#turn summary

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Turn Six Report

Quick summary about the sixth turn of Reds!

Whites seize the initiative

Order of Activations

AFSR, Polish, North/Islamic, Field Staff (Southwest), AIF, Logistics, East Front, Siberian, Northwest, South

Random Events

White Corruption (Red)

Freikorps (White)

Casualties

Summary

The Red player strategically moved the Red Train to Kharkov, while the White player opted to not conduct strategic movement.

Luck smiles on the White forces as they win the crucial initiative roll for turn six.  Due to the fact that Siberian forces are in the process of being pushed back to the Urals, the only other front with significant concentration of White units, the AFSR, needs to press the Reds in the South/Southwest fronts.  Unfortunately, this means that several risks will have to be taken, attack wise, on behalf of the AFSR.

The Caucasus' + Kuban/Crimean Armies advanced from Ekaterinoslav towards Kharkov in order to attack the reduced 2nd Red Army and Red Train located in the city.  The White player could have targeted the Red Army just outside of Kharkov, but the opportunity to remove (instead of just reduce) a Red Army + the Red Train (even though the Train will just reappear next turn) is too good to pass up; especially considering that the Southwest front is woefully undermanned with Red Armies.

However, even a daring attack on Kharkov would do little to directly relieve the pressure facing the stack of White AFSR units across the Black Sea.  For that a more daring plan had to be concocted- one involving the newly turned-White Makhno Partisans and the Red City of Rostov.

At the beginning of every turn, the Makhno Partisan unit checks to see what side it is closest to and then 'changes sides' to the opposite faction.  At the start of this turn, the Makhno Partisans were closest to Red units so it became a 'White' unit.  Even though this means the partisans will constantly change sides, it does, for this turn, present an opportunity for the aforementioned stranded and soon to be surrounded White units across the Black Sea.  With the partisans moving south to take Taganrog, the White units near Ekaterinodar could then attempt to link up with their brethren by attacking Rostov and opening up a supply line to Sevastopol.  This would mean that Red Armies in the South front could, effectively, sweep down and control the landmass between Rostov and Astrakhan- but they would have to quickly shift over forces to the Southwest front since the White player will have *several* units potentially creating havoc in that area.

Against these rather monumental offensive choices, the Terek Cossacks move, alone, to attack the Red garrison in Astrakhan.  Success here would mean that Tsaritsyn could more easily be cut off from supply, although the White forces have little to use in making this goal a reality.  Still, it does put some pressure on keeping the supply lines to Moscow open and perhaps the White units will be able to counterattack in future turns and threaten Tsaritsyn proper.

As a final move, the AFSR partisans (placed via random event in turn three) hanging around above Tsaritsyn began moving towards Tambov- if the Terek Cossack attack succeeds, then these partisans *might* be able to really threaten units in Tsaritsyn by cutting off supply coming from Tambov.

Incredibly, every attack by the units of the AFSR came off splendidly.  The Kharkov attack resulted in an 'aDR', meaning that the 2nd Red Army + the Red Train in Kharkov were eliminated while the North Caucasus took the hit and was reduced.  Over at Rotov, the stack of units led by Alekseev also secured an 'aDR' result; the 9th Red Army, now reduced, retreated to Lugansk while Alekseev took the 'a' result and flipped to his reduced side.  Same results applied to the Terek Cossacks, who were unlucky in their rolls- they managed to eliminate the garrison unit, but had to flip to their reduced side in order to do so.

Next to activate was Poland, but since the conditions triggering the entry of the Poles into the Russian Civil War were not met they did little except remain in their defensive positions.  The North/Islamic units activated next, and the North + Tashkent armies moved closer to the Red army in Turkistan.

Next up was the Field Staff chit, and the Red player activated the lone 3rd Red Army in the Southwest front to plug the hole made by the AFSR in Kharkov.  (White units attacking Kharkov at the beginning of this turn did not advance into Kharkov after victory as that would allow them to be easily cut off from supply in Sevastopol)

AIF, then Logistics, were the following chits pulled.  For the former, the Murmansk unit continued making its trek towards its sister Archangel unit stationed in Kotlas.  Logistics saw the Tsar auto-rally of Alekseev and a few '1' rolls (the only value, thanks to White Corruption, that could rally units) for various White units.  Without the Red Train, the Bolsheviks could only rally the 4th Army located in the East front.

