Saturday 17 September 2022

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!


28 comments:

  1. Those 'Whites' look superb. I wonder how these rules would work with both sides having a mix of quality troops and similar activation points.

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    1. The last game we had, on Sunday, was pretty evenly balanced, Scotty.

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  2. I wonder if you flipped the forces but kept the same terrain and mission what would happen. It'd be interesting to know if the quantity trumps quality is the secret sauce for these rules.

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    1. Hmmmm...you mean a smaller, higher quality force as the attacker, Dave? My gut feeling is, it would not end well for the attackers!

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    2. That was my thought. I was wondering if the terrain placement and ability for the attacker to focus on a segment of the defender was the key vs the q vs q issue...
      Elite forces can be pretty unforgiving to mistakes on the table.

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  3. Enjoyed the report. Following daveb's comment it would be interesting to see that battle. I hope quantity does not always trump quality with the rules.

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    1. Good observations by both Dave and Richard. I wonder if in only a few playings you have “broken” the game.

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    2. To be fair to the rules, the scenarios we have played so far have come from the rule book and they are based on battles in the first few weeks of WWI, with the better trained British professionals defending against more numerous but less well trained Germans. The results are probably quite an accurate reflection of what happened to The Old Contemptibles....

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    3. So the scenarios are the source of the issue? Like a even pointed meeting engagement would be unlikely to have the same highly noticeable quantity beats quality issue?

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    4. Hi Dave...yes, I think so. As I have noted in my reply to Steve J below. If a historical action was very one sided, it's hard to create a balanced game out of it. As this was only "based" on the actual action fought by the British guards, Julian had changed the scenery somewhat...in reality, the Germans had virtually no cover, and advanced over open fields, wtih the British sheltered in a small town. If you go look at my post on 30 July this year, this is the scenario as written....but I, as the attackers, still prevailed!

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  4. A very entertaining battle going on for both sides, the rules seem to give dynamic play, helped by the cards. I have 7 Days to the Rhine by Great Escape Games, which also have cards.

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    1. Thanks Norm, yes, I like a lot of the mechanics of this game...you can make a plan but you can't work out that by turn four, your units will be at X position, because you never know for sure you will get all your moves without an interruption by the enemy. Julian also has the Seven Days set and us looking at pinching some aircraft rules to bring airpower into our RCW and upcoming Soviet/Polish War games.

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    1. Thanks Michal, was a good game despite the result!

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  6. Great looking game.
    Congratulations on getting your son to 21. 😊

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    1. Thanks Ben, he has not been too much trouble, to be honest. Less than I was to my parents, I suspect!

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  7. Nice to see you still enjoying these rules, despite the 'issues' already highlighted. The more you play, the easier it will become to get more 'balanced' scenarios, to give both sides a chance as it were.

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    1. Thanks Steve. That's one of the issues of refighting historical actions. Sometimes, one side had virtually no hope of winning in real life, and that is transferred to the tabletop. Fictional actions allow you to design the scenario so it's more balanced and both sides have a chance!

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  8. That looked like a fun encounter. That defensive position looked quite string to me, but sheer numbers obviously told in the end.

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    1. Yes unfortunately that was the case Lawrence. Possibly my tactics were also flawed, if I concentrated on wiping out two or three units rather than spreading fire across all of them, this would have reduced the number of activation points Julian had to play with....something to remember for next time!

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  9. There is always something special going to happen when you see Cossacks on a table. Nice game. Not used these rules but volume always pushes through in the end. As you said - JS new quantity has a quality of its own. Great stuff.

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  10. Cheers GW, and thanks for paying a return visit and leaving a comment, much appreciated!

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  11. So kinda a one sided affair huh? Can’t win them all. Usually as folks learn the rules better the tactics also get better for both sides. And it’s nice to have a 1:1 game here and there. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew. Our earlier games had prepared me for the likely outcome, which enabled me to accept it with more equanimity than I normally manage! I probably enjoy 1:1 games more, if I am honest...part of my "less is more" approach...a 1:1 skirmish game is now my gaming nirvana...although the bigger games are more attractive to look at at report on my blog!

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  12. A nice looking game Keith…
    I like the hidden deployment… always good for surprises.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly, yes, it's not like we have NEVER done this sort of thing previously, but it hasn't been a common feature of most of our r games. Julian and I both think it adds a little extra to the games! Not always appropriate for every scenario, of course....sometimes, it's just a "line 'em up and charge" sorta day 😀

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  13. Great looking game Keith inspiration for me paint some more figures I think 👍

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    1. Well, if I can inspire you, Matt, I must be doing something right!

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