Campaign Game 1 Set Up Details & Special Rules - The Russian are Coming Campaign

These are the set up details and special rules for the first of the The Russians Are Coming campaign games. A map of the play area is included. Please feel free to try this yourselves (you may have to adapt it for your rules) and let me know how you go!

The Forces 

Russian Cossacks two units – fire as raw, melee as trained, both officers are veteran

• 1 army officer (Lieutenant Pomerov)
• 11 Cossack troopers
• 1 Cossack officer (Sub-Lieutenant Yuskovich)
• 1 Cossack bugler 
• 11 Cossack troopers

South Australians one unit – fire as trained, melee as raw, the NCO is veteran

• 1 NCO (Sergeant Bill Smith)
• 8 privates

Deployment

Russians - Enter board from west edge turn 1
South Australians – may deploy in up to two groups of any strength anywhere on the board. They are hidden until the Russians contacts them, the Russian has a line of sight to them (only if they are in the open) or the South Australian player chooses to reveal them to move or fire them

Game Length

The game ends after 12 turns unless the Russians occupy the barn or if either side routs or is eliminated

Victory Conditions

At the game end the Russians must have at least one figure within 15cm of the barn or they lose, if they don't lose due to this condition Victory Points determine the winner they are calculated as below:

• Russians gets 3 VPs for killing the NCO and 2 VPs for each killed private (maximum 15VPs) They also get 5 VPs for clearing the barn of Colonials
• South Australians gets 2 VP for an officer killed and 1 VP for every other man killed (maximum 27VPs)

Special Rules

• Turn 1 the Russians have the ‘initiative’
• Cossacks can't use formed line if a units leader is killed they maintain in skirmish order and move at half speed
• For morale rolls use the units troops highest value
• The "hills" are actually rolling ground they block line of sight and give those on them melee and shooting advantages but cost no extra movement points to climb as the slopes are gentle
• The copses and fences are light cover (copses anywhere within and fences if directly behind and fire coming through it) and do not block line of sight
• The Barn and rocky outcrops are hard cover and block line of sight
• The barn has a loft so is two levels high
• Figures defending unbreeched barn doors in melee get an extra +1 die modifier as well as the usual cover modifier
• Due to loophole, window and door availability no more than 4 figures may shoot from any side of the barn on ground level
• Due to loophole limits no more than 2 figures may shoot from any side of the barn on second loft level
• Maximum attacker/defender at a window is one
• Maximum attacker defender at a barn doors is two i.e. two figures against one would only be possible if there was a single defender and two attackers
• Only two figures may pass through an open barn door per Action Phase
• Regarding command rules if the South Australian player selects to deploy their unit in two groups a figure of the second group is selected as its commander and they are treated as two units, if the two groups join at any stage standard rules come back into effect and the NCO becomes the only command figure (if he is a casualty there is NO command figure) and they are again one unit
• Cossacks may be up to 20cms from their leader
• At any stage the South Australians may nominate ‘withdrawal’ and all their movement allowances add 50% but all movement must be made DIRECTLY toward the east edge of the board

This is the actual sketch map drawn by Captain Darling soon after the action had occured and he had spoken with witnesses. The Scale, Legend and edge lengths were added by someone unknown in later years!

 The "historical" AAR will follow shortly!

Campaign Game 1 Where Are All The Horses? - The Russian are Coming Campaign

This is the background of the first of the seven scenarios of the Russian Invasion of the Colony of South Australia campaign game:

Where Are All The Horses?

Dawn on Sunday 17th August 1879 found South Australians with a new view off their coastline a Russian invasion fleet! While a frigate acted as lookout for the fleet, an old monitor blockaded the port and four fighting ships bombarded the Fort Glanville building site ‘just in case’ the rest of the ships lay at anchor off Henley Beach disembarking the invasion force by row boat! It was a long and back breaking task! The first troops ashore were two rifle companies from the 36th Division and their task to secure a safe perimeter and they met no resistance. Later in the day the men of the 1st Transbaikal Cossack Regiment were ashore and they were relieved as they were more used to life on steppe than on the rolling waves. Lieutenant-General Lazarev and his staff were ashore by nightfall.

While a few junior officers urged the army commander to push to the city of Adelaide with the four companies he had at hand Lazarev was a wily old bird and was not going to risk his troops in small packets at least not without a complete picture of the South Australians positions. The failure of the fleet to secure an intact jetty was telling and he was painfully aware that to get his full force ashore with all their equipment was going to take at least 48 hours!

Monday afternoon Lazarev was at last confident to move, he looked to the Cossacks who had now rested and were eager for action. They were ordered to advance from the beachhead in small groups and obtain intelligence on the enemy’s dispositions and more importantly begin foraging for victuals, horses and vehicles.