Speaking of the East front, that was the next force to activate.  The 5th Army continued its quest to track down and eliminate the Siberian Partisan unit that appeared on turn five around Viatka while the 16th and 13th Red Armies, supported by a reduced 1st Army moving out of Samara, moved to attack the White position at Izhevsk.  Keeping the pressure up, the 4th and 6th Red Armies begin to approach Ufa; while not exactly a steamroller, there are enough Red Armies in the area to give the Siberian units pause when considering their next move.

The attack on Izhevsk produced an 'adR' result- while the White forces had to retreat, and reduce the 2nd Siberian unit, the attacking Red forces also had to flip a unit, in this case the 16th Red Army, before the 13th Red Army could take Izhevsk via 'advance after combat'.  The attack on the Siberian Partisans by the 5th Red Army was also successful, forcing the Partisans to both flip and retreat deeper into the woods.  While the 5th Army emerged unscathed, the fact that the partisan unit retreated into the woods meant that it would be at least a few more turns before the 5th Army could complete its quest and return to the more pressing task of eliminating the White Siberian presence in the East front.

Siberian forces, the next to activate, could do little except retreat to much better defensive positions in the Ural mountains.  The hope is that Red forces, pursuing the Siberian units into the hinterlands, will stretch their supply lines as well as divert much needed forces from the growing threat of the AFSR in the South/Southwest fronts.

The Northwest activated after the Siberian forces, and here the White random event for this turn- the Freikorps- came into effect.  The von der Goltz unit, brought in with Strategic Turn B, is a unit the White player cannot move until the 'Freikorps' event occurs.  Being a rather special unit, von der Goltz has some interesting abilities- it is the only White force that can attack the Baltic garrison unit at the resource city of Riga, thus giving the Whites a potential boost in total resource acquisition.  It also bolsters the power of the Whites in the Northwest, as von der Goltz can team up with the Northwest Armies in Reval and actually journey outside the Baltic area.  (The Estonian Army, also in Reval, is forbidden by the rules to leave the Baltic area, meaning it cannot help out on a Petrograd attack)  While attacking Riga would be nice, the rules stipulate that if the von der Goltz unit attacks the garrison in Riga then the Allied cruiser in the Baltic Sea will come to the aid of the garrison unit.  This represents the Allies reluctance to see a largely German-based unit make territorial gains in what was once a portion of the battlefield for the First World War.

Since the odds are against the von der Goltz unit, the White player decided to bypass Riga and, instead, move the White army towards Reval so that it can join the Northwest Army units stationed there.  Hopefully this means that in a few turns the White player can make a dedicated attempt to take Petrograd- something the Red player would be hard pressed to prevent/respond to without draining essential manpower from other fronts.

For the final activation for the turn, the South front came up to bat.  Due to the extension of Red lines in the East front, there are no additional garrison units left to hold cities once the Red Army leaves them.  This normally wouldn't be much of an issue, except that in this case it meant that the 10th Red Army, stationed in Tsaritsyn, could not leave the city to aid the attack on the White units (led by Alekseev) who, previously, busted in Rostov.  Actually, the 10th Red Army *could* have left, but the presence of the annoying White Partisan unit above Tsaritsyn means that the city could easily fall into White hands without a fight should the 10th Red Army abandon its post.

Instead, the collective forces of the Latvian Rifles/15th Red Army (both reduced) and the full-strength 8th Red Army decide to forgo attacking the White stack and retreat towards Tsaritsyn.  This does allow the White stack to link up with its counterpart just outside of Kharkov, but is also allows the Red forces to more easily shift their armies over to the Southwest front since they are not galavanting around Ekaterinodar.

Thus ends another turn of Reds!  Major breakthroughs for the White player this turn- but the question is, can they maintain their momentum and keep the Red player off kilter long enough for the Siberian forces to regroup and counterattack?

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Turn Five Report

Quick summary about the fifth turn of Reds!

Reds retain initiative.

