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I was approached, along with many others, to do an article about a Supply Center, as part of a tribute to the very deserving Manus Hand. I agreed without much thought, as it sounded like fun, and picked Spain from the list of unclaimed provinces, pretty much at random. After I claimed Spain, I began to have second thoughts. How much could I possibly write about an ordinary (at first glance) province. Let’s face it, Spain is usually not very interesting in 1901. It is normally French occupied, although if the players are feeling goofy, England or even Germany can occupy it (Spring 1901: F Bre-MAO, F Lon-ECh, F Edi-NtS, F Kie-Hel, A Mun (or A Ber)-Kie, Fall 1901, the fleets convoy A Kiel-Spa). The other “normal”, though less common result is that Spain remains empty. This is the more interesting result, as it usually means aggressive play, either on the part of France, or by one or more of her neighbors. Because France has a fair shot at 3 builds in 1901, those being some combination of the neutrals Spain, Belgium and Portugal, and/or the enemy home dots London, Munich and Venice, an aggressive player will sometimes bypass Spain if he or she feels that expending two units on Belgium is wiser, or the French player wants to take a shot at an enemy home dot, and even then, Spain may be occupied instead of Portugal. Spain is such a “sure thing” that delaying the conquest until 1902 often does not cause trouble for France. The other principal cause of Spain being unoccupied is aggression by one or more neighbors (the English in the Channel, the Germans in Burgundy or the Italians in Piedmont), whether successful or not, causing the unit that was meant to take Spain to be used instead for defense of the home dots. The classic example of unwanted support, after all, is Italy supporting French Army Spain to Marseilles from Piedmont, ruining the intended bounce by Army Spain and Army Burgundy (or Gascony), filling Marseilles and costing France a build. After the opening turns, Spain sometimes becomes the center of the action, but only if France is under attack. If France is successful, moving east and/or north, Spain is often just quietly occupied by a garrison unit, or just left vacant for most of the remainder of the game. If France is attacked, however, occupation of Spain becomes either a vital part of French self-preservation, or an equally vital part of the effort of other Powers to crack the French defense and force their way into or out of the Mediterranean. I won’t go into detail about the various stalemate lines in which units in Spain figure. Stalemate lines have been covered in great depth (I would venture to say mind-numbing depth) elsewhere. Suffice it to say that the occupation of Spain is critical in a large number of cases. One common thread does run through most discussions of breaking through around Gibraltar, or of “achieving” a stalemate involving Spain. These situations usually involve getting a fleet into or out of Spain’s South Coast. Of course we all remember that Spain has a North Coast, but may players consider it to be akin to the vermiform appendix, that is, it is there, but it doesn’t really have much of a function. But is this true? Is there a reasonable circumstance where a player might want to move a fleet to the North Coast of Spain? I think there can be. For example, say you are playing France (or Germany or England), and you own Iberia, with what you hope is a strong ally in the Mediterranean, and a lot of fighting still to do up north. What units should you leave down south, either to protect yourself with, or to form the core of the forces with which you might eventually want to stab your ally? You want to preserve options while minimizing the uneasiness your ally might feel due to the presence of your units. Fleet Spain South Coast is pretty much guaranteed to raise a red flag to any owner of Tunis and other dots further east. Army Spain will more than likely get stuck behind other units. Fleet Spain North Coast, however, may well not scare a Mediterranean Power, but Spain’s owner can still order F Spa(nc)-MAO, and have a second fleet move either Por-Spa(sc) or MAO-WMS. This will not be a quick attack, but any attack on Tunis and the Italian dots will not be quick at the stage of the game, and a valuable foothold is still gained in the Mediterranean. Although I did write it that way just now, the order F Spa(nc)-MAO doesn’t really need to specify the coast in order for it to be a valid order, since the unit can still be unambiguously identified without the coastal designation. I would suggest you read my article on "Coastal Specifications" in order writing if you want more detail on the subject of when specifications of coasts in orders are necessary. . . . . . . . . . .I think I have written enough about Spain, which turned out not to be such an ordinary province, after all. Some final words of gratitude, then, for Manus Hand. Thank you so much, Manus, for all the hard work you have put in over the years, and for all the enjoyment it has given us.
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