RM6.5 Part One

“Great Scott! They’re running away! The train is ours!”
Lt Col Sir John Napier stares in amazement as the last of the Bolsheviks flees across the barren floor of the valley. Behind him, several of the British soldiers cheer lustily and some of the Sikh’s set to dancing victoriously.
“Your orders sir?” Lt Leftbridge-Smythe asks coolly.
“My orders?” Sir John replies absent minded. For a moment he gazes at the armoured train, the locomotive still venting steam. His eyes un-focus for a moment or two and then he grins broadly. “The train is ours” he repeats.
“Yes sir” Lt Leftbridge-Smythe replies uncertain as to what the general is getting at.
“Don’t you see?” Sir John chuckles. “We’ll drive it ahead of us and turn its guns on the Bolsheviks!”
“Ahead of us...” Lt Leftbridge-Smythe shades his eyes as he peers down the valley. From their vantage point the British cannot see the hidden town of which Daniel Mansfield has spoken. “Are we not going to Qala I Zal?”
Sir John shakes his head “No. This is the hidden base. It must be. The only thing we knew about Qala I Zal was the train line ended there at an old mine... well obviously the train line also runs to this hidden town, and an entire industrial town seems far more likely to be Korsakov’s base of operations than an old Chromite mine!
Lt Leftbridge-Smythe nods in agreement. “I suppose there is no time to waste then. We have to get the track fixed before night falls!”
Daniel Mansfield approaches the two British officers, George Macarthur and ‘Mad Dog’ Mitchell following close behind him.
“What’s the game Sir?” Mansfield asks as Lt Leftbridge-Smythe salutes and hurries to organise a work detail. “We’re taking the train with us?”
Sir John nods with a big smile and ‘Mad Dog’ Mitchell lets out a whoop of triumph. “Hot Dog! That’ll teach ‘em Bolshies a lesson!”

It eventually takes several hours to get the train running again, but as dusk begins to the fall the huge armoured behemoth begins to roll along the tracks quickly over taking the British armoured column which has gone on ahead. As night falls, the distant lights of the hidden town appear on the horizon and Sir John orders the train to stop and wait for the tanks. As his personal Mark III draws up along side the locomotive, he turns to the engineers from the 8th Royal Dragoon Guards. You pave the way and I’ll follow you in. Be careful though. They’ll be waiting for us...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starting

The British start with the train halted at the station with their remaining armoured and infantry units following from the northern end of the table. The train carriage may be filled with as many infantry elements as it can carry.

Viktor Korsakov starts in the large workshop building along with as many infantry elements as desired by player five. All the remaining Bolsheviks may arrive on table, from round three onwards in which ever order and from with ever direction except north, as decided by each Bolshevik player. Note advance warning must be given by one round if an AFV is about to enter the table top. This can be done by placing the element on the edge of table in suppression.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Player one; Rasmus

Command
Rocketman
George Macarthur
’Mad Dog’ Mitchell
One Morris C4 15-CWT Light Truck
5 Squadron; 17/21st Lancers & RAA;

Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4

Players two; Palle

Command
Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Napier
Mister James Cartwright (Civilian Advisor)
Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4
3 Squadron; 17/21st Lancers;
Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4
A Company; 17/21st Lancers;
3rd Platoon (Mechanised).
Any troopss which survived Chapt 4
C Company; Royal Army Service Corps;
Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4
D Company; 8th Royal Dragoon Guards;
Engineering Section;
Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4
ONB-7 Armoured Train ’Destroyer’
Any Carriages which survived Chapt 4

Player Three; Jan

Command
Lt. Leftbridge-Smythe
4 Squadron; 17/21st Lancers;
Any vehicles which survived Chapt 4
B Company; 3rd Lahore Division;
3rd Platoon.
Any troopss which survived Chapt 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Player four; Goeg

Command
Comrade Major Borodin
Comrade Sgt Dargomyzhsky
1st Company; 122nd Guards Rifle Red Banner Order of Termez Regiment;
4th Squad;
Fire Team A (5 rifles & 1 LMG)
Fire Team B (5 rifles & 1 LMG)
Fire Team C (1 HMG)
One Renault FT17 Light Tank.

Player five; Oleg

Command
Comrade First Secretary Viktor Korsakov
Comrade Polkovnik ’Yuri’ Commanding
Comrade Captain Glinka; Radio Signals Officer
ONB-7 Independent Guards Tank Battalion;
1st Squadron;
Two K4 Heavy Tanks
One RK16 ’Motor Tachanka’, Reconnaissance Vehicle
1st Company; ONB-7 Independent Special-Purpose Rifle Corps;
1st Platoon;
1st Section. (10 Rifles & 1 LMG)
2nd Section. (10 Rifles & 1 LMG)
3rd Section. (2 Scout Snipers & 1 HMG)

Player Six; Tracey

Command
Dimtriy Ostrowski (Anarchist Hero)
Anarchists
Leon Stetsenko; Anarchist Machine Gunner.
Mykola Glazunov; Anarchist Sniper.
Henri Stolz; Anarchist Engineer.
Ten Anarchists (Rifles)
One Austin Putilov Series III Armoured Car.
One Gaz AA Light Truck with mounted 20mm cannon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Map

All terrain is rough except the rail tracks, water tower and within the train which are difficult and the roads and station platform which are good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Victory conditions

The British win either by defeating all the Bolshevik AFV’s (this includes Korsakov in full armour), or two thirds of the combined Bolshevik force.