Order of Activations

East, Field Staff (Southwest), Logistics, North/Islamic, Northwest, Siberian, South, AFSR, AIF, Poland

Random Events

Partisans (Siberian)

Red Terror (Tsaritsyn)

Casualties

Summary

A Special Note about 'Strategic Turn B'

You may have noticed that the Order of Activations above contains new forces, like the Northwest or Poland.  That is because turn five occurs after Strategic Turn B, which in Reds! is an important turn that not only opens up the entire map for play, but also brings in additional forces for the White player to utilize in their quest to usurp Red authority.  Specifically, the Siberian and AFSR fronts receive precious new fighting forces, with the largest concentration of troops arriving in Sevastopol.  In addition to supplemental troops to familiar armies, Strategic Turn B also opens up the Polish and Northwest territories- and their provided units- for consideration.  Additionally, several 'nationalist' garrisons appear and take over key cities, like the 'resource' city of Baku, and these cities (with rare exception) can only be attacked by Red forces- the Whites must leave them alone.

What felt like a pretty linear game suddenly explodes with new opportunity after Strategic Turn B.  AFSR forces can now go after Ekaterinoslav, Rostov, and Kharkov, all resource cities, while the Red Army must contend with even wider fronts as the opening of new territories exposes the weakness of Bolshevik rear areas.  The Northwest armies can place direct pressure on Petrograd, while Minsk and Kiev dangle as tantalizing targets (both are resource cities) for both Red and White forces; in short, whatever success the Red Army achieved in the first four turns will be put to the test here, as White forces gain some degree of maneuverability and selection of choice targets with the opening up of the bottom portions of the map.

There are special rules involved when dealing with some of the new territories or units introduced by Strategic Turn B, but I won't mention them here unless warranted.  One special rule, however, that bears mentioning is that related to Poland- the Red Army must keep at least four 'manpower' points within five hexes of Poland, or else the Polish Army will declare war on the Bolsheviks and invade with their six additional troop chits.  Therefore a Red Army must keep itself 'tied up', as it were, on the Polish front, allowing the Whites a small measure of breathing room on their already heavily pressured fronts.

Now back to the summary of turn five.

Random events presented some interesting choices for both the Red and White player.  The White player decided to place their Partisan unit outside Viatka in hopes that they would be able to cut vital supply lines to Red Army units.  The Red player decided to place their Red Terror marker (which converts any city on the map to a 'Red City') in Tsaritsyn, effectively locking it down for Red control.

('Red Cities' require a White Unit to be present in order to retain White control, and they also do not provide White units a defensive shift when attacked.  This means that 'Red Cities' are much more difficult for White units to take and hold.)

For strategic moves, the 1st Siberian trained to Perm and all but abandoned Simbirsk.  The previous turn made holding that position untenable.  The Red Train moved to Tsaritsyn.

Retaining the initiative, the Red player decides to activate the East front first.  With White Partisans having just appeared around Viatka, the 5th Army is dispatched to hunt them down in order that the rear supply lines remain secure.  The 1st Army moves to Samara, once again cutting off supply to Simbirsk, while the 6th, 13th, and 4th (reduced) armies surround Simbirsk and attack with 4:1 odds (made 2:1 due to city + Volga river defensive shits) agains the Uralsk Cossacks.  With a DR result, the Cossacks are removed and the 6th Army moves in to occupy.

The Field Staff came up next, and with the opening of the territory around Kharkov and Ekaterinoslav the Red player decides to activate the Southwest Front.  Facing a potentially very threatening stack of White units, the 3rd Army (reduced) moves in around Kharkov to reinforce the 2nd Army (reduced) stationed in the city.

Logistics came up next, with the Tsar Auto-Rally going to Drozdovsky.  The Red Train auto-rallied the Latvian Rifles, the 10th, and 15th Armies stationed around Tsaritsyn.  The Don Cossacks, found OOS, were removed.  Otherwise the Terek Cossacks, the 2nd Czech, and one Polish Army rallied for the White player.  The Red player managed to rally the 3rd and 16th Armies.

Pull of the North/Islamic chit allowed the Trans-Caspian AIF unit to hold Merv while the newly arrived North unit teamed up with the Turkistan army in a mission to harass- and perhaps destroy- the Soviet unit in Tashkent.

