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Fellow RUSophiles,

Just a quick one I have longed for this game for a while now, I finally get it and I find myself a bit lost. Now I am a grand campaigner, I rarely play smaller scenarios.

So as someone who is not very familiar with the RCW, as the Southern Whites what is the best way to start everything off?

I have been combining everything into 4 main forces, a main white army in the South, the cossack army in the near east, the main cossack army north of the whites and the northern most force facing off across the river from the whites.

Now I seem to get stuck, I attempt to use the main white force to hit the Reds hard and take the first few cities, the main cossack force head to Tasistan(sp?). The others attempt to hit what they can.

However I seem to find superior numbers everywhere around me, what should be the strategy in those first few months.

Note I have read some of the AAR's but can't seem to replicate their openings.

As a general strategy you have to target CıC region as soon as possible without them reinforcing under Sorokin(Armavir) and destroy as much as Red stacks in Southern theater. Until WW1 armistice Reds can only delay Whites advance but can not keep territory. But more important if they use 3 escape routes they can organize in Tzaritzyn and keep the numbers. Escape routes are Astrakhan, Elista (depot there) through Tzaritzyn and Liski (through naval capacity). Red player can build up Red Guards to further delay and damage rail.

What is important is forming 'killer stacks' with max command points under most talented corps leader and make sure CıC is around with enormous CP benefit.

Like said Baris, you should well combine, with division units, one or 2 good corps as "shock forces" and decide where you hit. Except for a siege assault on Tsaritsyn, you have superior troops even if the Reds look more numerous. But you will not get much more means before the end of the WWI and the arrival of the Western powers support in the Black sea.

Historically, the Southern Whites spend much time, forces and means to clean all the North Caucasus from the Black sea to the Caspian sea. Thus they probably delay too much the seizing of Tsaritsyn and the possibility to connect with the Eastern Whites on the Volga. But on the other side, they found much recruits in the Kouban and destroyed many Reds forces which may have attack them in the back later when they would aim to Moscow.

They also spend much forces and means to battle in Ukraine before marching north on Moscow.

So you can try other ways than the historical ones, but each way will have logical good sides and bad sides.

Baris wrote:What is important is forming 'killer stacks' with max command points under most talented corps leader and make sure CıC is around with enormous CP benefit.

andatiep wrote:Like said Baris, you should well combine, with division units, one or 2 good corps as "shock forces" and decide where you hit.

Too, try to put some white guards (militia/conscripts) in: yes the stack will be less efficient on the moment, but it will keep its efficiency far longer if you can replace those main guard losses (instead of mainly elite losses, that you will hardly replace).

yeah, losing of "cannon fooder" which militia is is way more prerable than to lose better units. even good tactic is to use them as "softener" - use them as first attackers for greatest reduction of combat power of enemy, even if it mean only coheresion loses...and then next turn atack with your main assault forces agains less powerfull enemy which didt have enough time to recover lost coheresion so it will be easier to defeat .

Militia very useful under Red leaders with increasing cohesion levels. The task their sufficent at protecting strategic CiC regions and training. Coupled by building fortress line inf, fort battery and engineer entrenchment ability they can hold well. From there they can be distributed to other fronts as fighting unit.

Western White player can choose between waiting forming bigger stacks or attack right away to Kharkov, if it is too late Reds can form very stable defensive line.
As much as historical fact and in gameplay turns Anarchists can fill the missing gap and by alliance they can be recruited in countryside. Ukraine region can be very interesting with autonomous AI anarchist, Ukraine units and so forth.

Well I have managed a few good starts now, getting my capital within 2 turns and cutting off the easy route to Tsaritsyn.

I managed to basically free the South and was starting to manage the Balts and Pskov force but an error caused it to crash.

Is there a good plan for taking Tsaritsyn? I had the force near the city and the Don Reserve force seige it bascially from turn 2 on, is this the best way to get the city to fall before the end of 1918? It just can see to get anywhere with this.

Baris wrote:Western White player can choose between waiting forming bigger stacks or attack right away to Kharkov, if it is too late Reds can form very stable defensive line.
As much as historical fact and in gameplay turns Anarchists can fill the missing gap and by alliance they can be recruited in countryside. Ukraine region can be very interesting with autonomous AI anarchist, Ukraine units and so forth.

Just to make it clear, those possible alliances are divided in Ukraine:
. anarchists in the east for the Red only,
mainly controled, as some ana allied units stand independant
. nationalists in the west for the Western White,
but those petliurists are then mainly controled by the Eastern White player!
(some allied units stand independant)

There is no easy route to Tsaritsyn I think, depends on clear railroad direction. With Cossack uprising there is cavalry advantage and good for supporting the attack and targeting Red patizans along railroads. But with fort batteries causing so much damage they can wait for tanks in 1919. Rushing in 1918 is not necessary and costly I think; at least in Pbem.

Concentrating on two tasks will make Whites weaker. Either full attack through Grozni destroying Red stacks or to Tzaritzyn as a choice.

So from the 1918 start there is no huge benefit in the Cossacks becoming the leaders as oppossed to Denkin?

There is as written in event description.

In the GC, event scripts and quantity of troops of both White factions advice them to have some coordination. At this specific Tzaritzyn event there is a time limit and to fulfill is a hard task. In the game entrenchment levels coupled with higher tier artillery and defensive postures helps a lot vs elite White troops. Reds should try to engage in defensive posture as much as possible in early game; except Tukhachevsky with Latvian troops. He can also either help defense of Kazan or rail to Tzaritzyn.

Controlling Ukraine needs a coordination with Eastern Whites as if Penza is not in their hands by a certain date Ukraine 1st and 2nd Soviet army appear just in the vicinity of Kiev. Reds will be quick to dig in.
To hold Penza Eastern White player should give up Kazan offensive, so forth.

@everybody :
Don't forget to check the Game Events and Options list if needed. It's in your game Docs repository :

.../Revolution Under Siege Gold/Docs/ENGLISH-Game Events Chronology.pdf