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Red Army - White Guards

“Red Square” Rules for the Russian Civil WarBeing a (very small) variant of “Pantalons Rouges & Pickelhaubes” by Richard Brooks,

incorporating ideas ripped off from Ian Drury’s “Bandenkrieg”.Adapted by Graham Evans

Wargame Developments

These rules were downloaded from the Wargame Developments Website. If you are interested in the continued development of wargames of any type whatsoever you can join Wargame Developments. The Wargame Developments website is at http://www.wargamedevelopments.org/

Red Army - White Guards v3.3

Playing Equipment........................................................3

Playing Area.........................................................................3

Units..........................................................................................3

Unit Organisation...........................................................3

Tactical Formations......................................................4

Artillery Positions ..........................................................4

Machine Guns (MGs).................................................4

Tchankas................................................................................4

Command and Control.............................................5

Turn Sequence..................................................................6

Movement.........................................................................6

Observation .....................................................................8

Infantry/Cavalry/Vehicle Firing.........................8

Artillery Firing..............................................................10

Mounted Combat.....................................................10

Terrain...............................................................................11

Digging In & Entrenchments .........................12

Armoured Trains.......................................................13

Square Occupancy...................................................13

Games Designers Notes......................................15

Tactical Formation Diagrams................................4

Activation Table .............................................................6

Movement Table.............................................................7

Range Table.........................................................................8

Fire Effect Table...............................................................9

Anti-Tank/Vehicle Table........................................10

Square Occupancy Table.......................................14

Explanatory Diagrams.............................................16


You will require the following equipment:

· A pack of small “patience” style playingcards, including jokers.

· Plastic rings to use as casualty markers.· Several D6’s and at least one D12 & D24.

· The game is played on a table markedwith 6” squares set up in an off-set gridto allow multi-directional hex typemovement.

· Each square represents about 500 yards.· The playing area should be at least 6

squares by 10.· Any terrain pieces should be clearly in a

square. Squares are either affected by aterrain piece or they are not (howeversee rules governing hill crests in the

section).

Units of both sides varied enormously insize and organisation. The numbers givenbelow can be varied to create larger orsmaller units, but should never exceed 6bases.

See Square Occupancy rules for maximumunits allowed per square.

Infantry BattalionsFour 30mm x 30mm bases of 3 figures,representing c800 men.

Machine Gun CompaniesTwo 30mm x 30mm bases of 2 figures,representing four MGs. NB Note that thesemust always be deployed with or adjacentto another friendly unit.

Cavalry RegimentsThree or four 30mm x 40mm bases of 3figures, representing 600 - 800 men andhorses. Use 4 bases for Cossack units.

Tchanka CompaniesOne or two 30mm x 60mm bases of 1carriage representing 2 - 4 tchankas.

Artillery BrigadesTwo or three 30mm x 40mm bases of 1gun and crew, each representing anartillery battery.

Armoured VehiclesOne or two bases of suitable sizedepending on the vehicle, typically 30mmwide for an armoured car or light tank, or40mm or wider for a heavy tank. Theserepresent a Detachment.

Motor VehiclesOne - four 30mm x 40mm bases each withone lorry or truck representing adetachment.

Armoured TrainsNormally only one side will have anarmoured train. It is represented by aarmoured train model which must have alocomotive and a gun carriage.

Units are organised into larger groupsunder Command Figures.

Command FiguresHeadquarters: Several figures in a car orcarriage or with a table and staff,representing the highest level ofCommand present.

Regimental/Brigade CO: Two figures oneither a 30mm x 30mm base (if infantry) or30mm x 40mm (if cavalry).

Infantry RegimentsAn Infantry Regiment commanded by aCO is made up of 3-4 Battalions, togetherwith a number of MG companies. Redsusually have 3 battalions, Whites 4.

Cavalry Brigades/DivisionA Cavalry Brigade or Division commandedby a CO is made up of 2-3 Regiments,together with a mounted MG unit /tchanka.

