Volunteer Army vs Reds Part II

This week we concluded the battle we started last week with the AFSR and Red Army fighting hard for a town in Southern Russia.

The main fighting in the centre saw White Officer companies try to capture and hold the town against a horde of Peasants and Workers with Regular Red Army and some Cheka in Support.  The Whites held the houses but were blasted with rifles, machine guns and artillery from all sides.

On the east flank the Whites crossed the fields and pushed onto the ridge line with cavalry and armoured cars in support to drive the Reds back into the village.

Meanwhile on the Western side of the battle a Red Flank attack swept down on a small hill held by a group of Volunteer Army sailors.

The Sailors fought hard and even stood agaist the cavalry charge but were eventually shot down to a man.

Back in the east the Whites had taken out the Red Arnoured that anchored their line and were pushing on.

The Reds hastily reform in the village to stop the Counter-revolutionary advance in its tracks.

The battle raged in the centre with the Green Dacha finally falling to the victorius reds.  Just long enough for the Cheka to get lots of loot and run off back to party HQ.  While the the heroic martyrs of the revolution litter the blood soaked ground.

Sadly for the Tsarist cause the cavalry did arrive but were pinned down by artillery and maxim fire and didn't really help.

Is this just a set back on the road to victory or has the tide turned on Denikin's depleted forces?

Volunteer Army vs Reds

On Wednesday we started a quick game using our Russian Civil War figures and the TMWWBK Colinial rules.   More thought went into the terrain than the game but we wanted to get some figures on the table.

So here are some pretty pictures without too much explanation. The armies are my Reds and the Whites forces of my club mates at SSWG. 

The Reds have just beaten the VA troops to the village and hurriedly deployed somewhere in southern Russia during Denekin's advance on Moscow in summer 1919.

Marching to face them are the 'elite' battalions of the Volunteer Army's Drozdovsky division.  Actually the whites are a mix bag of good quality 'officer' units filled out with conscripted sailors and red POWs.

Some more pics of the battle so far.  Both sides are pushing forward to meet the enemy at close quarters.

 To be continued ... probably.

The Men Who Would Be Tsars

Here are a few pictures of some testing we did trying The Men Who Would Be Kings colonial rules by Dan Mersey for Russian Civil War / Back of Beyond games.

We played a couple of quick actions for a village somewhere in Estonian or Latvia.  My Reds are fighting against a fellow club mate's newly kitbashed Estonians.

The Estonians make a nice change for the Whites in their mix of German, Russian and British kit.  I think we could use them as Poles or Freikorps as well without too many complaints.

The first game saw the Reds burn a few houses but at a very heavy costs in men.  The bolos came back for revenge though in the second attack and kicked the Nationalists out liberating the ruins. 

I'm not sure really which photos were from which round, so the pics are just for show not a real after action report.

The TMWWBK rules worked pretty well.  The troop stats were pinched from one of the guys from the LAF Back of Beyond Forum.  Thanks Paul. 

The IGOUGO turn sequence plays faster than the more dyanmic card based systems we have used like Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles or Setting the East Ablaze. 

They provided a more predictable and attritional game with lots of shooting to wear down and drive off the opposing units.  This arguably provided less Hollywood and more History but that's debateable.

We have played some very large Colonial games using these rules and I think they would work well for similarly megalomanic games in the Back of Beyond where card based turn activation can grind a bit.