HBG's Spanish Civil War

I just purchased, but haven’t yet played, the Spanish Civil War variant from Historical Board Games. I can’t help but notice that there’s almost no information about the game on the internet; not even reviews on HBG’s website. Am I just missing any past threads on this forum? Has anyone played this game, and what are your thoughts?

My initial reaction to the rules and setup are that the costs of units are neat, and reflect the country’s industrial handicaps at the time. I also like the addition of armored cars, and am thinking of including the unit into my G40 game. The setup and “countries” are historically inaccurate. I might come up with my own setup, where Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia are also Republican Allies, the Nationalists control the Balearic Islands, and each side has navies. But I’d like to play the OOB setup first to see how the game plays as is.

Here’s my proposed setup for Nationalist, Republican, and Basque Navies based on historical navies at the beginning of the war (with some alterations for balance). Unfortunately, the map doesn’t really allow for interesting naval situations. I’m considering adding a backdrop for the map that expands the ocean with more seazones.

Nationalist Navy
Cape Ortegal: 1 Destroyer, 1 Cruiser, 1 Battleship
Cape Finesterre: 2 Cruisers

Republican Navy
Bay of Biscay: 1 Battleship
Alboran Sea: 1 Destroyer
Cape of Palos: 3 Submarines, 4 Destroyers
Gulf of Cadiz: 1 Cruiser
Bay of Setubal: 1 Destroyers, 1 Cruisers

Republican Allies Navy
Bay of Biscay: 2 Destroyers

EDIT
Even though they didn’t send ships until 1937, you could add Italian (Nationalist Allies) ships to the Mediterranean.

Nationalist Allies Navy
Gulf of Leon: 2 Submarines, 4 Destroyers, 1 Cruiser

I finally got to play last month, and it’s a great little two-player game. But definitely needs some tweaking. The lack of ships and seazones means that the Balearic Islands are pointless. Also, there are no rules for Portugal, so why include it on the map?

When we played, we quickly divided the country right down the middle, with the Nationalists controlling the west, and the Republicans the east. It then became a gridlock, with some give and take, but very little changed. Ultimately, one of us would have likely broken the stalemate, but it was unclear which way the game would have gone if we had continued playing.

If you buy this game, armored cars are a must, and two sets of roundels are as well.

@phd_angel This is not the expansion set for Global War, but a stand alone game. You get the rules and setup charts when you purchase the map.