The new Northwest chit followed and because White units (almost always) can't attack nationalist garrisons, the Northwest/Estonian grouping of forces could do little but wait.  Petrograd, being very close to the starting positions of the Northwest/Estonian forces, makes for a very tempting target, however the Northwest units start off on their reduced side and until they are rallied their ability to seriously pressure Petrograd is reduced.  Hopefully future Logistics rolls will be kind for the White player here, as the threat of taking Petrograd would force the response of Red Armies already stretched thin as it is.

Finally the Siberians are allowed to respond to the opening attack by Red forces, as their chit follows the Northwest activation.  White units mass in Izhevsk, with a few others anchoring the line in Ufa.  This means that Perm is left open, but the hope is that the newly arrived Partisans will keep the 5th Army occupied long enough to allow the battered Siberian forces time to reform a defensive line, protecting the only rail lines to their supply in Omsk, at the Ural mountains.

Here the White's luck betrays them, as the Red 'South' chit is pulled before the units of the AFSR could move away from danger.  As the 9th Army entered Rostov, the 15th, 8th, and Latvian Rifles moved to attack the White stack comprised of Kornilov and the Kuban Cossacks left in the open.  The ensuing DR result removes the Cossacks temporarily and Kornilov permanently from the board.  Pushing their advantage, the Latvian Rifles and the 15th Army advance.

Now that the board is opened up and additional White troops are placed in Sevastopol, the units of the AFSR have many more options to consider in waging their campaign against the Bolsheviks.  While the White troops near Rostov look to be in danger, the relative lack of Red Armies in the Southwest Front means that the units in Sevastopol can wreck havoc and, potentially, relieve the pressure if not outright free the trapped White forces in the South Front.  These forces in Sevastopol move out and take Ekaterinoslav, a resource city, and manage to also drive off the Makhno Partisans, currently supporting the Reds, away from Gulay Pole.  The threatened stack near Ekaterinodar takes a gamble and strikes out at the stacked Red forces of the 15th Army and Latvian Rifles.  Achieving a lucky 'DR' result, the White forces manage to grab a break and send the, now, reduced Red stack retreating towards Tsaritsyn.

The last two activations of the turn- the AIF and Poland- amount to little, as the AIF moves only the Murmansk unit towards Vologda and the Polish units, forbidden from going to war with the Bolsheviks due to the presence of the Red Army in ???, do little but take up defensive positions within their own borders.

Can the Red forces press their advantage against the Siberian forces?  Will the Whites escape the Red Armies converging on Ekaterinodar?  Find out in the next installment of the Reds! Turn Report.

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Turn Four Report

Quick summary about the fourth turn of Reds!

Reds seized initiative.

Order of Activations

South, East, Logistics, North/Islamic, Field Staff (North), Siberian, AIF, AFSR

Random Events

Armored Train (White Event, placed in Siberia)

White Corruption (Red Event)

Casualties

Summary

While I hate to indulge in spoilers, this turn was devistating for the White forces.  I've played enough Reds! to know that the Whites can easily play for time and stall the Red player enough to pull out the win, but it's never a good idea to dig your own grave through over-aggressive play.  Confused?  Keep reading below and you won't be for long.

Every turn up to this point was dominated by the White player holding initiative.  All of that would change on turn four, as the Red player managed to out-roll the white player and seize initiative.  Seeing the potential danger of having Tsaritsyn cut off from supply (a danger that the rules actually wouldn't allow- see my Turn Three post for more details), the Red player selected the South front for the first activation.

Despite the precarious position, the Red player had several options for how to attack the AFSR forces threatening Tsaritsyn.  The most direct attack would involve surrounding the stack of White units just outside Tsaritsyn with four Red Armies, giving the Red player 2:1 odds, but if the rolls went badly it would spell disaster for this front.  (One of the four armies in this proposed plan would be the reduced army sitting in Tsaritsyn- if the attack produced an 'AR' result, Tsaritsyn would be wide open for the White forces to take.)

A less direct method, but one that would open supply to the cut off Tsaritsyn, would involve attacking the Partisans or Don Cossacks on the Volga River- yet this would be only a temporary measure and would do little to actually strike at the real threat, that being the concentrated stack of AFSR White units.

