The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers presents........

[Ignatieff]

Durchfall – an interesting proposition to Smirnoff….

The fat chinaman in the opium den was emphatic.  ‘This war is not about conquest, its about loot!’ he screamed, as he tottered unsteadily.  What was that about a chinaman and opium pipe and a Scotsman and a bottle of whisky, you thought to yourself.

‘There are eight magnificent treasures in Urga, and some of them are possessed of the most amazing supernatural powers…’.  With that he flailed round and fell straight on his flat yellow face. ‘And all of them worth a fortune!’ he screamed through a burble of blood and snot.  Don’t know where he gets the energy from you thought, as the yellow dragon wrapped you in its cotton wool charms..

He then proceeded to list them, which by some quirk of drug abuse, you still remembered next morning:

-   The Buddha of Kathmandu.  A 12’ high metal idol of great age gifted to Der Baron by the people of Nepal
-   The Tusks of Jonah’s whale.  A present to Der Baron from a grateful Haile Selassie
-   The real tomb of Genghis Khan.  Recovered from a secret location south of Urga
-   Sarcophagus of Ramesis II. A trophy from Der Barons Egyptian expedition a few years back.  An object of great mystical power.
-   The Kaiser’s Imperial train.  Purchased from the German government in 191?. A lesson in hubris.
-   ‘Kosmotechnische Gesellschaft’. An ancient meteor crystal, presented to Der Baron by Professor Houston Stewart Chamberlin, in which he believes that the theory of ‘Cosmic Ice’ will be proven before too long.
-   The Spear of Destiny (naturlich!)
-   The Ark of the Covenant.  On loan from Der Baron’s good friend Halie Selassie.


Possibilities, possibilities…..


Smirnoff's Armoured division in action around Urga

[Ignatieff]

Task Force Achilles motorised column struggling through a Chinese town...

[Ignatieff]

Durchfall – Bolshevik Objectives & Army Lists

Background

“And don’t even think of coming back if you fail this time!”  
Trotsky slammed the heavy wooden doors of his office behind him as the two of you marched out.  The mission was clear and simple.  ‘Bring Der Baron back to Moscow in an iron cage, and secure Urga for the Revolution’. He had reiterated this over and over again. Obsessively, even by his standards. Urga was to be the jumping off point for the eastern thrust of revolutionary socialism.  Its backward nomadic economy, combined by the ‘White Terror’ of Der baron and his cronies had made it ripe for Bolshevism.  Trotsky was also at pains to point out that failure to win Mongolia would let either the old Imperial powers into Russia by the back door, or, even more sinisterly, the emerging regional super-power of Japan.  None must succeed.  And the International Revolution must prevail.
The overnight train to Ekaterinburg that snowy November evening was much busier than normal…..

3rd MONGOLIAN LIBERATION ARMY
Army organization and movement: Note that the ‘Brigade’ is the smallest unit of manoeuvre on the map.  All Brigades are assumed to take appropriate precautions on the march, at camp and for reconnaissance, etc.  Larger formations are purely administrative units, and do not need to be kept together.  Movement is ‘a la Kriegspiel’, i.e. variable.
Total army strength: c.12,000.  Broken down: 5,000 rifles, 2,300 sabres, 30 field guns, 48 HMGs, 12 tanks, 24 armoured cars, 12 aircraft, 1 armoured train, 3 unarmoured trains, 24 heavy guns.
Starts: Railway depot, Ekaterinburg, near the scene of the ‘cleansing’ of the Romanov pestilence.

CinC: Comrade Admiral V.I.Blackwood  2 I.C.: Comrade General Red Ted

Kukov’s Armoured Train Division
CinC: Major Kukov.  Morale: excellent
1 x Armoured train, Capable of transporting one infantry/armoured cavalry Brigade or half a cavalry Brigade or six aircraft. Made up of 2 armoured wagons with field guns and LMGs.  Transport wagons armed with LMG’s.
3 x unarmoured transport trains: each capable of carrying one infantry/armoured cavalry Brigade or half a cavalry Brigade or six aircraft.


Russian armoured train, flanked by cavalry columns steaming through Siberia...

