TMWWBKs adaptation update to - RCW AAR - Trouble at Transkaya - and New Game Mat

[Widows Son]

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!).

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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…

[Widows Son]

Surprise result    The British tank crew bail out!  (They did manage to remount again later in the game and ended up advancing into the town square).

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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...

[Widows Son]

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.

[blacksoilbill]

Looks like it really captures the back of beyond spirit! Great stuff!

[Widows Son]

Apologies for not posting my TMWWBKs adaptation for the RCW today, only some 'real life' stuff intervened.  I will post them tomorrow.  Cheers.

[Ignatieff]

Absolutely brilliant!  Well done. What make is the Garford Putilov?  Great paint work all round too!  Thanks for sharing

[Widows Son]

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.

[Widows Son]

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!