So you say you want a revolution!

The idea

My latest project is to build some armies for the Russian Civil War or the more nebulous 'Back of Beyond' wargames period.  This has long been an aspiration and I actually started this project a while ago but it dropped off the radar a bit.  I have rediscovered some mojo recently and now that we're all going to be spending more time indoors I thought I would get back on it and post up some pictures of my progress and thoughts.

The Russian Civil War is a dynamic transitional period when cold steel was still very much a threat but the industrial age was beginning to emerge.  Add to this the chaos of the revolution, ad-hoc nature of the forces, and the smaller scale of the fighting compared to the Great War, then the period lends itself well to wargaming.  In terms of forces thre is a nice mix of the classic infantry, cavalry and artillery but with  armoured vehicles, gunboats and early aircraft to spice things up.  Combining these assets with the exotic locations, wild characters and epic events of the historical backdrop and we have lots of inspiration for model building and scenario concepts. 

The scope

I hope to maintain my enthusiasm long enough to eventually build a few different armies.  The 'period' covers a very wide group of different and distinct factions from the core Reds and Whites, through a host of Central Asian, Chinese & Partisan Warlords, via the numerous Interventionist powers and the various would-be and fledgling separatist Nations.  I'm not going to try to build every faction specifically for every front though, so a certain level of generic re-usability will have to built in.  Having said that I'll try to give my units some basis in reality rather than just make everything up.

The Theme

To start with I'm going to build some armies based on the fighting in the east.  With the revolt of the Czech Legion in 1918 the Reds were in disarray and the Whites quickly seized power throughout Siberia but failed to push into the heart of European Russia.  Several Social Democratic states rose up and for a while looked to present a revolutionary alternative to the Bolsheviks but were swept aside by a military coup in late 1918.  The militarist faction of Admiral Kolchak took power, declared him supreme ruler of Russia and launched a major offensive.  Politically incompetent and increasingly unpopular, Kolchak's forces were defeated and forced into headlong retreat down the trans-Siberian railway.  Some of the Whites survived the long retreat and terrible ice marches to join forces with the Cossack Warlord Semyonov in the far east.  There the remnants fought on in an increasingly hopeless struggle until dead or driven out of Russia entirely. 

The Reds

My initial red force is based on the Red Army in the summer of 1919 but intended to be generic enough to fill in for the Bolshevik and allied forces from across Russia and provide a core opposition to the more distinctive white forces. They will have a rag tag feel but be uniform enough to look like they could be a campaigning army.  I'm using a mixture of headgear to add variety and probably over representing the budenovka for the early period of the fighting but hopefully they will give the right impression.

The Whites

For the Whites I am basing them on Kolchak's Siberian army, specifically the forces emerging from the officer groups around Omsk such as the 1st (later 4th) Steppe Siberian Division under the command of Verzhbitsky and Kazagrandi.  The early fighting in 1918 is interesting and I want to do some later scenarios based on the Red defence of the railway bridge at Vyatsky Polyana and the fighting for Tobolsk.  I'm going to use the later style uniforms, assuming they ever existed, as this gives a more classic 'White' look with shoulder boards and National colours but I'll add some green and white for a Siberian flavour.