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Miniatures Adventure => Back of Beyond => Topic started by: Pan Marek on November 09, 2021, 07:08:27 PM

Title: Red Actions- Mechanics Questions
Post by: Pan Marek on November 09, 2021, 07:08:27 PM
Hi-
I have an opportunity to run a RCW game using a friend's figures.  I really want to give Red Actions a try.  I've been a fan or the Pygmy Wars site for some time now, and Mark Plant speaks very highly of the rules.  I've given his version and the original version a read, and there are some things I'm not understanding.  Most of the rules seem very straightforward, so I feel ignorant for potentially missing something, but i need to ask:
1-  The rules speak of "tokens" for officers.  I think junior officers are assigned one, while a player picks two or three at random fro senior officers, choosing one out of the group.   Is this correct?
2-   I assume that the tokens go in a bag or box, to be chosen by the GM or a player at random?  Does one do this for both junior or senior officers?   If not for juniors, how does one assign a token for them?
3-  What does one put on a token?  I see officer  "characteristics", but does each token have just one?  And, since such characteristics include "partisan'" (among others) how does a regular officer use such a trait?
4-  There are officer cards in the various troop cards-  are these the "tokens"?
5- Last but not least-  The rules say shoot, then move.  May I assume that a unit can shoot and not move?  And that one cannot move, then shoot?

Thanks for any help you can provide one these issues!
Title: Re: Red Actions- Mechanics Questions
Post by: Pan Marek on November 11, 2021, 07:38:42 PM
For all of you who want an informed answer to my inquiry, please see Mark Plant's replies, below:

Hi Mark,

You've sent it to me at Pygmy Wars, but I am Mark Plant.

I'll answer as best as I can, but of course there are no official rulings any more.

There are sets of officer tokens for each army. They look like this.

image.png (see below)

Each company and squadron (not gun or MG) gets one.I move them along with the unit, but you could just as easily write it down on a sheet and refer to that. They get picked at random.

They have a dice modifier -- for all that unit's morale rolls -- and sometimes a characteristic. Zaitsev, above, is "partisan" so units under his command are better in rough ground and at scouting. It doesn't imply that his unit is a partisan one, just that they have some bonuses of a particular sort.

Usually senior officers are "pick two and keep the best one", but I sometimes vary that for different circumstances. For example, for 1920 1st Horse Army I would pick "best of three", because they had good commanders across the board, but for 1918 Reds I would just take the one, because there were lots of completely inept commanders in the early war Soviets.

I play with one senior officer for every one there would be in the real army, using reasonable orders of battle, and that they affect only their own troops. The original rules assumed only one senior officer per side -- the general.

The "shoot and then move" was one of the major changes I made. It came about because units could otherwise rush up in unrealistic ways and blast people at short range (we used to get cavalry frontally charging guns to shoot the gunners off with rifle fire, for example, which is wildly unrealistic). There were also some issues around retiring and shooting. Badly placed MGs and artillery could also pivot then shoot in the original, so basically could never be outflanked, not matter how much you tried.

You can shoot and not move -- that's quite normal. Usually with infantry you would shoot and "evade" to reflect men taking local cover. but without moving -- because men evading are harder to hit. In my version there is NO ability to move then shoot.

Hope that helps,
Mark


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mark lewandowski <marklewski@yahoo.com>
To:
Mark Plant

Wed, Nov 10 at 10:29 AM

Mark-
It does help.  Immensely.  Of course, in my frustration,  last night I looked at all the unit cards I  printed (some time back)
and found the leader tokens.  So luckily I understand your explanation better.

Only one more question-  Does one pick junior officers randomly "out of a hat"?
That is, mix all the Polish or Red or White tokens together and draw one for each
company/squadron?  Or, is it up to the GM, as part of the scenario?

Thanks again for the help-  I think you and Cuprum are getting me into a
new period.  See you on LAF (where I'm Pan Marek).

Thanks, Mark




Show original message


Mark Plant <pygmywars@gmail.com>
To:
mark lewandowski

Wed, Nov 10 at 1:45 PM

Mark,

The choice about who picks is yours.

Playing ordinary games, I let the players do it, but anyone I would play against wouldn't be competitive enough to cheat.

The players should know who their officers are before the start of the game, because it is information a general would have.

Cheers,
Mark