Setting the East Ablaze

A couple of weeks back, Will and I tried out Setting the East Ablaze.  I picked up a copy at Vapnartak at the start of the month, so we gave it a go.  I'd only managed a brief read through before playing, so we were fumbling around a lot trying to work out some of the mechanics.  However, it was a fun game and I really like the period - not just the historical options, such as Reds vs Whites, Reds vs Ukrainians, Reds vs Central Asian kingdoms, Russo-Polish, Russo-Finnish, Czech Legion, Greece-Turkey, etc, but the what ifs, such as Allied intervention in the RCW, Turkey, Red invasion of India, Red invasion of Germany - all interesting settings.

Because we were learning the rule set, I don't really have a coherent after action report, but the table looked great.  We played a meeting engagement between Will's plucky Reds and my stalwart Whites, the photo below showing the situation at the end of turn 1 from the White end of the table.

The Whites were as keen as mustard on the left flank, but more reluctant on the right, but not so my newly painted unit of Strelets WW1 Russian Hussars, who merrily cantered along the road, despite the proximity of all those Red Cavalry in the Budinovkas.

The Red Cavalry were getting too close to the White Hussars for comfort.

But being death or glory boys, they took the Reds head on in a charge.

A rather self-immolating charge.

The Whites on the left reached the village at the same time as the Red infantry.

A furious exchange of ineffective shooting, slowly whittling away both Red and White, but then the Reds had more infantry to hand.

The costly melee goes on, with the Hussars taking serious losses, albeit inflicting damaging losses on the Reds, but then they have two more units nearby.

A fun game.  I think I was out manoeuvred in the early stages and never really caught up.  Still lots to discover about the rules,. but quite a nice effect caused by the randomness of card activations.

Cheers, Andy

20mm White Russian Heavy Weapons

A single sprue from the Hat WW1 Russian Heavy Weapon set painted up as supports for the White Russian infantry posted earlier.

First up, a group painted as Drozdovsky and Kornilovsky, wearing a more "normal" uniform tunic.

A Drozdovsky Maxim MG with three crew.

An officer of the Kornilovsky, waving pistol, and a senior officer of the Drozdovsky.  I thought he would make a suitable Deniken, until a better figure presents itself.

A Kornilovsky spotter/observer team with field telephone.

A group from the General Markov's officers regiment, in  their distinctive black uniforms.

A three man mortar team.

Spotter/observer team.

Officer waving pistol and senior officer.  I thought the latter would be a good proxy for Wrangel, until I can find a figure in Circassian costume.

Finally, a group in an older style uniform, more typical of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.  These guys wear a white uniform jacket and green trousers with black boots.

The mortar team.

Officer waving pistol and spotter/observer team with field telephone.

These should provide some heavy infantry support weapons for the White Russian forces.

Thanks for looking.

More 20mm White Russian infantry

First up, HAT WW1 Russian infantry painted in the black uniform of the 1st General Markov's Officers Regiment.  The white hats make a nice contrast to the black uniforms - not sure the men wearing them would have been so happy, it does make them rather obvious.

These are Strelets WW1 Russian infantry in summer dress, painted as the Alexeevsky Regiment, with those in caps coloured white with a blue rim.

Finally for this post, these are the last of the Strelets infantry in summer dress.  I painted these guys in sky blue caps with white bands, based on a photo I found on Google.  However, I can't find it again now, so have no idea what unit these guys represent. 

I still have half a pack of HAT WW1 Russian infantry and a pack of Strelets WW1 Russians in winter dress, but think it's time to complete a few other units before going back to the White Russians, although I still plan to work on some heavy weapons teams and artillery.

Thanks for looking.

20mm White Russian infantry

These are Strelets WW1 Russian infantry in summer dress, painted as standard Imperial infantry suitable for 1917 onwards.  The high proportion of Adrian helmets in the Strelets set suggests grenadiers or assault infantry, but I assume they become more the norm in better equipped units as the civil war progressed.

The whole unit.

The officer, perhaps a little out of date waving his sword, but it helps pick him out on the tabletop.

Next up, similar figures painted up as Kornilovsky.  Those figures in caps have a black band with red cap piped in white, to add a bit of colour.  All wear black trousers coupled with the normal uniform tunic.

Finally, these are HAT figures, so all wear caps, painted up as a "coloured unit", the Drozdovsky.  I think these are also known as the "Chaffinches" colloquially.  These have white cap bands and red caps, off white tunics and blue trousers.

I have some more units in preparation, more on them later.  These are also available for Andreivia.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Russians

So, this week I have mostly been painting WW1 Russian infantry.  These are mainly from the HAT Russian infantry box, together with some officers, a machine gun and a couple of mortars from the HAT Russian Heavy Weapons pack.  They are painted in Russian Uniform, highlighted green grey, with black boots, khaki grey, London grey and blue grey greatcoat rolls, saddle brown for leather pouches and water bottles, oily steel for belt buckles and cap badges.

The whole platoon, four sections, each of 10 riflemen, an officer with runner and a senior officer with field telephone operator.

The officer, standing with pistol and runner in marching pose.  The officer is from the heavy weapons pack.

Senior officer and field telephone operator.

A selection of riflemen.

More riflemen.

Heavy weapons (L-R) a Maxim MG, a Litonov 47mm mortar and a French 58mm motar, each with three crewmen.

The Maxim MG.

The Litonov mortar.

The French 58mm mortar.

A selection of spare officers, telephone operators and spotters.

The colourful chap rear right is painted to look like one of the more colourful "White" Russian units, the Drozdovsky Regiment.  If I see another pack of figures, I'll add a platoon from the Drozdovsky or maybe the Kornilov Regiment, possibly a couple of sections from both.

Some heavy artillery support, A 76mm field gun with 4 crew, from Irregular Miniatures.

Another force suitable for Andreivia, alongside the Cossacks and the Garford-Putilov armoured car that I've posted on earlier.

As ever, thanks for looking.