In the end, the Red forces decided to undertake the risky 2:1 attack utilizing four Red Armies.

As you can see, the attack was a resounding success. (This picture actually shows what happened after the AFSR chit was drawn, as the Partisans and Don Cossack units were forced to pull back after the successful Red attack)  Red forces rolled a '4', while the White stack rolled a dreaded '1' resulting in an 'DR' outcome. (All 'D'efending units took a step-loss and were forced to 'R'etreat)  Not only was the entire stack forced to take a step-loss, but the ensuing retreat through the ZOC of the 9th Army meant that a Don Cossack unit had to be removed as well.  The 8th Army advanced into the spot once occupied the, now, retreating White units, and the Red player could breathe a sigh of relief knowing it would take a while before the AFSR forces could recover.

Red luck sustained itself as the next chit pull was that of the East front.  Taking advantage of overwhelming numbers and good position, the Red Armies surrounded the stack of Siberian White units outside of Simbirsk and launched another, devastating attack.  Managing 3:1 odds and also cutting off any possible retreat paths with ZOC's, the combined Red Armies made short work of the Siberian stack and managed to eliminate three irreplaceable White units- the Armored Train unit, Kappel, and Komuch People's were removed and destined to never return.

Sending so many Red Armies into the East Front payed off, and the attack that removed three White units also put the smaller stack in Simbirsk in real trouble.  As you can see, the White units are cut off from supply and were in real danger of being laid low by an early Logistics pull.  So it was no surprise when the next chit drawn was...Logistics.  All the White units in Simbirsk took a step-loss, adding insult to injury on what was shaping up to be a difficult turn for the Whites.

North/Islamic forces activated next, and the White unit here began moving back to Merv in order to prevent any sort of Red Partisan play there to cut off supply.

Drawing the Field Staff chit, the Red forces decided to activate their North front and use the 14th Army to attack the AIF Onega unit outside of Vologda.  Despite having the odds in their favor the Red forces achieved an 'aDR' result, meaning that both the irreplaceable AIF Onega unit and the already reduced 14th Red Army were removed.  However, given that the Red forces were about to receive replacement armies on the upcoming 'Strategic Turn B', the attritional trade off of Red Army and irreplaceable White unit was more than acceptable to Red Army commanders.

Finally the White forces received an activation as the Siberian chit came up next.  In extreme danger of being eliminated due to lack of supply, the reduced White units in Simbirsk attacked the 1st Red Army in the hex adjacent to Samara and managed to achieve an 'aDR' result.  While this meant the 1st Army was forced to retreat, once again opening up the supply line into Simbirsk, it also meant that one of the reduced units in the White stack had to be removed.  White forces selected the Orenburg Cossacks for this terrible distinction.  Having so many Red Armies in the East meant that the Siberian forces would have to retreat back to Omsk and hope for some sort of counterattack to present itself with the inevitable advance of Red forces.

AIF forces activated next, but did little of consequence.  The Archangel unit moved into Kotlas while the Trans-Caspian unit, across the board, followed the lead of its White counterpart and moved closer to Merv.

The final activation for turn four, the AFSR forces, proved to be anticlimactic as White units engaged in a full-out retreat towards Ekaterinodar.  While fewer Red Armies were in the 'South' front, as compared to the 'East' front, they nevertheless could still catch White units in the open.  Again, a lot would hinge on who gained initiative next turn.

All in all, the Red forces has a tremendous turn.  Yet victory is still far from confirmed, as the upcoming 'Strategic Turn B' will open up the Southwest portion of the map and introduce several reinforcements for the, now, depleted White forces.  Here is where Reds! really opens up; although the Whites look to be on the ropes now there will be plenty of opportunities to push the Bolsheviks to the breaking point, provided dice and random events go well for the beleaguered anti-communist forces.

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Turn Three Report

Quick summary about the third turn of Reds!

Whites retained the initiative.

Order of Activations

Siberian, AIF, North/Islamic, Logistics, East, Field Staff (South), AFSR

Random Events

River Flotilla (Red Event)

Partisans (White Event- South Russian partisan unit selected, placed in hex 3215)

Casualties

Summary

Strategic moves: Red Train moves to Nizhnii Novgorod to possibly help rally two reduced Red Armies nearby.  1st Siberian unit hops a train to Samara so that it can participate in the upcoming attack on Red-held Simbirsk.

