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Cat Lord wrote:There is a great list of boardgames on the Russian Civil War, which was compiled by Desaix, on Board Game Geek :

Wargames on the Russian Civil War (1917-1922)

Have you play any of these games, here ?

Cat

Scope

The Civil War in Ukraine was closely linked with the Civil War in central and southern Russia. It allows three main design approaches, but few opportunities for compromise.

A first approach is to cover the entire theater, including the Ukrainian, Southern and later Southeastern Fronts against the Armed Forces of South Russia. But the main fighting occurs between Rostov, Tula, and potentially Moskva. Ukraine is only one front, and not always the critical front. This approach tends to reduce the Makhnovists and the Directory to minor allies of the Bolsheviks and usually the Whites, respectively.

A second approach is to focus on Ukraine. This approach works well when the fighting in Ukraine is separate from the fighting in Russia, which it is in Fall of the Directory and Makhno's Return. This falls apart when the fronts are linked together, which they were between the two games.

An alternative approach would have been to focus on the conflicts between opposing political movements, beginning before the October Revolution and with the Left and Right Social Revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks, the Pro-German and anti-German Whites, and other factions would oppose each other. The political and ecoomic concerns would require more attention and the military ones could be abstracted.

I think each of these approaches has its merits, but this game can only use one. I experimented with the first approach, but decided on the second.

Def Zep wrote:In regards to other games on this conflict, I can update the list Cat Lord's posted with the following information:

Decision Games, which publishes the wargaming magazine Strategy & Tactics (S&T) here in the United States, is re-publishing the old SPI boardgame "Russian Civil War".

It will be released in S&T #267, February 2011:
http://shop.strategyandtacticspress.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ST267

There is also a discussion of the revision by the designer, Joe Miranda, on Consimworld:
http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@117.NZd5bz5lC58.2@.ee6bab1/198

The original design (by Jim Dunnigan back in 1976) was multi-player and captured the chaos of the conflict quite well. You blindly drew your forces out of a cup, both Red and White, and tried to be the last man standing. The rules were fairly simple, with the real challenge lying in your relations with the other players, and making deals of convenience from one turn to the next. The Whites were scattered across the board and needed to cooperate to win. The Reds could purge each other. Trying to hedge your bets and straddle the fence, keeping both White and Red armies in your hand, meant everybody had a reason to target you. But it was the best way to win.

Much fun.

Nikel wrote:The magazine S&T 267 can be downloaded as a sample issue in pdf format in the link below
there is an analysis of the RCW

Def Zep wrote:I purchased issue #267 of S&T to play the new version of Russian Civil War. I like the changes Joe Miranda has made. It is better balanced than the original.
the Designer's Notes from Joe Miranda are very well done. A very nice summary of the problems in (re-)designing the original SPI boardgame, and what's new. I recommend purchasing this issue, for the game alone.