The Bolsheviks win either by defeating all the British AFV’s (this includes both gun carriages), or two thirds of the combined British force.

If none of the previous victory conditions are met, then Rocketman and Viktor Korsakov can win the game by defeating the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special notes

This game takes place at night, so visibility is reduced. Elements hiding in the dark receive a +1 bonus to Stealth and +2 if they are more than 12 inches from any enemy element or a source of light. Command range is halved for infantry elements.

If Korsakov’s full armoured suit is downed, then player five may roll a die to determine whether or not Korsakov has been injured. 1 or 2 will see the Russian unable to continue the fight. 3 to 6 will see Korsakov emerge from the wreckage of his full armour, in his body armour and able to continue fighting. Essentially this gives Korsakov the possibility of a second life, albeit with a lesser combat capability.

Grenades. All players receive one grenade counter for every four infantry elements.

Rocketman has eight hero points in this game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part one of this game was played on Thursday 10th June 2010.
Players were Palle, Jan, Goeg and Oleg.

The British infantry rush to take control of the station building

The Sihk infantry take control of the work shops

Lt Leftbridge-Smythe's scouts take up positions in the darkness

The first Black Guard K4 trundles forward to hold the barricade

This was meant to be the last game of the campaign, but we were apparently too slow for we ran out of time before we'd reached anything resembling a conclusion. Subsequently there will be another write up following this one.

The game began with the British forces having arrived at the station and disembarking when they realised the tracks ahead of them had been blocked with barricades. The British infantry quickly moved to take control of the station building. I had intended to make some cardboard buildings for this game, but as is often the case, other interests and considerations took precendence so we made do with various other models instead. I had envisioned a proper station building with multiple windows and rooms, but instead the British found themselves holding a single roomed affair without even a ticket office. Lt Col Napier and his tanks brought up the rear. Palle placed his tanks in a single block and moved slowly up the road to the east of the train.

Lt Leftbridge-Smythe and the Sikh's (Jan) deployed to the west of the train, moving up behind two workshop buildings before taking possession of them.

It didn't take long for the firing to begin. Viktor Korsakov (Oleg) was visible in the smaller rail workshop and Lt Leftbridge-Smythe opened fire on him supported by the rear gun carriage on the train. Visibility was very poor however and the British were unable to damage the strange armoured machine which was waddling about in the lights of the workshop. Korsakov, armoured but not invulnerable quickly cut the lights then ripped his way out of the workshop, the claws of his walking armoured suit ripping aside the walls with relative ease. Moving onto the tracks that ran between the two rail workshops he hunkered down behind the barricade there and lurked...

Meanwhile the Bolsheviks brought up their first K4 heavy tank (Oleg) and parked it behind the other barricade, directly in front of the armoured train. Two more Bolshevik heavy tanks (Goeg) then trundled out of the darkness and parked themselves directly beside the forward gun carriage, effectively bottling in the British tanks under Lt Col Napier and sheltering from any supporting fire offered by Lt Leftbridge-Smythe and his tanks. A K1 light tank and an Austin Putilov Armoured Car flanked them, the latter parking itself directly opposite the station building and in front of Lt Col Napier's three tanks. Now the big guns spoke and it didn't take long for the forward gun carriage to be silenced. Suddenly the train had become a liability; a big metal wall cutting the British force in half.

The Sikh's were largely unconcerned however and fanned out to cover their fire base, as they did, the first K4 took a pot shot at the two storey workshop, killing two Sikh's within. Lt Leftbridge-Smythe was unable to return fire as the water tower and various rubble obscured the Bolshevik tank, helped along by the darkness. Rocketman decided it was time to act however and took to the air in his usual off-the-table pattern, flying around to seek out Korsakov.

The two K4's which had parked themselves beside the burning gun carriage began to fire into the station, whilst Lt Col Napier fired on the Austin Putilov. At first they merely blew out its engine, cracking its axle and turning it into a barricade with turrets intact, but another volley or two silenced it and Sir John began to push the wreck ahead of him as he tried to make his way forward. Bolshevik troops had moved forward to the station building and a fire fight had taken its toll of the British inside. The K4's were using high explosive shells to spray deadly shrapnel in all directions, even to the point of killing their own men.

Having dealt death the two K4's parked by the forward gun carriage now began to jostle for advantage. Sir John was still a serious threat, his modern specialist tank being the toughest on the table top. One of the K4's turned to face the approaching British general and the other moved around the front of the train to face the Sikh's.

Rocketman in the mean time had swung about the rear of the Bolsheviks and dropped in through an open cargo door in the top of the big rail workshop... and then the game ended with in stalemate, as can be seen here. If all goes to plan the next game should be on wednesday 16th.

Korsakov forces his way out of the rail workshop to hold the second barricade

The Bolsheviks move their heavy tanks forward and take out the forward gun carriage

The Gods of war discuss Lt Col Napier's situation

Rocketman flies into the fray

With Lt Col Napier bottled behind the station,
the Bolsheviks turn their attention to the Sikh's

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~