Flesh & Iron Horses

Had another go at the "cavalry raid" scenario this week, with some tweaks. The last time it wasn't completely balanced - or at least the White players thought so. Since then the rules have been tightened, and I dialled back the Red forces. However I did start with the train on the table, as everyone likes to see that.

After the last game having an embarrassment of riches in the player department, this time we had Richard and Ian on-line and Phil in SHQ.

The Whites have a lot of cavalry and some motorised infantry with an armoured car and artillery support. The Reds have a light armoured train, a couple of cavalry regiments, and some local Red Guards. The Whites are marauding.

This is turn one. The Whites are making a big push on the left of the picture, coming down from the top. Richard has chosen to brigade his tchankas into one unit to maximise firepower. An interesting move, and one I have been hinting at as an option for a while.

Phil was running the Reds, and countered by pushing up his cavalry.

Phil ordered the train up the table very aggressively. The crew weren't sure about this, but their Commissar assured them it was the right thing to do. That's a Coercion marker in the rear truck. Ian had moved up the mobile infantry to threaten one of the villages. Phil was able to destroy one with direct fire from the guns on the train.

The train's machine guns and security troops drove back one of the cavalry regiments in some confusion.

Richard moved up some cavalry to cover his left flank, and them shot up the railway troops with his tchankas.

Exploiting their mastery of the air, a flight of White Harry Tates bombed the station.

We then had a series of cavalry fights, where the side with the advantage lost on each occasion due to extreme dice rolling. Not just once...

...when we all ended up where we started...

...but twice...

...again back to start marks...

...before one White unit refused to charge and mutinied. Caught halted, the Reds broke them.

Only for the White reserve line to counter attack. This forced the Reds back, breaking them.

Richard was then able to launch a combined two regiment cavalry assault on the village.

The Red Guards in the village were thrown back in Disorder.

Ian pressed on over on the other flank. The White artillery had hit the train several times, increasing the chance of it retiring.

The train then turned its guns on the village, showing scant regard for the rural peasants, plastering the cavalry.

After a frenetic few hours of play we had to call it a night. I don't know if I have got the scenario quite right yet, but it played really well, and everyone had plenty to do. Phil, noticing that the train might leave at any moment due to a random mechanism, handled it very aggressively (quelle surprise), which seemed to disconcert his opponents quite a lot. He took a bit of damage, but inflicted a fair amount too. 

So, yes, everyone had plenty to do.

Which is always good.