A pick up...

... game. At last, the sound of rolling dice! Last summer, I was much taken by Bob Cordery's gridded wargame rules for Frontier and Modern games, based on the work of one of the great pathfinders, Joe Morschauser. I was also spurred on by Ross Mac's play testing, using ACW in 15mm, and Russian Civil War figures. So, I invested in more of the same, and produced a small tin box full of murderous Bolsheviks, and massacring Whites:

And, tonight, I had a spare hour or so, and an opponent, to get the little fellows out of their biscuit tin barracks. Here are the Whites:

First moves saw heavy play by the artillery on both sides as the infantry moved up to a meeting engagement:

The first close combat between the pointy-headed Bolsheviks, and the flat-capped Whites saw the Reds destroyed, which was in keeping with the early stages of the game. 

But, a sudden change in fortunes (the Whites feared some occult happening, while the Bolsheviks just took it as the hand of history) put the Whites under pressure. In quick succession, they lost three stands of infantry and the machine gun stand, leaving a ragged front under heavy Red artillery fire...

But worse was to come. An off-target Red artillery salvo hit the White command stand, and even Our Saviour couldn't save them...

The final straw was a highly symbolic dice throw by the White commander (me!). Heavily affected by this message, I called it a day.

A quick, enjoyable game - thanks Bob, and Joe.

And on another happy note, look what I found in the shed:

My long lost beer mats of London pubs for the Jolly Fun Wargames rules! Click on the image to remind yourself of England's glory - its pubs and history (with a little help from the odd Scot and Hanoverian).