best, deliver. Though many wargamers carve out an exception to this rule for games on a (thankfully) potential Third World War and its ancillary engagements, titles depicting imaginary conflicts don’t tend to land well with the buying public.
It’s little surprise, then, that many hypothetical wargames come to market not as boxed games but as magazine games, given the lower price point and, one must confess, lower expectations that come with the format. Yet for that very reason, magazine games offer a fertile canvas for experimentation with approaches as well as topics. Thus we have Operación Backbone: La Invasión Aliada del Protectorado, 1942-43, from Spanish publishers Ludopress via their wargaming magazine Alea. The Allies drafted Operation Backbone, an invasion of Spanish Morocco in December 1942, in order to retain British control of Gibraltar and secure access to the Mediterranean should Spain have allied with, or been invaded by, Germany. In the event, such fears came to naught, and Operation Torch, with its invasion of Vichy French holdings in North Africa, takes place in the same time frame without spreading to the Spanish Protectorate. Operación Backbone is, it perhaps goes without saying, the only game to focus exclusively on this topic—the Europa module Spain and Portugal allows gamers to engage Spanish forces in Morocco, albeit with a much broader brush as a smaller part of an Allied invasion of the Iberian Peninsula—but does such uniqueness provide enough justification, enough insight into what would have been a significant alteration in the course of the Second World War in the European theater, to merit a spot on the table?
Overview
Operación Backbone: La Invasión Aliada del Protectorado, 1942-43
Ludopress, 2021
Alea 37
Designed by Antonio Rodríguez
Operación Backbone appears as the issue game in Alea 37 (September 2021) accompanied by a sheet of 144 die-cut half-inch counters, sixteen of which are variant counters for fellow Spanish publisher SNAFU Design’s Ambon and Batalla a les Illes Formiguesa, along with a semi-matte paper map measuring a bespoke 16″ x 23″, close to but not quite A2 sized. The game covers the hypothetical efforts of several US and UK divisions to invade the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco as a response to Spain allying with Germany and thus threatening Gibraltar and Allied access to the Mediterranean Sea. Operation Torch has already been carried out in this alternate timeline, as American forces begin the game in the base scenario well-established across French Morocco from Port Lyautey (Kenitra) to Taourirt. Operations in Gibraltar or mainland Spain fall outside the game’s scope.
Units are mostly regiments for the American, Spanish, and German forces, and brigades for the British, with a few company sized units in play as well, using standard NATO symbols color-coded to denote higher formation affiliations. A small flag flash adorns the bottom right corner of each unit counter to denote nationality, which is also designated by counter color; the corner ornamentation adds a bit of unwelcome busyness to the counter for my taste, which hews to the utilitarian in such matters, but judged by the standards of contemporary counters from some publishers, with their ornate watermarks and garish color schemes, it’s a minor quibble. Air and naval power is abstracted into points that are simply applied to combats as modifiers.
All ground units bear historical designations. In his design notes, Antonio Rodríguez indicates that he used the forces allocated for Torch as the basis for the Allied order of battle, which seems quite reasonable given the similarity in mission taskings, training, and theater presences. Likewise, the Spanish forces come from those actually in the Spanish Protectorate at the time, forming a well-grounded set of assumptions for this hypothetical conflict.
For cultured aficionados who (rightly) care about such things, the counters rounded nicely using an Oregon Laminations 2mm Counter Corner Rounder. My copy of the countersheet does show some color bleed between counters where the main color shifts between counters. The back of my countersheet was misaligned during printing, such that one of the color passes is off-set, leading to a slightly annoying overlap of color layers. While the front color bleed seems an artifact of the sheet layout and die cutting technique, other images I’ve seen of the countersheet back do not show the printing error, so that misprint seems more than likely just a one-off problem.
I’m sure Ludopress would have corrected the issue had I reached out to them, but as the counters are still usable, and as I acquired my copy of the magazine somewhat after publication via Noble Knight, I considered it neither timely nor frankly necessary to request replacements be shipped across the Atlantic. We gamers can be overly fussy about such matters; I like to think that SPI’s dictum that if you can still read the counter values, it’s acceptable, should be in more common practice.
