Comrades

Thanks to excellent advice and commentary from Kim and Randy, the Great Game is back on track.

So here's a quick preview of game play.

I begin with a pic of the map in the first game turn - the 1830s. The initial set up shows the British garrison of 12 strength points (SP), about 9,000 troops, in Delhi in the lower right corner and the Russian garrison, 6 SP or 4,500 troops, at Orenburg in the upper left (near the Caspain Sea). Of interest, two Russian officers and a British officer start in Tehran - intrigue!

Between these competing empires you see a field of "Vassal States" that no longer exist today such as Bokhara, Khokand, and Punjab, and some that do exist like Afghanistan.

Each decade (turn) begins with dealing cards. The British and Russian player each get seven cards chosen at random from the deck of 52 The players then play five rounds. During each round a side can: play a card for action, play a card for reinforcements, or exchange two cards from his hand for two new ones from the deck.

Background: Each card has a value (number in the upper left), and text. When played for action, a card's value enables one to move that many spaces and envoke the text. When played for reinforcement, a card's value delivers that many strength points.

The first pick shows the two hands. Of interest, the Russians hold their first Stairway to High Asia (HA) Card and the first British HA Card. The "Stairway to High Asia" controls access to the Pamir Mountains "The Roof of the World" which is about five spaces on the game map. A side cannot go there until AFTER it plays each of its THREE stairway cards in the proper sequence. That usually takes three decades at least! Since the Russians hold their first card, and the British first card, they have a unique opportunity. They can play their card to get their ascent started and then hold the British card for the rest of this decade to guarantee themselves a head start.

The British have two Spoiler cards which will give them a good shot at blocking any Russian diplomacy in the region. This is a real problem because Vitkevich - an excellent soldier/diplomat - is now in Tehran and might make a bid for Afghanistan of Pakistan. So the British decide to burn a late-stage Russian HA card which they happen to now hold for its reinforcement value of two.

The second pick shows how each player has revealed his card in the grid. Since they have the same value, a die roll (3 in this case) determines initiative. Of interest, lower card values go first. Cards about diplomacy and spying have lower numbers. Cards that enable BIG military campaigns have higher numbers - they are slower.

The next pick shows how the Russians used the value of their card (2) to march two spaces. First, 3 SP traverse the desert from Orenburg to Kazala. When crossing the desert (yellow line) one must roll for attrition. The Russians roll and 8 and subtract 3 (for the desert) for a final 5 which is more than their SP (a mere 3) so their small group makes it through. Note: large forces are likely to die! Anyway, the second pic then shows a portion of that force going on to Kazakhs, the "capital" of the Kazakh Steppe which means Russia has conquered the Kazakh horsemen who will now serve as Cossacks for the Tsar!

Since the British used their card for reinforcements they can't make any moves. But, they did add two SP to their Delhi garrison.

Once played (by its proper owner in the right order) a High Asia card goes to the "Stairway" so in this pick we see that the Russian Military Surveyors get proper credit for their initial forays into forbidden lands at the Roof of the World!

For the second round, Russia chooses to play an Emissary Card and Britain chooses Imperial Commitments.

Emissary allows the Russians to "charm" a Vassal State (VS) into their camp. They target Persia with Simonich as their point man. His low diplomacy score of 1 is not an issue in this case since per the card the Russian ALWAYS get to apply a diplo mod of 3 with the Persians. And that's also why the British decline to intervene, because the Russians are likely to succeed anyway and when you lose a diplomatic contest your officer dies! The Russians roll a 3 and add their default 3 for Persia to get a 6 which beats the required 5 and delivers Persia into the Russian camp. Persia's 20 strength points mobilize the and the Russian player considers an attack on Herat or Geok Teppe for the future.

Imperial Commitment enables the British to stick it to 25% of Russian regulars outside of Russia. Basically, they are called back for imperial policing or some other such errand and thus removed from the map. So Russia looses an SP in Kazakhstan which stalls further progress up there. Since the Brits played the card for action, they cannot draw reinforcements this time. In addition to using the text (which recalled the Russians) they could use the card's value of 2 to move two spaces, but decline.

Both sides pick Rebellion Cards. Note, this illustrates the multiple ways in which one can use cards since there will not be any rebellions just yet. Rather, both sides picked that card because of its value (3) and will not implement the text.

The British win the initiative die roll, necessary only because both cards have the same value. They use the card's value to add three more SP to Delhi.

The Russians march their Persian minions from Tehran eastward through Khorasan and then invade Herat. Both sides are Vassal Strength Points, but the Persians have an advantage because they have an officer - Simonich - which means they attack with two dice vice the three dice that Herat will use, fewer dice are better.