Higher level structures for Artillery &Motorised Units are not represented.


All Infantry or Cavalry units must be in aclearly identifiable formation at all times.Formations affect the way units move andfire.· Infantry can be in ,

, or (see“Digging In” Rules).

· Cavalry are either or .

· Artillery are either or.

Infantry and cavalry formations are shownin the diagram below. There are no specificformations for other unit types. Thedeployment of bases in formations isshown in the diagrams below.

1) i.e. Batteries that have firedin the open/on forward slopes are ob-served automatically.

2) i.e. sight defiladed behinda hedge or on crest of a hill:

· have 1 square dead zone in front ofthem into which they cannot fire.

· hostile troops must observe them be-fore returning fire.

· may roll activation 2+ to wheel guns upto obstacle to fire directly on closingattackers.

3) / (Howitzers only)i.e. on reverse slope or behind a

wood/building. This requires observer.See rules:

· Howitzers need three turns to come intoaction: (1) unlimber; (2) place firing plat-form; (3) open fire.

· Guns so deployed have 2 square deadzone in front of them into which theycannot fire.

· They may only be engaged by Howitzersor Heavy Guns who must observe themfirst

1) Occupy a square with or adjacent toanother friendly unit & move at samespeed.

2) When firing count as 2 per base.

3) Activate as accompanying unit; if unitretreats roll D6 less than or equal tosurviving bases multiplied by 2 to saveguns.

4) May not move and fire, but can changeface at will and still fire.

1) Occupy a square with or adjacent toanother friendly cavalry unit.

2) Treat as a vehicle for firing.

3) Activate as accompanying unit. May notmove and fire to front, but can move onone activation and fire on second in turn.

Firing Line Waves

Masses

Infantry Formations

Typically attacking infantry enter the table in masses, and deploy into waves whenappropriate. Defenders deploy as firing lines, with reserves in masses.

Cavalry Formations

Mounted

Scouting

Dismounted

Defence


1) All Infantry, Cavalry and Vehicle unitsmust have in place orders that governthe parameters of possible actions.These are:a) Units with Attack orders must

move towards the enemy, closing toclose range and attempting to over-run. Infantry must be in Masses orWaves. These orders stay in place un-til changed by the army HQ, or untilstopped by being forced to Hide orRetreat.

b) Units move to effective range,deploy to Firing Line and start a fire-fight. Cavalry units may close if ene-my expose flank or rear in the open.

c) Units hold position, and fireat any enemy units that move withinrange. Infantry must be in a FiringLine and Cavalry Dismounted.

d) Unit must defend. Ifforce a unit to front to retreat or hide,or if a unit exposes flank or rear, mustadvance as Attack. May be in eitherFiring Line or Waves. Must changeformation to Waves to attack.

2) Artillery do not require orders. See Artil-lery Firing rules.

3) The command hierarchy is representedon the tabletop at two levels.a) at semi-fixed central

location, initially near base line:· at least one per side or one per divi-

sion, under control of commandingplayer(s).

· issues new orders to one or moresubordinate units per turn when re-quired, as those units are activated.Roll D6 greater than or equal tosquares range, -1 under fire/in wood;+1 in building

· roll for activation if under fire orneeding to move.

· cannot issue orders when moving,under fire or activation score below 2.

· destroyed by losing 1 casualty or ifoverrun by infantry or cavalry.

b) i.e. a com-mand figure per 3-4 battalions or 2-3cavalry regiments who coordinates /improves their tactical behaviour. On-ly affects units specifically subordi-nate to them, located in same orcontiguous squares. Rolls extra activa-tion die for commanded subordinateunit(s), and disregard lowest score.May be killed if co-located subordi-nate unit(s) take losses. NB: Most divi-sions have 4 command figures, oneper regiment. Command figure isdealt one card that applies to all unitsunder its command and in contigu-ous squares.