Spetlov’s Siberian Shock Brigade – 1300 rifles, 12 field guns & 12 HMGs
CinC: Colonel Spetlov.  Morale: Excellent
1st Siberian Shock Battalion – 400 rifles
2nd Siberian Shock Battalion – 400 rifles
7rth Latvian Rifles – 200 rifles
Crimean Fleet Sailors Assault Battalion – 300 rifles
Red Fleet Independent HMG Battery –12 HMGs
1st Artillery Regiment – 12 field guns & 12 200mm off table guns

Rudnev’s Central Asian Independent Assault Brigade – 1800 rifles
CinC: Major Rudnev.  Morale: poor
1st Assault Battalion – 500 rifles
11th Rifle Battalion – 500 rifles
13th  Rifle Battalion – 400 rifles
14th Rifle Battalion – 400 rifles

Blinov’s Independent Cavalry Brigade – 900 sabres and 12 HMGs
CinC: Colonel Blinov.  Morale: good
1st Turkistan Cavalry Regiment – 300 sabres
2nd Turkistan Cavalry Regiment – 300 sabres
10th Turkistan Cavalry Regiment – 300 sabres
1st Independent Cavalry MG Battery – 12 Tchankas



Lobovski’s Cossack Brigade – 1400 sabres, 6 field guns & 12 HMGs
CinC: Major Lobovski. Morale: poor
13th Crimean Cossack Regiment – 500 sabres
48th Cossack Regiment – 250 sabres
49th Cossack Regiment – 250 sabres
183rd Cavalry Regiment – 400 sabres
184th Cavalry Regiment – 400 sabres
4th Independent Cavalry MG Battery –12 Tchankas
135th horse artillery battery – 6 field guns

Duko’s “Defenders of the Revolution” Brigade: 1900 rifles, 12 field guns & 12 HMGs
CinC: Captain Duko.  Morale: fair
3rd Cheka Battalion – 500 rifles
5th rifle battalion – 300 rifles
6th rifle battalion – 300 rifles
7th Red Sea Fleet Sailors Battalion – 300 rifles
Red guard Virgins Battalion – 500 rifles
171st field artillery battery – 6 field guns & 6 x 150mm off-table guns
172nd field artillery battery – 6 field guns & 6 x 150mm off table guns
350th Independent HMG battery – 12 guns


Red sailors salute their Comrades in the armoured car squadron!

Kolesnikov’s Armoured Cavalry Brigade – 36 armoured vehicles.
CinC: Colonel Kolesnikov.  Morale: good
1st Recce Troop – 12 armoured cars
2nd Recce Troop – 12 armoured cars
Heavy Cavalry Troop – 12 tanks

Uncle Yuri’s “flying Avenger” air corps
CinC: Comrade pilot General, Yuri Gagarin. Morale: excellent
6 light bombers (mostly Junkers)
6 attack aircraft (mostly Fokkers)

Intelligence
After Der Baron’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Hu Jjing Wanger at Chang Chun, it’s rumoured that his army is in poor morale, dispersed around Mongolia, and short of equipment and ammunition.
His two best forces are in Urga and Kashgar, with around 2-3,000 men in each.
Urga is rumoured to be being heavily fortified.
The British are rumoured to be organising an expedition to Urga. They currently have a small garrison there.
The Chinese victor of Chang Chun, Hu Jjing Wanger, is rumoured to marching on Urga with a force of c.15,000 men, including the traitor Smirnoff.  Trotsky has offered a personal reward of 10,000 British gold sovereigns for capturing or killing Smirnoff.
The Trans-Siberian railway line is under Red control as far as Irkutsk.  Irkutsk itself is garrisoned by elements of the Siberian Soviet.  The area east of there, and in particularly Trans Baikalia, is contested territory, with White bandit forces supported by elements of American and Japanese forces much in evidence.


Bolshevik might on the march!




Artillery and machine gun coys defend the vital river crossing

[Ignatieff]

Durchfall – Tibetan objectives and forces

Background

Lake Namsto: October 192?

Background

The snows were early this year.  A hard winter is coming.  As you gazed out across the tranquil blue waters of Lake Namsto you couldn’t help but thinking you should have done more to stop things getting to this.  The statue of the ‘spaceman’ had stood in the foothills of Kathmandu for over 1,000 years.  It had been venerated by locals for all that time.  However Der baron’s fame, and the grinding poverty of the region had made his generous offer of cash, and crops and protection in return for ‘looking after’ the statue in Urga seem reasonable at the time.  Certainly Der baron didn’t know its real significance.  He didn’t know that it talked to a place where men could move freely through time.  He didn’t know that the statue was made by natives who stumbled across a man from the 23rd century and who worshipped him until he went back to whence he came.  But the statue has gone, and Von Stauffenberg has discovered its secret: a metal from the future so powerful and flexible that it could change the course of world history.  You thought at the time, during the battle of Chang Chun, that you had destroyed the mortar that Von Stauffenberg had made from the sample he had ‘found’.  But perhaps not.  There are too many armies now headed for Urga, and not just for the conquest of Mongolia.  You must stop them all from finding what they are looking for, and destroy the statue for all time.  The balance must be restored.

