No, really, how could you not love a gaming period where you can use cavalry, artillery, machine guns and infantry combined with biplanes, tanks, carriage drawn machine guns, Fords equipped with machine guns, armored trains and women's units sworn to revenge! And then there is the list of opposing forces available to fight. You got the Whites who range from a pro-democratic faction to a pro-Czarist faction, the Reds, the Greens who can be counted on to fight almost everyone eventually, the Interventionists, which includes not only Uncle Sam but the Wiley Japanese intent on expansion, the British supporting the Whites in covert operations and the French. Then there is the saga of the Czech Legion fighting its way along the Trans Siberian railroad. And did I mention the women's units sworn to revenge?

The outline of events that follows will be very brief and very general in nature. By November of 1917 the Bolsheviks had seized power from the Kerensky government touching off the Russian Civil War and other, smaller, conflicts in the region. By the spring of 1918 the Bolsheviks faced a revolt from the Don Cossacks and from various groups in the Caucasus.

In June of 1918, the Czech Legion, 100,000 strong, seized control of the Trans Siberian railroad when local Bolsheviks officials tried to stop their exit from Russia. Also, that summer, Allied forces, including part of the AEF, seized control of Murmansk and Archangel in the North. In North Russia, the British deployed 18,000 troops. American troops were also deployed around Vladivostok as a counter to the Japanese who occupied the area in great numbers. German troops made their influence felt in Finland and the Baltic states even after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

By 1919, the White armies were advancing on Petrograd and Moscow, albeit in an uncoordinated manner. Anton Deniken pushed four white armies from the South while Alexander Kolchak pushed his forces from Siberia to the West. Using the advantage of a central position, Trotsky began deploying to meet the converging attacks. He ordered his armies to go on the defensive in the South against Deniken but he sent Mikhail Tuckhachevski to go on the offensive against Kolchak. That offensive proved to be very successful and Admiral Kolchak was eventually captured and executed by the Bolsheviks. Deniken's armies meanwhile had reached the end of their logistical tether and they too were sent packing by Tuckhachevski (assisted by the Green guerrilla leader Makhno).

The Red armies turned briefly to the West to fight the Polish armies (providing yet more fertile ground for the wargamer). The Red armies reached the outskirts of Warsaw, itself, before being turned back in defeat.

The Reds were able to mop up the rest of the White resistance during the 1921 campaign followed by a campaign to eradicate the Greens. By 1922 the Russian Civil War was largely over.

Sources for the Russian Civil War on the Web:

The list that follows is certainly not all inclusive or even comprehensive. It does provide data, photos, maps and the like which may well prove helpful to those of you who would be interested in pursuing the subject further.

Jackson Gamers' Russian Civil War pages
http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/reds.htm

This is absolutely the first stop for anyone interested in gaming the period. Jay Stribling has put out a web site that is packed to the gills with useful information, reviews, game reports and the like. Several of the links listed here are provided on Jay's page. Jay's rules Red and White are available free and are excellent for 15mm figures. The other historical periods of Jay's excellent web pages will reward the gamer as well. Almost makes this Yankee wish he lived in Mississippi ... almost.

Barrage Russian Civil War pages
http://www.garrison-clubs.org/clubs/BARRAGE/RCW.htm

This site pushes a variant of Piquet, called Barrage, but contains a lot of information and is worth a look. If you are a Piquet player you might well wish to purchase the supplemental rules.

Russian Civil War Discussion Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RussianCivilWar
This site is also hot buttoned on Jay's pages. There is a lot of expertise here. These guys really know their stuff. They can provide information on uniforms, obats, weapons and the like. The file section alone is worth the time and trouble to join the group (and the time and trouble are minimal) Without question, it is the second place to go as a wargamer.

The White Falcons: the White Air Forces 1918-1920
http: //worldatwar.net/chandelle/v2/v2n3/whitfalc.html

Air Forces of the Russian Civil War
http: //www.insigniamag.com/sov.html
Got to get those airplanes looking right? Beautiful full color illustrations and explanatory text make this the must see place for air enthusiasts.

Russian Armored Trains
http://www.aopt9l.dsl.pipex.com/railgun/Content/Armored%20Trains/Russian/ russian_l.html OR http: //www.tdg/nu/resources/articles/historical %20articles/Armored%2OTrains/ Soviet%20Armored%20Trains.htm
Both of these site have information on the look and use of armored trains in the Russian Civil War.

Armored Cars, Austin series
http://derela.republika.pl/austin.htm

Armored Cars, Austin-Putilovs
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/hillman_putilov-austin.htm

Ford Armored Cars
http://derela.republika.pl/ftb.htm

Tanks
http: //mailer.fsu.edu/-akirk/tanks/ww l/W W 1.html

Red Cavalry Organization
http://www.garrison-clubs.org/clubs/BARRAGE/Scenarios_OBs/ RCW_Red_Cavalry TOE.htm

TOE Red Army
http://fortunecity.co.uk/underworld/shoot/68/rcwtoe.htm

Foreign Forces, Czech Legion
http://drfaltin.org/archive.htm (or) www.skalman.nu/history/russian-civil.htm
A collection of photos without captions. Does provide a view of Austrian style uniforms worn by the Legion and an armored train photo too.

Foreign Forces, Anglo-American
http://www.regiments.org/milhist/wars/ww l/russia.htm http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/Chew/CHEW.asp#l

Analysis of US Army winter operations in 1919
http://www.kolchak.org/History/Siberia/aef.htm
Brief overview of the 27th infantry in Siberia. See also http: //kolchak.org/History/Siberia/russian_intervention.htm

Flags
http://www.gauntletintemational.com/RCWflags.htm