The map sheet serves as both play area and chart display, with the top half depicting a map of Morocco overlaid with a semi-solid, irregularly numbered hex grid measuring twelve hexes tall and twenty-two hexes wide at 17km to the hex, and the bottom half hosting the charts and tables needed for play. For those using printouts or a screen for the charts, the sheet can be folded in half to just present the entirety of the map, further shrinking the already diminutive table footprint. Shades of brown predominate in graphic designer Zavier P. Rotllán’s presentation of the arid terrain of the region; the terrain effects chart lacks an entry for forest for a reason. A textured shading imparts color variation in the terrain representations, particularly in the west, making it difficult, at a glance, to differentiate the various browns, though the effect fades with familiarity.
The rules for Operación Backbone are, as perhaps befits a Spanish gaming magazine, in Spanish, but well-translated English rules and charts are available for free download via the Ludopress website. The game comes with two scenarios, one featuring the more likely situation of an Allied invasion that happens immediately on the heels of the Spanish threatening to close the Strait of Gibraltar via alliance with Germany and the other simulating a more prepared Spanish defense, with the strait already under Axis control, foreclosing several British amphibious landing locations along Morocco’s Mediterranean coast and bolstering the German presence.
Gameplay
While Operación Backbone’s topic may be a bit outré, its core rules chassis follows the tried and true; this is a game you already know how to play. Players alternate turns, moving and fighting with all of their units as desired, a standard I Go/You Go system utilizing an operational scale and three day turns. Combat units possess non-sticky zones of control that friendly units can negate for supply trace and retreats only. Units are all rated for efficiency and, in most cases, possess multiple steps, with units of three or four steps having two counters per unit to account for step loss strength reductions rather than using more fiddly attrition markers. Those with high movement point allowances—armor and motorized infantry—receive reduced road movement costs, and armored units may only operate in mountains via roads, but otherwise there are no unit movement type distinctions like you would typically see in an operational level game. Additionally, there are no combined arms bonuses or penalties for, say, armor attacking into cities or infantry caught in the open; unit types are mostly for show.
Unlike many games featuring unit efficiency or morale, players must use the efficiency rating of the majority of steps in an attacking/defending stack rather than picking a lead unit at will (unless the efficiency step count is coequal). Combat is non-mandatory, with the 1d6 odds-based combat results table being affected by both column shifts and die roll modifiers for terrain, HQ, air and naval support, special unit abilities, supply, and efficiency differentials. The CRT hews towards the attritional, with attacker losses more likely than not even at the higher odds columns, though unfulfilled defender step losses do reduce attacker losses on a one for one basis.
That wrinkle gives the Spanish player an incentive to stack, in order to drain Allied steps, but at the possible cost of greater losses for him/herself as well. A unit from the lead efficiency rating must be the first loss (unless a special unit uses its ability, such as engineers, which aid in attacking city hexes, or Spanish Legionaries, elite units that add a positive CRT modifier); then the players alternate appointing losses, opponent picking first.
The emphasis on attacker step losses highlights the game’s central challenge—to win, the Allies must control either eight (tactical victory) or all nine (strategic victory) cities in the Protectorate while keeping a central road through French Morocco free of all enemy ZOCs at the end of ten turns (one month). You either sweep the map or you lose as the Allies, and the threat of a constant whittling of forces through pyrrhic combats complicates matters considerably. A simple replacement system allows both sides to reconstitute units that have lost steps or even been destroyed, but never quite enough to keep up with losses. The CRT, to that extent, feels like it is designed for effect to slow the Allies down.
There are no command and control rules per se. Headquarters units provide combat modifiers for units both in range and of the same formation, with longer ranges for Allied HQs than Spanish, serving as a stand-in for artillery, which is otherwise non-existent. Supply, likewise, takes the form of a direct trace to a supply source to avoid penalties in movement and combat. Being out of supply carries no attritional penalties. Of note, further rules restrict the Spanish player to a single attack per Army Corps (there are two) per turn, reflecting a limited availability of offensive materiel in the Protectorate. A similar prohibition, penalizing but not limiting combats, affects British forces that have landed amphibiously and American forces in the east of Morocco until the Strait of Gibraltar is controlled (via a once-a-turn die roll) to reflect sparse combat supply as well.
