This is (probably?) the final draft of the rules for my upcoming Russian Civil War - Back of Beyond Campaign...
Back of Beyond Campaign Rules
This will be a strategic military wargame campaign set during the Russian Civil War in a the Far Eastern part of the crumbling Russian Empire. The specific region the campaign will take place in is fictionalized and all the name locations are made up.
Players in the campaign will represent Commanders of Armies of Tsarist (or, at least, anti-communist) Russians, Bolsheviks, Warlord Chinese and Western Interventionists. Depending on the number of players available, there could be up to two of each faction (except the Western Interventionists). The Chinese factions in the campaign represent neighbouring warlords taking the opportunity of the chaos and upheaval caused by the civil war to expand their territory a bit!
The campaign will be moderated by a Game Master (GM - i.e. ME!!)
Each Army will have a base of operations in a city and two or three other cities under their control at the beginning of the game. Cites on the map will be connected by Established Routes between them. Armies can only move along Established Routes. Cities that are directly connected by an Established Route are said to be Adjacent.
These campaign rules are in a development/play-testing stage and are potentially are subject to change. I will endeavour to stick to these rules as written, but as it's been a while since I ran one of these, we all need to be a bit flexible. If something comes up that is CLEARLY not working I may make changes. I will consult all players before doing so, however. One thing that might change is the IRL timings - if it becomes TOO MUCH WORK to get through a campaign is ONE WEEK of Real Life, I may stretch that out to one turn every two weeks.
For reasons that will become clear in the section on Communications and Diplomacy below, The identities of the players will be kept a secret and I would like to request that Players/Commanders try to help keep that secret throughout the campaign. I would also like to request that players/commander and followers NOT try to figure out who the other players are, or let on which commander is controlled by a player in messages or comments posts on your own blogs - until the campaign is over! Likewise, if someone DOES somehow happen to let something slip or you DO figure out who a player is, please keep that to yourself and I would request that you not make mention of it to anyone or contact the other players for the purpose of communicating about the campaign. I mean, if anyone really, REALLY wants to I know, it probably won’t be TOO hard to figure out, and I can’t stop that… buuuut… that’s not really in the spirit of the game.
Starting the Game
Before the first Campaigning turn in the winter of 1917, Commanders will have to determine the the starting location of their army. This is location is sent to the GM and all will be simultaneously revealed to all players before the Communication and Diplomacy Phase of the Winter 1917 Campaigning Phase.
Armies
All armies will begin the game with 6 units, each with 15 strength points. The makes up of Armies will be more or less fixed (determined by the availability of miniatures in the GMs collection!). There may be a few options presented to the Commander before the game begins - these will have to be decided upon before the Campaign begins. There may be options for adding new, and possibly different, units to the army during the course of the campaign, during the Rest and Recruiting phase of the Winter Turn of every year.
Units
All units stat with 15 Strength Points. Battlefield casualties are tracked by losing Strength Points.
Infantry - Any number of infantry units may be included in an army (subject to availability in the GMs collection). Infantry is represented by 15 infantry models and each representing one strength point. One model is removed for each strength Point lost.
Heavy Infantry - Heavy Infantry are represented by 12 Infantry Models and a Machine-Gun Team with three crew. One Infantry Model is removed for each strength Point lost. The Machine-gun crew is the last to be removed and counts for three of the is only removed when the unit loses its last Strength Point. Subject to the availability of Machine-Gun teams, most armies will start with one unit of Heavy Infantry, the Western Interventionists will start with two. (Honestly, I think I only HAVE one machine-gun team for each army, except for the Western Interventionists… I have LOTS of those!)
A minimum of four of the units in each army must be Infantry or Heavy Infantry
Cavalry - Cavalry is represented by 5 cavalry models. One is removed for every 3 Strength Points lost. (If a unit takes less than three damage from at attack, the points lost are marked with red glass beads). Each army may start with one unit of cavalry. I’m not sure I have enough for any others…
Artillery - Artillery is represented by a single artillery piece and crew. Strength Point losses will be noted (tracked by dice place next to the model on the table top) and the model only removed if all the Strength Points have been depleted. Each of the armies may start the game with one artillery unit.
