Somewhere in Russia, 1919. A railway siding full of vital locomotive coal is held by a company of workers militia and a Red Army machine gun detachment. A White column of dismounted cavalry troopers and loyal infantry are sent to take the sidings. Both sides send reinforcements to the previously sleepy railyards; the Reds send an armoured car and some Sailors, whilst the Whites dispatch an armoured car and a unit of officers and cadets in assorted trucks. The white infantry charged right in but were pinned down by the red machine guns. The cavalry made for a nearby village where they potted uselessly at the reds. The white reinforcements arrived and went straight into the attack. The A/C shot up the red machine guns, while the officers rushed the level crossing. With the cavalry advancing from the village in skirmish order, the militia were forced to fight a tough delaying action, falling back from the barricade at the level crossing to a strong point by the bullet riddled water tower and finally into the coal bunkers themselves. Here they were about to be overrun when the Red Navy and their A/C showed up; this turned the tide. The red A/C shot up the white vehicle and the sailors showed their mettle in a nasty firefight in the railyard before advancing with the bayonet - the White infantry were not going to hang about and lit off in short order. The White Officer unit had been ground down by the heroic proletariat and made for their vehicles, hotly pursued by the bayonets of the Red Navy. The coal was saved for the revolution. Oddly, this battle did not feature in Eisenstein's 1927 film "Bayonets of the Workers", but did earn a sub note in the 1935 Coal Production Five Year Plan. OK, so what rules were used? As if by magic (or rather the foresight of our heroic comrade and leader), here they are! Infantry sub units consist of two packs of 8 figures, divided into 3 groups of 5 and 1 officer. Cavalry sub units are three packs, divided into two troops of 6. Combine sub units to form units as appropriate. Machine guns are one pack of four teams; guns have 1 gun and up to 5 gunners per battery. Tanks, Armoured cars are individuals as are trains. The astute will notice that these figures bear more than a passing resemblance to the pack sizes of a certain porcine figure manufacturer. The force is divided: Force Unit Sub unit Army Division Brigade Division Brigade Regiment Brigade Regiment Company Thus your 16 figure unit can represent anything from a company to a Division. The Function of units are: Force Commander (General, Colonel as appropriate) - Command & Control. Unit - strategic orders, objectives; Sub unit - tactical manoevre, morale, firing MOVEMENT. Roll lxd6, subtract this from the number of figures in the sub unit. The result is the number of inches moved. Half this in bad going. Cavalry add 2" to the result; there is +1 to the number of figures for being led heroically (see below). If the roll results in a negative, then the unit must fall back that number of inches. Units of less than 50% have to roll each turn; if they pass, movement is optional, if they fail, the fallback is compulsory. FIRING. Again roll 1xd6 per sub unit and get less then the number of men firing to score one hit. If more than 3 men are firing and a '1' is rolled, two hits are scored. Figures in cover receive a 456 ST. If shooting at cavalry or at point blank range, count one extra figure firing. If the officer figure is acting heroically, he counts as another shooter. You can halve the number of shooters if the unit is firing whilst advancing, at long range or mounted (perhaps excuse Cossacks or Mongolians from the latter). Ranges? Say pistols 2", rifles 8", machine guns 30". Point blank range is 2" and long is above half. MELEE. It depends how nasty you want it. You can either use the good old figure vs figure and highest dice wins approach (modified for cover, mounted, charging etc) or fight out a round of missile fire at point blank range. In any event a bonus has to be given for ferocious units and poor units need a penalty. Leaders count as an extra figure in melee. MORALE. There is no morale system as such. Instead units will cease to function as casualties mount, moving slower or falling back and generally failing to hit the opposition. You can characterise the units, giving say +1 to number of figures for well trained riflemen or +1 to figures for movement for eager or well drilled troops (the bonus for raw and eager may disappear after say 2 hits). If units have flags, these can be removed if the unit loses a bonus or similar status. Thus you use banners to "flag" up a factor. SPECIAL UNITS. MACHINEGUNS. These are handled differently. Each team has two figures. A full team rolls 6xd6 for hits and a one man team rolls 3xd6. Each 6 is a hit; there are saving throws as per small arms. Machineguns have a 456 st against all hits bar