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Reds. Part 2 Rules version 2.0

14.0 Combat

14.1 General

Combat takes place between opposing adjacent units on the main map and units in the Siberia boxes. Combat does not occur between adjacent Siberia boxes. Combat only occurs during the combat phases of Operational turns, the player whose combat phase it currently is always the attacker.

14.2 Multiple defenders

2 or more enemy units in a hex must always be combined and attacked as a single unit. The means in which a stack is made up does not affect it in combat. A stack of 6 x 1 strength unit is the same as 1 x 6 strength unit as long as they are all of the same combat quality.

14.3 Multi-Hex attacks

An enemy occupied hex may be attacked by as many friendly units as can be brought to bear from adjacent hexes in a single combat phase. 2 or more adjacent enemy combat units may not be combined into a single defending group. Each enemy held hex must be attacked individually.

A given hex may be attacked more than once in single combat phase.

Subsequent attacks after the 1st must come from Breakthrough attacks.

No enemy unit may be attacked by the same friendly units more than once in a single combat phase. It may be the target of any number of Breakthrough attacks all from different enemy stacks.

14.4 Sequencing of attacks

The attacking player may conduct attacks in any order. It is not necessary to declare 1 attack before another is resolved. Enemy stacks may be examined before combat (but not during movement) and attacks called off before the die is rolled if the player considers the odds unreasonable.

14.5 Stacks attacking

All units stacked in a single hex need not attack into the same enemy hex. Some could attack into 1 enemy hex and others into another adjacent enemy hex. These are resolved as separate combats. This is not influenced by the type of unit representing the friendly stack nor the availability of units to break down the stack. A single 6 strength unit is treated as 6 x 1s for combat even if there are no spare units to break the unit down.

14.6 Combat procedure

Combat is based on the odds ratio of attacking to defending strength points. The number of defending points is divided into the attacking total to give the odds ratio. Any fractions are rounded in favour of the defender. 11 points attacking 6 would be 1:1.

Odds columns on the Combat Results Table (CRT) range from 1 : 2 to 5 : 1.

Attacks at worse odds than 1 : 2 are always treated as a 2/0 result.

Odds at higher than 5 : 1 are treated as 5 : 1.

14.7 Combat results

A D6 is compared to the odds column of the attack on the Combat Results table. Results are separated by a slash, to the left of the slash is the attacker’s result, to the right the defender’s.

A numbered result is the number of steps that the owning player must lose. The owning player may choose which units from the involved in combat to take the losses. It is best to take C losses before B and B before A.

14.71 Breakthroughs

A B result removes all points belonging to the relevant player from the map and allows the other player to exploit his victory. B results can only ever occur against a defending stack. A B result is not the same as a numbered result which happens to remove all steps of 1 side from the combat.

When the defender suffers a B result all defending units are removed then the attacker may advance any 1 stack that took part in the attack up to 2 movement points. This stack may then immediately attack any other enemy stack that it ends movement adjacent to. The resulting combat may result in further B results and further advances.

An attacking stack is not forced to move at all in a B result and may move less than 2 Breakthrough movement points. If the stack does exploit it does not have to attack. Only 1 attacking stack in each combat may exploit. The moment that the die is rolled for another combat all units from the previous combat lose the ability to exploit.

Breakthroughs may not be used to move between Siberia boxes..

14.72 Advance after combat

If all units on either side are destroyed in combat by a numbered result then surviving units may advance into the vacated hex. This costs no movement points.

There is no advance after combat in B results but exploiting units may use part of their breakthrough allowance to move into the vacated defender’s hex.

14.73 City capture

If a city is captured as a result of combat by a Red or White unit the capturing faction rolls a D6. On a 5 or 6 1 point is added to it’s force pool. This point may be gained for the same city any number of times in a game. This represents the morale effect of victories, a new batch of peasants to conscript and captured materiel.

14.9 Column shifts in combat

Some factors will shift the odds ratio in favour of the attacker or defender.

