Wednesday, September 29, 2021

It Rolls For Ivan

The weekly Tuesday remote game saw a return to the Russian Civil War after having fought a RCW battle a few weeks earlier using One Hour Wargames.  The action this week saw the initial trial of an adaptation to Graham's For Whom The Dice Rolls transported back in time to the Russian Civil War.  Graham's scenario pitted three brigades against three brigades.  The Reds had an advantage in infantry.  The Whites held an advantage in cavalry.  The Reds had their cavalry on the left while the Whites had cavalry on both flanks. 
Commissar Graham
 issuing directives to the commanders 
Let's see how this initial test played out.
Reds win initiative and advance across the front
 with rail station as an objective.
Whites counter with cavalry moving on left flank.
Reds continue moving to the rail line and deploy.
One battalion of White infantry secure
 the woods opposite rail station.
Reds secure both rail station and farm.
White cavalry charge into the Red right
with supporting MG fire from the woods.
On the Red far right (!), the line holds.
Graham wants a photo of the action
 as the Red infantry falls back.
Attacked a second time, the Red infantry rout.
Seeing this breakthrough,
 the Reds shift one cavalry regiment to the center.
White cavalry pursue and then about face.
White cavalry on the right advances into
 the center to threaten Red movements. 
White cavalry on the right takes heavy casualties
from the farm and from infantry holding the center.
Red cavalry charge into over-extended cavalry
recovering behind the station.
  The White's are trapped.
White cavalry is pushed to the edge while the
 White cavalry falls back from withering fire near the farm.
Seeing an opportunity, White infantry attack
 skirmishers between the farm and station.
Skirmishers are driven back with heavy casualties.
Red cavalry charge White cavalry at the far end of the table.
Caught in march column, the White cavalry is destroyed.
Meanwhile, the successful White infantry in the center
turns to flank the Reds that had recently mutinied.
The mutineers are destroyed!
Flush with success, the White infantry turn to finish off
 the battered skirmishers which they do.
With about three hours of play in the books, Graham called the game.  While a proof of concept game, the result looked like a White victory to me.  Of course it would, I was in command of the White army!

An interesting game that holds good promise in transporting FWTDR back to an earlier war.  Actually, the mechanisms worked well for the period and I envisioned watching the vast cavalry charges of Dr. Zhivago.  Chrome tacked on to the base rules provided a distinctive flavor of the RCW. Looking forward to returning to the Russian Motherland again.

62 comments:

  1. Good write up. It looks even better than I remember it. Thanks for playing. I was pleased with the overall fit of the rules to the period. There are more changes needed, and I need to introduce armour and (of course) the armoured train. Question for me is if it is a supplement or a full on set of rules.

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    1. Thanks! The game projected a broad sweep of battle even from afar. This initial test provided a much more interesting contest than our OHW game a few weeks' ago.

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  2. Looks like a fun game Jon although the wrong side won - no disrespect to you!

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    1. I think the Reds might dispute Jon's viewpoint. The Konarmy had just turned the White Right flank fairly convincingly, and they were otherwise fairly strong in both of the building areas.

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    2. Keith, the game worked well built upon the back of FWTDR.

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    3. Graham, my cavalry comrade may dispute my view too!

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  3. That worked well, a nice sized game with a proper conclusion in 3 hours. really like the opening graphic to the post.

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    1. At first blush, I thought the game might be too large for a weeknight session. Since each battalion/squadron really acts like one BMU, the Whites maneuvered effectively only four BMUs per player. While formations were large, the number of BMUs and decisions were not overwhelming.

      I like those old propaganda posters and have a Soviet WWII poster in my game room..

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    2. It's a balance having enough commands for the likely number of players and fitting it all in during the time slot.

      I have quite a few of those posters round the walls of Shedquarters.

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    3. Sometimes it is a difficult juggling act.

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  4. Good looking game , I think my RCW collection at 28 mm can nearly match this size of battle but we have mainly used bolt action. With some of the stats toned down a bit for the period

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    1. With roughly eight BMUs per side, you could match this battle in size with your collection with little difficulty. While the result may be similar, the method to reaching that conclusion would be very different.

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    2. I feel that Bolt Action doesn't really capture the real scale of the conflict, over the sprawling versts of the Russian countryside. I like to have t least a Division's worth on the table!

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  5. Another period I would love to game. I have a few mini somewhere in the loft and some reference books, but precious little else. Of course my SCW forces could be pressed into action, but really you do want the real deal, which is sort of OK to achieve in 10mm.

    I love Soviet posters and others of similar ilk from this period and into WWII. Somehow SWMBO would not be too keen to have any in our living room:(.

    As for the rules, I would suggest a supplement rather than a full rulebook, or maybe an option for both, depending upon whether you already have FWTDR rules.

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    1. So many periods; so little time...
      Since joining Graham's gaming group in the UK for remote gaming sessions, I have launched two new projects: Ancient Sumerians and WotR. How many more have I been tempted by? Several!

      My soviet poster is safely and inconspicuously in residence in the basement game room. Display in the main floor living room may be frowned, however, displaying in the main floor library might squeak by.

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    2. Thanks for the thoughts on Supplement v Full book. I favour a supplement, but it depends on how much needs to be changed and added.

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  6. Very interesting, a long time since we here did something like that.

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  7. Good game! We are, of course, somewhat surprised to see the Russian Civil War on your gaming table ... Your outlook deserves respect, sir!

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    1. Thank you, Valentine. Emotions never run as high in another's civil war.

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    2. You should not be surprised. There's a good selection of figure ranges and a good selection of books. I have translations of Deryabin's books in my collection. The ones that look like Ospreys.

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  8. Stirring stuff that all looks and sounds very evocative of the period.

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    1. I thought the game captured the scope of massed cavalry charges well.

