A Little Bit of RCW Action using 1914 Rules

 I was the sole attendee again at Julian's last night, so we had another go at "1914" with our RCW figures. In the last three games, I have been the attacker, with greater numbers of lower quality troops. I have always felt that, to quote (very appropriately) Joseph Stalin "Quantity has a quality of its own" with these rules. Starting with an extra 10 or more activation points gives the larger force of lower quality troops quite an advantage, I think. This time, I had the smaller, higher quality troops in defensive position, whilst Julian had almost twice as many, lower quality troops to attack with - would I be able to reverse the result of the previous three games, and lead my smaller force to victory? Read on and find out!

My OOB - Julian added a cavalry unit to each command. As you can see, I had a total of 15 activation points, I think Julian had 24 or 26.

The table - Bolsheviks were defending on the left long side, the attackers could enter from anywhere on the bottom or right table edge. The pieces of paper are blinds - 5 actual positions and 5 fakes to keep the attacker guessing. We have not used this technique a lot previously but both Julian and I like the fact that the attackers don't know exactly where the defending troops are located before they deploy

He does not look like his name is Scott-Kerr, does he?!

Sailors standing in for the Grenadier Guards

Substitute for the Coldstream's

And the Irish Guards, with inspiring Bolshevik Heroine as their leader!

Latvian Rifle regiment in Adrian helmet, representing dismounted cavalry

And the mounted versions

Julian's 6 battalions of lower grade infantry - one less base per unit, one higher score on the dice for a hit

We each had a two-gun artillery battery

White Cossacks

Early in move one, the Whites have advanced in force and unmasked one of my blinds

Under the direction of their female commissar, the "Irish Guards" put up a stout resistance

Just before they were eliminated by the 4:1 odds of the Whites deployed against them, I played this card and inflicted another base of loss on Julians attackers with combined rifle and HMG fire.

The Cavalry and "Grenadier Guards" who had started the game to the rear of the woods occupied by the now defunct Irish Guards, redeployed as quickly as possible to the dead ground behind the redoubt. My only real hope was to feed fresh replacement units into the defensive position and hope they could inflict enough damage on Julian that his attack ran out of steam

The White artillery (and the detached HMG on the high ground in the middle of the pic, did great work for Julian, gradually whittling down the defending sailors and eventually, both my artillery pieces

Almost all of the attacking White units had taken damage from the "Irish", but they all still survived as tactical units.

View from the White side at the halfway point - Julian had played a card that forced my sailors to fall back from the firing line in the redoubt (top right)

Four regiments of White infantry move through the woods to get into position to bring the redoubt under fire

The adjacent tree line, lined with White riflemen and HMG

All my units were carrying casualty markers, the sailors had lost a base and their HMG, and had been replaced in the redoubt by the "Coldstreams"

The defenders stand firm - for now

But soon they were forced to pull back, while the artillery battery was reduced to half strength, and soon thereafter, was destroyed completely

The Cossacks, sensing victory, moved forward..... and obviously, things then got a bit hectic, because I have not taken any more photos, even though the game went on a bit longer. The Cossacks advanced round the back of the woods and attempted to charge but failed the test to cross the intervening fence line. My dismounted cav then pivoted to face them and gave them a couple of decent rounds of fire, removing a base. However, I was down to about 10 activation points and Julian still had all bar two of what he started with, having only lost one entire unit. The Quality of Quantity had been proved once again, and the remaining Bolsheviks retired to lick their wounds (or face the Cheka firing squads, perhaps?!)

Obviously not as satisfying game from my perspective but I was okay with the result, as it was pretty much what I had expected to happen. With the topography of the battlefield, plenty of cover for the Whites to advance through etc, it always seemed unlikely I would be able to kill enough of the enemy before their superior numbers told, and that proved to be the case. I have benefited from this in our previous games, so I can't complain when it comes back at me!

Last pic for today is of my son Michael, who turned 21 today. We had a family brunch at a local cafe which he chose, because it's one of the few that is licensed, and he could get a beer at 1030am. Obviously he is a chip off the old block - I joined him in a libation to mark the auspicious occasion!