Objective

Stop the competing factions from acquiring the ‘one eyed yellow idol’, and return the universe to its natural order.

Help your fellow Buddhists against the untrammelled evils of communism, capitalism, greed and despair.


Armies

Army organization and movement: Note that the ‘Brigade’ is the smallest unit of manoeuvre on the map.  All Brigades are assumed to take appropriate precautions on the march, at camp and for reconnaissance, etc.  Larger formations are purely administrative units, and do not need to be kept together.  Movement is ‘a la Kriegspiel’, i.e. variable.

Army totals: c.10,000.  Split: 6,000 infantry; 1200 cavalry; 200 war dogs; 12 field guns; 6 jingals; 6 flametrhowers, 18 HMGs.  Plus 6 attack zeppelins to transport and support this force.



1.   Lhasa Horde (3 Brigades)

Location: Lhasa. CinC: Hunga Zin.  Morale: excellent

Golden Warrior Brigade:  900 ‘Golden warrior’ monks in 3 battalions

Lhasa Defence Brigade: 1200 British trained regular infantry in 3 battalions. 1 attached battery of HMGs (6 guns), 1 attached battery of field guns (6 guns)

Serene Lake of Buddha Brigade: 1200 Tibetan irregular infantry in 2 battalions, 1 battery of attached jingals (6 guns)

2.   Golden Sun Horde (3 Brigades)

Location: Lhasa.  CinC: Anil Kamala.  Morale: excellent

Tranquillity Brigade: 1200 Tibetan lancers with 200 war dogs

Noble life of Peace Brigade: 1500 Tibetan irregular infantry in 2 battalions, plus 6 flame throwers

Young Sons of Calmness Brigade: 1200 British trained regular infantry in 3 battalions.  2 batteries of HMGs (12 guns) and 1 field battery (6 guns)


Intelligence

Der Baron’s army is rumoured to be in poor morale, dispersed around Mongolia, and short of equipment and ammunition. He has about 8,000 effectives.

The Chinese are invading with an army of c.25,000, from Manchuria

The Trans-Siberian railway line is under Red control as far as Irkutsk.  Irkutsk itself is garrisoned by elements of the Siberian Soviet.  The area east of there, and in particularly Trans Baikalia, is contested territory, with White bandit forces supported by elements of American and Japanese forces much in evidence.

Trotsky has put a bounty of 10,000 gold sovereigns on the head of Smirnoff.

A Red Army of c.25,000 men, well equipped, is assembling in Moscow.

Trotsky and the British are the two most interested parties in the statue, but there may be more. The Chinese want Mongolia to give prestige and as a springboard for the conquest of all China.

The British have few troops in the region, mainly a garrison in Shanghai.

[Ignatieff]

Durchfall

Count Zepo Cappone & Major Fletcher’s brief.

Background

Count Zepo Capponi’s tale………

Moscow, June 192?

You had been to the Sandunovsky Bathhouse once before. In 191? before all the unpleasantness had kicked off.  You, Mimi Castefiore (the Opera starlet), and a case of Krug. Fond memories.  However Like everything else in Bolshevik Moscow, this once magnificent institution had not done well out the brave new socialist world.  The paint was peeling and the lush baroque interior was covered in dust and reeked of cheap tobacco.  Outside, jumpy Latvian riflemen checked paperwork in what appeared to you to be a random and unknowing way.

You had received the telegram on your Sicilian estate on a baking hot September afternoon.  It spoke at length of your achievements and offered a glimpse of some as-yet-to-be-specified fabulous adventure.  You were at a loose end, and curious, and so accepted the offer to come to Moscow to meet this mysterious suitor.

The central bathhouse room was impenetrable in dense wet steam, and you never saw the huge buttery yellow shape of the naked Mongol savage emerge.  He grabbed you by the arms and politely, but very firmly, ushered you into a side room. You were immediately struck by the stunning blue and gold mosaic. And there, sitting alone on a plain cedar bench was the unmistakable figure of Leon Trotsky.  Naked mind you, but definitely the infamous rebel rouser and chief military architect of a Revolution that had shaken the old world order to its very foundations. He was much smaller than you thought he would be.

