Red infantry advances carefully through the woods.

Played at Hobbytown in North Jackson

This was probably our most complex Russian Civil War game so far. The basic scenario is that the White forces are being evacuated from a south Russian port. They will be taken to the Crimea where they will continue the struggle against Bolshevism. If any of them get away, that is. There are a variety of ships docked at the waterfront awaiting men and cargo. The port city is crammed with war materiel to be loaded on shipboard.

Jim Pitts and Tim Latham were the white players. The reds were Fred Diamond (commander), Sean Pitts, Robert Whitfield, and Ed Sansing. Ed's Red troops were destroyed so he also played the Green commander when those forces entered. Jay Stribling was the game master. Photos were taken by Tim Latham and Jay Stribling.

A map of the field, North is to the left, the Reds entered along the Eastern table edge. White "W"s show the White army's defensive positions. Green numerals show the possible entry points of the Green forces.

NOTE by the game master:The White generals set up their defenses much farther out towards the edge of the table than I had anticipated. The Reds had been allowed to set on 24" from the edge, but that proved impossible as they would be on or behind the Whites. I therefore made the Red forces "back up" 6 inches from the White defensive lines. When the game started, the White machine guns cut the Reds to pieces. This part of the battle proved more like Tarawa 1943 than the swift Red attack that I had anticipated. - Jay Stribling

A photograph of the port, jammed with war material and idlers trying to take ship to the Crimea. Each tank, truck, wagon, or railroad car was worth 3 points to the whites if evacuated, 3 points to the Reds if captured, and 3 points to the greens if destroyed/looted by them.

Ships tied up along the waterfront at the end of the railway.

The white defenses. Trenches/breastworks in a wheat field and beyond them on a hill.

Each strongpoint had three machine guns and a unit of infantry. They liquidated the first wave of Red infantry. The White commanders had reserves that were never needed to hold the center of the battlefield.

Another view, showing the strongpoint in the wheatfield.

Jim Pitts (white) and his son Sean (Bolshevik) determine the outcome of a melee. "Comrade Fred" the Bolshevik commander looks on impassively. He knows what the others do not - he has large reserves to exploit any breach in the white lines.

Another view of Red infantry advancing through the large woods to the east of the town.

Four units of Red infantry were sent through the woods to flank the town. Two units of dismounted White cavalry held the woods through the entire game.

The White reserve in the town (an "Officers' battalion") moves out across the stream, into the woods to combat the apparent Bolshevik threat.

Just as the white defensive tactics appeared to have the Reds bottled up at the edge of the battlefield, bad news came to the Whites from many different directions:

1. The White artillery ammunition supply was running out. All artillery pieces would fire at half effect for the remainder of the game.
2. Bolshevik agitators among the sailors on board the ships in the harbor mutinied, seizing control of most of the ships.
3. A "Green" force of partisans appeared at the edge of the town, intent on looting it.

And what more blows could fate deal to the now hard-pressed whites.....

Go to PART 2 of THE EVACUATION

Go to PART 3 of THE EVACUATION
The Sailors' Mutiny

The rules that we used for this game: RED AND WHITE

Additional Russian Civil War rules sections with Aircraft & other items ADDITIONAL RULES

Return to our Russian Civil War Period Page

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