4) Units need activation score of 2+ tochange orders, or to change formationfrom Masses to Waves, or from Wavesto Firing line.


Move one unit at a time, as follows:

1) Deal face down playing card to eachstandalone unit or officer commanding.battalions of same regiment or equiva-lent.

.

2) Activate and move Headquarters if re-quired (both sides).

3) Turnover playing cards for officer fig-ures, Artillery Brigades and Vehicles.Play each card in turn, lowest to highest,equal value cards in whist sequence:

.NB: Aces count low or high as wanted;Jokers activate at any point of the turn.

4) Once these have been played, turn overcards for standalone units and activatethese in sequence.

5) Units activate automatically unless hitmarkers in place, casualties previouslysuffered, or entering enemy occupied/adjacent square:

a) Roll D6 per Battalion equivalent, ad-justed as follows:+1 Elite (eg Officer’s Bns, ChON),-1 Poor troops (eg Some Conscripts,early Red Guards);

Re -roll again if CO present, discardinglowest scoring die.

b) Deduct 1 per hit or base removed orBattalion hiding last turn.

c) Divide remainder by number of Battal-ions: round fractions to nearest integer,rounding down

d) See Action Table for possible actionsand implement as appropriate rule sec-tion.

6) Restrictions on Actions: Anyvehicles draw again, break down on ablack card. (May restart if drwa 2 redcards next turn). Poor units may notmove or rally. Red Infantry unitswith CHEKA or Commissar in same oradjacent square may ignore .Roll 2D6 and place the difference in hitmarkers on the unit.

7) Turn COs and MGs temporarily put outof action last turn to face front again.

8) Remove current card. Return to (3) ifany officer cards still to play, otherwise(4)

9) Otherwise end the turn. Gather cardsand reshuffle. Return to (1).

Move/Move & Fire/Observe & Fire/Dig In/Rally Y OptionalChange orders or formation/Supports replace front-line casualties

Y Optional

Fire/Hold Fire Y Y(-) OptionalRemove Casualties & Hit Markers Y Y Y MandatoryRetreat/Hide (see NOTE below) Y Mandatory“/” indicates alternatives. eg Troops cannot both Move and Dig In.(-) Indicates troops fire wildly at reduced effect. Russian artillery under Small Arms fireretreats,Cavalry scoring less than 2 retreat if under fire, remounting if necessary.Units with activation score 0- turn figures to rear and retreat 2 squares away from enemyper turn, except troops in natural cover or trenches who hide. Mounted troops in openmove 3 squares. Troops who suffer casualties while hiding must then retreat. Rally onactivation score of 2+, taking all turn. Troops who exit board must rally to return & draw a

card.


1) Units (except Firing Lines or units inDefence) scoring 2 or more or activatedautomatically move as per MovementTable below.

2) Restrictions for Closed Terrain applywhen the unit is leaving a closed terrainsquare (eg town, woods), or crossing alinear obstacle.

3) Units may about face or wheel 45o persquare moved, the wheel occurring inthe square moved into. They may also

wheel up to 90o, change formation, lim-ber / unlimber, or mount / dismountinstead of moving ONE square. NBWhen changing facing this alters the di-rection that a unit may move in. Unitsthat dismount on their first card may alsoactivate on their second in the turn.

4) Units may move through friendly unitsas an obstacle.

5) Infantry and cavalry may overrun enemyunits as follows:

· hiding/retreating/rallying. Roll D6. Unitflees on 1,2,3,4 if poor, 1,2,3 if normal,and 1,2 if elite, and is removed from theboard. Otherwise stand and fight

· infantry, artillery, and MGs taken in theflank flee, unless they are occupyingbuildings or trenches.

· unaccompanied MGs, command fig-ures, and transport attacked from anydirection.

· a unit overrunning opponents may con-tinue to move up to one more square ifit has movement allowance left

6) Motors move FOUR squares along roads,TWO in the open, and NONE throughobstacles.