White forces once again win the initiative roll and decide to activate the Siberian army first.  Since the Red Player made a daring raid up and into Simbirsk, White units are forced to collapse in on Simbirsk and clear out the Red presence in order to maintain uninterrupted supply back to Omsk.  To be honest the Red force in Simbirsk did not completely cut off White units from tracing supply back to Omsk, but leaving Red units in the rear of your advance is never a good idea for the Whites- there was also the need to recapture Simbirsk in order to secure the resource it holds, as the Whites have to be ever conscious of the resource count if they want to keep courting Allied assistance.

The attack was a smashing success, and due to White ZOC's around Simbirsk the retreating 4th Army + Latvian Rifles took an additional step-loss on top of the two already received, meaning that the Latvian Rifles were eliminated.  The 4th Army barely escapes, and manages to retreat to just outside Volsk.

AIF came up next, and the Allied units both take Vologda and put pressure on Viatka and Petrozavodsk.  Left unchecked, these forces could allow for the Siberian Whites to advance along this East-West axis of rail that connects Vologda to Perm.  This is a clear worry for the Red player, but until the Siberians or AFSR units are dealt with the AIF threat will have to wait.

North/Islamic chit was the next pull out of the cup, and the White forces in this theatre advanced to Samarkand.  (Note: I will later pull these units back, as I realized via reading the Reds! forum on Consimworld that if the Red player rolled the 'Partisan' random event they could place a unit in Merv and cut off my White forces from their supply point with little ability to open it back up.)

The ever dreaded Logistics chit came up next, and this allowed the Red Train to auto-rally two reduced Red Armies situated in and nearby Nizhnii Novgorod.  Whites used their Tsar auto-rally on the Orenburg Cossacks at Simbirsk.  (Note: this is not allowed by the rules, as the Tsar can only rally Siberian and AFSR *Infantry* units, not calvary units.  This would be only one of *two* big mistakes I made this turn.)

Finally, with the draw of the East Front chit, the Reds were able to activate their forces.

The reduced 14th Army (not pictured) moved to intercept the AIF unit near Vologda, and while it was able to eliminate that unit in combat it, too, suffered a step-loss and was removed from the board.  However, since the AIF unit is irreplaceable and the 14th Red Army can always come back as a replacement unit during Strategic Turns, this sort of attritional trade off was more than suitable for the Red player.

While the 14th Army went galavanting towards its own destruction, the reduced 4th Army, alongside the full-strength 14th and 13th Armies, made their move on the stack of White units outside of Simbirsk as the 5th Army moved into Nizhnii Novgorod to reinforce the rear of the Red line.

Despite bringing significant odds in their favor to the attack, the Red player rolled a dreaded '1' on the die while the White defenders rolled a '3'.  The result was 'ad', meaning that one attacking unit and one defending unit needed to take a step-loss.  The 16th Army bore the brunt of the damage for the attackers, while the 'Kappel' unit in the White stack took the blow for the defenders.  The Red player had hoped that this attack would dislodge the Whites from around Simbirsk, and now quite a bit would hinge on who seized initiative next turn.  If the Reds came up first, they could put tremendous pressure on the Siberian Whites.  But if the Whites went first, there would no doubt be two Red Armies in the casualty pile for the next turn.

Drawing the Field Staff and having no other forces to activate in other fronts, the Red Player selected the South front for activation.  

The 6th Army moved to reinforce the East front while the 9th Army crept closer towards the threatened Red position in Tsaritsyn. Three other armies- the 8th, 10th, and 15th- took up defensive positions around the rail line leading out of Tsaritsyn so as to prevent any White unit from moving to cut lines of supply. Considering that the bulk of Red forces were now in the East front, a direct attack on White AFSR stacks seemed unwise and the Red player could do little more than see what trick the AFSR forces (which would activate last) could pull out of their hat. The only thing that the Red player could do to reinforce Tsaritsyn was to place the Flotilla acquired via random event in the city to help bolster the paltry presence of a reduced army already stationed there.

Coming up last was the White AFSR forces, and they used their maneuverability to surround Tsaritsyn and make a concentrated attack.

