Peter Pig RCW Machine gun troops - Painted by Eric Burgess
When navigating this new page, all links should be working now. I have tried to restore all links and move all pages to the new site but you will still find a broken link or two. Please notify the Jackson gamers immediately. - Jay Stribling, webmaster for the Jackson Gamers.
Mark Copplestone's "Elite Bolshevik" infantry - photo from the Mark Copplestone Figures web site.
Why wargame the Russian Civil War? Well for me, it was a chance to get into a period that few were already into. The challenge of doing research and finding figures in a sparsely gamed period is constant.
Also, this an important period in the history of Russia and indeed, Europe and the west. What if the whites had won? No Stalin! What would the effect on the history of the 20th century be? Would Russian have cooperated more in 1938-1940 to stop Hitler? Would Russia have taken part in the 1939 partition of Poland? Would the Germans have overun a non-communist Russia?
The period is gaining in popularity. When I started building my army 7 years ago, everything had to be converted from WWI or earlier figures. Now you can buy ready-made RCW figures and even armored trains in 15mm, 20mm, and 25mm. Who knows what will come next?
A Tchanka, led by some cavalry (both by Peter Pig) is supported by Infantry (Minifigs). Photo by Jack Radey, who also painted these fine men. You can see more of Jack's 15mm RCW forces by clicking here
If you are new to the Russian Civil War, please see our lists of books, rules, videos and web sites. If you are already gaming this period, I would love to know what figures and rules you use and I would be glad to post your battle reports on the web.
Lastly, this is a period that you can fight with modern weapons, but still have romantic cavalry charges. You can have 3 or 4 factions (Whites, Reds, Greens, Interventionist) on the table at the same time! And these are such scummy people! Reds and Whites shot prisoners, civilians, and just anybody who got in their way. One cannot have a romantic identification with either side. This will be an adventure.
I have obtained permission from Mark Hannamm to post here, three articles by him on the Russo-Polish war. These were in the files of the "RFCM Discussion group" on Yahoo.com. These are an excellent introduction to that conflict, along with his thoughts on gaming figures and uniforms for that war. The Russo-Polish war is an integral part of the conflict known as the Russian Civil War and should be known to all of us who are interested in that struggle.
Forward Comrades! God save the Czar!
Photo by Ed Sansing
Ed Sansing's Red infantry has pulled back to the church, driven back by John Murdaugh's artillery. There they held and could not be dislodged. This occurred in our game "The Twin Battles." Jay Stribling and fellow White Generals had to seize a town along the rail line and a church packed with Red Supplies. They failed, shot down by Maxim guns! Then we played the game again, switching sides.
In the second game, Striblng and his fellow Bolsheviks could NOT hold the town. They were overwhelmed and surrounded and shot to pieces by the counter-revolutionaries. Some would say that this shows a pattern! These games were played at Jay Stribling's home in Jackson MS on January 1, 2007.
Photo by Ed Sansing
Ken Hafer's infantry unit shows itself as Reds Jim Pitts and Robert Whitfield try to cross the river. "The Red Assault" was an attempt by the Reds to seize two of the bridges across the Shallowish river. The Reds gave it a good shot but the Whites blew up one bridge and held the other two. The Reds briefly took the two southern bridges but the Whites regained them. The game was played this at HOBBYTOWN in Jackson MS on February 18, 2006.
"Waves of Whites" is the way Ivor Jansci described a game that he ran using our "RED and WHITE" rules, in late January 2004. The trench line contains apparently outnumbered Red defenders. Ivor is in Illinois, and your editor is in Jackson Mississippi, otherwise, I would have made an effort to be at this game.
Photo by Ed Sansing
As Red units try to cross the stream, a prehistoric creature, obviously disturbed by the passage of Robert Whitfield's white units, charges out of the swamp at the closest unit. While press reports (before the clampdown by Comrade Trotsky) reported that the beast chewed upon White and Red alike, Comrade Stribling reports that the Beast (a counter-revolutionary at heart) feasted upon his brave Red soldiers most of all. Click on The BEAST. for a description of this fantastic battle.
Red Cavalry overhauls two white model T Ford cars trying to escape in our Russian Civil War Battle of Pulyevna.
A "colorful" white unit stands by impotently after their fire failed to stop the cavalry. This is from the eastern pincer of the Red attack. We played this game at HOBBYTOWN in North Jackson on January 17, 2004 with the 15mm armies of Jim Pitts and Jay Stribling, and using our "RED and WHITE" rules.
"Spoiling the White Offensive" saw the Red forces frustrate the Whites by the use of spoiling attacks from the flanks. This game saw the first use of our White armored train "General Markov". We played this at HOBBYTOWN in Jackson MS on April 20, 2002.
"Capturing the Dragon" was an attempt by White forces to capture an immobilized Red armored train. This successful defense by the Red troops took place at HOBBYTOWN in Jackson MS on November 23, 2001 and used our RED AND WHITE rules.
We played a game at Hobbytown on May 5, 2001 that was a great Red cavalry raid on a massive White supply column, called "Red Sabres". We used air power for the first time in one of our games during this affair. This triumph of the Red forces took place at HOBBYTOWN in Jackson MS and used our RED AND WHITE rules.
