Setting the East Ablaze! 2nd Edition
Warfare in the Back of Beyond 1917-1926
Steve Langan & Cameron Thomson
ISBN: 1-85818-738-9
80 pages
210mm x 297mm
Paperback
£18.50 GBP
The period from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the re-establishment of (very) 'central' government in Russia by about 1926 is one that is little understood outside specialist circles, and even today remains victim to an overly neat and tidy 'hindsight' view of history.
The reality was very different, and offers wargamers a hugely attractive and diverse backdrop in which to game. Armies from all the world's major powers intervened at one time or another in Russia and the neighboring states of Central Asia. Some of them, such as the French intervention in the Ukraine in 1919, were on a major scale. Others were much more along the lines of 'small wars' expeditionary forces of the previous century. Independent states sprang up, grew strong, and were destroyed in the maelstrom that followed the Bolshevik seizure of power. It really was a time of Beasts, Men and Gods, to quote the title of Ferdinand Ossendowski's colorful book on one of the period's more dreadful characters, Baron Ungern Von Sternberg. Conflict engulfed a huge area, from the Oder River on the German/Polish border to China and the Far East. Some of these conflicts, such as the Civil War in China, predated the Bolshevik revolution. All of them, however, were impacted by it in a profound way.
All of this offers endlessly interesting scenarios and armies for the creative gamer. The predominant style of warfare was open and mobile. You therefore get to play with all the toys of the first quarter of the 20th Century, with none of the tedium of trench warfare.
Since the first edition of these rules in 2012, they have been successfully adapted back to the Colonial wars of the late 19th Century, and as far forward as modern Africa and the Middle-Eastern conflicts. What is clear from experience is that these rules work perfectly for all 'small wars' from 1914 to the mid-1930s. Based on the intervening years' experiences, there are myriad of changes in here, some simplifications, new rules, and an overall general refinement aimed at making them play even better. We have even added some army guidelines!