Infantry Masses 2 Squares 1 Square May move & fire at target upto 2 squares range on a

Waves 1 Square 1 Square: Donot move on a

May move & fire at target upto 2 squares range on a

Firing Line None None

Cavalry Mounted 3 Squares 1 Square

Scouting 3 Squares 1 Square

Dismounted 1 Square 1 Square: Donot move on a

Artillery Limbered 2 Squares 1 Square

Unlimbered None None

WheeledVehicles

N/A 2 Squares None Ignore terrain & move 4Squares if on Road

Light Tanks N/A 1 Square 1 Square. Be-come boggedon a

Ignore terrain & move 3Squares if on Road. Un-bogon

HeavyTanks

N/A 1 Square 1 Square. Be-come boggedon a

Ignore terrain & move 2Squares if on Road. Un-bogon


1) Infantry and Artillery targets in opensquares are concealed until they moveor fire. Targets in squares containingbuildings, woods and hedges are con-cealed even if moving or firing. Hostileunits must test to observe them beforeopening fire, except that 1 Artillery and1 MG unit may fire at reduced effect ona well defined area such as a village orwood to support an ongoing attack,without observing the target first.

2) An observer must have Line of Site tothe target, which must lie within theirown arc of fire.

3) To observe roll more than the range insquares on a D6. Roll extra D6 and counttotal score if:a) Observer is unlimbered artillery, orb) Target is firing artillery (unless

masked/flash defiladed).

4) Once a concealed target has been ob-served, any enemy unit adjacent to theobserving unit may also fire at it. Non-adjacent units must roll separately.Large targets occupying several consec-utive hedge / wood / village squares onlyhave to be observed once.

5) Before dawn test to observe any target.Ignore bonuses for uphill or unlimberedartillery.

1) Each activated unit scoring 0 or more,with targets in front, inside a 45 degreearc (MGs 90 degrees) may fire at any

eligible target.

2) Units that have not yet been activatedmay fire at any unit that threatens it. Thismeans that it may shoot at any unit thathas moved within Effective range and isfacing it. Units lacking a target whenactivated may Turntheir card face down, and await anopportunity to fire on an approachingenemy unit later in the turn. This allowsunits to engage targets that move acrosstheir line of fire from one piece of coverto another. Units that have an observedtarget when activated must always fireon them if possible.

3) that have a targetwithin 2 squares range may fire if theydraw another They may not fireat targets further away.

4) Firing units require(LOS) to the target from the centre oftheir own to the centre of the targetsquare. Firing units trace LOS directly totarget. MG units on hill crests have LOSover buildings, woods and hedges belowthem, although not into any square im-mediately beyond such buildings andwoods.

5) MGs may always squarescontaining friendly units. Other unitsonly do so when they or the target is onhigher ground than intervening units.MGs must leave at least 1 square cleareither side of intervening friendly troops.

6) Each Infantry Battalion/ Cavalry Regi-ment / MG base/Vehicle firing rolls a

Rifles/MGs 8mm/.303 1 3 4

Tank Guns 37mm /6pdr 2 4 6

Light guns 65mm /10-15pdr 3 5 8

QF guns / howitzers 75mm / 18pdr 5 8 12

Heavy Artillery 105mm / 60pdr 5 12 20


number of dice, based on the EffectTable. If score to be rolled is greater than6, roll again for the excess. eg A unit of 2MG bases must roll 4 or less on a D6. Ifenfilading it gets an automatic hit as 4doubled is 8, and rolls again to get 2 orless for the remainder.

7) Vehicles that fire may modify thenumber of dice rolled by surrenderingplaying cards instead of using them tomove (see table above). Vehicles fireindividually & do not add their hitscores if in more than one in a square

8), when they simultaneously re-

solve all hits taken since last activation,in both current and previous turns.Targets acquiring so many hits theirnext activation test must score less then

immediately take casualties andretreat/hide, losing any card held.