Each player receives a pool of special event chits, one drawn blindly every other turn; the Spanish player draws on odd turns, the Allied player on even turns. Ranging from extra air support and die re-roll mulligans to chits that harm the player who drew them, representing events happening outside the theater, the events serve to add extra variability to the game. Some may be held until their use is desired, while others are mandatory and immediate in effect. There are six chits for each player and only five opportunities to draw, so one from each side will be omitted from play every game.
Solo Play Suitability
As perhaps has become clear, the Spanish player is in for a long afternoon—and indeed, the game plays relatively quickly, such that it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to complete, given the game’s straightforward structure. Which is not to say that it’s a walkover for the Allies; the CRT will take its toll, and canny Spanish play should see a decent chance of victory. My two playings have been quite close-run affairs in favor of the Allies.
The focus for the Spanish becomes one of harassing, trading space for time, keeping forces alive and spread out enough to require the Allied player to hunt them down lest they re-take a city or infiltrate the main road. For the Allied player, the clock ticks down ominously, becoming a balancing act between force preservation and hewing to a strict timeline. Operación Backbone presents an optimization puzzle in that sense; the Allied player must figure out how to best allocate the right mix of forces to objectives along two disparate axes, one north along the Atlantic coast, driving for Tangier and (one hopes) the British end of the pincer, the other picking up the two cities in the Moroccan east then driving to support the main thrust, while keeping an eye on the central road through the French Protectorate, won at considerable cost during Operation Torch.
Such force and movement optimization games tend to be more interesting for the attacking player than the defender, who has little to look forward to after set up other than a few desultory counterattacks and trying to throw an occasional spanner in the works. Optimization games also lead to rather disparate time involvements, the attacker spending far more effort assembling and maneuvering units than the defender, who at most just tries to leapfrog to a new, hopefully more secure line. Some players do indeed relish that spoiling role, but not many, making such titles ideal for solo play.
I Go/You Go systems such as that in Operación Backbone do not lend themselves to solo play as well as initiative chit/formation activation games—one spends perhaps too long wearing a single “hat” to easily keep a neutral vantage point—but neither are they a strict impediment. There are no hidden units or other fog of war rules to complicate solo play. An optional rule does exist to limit stack inspection to the top unit of a stack, but in practice it makes little difference—the Allies have to attack.
Usage of the event chits and the assignment of air and naval points and discretionary modifiers to combats may pose some issues in playing Operación Backbone single-handed, but those issues are par for the course with solo play. One event chit in particular, however, duplicated for each side, serves to remove an opponent’s reserved chit from play; knowing the other side has that chit will drive the immediate use of an event chit rather than holding it, lest it be “stolen” at the next opportunity. Though I am hesitant to suggest house rules, I would recommend simply removing the offending chits from play in a solo outing or, preferentially, treating them as no event; given the paucity of chits, simply removing them has the knock-on effect of guaranteeing that the worst chits to draw—one requires the Allies to remove units to meet a renewed German offensive in Tunisia, one penalizes Spanish and German troops stacking together—will be in play.
The other event chits provide more straightforward bonuses and, as with the use of combat modifiers, have obvious moments of application. When playing face-to-face, sometimes your opponent knows that you know that he/she knows that you know…. It’s usually best to simply take your shot without overthinking or attempting double-feints, both against an opponent and when the table is set for one.
