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Miniatures Adventure => Back of Beyond => Topic started by: Widows Son on December 16, 2016, 10:30:34 PM
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INTRODUCTION
This game was fought between four chums, two of whom played on the Bolshevik side, one the Whites, and one their British Allies. In order to win, players had to accumulate the highest amount of reputation points; as these would secure their future safety or advancement within their own force, and is a system inspired by the Lion Rampant rules.
Reputation points were earned by routing or destroying enemy units, destroying enemy armoured vehicles or aircraft, rescuing (or capturing – depending which side you were on) members of the Romanov family, and/or items of their valuables that they were trying to escape to China with (see below for background).
The rules we used were a home-made mix of adapted The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBKs) for infantry and cavalry and adapted Flames of War for armoured vehicles. Some specific RCW ‘flavour’ rules (Commissars encouraging Bolshevik forces, for example) were added from various rule sources. The result was that they worked really well and we were all very happy with the overall feel of the game.
I also tried out my new game mat from Tiny Wargames, and what a stunning mat it is. I bought a Zulu Wars mat in a custom size and asked for no track to be on it. I cannot praise the service and the product highly enough. I am delighted with the mat and all my chums were impressed with it too. It arrived early and in good order and I highly recommend it. I shall be posting a colonial AAR in the next two weeks and there will be wider views of it in there, if anyone is interested.
I am posting some pictures of the battle.
BACKGROUND SCENARIO
The year is 1918 and the Russian Civil War is underway. July saw the murder of Czar Nicholas II and his family at Yekaterinburg, and now the Cheka are hunting for any remaining members of the Romanov family. One small such family group is making its way towards the safety of China. These are the lands in-between, being the area where the outer edges of the Old Russian Empire merge and melt into Central Asia and the northern reaches of China (east of Tashkent and north of Kashgar).
The head of that small family is Count Alexey, a cousin of the late Czar, and realizing that his life is in great danger he is trying to leave Russia with his wife, Countess Sophia, and their two children. Prudently he also takes their considerable family treasure - including gold bullion - with them, under the escort of their trusted guards.
Being close to the old Great Silk Route, the area has for centuries been a favourite haunt of bandits. Unfortunately a large group of well-armed bandits followed the party for days, ambushing them early one morning, killing all of the guards, and capturing the family and the treasure. Reports indicate that the bandits have taken them all to the frontier settlement of Transkaya, confident that they have time enough to consider their next steps.
GAME BRIEFINGS
The mission for both sides was to capture/rescue the relatives of the Czar alive, in order that they may be sent to Moscow/China (as applicable), and to recover all the treasure that they had.
Each side started with a mix of units and more units came on as reinforcements, including aircraft.
RESULTS
From the outset the Whites (under Colonel Larriski) were utterly mission focused and they maintained that throughout the game, going from house to house in search of bandits and captives to rescue. Ultimately they found - and rescued - two members of the family and racked up a load of routed/destroyed units, coming in as clear winners.
Comrade Clivovitch came in a highly creditable second for the Bolsheviks, having captured one of the family and achieved several routs on the Whites and Interventionists.
Colonel Thomas for the British and Comrade Benyari for the Bolsheviks drew equal third, and both also played very well indeed.
I will leave the final words to Colonel Larriski and Comrade Clivovitch…
Colonel Larriski for the Whites:
In spite of my late arrival I soon picked up the game, partly due to our hosts pre game briefing and the super rules. I had only missed a couple of moves and luckily the moves made on my behalf had been in line with my intentions.
So to the story, the white Russian forces headed to the nearest cover with Cossack forces moving up my right flank and an armoured unit moving to threaten my left I needed to no be in the open when they arrived. To my front was a broken ground and brush with a small wood beyond I headed there with my Russian regular unit in the hop that I could get to the wood before the Cossacks arrived. My elite officer cadet school unit sort hard cover from some solid building as the armour pushed on the left.
I had a small arty unit to use as a firm base, but as yet only one enemy in view so one quick shot to remind them that they should keep clear was all I had time for, before I had to turn it to face the armour.