other machineguns and artillery and even then have a st for any cover. A machinegun team is a small target! ARMOURED CARS (A/C). Move 1xAD in the open and 2xAD on the road. MG armed A/C fire as MG teams (roll one load of dice per MG turret). Any MG hits on an A/C have to be recorded. If trying to move, the A/C must roll above this to avoid breaking down - reflecting gradual damage, shredded tyres, shot radiator etc. Rifles can only hurt A/C at close range and even then the A/C has a 456 St. If an A/C has more than 3 hits, it rolls only 3xd6 for firing per turret). TANKS. Treat as A/C, but they may carry guns as well as MGs, cannot be hit by infantry (except by using handgrenades in melee) and have a 456 St vs MG hits. OFFICERS & LEADERS. A figure represents an officer or equivalent and a few NCO' or cronies and bodyguards. The only way the leader affects the unit is by grabbing his mauser pistol, waving it about heroically and shouting loudly. If he does so, ie acts heroically, he counts as an extra figure for moving and firing (and melee) for units that he is in base to base contact with (eg one on each side) - this represents blowing his whistle an awful lot and being awfully brave. There is a risk the officer will be hit; this is equal to the number of hits taken on each occasion. If he is hit, remove the figure and if you like roll to see if he survives at the end. Junior or less respected men take charge but these are not given his chance to lead like a hero. FORCE HQ. This is represented by a few appropriate figures and a car, truck or armoured train. Keep a log of the losses suffered by the force (1 point for a unit at half strength, 2 for one eliminated or run off the field). Roll above this each turn; if he fails, the general has lost his bottle and ordered a retreat. They may of course have characters, roll lxd6: 1 Fanatic - halve the total 23 Committed Bolshevik or Loyal Czarist - may reroll once per game 45 Normal 6 Special. Roll 1xd6 again: 12 - Coward, 34, Traitor, 56 Stark Raving Maniac The Coward starts with a total of lxd6. The Traitor is a closet Bolshevik or a revisionist backslider. If he fails his roll, see what he does. There is a -2 if he has turned coat before; roll lxd6: 123 put his money and mistress in his staff car, disappear and turn up as a waiter in Paris 456 take the secret papers and his mistress and join the opposition. He has a 456 chance of being shot out of hand. The 2iC may take over, but has to roll 56 on lxd6 to do so. Until he does no units may advance. Once he is in command you can roll for his character The Raving Maniac rolls 1xd6 each turn. On a 12 he deducts 2 from the total of losses, on a 56 he adds 2. If he gets the same result twice on the trot he goes fanatic or coward as appropriate. To create a command structure, give unit commanders characters and force them to roll as well. ARTILLERY. Have 1-5 crew; either measure the range in inches equal to half calibre (75mm = 37.5") or presume the whole table is in range, except for light guns which have 3/4 table range. Roll equal to or less than the number of gunners to fire and then 56 to hit on a d6; +1 if open sights, -l poor crew. On a hit, roll 1xd6: vs infantry, cav, guns, HQ, 123 = I hit, 45 2, 6 = 3 vs A/C, 12 2 hits, 34 3,56 = KO vs AFV as A/C but-1 to dice if heavy Spotters with either flags or a field telephone/morse will be needed for indirect fire. CAVALRY. Move and shoot as above, but they can "chaaarge!", ie add +4 to move instead of +2. That is if they can take the losses from rifles and machine guns in melee lances should get a +1 first round bonus, the feared Cossacks +1 all the time. In a charge, roll d6 vs d6 and add I per 2 inf or 1 cav. +1 if Cossacks or lances, 2:1 odds or mg with infantry. If the cav get double the infantry, they cut the infantry up; if they win, it is a stuck melee. If the infantry get double, the cavalry halt halfway and take an extra burst of fire. If the inf just win, the cavalry take get into contact but with no bonuses. On a draw the cavalry fall back to their start line, taking a hit on 456. Infantry in entrenchments are not cut up, instead the cavalry ride over them each inf figure has a 456 ST and the cav stop lxAD to the rear of the position. NOTES. These rules are not all inclusive and are certainly not 100% accurate. You can, however, start with very few figures. Units will get whittled away and you will find that the harder they are used, the harder it will be to get them to do what you want. The RCW was a bloody episode and these rules reflect that. You can always allow casualty recovery, say 2/3 figures for the winner and 1/3 for the loser. You can use Chekists or Commissars to stiffen the morale of dodgy troops (or even generals), but more of that anon; I have an armoured train to catch. Back to The Gauntlet No. 11 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com