Since they roll fewer dice, the Persian attack first. They roll a 6 and subtract one for Simonich's tactical skill for a final 5 which is 15 less than their own SP value of 20 and therefore inflict 15 hits on the fortress at Herat. Since Herat only has 15 SP, it is destroyed as signified by the damage markers totaling to 15. The fort then cannot strike back! Simonich pushes onward to Kandhar.

Britain's nightmare scenario unfolds, Pro Russian forces are threatening the passes into India.

Since they just finished a move, the Persians must roll for attrition and get a 10 which means every point they have over 10 is eliminated. So fate cuts their army in half.

The British plan on taking "corrective" action in round 4.

Looks interesting. I expect the usual Legion component quality will produce a very evocative period feel. Looking forward to this one.

Nice shilling! :grin:

I was on the fence about this one (I have waaaaaay too many games, LOL!), but your posts "forced" me to place my CPO...

Looking forward to it!

Given the size of Britain's army in Delhi, now something like 12,000 men, the Russians would love to slap on an Imperial Commitments. But, that card only works on IP forces which are outside of their home country, the Brits are safe anywhere in India. Given his own dwindling forces, the Russian opts to play The Arms of Krupp for its value of 3 and used that to generate some more Persian SP.

Since the Brits play a Campaign Card (value 4), the Russians go first.

The Russian place 3 new Persian SP in Tehran and then roll one die for bonus Russian reinforcements. The have to roll less than the number of Vassal States they now controls: Persian, Herat, and Kazakhsteppe so they need a 1 or a 2. The roll a 3, not good enough.

The British then use the 4 moves allowed by their Campaign Card as follows. They move 3 SP to Bombay (next round they will use Gunboat Diplomacy to invade the Persian coast). They move 11 SP to Kandahar via the Sind. The Baluchis are violated, but have no troops with which to fight back. In Kandahar, the Brits collide with the Persians in battle.

As Imperial Powers (IP) strength points the Brits get to roll one die in combat. As Vassal State (VS) strength points the Persians roll two dice. So the British roll first and get a a 1. Then they subtract Pottinger's tactics value of 3 for a final result of -2! That's 12 less then their current strength of 10; that obliterates the Persians in Kandahar. The Brits then carry on to take Herat.

The pics go from cards, to march, to final presentation.

At the conclusion of a move, or when transiting a desert (yellow) line, marchers must roll for attrition. IPs (like Britain and Russian) roll 2d6 while VS (like Persia) roll 3d6. Every SP over the number rolled is dead.

The British in Herat roll a 7 so three of their SP perish. The British in Bombay roll a 4, no big deal since they only have 3 SP and are therefore unharmed.

Smaller stacks survive attrition better, and VS SP are less likely to die.

John,

Thank you for posting this recap of the first decade and the kudos on the input from Kim and me thus far. This certainly gives players a good feel for how the game plays and while I will admit almost no knowledge of what transpired in this part of the world over 7 decades I am getting a good sense of the cat and mouse conflict this was. In fact so much so that the Russian and British forces are not allowed to directly attack each other with the exception of the round in which the Crimean War card is played.

Peter Bennett is currently updating the playtest Vassal module with the adjusted map and cards and I hope Kim and I can begin playing again this weekend.

In other news, I have signed on a map artist who has to date never done a wargame map. Of course this isn't like most wargame maps and I'm hoping his more than ample talents will result in something unique. But just to give a frame of reference he is essentially redrawing the current period map so that it's of good enough clarity for production so it shouldn't cause any sticker shock for those familiar with the playtest map.

Randy Lein - LEGION WARGAMES

To finish the 1830s the British play Gunboat Diplomacy so that their troops can sail the Persian Gulf to capture undefended Kharg Island and Bushire.

After all rounds, we check for officer loss. Each O rolls one die, if odd, he's removed from play. Although this may seem severe, remember that we make this check once per decade. Any number of things such as alcoholism, dysentery, transfer, promotion, resignation, natural death, etc, could happen in that time to remove an officer from the game. In my game, the Russians lost Vitkevich and the Brits one officer.

We start a new decade be dealing each player seven cards. Of interest, the British got two emissary and two spoiler, so they plan to exchange one of each for two new cards, but not yet.

First Round:

Britain plays Persian Persuasion (value 2) and Russia plays Campaign (value 4). So Britain goes first. As noted in the pic, last decade's play of Gunboat Diplomacy enabled the Brits to take two Persian spaces. That's all they need to invoke "Persian Persuasion" which kicks Persia out of the Russian Camp and back into neutrality. So all Russian control makers are lifted from Persia and all Persian SP go back to the force pool.