14.91 Troop quality.

The quality of the best attacking unit or leader is compared to the best defending unit with C=1, B=2 and A = 3. The numbered difference is the number of column shifts in favour of the better unit. Note that leaders can increase the combat quality of a stack. The only way that Red and White stacks can attain A class stacks is by using

leaders.

14.92 Terrain

The terrain of the defender’s hex or that of the hexsides separating attackers and defenders can affect the combat odds in favour of the defender.

Cities, 1 column left.

Rough, 1 column left.

Forest 1 column left in wet and snow weather only.

Marsh 1 column left

Mountain 1 column left but 2 columns left in wet or snow.

River 1 column left only if all attacking units attack across the river.

14.10 Die roll modifiers in combat.

The attacker gains a +1 to the die if he attacks the hex from all sides. This is achieved by having 2 units at 180 degrees to the defender, 1 at each end. Alternatively 3 units at 120 degrees to the unit can gain the bonus. The defender would be circled by 1 unit, then a gap, 1 unit, a gap then the final unit.

+1 to the die for each odds ratio better than 5:1. The combat is still performed on the 5:1 column.

Reds Time Line

All troop numbers are rounded to the nearest 10,000 except where stated. Numbers should not be taken too seriously but are an indication of relative strengths. All factions had to divert large forces to rear area security. The Red armies also had to use troops to ensure food was gathered in sufficient quantities for the big cities.

White actions are in italics. Cities present on the Reds board are underlined.

Turn 1, July 1918

Anti-Bolshevic revolt crushed in Yaroslavl.

30,000 Reds defeated by Volunteer army and Cossacks in Cossack region of map. Volunteer Army 10,000.

Turn 2, August 1918

Trotsky on Volga with <10,000 troops.

Turn 3, Sept 1918

Trotsky takes Kazan, Simbirsk.

150,000 Red troops in North Caucasus area.

Turks capture Baku

Turn 4 October 1918

Reds capture Samara, Stavropol.

Turn 5, Nov/Dec 1918

Great War ends.

Reds still hold Tsaritsyn , Saratov.

Siberian (Green) units in Chita and Khabarovsk

Reds capture Ufa.

80,000 Cossacks near Tsaritsyn. 30,000 Red defenders.

Turn 6, Jan/Feb 1919

Reds capture Riga, Vilna, Kharkov, Kiev. Invasion of Estonia fails.

Cossacks outnumbered 3:1 at Tsaritsyn.

Opposed by 50,000 Reds

50,000 Red troops captured in North Caucasus, survivors move to Astrakhan.

Turn 7, March 1919

Reds occupy most of Lithuania and Latvia but later evacuate.

Hungarian Red Republic declared.

Turn 8, April 1919

Reds control all Crimea except Kerch (the hex that covers Crimea and

the coast opposite)

Reds control all Ukraine except Rostov area.

Turn 9, May 1919

Reds evacuate Latvia

.Turn 10, June 1919

Reds capture Ufa.

Volunteer Army takes Kharkov, Belgorod, Tsaritsyn (40,000 Red defenders).

Turn 11, July 1919

Reds take Cheliabinsk, Yekaterinburg

Turn 12 , August 1919

50,000 Reds attack Tsaritsyn.

Turn 13, Sept 1919

British leave Archangel

Makno active in the Ukraine up to 50,000 strong.

Turn 13, Oct 1919

Trotsky in Petrograd. Reds capture Orel.. Budenny active with Red

cavalry South of Tambov

Turn 14, Nov/Dec 1919

Reds capture Omsk. Kursk, Kharkov, Kiev, 180,000 Reds face 110,000

Turn 15, Jan/Feb 1920

Reds take Rostov, Krasnovdsk. Total Red Army 3,000, 000 strong.

Turn 16, March 1920

Reds capture Novorossiysk.

Turn 17, April 1920

War breaks out between Azerbayjan and Armenia. Reds take Baku.

Reds win in game terms.