Lazarev's opposite Lieutenant Colonel Downes the commander of the South Australian military forces was meanwhile working like a man possessed he had no sleep in the nights before the invasion as he busily reacted to the initial sightings of the Russian fleet and had instigated the burning of the jetties and the sinking of two steamships in the harbour entrance to block it. While Governor Jervios met with the Russian diplomatic mission that had been sent out from the beachhead Sunday afternoon he garnered all the knowledge he could about his foes. He learnt an important piece of information from various sources viewing the Russians coming ashore they appeared to have brought with them only ammunition and ordinance, there it was crate after crate of bullets piling up on the beach, he opined from this they would be reliant on various locally procured items so immediately dispatched riders and Constabulary to instruct all the residents to the west to withdraw to the confines of the city mile with haste and bring with them every item of food, all their livestock and any wheeled transport they may own so as not to leave them for the invaders. The squares in the city soon resembled farm yards but little was left for the Russians.

Sunday evening Downes spoke with his available company commanders and selected squads of expert marksmen were dispatched westward toward the beachhead to lay in wait for the expected Russian reconnaissance parties ambush them and retire promptly, his aim was to inflict maximum casualties on his foes at the minimum cost while he concentrated his defending forces.

The stage was set, Monday the 18^th of August 1879 would see the initial clashes of the campaign and it was men from the Unley Volunteer Rifle Company and the 1st Transbaikal Cossack Regiment who would exchange the first shots...

AAR and scenario forces, set up, special rules and victory conditions to come next!

Captain Darling & The Russian Army....

The Russian Invasion of the Colony of South Australia was not Captain Darlings first encounter with the Imperial Russian Army, he had fought alongside them during the Second Great Martian Invasion of Earth with the 3rd Steam Powered Armoured Brigade comprising men from the British, French and Russian Empires in the Crimean theatre of operations during 1875. It was during this period of Darling's life that he acquired his fondness of vodka and caviar. He got on well with the Russian warriors of the Brigade and preferred their company to that of the French,he was heared to have said:

"You know where you stand with simple Russian folk but how can you trust a Frenchman who scoffs frogs legs and washes it down with red wine that would be best used to strip paint from a privy door!"

The 3rd Steam Powered Armoured Brigade fought continuously against the Martian invaders until their defeat in 1876 and was looked upon as an elite force with a prestigious reputation.

There is only one known picture of the good Captain from that era it is of poor quality and is below. He was photographed by the wreckage of a Martian Scout Tripod Machine in the company of a Russian staff office called Colonel Ovsiannikov who is on his left and another unknown junior officer carrying a Russian standard to his right. 

Russian Invasion Force In 28mm - The Russian are Coming Campaign

Replicating the Russian Invasion Force in 28mm required the purchase of figures from several manufacturers. Askari, OutPost and Perry figures have been used. I really like the look of the OutPost figures they have that stocky Russian appearance, the Askari sailors are very good but I was less than impressed with the four army figures from them they look 'odd' especially the drummer (a Wallace and Grommit extra perhaps?) and lastly the Perry figures and Gatling gun were up to their usual standard. They uniforms portrayed are from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 - 1878.

The Army figures breakdown as:

• 1 General/Staff Officer
• 4 Officers
• 1 Standard Bearer
• 1 Bugler
• 1 Drummer
• 3 NCOs
• 44 Privates

The Cossack figures breakdown as:

• 1 Officer
• 1 Bugler
• 22 Cossacks

The Naval figures breakdown as:

• 16 Ratings
• 3 Gorlov Gun Crewmen
• 1 "Gorlov" Gun
The Russian General/Staff Officer from OutPost:



The Russian Command figures are mixture of Outpost and Askari figures: 

A sample of the Russian Army Privates all OutPost figures:

All the Russian Army figures!

A sample of the Cossacks from OutPost: 

Hide your women, all the Cossacks!

The Perry "Russian" Gorlov Gun and Crew:

A note regarding the "Gorlov" Gun - Since in this 'history' the Russian army hasn't included any artillery in the invasion forces order of battle there would have been no actual Gorlovs available as they included these in their artillery units. I have in my 'history' taken the line that Lieutenant-General Lazarev being a forward minded general wanted to include these in his order of battle so decided while in Vladivostok to puchase several British made Gatling Guns with Broadwell Drum magazines and ammunition through arms dealers in Hong Kong and then ensured they were aboard his ships. Russian naval crews were familiar with the Gorlov so would man these weapons.

Coming Next "the action" begins with Scenario 1!