My elite troops came under fire as they entered the building so I decided to give them some steel and charged in, the bandits had no chance and I was soon in command of the building. In one of the rooms we found one of the captives, the young daughter. This was to be the pattern for my moves, with some very tactical moving allowed me to hold units back till I had a target and them let them have it. I took the decision to close with any bandits and it paid off when I later rescued the Count too.
So having racked up the points I decided to beat a retreat, after all points count but only if you escape with them .
Comrade Clivovitch for the `Bolsheviks:
Truth News: Imperialist Use Mechanical Monsters with Mercenary Crews in an Attempt to subdue the People. The battle started well enough for the people against the tyrant combined forces of Imperialists and British – yes the Whites are not man enough to face us alone. Despite this powerful league of evil, my forces, on the right flank, stormed forward (with the exception of a cowardly MG unit) with enthusiasm while forces under my comrade to my left were less motivated to the honourable cause.
Initial success included entering the bandit infested settlement of Transkaya with a Cheka battalion, a Garford Putilov armoured car, swiftly supported by aircraft – evidence of modern combined arms tactics and training. While storming the settlement my comrade on the left advanced through some woods, bombarded White infantry and launched a wild cavalry charge into the woods, which ended in failure.
Despite the spirited advance of the Peoples’ army the enemy used machine power over human courage exemplified by their use of a tracked monster liberally covered in armour and guns with a plentiful supply of capitalist ammunition. This advanced into the settlement of Transkaya, indiscriminately firing in all directions with its British crew showing little regard to local civilians. If this was not damning enough, any decent human being would have been horrified by the follow up airstrike on Transkaya which involved strafing of peasant thatched houses whose occupants only ‘crime’ was merely to work the land. Such inhuman acts spurned on our brave men to greater efforts but with more and more enemy re-enforcements arriving, things became desperate.
A spirited attack captured a member of the aristocracy while a determined charge of cavalry almost managed to carve its way pass the tracked monster, an armoured car and hordes of imperialist infantry. With men being shot of the saddle by the ferocious machine-gun fire of men who were only brave when behind armour, they gallantly pressed on – enemy to the right of them, enemy to the left of them bravely rode the 60 men. Despite the casualties, they flung themselves with sabres high into the waiting infantry where they fought to the death – almost achieving victory. If only this brave and glorious cavalry charge had been supported by my comrade’s cavalry unit, which chose, despicably, to stand and watch before breaking, the battle would have been won.
Comrades, take heart. While the battle did not go the way intended, it was fought against the odds with the enemy deploying the most foul of mechanical monsters one can imagine. We at least know that when the battle is joined one of our men is worth 25% more than one of theirs. The action also exposed traitors who were swiftly dealt with. Comrades, while our army is smaller, it is now purer than ever before.
Victory to the People!
No surrender!
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Hmmm, apologies as only one photo made it as an attachment! However I think I have now worked out how to do it. Hoorah! :)
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The Whites make good their rescue and leave the settlement...
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The Bolsheviks advance! (I may have cracked this photo thing after all?)
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The British tank dominates the town market square while Red cavalry - soon to be wiped out by the tank - try to sneak past it. (Fortunately for the townsfolk the cavalry died right next to the graveyard…)
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Lovely!
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I'm pleased you cracked the photo attachment thingy because these look great.
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Thank you! I will post more photos of the game in a day or so.
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This is tha bomb!
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Would it be possible for you to post your TMWWBK mods here, WS? I've been toying with the idea of adapting it to the almost contemporary Mexican Revolution, but haven't yet thought of a way to get round the all-purpose discipline rating's inability to represent units with poor training but high morale, and vice-versa.
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Fun sounding game and great pics :-* Thanks!
LB
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Good looking game..thanx for sharing..
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Your setup looks great!
I'd love to see your TMWWBK mods too: picked up the rules with this exact idea in mind, so nice to see it works.
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Many thanks for the kind words chaps/comrades! I am posting some more pictures now and either tonight, or tomorrow, I will post my RCW adaptation of TMWWBKs for you. Cheers.
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The White Infantry advances towards Transkaya, supported by a British tank. It was this flank where a lot of the cavalry action occurred, and where a unit of White Infantry was wiped out by Red Artillery.