9) Lose ONE base as a per SIXhits. For remaining hit markers roll aD6 and remove a base if roll less than or

equal to the remaining markers on a D6.Double loss if advancing in open. (ieTWO bases per SIX hits) Halve loss ifneither moving nor firing, or in cover.Roll D12 or D24 as appropriate. (ie a nonmoving, non firing unit in cover rolls lessthan number of hits on a D24). EXCEP-TION: Artillery and vehicles take 3 hits toremove a base. Place a permanent casu-alty marker (BLACK ring)on the base toshow this.

10) Accompanying COs/Commissars /CHEKA rolling an activation die andfiring MGs draw a card each per baselost. card - PINNED for ONEturn (face to rear to show pinning).

card, - remove from play. If MGis unaccompanied, then draw a card perhit as well.

11) Scouting cavalry suffer no casualties ifthey retreat as soon as taken under fire.

12) Supporting battalions may replace cas-ualties in adjacent battalions of the sameregiment instead of moving.

Number of Dice Score to Hit

Close Range +3 1 Hit Marker per die less than hit score

Effective Range +2 Small arms cav/inf No of bases firing

Long Range +1 If “poor” -1 base

Firer in Line +1 MGs No of bases, doubled

Oblique Target (ie at 45 degrees) +1 MGs enfilading Double again

Target Massed, Mounted Limbered +1 Artillery 4 per base

Target enfiladed/attacked in flank +2 Vehicles(NB Fire individually)

3 per base

Firer moving/changing formation,firing wildly or held fire

-1 · Armoured Cars/Light Tanks can only bedamaged by MGs firing at close range andArtillery.

· Heavy Tanks / Armoured Trains can onlybe damaged by Artillery/Tank Guns.

· Other vehicles can be damaged by MGs &Artillery at any range, and Small Arms atClose or Effective range.

Artillery changing target -1

Target in trenches, or stone buildingsor shielded artillery v rifles/MGs

-1

Unobserved target (artillery & MGsonly)

-1

Vehicle Firing -1 NB Vehicles firing may off set this penalty bydiscarding a card.


1) Each activated unit scoring 0 or more,with targets in front, inside a 45 degreearc may fire at any target(see Observation rules)

2) Batteries lacking a target when activatedmay as infantryabove. They may also fire at targets overopen sights if threatened within closerange, and have not yet activated thatturn.

3) Batteries require (LOS)to the target from the centre of their ownto the centre of the target square. Firingunits trace LOS directly to target, excepthowitzers and heavy guns may do so viaan observation post 2 squares or lessfrom the gun position, or an aeroplaneover the target, on rolling 4,5,6 on a D6.LOS is blocked by intervening buildings,woods, hill crests, and hedges, except:a) Units on hill crests have LOS over

buildings, woods and hedges belowthem, although not into any squareimmediately beyond such buildingsand woods.

b) Field Artillery may trace LOS throughnon-adjacent hedges; howitzersthrough non-adjacent hedges andhillcrest squares to engage flash defi-laded batteries observed on reverseslopes.

4) Artillery may always FIRE OVER squarescontaining friendly units as long as theyleave at least 1 square clear either side of

intervening friendly troops.

5) Artillery fires at infantry, cavalry orartillery targets using the samemethodology as infantry or MGs. Whenvehicles are shot at the samemechanism is used, but for each hit leftafter rolling for casualty removal markerafter rolling draw a card and consult theAnti-Tank/Vehicle Table. Draw twocards for Trucks & Tchankas. NB MGsmay also fire at vehicles, but only atclose range.

6) Draw a card for any buildings shot at byartillery. Catch fire on ifbrick/stone, or forwood/straw etc. Hiding troops fleeburning buildings.

7) If a square containing Barbed Wire isfired at, draw a card for each hit marker.Remove the wire if two red picture cardsare drawn.

