Krasnodar June 1918 and Kazan August 1918

 Another couple of adventures in the Russian Civil War with Dominion of the Red and White. First up we have the second Kuban campaign, which centred on Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar) as Denikins Cossacks headed south again after their defeat in April, while the Don Cossacks headed north to Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad)

Battlefield from the south. Pretty open rolling steppe terrain, Krasnodar is at the bottom on a big river whose name escapes me and there is another river off to the northwest whose watershed is the high steppe. Otherwise there are scattered balkas lined with crops, villages etc which I've done as lines of trees.

Perhaps foolishly I set this up on a 3' x 3' cloth, which certainly gave an impression of rolling expanses, but was a bit big for a Dominion game! The photos look better with more stuff crammed together in a small area. Anyway, it is done now.

The Bolsheviks are defending Krasnodar and Denikin is attacking from the north.

The Whites have got two cavalry units (one on each flank), and two elite infantry units (the Volunteer Army)who have one unit in reserve and one in the centre. They also have a regular artillery unit in reserve and I added an HQ and supply column for the looks.

The Reds have got three infantry units in the front line. In reserve they have an unreliable artillery unit, and also two disciplined but unreliable infantry units. The Red Army had quite a few decent units in the Kuban, but they were dispersed putting down minor revolts. I guess the 'unreliable' rating reflects that they night be tied up elsewhere.

It does look quite nice on the bigger table.

The action opened on the left. As I've found in previous games, artillery support is vital for infantry heavy armies as it gives a +1 in combat. Denikins army suffers a bit from having good artillery but only two units which benefit from it. The cavalry do get a +1 for being n the flanks though.

When the smoke clears the Cossacks on the left have headed for home, but in the centre the Volunteer Army has routed the Bolsheviks, supported by their fearsome artillery.

The White reserve infantry plug the gap on the left, and the Reds are forced to call up some of their unreliable reserves. I'm marking unreliable units with a casualty marker (as they can become unreliable as a combat result), elite units have an MG and a leader indicates 'disciplined'. You can just see the mounted leader with the the centre Red unit.

Naturally the dice decree that the Whites attack on the right, and the cavalry duly ride into a hail of artillery and MG fire.

That goes as well a might be expected and more Cossacks stream to the rear. In the centre though, the Whites rout the Reds. The Reds did actually pass their reliability roll, but then lost the combat despite their better quality.

The last Red infantry marches up to fill the centre. Denikin is in trouble now though, as he has no option but to put his guns into the front line on the right. Out of reserve, they cant provide fire support to other units, whereas the Reds still have their guns available. That is one of the problems with having such a small army.

Fighting opens in the centre, and once more the Reds pass their reliability test. These guys are obviously Chekists. This time the fighting is inconclusive.

But over on the left, the Volunteers are routed by the Red infantry.

Things are looking bad for the Whites now, with their right hanging in the air.

Fate decrees a flank attack and the Red left routs the White centre.

Shortly followed by the artillery as the Red centre overruns the guns. Denikin has been crushed! That was the opposite of  the historical result, and it felt quite one sided, mainly as both the unreliable Red units stood and fought. Historically Denikin took the city and established a serious White presence in the Kuban which caused a lot of headaches for the Bolsheviks.

That was fun though and worth fighting again. I'll keep it shorter this time.

In something of a reversal of the previous game, the Whites smashed the Red centre and right in the first round! The Cossack cavalry had one of those interesting 'mutual annihilation' results, but in this Dominion set, the highest roller survives although cavalry become unreliable. So the Cossacks won, but got an unreliable marker. I really like that, a 'culminating victory' and all that.

Time for the Reds to call in their reinforcements, the columns rush up to fill the centre and right.

Enthused by their success, the Cossacks attack on the left and are duly routed by the Red infantry. However in the centre, the Red infantry run away in the face of the White artillery bombardment (they passed their reliability test, but were defeated by the elite White infantry despite being disciplined).

The White reserve infantry move into line on the left, but the poor old Red gunners suddenly find themselves in the front line. As they are unreliable they are very vulnerable, and of course it ends the artillery support for the other Red infantry, something I've found to be critical in these games.

The White infantry attack on the left with artillery support but are repulsed (no effect on either side), but on the right the disordered Cossacks attack and the Reds just run away (they failed their reliability test).