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As the Whites and the British move into Transkaya, Ivan the Church Warden and his son look on, and wonder if their small plot will be left untouched (particularly as they know some bandits are hiding in the church with the Count!).
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The elite Cheka unit moves into the town square - all the while under a hail of fire from the Whites - and are hell-bent on assaulting the building to their left where they suspect (rightly as it turns out) that bandits are holding a member of the family.
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The Bolsheviks invested heavily in ways to 'motivate' their troops, including use of this vehicle/these Commissars which added a +1 morale bonus for units that tested to rally within 8 inches of it.
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A new Commissar has joined the force Comrades! He performed his duties very well, 'motivating' (ahem - shooting) so many of his own men that he was the sole survivor of his unit.
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Duel of the monsters! This is the view from the British tank as it took on the Bolsheviks Garford Putilov. Both sides seemed to pause and watch as these heavies slugged it out…
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Surprise result o_o The British tank crew bail out! (They did manage to remount again later in the game and ended up advancing into the town square).
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One of the British tank crew members is at the rear of the tank, gathering breath. Meanwhile the Whites in the background are organising themselves to move out of the building with the daughter of the Count that they have just rescued from bandits.
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The Victor of the Great Duel of Transkaya! The Garford Putilov crew were given an extra vodka ration that night for the part they played in the battle.
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The White Infantry storm into the church, killing the bandit guards and rescuing the Count. It was this second rescue that really secured them victory in the game. In the background the bailed out British tank crew are still gathering their wits after taking a beating from the Red armoured car...
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The final photograph by our intrepid reporter… This scene captures the action as it swirls around the church, the graveyard, and the market square. Ultimately - and despite the valiant attempts by the Bolsheviks - the Whites and the British dominated these key pieces of ground for much of the battle, thus rendering their victory more likely.
A great game fought in a marvellous spirit! We will be having another RCW game in the next couple of weeks and I hope to post another AAR then.
In the meantime, I shall be hosting a Sudan game next week (Wednesday evening) using the TMWWBKs rules, and I will be posting an AAR of that in the days following.
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Looks like it really captures the back of beyond spirit! Great stuff!
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Apologies for not posting my TMWWBKs adaptation for the RCW today, only some 'real life' stuff intervened. I will post them tomorrow. Cheers.
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Absolutely brilliant! Well done. What make is the Garford Putilov? Great paint work all round too! Thanks for sharing
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Thank you all for the super kind messages - really very much appreciated. :)
Ignatieff - the Garford Putilov was bought from Copplestone. I spray painted it green over a black undercoat, applied decals, weathered it, and then gave it a spray of Dullcote. It is a lovely model but I felt that the Maxim MGs were so long that they would not survive contact on the tabletop, so I cut them down slightly before gluing them in place. I made some filler for behind the wheels from green stuff and this provides support behind the wheels (between them and the body), so that they are more robust.
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So, to my rules adaptations of TMWWBKs for the RCW…
In case I forget to mention it later, if anyone would like any of the cards or markers that I discuss below, just PM me and I will send them through.
I use unit markers to denote different levels of unit, from top level (Officer Cadets or Cheka), through Regulars, to Conscripts. Attached is a picture of a unit marker for an Officer Cadet unit. I also use markers to denote unit leaders, I give them each a name as this helps with the characterisation, and I put their leadership value onto the marker. I found that doing it this way means that the game can start without fuss as all the pre prep has already occurred.
The next thing that I have produced is a set of unit cards, with one card for each level/type of troop. I will post pics below. In essence, I like to place all the key information for each unit type onto their respective cards. I do not use the volley fire rules, and all units are based on the Regular Infantry category from the rules. For each level of unit I give a particular free move: top level units I give Skirmish (what I call Fire & Movement on the cards) as I like to think this reflects their canniness (and their high leadership means that they rarely fail a move or fire test anyway). Mid level units (Regulars) have the free fire, while Conscripts only have Move as their free action.
