Friday Night Game - More RCW using "1914" By Great Escape Games

Last night we had another game of 1914 using RCW figures, including some of my own Bolshevik collection this time - great to get some of my toys out of their boxes!

John and Rick joined us for the game, so Julian partnered me against the two newbies - possibly a mistake - John certainly thought it might have been more sensible to have one "experienced" player on each side....

The scenario was basically a reprise of last weeks but with two cavalry units ana Tchanka MG cart added to each side. Once again, I was on the lower quality, more unit's side - which I was happy about! This time command points were something like 26 (us) to 18 (Capitalist Lackeys). The CL's were "Trained" so took 5 hits to remove a base, rather than 4 for us, and they fired more effectively etc.

Here are pix and commentary:

The field of battle - once again, the higher grade, smaller force was defending the road and BUA at the bottom of the picture

Julian wanted to try out the cavalry rules, so he took the two horse units and Tchanka support (as did Rick for the CL team). That left me with six btns of Red infantry and two guns against Johns three btn and one gun - 4 of my 6 shown deployed above

Johns force in the BUA before he repositioned them prior to kick off

The other two Red Battalions, to the left of the field guns

Female Red infantry battalion from a mixture of figure ranges

After an initial exchange of artillery fire, John used the "Fall Back" rule to hide behind his infantry before I knocked the gun out completely!

In the meantime, my two-gun battery had been reduced to one, mainly by long range HMG fire. The red markers are my activation tokens, showing the battery has been activated four times in this turn

Ricks CL Cavalry advance on their right flank

My first two battalions enter the woods in front of John's position

Almost ready - the battalions must move forward slightly to be on the edge of the wood before firing (or being fired at)

The defenders wait

And next move, the Red Guards let rip (no HMG fire in the first turn though, as they can't move and fire)

The cavalry clash on our left flank - Reds nearest the camera are mine (WW1 Old Glory Russian Cavalry repurposed)

I must have missed a few phases of play, this is later on, when John had wiped out my second gun with MG fire, repositioned one of his battalions to the left and moved up his artillery piece to shell my attacking infantry in the woods

My HMG and rifle fire had done the hard yards and removed an entire battalion of John's troops. The ones shown above occupying the house are those moved left to make way for the artillery piece

The slightly depleted front line of the Red infantry receive reinforcement from a second wave, comprising sailors to the left and the "laydees" to the right 

Meanwhile, the inconclusive cavalry fight that raged on the other flank most of the game, continues. I don't think either Tchanka fired - Julian was trying desperately to replicate the actual tactics employed, by rolling for a "Fall Back" action with his cavalry fighting Rick, so he could open up with his Tchanka HMG - but he just could not roll a 3 or 4!

My two "left wing" battalions in the woods - Ricks cavalry was in front and to the right as you look at this picture - the battalion on the right is firing into his unengaged cavalry unit, having already scored 4 hits on his Tchanka and wiping it out. The unit on the left is facing towards John's third battalion 

The victorious right flank infantry 

Johns' artillery still in action as the game came to a close

Couple of final shots (above and below) of the second wave, not required to reinforce the right wing, moving across the centre of the field to engage Johns central defending unit.

So, the Whites lost a Tchanka and one battalion, I lost both my guns, the cavalry blazed away at each other at close range all night and did virtually no damage to each other and I lost three bases from my force of 24 (6 units of 4 bases each, incl an MG base)

Fair to say, Rick and John were less than impressed with the rules, which is a shame as Julian and I quite like them! There are some odd things, and the main rule set seems to be a bit ambiguous in places and directly contradict what is shown in the QRS in some instances, but I am happy just to round that and pick how we want to interpret it, in the same way as we doubled all the firing ranges as they didn't make sense to us. John is a bit more finicky about understanding EXACTLY what the rules mean - I think he had it beaten into him at actors' school (he is one, for real!), that he must stick to the script and NOT ad lib! Hope that makes you smile when you read it mate :)

Anyway, I had another win, so, as Chris says, I will think it was a good game (you only sing when you are winning!)

And finally - great news yesterday when I checked the USPS tracking site and saw this message...I texted my wife to confirm it was accurate - and thankfully it was

Here is the proof - a rather small and inconsequential looking carton really, for the amount of time I have spent chasing after it and complaining about it on here!

An hour ago, I emailed Lon at Brigade Games, letting him know the figures had arrived safely and thanking him for helping me resolve it - 40 more Bolshevik infantry, twelve Red sailors and a few special surprise figures are added to the lead pile - all will be revealed in due course!