Sunday game - Back of Beyond

Today, Julian and I (as Bolsheviks) took on Barry and John (combined Warlord Chinese/White Russians) with Andrew umpiring - as often is the case, we used Andrews rules, which in essence boil down to this: -

Initiative is decided using a pack of cards, one side can only ever have three turns in a row, even if the cards fall four of the same suit - the fourth is swapped to change initiative to the other side. Infantry and vehicles move 2D6 (reroll 1's) cavalry 3 D6. Firing or melee requires 9 to hit, 12 is two hits. MG (incl Armoured Cars) add one, mortars and artillery add two. There are negative modifiers for target being in cover or the firer carrying 3 or more hit markers, same for attacking an enemy who is defending an obstacle etc. Hits can be rallied off at the start of each turn, again by rolling a modified 9, 12 removes two hits. Vehicles and gun teams (MG or artillery) only take two hits to be knocked out, infantry and cavalry take four hits and then have to fall back until they can remove a hit in the rally phase - if they don't succeed before they reach the table edge, they are lost. A unit carrying four hits that is defeated in combat is destroyed - or, if the command team, it is captured.  When firing, the target unit returns fire, unless it is outranged or against armour with small arms, so it's perfectly possible for the player who holds initiative and initiates an exchange of fire, to come off worse! There are a few more bits and pieces but that's most of it - nice and easy to remember, as I have just demonstrated!

View of the table, one above is deliberately positioned to give readers who may be interested a better idea of Barrys set up

Bolsheviks start on the right above or the left below. Aim was to control both villages by the end of the game. The area marked with lichen is a dried up river bed (wadi) that provides cover to anyone in it but is passable with no hinderance to infantry and cavalry - vehicles and guns cannot enter it.

Another "wide angle" view of Barrys gaming room.

Initial forces below - we were able to choose using a simple points-based system - my Bolsheviks below, 4 cavalry (in effect, mounted infantry) an MG, an infantry unit and my command team

Julian had 3 cavalry units, an armoured car and an artillery piece off to his right

Barry had one of each, MG, cavalry, mortar, armoured car and infantry!

And John had 2 cavalry, 2 MG teams and 2 infantry.

The Bolshevik mounted infantry charged ahead and occupied half of the disputed village.

The Whites were slower but also managed to grab the two BUA on the other side of the village

To my left, Tovarich Julians men had also moved forward quickly and were facing off against the Oriental hordes.

Kaboom - an early success as the Chinese armoured car was knocked out!

Julians Reds consolidating their position and preparing to advance

Meanwhile, I had four units against one on John and blazed away for several rounds with small arms

"Commissar, who is responsible for this atrocious marksmanship? I would order that they be put up against a wall and shot - but these idiots would probably miss!"

The Bolshevik forces were the first to receive reinforcements - I rolled well (a six actually, since you ask) and brought on two guns, an HMG and three units of red sailors! Comrade Julian rolled badly - a 2 - and brought on a single extra armoured car.

The generally ineffective exchange of small arms fire on my wing continued - but the Whites were getting worried as the reinforcements moved up.

(what else did you expect, they are MY figures, after all!)

In a desperate bid to seize the initiative, the White commander threw one of his units into a frenzied assault!

In you go, boys!

But the brave Bolshevik heroes stood like a stone wall, behind an errrmmmm, well, a stone wall - and the lackeys of international capitalism were repulsed - URRAH!

On our other wing, the Reds were also in the ascendancy, pushing the Chinese back all along the front! 

Above and below, views from the Chinese/White side of the lines. 

Infantry on the left below carrying four hits which eventually led to them quitting the field.

The Black Sea Fleet sailors arrive on the front line. 

As the Red gunners pour fire into the hapless Whites below.

"那辆俄罗斯装甲车开始惹恼我了——叫来我们的迫击炮"

"That Russian armoured car is starting to piss me off - call up our mortar"

目标正前方——开火！

Target dead ahead - FIRE!

繁荣 !!

(BOOM!!)

The struggle for control of the eastern village continues without pause

But large numbers of Red reinforcements are now available to push against the weakening resistance

The Bolsheviks have now entered both White held BUA's, but are still engaged in combat with the desperate defenders

A Tsunami of revolutionary fervour threatens to overwhelm the Whites!

Finally, some White reinforcements arrived! Unfortunately for John, he rolled poorly and only received two units of interventionist British cavalry. On the way forward, they were somewhat disconcerted to see panicking White Cossacks heading pell-mell in the opposite direction!

"Ignore them, chaps, WE after all, are BRITISH!"

Barry did better and brought on five additional units, including cavalry and artillery!

This was the high point of the attack on the western village - before the Chinese reinforcements started to have an impact

In a single-handed act of bravery and heroism, the White commander led his personal bodyguard, composed entirely of colonels and majors in the Tsarist Army, now serving as privates and non-commissioned officers, in a blazing rampage through the Bolshevik lines. By the time his exhausted and blood-spattered command came to a halt, they had driven back three Bolshevik units!

The two commanders faced off and initially, the Whites succeeded in pushing back the Bolshevik leaders too.

The second rampage continued, with the White commander pushing Red units out of the BUA

But eventually, the Bolshevik leadership, inspired by their CO and the attached commissars, successfully counter attacked!

And the White commander and his entourage were taken prisoner - URRAH!

Meanwhile, the Chinese deployed a secret weapon, the highly trained mistress of their Warlord commander, skilled in all forms of armed AND unarmed combat (or so she has always claimed)

Turns out the mistresses' stories of her martial prowess were just that - stories! Her much-vaunted skills failed to materialise, and she was driven off by the swarthy Bolshevik infantry, to slink back to her master's bed, much chastened! (Explanatory note - the mistress added 3 to her combat score but rolled 4 on 2 D6!)

But despite the temporary reprieve, the Bolsheviks in the western village were on the back foot as the Chinese reinforcements made their presence felt

John titled this image "The LGBTQIA community was well represented!" LOL

Julians brave working-class heroes are pushed back by overwhelming numbers of White Chinese troops

But in the eastern village, it is the brave working-class heroes who are in overwhelming numbers, and the Whites are almost a spent force, with their leader already in captivity

We decided to call the game at this point and Andrew totted up the points - a minor victory to the Bolsheviks. With the eastern village in Red hands and the western one still in dispute (although the Chinese were looking favourites to retake it) the Bolsheviks had inflicted significantly more losses on the Whites, losses the White army can ill afford to take.

John obviously likes this figure - he took an inordinate number of close-up pictures of her!

Andrew then checked the remaining cards in the pack (which we had only got just over halfway through at this point) - the next 4-5 cards were red/black more or less turn about, and then the sixth card was the second tranche of Bolshevik reinforcements - so even if we had carried on a bit longer, its most likely the Krasnaya armiya would have come out on top!

And finally, this:

First verse and chorus of "The Red Army Is The Strongest" written in 1920....

The White Army and the Black Baron

Are preparing for us a return to the Tsar's throne,

But from the taiga to the British seas

The Red Army is the strongest of all!

Refrain:

Let the Red Army

Masterfully grip

Its bayonet with its toil-hardened hand,

And we must all

Irrepressibly

Go into a last deadly fight!

Thanks for dropping by and after our recent discussions on PWJ about whether people actually read AAR's or if they are worth writing, I will be interested to see how many comments this post garners - there, a challenge for you all!