‘We are rational men in an all-too-often irrational world, Comrade Count’.  That last bit jarred. ‘And while the rational will always triumph over the irrational, sometimes even we are faced with a fact that cannot be understood, cannot be explained, and cannot be ignored’. The Mongol bodyguard shifted to the other side of the room, just to make sure you knew he was still there.

He threw a piece of what looked like a dull grey metal onto the floor.  It made no sound when it bounced across the floor.  ‘Pick it up Comrade Count’.  The metal was remarkably light, paper thin and incredibly flexible.  Like aluminium, but much more so. ‘Now hold it above your head’.  As you nervously complied the Mongol suddenly whirled into action, a massive curved sword above his head (‘where did he get that from’ you thought, as your life flashed in front of you). Before you could move out of the way, the sword crashed into the thin metal tissue above your head.

You came to in Trotsky’s palatial Kremlin office.  You gingerly touched the top of your head.  All still there.  On the table lay the metal shard, unmarked, and a Mongol sabre, bent out of shape and with a large chunk missing.

‘Remarkable is it not, Comrade Count’. Despite everything, that still irked.  ‘We believe it is a metal that came down from a meteorite many thousands of years ago.  In the foothills of Nepal.  The natives, in their ignorance, believed it was the work of Gods, and made a statue out of it.  And so it remained until two years ago when Baron Ungern Von Sternberg purchased it and took it to his capital, Urga’.

‘We would very much like to obtain the statue, and will pay handsomely for it.  And we will allow you to take the scientific credit for its discovery’.

This was beginning to sound like your kind of adventure.

‘There is only one small problem however.  Mongolia is falling apart, the Chinese are pouring across the Manchurian frontier, and we have the small matter of an unresolved Civil War in our own eastern back yard.  However we have a plan’.

With an operatic twirl he pulled down a massive wall chart of Siberia, Mongolia and north-eastern China and explained in great detail, how he had put together a ‘Liberation Army’ of Mongolia.  It was to be commanded by his two worst commanders – V.I. Blackwood and Red Ted – with the ranks filled with the worst scrapings of the Russian jails and prisoner of war camps:  ‘counter-revolutionaries, white reactionaries and child killers to a man’.  Its sole purpose was to provide a distraction for your mission. And remove a hefty food bill from the Bolshevik budget. He found all this immensely amusing.

‘With this chaos all around you, you will be able to slip into Urga with a small elite force and obtain the statue.  I don’t care how you do it – buy it, steal it, or whatever, only get it to Irkutsk in one piece.  We will provide you with men, weapons, and a means of getting there, and back.  The rest is up to you’.

Major Fletcher’s tale……

The day started as every other one had since you were incarcerated in this underground pigsty, what felt like several lives and a hundred years ago.  An ice-cold bucket of water slapped your grimy face and plastered matted hair across your eyes.  Only this time there wasn’t the usual early morning kick to the midriff to go with it.  You were dragged up at least four sets of stairs and led blinking into a central courtyard.  You noticed bloody slime everywhere. ‘So this is it’ you thought.  What started as a bit of fun and a war of liberation in the Baltic is to end up against a post in the Lubyanka.  What was it that clown Dzerzhinsky said to you “"We represent in ourselves organized terror – this must be said very clearly."  What a cock.


Major Fletcher

The morning was clear and warm.  Against one wall was a line of Latvian riflemen. Bayonets fixed and looking blankly ahead.  The gates of the prison opened and in came a line of trucks, six, seven, eight, more. And out of the trucks came faces you hadn’t seen for three or more years….. Stiffiel, Klein, Vorklitz…and Moritz, big fat Moritiz! And dozens and dozens of others. What was going on?  And then you realised when you saw that rogue Capponi step out of a big Bolshevik staff car.  You were going home!

‘No, not home, not yet.  We are going east for a few months.  And then we are going home.  As rich men’.  The Italian was all sun and smiles and bonhomie as he always was.  You felt good.  You felt alive.

Objectives

1.   Capture the statue and get it safely back to Irkutsk.
2.   Extradite your men back safely from the war zone.
3.   Get out of Bolshevik Russia

Forces

Army organization and movement: Note that the ‘Brigade’ is the smallest unit of manoeuvre on the map.  All Brigades are assumed to take appropriate precautions on the march, at camp and for reconnaissance, etc.  Larger formations are purely administrative units, and do not need to be kept together.  Movement is ‘a la Kriegspiel’, i.e. variable.

