First Friday Night Game of 2025 - RCW using Perfect Captain "Red Actions" Rules

 Basically, the title says it all! I took the Bolshevik defenders (my own figures) Julian and John took the attacking Whites, who had a slight advantage in manpower but a significant advantage in support weapons - which seemed reasonable, given they had to attack.

On to the images and report

Initial layout with the Whites attacking from the top of the table

Red infantry occupied the village in the centre and prepared to hold it against superior numbers of white troops

On the Bolshevik left, infantry, sailors and two HMG's occupied a wooded area.

The Reds were supported by two vehicles, a twin turreted armoured car and an armoured truck with a brace of Lewis guns

The Unit Cards that made up my command.

Julian commanded four units of White Cossacks, supported by a Tchanka, on the White right flank

John had four companies of White infantry, all supported by an HMG, plus an armoured car, a Model T sporting an HMG and a towed field gun on their left.

The White infantry step off

As Julian quipped - "The most dangerous thing on the battlefield......."

".........An officer with a map!" 😂

On the other flank, after suffering some initial hits from the Red infantry in the woods, the Cossacks dispersed into the adjacent trees and dismounted. 

The Tchanka crew spun around and opened fire with their HMG, silencing one of the Red gun teams.

Early in the game, John advanced boldly with his twin turreted armoured car -

 which was immediately knocked out of action by its Red counterpart

Unfortunately, it did not take long for the White field gun to return the favour!

Staunch Red infantry hold the centre of the field

But the Whites are coming.....

White infantry make slow but steady progress in a flanking march. With limited numbers of troops, I could not defend the line everywhere.

White infantry closing in on the defended village, as both armoured cars burn in the background. The Cossacks had been contained in the woods - whenever they ventured to the edge to engage the Red infantry and sailors opposite, they got a bloody nose and had to pull back again. Their Tchanka was knocked out by my HMG fire early in the game.

The HMG carrying armoured truck did some sterling work containing Julians command to the woods....

....... until the bloody field gun got involved again!

This gun team helped keep the Cossacks at bay too

This was my final picture of the game. In truth, I am not sure how close to calling it a day this was taken - we had quite a long break for an al fresco BBQ dinner and didn't finish the game until about 1045pm. No decision had been reached, but by that time, John had his four HMG's in position and lined up to blaze away at my infantry in the village and it felt like it would only be a matter of time before he got two or three good rolls in one turn and either forced them back or wiped them out!

A few final close ups, courtesy of John

Some of my Bolshevik figures - mainly Copplestone and Brigade Games

Some of Julians Whites - again, these are all Copplestone, I believe

A pleasant social evening indeed, but the game suffered from the fact we had a break of 90 minutes for dinner and general conviviality, meaning we ran out of time to reach a result, although, just quietly, that was not too unwelcome from my perspective - I suspect I was about to be overwhelmed!

They are quirky rules with some unique mechanisms (particularly resolving close combat) but give a reasonable game and have a lot of little nuances to keep the players engaged. 

Thanks for visiting my small corner of the blogosphere, I hope you enjoyed the pictures, if nothing else!