Ivan Rides Again!

I am taking "It Rolls for Ivan" to COW in July. I have a busy schedule between now and then, so I thought I'd probably better get in a quick game or two to refresh my memory on the rules, following recent diversions into the world of the Spanish Succession. I put together a small battle with an infantry and cavalry brigade a side, and some armoured cars, as I was only expecting two players. As it was I got four, but the scenario stretched well enough to encompass them all.

Chris and Phil arrived first. About 30 minutes early. This surprised me during my post dinner cup of tea whilst watching Taskmaster on catchup. So, unusually the late arrivals were Richard and Tim. Phil & Richard were the Whites, Chris and Tim the Reds. Phil and Tim had the cavalry, at the other end of the table.

The Whites went first, and played a Joker to get some reinforcements. This passed the initiative to the Reds, who immediately rolled their armour up the road from the bridge. Chris chose to move at the speed of his slowest vehicle, the Garford Putilov at the back.

Phil, typically, pushed some cavalry out wide, then ran his horse artillery up the road and unlimbered it.

Tim deployed his artillery (off picture) and blasted a salvo at Phil's gun, inflicting four blast markers.

 When it came time to resolve the hits, he rolled four sixes on four dice.

Which sort of meant this. To add insult to injury, one of Phil's MG trucks bogged down going cross country.

Richard put a brave face on it, and advanced his infantry, supported by his armoured section.

Chris responded by pushing his infantry forwards, supported by his Austin Putilov.

Down the far end Tim set himself up to respond to the threat from Phil's cavalry. As it turned out, Chris' infantry ended up hogging most of the command cards for the rest of the game as Richard pressed his attack.

Chris dropped back to the cross roads, and set up a firing line, shielded by his armour.

The White infantry surged forwards.

They stormed the gun position and the Putilov. They overran the gun, but took some heavy casualties. They did manage to damage the Putilov's turrets, hampering its firing in future rounds.

Chris drove the Putilov across to support Tim, then counter attacked with a mass of infantry destroying Richard's battalion.

More waves of Whites appeared, and the Officer battalion launched a bayonet charge.

The drove back Chris' firing line, but couldn't capture or destroy the Garford, which sat in the middle of the table like a mobile pill box. Richard's losses in the attack were close to catastrophic.

The remaining Officers fell victim to a vigorous counter attack.

Chris tried to consolidate his position in the centre of the table. A fire fight ensued.

Another White bayonet charge broke the victors over the Officer battalion.

Once more the fighting raged around the Garford, as its MGs rattled and its 75mm cannon roared out.

Then some Red reinforcements arrived, in the shape of an Austin Putilov Kegresse.

Phil then joined the fray in the centre, pulling his cavalry round from confronting Tim, and sending a charge into the flank of Chris' infantry.

The charge broke Chris' last infantry battalion, which in turn broke the Red Army. Narrow victory to the Whites.

A helter-skelter type of game. Tim and Phil didn't get much of a look in, due to the to and fro at the other end of the table. We were all a bit rusty with the game system, but soon got back into it. Chris had some issues with card management, which is a key part of the game. The sequence in which you activate units and the cards you use require a bit of thought, once you know the consequences of your actions.

Well, I enjoyed it.