CinC: Count Zepo Capponi.  Knight Hospitalier, archaeologist and adventurer.
2IC: Major Arthur Fletcher.  Professional soldier.

Total Army strength:  c.2,500.  

All forces raised from ex-POW’s and volunteers. Morale - excellent

Italian Brigade:

1st Arditi battalion: 400 rifles
23rd Alpini battalion: 300 rifles
13th Askari battalion: 330 rifles
1st HMG attachment: 12 machine guns
Savoia armoured cavalry detachment: 6 armoured cars/improvised machine gun carriers.

Baltische Landeswehr:

17th Friekorps Sturm battalion: 300 rifles
1st Baltische volunteers: 250 rifles
2nd Baltische volunteers: 250 rifles
501st engineer attachment: 300 assault engineers with heavy weapons.
113th field artillery: 12 guns.

In addition Trotsky has provided you with, what he calls, the ‘Lake Geneva to the Finland station’ option.  A sealed train, based around the one that took Lenin to Russia in 1917, which can transport this entire column anyway along the Trans-Siberian railway.  It can stop only once however, and at that point your entire force must disembark.

Intelligence

1.   The Reds control the railway upto and including Irkutsk. After that its ‘the wild, wild west’, as Trotsky calls it.
2.   Red intelligence reports that a large white armoured column is based just west of Verkhne (c.150 miles east of Irkutsk). It comprises a large delivery of allied war material, but is lightly guarded, as the Whites are short of manpower.
3.   The Russian invasion of Mongolia is due to set out from Ekaterinburg in the next few weeks. Trotsky says it is about 10,000 men, including tanks, aircraft and heavy weapons.  They have no idea that you exist.
4.   The Chinese invasion is coming from Chang Chun.  Some 15,000 troops are involved, including some good white forces under Count Smirnoff as well as all the usual oriental rubbish.
5.   Der Baron has an estimated 10,000 men scattered around Mongolia.  His troops are demoralised after their crushing defeat at Chang Chun, but they can still pack a punch.  Major concentrations are reported in Urga, Kashgar and Nom.  His 2IC, Chuffer Campbell is a talented field commander, and the sinister Count Panasonic, the Japanese ‘advisor’ is a veteran soldier.  However Der Baron is desperate for allies… ‘maybe you could cuddle up to him’, was Trotsky’s helpful suggestion.
6.   The British have a small mission in Urga, but are not expected to get involved in a big way.
7.   The ‘one eyed yellow idol’ is one of eight, self proclaimed, ‘wonders of the world’ in Der Baron’s collection.  The full list is:

-   The Buddha of Kathmandu.  A 12’ high metal idol of great age gifted to you by the people of Nepal.  This is your target.
-   The Tusks of Jonah’s whale.  A present to Der baron from a grateful Haile Selassie
-   The real tomb of Genghis Khan.  Recovered from a secret location south of Urga
-   Sarcophagus of Ramesis II. A trophy from Der Baron’s Egyptian expedition a few years back.  An object of great mystical power.
-   The Kaiser’s Imperial train.  Purchased from the German government in 191?. A lesson in hubris.
-   ‘Kosmotechnische Gesellschaft’. An ancient meteor crystal, presented to Der Baron by Professor Houston Stewart Chamberlin, in which he believes that the theory of ‘Cosmic Ice’ will be proven before too long.
-   The Spear of Destiny. ‘acquired’ from the Kuntshaller museum in Vienna
-   The Ark of the Covenant.  On loan from his good friend Halie Selassie.

Some or all of these may be real.  All of these will probably sell for money.

[Ignatieff]

Bullivant's Dilemna

The Head of British intelligence suspected that there was a spy at work.  But for whom?

He had the following information...



“There's a one-eyed yellow idol
To the north of Kathmandu;
There's a little marble cross below the town;
And a brokenhearted woman
Tends the grave of 'Mad' Carew,
While the yellow god for ever gazes down”

(J.Milton Hayes 1911)

‘Mad Jack’ Carew did exist, was a British officer, was murdered, but was never officially seconded to Nepal.  The idol in the poem disappeared from the north of Kathmandu in 192?.......

