REDS, WHITES & BLOOD RED SNOW
Gaming the Russian Civil War: Part 2
INTRODUCTION
In part 1 I looked at the background of the Russian Civil War and the forces involved in fighting it. In this part I will look at how to recreate the combat on the table top with some special rules, some sample forces and a scenario.
I have written these with my own rule set, Beyond the Empire, in mind. These use ten-sided dice,D10s, for outcomes but I have also added D6 outcomes to the new rules so readers will be able to adapt these to whatever rule set they prefer. You can also use my suggested force lists as examples when building your own forces.
EXTRA PERIOD RULES
The following new rules are designed to add flavour to some of the more unique aspects of this conflict.
TANK TERROR
Given the reported fear that troops had for such vehicles players may want to adopt the following rule in games where either side has a mobile Tank in their force.
Tanks are classed as a Fearsome weapon so any enemy unit must take an immediate Courage Test if charged, shot at or attacked by a Tank.
LET THE COMMITTEE DECIDE /MUTINOUS
Some units on both sides were prone to debating their orders or even refusing them if they felt that they were not within the spirit of their cause. This also applied where units were suffering from a lack of supplies or were ordered to leave the area from which they had been conscripted. This even stretched to some interventionist units, such as some British troops in Murmansk and Archangel demanding to be sent home whilst some of the French units in Odessa refused their orders.
If players want to reflect this uncertainly in their games, then use the following rule:
Once the two forces have been deployed each player nominates 1 enemy unit which might be unreliable and prone to refusing orders.