It was pretty much all over at that point. The Red gunners proved quite resilient and stood, fending off one flanking attack by the Cossacks (a miserable 1!), but were then overrun by the White infantry and Denikin captured Krasnodar, which is as it should be. That was a really interesting scenario and a good contrast to the previous Cossack battles.

In a change of pace, we have an incident from the RCW which has always fascinated me - the march of the Czech Legion from Ukraine to Vladivostock, capturing the Russian gold reserves on the way. The sort of crazy thing that could only happen in a civil war. 

Battlefield from the south. The Trans-Siberian railway runs across the map and on the right we have Kazan, on the upper Volga. This is about 450km east of Moscow, and I've added some hills on the right (foothills of thr Urals perhaps?) and various clumps of pine trees, the great Eurasian Forest.

So here we have the Czechs and Slovaks, Austro-Hungarian prisoners who who fought for Russia in WW1 to gain independance.  They fought way out of Ukraine once Russia surrendered and negotiated passage with across Russia to the Allied enclave in Vladivostock, but the Bolsheviks tried to disarm them which caused a large rebellion and the Czechs were joined by White Russian troops.

So here we have them, two elite infantry (Czech), two normal infantry (Whites) and regular artillery. Ive also put on one of my trains, as they rarely come out. I had this idea that the Czechs wore Adrian helmets, I've no idea why, so I've done them using some SCW figures in Adrians. Each Czech unit has an MG to indicate it is elite. So we've got two Czech and one White unit in the front line (the southern one).

The Red army is hilarious. In reserve there are a bunch of Red Guards holed up in Kazan (disciplined but unreliable), some unreliable artillery and a unit of Austro-Hungarian prisoners fighting for the Reds against the Czechs who the regard as traitors. In the front line are two units of Latvians, who proved to be surprisingly enthusiastic so are rated as elite (north and centre), while in the south we have Serbians, who are rather less enthusiastic about fighting for the Reds are rather like the idea of independence from Austria Hungary (they are rated unreliable).

This is a straight on infantry fight, with masses of infantry on both sides with artillery support. The Czech centre is routed by the Latvians, but the Serbs decide to fight and there is an inconclusive action in the south.

All the Czechs can do is put their reserve infantry into the line.

The Czechs attack in the centre but despite all the shells flying around, the result is inconclusive. In the south, both sides are routed - a very unusual result as it requires both sides to roll exactly the same, which they did. I imagine the White infantry being exhausted by the Red artillery, but the Serbs all busily deserting to join the Czechs, given the opportunity. 

The Austrians move up from reserve to take up the Serbs position (and no doubt dealing harshly with any stragglers), while the Czech gunners suddenly find themselves firing over open sights. As in the previous games, this is pretty bad news for the Whites and once again the peril of having a small army.

Although in fact the Austrians decline to attack the Czech guns. Instead both Latvian units launch a ferocious attack and break the Czech centre and  north. With just the artillery left intact, game over for the Czechs. Oh dear!

That felt like a really serious battle, so I just had to do it again.

The opening rounds went a bit differently this time. The Serbs decided to desert en-mass and collapsed without a fight, while the Latvians defeated the Czechs in the north.

The other Whites took up position in the north, while the Austrians took over the Serb position in the south. I've started moving the lines to indicate successes and failures as eagle eyed readers have no doubt spotted in early images.

The Czech centre earns its pay, attacking twice. Firstly routing the Latvians directly opposite and then hitting the Northern Latvians in the flank and routing them too. Medals all around!

The Red Guards sally forth to prop up the north, while the Red gunners starting firing over open sights at the Czechs. Neither choice is great as both units are unreliable, but if they stand, the guns fire before the (elite) Czechs, and the Red Guards are superior to the Whites as they are disciplined. But they need to pass their reliability tests.

Well, that is interesting. The Czechs attack in the centre, the guns stand and both sides bounce.  In the south, despite being under heavy artillery fire, the Austrians manage to rout the White infantry. Suddenly things aren't looking too good for the Czechs.

Once again the White gunners find themselves in the front line, and have an inconclusive exchange of fire with the Austrians. The centre falls quiet, and the Whites engage the the Red Guards. The latter fail their reliability test and promptly have an urgent appointment elsewhere! 

On the final round, the Red Army just collapses. The Whites in the north outflank and overrun the Red artillery, while the Czechs in the centre outflank and overrun the Austrians in the south - a proper grudge match.

And with that the Czechs storm into Kazan and load up all the Red gold! Very Kellys Heroes.