However I made a big rules mistake here- experienced players can probably see what I did wrong in the picture above, but for those not familiar with the rules take a look at the Don Cossack unit on the Volga. In its current position it is out of supply (the Red garrison in Astrakhan, where the Volga meets the Caspian Sea blocked supply) and the rules clearly state you cannot have a unit that starts its move in supply end its movement out of supply.

As it was, the White player was probably getting a little too antsy here.  Feeling the pressure on the Siberian front, the AFSR needed to provide a credible distraction in order to, perhaps, siphon off forces from the Eastern push.  Had the White player waited one more turn, the effects of Winter (some turns on the turn track are winter months, hence the winter effects) would have removed the River flotilla from Tsaritsyn and left the city with only a single defender.  Yet without an offensive push of any kind, the Red player would be free to keep pushing the Siberians hard.  This was the thinking behind this attack, but had I been more aware that the move by the Don Cossacks was not allowed then alternate plans would have been developed.

What made this move so tempting was that the Partisan unit could slip to the Volga just outside of Tsaritsyn, cutting off Red supply coming from Saratov.  With the Don Cossacks (illegally) moving to cut off Volga supply coming from Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn would be out of supply on the next Logistics chit pull.  Red forces would have to respond, as losing Tsaritsyn this early in the game is bad news for the Red player.

The attack on Tsaritsyn yielded a 'DR' result, meaning that all defenders took a step loss and would, normally, retreat.  The step-loss reduced the 10th Army and eliminated the River Flotilla, but because Tsaritsyn begins the game with the 'Red Verdun' marker all retreats incurred in combat are ignored.  If the Whites manage to remove the Red defenders and seize the city, this 'Red Verdun' marker is removed from the game.  It can be very difficult for the White forces to pull this off this early in the game, but the lack of Red forces and the (mistaken) belief that Tsaritsyn could be put out of Supply made the White forces believe, for a moment, that they could seize the city without suffering massive casualties.

Here's a birds-eye-view of the map at the end of the third turn.  A lot will hinge on who seizes initiative next turn.

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Turn Two Report

Quick summary about the second turn of Reds!

The White forces retained initiative.

Order of Activations

AFSR, Siberian, AIF, North/Islamic, Logistics, Field Staff (West), East, South

Random Events

White Corruption (Red Event)

Amphibious Invasion/Cavalry Raid Marker (White Event)

Casualties

Summary

After the first turn of Reds! players take what is called a 'Strategic Turn' which allows for reinforcements and replacements to enter the map.  These 'Strategic Turns' are interspersed among the more numerous 'Operational Turns' on the turn track, and while these less frequent turns are mainly used to bring new forces to the conflict they also are when the White player checks to see if they have accrued enough 'resources' (via capture of key cities and the Gold) to stave off an Allied withdrawal from the theatre.  This doesn't begin until 'Strategic Turn' D however, so the Allies get some time to establish their presence and secure the proper resources.

After conducting this 'strategic turn', the turn marker moves to the next 'operational turn' and both sides roll to see who seizes the initiative.  White won this round, allowing them to go first.  Random events were rolled, with the Whites receiving their choice of a Cavalry Raid or Amphibious Assault marker (these chits provide special abilities for the White player- I didn't use the Cavalry chit this turn, but when I do I will explain what it allows), while the Reds received the White Corruption event which makes rallying for the White troops during the Logistics phase much more difficult.

Each side then conducts 'strategic movement', which is essentially the free movement of a few, select units across either Rail or River lines (but not both by the same unit) from one city to another.  The Whites moved the Gold acquired last turn to Omsk and also had the 1st Siberian unit in Omsk train down Izhevsk so that it could participate in attacks this turn.  The Reds moved the Red Train unit, which is an abstraction based on Trotsky's actual 'Red Train' that went from front to front and to provide morale and leadership to fighting troops, to Tambov and then sent the Latvian Rifles unit to Saratov.  I wanted to move the Latvian Rifles to Tsaritsyn, in order to reinforce Red presence there, but a Don Cossack unit covered the only rail line into Tsaritsyn with its 'zone of control' and thus the Red Train could not make it.  (A unit cannot pass through an enemy zone of control during strategic movement)

With all of the above taken care of, it was time to move on to actual activations!