The  Players

1. ‘Tinker’

Paul Eaglestone: Count Zepo Capone.  Leading light in Italian Society, Knight Crusader of the Vatican, and sometime Central Asian adventurer.  Accomplished archaeologist who shot to world wide fame when he discovered the Keys of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ (as featured on the Vatican Coat of Arms) in 191?. Rumoured to be well ‘connected’ in Sicilian society. Family dates back to the 12th century.  Ennobled by Frederick Barbarossa in 1160. Owner of extensive wine (‘Conti de Capone’ a particularly noteworthy white wine), olive, lemon and orange estates.  Family has had a contract with supplying the British Royal Navy with citrus fruits since the late 18th century. Properties in Sicily, Milan, Rome and Chicago.
Whereabouts: on his Sicilian estates.

Keith Ainslie:  Major Arthur Fletcher.  Ex-German Army.  Baltic Prussian of Scottish descent. Won ‘Pour Le Merite’ in WWI whilst fighting on the eastern front.  Extensive landholdings in Latvia and Estonia. Charismatic commander of the 'Baltische Landeswehr' in the recent Baltic wars.  Captured by the Bolsheviks at the battle of Cesis (23rd June 1919), where he lost an arm.
Whereabouts: unknown, but rumoured to be rotting in a Cheka jail.

2. ‘Tailor’

Donald Linn: Brigadier Donald Linn. MC and bar, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Glasgow University and Visiting Professor of Asiatic Studies at Queens University, Belfast. An old Africa, India and central Asian hand. Deputy chairman of Airdrie football club.  Prominent Freemason and member of the Orange Lodge. Advisor to the foreign office on Central Asia.
Whereabouts: Langbank, Scotland.

Neil Brookes: Lord Gordon Grey, VC. Polymath, Sybarite, adventurer and gentlemen of leisure at large.  Family originally came from the Aberdeenshire area.  Made their fortune buying up the world’s supplies of black thread when it became clear that Queen Victoria was dying. Related to the eponymous tea dynasty. Lives between his main residence on the south coast, London and his highland estates.
Scours the world with his constant companion, Dr. Le Petomane, in search of ancient obscure texts and manuscripts. Translated the Kama Sutra into Doric.  Rumoured to be the author behind the book that shocked a generation: 'Fifty shades of hodden'.
Eton (expelled). Coldstream Guards (retired). Married to Mabel Dent Shaw (deceased). Spent some time at Osborne Naval College with the current Prince of Wales.
Won VC on Western front for single handedly capturing three German machine gun nests at Lys in 1918.
In recent years has worked for HMG in unspecified activities in the Central Asian theatre.
Controversy is never far behind him in whatever he gets upto however. In 191? Grey deepened his notoriety by having the last living Emperor Octopus in the world stolen from its enclosure at San Francisco Zoo. It is believed he had it killed, dried and ground up before smoking it. When released from a straitjacket five weeks later he pronounced himself "tired but happy."
Apparently blackballed by the Brighton and Hove Satanic Circle for fear he would bring them into disrepute.
Rumoured to be a lover of Agatha Christie, with whom he shared a passionate interest in archaeology. Reputed to be the man she shared a denouement with in the Swan Hotel in Harrogate.
Whereabouts: the family seat, Bruzing Manor, Great Bruzing, West Sussex.

3. ‘Soldier’

Rodger Williams: You are General Count Pierre Smirnoff, the last of your line, and revered Hetman of the Don Cossacks.  You are the most decorated soldier of your age and the last of the line. You command the last White Cavalry in the field, and all the finest loyal cavalrymen left have flocked to your standard.  Until your perfidious ‘volte face’ at Chang Chung, you were as poor as a serf and very short of weapons and ammunition.  However as the newly appointed Governor (under the rule of Hu Jjin Wanger) you have now returned to the style in which you used to be accustomed.  The tables of Biarritz await! (once you have finished the business in Urga)
Whereabouts: Chang Chung

Steve Dean: You are Colonel Stefan Von Ravenstien, a much decorated White Russian Guards cavalry officer.  Like many in the Russian Imperial elite, your family was originally German.  Indeed your cousin is Johann "Hans" Theodor von Ravenstein, the German war hero, and early proponent of armoured warfare.  After the revolution you led a wanderers life, ending up commanding a unit of White Russian mounted police in Shanghai, idling away your off duty hours watching Chinese girls in cheap bikinis in the local baths.  The telegram from your old comrade Smirnoff came as a complete bolt out of the blue.  He wants you to join him in the march on Urga, and has a very novel proposition for you…..for which you readily accept.  It is time to fight a proper war once more!
Whereabouts: Shanghai

4. ‘Spy’

?

