Friday Night Game - Russian Civil War

After an interlude of several weeks, Chris, Mark, John, Rick and I had a great catch up with Julian over an RCW game using "Red Actions" on Friday evening. Julian and I provided the figures - Chris, John  and I commanded the forces of Proletarian Egalitarianism, whilst Julian, Mark and Rick led the Reactionary Oppressors of the People!

The aim was for a larger Red Force to take control of a bridge, defended by a White force occupying prepared positions. The Reds in particular had a lot more cavalry. Each side had the opportunity to call up air support, which arrived on a 5 or 6 and stayed over the battlefield for 3 moves unless shot down or driven off. This was a one shot wonder - after three turns, the plane would depart, never to appear again.

This is approximately the position of the opposing forces at the start of the game. Below is an image looking down the table from the left end of the map above.

Following are some images and a couple of maps showing the progress of the action

Julian's two battalions of Whites in their right flank redoubt, supported by an MG and cavalry to their rear

Marks two battalions in their left flank redoubt, again with an MG in support. The bridge is just to the rear of this position, with an artillery piece and the CO

Some of the Red cards - Charge Fear Serious and Rally are test numbers you have to roll equal or less to pass. Lower figures relate to movement and maximum range of fire (in inches). Fire and melee factors are multipliers per base EG 3 bases of Cossacks = melee strength of 21, or 4 bases of Red Guard firing = firing strength of 16.

At the end of move 1, Chris rolled a 5 and brought on the Red Airforce to target that bloody White artillery piece - Mark designated the adjacent MG as an AA piece - and drove the plane off! In the second move, Julian successfully activated the White plane - the result of both planes being activated at the same time is the became engaged in aerial combat and drove each other off - no more air support :(. However, the fact Mark designated that MG as AA meant it was useless for the rest of the game.

Chris advances in the centre on Rick's somewhat exposed and isolated command - that's what happens when you turn up to the game half an hour late mate!

Julian redeploys one of his battalions to counter the threat of an outflanking movement from Chris

Probably move three - I redeployed the Red Guard from our left flank (opposite Julian) to our right flank, to combine with John in assaulting Marks redoubt and open the route to the bridge

The Red Guards commander - Comrade Commissar Katherina

Below - the position after a couple of moves - my Red Guards redeploying are crossing the road behind Chris, whilst my partisan Red Cossacks are in the wood facing Julian's redoubt supported by my MG and mortar

Johns cavalry in the woods, flanking Marks redoubt

Julian advances with the White cavalry to engage Chris - they exchanged fire and both were driven back

John's infantry slowly edge forward as the defenders of Mark's redoubt are assailed from three sides

The massed Red infantry assault on Marks redoubt - three battalions from John and my two Red Guards. The leading unit is in a bad way but fell back and recovered

One of my Cossack units passes around the flank of Julian's redoubt

Below - last map showing approximate positions near the end of the game

Johns combined Red cavalry charged Marks infantry unit and pushed them back. The gun fired at them from the far side of the bridge but had minimal effect

Another view of Marks position near the end of the game

My Cossacks catch Julian's White cavalry from the rear - only option in these rules - they SURRENDER!

Last view of the position in the centre - my MG and mortar supported Chris by taking out Rick's equivalent support crews. The Whites big mistake was that they concentrated the whole game on trying to wipe out the armoured car - targeting it with the artillery and Rick's entire infantry fire power - fours stands of rifles, a mortar AND an HMG - and never dented it! Meanwhile, they might have destroyed one or more of the supporting infantry units if they had fired on them instead!

A glorious victory for the army of the masses! These are quite interesting rules with a lot of twists and turns EG both sides had units classified as "Mobs" (although we failed to notice it on the cards from the start of the game!) which meant they could fire, melee or retire at will but to do anything else EG advance or formation change, they had to roll 1 D6 - a 1 or 2 meant they could not act - and if the Reds got a 1, their officer was shot by a commissar who then took command of the unit! As a consequence of these many intricacies and the fact this is only our second game with these rules, it took us about 5 hours to fight a six or eight move game! Good fun however - usually is when you win! On Sunday I am off to Barry's where most of the same crowd will have a game of Cruel Seas using Rick's recently acquired naval forces.