Borkowo
The scenario is part of the wider battle for Warsaw in August 1920,
just before Pilsudski's "Miracle on the Vistula" (not that there was
anything miraculous about his victory). It is a touch more speculative
than I prefer, because I have not been able to determine precisely the
Soviet forces involved, but the Polish forces and maps are quite
accurate and the Soviets can't have been very much different.
The initial clash of a Polish regiment with a leading Soviet brigade is
a “meeting engagement” of approximately equal sides
without clear objectives for either party other than destruction of the
enemy – the classic wargames tabletop "battle". It even
occurs on relatively flat, clear terrain.
I have played it twice as a Kriegsspiel, the centre of the action
occurring just to the west of Ruszkowo. The result hung in the balance
both times, with the Reds having a slight advantage (though obviously
this depends quite a bit on your rules and/or morale assessments of the
two sides).
Briefings
Troop
values
I used pretty standard
Red
Actions! values for Soviets and
Poles in my games. I gave the players a QRS – especially
since
some had never played
RA!,
and so needed the help. Note that it includes many troop types not
present in the scenario: the players aren't meant to know what they are
facing and giving them a QRS with only the correct troops on it would
be a bit of a give-away!
Table-top
version
Nasielsk
There were several other actions around this time that can also give
good games. Steve Turn, after playing the main Borkowo scenario,
designed this one: which is equally playable and also provides quite a
balanced game.
Although it is a "what if" scenario, it does have the benefit of having
easier terrain to model on the table.
Other scenarios
There are several quite game-worthy scenarios for the day after the
Borkowo game, either as ordinary
table-top games or as kriegsspiels.