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  9. Lovely-looking game Jonathan. Three hours is a nice length for an encounter of this size.

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    1. Graham gets all credit for the presentation. A gaming session of 2-3 hours in duration is just about perfect.

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  10. This is another period with great potential for tabletop games, lots of 1st hand material, memoirs etc unless you dig too deep into the non military/tactical side and let yourself start thinking about how bad, if not evil, both sides became and how hard the campaigns were for the soldiers. Soured it for me. Pity....

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  11. Nicely looking game, Jonathan. Was a quality of troops equal? Usually Whites are more experiensed but Reds are more plentiful.

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    1. Overall, the two sides were roughly equivalent. Keep in mind this was a proof of concept game so the two combatants were equalized to ensure some play balance. Follow-up games will likely take into account historical troop composition and characteristics.

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  12. For a concept game it was presented well. I usually get bogged down in play and forget taking photos! Looking forward to more games set in the era!

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    1. For a PoC game, it went very well. Graham has promised we will be seeing much more of this project in future weekly games.

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  13. Nice report! And from the pics it looks like you had a decent view of the table.
    I didn’t even know the Russians had a civil war. I need to bone up on some history. 😀

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    1. I had a very good view of the table. Using my pc for this game, I was unable to switch to the other webcam positioned at the far end of the table. Every time I attempted to switch, the same webcam view returned. I need to work through this technical issue.

      Yes, the Russians had a civil war. Haven’t we all?

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    2. I do not understand the technical issue with the switching of the cameras, as it works at my end for both mine and your table when you host. I will resort back to my other PC for the next game.

      I wasn't going to comment on the RCW issue...except possibly to mention Dr Zhivago.

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    3. I don't understand the tech issues either. While I can see webcam 2 as a thumbnail in Gallery view, double clicking on that thumbnail refreshes the screen and returns the view from webcam 1. I cannot seem to make webcam 2 primary. Do you have webcam 1 pinned?

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    4. It isn't pinned, it is just shared. I have a "switch cameras" button in my top left corner usually.

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    5. When I host, I see a "switch camera" option too. I do not see that when you host.

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    6. I'm baffled then. I can switch when you host, but can't recall how I do it!

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    7. When I host, you say that double clicking on the thumbnail on the other camera makes it primary. Didn't work for me. Next time I host, please takes notes!

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  14. Splendid looking game again Jonathan. It's a period that I'd like to game, but I think something else would have to be moved on first.

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    1. I know your position on too many projects oh so well.

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  15. Another great looking game and write up, Jonathan. There are a few RCW fans out here who play this period regularly (with house rules, I think).

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    1. Thanks, Dean! While recap is mine, all credit for the game is Graham's. I see RCW games on various blogs but most are fought at a lower (ie skirmish) level.

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    2. There's a lot of nice looking 28mm stuff out there, but I'm afraid that the skirmish level game for a war on such a vast scale over a large area doesn't "speak" to me on the subject. There was quite a fad for the RCW a few years back with the Perfect Captain's "Red Actions", which are sort of low level between skirmish and full sized battle. We played a few games of them. Peter Pig's "Square Bashing" in its first incarnation also popularised the period in a smaller scale. Mark Plant's "Pygmy Wars" site (just google it) is a terrific resource.

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  16. Very nice game and report Jonathan! Not exactly a mainstream conflict - it’s probably the first RCW game I’m reading of!

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    1. Thank you, Mike! Certainly not a mainstream conflict for me. Well, for now anyway...

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  17. Great looking game, really interesting period but we need Tom Courteney in his black leather coat and his armoured train!
    Best Iain

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    1. I don’t know about Tom Courteney but I expect to see an armored train coming down the track before too long.

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    2. There was a Red Officer in a long leather coat lurking about. Armoured cars before armoured trains, I think. Even tho' I have one and it's a great model (Peter Pig) the Armoured Train is really a strategic / off table asset, so getting it involved in an appropriate way is a challenge. Plus they are really big, long models.

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  18. I find the RCW much more engaging (for some reason) than the Spanish Civil War. Maybe it's because the SCW is too close to WWII (ie, WWII "light") whereas the RCW really is unlike any other conflic (speaking of Dr. Zhivago, will the rules cover armored trains, ala Strelnikov?).

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    1. Maybe SCW is too close to WWII but RCW is not that far removed. My understanding is that armored trains will find a spot in the rules.

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    2. @Ed M: I wrote "For Whom The Dice Rolls" because the SCW isn't WW2 light. That's the problem with most systems that people use. They're WW2 with bits chopped off/glued on. There's no Blitzkrieg, and armour is much less important most of the time. Because Spain missed WW1 and Franco was a colonial general the Spanish had a lot of catching up to do. We tend to focus on the Condor Legion, the International Brigades and the Italians, but most of the fighting was done by Spaniards.

      The RCW is also not WW1+, so it presents some interesting challenges. I will be including Armoured Trains, and I do have officer figures in long black leather coats. The problem is that they are really strategic weapons for fast troop movement or effectively mobile artillery batteries, so where they sit on the table is an issue for any game trying to simulate the actual conflict.

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  19. Very nice report of a cool looking game. That civil war really isn’t taught enough in schools. Its sheer scale and the impact it had on the world throughout were massive.

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    1. I studied the Russian Revolution as part of my A Level course (that's top two years of high school, aged 17/18) and the start of the RCW. Also the effects with the fall of Trotsky and the rise of Stalin. Not everyone who does secondary school history would cover it, alas.

      Don't start me on the Taiping Rebellion.

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    2. Wished me and school way back then got on better. Almost all the history I know and learned was taught via my grandfather or from reading books. I should have moved on to A Levels and history was one of my favourite subjects too, but… :)

      Sounds like you made much more of your time at school than me! Lol

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