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 Battle for Baku, August/September 1918

 Another Dominion of the Red and White scenario, this time the Battle of Baku in August-September 1918. I suppose strictly speaking this is more of a WW1 engagement than a RCW one, but the Red Army occupied Baku for some time, fighting the Ottomans and various rebellious locals to control the oil supplies. Armenian nationalists threw them out and massacred the local Azerbaijani population while they were at it, the Ottomans formed an Islamic Army of Turkish troops and Azerbaijanis to eject the Armenians. Concerned about the threat to oil supplies, the British despatched 'Dunsterforce' to aid the defenders.

That is a very potted history, a more comprehensive account of the whole sorry mess is on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baku

Anyway here is the Dominion take on it. Battlefield from the southeast. Baku is on a peninsular on the Caspian Sea, and can be seem at the bottom of the screen. The combined Armenian/British force is holding an arc around the city, while the Turks close in. Imagine the Caucasus Mountains stretching off to the right and left. There are rail lines along the coast from the town and the large hill on the right is part of the lower foothills of the mountains. 

The figures etc are all from my 6mm WW1 Middle Eastern and African collection. The cloth is one of the first gridded cloths I made up, over 20 years ago to play 'Square Bashing' on. The 'Caspian Sea' is just a bit of dark blue cloth but adds to the look of the thing.

The Allied defenders. The front line is primarily held by Armenian infantry. These are large distances thinly held. Dunsterforce was quite small, about 1000 men, but supported by armoured cars, aircraft and fully motorised. They are elite and disciplined (dug in).

In reserve is another Armenian unit, this one is disciplined as there was a range of hills around the city itself, the final defence line, which I'm treating as being dug in. Finally there are several thousand White Russian Cossacks, rated as unreliable as there arrival was somewhat uncertain!

The Allies don't have any significant artillery though. 

The shell crater with the cavalry indicates they are unreliable.

Baku is a port and Dunsterforce (and the Red Army) evacuated by sea so I got out my old home -made stern wheeler as some decoration. It was originally made to sail up the the river in Mesopotamia alongside General Townshends ill fated expedition.

The Islamic Crusade Army, on the left are two veteran Turkish units (indicted by the MGs) and on the right are a mass of Turkish cavalry trying to outflank the Allied line. The main Turkish army is rather hamstrung by poor communications through the mountains so their weight is on the Allied left.

In reserve are two units of Azerbeijani volunteers, both unreliable. I used my Arab Revolt figures for these as they look suitably raggedy. There is also a regular Turkish artillery unit. You can see the ground rising up behind the Turks, or possibly just a fold in the cloth. Ahem.

The action opened on both flanks with the Turkish cavalry trying to clear the hill and the Armenians taking on the Turkish infantry. The Turkish guns can support infantry combat but not cavalry actions, so it fired in support of the Turkish right.

The action on the right was inconclusive (despite the cavalry bonus for operating on the flank), but the Armenians routed the Turks! Their place was taken by Azerbeijanis.

The Armenians attacked on the left again and the Azerbeijanis just ran away. The Turkish guns fired a bombardment on the hill and combined with another cavalry charge, manged to clear it. 

More Azerbeijanis ran up to take the place of their fleeing comrades, while the Armenian reserves dug in at the base of the hill.

In a catastrophic turn for the Allies, the Turkish cavalry swept aside the Armenian reserves, and then attacked Dunsterforce in the flank, who also fell back in disorder! The joys of dice driven sector activation.... the Turkish cavalry had covered themselves in glory.

All that was left were the Cossacks who didn't fancy their chances against the elite Turkish infantry in the centre and instead blocked the Turkish cavalry.

You will notice that the Turkish cavalry has acquired a shell crater - if in a combat both sides are eliminated, the higher scorer isn't routed, but if they are cavalry, they become unreliable instead. What a clever idea, rather like the 'blown' result in Horse, Foot and Guns. Anyway, in the previous turn both the Armeians and Turks had destroyed each other, but the Turks had rolled higher, so got to remain albeit disordered. I'd missed that wrinkle in my previous games.

In the actual fighting the Armenians on the left managed to rout the Azerbaijanis while dodging the Turkish artillery.

The Turkish gunners suddenly found themselves in the front line!

The Turkish infantry in the centre finally stirred themselves and attacked the Cossacks, who turned out to be  steady and stood to receive the attack. Their unreliable marker was removed and the Turkish infantry repulsed. The Armenians on the left attacked the Turkish artillery lines ineffectively.

Next turn fighting resumed on the left and the Armenians overran the guns! Their headlong advance continued and the overran the Turkish centre!! Baku was saved, for now anyway.

That was really good fun, what a great scenario. I find something very appealing about the turn sequence in this iteration of Dominion, it produces a very effective game narrative. I just had to run it again.

Same setup as above.

This time there was extensive action on the left with both the Armenians and the Turks being routed (the former by an artillery bombardment). I've just realised I should have made the Armenians unreliable instead of routing them, oh well, too late now. 

Next round the Armenian reserves moved up to defend the left and routed the Azerbaijanis, but there was another mutual annihilation on the right with both sides removed as this time the dice were identical scores.

Time to throw in the kitchen sink. The Cossacks moved up on the right, while the Turks had to commit their artillery and last Azerbaijanis to the front. In hindsight I should have put the guns on the hill against the Cossacks.

The Cossacks and Azerbaijanis duly both ran away (!) and the Turkish gunners firing over open sights routed the Armenians. That just left Dunsterforce in the line with open flanks so a Turkish victory and the historical result as irl Dunsterforce was evacuated as Baku fell.

That was great, I really enjoyed both those games. Once again it has opened up a historical event about which I had vaguely heard but knew very little. I enjoyed researching the battle and setting up the terrain and forces, for me it really adds something although I know plenty of people are happy to play these with wooden blocks or whatever. I find the figures and terrain bring it to life, for me at any rate.

 Although the Dominion of Red and White are very simple, they really capture my impression of the period and they somehow feel richer than some of the earlier sets. I'm looking forward to doing more battles with these, although one thing I need to be careful of is jumping around between two many sets at once. There are quite subtle differences between all of them, but they make a very big difference to how they play. I think the artillery rules in these are just genius, particularly for such a simple set.