Tanks - A Tank unit is represented by a single tank model. Strength Point losses will be noted (tracked by dice place next to the model on the table top) and the model only removed if all the Strength Points have been depleted. No Armies start the game with tanks… but if ever any Army end up with waaaaay too many resources, they might just be able to acquire a tank unit.
The Campaign Year
We are assuming this region of the Far East the campaign is taking place in is relatively sparsely populated. Lots of desert and mountains, and forest or tundra between each city. Mounting a campaign against a neighbouring city, which may be 100+Km distant, is a significant undertaking and thus there are limited opportunities for campaigning throughout a given year. Also, it is far enough north that winter is brutal and campaigns generally grind to a halt.
Regular Years will consist of Four Turns; Three campaigning turns (Spring, Summer, Fall) and a Winter Turn for recovery and recruiting.
The exception to this will be the first turn - the Winter of 1917 - which will be played as a Campaigning turn, without a recovery/recruiting turn after it - representing the chaos of the first few months after the outbreak of civil war and mad scramble to establish territory and lines of communication. (Effectively there will be four campaigning turns before the first recover/recruiting turn).
Campaigning Turns
There are three Campaigning Turns in each Year; Spring, Summer, Autumn.
Campaigning Turns will consist of five phases; Communication and Diplomacy, Orders, Movements and Battles/Sieges, and Results!
Communication and Diplomacy
Because this period is before the internet or phones or even really reliable radio communication, most communications are done via messenger or telegraph. As both telegraph and courier are susceptible to breakdown, delays or capture, communication is not necessarily immediate, reliable or guaranteed!. To represent this “static”, Players will have limited contact with the other players.
There will be two types of communications; messages and proclamations.
THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO ROLE-PLAY! Feel free to draft all messages and proclamations in the voice of the commander you are played (but keep it in English, please!).
Proclamations may be made by each player once each day and will be sent out to all other players. Proclamations, if they are fun and interesting, will be included in the weekly game reports posted to my blog!
Messages are sent to individual Commanders. They can be sent once per day (IRL) and are emailed to the GM. (Some IRL timings may be established, if it becomes necessary - i.e. messages my be due by a certain time - say 6pm Saskatoon time, and will be forwarded by midnight Saskatoon time… for now, I will at some point in the evening, sit down and forward messages to the intended recipients). To represent the unreliability of communication in the period the GM will roll d6 for each message - on a result of 2-6 the communication goes through and will be sent to the appropriate player(s). On a result of 1 something has got awry and a second D6 will be rolled. On a 1-5 that message will be delayed that many IRL days (i.e. will not be forwarded to the recipient(s) for that many days), and on a 6 the message has been intercepted by agents of another Commander and will be forwarded to a Commander other than it was originally intended for, determined randomly (by die roll).
Orders
Once per week (IRL) Commanders will submit orders for their army’s movements for the campaigning season. These will be due 11:59PM on Fridays (Saskatoon Time - GMT-6). They maybe submitted earlier. If any orders are submitted BEFORE Friday (i.e. before Thursday Messages have been disseminated )the army’s movements will be announced as a proclamation to the rest of the Commanders.
The orders should be in the following format [ARMY] at [CITY] moves to [CITY]
Armies can only move to a City that it is connected to by an established route on the campaign map.
If the Army is moving through only territory it controls or territory another commander has permitted the army to move through, it may move twice (i.e. the Army can move from one city it controls to another city it controls - or has permission to move through - and, from there, move to another city it controls- or has permission to move through).
In this case, the orders should be in the following format [ARMY] at [CITY] moves to [CITY], then to [CITY]
If a Commander wishes to grant another Commander’s Army free passage through their territory, or to trace a line of communication through their territory, this should also be explicitly stated in the orders for the turn (otherwise the other commander’s army will be stopped at the first city they move into).
Alternatively a commander may choose to DEFEND their territory. In this case The army will remain in the City they are in at the beginning of the turn unless their territory is invaded, then the Army will move up to an adjacent city within its own territory to meet the invading force!
Orders should also indicate which, if any, other Armies that the Commander issuing orders will allow safe passage through, or will allow to trace a line of communication and supply through, their territory.
