Wargames
Scenarios
The very kind Richard Clarke
has sent me three of his scenarios for this period. I have not played
them, but they are all firmly based on historical actions and look
great fun. Naturally they are written for his rules, Triumph
of the Will, but any Red Actions! players will need to
make only minor adjustments.
These
three scenarios are in .pdf format, and the links will open in a new
page.
Ukraine late
1919, AFSR
Whites vs Reds
A series of linked encounters based on the engagements witnessed by
Brigadier H.N.H. Williamson..
Latvia,
July 1919, Freikorps vs Estonians/Latvians during the Battle of Cēsis
A smallish scenario based on the fighting at Cēsis (refered as the
Battle of Wenden by Richard, using the German name for the city).
Russia,
October 1919, Yudenich Whites versus Reds
A
scenario based around the
fighting right on the edge of Petrograd, as Yudenich's drive neared its
goal.
My
Scenarios
All
my scenarios, below, have been played at
least once (though not necessarily by me) – hopefully
meaning that any glaring problems have been spotted. However, this does
not mean that they can be considered “balanced”:
each side has a chance of succeeding in its objectives, but that does
not imply by any means that they have an equal chance.
They are all written for the manoeuvre element being a company or
depleted battalion.
Poland, 31
August 1920,
Polish uhlans vs Budënny's cavalry near Zamość
The most famous engagement
of the Soviet-Polish War: the day's combat
contains several potential scenarios, both Kriegsspiel and normal. I
have written up the early morning encounter for the tabletop, but the
famous charge of the Soviet cavalry later in the day is equally
possible.
Latvia, 2
July 1919, Iron Division (Freikorps) vs Estonians outside Riga
following the Battle of Cēsis
A smallish fairly simple scenario: the first one I played by e-mail
kriegsspiel (for that reason, actually).
Poland, 14
August
1920, Poles vs Soviets north of Warsaw as the Soviets closed in on that
city
The Borkowo scenario requires quite a few figures, but is fun and
simple to play, either as a kriegsspiel or a normal game. Steve Turn
has also worked up a parallel scenario for nearby Nasielsk, and there
are a couple of other actions on the following day that could worked up
fairly easily.
Latvia, 22 June
1919,
Baltic Landeswehr (Freikorps) vs Estonians during the Battle of Cēsis
This one was a lot of work to umpire as a kriegsspiel and took a lot
more moves than the
others to get a resolution, despite it not being terribly big. The
transcript of the time I gamed it is included.
Russia, January
1918, Red Guards vs Cossacks in a generic scenario for the Railway War
period
A very small, quick scenario. I played it on the table, and a report of
that is attached, but it would also make a simple kriegsspiel game.
Russia,
1919, North-Western Army (Iudenich) vs Soviets in a generic scenario
A
large game I played against a
friend on a big table.
Belarussia,
1920, surprise attack by Poles (Bułak-Bałachowic)
on Soviets in the Pripet
Marshes
A
smallish convention game.
Ukraine,
1919, AFSR (Markovs) vs Soviet 1st Horse Army in a generic scenario
A
smallish convention game.
Other Scenarios
I have further scenarios, but of course once I have posted them I
cannot game them, since the players will have access to way too much
information: so expect this page to be added to only slowly. People
interested in using an unpublished one for a kriegsspiel (or similar)
can contact me.
Other
sources of scenarios
Three extremely wargameable
scenarios for the historical operations of
the British Army in Transcaspia, written for Principles of
War but easily converted, can be found at the RCW Yahoo Group in the
files section.
Tom
Hillman's book on the
Trans-Dnepr
Operation
contains eight very playable scenarios and is an
excellent source for many more (quite apart from its merit as an
excellent study of a fascinating operation).
See the
adverts section.
Richard Clarke (in his pre-Lardy days) wrote two very nice scenarios
for
Wargames
Illustrated. In issue
#167 there was the quite excellent "The Red
Verdun", for Wrangel's attack on Tsaritsyn. About that time he also did
one on the Ice March.
The
Jackson
Gamers' site has
several scenarios.
I don't do skirmish gaming, and
I'm not really sure that the regular campaigns of the Pygmy Wars are
greatly suited to it, but I have seen a scenario booklet published in
the "Skirmish Elite" series for
the early Russo-Polish War (when the warfare was certainly very low
level with fluid lines and small forces). I had the
chance to flick through it and it
seemed quite good, though expensive. See
Russo-Polish
War 1919-Battles of the Borderlands (this
will open in a new window).
Some options for scenarios
with tanks. You might not like them all!