8) If artillery batteries are threatened byunits moving into small arms range (ie 4squares or less) they may open fire over

. This is done through thevalues on the Fire Effect Table. If doingthis they count as “Firing Wildly”.

9) Artillery retreats if under Small ArmsFire, unless Red units with CHEKA /Commissars in same or adjacentsquares, when they fight to the death.

MG H, D H, D H H, D, C

Tank Guns H, D, C H, D H H, D, C, S

Light guns H, D, C H, D, C H H, D, C, S

QF guns / howitzers H, D, C, S H, D, C H, D H, D, C, S

Heavy Artillery H, D, C, S H, D, C, S H, D, C H, D, C, S

* NB Draw two cards per hit for firing at Trucks. Includes Tchankas.

A, J, Q, K - vehicle takes hit marker, and suffers penalties below as well.2 -10 - Vehicle damaged- lose card. Trucks are destroyed, Armoured Cars/Light tanksmust retreat next move, Heavy Tanks are pinned for one turn & may not move or fire.


How Cavalry fight depends upon forma-tion.

1) : horsed cavalry ending move-ment adjacent to enemy units in the

conduct a mounted attack as iffiring at Close Range.a) Count all figures for effect Target re-

turns fire, including MGs and Tchan-kas (if facing) even if it has alreadyfired this turn, losing its card if it hasnot yet been activated. Any such firingsuffers the penalty.Other units in the same formationmay still move however.

b) Cavalry only count 2 or 1 defendingfigures respectively if attacked ob-liquely or in flank/rear. Infantry at-tacked obliquely count 2 figures. Anyinfantry unit attacked in the flank issubject to the overrun rules

c) Side suffering most hits retreats asMovement.

d) The winning side may follow up onesquare if not the moving side. If themoving side wins it may follow up therest of its movement or one square,whichever is the greater. If this move-ment allows the unit to contact itsopponents again an overrun occurs.

e) Both sides retreat if hits equal, theattacking cavalry losing any remain-ing card.

f) Dice against hits for casualties. Cavalry attacking infantry roll

twice for casualties, win or lose (i.e.cavalry units are more vulnerable).

2) : advance until taken under fire,when they dice to observe the enemy,and immediately retreat to the nearestfriendly unit. This friendly unit will nowhave observed the target as well.

3) : regiments dismount allnut one base as riflemen. These fire asinfantry in a Firing Line or Wave as ap-propriate, but always remaining in asquare adjacent to their horses. If theymove on foot, their horses MUST stay inan adjacent square. If this is not possible,they may not move. They must remountand retreat if activation score is 1 or less.

1) Obstacles include streams, hills,woods/villages except along roads.

2) Streams and rivers follow edges ofsquares. Cross streams as obstacles, riv-ers at bridges or fords. Ferries will re-quire scenario rules, but generally onebattalion sized unit will take two turns tocross.

3) Barbed wire is a linear obstacle that isimpenetrable to Cavalry and wheeledvehicles. Infantry can cross, taking anentire turn. Tanks are unaffected. Tanksthat drive through a barbed wire entan-glement make sufficient gaps to enable


Infantry to move through at normalspeed. Cavalry and wheeled vehiclesmay now move through the square, tak-ing a whole turn. This improvement tomovement only applies if moving in thesame direction as the tank that enteredthe square.

4) Hills are divided into two classes:a) Three or more squares deep repre-

senting:Forward Slopes: no cover from fire;allow overhead fire.Crests: no cover from fire; allow over-head fire.Reverse Slopes: cover from fire; fireonly into crest square(s) in front.

b) Two squares deep representing ridg-es with Forward and Reverse Slopesonly, where troops may exchange firebetween adjacent Reverse and For-ward slopes.

5) Woods and built up areas occupy com-plete squares. Movement penalties ap-ply whether moving into, through, orout of woods and villages, unless transit-ing along a road.