Brilliant, I really enjoyed both those games, particularly getting out the 15mm WW1 Russians again. What a fabulous set of rules, particularly for solo play. I really felt like an army commander, and combination of the activation system and interplay of unit types produced an excellent period feel and a really engaging narrative. Great stuff, and I'm glad Steven is going to revisit the Ancient set and incorporate some of the more nuanced mechanisms from the more modern sets.

That is probably enough Dominion of Red and White for now, I'm keen to try out some of the other sets I recently purchased and next time I'll revert to a smaller table so it is a bit easier to see what is going one. Apologies if a lot of the photos are basically just tiny brown figures on brown bases on a brown cloth. 

The Last Gasp - June 1940

 Time for the concluding part of my Abbeville Bridgehead trilogy, the mini campaign from the Command Decision scenario book 'Birth of the Blitzkrieg'. In short the Germans seized a bridgehead over the Somme near Abbeville and it was subject to repeated Allied counterattacks, first by 1st Armoured Division, then by 4th DCR and finally by a combined attack by 2nd DCR, 51st Highland Division and 31st Alpine Division. The Scottish element of this operation is covered in the Chain of Command mini campaign 'Capturing Ceasers Camp'.

Battlefield from the south, the Somme is off to the right. It is fairly low lying boggy terrain so the various woods are impassable to armour. The German bridgehead is centered on the two hills mid right, the taller of which is Mont Caubert. The victory conditions required holding (or capturing) Mont Caubert and the village of Cambron plus various combinations of the other villages dotted around. The road leading east from Cambron goes to the German bridges over the river, which is ringed with Flak. 

And here are the Germans, two Infantry Regiments from 157 Infantry Div, an artillery battalion and a Flak battalion. As they have been in position for some time, they have also laid extensive minefields. 

In the north are two battalions from IR 217. The divisional anti-tank battalion was deployed in the bridghead so one battalion has AT guns and the other the regimental infantry guns. They are defending Miannay and Moyenville (two objective villages) with four minefields out front. One of the divisional supply columns can be seen. The Germans are well supplied due to their overwhelming air superiority.

In the south are two battalions from IR 179, a bit less elbow room here. Again one has AT guns and the other infantry guns. They are defending Houchenville and Mareuil Caubert, the latter is an objective while the former is not but covers the road junctions. The other LOG column, a horse drawn field kitchen, can be seen.

On Mont Caubert (Caesers Camp) is the 88mm Flak battalion and on the lower hill is a 105mm artillery battalion. These can both fire indirect and direct, Mont Caubert can see four hexes away over all surrounding terrain. Both artillery positions are protected by Flak, so harder to attack from the air. There is also the German divisional HQ: a radio truck and the CO on his horse.

As might be expected, the Luftwaffe is available in strength. Interdiction missions from Heinkels and Dorniers every turn, and Stukas on call.

John commanded the Germans with Russell as his ADC. I wanted a unified command for the Germans who I also rated as veteran not because the 157th was a great division but because they were in well prepared positions.

The Allied attack came from north, west and south! The main effort was 15th Alpine Regiment (two battalions) support by a battalion of R35s from 31st Alpine Div. They entered from the northwest.

Mark commanded the French infantry and was overall CO.

Northern flank protection was assigned to 1st Gordon Highlanders from 153 Brigade. Brigade HQ can be seen as well. Tim commanded 153 Brigade.

Western flank protection was 2nd Seaforths, also 153 Brigade, plus 15e BCC, a battalion of Char Bs from 2nd DCR. John and Ian commanded the French armour on alternate nights.

Pushing up from the south was 152 Brigade (Simon) with 4th Seaforths and 4th Camerons, plus 14e BCC (H39) from 2nd DCR. You can also see all the formation support stuff.

The Armee d'Air and RAF can put in some missions, but they need to be pre-planned. The bombers can only do interdiction missions while the Fairey Battles have the option of ground support. They have a total of four missions between them as the sky is black with Luftwaffe aircraft.

The French do have formidable artillery support though, no less than two entire Regiments of artillery (with two battalions each), as well as a preparatory bombardment. German air attacks have restricted the amount of ammo to three missions basic load though, and the fire has to be called in by FOO attached to French units only.

The French also have two Renault UE supply units, although given the round the clock Luftwaffe bombing, they will most likely only have one available each turn.