Both sides possess a fair bit of discretion in placing their initial forces, which can at times inspire paralysis in the solo player; the lack of historical start lines only compounds the potential issue. The set-up rules do provide general guidelines for where units should begin play, in keeping with their assumed areas of operation, but there are no hard and fast restrictions beyond some minimum Spanish garrison requirements in major cities to start. I strongly advise following the “historical” strictures. The British, too, have the flexibility to launch their opening amphibious assault anywhere along the Mediterranean coast from Ceuta to Melilla. But with seven of the nine victory cities within six hexes of each other in a rough polygon between Tangier, Ceuta, Larache and Chauen, the game’s focal point seems somewhat clear: as close to the victory locations as possible without risking the invasion being turned back completely (which would, in face to face play, likely engender a fresh start to the game anyway). A solo player thus needs not worry over much about how to set up.
Final Die Roll
One key measure of a wargame’s success rests in how well it replicates the actual events being simulated. If a game on the Bulge doesn’t let the Allied player relieve that desperate situation, as in real life, then it’s a failure, no matter how engaging the gameplay nor how innovative the techniques; the historical outcome needs not be guaranteed, merely possible. How, then, does one judge a hypothetical wargame?
Much focus must be on the plausibility of the situation presented. The history itself in Operación Backbone seems broadly fine, according with the few sources I’ve been able to find on Operation Backbone, particularly an article by Antonio Marquina (“El Plan Backbone: España, Bajo Dos Amenazas de Invasion,” UNISCI Discussion Papers 36, 2014, .pdf) noting the three Allied objectives, to be completed within a month, as taking Tangier and Tétouan via land from the south; Ceuta from an amphibious landing below it, backed up by paratroopers; and Melilla from the east. All three are possible, and indeed encouraged within the game’s framework. To that extent, Operación Backbone succeeds in presenting the basic structure of what Operation Backbone would have looked like, at least from the Allied perspective.
The supply system, however, lets the game down. Allied planners, per Marquina, were quite concerned about sustaining operations so far from their depots, and Spanish supply would likely have collapsed as the Allies pushed inward, cutting the road networks. The lack of substantive penalties for being out of supply—combined with the ability to trace supply for any length, across any terrain—simply gives the Spanish player in particular far more staying power, even at half defense strength for being out of supply, than seems warranted. Too, there are no restrictions on Spanish forces operating in the French Protectorate, even given that it has been taken by the Allies via Torch. The political ramifications for an unsteady alliance between Spain and Vichy France in the game’s alternate history would never have allowed cross-frontier actions, such was the rivalry between the two regarding their Moroccan colonies.
We are confronted, then, with a situation that does not make for very much of a game if it is to be an accurate simulation, and designer Antonio Rodríguez has opted for playability rather than strict fidelity, an understandable decision in any commercial entertainment endeavor. His own design notes perhaps suggest as much, hoping that the game “provides you with some moments of simple, agile and interesting wargaming enjoyment, since the purpose of this game is none other” (translation from the original). The overly simplistic supply system, heavy attacker attrition on the CRT, and somewhat unrealistic victory conditions all seem tailored to forge a contest out of a one-sided affair.
A more detailed version of the game sees Spanish forces collapsing back onto their supply lines and, as cities begin to fall, routing away or surrendering—the Allies, perhaps optimistically, were counting on Spanish resistance collapsing as key cities changed hands. There would be no risk to the main east/west road through French Morocco, interdiction of which would be unsustainable over any period of time anyway due to supply issues, turning the game into a series of set piece battles for various cities. There would be no need to hunt down units that have gone walkabout, out of command and supply in a way no real-life generals would ever countenance. An accurate game on Operation Backbone would not be a ton of fun.
Operación Backbone provides an undeniably unique look at a turning point in history, albeit one not taken. Seeing the forces arrayed to push into the Spanish Protectorate in line with Allied planners’ drafts, confronting the weak yet numerous Spanish forces lined up against them, then tracing the few road routes available to reach the objectives and having to consider how to pull it all off, brings the situation to life in ways that a mere situation map cannot replicate. Too, the game highlights the potential efforts of the Spanish armed forces, which are mostly overlooked—for perhaps obvious reasons—in most wargames on World War II. While yielding neither a strong simulation nor a groundbreaking game system, Operación Backbone still delivers decent value, both in presenting an engaging, easy-to-play force optimization puzzle and in bringing to light a course that, while improbable, was not impossible for history to have branched onto.