Depending on scenario, units may dig-in.

1) During the game when they reach anarea they wish to defend:

a) Units with activation scores of 2 ormore and not Moving or Firing mayplace one digging marker (DM) acrosstheir front per turn, to a maximum ofthree.

b) If subsequently brought under fire rollD6 per DM; score 4,5,6 to place tempo-rary trenches

c) Remove temporary trenches and DMswhen digging unit moves off.

2) Before the game when defending a pre-pared position: place trenches andbarbed wire on the table as a permanentterrain feature. These may be capturedand occupied by the enemy.

3) Infantry units deployed in arein a dug in position, consisting oftrenches, and probably barbed wire. Theposition implies a degree of preparation.The position could include an MG com-pany, but no other units. A unit so de-ployed may not move. The bases in theunit should be placed facing all foursides of the square they are in. It fireswith 2 bases to all sides if attacked. Anyaccompanying MG company fires with1 base to all sides. NB This does notimply that units in a maynot occupy trenches.


An armoured train consists of a locomotive& tender, flat bed trucks and an armouredgun car.

1) Due to its size an armoured train modelwill occupy several squares. Note that forgame purposes it only occupies onesquare, that which contains the gun car-riage. Ensure that this is clearly and un-ambiguously deployed in a square at theend of each move. The rest of the train isfor decoration and verisimilitude only.

2) The train counts as two heavyartillery/howitzer batteries, together withtwo MG companies. The MG companiesfire one from each side of the train.

3) Movement is unlimited on unbrokentrack, but must be stationary to fire.

4) It receives TWO activation cards, anddiscards one.

5) In addition to the armaments notedabove the train may carry one Infantrybattalion or Cavalry regiment or Artillerybrigade. It must be stationary to deploythese. Deployment takes a full turn into

any adjacent square.

6) Armoured trains were greatly prized byboth sides. It must retreat if damaged(see below), or infantry move into adja-cent square.

7) Armoured trains are fired at as if HeavyTanks. Its functionality is undamaged bytaking hits, but counts as damaged andmust retreat if it receives four hits. If ittakes five hits it is permanently disabled,may not fire & is open to capture.

1) Squares represent a 500 yard square areaand figure bases are an abstract size.Square occupancy is therefore not basedon physical space. Just because figurescan fit in a square does not mean theycan be deployed in it.

2) Consult the table for units that are al-lowed to occupy the same square.

3) A maximum of two troop types mayoccupy a square at any time. Restrictionsare based upon both physical spaceavailable and the ability to deploy effec-tively.

4) Officer, CHEKA & Commissar bases mayoccupy a square regardless.


InfantryBattalion

CavalryRegiment

ArtilleryBrigade

MGCompany

Vehicles(Note (1))

Arm’dTrain

HorseHolders

InfantryBattalion

N/A N/A N/A Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes Yes

CavalryRegiment


Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes Yes

ArtilleryBrigade


Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes Yes

MGCompany

Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max4 MGbases

Yes. Max4 baseequiva-lents

Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max4 MGbases

Vehicles Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes. Max4 baseequiva-lents

Yes. Max4 vehicles

Yes. Max2 vehicles

Yes. Max4 vehicles

Arm’dTrain

Yes Yes Yes Yes. Max2 MGbases

Yes. Max2 vehicles

N/A Yes

HorseHolders

Yes Yes Yes Yes. Max4 MGbases

Yes. Max4 vehicles

Yes Yes

Notes:(1) When calculating number of vehicles in a square a Heavy tank counts as 2 bases, anda light tank as 1.5. Eg A square may contain 2 light tanks and an armoured car but not 2light tanks and a heavy tank.


I had been looking to “do” the Russian CivilWar for a while fuelled, sadly, by pictures ofPeter Pig’s Armoured Train model. So Iordered all of the figures, based uponRFCM’s “Square Bashing”, and startedpainting. I was aware at this point thatSquare Bashing wasn’t going to give me thestyle of game I wanted. Cavalry had to beimportant, and in particular I wanted to getlarge flanking manoeuvres, so speed ofmovement was important.