Finally, my Roco Charles de Gaulle figure is in command (the tall chap next to the Renaults)! I wanted to give the French lots of players, partly as they have so many units and partly as their force is such a dogs dinner of different formations. The Germans are outnumbered 2:1 in ground combat units and weight of indirect artillery fire as well as being largely static, lets see if their fortifications and superior quality, comms and air power can save them.

The battle opens with a French preparatory bombardment along the entire front, this looks rather more impressive than it is dangerous, but it does pin the Germans in place and chips a few hits off. Perhaps most importantly it suppresses the German 105mm artillery.

The Allies were pleasantly surprised not to find extensive German outposts and marched on fine style. The Gordons come up against the German minefields in the north.

15e BCC occupies Huppy. I really like the camo scheme on these two QRF Char Bs, even if it was a pig to paint.

The Germans have nothing better to do so the garrison of Miannay opens up on the Gordons supported by all the German artillery! The Scots take some casualties and hit the deck.

Dorniers bomb the French supply lines.

On turn 2 152 Brigade and 14e BCC come on from the south. Like 153 Brigade in the north, they seem a bit nonplussed by the German minefields and conveniently move into range of II/IR 179 in Houchenville while taking Limeux.

In the north the Gordons pull back out of sight to reorganise while 15e Alpine sorts itself out to tackle the German defences. There is a hasty O Group with the CO of 15e BCC.

The Germans hammer 14e BCC in Limeux, Stukas and the anti-tank guns with II/IR 179. The H39s suffer some losses. The Heinkels are driven off by Allied fighters though.

152 Bde and 14e BCC manouvre to bypass the minefields and attack Houchenville, or possibly Mareuil Caubert. The French can't seem to decide, but the moves put the French and Scots into range of no less than four German units. French artillery shells Houchenville.

In a bold move, 1/15e Alpine pushes straight down the main road into the woods adjacent to Houchenville followed by the Char Bs and 2/15e Alpine. It  bypasses the minefields but every German unit in range opens up on them, causing enough hits to disorganise them. The woods provide cover against direct fire though, so the Germans would be better off firing at the various units in the open.

The Dorniers manage to hit the French logistics. Although no more parts fell off the model this time around, it did fall off its flight stand, twice. You can see why they were retired from service.

Much excitement as the Armee D'Air sends a squadron of Amiots to bomb the Somme bridges! Sadly no decisive hits were scored and numerous bombers were shot down by Flak and fighters.  

152 Brigade and its supporting tanks shuffle further east. Fortunately for the H39s, the AT guns and 88s are busy firing at the Alpinists. Some of the Scots seem to have taken some hits though.

The battle for Houchenville rages. As soon as 1/15e Alpine reorganises, it is disorganised again in a storm of German fire. 2/15e Alpine starts to make its way through the woods in support while 15e BCC shells Moyenville. The tanks ae stuck in a traffic jam due to German ZOC.

RAF Fairey Battles bomb Houchenville! They even score a hit!! Sadly this is a turn early as 2/15e Alpine isn't in position to attack yet. 

It does keep the Houchenville garrison busy while 142  Brigade and 2/15e Alpine manouvre into position. Suddenly there are no less than six Allied units able to fire into Houchenville as 2/Seaforths has made a timely appearance. Looks like the Allies are getting their act together.

The Germans persist in firing on 1/15e Alpine and once again only succeed in disorganising it. Under constant Char B fire, the Moyenville garrison has become disorganised and is resupplied. The Germans don't reorganise Houchenville (now carrying three hits).

The French fire off all four artillery battalions at Houchenville, exhausting almost all the remaining ammunition in the process, while the ring of units open fire. The Germans take three more hits and hang on by the skin of their teeth due to their veteran status.

But then 2/15e Alpine charges the disorganised Germans and overruns them. Houchenville has fallen!

The Germans finally remember to fire their 88s at the H39s, who duly burst into flames and are destroyed, but otherwise continue the ineffective fire against 1/15e Alpine. While Moyenville is reorganised (again).

The Germans are still strong in the north although with their centre gone, are possibly beginning to look nervously over their shoulders. The Allies still have to assault the German gun line, over very unfavourable terrain and have fired off all their artillery ammo, so still very much everything to play for.

With that we broke for the night, to resume tomorrow, when Ian will take over from John B.

The Allies had a bit of a shuffle around, moving troops to reinforce their success in the centre and to concentrate against Moyenville. The shattered Chasseurs fell back into the woods as the French didn't have the logistics to reorganise everyone and resupply all their artillery which was now out of ammo.