Also, because of play order, it is entirely possible that a Players Army may be attacked, beaten in battle and forced to retreat BEFORE they can carry out their own orders (make their own move, etc). In this case the orders are simply cancelled as the army was too busy reacting to the situation. Players may indicate in their orders, preference of Cities to retreat to, if options are available.
If an army is attacked and defeats the attacker, thus remaining in the city they started in, it may still carry out its order for the turn.
If there is a possibility of an enemy force attacking a players army, the player may wish to indicate what their army's reaction to being attacked would be - face the army in battle, retreat to an adjacent city, or retreat into the city and stand a siege (this latter should only be done as a last resort, as the consequences for an army should it be caught in a city that falls to a siege will be DEVASTATING!). If a preference is not indicated, it will be assumed the Army will meet the attacking army in the field.
No two armies can remain in the same city after an Army's movements are carried out (unless one army is besieging the other). This needs to be kept in mind when coordinating army's movements with allies. If a players army moves to a city and an allies army is still there, the players army will retreat back to the city it started out from. You can indicate in orders that you wish to move AFTER an ally's army has carried out its movements.
Movements, Battles and Sieges
After all orders have been submitted Movements, battles and sieges will be worked out in initiative order. Initiative order will be determined by the order in which Orders were received by the GM. The movement of each army will be carried out and any battles and resulting retreats will be resolved before moving onto the next Army’s Orders. Results for sieges will be rolled for after all movements and battles have been resolved.
(If this system somehow becomes problematic - i.e. someone smarter than me figures out a way to abuse this system - I will change it to simple dice rolls to determine the order in which movements will be carried out!)
If an Army’s movements take it to a City controlled by another Faction, that has not granted permission for it to pass through, a battle or siege will take place.
Unless under siege, no two Armies can remain in a city after an Army's movements are complete.
Battles
Battles will take place when and army moves into a location be played out, in order, using One Hour Wargames. These battles will be played over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday).
For each battle, an appropriate scenario will be selected by the GM and played out on tabletop in Saskatoon. Each scenario will be played to its conclusion to determine a Winner and Loser. If, somehow, the battle is a draw, the Attacker will be determined the Loser for the purpose of retreating, but not rallying.
After each battle the following sequence will be attempt to regroup, rally and recover their wounded and equipment lost on the battlefield, and then the losing army will retreat away from the city and the winner will take or retain control.
First, armies will attempt to regroup, rally and recover. Not all losses on the battlefield are outright deaths - they simply represent a diminished capacity to continue combat operations whether it be deaths or wounds or soldiers leaving the battle to help their wounded comrades or soldiers leaving the battle field because they’ve had too much or soldiers have just simply fired off all their ammunitions during protracted firefights… To represent this, recovery rolls are made for each unit that suffered losses (lost Strength Points) For each model Strength Point a unit lost during the battle a unit 1d6 is rolled (i.e. if an infantry unit loses 10 models from it rolls 10d6) for each result of 1 that Strength Point is lost from the unit permanently and made note of (representing deaths, serious injuries, desertions) and cannot be recovered until the next Winter Recruiting Phase. On a 2+ the strength point is recovered. This roll is modified by the following:
-1 if the unit is in the army that Lost
-1 if the battle took place in a city that was not controlled by the units army at the beginning of the battle.
-1 if the unit was a Mercenary Unit
A unit may not recover more strength points than they lost in the battle (i.e. if the unit started the battle with less than 15 Strength Points due to losses in previous battles, they cannot recover those losses they were unable to recover after a previous battle).
Retreats
After rallying and recovering their force, the losing army will be required to retreat away from the city the battle took place in.
If the Loser was the Attacking Army, the Army must retreat to the city from whence it came.
If the Losing Army was the Defending Army, the must retreat to an Adjacent City controlled by the Army. If this is not possible the Army will retreat towards its own base of operations by the shortest route possible and will stop at the first city it controls. Dice for losses on each unit within the Army: 1d6 for each besieged or enemy controlled city the army has to bypass before arriving at their final destination. As this is done AFTER the post-battle Recovery Roll, these losses are permanent and cannot be replaced until the Winter Recruitment phase. An Army cannot retreat to a city that the attacker came from, under any circumstances.