A view of the White gunboat steaming upriver in our game "The Bridge". Note the priest with arms raised in blessing, at the left of the picture. This game was put on at "FUSILIER MUSTER", a gaming convention in Hattiesburg MS on February 17, 2001.
| We played a game called THE EVACUATION on October 21, 2000. As overwhelming Red forces push them back against the Black Sea coast, the Whites had to try to evacuate their supplies, weapons and men through a south Russian port. Ships were there to take them to join general Wrangel in the Crimea. The Reds were assaulting the White lines to capture men and supplies. But what is this... A shortage of artillery shells! Partisans in the White Rear? Mutiny among the sailors in the fleet! For this and all other of our Russian Civil War games we used our own RED AND WHITE rules. Click on the small photo at left to view the photos and the battle reports. |
| The Jackson Gamers fought the White attack on the city of Tsaritsyn on May 6, 2000. This Russian Civil War Battle used our 15mm armies and the White secret weapon of Jim Pitts' new tanks! The 2 whippets and 2 mark V tanks powered the Whites into the city. Click on the small image to see the photos. This battle was at HOBBYTOWN in Jackson MS and used our RED AND WHITE rules. |
 | DUNKIRKSKI was played at Warparty, an HMGS Great Lakes mini-con, in Cincinnati on 8 April 2000. This 20mm. game used a modified set of the World War II rules Rapid Fire. The game-master, Henry Lubbers, sent us an exciting battle report. Click on the photo to view it. |
Craig Martelle, a retired officer of the United States Marines has made available a variety of RCW books and other items via contacts made while he was stationed in the American Embassy in Moscow. Craig had a page of Red Army flags available for gamers but these are currently off line. I will link to these again when available.
As of September 20, 2000 there is now a Russian Civil War mailing list at "Yahoo E-Groups". This is an eclectic mix of gamers, historians, and many many more nice people. To subscribe at no charge and exchange correspondence about the RCW, the Russo-Polish war and much more, go to:
| http://www.egroups.com/group/RussianCivilWar |
I had some nice links here to pages showing some photos of the Czech legion in Russia, including some very nice shots of armored trains and more, but the links no longer work. When I find the new web site addresses, I will re-link them.
"http://friko7.onet.pl/kie/derela/armcarpl.htm#trains" Polish Armor - Includes Armored Trains
"http://gamayun.physics.sunysb.edu/RR/USSR/pict-misc.html"USSR Railway Picture Gallery - armored trains, most in the RCW, but some of later periods
BEHIND THE LINES is a resale book web-site by Richard Tyson and Graham Harrison of the UK. I had this bookmarked in my "favorites" section and had not noticed before, that there are several articles written by Richard Tyson in the News, Views and Articles section. Two of them are on the Russian Civil War: Allied Intervention in Murmansk and Operations in Trans-Caspia 1918-1919. Each has a nice bibliography too.
Via email, Richard Tyson writes "The RCW is one of my favourite eras of history - if you haven't already been to our site, its probably worth a look for the RCW stuff I've put upthere (well I think it is anyway!) For most of my games so far I've been using Principles of War rules (PoW) and their WWI amendments. I'm still happy with these, but thought that an AK47 version would be fun, but so far have only jotted some stuff down on paper and tried out a few ideas at home. As I get them onto the PC I'll happily e-mail them to you, but it may be some while - like most wargamers I tend to have more than one project on the go at once!! For army lists, those provided by Peter Pig for their Square Bashing rules are an excellent start. For my 6mm stuff, it is already based for PoW - i.e.9cm wide bases by 1cm deep for infantry battalions, and 3cm square bases for artillery, HMG's and Tanks. I just use these on a one-for-one basis for the Peter Pig equivalents (is this making sense?). When all set up, the long lines of troops look quite impressive. (9-21-99)
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You can click on Photos & Painting ideas for more or Eric's images and some remarks by him of how he painted these 15mm units.
Or tou can click on http://www.charlottegarrison.org/ to go to the website by Eric and the Charlotte Gamers. They fought several Russian Civil War battles with BARRAGE, Eric's WWI era supplement to the PIQUET rules set. The website for BARRAGE is http://www.charlottegarrison.org/BARRAGE/index.htm . There used to be some nice pictures of an RCW game on teh Garrison club's site.
Here is what Eric said about one of their games: "The Battle of Ekaterinodar (April 8 -13, 1918 in Kuban region between the Volunteer Army of General Kornilov and the Red Guard Army of General Avtonomov. In the real battle General Kornilov was killed by an artillery barrage that hit his HQ. Fortunately, he was spared this fate in our game and was able to crash through the Red Guard lines and take Ekaterinodar.
You can e-mail Eric about Barrage or anything else at: Eburgess@Carolina.rr.com ".
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 | Click on the book shown to the left to go to a page listing Russian Civil War books. I have read (or am reading) all of these with the exception of those plainly marked as "Reviewed by....". I am actively trying to expand this reading list. If you know a book or magazine that should be on it, Jay Stribling at the email address at the bottom of the page |
 | Click on the rule set to the left to go to a page listing every set of RCW rules that I have been able to find. A good many of the rules sets listed here are designed for the "Great War" rather than the eastern front or the RCW alone. I have included them because I consider the RCW to be a continuation of World War I in many ways. If you know of another set that should be included, please contact Jay Stribling at the email address at the bottom of the page |
MOVIES AND VIDEOS| BOOKS about the Russian Civil War |
LINKS to other Russian Civil War pages |
MOVIES AND VIDEOS about the Russian Civil War | MINIATURE FIGURES for Russian Civil War games |
Please note that the service provider for our previous home page - NBCi - has had so much trouble that our web site was only available part-time during the last of 2000 and I do not believe it has been seen since! Our new web site that mirrors the original is now available on Angelfire. You are on that site now. This site will be almost identical to the original Jackson Gamers' RCW site, but if you wish to try to visit the original click here: http://members.xoom.com/jacksongamer/reds.htm.
If you have a comment or correction, you can email the author of this period page at:
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