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.