For artillery and HMGs, I limit their ammunition in order to not have them dominate the battle too much and turn it into a WW1 type game. For this game I allocated between 3-8 rounds of fire per heavy weapon. Of course the enemy do not know when a heavy weapon has run out of ammo or it it is just trying to lure them on…
I use a pack of playing cards to decide the order that units take actions. At the start of a turn, each player receives the same number of cards as he has units, and then players get called to lay their first card. The highest card goes first, and so on down through the cards, until all players have laid. This allows for quite some tactical nuances, with players able to lay low cards early (for example), in order to gain the initiative elsewhere later. Once all cards have been laid that is the end of the turn. This system also adds some nice tension when units are racing for objectives, or trying to make it into cover, etc.
Whilst I have not used it yet, I would suggest that a way to reflect high morale but poor training would be to give a + bonus (+2 perhaps?) only for Morale type tests with other tests being taken on a different rating.
I may well have missed some other details, but am happy to answer any questions.
Good gaming!
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A Conscript level unit with Officer.
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The card for Conscript level units.
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A Regular level unit card.
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Top level unit card.
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Artillery card.
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…and finally, the HMG card.
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Excellent work on the cards, WS. I wasn't really expecting more than some brief mods notes.
I like the idea of granting different free actions depending on unit class. I was already thinking of doing that for the Mex Rev. I might just borrow the idea of giving elite units 'Skirmish', which for me means US regulars (not that I have or plan to have any, but to allow for others who do... )
Am I right in assuming you use the firing stats as per the rules, and haven't upgraded in line with the suggestion for bolt action rifles on page 36?
I see that you haven't changed the MG stats from the rule as written, which are very obviously intended to represent early, Gatling-type MGs. I felt that some upgrading was essential, both for accuracy's sake, and to differentiate the two types on the tabletop. If you'll only be using improved MGs it shouldn't be an issue. My mods are: four dice per crew figure; 30 inch range; no jamming; 7/9 points. This might appear to produce an over-powerful unit, but as Mexican MGs will all be poorly drilled, and there'll be an out-of-ammo rule that comes into play on a particular dice roll (yet to be decided, but probably something like more ones rolled than hits inflicted), its effect should be sufficiently tempered. BTW, the out-of-ammo rule will apply to all units; both sides were plagued by ammo supply problems, either because of shortages (revolutionaries), or poor fire discipline leading to appalling wastage (Federales). You might also be interested in my ideas for LMGs: two crew figures; four dice per crew figure; 24 inch range; no jamming; 4/6 points.
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Excellent looking game :-* and some good ideas. I like the activation rules, I've used the same idea in a western gunfight set I wrote myself, but hadn't thought of using it for TMWWBK multi-player games.
I'll be using the rules for the 1912/13 Balkans Wars, so I may pinch a few of your ideas for that!
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Thanks LM and Sunjester! And good luck to both of you for your own adaptations of TMWWBKs.
LM: You are right that I did not upgrade the rifles, as we found that the firing on the cards was bloody enough. I forgot to mention that if a unit had a Lewis gunner, I allocated 3 x dice for that figure for shooting, and they rolled to become a casualty (like the leader rolls), with a 3 denoting that they were killed (and no one else could then use the Lewis gun).
I see the need for you to differentiate your HMGs and I think your ideas should work well. We looked at adjusting the range of Maxims, but to be honest, like many wargamers I like to get my toys on the table, and so keeping the range as is, plus restricting the ammo, was a way of having heavy weapons but without them dominating to the point of skewing the feel of the game. As it was, we found the artillery particularly deadly. Of course it all depends on the war and the feel that you are after!
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Thanks for posting your mods: they look really interesting. Still haven't had a game of plain TMWWBK yet, but after that I'll give your ideas a go.
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The difference with MGS in the Mex Rev, on the federal side at least, is that they weren't organic to infantry units; they were all temporarily assigned from the artillery regiment on a needs basis, and no distinction was drawn between heavy and light MGs - which is why I'll be treating LMGs as separate crewed weapon units, the same as HMGs.
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Hello,
All your efforts look gorgeous to me! I would really like to try your MODs.
Any chance to send all interested gamers a file containing your game material,
tokens, cards ?
Thank you!
Stefano
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Hi Stefano, thank you for your kind words and it would be my pleasure to send the documents to whoever would like them. Unfortunately I have no idea how to use file sharing ware, however if you or anyone else would like to PM me I will gladly email the stuff across. Thanks again.