This equalizes the game. Russia's space count drops by seven (the Persian spaces just lost) so she went from 13 (3 in Russia, 3 in Kazakhsteppe, and 7 in Persia) to just 6. Britain has 3 in India, 1 for Herat, and 2 for Persia for a total of 6 so the game is now tied!

We start a new decade be dealing each player seven cards. Of interest, the British got two emissary and two spoiler, so they plan to exchange one of each for two new cards, but not yet.

First Round:

Britain plays Persian Persuasion (value 2) and Russia plays Campaign (value 4). So Britain goes first. As noted in the pic, last decade's play of Gunboat Diplomacy enabled the Brits to take two Persian spaces. That's all they need to invoke "Persian Persuasion" which kicks Persia out of the Russian Camp and back into neutrality. So all Russian control makers are lifted from Persia and all Persian SP go back to the force pool.

This equalizes the game. Russia's space count drops by seven (the Persian spaces just lost) so she went from 13 (3 in Russia, 3 in Kazakhsteppe, and 7 in Persia) to just 6. Britain has 3 in India, 1 for Herat, and 2 for Persia for a total of 6 so the game is now tied!

Russia uses its Campaign card for reinforcement and so places 4 new sp in Orenburg.

If Britain's deck had NOT included Persian Persuasion, she could have played an Emissary card on Tehran to try and bring Persia back into the Neutral Camp. In that case, Russia could have reacted with a Spoiler. As shown in the pic, you'd have two officer-diplomats dueling for influence over Persia.

In this case, the Brits would roll one die. They get a 3. To that they add their officer's dip score of 2 to reach 5. That's the magic number that would push Perisa back into the neutral camp. Unfortunately for the British, however, the Russian's played Spoiler with an officer who subtracts one from that die, bringing it back down to 4. That's too low to change Persia and therefore maintains the status quo while also eliminating the British officer who tried to change Persia's perspective.

Britain elects to exchange one of its Emissary cards and one of its Spoiler cards for two new cards from the deck, her turn is done.

Russia plays another Campaign card (value 4) to move four steps from Orenburg across the desert to Kazala one at a time. Note, Russia deliberately chooses to move its four points as four separate stacks - thereby consuming the full value of the card - rather than moving as a single stack which could go four spaces.

Why?

This "inefficient" use of resources increases the chance of surviving attrition in the desert. For each desert leg traversed (only one in this case) each "stack" must roll for attrition with 2d6 and apply a -3. With one stack of four, there's a real danger of final result less than 4 which would kill some points. With separate stacks of 1, the pieces are more likely to survive.

Additionally, any stack must roll 2d6 for attrition, with no mods, at the end of its move. Here again, four stacks of 1 each are safe whereas one stack of 4 would be in danger.

Anyway, in the end, the Russians lose one point in transit.

That's it for round 2.

Since Britain did not have to deploy Shakespear to Tehran as explained in my what if post, she instead sends him on a diplomatic mission to Bokhara via an Emissary card. Russia counters with a Spoiler card and sends Simonich down there to contest with Shakespear.

The British officer rolls 1d6 and gets a 4 to which he adds his dip score of 2 for a 6. Simonich subtracts his dip score of 1 to bring that down to 5. That's the magic number so Bokhara shifts from Neutral to British! The Emir decapitates Simonich, or has him thrown in a dungeon, and then all Bokharan spaces are marked with British control markers since Bokhara is now a British proxy. The Emir counter, a 2/0 officer is also placed.

Now the British are winning with nine spaces to Russia's six.

Russia plays a Persian Persuasion card for its value and takes two reinforcements in Orenburg.

This is a good time to talk about what proxy status could mean.

In the case just shown, it would mean openness to British trade goods at the expense of Russian goods. That would infuriate the Tsar and delight Calcutta. But, that would not be military allegiance - hence Bokhara has no forces to place at British disposal.

In other cases, proxy status could mean military alliance such as when Russia takes control of Persian SP.

At other times, it might even include political/cultural adjustments. For example, throughout the period the British implored the Central Asians to stop the slave trade while the Russians demanded the return of their enslaved people without demanding an end to the practice in general.

So the game leaves the precise details of what any given proxy status means undefined in order to be flexible enough to represent them all.

When I realized my Imperials were falling behind the historical schedule they went rampaging on military conquests.

The Brits captured Punjab (after getting pushed back by its fortress once) and then Afghanistan.

The Russians seized Khokand, dented Khiva across the Aral Sea with a Gunboat Card, but then bounced off the fortress at Bokhara in a humiliating defeat to the Emir.

Here's what the map now looks like...