Taking back Mother Russia: 1917-1920 (Completed, Won)

[Rysyonok]

Just a quick comparison of casualties at Saransk:

Whites: 11,755, mostly non-recoverable (lost units)
Reds: 13,698, mostly recoverable (wounded units)

[Rysyonok]

1919, Late June:

Red forces avoid my assault attempts and abandon Saransk depot.

1919, Early July:

Savinkov's uprising is starting to lose its momentum; his men were trying to break through to White forces at Saransk, but that's probably not going to happen now. Savinkov himself is killed in battle.

Second battle of Saransk takes place. Whites lose more despite superiority in numbers - it really sucked to have lost my Volga division - I need to ensure I always keep it with the main forces in future campaigns.

Here's the running total of Saransk losses:
Whites: 19,259
Reds: 20,053

[Rysyonok]

1919, Late July:

Savinkov's uprising is no more. I mourn this last independently-operating rebel force - the rest have either been eliminated or became garrison forces in Siberian Army.

Red forces are clearly on the offensive; more and more of them are infiltrating my ranks, and I can't combat them - all my able units are at Saransk.

Third battle of Saransk takes place - and I lose my commanding officer; Khanzhin will have to take over.

Third round of anti-bolshevik propaganda encompasses 6 Volga regions - gains in loyalty hardly outweigh losses in morale and money. I think that at this point in time I am just stubborn to see if this can work at all, before I give it up.

Here's the running total of Saransk losses:

Whites: 22,549
Reds: 26,003

[Rysyonok]

Penza - Simbirsk front (August 1, 1919):

Note the 4 red stacks infiltrating my positions. And the Green uprising is still there, too.

[Rysyonok]

Ukraine (August 1, 1919):

What are my "Allies" doing? They have not moved north past Balashov - Tsaritsyn (top right corner) region in several months! But they did go after southern Ukraine... Sigh.

[Rysyonok]

Middle Asia (August 1, 1919):

I am seriously contemplating leaving this area behind, sending all the capable forces north.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Early August:

Third battle of Saransk takes place - Reds are almost wiped out, and I have to thank their low supply for that - note the 6,500 prisoners

Still, I can't help but think that a large portion of their troops has escaped somewhere... I have an important decision to make:

- hold ground, expecting Red Western Front (~900 element strong) to show up
- fall back east, clean up Red troops besieging Kazan, Simbirsk
- push on to Moscow
- fall back south-east, taking out Reds near Saratov
- push on to Tambow, helping out my Southern "friends"

Here's the running total of Saransk losses (excluding prisoners):

Whites: 23,143
Reds: 31,461

[Rysyonok]

1919, Late August:

Trotsky's stack is all but wiped out: there is a single heavy artillery battery and 2 supply trains left, and that's it... from 55,000 men with 22 artillery batteries, armored trains, and whatnot. Red forces reacted very quickly to his defeat earlier in August, quickly abandoning sieges of Kazan and Simbirsk. They are not running - and they are still at least 500+ element strong - but they are regrouping. Kudos to AI for proper analysis of the situation. Concerns to game engine mechanics for having Trotsky return to the same area after a major defeat - I could see his stack retreat west, yet when the turn was done, he was back again.

Oh, and Red Vatzetis is in a better place now. Sadly, so is my Galkin (most senior KomUch leader starting turn 2).

At Kanadey, just east of Penza, a small Red stack gets ambushed by my Cossack Army.

At Ershov, just west of Uralsk, my scouting force researching Red presence in Saratov area, gets mauled.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Early September:

A rather quiet turn. A lot of reshuffling on both sides, but no contact.

French-lend Cossacks route a Red partisan force near Krasnoyarsk. That campaign has been taking way too much time - Janin's strategy rating of 3 had him sitting inactivated 80% of the time for the past year.

[Rysyonok]

Penza - Simbirsk front (September 16, 1919):

Reds are coming in hot from the Saratov area. I may have to deal with that first.

Two Red divisions are still hovering around Simbirsk. I will try to catch them again this turn.

Semenov's been running long-range cavalry raids - with me being on the defensive and with newly-constructed depots all over, he can afford to leave supply behind and hit 6-8 areas a turn.

Note the lone destroyer that's been keeping hordes of hungry, angry Green peasants at bay for a few months now... =)

[Rysyonok]

Objectives status (September 16, 1919):

Tons of engagement points - and nowhere to spend them, really.

Morale is barely hanging on to above 100 - it dipped down to 92 when Komuch forces got annihilated.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Late September:

Siberian troops overrun Red vanguard by Saratov; Green uprising in Tashkent is done with.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Early October:

I had a lapse of judgment - the force sent to take Saratov was pure artillery. Bad idea.

[Rysyonok]

Saratov front (October 16, 1919):

I am going to have to bring my infantry from Pokrovsk east to Uralsk (to resupply) and my artillery from Burasy north to Penza (to recover).

[Rysyonok]

Simbirsk front (October 16, 1919):

Red forces: a corps stack with 2 divisions (~500 elements), three smaller detachments

Green forces: the rebellion seems to have died out, but my ships spotted a new complement of a few regular troops with a leader

White forces: besides garrisons and a scouting task force on the left, I have an infantry and a cavalry corps (~650 elements), but they are both in need of rest.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Late October:

Mixed results by Simbirsk, as both sides exchange deadly hits. Both my and enemy troops are clearly exhausted.

In Siberia, one partisan detachment vanishes, and another one appears.

In Middle Asia, second to last Red city falls.

[Rysyonok]

1919, November:

Both my and enemy troops are still very much exhausted, and any contact that takes place sees at least one side retreating.

Several repeated attempts to recruit among prisoners have failed. I am guessing it's because the 1,300 Green prisoners are listed before the 14,400 Red ones - the game sees that 1,300 is below the needed 5,000, and does not bother to check the following values.

[Rysyonok]

1919, Early December:

The entire country is engulfed in fighting - Reds lose 17,000 men this turn alone.

Properly supported and reequipped armored trains and artillery take Saratov. None of the 5,000 Red defenders even get a shot out in return.

Partisan uprising near Irkutsk is taken care off.

Somewhat rested, White troops assault Reds near Simbirsk and route them.

My Southern "friends" are starting to get active; they take Tambow.

[Rysyonok]

Simbirsk front (December 16, 1919):

Red forces up top have been pushed out to a land with no supplies. I am considering pushing west there to Cheboksary rather than chase them; I will cut off their last means of getting food, and cold winter will finish the work for me.

Kolchak and a swarm of Turkmen cavalry start to dissipate the remnants of Green Volga uprising.

[Rysyonok]

Saratov front (December 16, 1919):

The Red stack has no supply units - and 2 level 1 cities can't feed 6 regiments for long... still, I think I should push north before Reds escape.