I reckoned the “Red Square” style of gamewould be ideal, so I took advantage of theCoW sessions in 2006 to attend the sessionsrun by Richard Brooks on WW1 and IanDrury on WW2 Partisan warfare. Both ofthose gave me a feeling that it was possibleto do, and both individuals were kindenough to send me their rules before pub-lication in the Nugget for me to work with.

In the interim I took up with “The PerfectCaptain’s” Red Action rules. These are set atcompany level, and move along at a fairpace. They are popular for the period, butdon’t enable me to fight a big enough game.I still intend to use them for fighting lowlevel actions if required, but they are notsuitable to game what I mainly want to do.

Which brought me back to “Red Square”.Initial play tests using “Pantalons Rouges &Picklehaubes” were giving me a game thatdidn’t move quickly enough with the sizeof battle I wanted. They were fine up toabout 8 units a side (ie 2 Regiments fightingeach other), but any larger and they groundto a halt. We were also getting a clunkingtype of game reminiscent of the early daysof the Great War, - no surprise really.

The challenges I set my self were to speedup the game, add some period flavour, -principally to make it more fluid - and toput in some proper rules for armour andvehicles. And of course, add the armouredtrain. Early games had shown a tendencyfor players to deal cards to units individual-ly, especially when defending. This slowedthe game considerably, and also uses a lot

of cards. I therefore introduced the twostage move, with officer cards played first.This has reduced split units considerably,and has lead to players conducting coordi-nated actions. Units out of command tendto get isolated and left behind. This changeseems to have worked well.

I was also getting high levels of player frus-tration by making formation changes de-pendent on card suits. Units were stallingfor no reason and whole turns were beingwasted. I therefore dropped this require-ment, and found that I didn’t need it. Unitsunder fire grind to a halt in any event, so itwas a mechanism that was not required.

The armour rules are influenced by, although I have added a few

thoughts of my own. They are the part thatI am least happy with, but armour is not amajor feature compared with cavalry, so Iam comfortable with the results I get. Play-tests at CoW 2007 suggested that armouredcars being able fire on both activations in aturn may be too much. I think it makesthem a more potent weapon, and createssomething close to the threat they actuallyposed. I am also inclined to think that offroad movement should be prevented orreduced to one square per turn. Players’thoughts on these subjects are welcome.

The one thing I haven’t included are anyrules for Interventionists. There is a dangerthat we focus too much on the actions bynon-Russian forces. Apart from one or twoactions and the odd bit of tank driving theyare not a major factor.

The system now serves me fairly well. I stillcan’t fight a game with more than a coupleof Regiments a side (ie 8 units) in two hours.I suspect this isn’t possible, whilst retainingany colour. However, a Divisional levelgame played on a 12’ x 5’ table is possiblein a day, with 4 players.

Any comments or queries on the rules canbe left on the Wargame Developments ya-hoo group. I promise to respond.


Units must move in accordance with their facing on the grid.The diagrams show infantry masses and mounted cavalryunits and the legal directions of moves given their currentfacing with solid arrows.

Moves that are illegal without changing facing are shown withdotted arrows.

Exception: A Massed infantry unit on a road can follow theline of the road, adopting its facing without wheeling.

Legal moves

Illegal moves

a

b

c d

x

Unit x is enfiladed by unit b, and firedat obliquely by c. Units a & d arefiring normally.

Unit x is facing units c & d. It cannotfire at units b & a,. It fires normally atunit d, and obliquely at unit c.

ab

c d

x

Unit x is now enfiladed by unit d, andfired at obliquely by c. Units a & b arefiring normally.

Unit x is facing units c & b. It cannotfire at units d & a,. It fires normally atunit b, and obliquely at unit c.

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