Sieges
If an an army moves to an opponents city and the army is not present, it is assumed there will be some sort of garrison there and the city will need to be besieged. Also, if the Army is present and does not wish to face the attacker in the field, they may retreat into the city and stand the siege.
The outcome of the siege is determined by a single d6 roll. On a 5+ (6+, if the city is fortified) the city has been taken and falls under control of the besieging army. A result of 1 is always a failure.
The roll is modified by:
+1 if the City was NOT part of the current controlling Commander’s initial territory at the beginning of the game.
+1 per subsequent turn Turn that the City has been under Siege.
-1 if the opposing army is within the city.
Regardless of the outcome, a roll of d6-2 is made for each unit present (attackers and defenders) and the result is the strength the unit loses. Armies involved in sieges do not roll for recovery as Armies do after a battle.
If the controlling army is within the city when it falls to a siege, each unit loses 2d6 Strength Points before retreating and cannot make an attack in the following Campaign Turn. As with retreating from battles above, the Army must retreat to an Adjacent City controlled by the Army, it cannot retreat to a city that the attacker came from, under any circumstances. If preference is not given an army will retreat towards its base of operations by the quickest possible route. If this is not possible (I.e. there is not adjacent friendly city) the Army will retreat towards its own base of operations by the quickest route possible and will stop at the first city it owns. Dice for ADDITIONAL losses on each unit within the Army: 1d6 for each enemy controlled city the army has to bypass before arriving at their final destination. These losses are permanent and cannot be replaced until the Winter Recruitment phase.
On a subsequent turn, an attacker may choose to not continue a siege. To do so, they must declare in their orders that they are returning to the City from whence they came. If this is no longer controlled by the retreating army, they will need to fight any army present or besiege the city they previously controlled to relieve it from their new overlords!
If a besieging army fails to capture the city by the end of the Autumn Campaigning Turn, they must retreat back to the city from whence they originally marched. If this is not possible (because someone else seized the city while they were busy carrying out their own siege) the army must retreat towards that city and then on past it, towards its own Base of Operations by the shortest route possible and will stop at the first city it owns. Dice for losses on each unit within the Army: 1d6 + an additional d6 per each enemy controlled city the army has to bypass to get to territory under their control. These losses are permanent and cannot be replaced until the Winter Recruitment phase
Lines of Communication and Supply
After all of the Movements and Battles and Sieges have been resolved, Armies need to be able to trace a line of communication from their armies present location at the end of a campaign turn to their Base of Operations. To do so there must be a continuous pathway of Cities controlled by the Army (or an ally that has granted permission for them to trace a line of communication through their territory). If they cannot do so The Army is considered to be Out-Of-Supply! (Usually because another Army has moved after them and taken control of a city that was previously controlled by the now out-of-supply Army - or an ally that was allowing The Army to trace a line of communication through their territory). If your Army is Out of Supply at the the end oft Movements, Battles and Sieges Phase, Roll d6 per unit in the army - they army permanently loses that number of strength points. These cannot be recovered until winter.
Results
After all the battles are played, the results will be collated and posted in a Weekly Report posted on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog by… sometime on Monday…? (ideally I'll get started on it on Sunday and aim to have it posted by noon on Monday - Saskatoon time). There will be pictures and narrative descriptions of the battles played. No results will be disseminated in any other way. (I.e. don’t hound me about how your army is doing over the weekend, you’ll find out when everyone else does!)
Next Turn
After the Results are posted, we move onto the next turn, whether that be another campaigning turn or the Winter Rest and Recruiting Turn..
Winter Rest and Recruiting Turn
After the three Campaigning Turns of each year (with the exception of 1917) there will be a Winter Rest and Recruiting Turn. During this turn the player will collect taxes/gain resources, and make decisions about how to make use of such resources and where to concentrate their army for operations in the spring of the next year!
Winter Retreat
If an army does not end the Autumn turn in territory of their own - either because they were participating in a siege or were operating in an allies territory, they mush retreat to their own territory for the winter turn. They must move to a city of their own that is immediately adjacent to their current location. There are no consequences for doing so.
