Yashka and the Brides of Death

 Lisa and I played the fourth and final scenario featuring Maria 'Yashka' Bochkareva from the TFL Empire to Revolution supplement for Through the Mud and the Blood.  Yashka has taken the lessons learned from her time as an enlisted soldier, and now leads the Women's Battalion of Death.  The scenario is based on an attack by the WDB on German trenches.  They are supported by a unit of Russian officers, as the mutinous, proto-revolutionary enlisted Russian soldiers had refused to assist.

Both sides deployed on blinds (represented by the national flags) - Germans in their trenches and Russians advancing from their table edge.

Although it is daytime, units must still be spotted before they can be fired upon.  The Russians used their spotting efforts to assess the damage to the wire.  The dice indicate the status of the wire, from 4 (impassable) to destroyed (removed). The Germans have started to spot Russian units, and have deployed so they can open fire on them.

Russian officers shelter in a shell hole, while shock accumulates.

Meanwhile, Yashka keeps her troops motivated as they keep up fire on the German MG position.

The fire is amazingly effective, the MG is reduced to a single crewman.

As I carefully read the rulebook to find out if the German officer could transfer soldiers to support the MG, Russian fire finished off the remaining machine gunner.

Women's Battalion cross the wire but take shock as German rifles fire on them.

Despite their shock from being fired upon, the Women charge the Germans and drive them from their trench!

The remaining Russians move up to clear the remaining German trenches.

Through a judicial use of the 'Urrah!' card, three sections of Russians combine to charge the last Germans.

The attack is a success, and the surviving Germans are captured.

The series of games with M&B gave a good intro to the rules.  There was a mix of trenches and open terrain.  Card activation went well, but a lesson learned was to make it really clear what each card represents, especially for the 'special' cards.  I liked using blinds, as it allowed troops to move around quickly before being spotted, so the early game moves faster and the action kicks off when the forces are closer to each other.  That said, I can also see how game development has moved on since 2009 when these rules were first published, and I'm looking forward to the new version of WWI Chain of Command that Alex 'Storm of Steel' Southern is working on!

Russian Revolutionaries!

 Around three years ago, I picked up the 'Defenders of the Manor' from Siberia Miniatures.  And now I have finally painted their adversaries, the enthusiastic Bolshevik rebels.  According to Siberia's website, many of these rebels are caricatures of modern politicians of the 2010s, but most are unfamiliar to me!

Banners are always fun.  Arthur provided the slogans. The one on the right is 'Land Bread and Freedom', the one on the left is 'Long Live the Revolution'.

The other side of the banner says 'Down with Capitalism', because two sides to the banner means two different slogans.  Correction - it means 'Down with Capitalists' - a subtle but significant difference!

Some rebels.  I couldn't figure out why the one on the left is carrying around a big pole.  The accordion player is a caricature of Putin, and the soldier dancing to his tune is based on Medvedev.

The chap with the sabre is based on Turkish President Erdogan.

Two well-dressed women

And a child rebel leading a bear.  Possibly a metaphor for the changes that the revolution brought to Russia!

I also finished up this Copplestone figure that has been in my lead pile for far longer than I care to admit!

And finally a group shot showing all the Siberia figures, defenders of manor as well as the rebels.

Yashka kept in the dark

 On Friday, Lisa came over to play out the third of the scenarios based on the wartime experiences of Maria 'Yashka' Bochkareva from the Empire to Revolution scenario pack for Through the Mud and the Blood.  In this scenario, Maria, now promoted to corporal (or Ефрейтор), joins a patrol to raid German lines, seeking to capture German prisoners. Unfortunately for the Russians, the Germans have anticipated the raid and set an ambush of their own!

Everyone deploys on blinds. German trenches are on the left, but some of German forces are setting up their ambush in the small wood in the lower right corner. Some of the Russian blinds have already been spotted and required to deploy. The Russians have started to lay down fire on the German trenches, resulting in the shock marker on the German blind.

Germans return fire with devastating effect on the Russian third squad. With more shock markers than troops, the squad is forced to fall back.

From their ambush location in the woods, German troops fire along the Russian flank.

German fire continues to wear down the Russians, as second squad is also driven off.

Germans in the trench are keeping up fire on the Russians in no man's land.

It's not all one-sided.  Russian return fire on the ambushers drives back one of the squads.

Yaska keeps the Russian first squad in good order,

but even her leadership is not enough as German rifle fire wears down the remaining troops.

 The scenario ended up as a stalemate.  The Russians were forced to fall back, but neither side was able to capture any prisoners or gain control of no man's land.  We have one more scenario to go, as Maria Bochkareva is promoted to command the Women's Battalion of Death!

Petrukha and the Shield Maidens

 No, not a band headlining at the local pub, just some figures I finished painting over the weekend :)

First up are the four shieldmaidens from Wargames Atlantic 3D/Only Games.  Playing to stereotypes, all four are blondes.  It was fun to paint slightly more colourful clothing for a change!  No particular plans for these, they may show up in a fantasy or dark ages game sometime.

Next up is my take on Petrukha, the naïve young soldier assigned to assist Comrade Sukhov in White Sun of the Desert.  I simply took one of the Wargames Atlantic WWI Russians with a budenovka hat.  This model doesn't look quite as young as the actor in the movie, but for me, he's close enough!.

1885 North West Rebellion

 Last weekend, Doug invited Arthur and me over for an 1885 Northwest Rebellion game between Canadian Government forces and a combined army of Métis and Cree riflemen.  Arthur and I took the Government forces while Doug took the Métis and Cree.  The rules for the scenario were Dan Mersey's The Men Who Would Be Kings, with special rules added by Doug.  The main element added was that successful hits add pins to the receiving unit, but each hit only has a one in six chance of causing a casualty. In addition, Métis and Cree had limited ammunition - Doug knew how many shots each of his groups could fire, but the Government forces could only guess based on the amount of fire they were receiving. All figures from Doug's collection.

The North West Mounted Police, who were deployed as mounted infantry. 

Louis Riel, whom the Government forces are trying to apprehend.

Canadian column, with York and Simcoe Battalion, supply wagons and the Gatling Gun and limber.  You can find some photos of the York and Simcoes in 1885, including images of them in their 'home service helmets', at this website: https://greysimcoeforesters.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/york-simcoe-battalion-1885/

Métis sharpshooters open up on the approaching column.

The Gatling gun slowly deploys.  The Gatling was great fun - it took forever to get it in place, by which time it was no longer needed!  Once, I managed to deploy it, only to find it was out of range, so I needed to limber up and move again on the following turn.

Cree warriors fire on the advancing Queen's Own Rifles on the other end of the front.

Undeterred, the QOR continue their advance...

And engage the Cree in close combat.

The way forces were set up, the Government forces were poor shots but had better close combat skills and, importantly, number (generally twice as many men in the Government units as in each warrior group), so there was an incentive to push forward to contact rather than get caught in a firefight.

At the other end of the battlefield, the Yorks and Simcoes capture the Métis rifle pits.

Finally, despite setbacks as many of the Government forces were suppressed by fire from the Métis and Cree, the Mounties apprehend Riel!  This was a great redemption for the Queen's Cowboys as they had fled early in the game but rallied and came back to capture Riel.