The Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze, 28mm

This weekend it was time for another wargaming extravaganza staged by the League of Gentlemen Wargamers, a motley collection of gamers who meet three times a year in Kirriemuir, in north-east Scotland. On this occasion their behaviour was far from gentlemanly, with no end of plotting, scheming, double-dealing, backstabbing and treachery going on. That of course, is all part and parcel of a Back of Beyond game, where alliances are forged, broken and ignored as opportunity dictates. The general scene for a Back of Beyond is the Russian Civil War, or rather those parts of the conflict that were fought out in the periphery of the Russian Empire, or just beyond its borders. In our game we had Bolsheviks, White Russians, British, Turks, Japanese, American, Chinese and Basmachi forces,  as well as the troops of “The Mad Baron”, a Holywood film company and the Czech Legion, complete with their armoured train.The Czechs formed the leit motif of the game, as did the great Trans-Siberian railway. The Czechs had to get to Vladivostock, which was four gaming tables away from their starting point outside Moscow. They could choose which way to go, as in our game the railway had two loops, one running through Siberia, and the other passing through Baku and the “Stans” (Tajikistan, Kirghizstan etc) to Mongolia. Both railway spurs met up on the Russian Far Eastern table, where they continued on to Vladivostok. The only way they were going to get there was by bribing, threatening or swinging deals with the various contingents who held the railway line they had to pass through. Most of course were all too happy to let the Czechs roll through their stations, as they packed a considerable punch, with their armoured train jam-packed with troops. Others though, like the Mad Baron and the Chinese did their best to oppose the passage of the train as it slowly passed through their territory.The other use for the railway was to transport troops from table to table. They could march between them, taking D3 moves to enter the neighbouring one, but each side also had a “virtual train” (actually a rectangle of hardboard), which transported people up and down the railway lines, limited only by the people in the various stations, who either refused them passage, or wanted money from the travellers. This was also a good way to move troops, and so nobody could be fully trusted to pass through to somewhere else down the line – instead their arrival could be the start of a full-scale invasion. Soon trains were whizzing around, more for fun than anything else, and several players made the round trip from Moscow to the Pacific coast, passing through Irkutsk, Samarkand or Kashgar on the way. One of the reasons for all this travel was the added sub-game involving clues to things. Each table had a couple of features on it like Buddhist statues, old tombs or temples, which held clues. These could be used to find out the location of something. See these as added quests if you like. The prizes involved such things as the location of Shangri-La, the Tsar and his family, a hidden airship and other such stuff, so people spent an inordinate amount of time chasing after these lost treasures!Finally, the railways generated money. Each player had a station and an attendant town. Being the Turkish player mine was Baku, at the bottom corner of the Russia table. Each of the four other tables contained other stations, and players earned money when trains passed through them. This revenue could be hoarded, used to buy troops and other toys, or simply to use to bribe your fellow players with. At one stage I was awarded a Turkish gunboat, which arrived off Vladivostok. One highlight of my weekend was lending it to the local Soviet, who had rammed it, and were then repairing the damage. The Czech player decided he needed a boat, so I sold it to him. Then, rather than simply handing it over, the Bolshevik player scuttled it, leaving the poor Czech player without a ship to take his troops home! As for me, my Turks were laughing all the way to the bank…As for the game itself, it is almost impossible to describe all the goings on. On my table three players were holding cities and “resource centres” (another source of income) – the Bolsheviks, the British and my Turks. We made a pact to shoot at anyone who entered our “Russian” table, and so when exploratory – and rather aggressive – adventurers arrived from Siberia the Bolsheviks and the Turks joined forces to gun them down. Charles Grant, being a suitably honourable British sort of fellow drew the line at shooting with his fellow Whites – or siding with the Bolsheviks – one of the two. This peaceable accord lasted until I got bored and stabbed Kevin the Bolshevik player in the back, but peace was restored by mid-Sunday morning, and Kevin  only broke our peace pact on Sunday lunchtime, claiming he was bored!To the north the railway led to the Siberia table, where two rival White factions were located, along with a Holywood film company, who had the resources to hire a powerful mercenary bodyguard, which included Tibetan cavalry and a second-hand Rolls Royce armoured car! Inevitably they and the Whites became embroiled in a shooting match. Inevitable really, because the parts were played by the Nicholson brothers, who inevitably land up fighting each other. Most of the time though, Pete McCaroll’s Whites were the ones on the firing line, and during the fighting the Tsar was accidentally blown up by the film mogul. He claims he has a celluloid record proving the Whites did it after all, but we remain unconvinced.  To the south was the “Stan” table, where the Army of God (Revolutionary Indians) were based, along with some warlike Basmachi tribesmen. People kept them pretty well alone, and my one foray into the table was met with a treacherous back stab by Dale Smith, the Army of God’s untrustworthy commander, and by a fusillade from my fellow Basmachi Muslims, commanded by the game’s umpire Colin Jack. Clearly they had the same “shoot at outsiders” policy that we did on our table!Beyond that lay the Mongolian table, where the megalomaniacal Mad Baron (a perfect role for Barry Hilton) was opposed by a Chinese warlord army operated with Oriental deviousness and immorality by Dave O’Brien. A Buddhist temple was an objective on that table, and was the scene of some heavy fighting – first when the Army of God turned up to capture it, and then when the Baron and the Chinese fought a string of battles around its walls. The mayhem became even worse when the Czech armoured train appeared, and shot at both sides – and was shot at in return – and the Japanese invaded from the east, turning the fight from a two to a four cornered one. Then, at the far end of the hall was the Pacific East, where Bolshevik, Japanese and American enclaves were situated, and where a fleet of gunboats spent much of the weekend battling it out for naval supremacy. The two Roberts commanded the Reds and the Japs, and they tended to keep to themselves, until the untrustworthy Japanese launched an incursion into Mongolia when the Chinese were fully occupied dealing with the Czechs and the Baron. Further to the south the Americans should have stayed where they were and not got involved – it pretty much worked for them in the real Russian Civil War. Instead, Steve the American player sent a small field force up the Trans-Siberian railway line, and at one stage was even seen joining in the fight against his fellow Americans from Hollywood!Needless to say everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, in what was a real weekend to remember. What made it so special was the sheer range of “kit” people had, from film crews to yak trains, buildings to suit every region, aircraft, airships, armoured trains, gunboats, freighters and even a flying carpet. Then there were the figures, covering all these assorted factions, plus personality figures and special characters. the umpire Colin Jack even had a pile of fake Chinese money, which served as the game’s currency. It all came together to produce a very special game, and a great weekend. It helped that the rules worked well too. When we’d played this before we used Chris Peers’ Contemptible Little Armies, and their Back of Beyond bolt-on. This time we used Setting the East Ablaze (produced by Caliver Books), which is essentially an improved version of Chris’ original rules, with a slicker combat system. They were easy to pick up, and let us carry on with the game without worrying too much about the mechanics. I can’t wait until my next Back of Beyond mega game!

Tags: Setting the East Ablaze