Victory Conditions

The year is 1921 and we have White Russians (Asian Cavalry Division, i.e. Mongolians) trying to stop a Chinese relief force. The White Russians win at the end of the turn if they control >= 25 level 3 hills and 25 >= buildings, provided the Chinese don’t get >= 30 CVP. The buildings on the bottom board count as 3 buildings. The Mongols set up on the top board. They can allocate troops to a flanking force entering from the left or right of the map. This flanking force roll to enter between turns 3 and 5 (7 turn scenario). The Chinese have an artillery screen with 2 MMGs & 2 70mm ARTs on the second board from the top and a garrison with one MMG & one 37mm ART on the third board from the top. A relief force with another 3 MMGs, a 37 & 2 75’s come up from the bottom board.

The Mongols have two officers who are Commissars, which I mistakenly assigned to the heavy weapons for staying power in an open terrain (more on this later). The following is how NOT to play cavalry. Or at least how NOT to play cavalry in this scenario.

After Action Report

I was very wary of the -2 for attacks and the double break for cavalry. Too cautious, in fact: I surrounded and killed the main Chinese outposts (mostly dummies), but I didn’t go nearly far enough. In reality, most Chinese weapons break on 11 and are prone to cowering. Also they were shooting from up high and couldn’t do Fire Lances.  What I should have done was to push as far down the board as possible and ignore the casualties. This is a big map and I would need a lot of time to take buildings, plus minimising my time out in the open would reduce the overall body count. The MMGs were split as overwatch for the left and right forces, led by 10-2 & 9-2, both Commissars. The left flank reached the first hilltop. The right flank also got to their hilltops and some of the cavalry went around the far right. The Chinese lost no time in firing all guns in contact and their relief force came up from the lower map without a care in the world as my troops hadn’t pushed down far enough.

One of my 37 malf’d on the first shot. To be honest, they were so ineffective that perhaps they should have moved in the wagons, they took all the time in the world to make it to the bottom hill on the second map from the top.

The Chinese relief force continued to saunter merrily from the bottom of the map. Our scattered movement was working in the sense that the Chinese guns were breaking and their conscripts were cowering, allowing other Mongolians to go deeper. Unfortunately, we decided to go on foot. I also learnt another problem with approaching with cavalry from all over the board, I left brokies all over and in the open. I had a hard time getting them to more central locations for the leaders to get to, and I was starting to miss the Commissars who stayed behind with the heavy weapons (I said HMGs in the picture, but they were MMGs). I started to dismantle the heavy weapons when I realised we wouldn’t all fit in the wagons. That cost us time.

The Chinese troops on the third board started to open up and fire. We needed more of them to do this so that the flanking force knew what was where.

The left flank is on the hill directly in front of the Chinese garrison. Unfortunately, despite having the better range, the Chinese had the better of the firefight, and the Mongols were hard to rally in the open. The MMG (not HMG) crew were shot up by a newly discovered GMT Deathstar as they tried to get closer. The remaining 37 made a slow journey down the board. The right flank approached the Chinese position, but they were too thin on the ground. Again, people refusing to rally in the open didn’t help. The Chinese relief force had NO problem getting to the Chinese garrison and getting ready. We should have gone around the back of the garrison at this point.

The Mongol flanking force was finally allowed in! They chose to come in from the left and opened with a pair of HS’s attacking one of the 70s. Both 70mm ended up firing, but one of the two marauding HS got into CC. By this time the front line guys were pretty well shot up and all over the map. One of the wagons carrying a 37 gun was shot down as it came up the hill in front of the Chinese garrison. The Chinese could afford to concentrate on the flank.

The rest of the flankers came in after both 70mm were tied down. I diverted one platoon towards the buildings (remember, these buildings give 3x rewards compared to buildings on other maps). The rest of the flankers went in with the Chinese. My Brokies didn’t rally, and when they did, they were too far away from the fighting. I had the left side of the bottom board pretty well taken care of, but I was too far behind in terms of hilltop/building captures. I conceded.

If I were to play this scenario again…

• I would be bolder in taking casualtiesI would make more use of the range offered by the horses
• I would do more HS cavalry chargesI would venture less into the hills unless necessary. Most would stay on the ground.
• The guns would move from Turn 1.
• The MMGs would move forward (down) sooner.
• The Commissars would go with the attacking troops and do rallies.
• The cavalry will scatter less on the approach and will scatter on the charge.