Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War and Polish Soviet War.

I should introduce this page by noting that there is already a fantastic web resource page on these conflicts, 'Pygmy Wars' authored by Mark Plant (see the links at the bottom of this page.) This page is NOT meant to compete with those resources (how could it!!), but rather to offer some Great War Spearhead wargames scenario possibilities from the conflict.

Mark's page is still, for me, the authoritative resource for wargamers generally, and will remain so. Hopefully readers of this page who might not have seen Mark's efforts will take the time to pay the site a visit. Your time will be well rewarded.

Building wargames armies for the Russian Civil War using 20mm plastic figures.

While I game these periods in both 20mm and 6mm, the main focus of 'The Great Adventure' has traditionally been 20mm plastic figures.

Here are some links to useful web sites, and images, that might inspire 'gamers to build their own armies to refight battles of the period.

●  Russian Civil War: Plastic Soldier Review

● World War 1:  Russian figures on Plastic Soldier Review, many of which of course are just as useful for the Russian Civil War, and the Polish Soviet war.

● Russian figures, some painted in the surplus Russo Japanese War uniforms that were used as a stop gap when uniform supplies ran short during the 1914 mobilisation. These figures were painted for my 1914 Russian army, but will stand in just as well for 1919.

● Mark Plant's Uniform Guide to uniforms of the Russian Civil War.

● Wargaming the Russian Civil War, a site maintained by the South East Scotland Wargames Club.

Wargames scenarios

Scenarios from the Russian Civil War, and the Soviet Polish War.

● Red Petrograd

A scenario written by Richard Clarke for the 'Triumph of the Will" rules. Full details necessary for scenario play can be found on 'Pygmy Wars'. The scenario is small by GWSH standards, but does stand play using the Great War Spearhead rules; the GWSH OOBs can be found here.

● Additional scenarios are available on 'Pygmy Wars', some for the rules set 'Red Actions', and some for 'Triumph of the Will'.

Wargames resources

Useful links.

● Pygmy Wars:  the fantastic web site on Eastern Europe's Bloody Wars 1918-1923 created and maintained by fellow kiwi Mark Plant.

● Original film footage  on Google video on Russia in 1919.

● Soviet Polish War 1919/1920.

● The Polish Soviet War on Wikipedia.

● The Battle for Warsaw 1920  on Wikipedia.

● The Russo-Polish War, 1919-1920: A Bibliography of Materials in English

● The Battle Of Warsaw, 1920: Impact On Operational Thought A Monograph by Major Harold H. Worrell, Jr. Field Artillery

In this monograph, Worrell quotes Tukhachevski and says: "The theory for conducting phased operations was one of the major developments to emanate from the study of the Battle of Warsaw. In his work, The Vistula Campaign, Tukhachevski reflected on his experience in the battle by addressing the need for phasing of operations: "... the impossibility, given today's broad fronts, of annihilating an enemy army with one blow makes it necessary to use a series of phased operations ... [which] united by continuous pursuit may supplant the battle of annihilation, the best form of encounter in armies of the past."94 In this brief passage he alludes to two theoretical constructs: the value of attrition versus annihilation and the idea of events being connected in time and space during a campaign."

● Documents of the Battle of Warsaw 1920

Interesting References

● Zamoyski, A, "Warsaw 1920, Lenin's failed conquest of Europe", Harper Press, 2008

This is definitely a very readable 'big picture' account of the war, so the informnation is useful for GWSH, but lacks some of the detail needed for scenario creation.Here is a review  of Zamoyski's book by historian Richard Overy.