A Wee Russian Civil War Game AAR

 Club night and with Chris close to having some Chinese forces available for this period we decided to remind ourselves how the rules worked with a Russian Civil War game.

We currently use Triumph of the Will by Too Fat Lardies, not as polished as some of their newer rule sets but specifically designed for the interwar period and with some interesting mechanisms.

Our game features a Train station with a weak 3 company battalion of Whites in hastily thrown up trenches, supported by a recently arrived armoured train with MG, Gun and company of Shock troops.

Help is on the way with a mixed regiment of Cossacks supported my artillery and a Tchanka and the possibility of a visit from a plane.

Attempting to wrest the Train and station from the Counter Revolutionary Gangsters are a battalion of 5 companies of Red infantry, supported by two companies of veteran Siberian rifles, two guns, two MG's and a regiment of 5 Sotnias of horse. Off table a reserve company of naval infantry waits to deploy.

Move one sees the Reds press forward and inflict serious damage on one company of whites with the artillery, this would be a feature of the game as I had over egged the artillery a bit for both sides, the Cavalry meanwhile marched around the foot to try intercept the White Cossacks marching to relieve the station.

The red foot push forward with the Internationalist ex POWs taking a thorough beating from artillery and MG fire.

Next move and the massed Red Cavalry come on, sweeping around the small wood to try and head off the White Cossacks who have entered just in front of the railway station defences. . Numbers are similar with 5 units each but the Cossacks benefit from being aggressive in combat and having 8 man units vs Red 7 man units.

The artillery is devastating for both sides and the whites in the station are taking a particular pounding as the red foot advances.

Next move the reserve unit of red sailors comes on right on the flank of the station, I am thinking this might be a game changer but Chris hits them with concentrated fire and they are immediatley stopped in their tracks with nearly 50% casualties.

The cavalry close with each other and the Whites as expected get the upper hand pushing a unit of red cavalry back and then breaking through into the next unit. Chris has however sent one unit of white Cossacks at the infantry which evens things up a little for me.

My red foot close with the station defences but both sides have taken serious casualties.

Two out of three white units are shot to bits the reds are doing better but not much.

Shock troops from the train take up position in the hasty trenches, these veteran troops will be difficult to shift.

The Kuban Cossacks close with my Siberian rifles which is not good news, I did manage to get a round of MG fire into them first so only 6 from the original 8 are available to go in. Not surprisingly the Rifles are wiped out but the Cossacks are down to half strength at the end of the melee. The Siberian rifles were my better units.

The Cavalry melee swirls on. The Whites get the better of the first engagements but as they break through onto the supporting units they are then sent realing back in turn, as Chris hasnt used all his Cossacks he cant get the edge the extra numbers would give him.

Finally the Reds are at the entrenchments, however the casualties and suppressions from the supporting fire mean they dont quite get into hand to hand.

Finally Chris throws what he needs for a plane and it starts to inflict casualties first with the guns then with the Red cavalry.

The Tchanka supporting the cavalry gives an extra 6 dice in hand to hand, representing the devastating effect of short range machine gun fire in a swirling melee. This is just enough to stave off total defeat for the Red Cavalry.

The white MG and Cossacks are able to inflict enough casualties on the Red infantry for two more

units to fall back and the battered remains of the White defenders hang on to the station, just.

The Cossacks have been all but wiped out but the Reds have only one intact unit of Cavalry to take advantage of this. A very close run win for Chris and the Whites, but a Phryic victory as they dont have enough remaining troops to occupy the station. A good fun game allowing us to revisit the rules ahead of some larger games in the coming months.

Thanks Chris for allowing me to get one of my favourite collections back on table. Great fun as usual. An thank you Terry for not falling out with us for being the very last to pack up yet again at the end of the night. Sorry!