Turn 18, May 1920

Turn 19, June 1920

Poles evacuate Kiev.

Turn 20, July 1920

Reds capture Minsk, Vilna

Turn 21, August 1920

Turn 22, September 1920

October 1920

Volunteer Army attack across Dnieper

Further Notes

The map is based on a map of Industrial growth in pre-revolution Russia in the Times Atlas of World History. The cities chosen are those marked as showing greatest population growth over the period. Railways are from the same map which misses off the Petrograd-Murmansk line (present on the Reds map) hence probably a few others.

The railway and supply rules will restrict play to the central part of the map. Some hexes are out of play because they are too far from railways and towns. Generally these are also sub-Arctic forest so not much is lost. Murmansk would not fit on the map, it was held by Whites backed by the USA. The furthest that these boys got was the edge of the railroad that vanishes off-map by the Reds logo. Ufa has been slid 1 hex to fit onto the main map. There was another off-map set of boxes leading to Tashkent and Samarkand. The Reds held Tashkent throughout the Civil War against White and Nationalist forces. As in the game only a Red player who is doing very well would bother to visit Tashkent.

Blatant admission, Kaschau was captured by the Chechs in the same war that Romania sliced all of Transylvania from Hungary. In Reds Poland will have to do the job but the effect is much the same. Unless someone comes to help the Red Hungarians they are in big trouble. If Moscow had been in a position to intervene and had succeeded the Bavarian Soviet Republic could have been backed up. This domino effect was high on Lenin's shopping list. The level of forces involved are correct in proportion but because an unknown but high ratio of all troops were based in behind the lines police actions the exact numbers may be off. Total manpower comes from the CIA factbook which gives the military manpower for all the local states in the 1990s. Add this lot up and the result is some 47,000,000 for the area of the old USSR. At the War's end the Red army was 5,000,000 plus so cranking this down to 1,000,000 current manpower to Civil War was is 1/47. This does not reflect a state pulling out all the props such as Finland in the Winter War. Finland's 4 strong army should be 2 strong according to the 1/47 ratio. Overall numbers have been kept low to reflect this conflict happening after the high losses of the Eastern Front and

a large section of all populations trying to stay out of the war.

City numbers are used to control who can recruit where. The total numbers for each group are based on the army sizes. For the small states all cities get 1 each. Some cities along the map edges get extra based on cities that do not fit on the map. Larger recruiting numbers are based on the Times map and are affected by taking the

remainder after all obvious 1s have been allocated and distributing by population. Tula was the Russian state armoury centre so gets a bonus. This system ties up a lot of manpower in the Ukraine. Historically the Reds trashed the various Ukraine governments and set up a Ukrainian SSR. If someone does not do this pretty quick in Reds a viable Ukrainian state can be built up. This state can hold off the Reds for a while but builds Ukrainian troops not White. If the Ukraine happens to survive

and the Polish/Ukrainian alliance comes off the Reds can do badly but the Whites will have to hold back this front or let it take Moscow and then turn on it to win. Polish cities remain Polish not White so will reduce Red manpower but cannot win the game.

The cards are admittedly random. When played with 2 players there is a third dummy player in the random events deck. White forces may get nowhere and be swiftly swamped or a German offensive can put Yudenich in Petrograd. Reds has been put together as an experience game rather than a competition game. Games generally end in mid 1919 which gives plenty of scope for cards not coming up. The end of The Great War is the single most important event as it opens up much of the map

and brings in new event cards. The initial deployment of German forces should be to optimise slowing down Red advances in the Ukraine and allow the Whites to snip off a corner in the Rostov area. Note that the Crimea contains Russian not Ukrainian cities.

Bibliography of Related games

Russian Civil War, SPI 1976. A handy crib for the big picture. The game is multi-player area movement system so is low on detail. This is where I took the Siberia track idea from.

White Eagle Eastwards, Decision games, S&T 156. Simple game but more widely available than the GDW game on the same subject.

The Great War in Europe, XTR, Command 33, the basic rules system comes form here.