5. ‘Rich Man’

Dave Ryan: You are Hu Jjin Wanger, victor of Chang Chung, victorious warlord of Fengtien Province.  You are feared and revered in equal measure by friend and foe alike.  The very whisper of your name has armies routing from the field in terror.  And it is said in the palaces and castles of London England, that nannies frighten little children to sleep by threatening that 'Hu Jjin Wanger will come and cut of your heads!'.
Your destiny will not be fulfilled until you have united China in One Great Empire.  Chang Chung was only an appetizer.  Urga will be a starter, before the main dish: Peking and beyond!  Your ambition for conquest and glory is only matched by your voracious opium habit, which is beginning to make distinguishing between what is real and what is not, difficult.  If, nevertheless, enjoyable.

Paul Cooper: You are Colonel Walter Rudolph ‘Rudi’ Schneiber, hero of the Holy Roman Empire and winner of the highest military honour, the ‘Pour Le Merite’ for your exploits on the Italian front during WWI.  After your heroics in Shanghai you are also the most famous soldier in Austria, having redeemed national military pride after the defeat in WWI.  However over the years, you have acquired many powerful enemies.  Your forthright style and reliance on the bayonet and hand grenade is not to everyone’s taste.  However you are now getting into your stride with these adventures in China.  And the mythical riches of Urga are calling you!....

6. ‘Poor Man’

Kevin Westwood: You are Major General Baron Ungern Von Sternberg, a White Russian officer of Baltic German descent.   You are also ruler of Mongolia, Conqueror of Kashgar (with two bars), Celestial Warlord of the Peking Pocket, Beth Din first Dan (self appointed) and Khan of the known world.  You truly believe yourself to be the descendent of Genghis Khan, and know that it is your destiny to recreate his world empire.  Though talk throughout the bazaars is that you are barking mad (you later had the bazaars torched) you know that this is all a cunning front.  Rather your savagery and cruelty are merely expressions of values from a different, happier, earlier age, which the fools of the so-called civilized world are unable to see that is where the world going.  You are in a word, a man ahead of his time. 
You command the ‘Asiatic Cavalry Division’, the front name for your united horde of Mongol, White Russian, German, Japanese and Buryat soldiers, all dedicated to your savage cause.

You have an insatiable hatred of the Bolsheviks, all non-Buddhists, fornication and strong drink.  You feel that it is your duty to release them to another existence to save them from their collective miseries.
Over the past few years you have won world renown and fear for your enlightened success in Central Asia and beyond.  Yours is now an Empire recognised by and kow-towed to by the soft living degenerate western world, and don’t you like reminding them of it!
However, your recent ‘reverse’ at Chang Chung has encouraged the cockroaches who nibble at the bib of your fame to presume upon themselves that they are somehow entitled to gaze upon your celestial greatness.  Retribution will be swift and final!
Whereabouts: Festung Urga!

Your right hand man is the loyal Chuffer Campbell (Gibby), a man of ready wit and unrefined toilet habits, with whom you would trust your life.  He has shown himself to be a resourceful and lucky commander over the years.  He is organising the defence of your Empire.
Whereabouts: Urga

Adrian Shepherd: You are Colonel Panasonic, sinister leader of the Japanese mission to Ungern Von Sternberg.  Thought to be the master-mind behind Japanese expansionist ambition in the region.  Graduated with highest honours in physics and chemistry from Kyoto University. Hobbies: hunting, Elizabethan poets and ‘natural experimentation’. Fellow of the Kyoto ‘Natural Selection’ Club. Fought well at Chang Chung, though without success.
Whereabouts: Urga.

7. Beggar Man

Iain Blackwood: You are V.I. Blackwood, who after a series of botched operations, are currently back in favour with the Kremiln after your successful action in Chang Chung.  However the politics in the Kremlin are taking on a violent and fatal aspect.  Lenin’s power is clearly waning, while Stalin and Trotsky vie for the supreme power.  Trotsky has appointed you ‘Supreme Commander of the Penal Army of Mongolia’, a desperate collection of the scrapings of the Revolutions detritus. Your orders are simple: destroy Der Baron.  Or do not return.
Whereabouts: Moscow

