Wargaming
The Weekend Wargamer, Vol II — Finishing the Russian Civil War
This is the second part in a series of treatises and vignettes, detailed in uncomplicated terms, exploring the solo wargaming experience in the digital age. In this volume I write about the conclusion to my solitaire approach to GMT Games’ “Reds!”.
The Whites never had a chance.
Despite a thoroughly outlined plan for achieving success, the White army completely failed every strategic objective I laid out for them in my prewar essay for my solo playthrough of GMT Games’ “Reds!” (2nd edition). Not only were the anti-Bolshevik forces outmatched in almost every front of the conflict, the Whites were forced from the start into an unwinnable situation of being completely on the defensive, never securing the momentum or initiative. They became mired in a endless operational loop of delaying their eventual surrender.
To their credit, the Red Army performed like an efficient demoralizing juggernaut— rarely suffering losses of any consequence on any war front — and never losing control of key resource cities for more than one game turn. The Reds managed to tick off every single objective they were ordered to fulfill, even overextending their accomplishments in the final phase of the match with a quite non-historically accurate capture of Poland.
Siberian armies on the East Front gave the Whites their earliest victories as the war commenced. Tasked with immediately securing the Imperial Gold the Komuch army seized this crucial resource track point in Kazan while the 1st Czech Legion pushed back the advancing 3rd Red Army outside Perm. Gains were short-lived for the Whites, however, as the Soviet 2nd and 5th armies forcibly countered the Komuchs, pressing the Siberians to retreat, leaving the Gold and the city of Kazan in Bolshevik hands. The Whites also failed in their goal of keeping the enemy out of the essential resource cities of Simbirsk and Isyhesk — trading control of the former with the Reds several times between turns 2 and 6 before permanently losing their grip to the Soviets on turn 7. Ishyesk held out for the Siberians until overwhelming Red numbers collapsed in on the White city at the end of turn 8. From then until the end of the war the Whites were squeezed into a solemn, retreating engagement with the Reds back towards their last Siberian stronghold of Omsk, which withstood the harassing Bolsheviks until turn 15, when all remaining Siberian armed forces were annihilated.
East Front victors: Reds
In the far eastern Central Asian Front, the Turkistan white army, paired with a corps of Trans Caspian AIF soldiers, stalled in their efforts to take the Soviet resource city of Tashkent. Their fate was sealed when the Reds managed to strategic move the 11th Army by train to the front after their comrades lifted the White’s rail blockade in Siberia. Peppered by constant threats of attack from the militarily superior Bolshevik units near Samarkand, the Turkistan white army was compelled to beat a hasty retreat to the southwest after Strategic Turn D (August 1919) when the Allied Major Withdrawal game event required the Trans Caspian AIF corps to vacate the war. Now finding themselves outnumbered by a 2 to1 ratio the fleeing Turkistan whites eventually surrendered to the Reds in Ashkhabad on game turn 15 (April 1920).
Central Asia Front victors: Reds
With the combination of plucky Cossacks and high-offensive rated AFSR armies leading the way for the Whites I was almost certain the Southern Front would be the weakest salient for the Reds to defend. But while the pesky Southern Whites kept the war interesting for several turns they never mustered enough offensive momentum to advance farther north than Rostov, failing to attain their goal of seizing Tsaritsyn. The combined muscle of the Red 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th armies was too powerful for the Southern White front. Bolshevik forces eliminated AFSR and Cossack units piecemeal for the first several years of the war, until the meager remnants of the AFSR made their final surrender on game turn 11 in the Battle of Novorossiysk.
South Front victors: Reds
Finally we come to the Western/NW front — a region of the conflict that offered up some serious surprises…and the location of the final White surrender of the civil war.
Bolstered by the entrance of the Estonian, NW White and Polish armies the anti-Soviet faction made inroads in the West, forcing the Reds to scramble reinforcements to the Baltic Republics and NE Poland. The 1st and 2nd NW armies threatened Petrograd enough to spark the Communists into re-routing the 2nd and 16th Red armies to defend their capital city. However with their offensive power replenished the Reds made mincemeat of the tactically inferior NW Whites, removing them as players on the civil war stage with the sack of Reval on game turn 15 (April 1920).
By game turn 16 (May 1920), the Poles found themselves the only anti-Soviet military of any consequence left on the map. Infused with a timely sense of purpose and energy and augmented by their inherent attack bonuses, the newly activated Polish forces immediately began tearing through the undefended SW front. Seizing Minsk then Bryansk then Kiev in quick succession broadened the Polish boundaries while simultaneously alerting the Reds in the area of the imminent threat to their supply lines.
After several turns of give and go resource control in the Southwest, the seemingly limitless Red reinforcements arriving from the East and North clinched the inevitable total Bolshevik victory. Reduced to two single armies and hemmed in by the enemy in three different directions the sole Polish defenses in Warsaw finally surrendered to the Red Army on game turn 20 (October 1920).
West Front victors: Reds
In conclusion, despite both sides rolling well, my playthrough of “Reds!” was an almost complete steamroll for the Red Army. As mentioned in the beginning of the article,the Soviets met or even far exceeded every strategic goal given to them for each front of the war. Capturing the Imperial Gold and 2–3 White resources cities early in the conflict tipped the balances in the Red favor for the duration of the action. These early Red victories were also the White faction’s undoing. By not securing the Gold and maintaining control of key resource cities in Siberia the Whites foolishly dug their own graves. Also hindering their efforts was the dearth of tactical support from the hamstrung AIF armies in the South, NW and Central Asia fronts. Due to the lack of requisite resources the Whites failed to prevent the Allied Minor and Major Withdrawals from occuring. These designed events, mirroring the real life gradual disengagements of the myriad of White coalition forces, hastened the anti-Red defeat — much sooner than how real life history played out.
I enjoyed my solo run through of “Reds!” immensely — however I am not very confident the Whites could ever win without playing with 2 or 3 of the “gameplay balance” rules the White faction has the option to utilize. These advantages, coupled with the lucky White player rolling a 1 at the beginning of a match enabling Nicholas II to survive his assassination attempt (and providing a crucial bonus to White rally rolls), seem to be the White’s only chance of conquering the Motherland.