If this is not possible They must do so by the shortest path possible. They may take a longer path if a longer path is available through allied territory, and the shortest takes them through enemy territory but then that path must be the shortest path through allied territory to their own territory.
As long as the path of retreat is through allied territory (being any territory controlled by a player that grants permission for the retreating army to pass through the territory), there are no consequences.
IF the line of retreat takes the army through enemy territory (i.e. territory of an opponent that does not grant the army permission to retreat through their territory), Dice for losses of each unit within the Army: 1d6 + d6 per each additional enemy controlled city the army has to bypass to get to territory under their control.
Taxation, Recruiting, Replacements and Reinforcements
Each Army still controlling their original Base of Operations, gains 10 Resource Points for each City under their control (including the Base of Operations). Each Resource points may be spent to replace strength points lost in existing units on a 1:1 basis. Losses must be replaced in existing units before additional units may be acquired. IF a player has enough additional Resource Points after replacing losses, they may spend Resource points on the following:
New Infantry Unit - 15 Resource Points
Upgrade Infantry Unit to HEAVY Infantry - 5 Resource Points
Cavalry Unit - 15 Resource Points
Artillery Unit - 15 Resource Points
Tank Unit - 20 Resource Points
(ALL acquisitions are subject to model availability in the GM’s Collection).
Additional things to spend resources on…
Spies - for 5 resources a player can set up a spy network in one players cities. Each time that players sends communications a d6 will be rolled. On a 6 the message is intercepted and a copy of the contents will be passed back to the spies masters.
Secret Police - For 15 resource points, a paranoid Commander can establish a secret police network. Everytime an attempt to intercept messages is made, the secret police roll a d6 - on a 6 the spies are caught and executed.
Fortifications - 20 Resources may be spend to fortify a city (and improve its garrison). If a city is fortified, it only falls on a 6+ during a siege (rather than 5+). If a city falls to an enemy force, the fortifications and garrison are lost.
Mercenaries - for 10 Resource Points a Mercenary Infantry Unit may be recruited. Mercenaries are only recruited for one year, after which they will leave the Army. An army may recruit up to 2 units of mercenaries per year. Before each battle roll one d6 on a result of 1, the unit does not participate in the battle (on a result of 0 - if they were bribed and rolled a 1 - they switch sides and fight for the enemy and then desert. Mercenaries also suffer an additional -1 to post battle recovery rolls (if they flee the field of battle, they are less likely to return). In every other way, they are just like any other Infantry Unit.
Bribes- For 5 Resource Points an army can carry around a big chest of gold with which to attempt to bribe mercenaries. If facing an army with mercenaries the chest may be given to the mercenaries and will modify their pre-battle roll by -1. Regardless of the result of the roll, the money is spent and cannot be recovered.
Unspent resources may be saved for use in future winter turns (they are only lost if an army loses its Base of Operation).
Boredom
If during any year (including 1917!) an Army is not involved in at least one battle or siege, soldiers begin to desert out of boredom. All units in the army are reduced to 13 strength points for the following year. If an army participates in a battle or siege the following year, these losses my be recovered through recruitment the following winter.
Spring Deployment
Before the Spring Turn begins, Players must declare which city under their control their Army will be deployed in. Send this information to the GM before the Spring Turn Begins. The Location of Armies will be declared to all players on the Monday of the next turn.
THE MAP
Just so I don't have to spend any more time fussing about this, I will simply use the map from the previous campaign.
Wei-Li and Lung-Hu are Bases of Operations for the Warlord Chinese forces
Canadar is the Base of Operations for the Western Interventionist forces
Gura and Bakunin are Bases of Operations for the Tsarist forces
Baboushka and Kubassa are Bases of Operations for the Bolshevik forces
I THINK that's it... if anyone sees any GLARING errors or things I missed, please feel free to let me know. If all goes according to plan, I might even get this started by MONDAY!?
For reference - because it's a fun read - you can find the complete report of the PREVIOUS Back of Beyond Campaign - played in ONE DAY, over TWELVE YEARS AGO!?
Of course, AFTER I'd completely rewritten these rules, I realized I had posted the original rules online as well... Here are the old rules - if anyone is interested:
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