Ted Robinson: You are Red Ted, who despite numerous setbacks, still dream the dream. You still remember the early days: ‘victorious Liberator of Tashkent’, they called you, ‘The Peoples poet’, etc, etc.  You have come a long way from your early life as an armed uniformed lavatory attendant in Imperial Service, and you still beleive that you are a man of destiny.  A new Napoleon, destined to free the Russian peoples from the Capitalist yoke of servitude and ignorance.  Unfortunately your war record in the ‘Great Cause’ has been mixed so far, and so when your old comrade (and rival) V.I.Blackwood offered you a senior position in the ‘Penal Army of Mongolia’, who thought ‘Yes!  This is my time’.
Whereabouts: Moscow

8. Thief

Peter Martin: You are the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader to millions of Buddhists the world over.  You are also a Living God, and absolute ruler of the mysterious mountain kingdom of Tibet. 

Laterally you have been supporting your ally, Der Baron, as he still maintains the façade of being a peace loving Buddhist.  However after the debacle at Chang Chung you have retired to your mountain retreat to run your extensive international business holdings and meditate

However the still waters of the most sacred of lakes, Namsto, has indicated that all is not well with the world. You see yet another great disturbance in the force, and must commit yourself and your people into rebalancing the Ying and the Yang of the world’s energies.
Whereabouts: Lake Namtso


There was much to ponder........

[coggon]

but I can reveal top secret pics taken of the new Bukharan armoured Brigade on manoeuvre somewhere near Samarkand.....

One is left to wonder how the Beast was able to get his hands on such advanced technology? 

[War In 15MM]

Great looking stuff!

[Ignatieff]

Campaign Rules and Maps

As with all our campaigns, the campaign rules themselves are loosely formulated.  This gives flexibility and uncertainty - two important facets of any good campaign.  The maps we used were taken from my trusty 1926 edition of the Times atlas, particularly plate 67 (Siberia), which was the main tactical map.

Durchfall Campaign Rules

1.   There are no set distances for each move.  You tell me what you want to do, and I will judge how far you get.
2.   Each move is approximately two weeks long.  However, again, this is fairly elastic.
3.   Orders should be no more than one page long.  I will not read or act on anything longer than that. Manipulating typeface sizes (min 10pt) will mean no orders get processed for you that move.
4.   Your orders can be as detailed or as broad brush as you want.
5.   If you do not submit orders by the deadline you will be penalised.  
6.   Army organization: Note that the ‘Brigade’ is the smallest unit of manoeuvre on the map.  All Brigades are assumed to take appropriate precautions on the march, at camp and for reconnaissance, etc.  Larger formations are purely administrative units, and do not need to be kept together.  Remember, movement is ‘a la Kriegspiel’, i.e. variable.
7.   Armies can be split as you require, with the Brigade the minimum unit size.  However the larger number of dispersed units, the harder the command and control
8.   Other than in the major cities, there are no roads worth the name in China at this period.  Major arterial works tend to be railways and rivers.  You can move very fast along these.
9.   Supply should be traced back to a controlled marked city on the campaign map.  If you get cut off you will soon run out of fuel, ammo and supplies.  Modern armies without supplies have a significant ability to cause mayhem.  You have been warned.
10.   Control is defined as being the last man through there.  There is no need to leave a garrison
11.   Battles will be set up by me and will be elastic in scale and set up.  It may end up representing the entire engagement if it is a small affair, or merely the point of decision in a major engagement.
12.   All units are assumed to be equipped with the normal small arms of their type and time.
13.   Some/all or none of you may receive side briefs in addition to the main brief.

And remember: “War starts at midnight” (not).

Good luck!

Steve

27/10/12



and the rules were our very own 'Setting the East Ablaze', available from Caliver Books.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Excellent. Now I can finally prove to the Empress Christine where I was that weekend 

[Ignatieff]

Excellent. Now I can finally prove to the Empress Christine where I was that weekend 

Yes,  finding that Bulgarian who looked like was a right pain.  Pity we couldn't convince him to shave his wrestling 'tache though!

[gimzod]

I hope someone's told the local yeti and death worms to take cover. This is going to be awsome.

[Brigadier Linn]

It was nice of you, Count Ignatieff, so select such a flattering photograph.........
Could you not find one when I was breathing in?

Brigadier Linn

[Ignatieff]

It was nice of you, Count Ignatieff, so select such a flattering photograph.........
Could you not find one when I was breathing in?

Brigadier Linn

You were, don't you remember being tied into your corsets?

[H.M.Stanley]

Its madnes, Madness i tell you!!

Well played Gentlemen