Then it was time for a big effort against Moyenville! The Gordons even moved up next to the village in the hope of assaulting it next turn. The French Airforce rocked up to join the party as more Blochs bombed the bridges over the Somme.

The German response was...devastating. Every gun in range opened up on the unfortunate Highlanders, and they even got bombed by Stukas. The battalion disintegrated.

Next turn the Allies tried to put more troops up against Moyenville, moving the Chasseurs west of the minefields. The German garrison was reorganising after taking heavy losses, but the German artillery and Stukas were enough to finish the Chasseurs off too. 

Very few Allied units were intact now (the Seaforths in 153 Brigade) so the Allies would have to be careful. The LOG units which dodged the Luftwaffe were still busy moving up artillery ammunition.

The resupplied guns and and the Seaforths, Char Bs and remaining Chasseurs pounded Moyneville leaving the garrison at breaking point but just hanging on.

The Germans had to spend their turn reorganising the garrison (again) and resupplying the 105s who had shot off all their ammunition. The 88s engaged the Char Bs, knocking another  hit off.

The Allied guns crashed out again and this time the Moyenville garrison disintegrated and the unit become combat ineffective. Hardly surprising as they'd been under heavy fire for five hours. Sadly the Allies didn't have any mobile reserves left to exploit and take the town.

That left the way open for the Germans carefully husbanded reserve to rush up and reoccupy the defences. They may have held the town but now had  no reserves left.

With the sun setting and time running short, it was time for an all-out Allied effort, The entire Allied line surged forwards, 152 Brigade in the south, the remains of 153 Brigade and 15th Chasseurs Alpine in the north and the Char Bs in the centre, apparently accompanied by Colonel de Gaulle!

Colonel de Gaulle riding on the back of the Char Bs. The tanks were unable to advance inito Cambron this turn due to German ZOC from the hills. Artillery are very vulnerable to close assault however...

The Germans fired at what they could, but could only scatter casualties across the mass of Allied units. No decisive results were achieved. The 88s managed to miss the Char Bs at point blank range (double 1!) , perhaps they couldn't depress the barrels enough?

In the north the Chasseurs assaulted the 105s and the in south the Gordons assaulted the 88s, both on double dice due to assaulting artillery. Ideally the Germans would be disorganised too, but the Allied guns had shot off all their ammo again and failed to suppress the targets.

Both assaults were repelled, but both inflicted enough losses to disorganise the German artillery. I must have got out of sequence as the Char Bs also moved forwards and occupied Cambron, the route to the bridges! I allow units to move from one ZOC to another and then stop. Fire and movement and all that.

The Allies just needed to clear Mont Caubert now while hanging on to Cambron...

The German artillry fired ineffectiveely but the Stukas just managed to finish off the Char Bs in Cambron. The town was unoccupied but still counted as Allied controlled.

The Gordons rushed forwards once, ready to try another assault.

Despite the Allies firing off the last of their artillery ammunition, it wasn't quite enough. The 88s survived with one hit remaining and the assault was repulsed.

And in the German turn, the 105s limbered up and moved back down into Cambron, reclaiming it.

Time ran out at that point, but the Germans had (just) managed to retain enough obectives to claim a victory. The Allies had come so close to beating them though.

The final situation with the German centre smashed in and the exhausted gunners looking distinctly wobbly holding the final stop line.

The Allies have shot their bolt though, with just half their force remaining operational and all of those with varying degrees of damage, but having come with inches of overunning the German position. Poor old 51st Highland Div in particular, as their next destination is retreat and surrender at St Valery.

What a great game that was, and another very close run thing, a tribute to the original scenario. It worked very well having a large Allied team, although it was complete chaos at times and quite had work to adjudicate remotely, it produced the effect I was after. John was quite content to be the 'German punching bag' as he had lots of fun toys to play with, and it made up for being a large static defensive role. One thing I was pleased with was that the infantry commanders were quite canny, protecting their troops as much as possible and only exposing them to real danger when absolutely necessary. Very much as Rommel described infantry tactics as requiring 'supreme caution and then supreme dash at the right moment'.

Many thanks to the players for their enthusiasm. The previous two games in this trilogy are here on the blog:

https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2023/04/somme-bridgehead-1940.html

https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2024/06/into-breach-29th-may-1940.html