Deciding that the AFSR needed to react before the Red Armies around Tsaritsyn could regroup and potentially strike, the White Forces selected this chit as the first activation of the second turn.  While there was a temptation to send over a stack of White units to take out one of the reduced, potentially out-of-supply Red Armies lurking around Petrovsk (there was some fear that the Southern Front for the Reds would be activated before the logistics chit came out, allowing these reduced armies to escape to an in-supply Astrakhan and avoid elimination), it was decided that setting up a defensive line was a far better idea.  The result of this move is seen below:

The Siberian chit came out next, and here the White forces engaged in some very risky attacks.  To begin, the 1st Czech and 1st Siberian units made an incredibly risky attack on Perm at 1:3 odds (They had only 3 manpower points compared to the 4 of the reduced Red Army occupying Perm- you always round in the defenders favor, so since I didn't have 1:1 the odds became 1:2.  This, coupled with the fact that attacks on cities usually incur a defensive odds shift, meant that any attack on Perm would involve resolution on the 1:3 odds column.)  However, having two units with combat additatves attack a single unit with a negative defensive value meant that with some lucky dice the White units would be spared any reduction and/or retreat of attacking units.

The dice were indeed very lucky for the Whites, who managed to eliminate the Red Army in Perm without a scratch.

Another risky move for Siberian forces involved abandoning Volsk and repositioning units so that both Simbirsk could be lightly held and the Uralsk Cossacks could screen the movements of an attacking White stack led by the 2nd Czech unit.  This stack moved to the outskirts of Nizhnii Novgorod, positioning themselves alongside the Volga river, and attacked a reduced Red Army just outside the city hex.  That reduced Red unit was easily eliminated (being in the open is always a risky proposition in this game) but at the cost of overextending White lines and allowing for the potential of a devastating Red counterattack.

Normally the White player would be foolhardy to make these sort of moves.  The threat of being cut off is great, and if a stack of units become reduced their ability to both attack and defend is greatly reduced- units can become brittle fast in the Russian Civil War.  However, having the Tsar alive meant that I could auto-rally any reduced unit during a Logistics Phase and this gave the Siberian White units some leeway to be risky.

The AIF and North/Islamic chits came up next, allowing the Allied forces to take Kotlas and move closer to Vologda (threatening cities and supply routes just a few hexes away from Moscow) while the White Islamic unit moved up their own rail line towards Smarkand where the Red Army had a unit stationed.

At this point, the White forces were really worried that the reduced Red Armies around Petrovsk would get to activate before the Logistics chit would be pulled and be able to save themselves from out-of-supply elimination.  (This was a reasonable fear- there were only four chits left, the Logistics chit and the three Red Army chits, so there was only a small chance Logistics would come up before the South or Field Staff chit could be drawn.)

Once again luck smiled upon the Whites, as the very next chit to come out was Logistics.  Both the Red Armies were eliminated, thus greatly reducing the potential pressure on AFSR forces just outside of Tsaritsyn.

The Field Staff chit came out next, and the Reds activated their Western Front in order to moved freshly placed troops from the previous 'Strategic Turn' out to the Eastern and Southern fronts where the White pressure was greatest.

Next the East Front activated, and the Red forces decided to pull the 5th Army out of Viatka in order to deal with any possible AIF incursions in the rear of the Eastern front.  The 1st Red Army then moved out of Penza to attack the White garrison unit in Volsk.  The idea was to clear a path so that the Latvian Rifles + 4th Red Army in Saratov could push upwards, past Volsk, and attack the key resource city of Simbirsk (then lightly held by a single Cossack unit).  The 1st was successful, but it took a step loss in the attack on Volsk.

Finally, the Red Southern Front activated and the Latvian Rifles + 4th Red Army marched up to attack Simbirsk and were successful in reducing and dislodging the Orenburg Cossacks.  Meanwhile, the 13th Red Army left Tambov and reinforced Penza (located in the Eastern Front).  This strong counterattack on the Siberian White position now threatened to cut off both the Uralsk Cossacks and the stack of White units just outside of Nizhnii Novgorod.  A lot will hinge on who wins the initiative roll for next turn!