by Hethwill, 22 March 2026
“The war was coming to an end. In Moscow, the oligarchs began a deadly struggle for wealth and power. Gangs and mafias wanted to take whatever they could for themselves. Meanwhile, the White troops were approaching the capital of Russia from the south, and two armies of government troops were advancing from the east.”
— Borodino 2025, page 16
click images to enlarge
A very accessible collection of games, with each volume using the same base rules with small additions pertaining to the particulars of the scenarios being presented.
The following write-up covers the fictional events that occurred during the 3 days of battles in and around the capital city of Moscow as a dissent military coup tried to oust the acting neo-soviet oligarchic regime.
General Kornilov controls several brigades in Moscow and aims to seize control of the city and the Kremlin in advance of his friend, General Pavlov, arrival with a “Whites” Army.
Whites being an open reference to the anti bolshevik factions from the Russian Civil War a century before.
In the early hours Kornilove moved the brigades to key positions, but against all intel, they were quickly checked by Red Guards militias, aligned with the regime, and violent firefights erupted all across the city.
This scenario – Harvest Festival – sets the starting situation for what is coming – Target Kremlin/Moscow.
Both Kornilov’s forces and Red Guards keep their position and status for the next phase.
I personally found this way of setting up a wargame scenario, with a quick mini game, very pleasing.
“Even during the bloody fighting in Moscow, General Pavlov’s troops began to approach the city from the south. His ally, General Kornilov, tried to maintain the key elements of the city’s infrastructure until the arrival of the Whites.
At the same time, the Russian First Army was concentrated several dozen kilometers east of Moscow. Its primary task was to destroy the White troops and Kornilov’s troops. The communists also sided with the Loyalist army.”
— Borodino 2025, page 18
Pavlov’s corps is remarkably good quality and is racing against time, with a timetable of six days (6 turns in game) to accomplish victory which is counted for sections of the city under control.
The Loyalist army is much much stronger and may rely on air power and a lot of artillery. On top of that, missile launchers with thermobaric ordnance. And 4 nukes…
No nukes nor thermobaric ordnance was used during these events although the artillery was extensively used by the regime and entire city sections reduced to ruins. A grim warning that was already used in the foreign wars and now being used at home.
The “great neo Rus Soviet Federation tsar” retains control of most of the military and the First Army rushes to the capital at the same time.
The Whites have the initiative and immediately race in to link up with Kornilov’s brigades and eliminate the Red Guards and then dig deep and defend the city against the Loyalists approach from the East.
At least that’s the plan.
One aspect I like in the rules is – if two opponent formations are adjacent, combat MUST occur.
I mark Attacker formations with the yellow markers and Defender with the red markers.
Each combat can be done one by one in whatever order and I personally like, in all games, to declare ALL combats, instead of gaming the results.
Citizens of the great capital cannot believe they are being victims of war in their home city with an intensity they only saw happening in neighbouring countries, as they cheered their regiment armies fighting prowess, not forgetting their “enemy capital in 3 days war” turning into longer than 3 years. Loyalist armies plan a large envelopment ring around the city to trap the rebel forces.
Highways ring around the big city help the reaction of the Loyalist army in getting to battle quick and engaging without delay, aiming at eroding the wings of the rebellious forces and forcing it to fall back out of the city in any attempt to keep cohesion. Artillery mostly focused on the battles south of the city.
While the artillery focuses more on the battles in the South of the city, the left wing of the Whites Army sees the Air Force employed against them, which is a heavy blow to their spirits. Nonetheless they fight vigorously. The 114th Battalion proves well its order of battle grading of ‘elite’ holding off a combined air and mechanised combined attack and denying the enemy an avenue to cut the Pavlov Army in two pockets.
After the initial surprise and holding off the regime forces, the Whites command knows the hard truth. There’s no possibility, however remote, of even managing to push control of Moscow and even attempting to seize the Kremlin proves too far an objective.
Orders go out for a push to enlarge the Southwestern front and for Kornilov’s forces still cut off north of the city to attempt to regroup.
Supplies are modelled in the game. In these scenarios only the Loyalist army is affected, which is fair given the disparate strength of force. We may assume that the rebellious forces were all prepared with enough supplies for 6 days of battle while the regime controlled forces reacted on the fly with whatever readiness level they were.
The situation becomes tragic quickly as the coup attempt is quickly countered and the rebellious forces become increasingly surrounded.
Any news that will be known to the world will show that a small contingent of disaffected criminal generals tried to seize control of the city and topple the rightful elected government, despite any and all hopes for the regime to topple.
One of the most dramatic episodes happened when remnants of the initial Kornilov forces got isolated and orders came from inside the Kremlin for the Red Guards to “have the honour to kill them criminals” as a reward for them taking the side of the regime.
All around the city the artillery and air force kept bombarding the districts in support of attacks and defense.
Air Missions and Artillery Bombardments are modelled in, as separate tasks from combat support but are exclusive. In this context there was no real need of calling in the specific tasks so only combat support options were used.
By the third day of the rebellion the situation was decided and all that was left open was for the Whites Army to establish a position of strength in which to negotiate.1
Some isolated formations tried to counter the Regime artillery positions but were so depleted that ultimately became just a defiant gesture rather than having any operational effect.
Still the Pavlov Army kept the cohesion necessary to resist for the moment being but more Loyalist forces were closing the siege.
After three days of high intensity battles the rebel forces surrender. Kornilov has been captured, along with all his command staff. The casualties are extremely high on the rebellious camp, with a ratio of 1 to 5 deaths versus the regime forces and of these the entirety are reported from the Red Guards. Wounded lists are less kind to the Loyalists but with so many wave attacks to break the Whites pockets it is hardly surprising.
More than a tenth of the city has been reduced to ruins due to the combined effect of artillery, air bombardment and urban combat.
This moment marks the end of the report intended to be presented. After the three days, despite the scenario being designed for six days, there’s clearly no chance for the Whites to even reach any sliver of victory conditions – control of parts of the city – so the natural narrative would be to follow the surrender negotiations. It is of note that the Loyalist forces have reinforcements listed in the Order of Battle so it would only become worse. I did not include them given the overkill situation.
In the game itself the follow up would be a combined NATO armies group pushing to the capital from the west. This elevates the gameplay a lot with the inclusion of all the capabilities and troop types and even electronic warfare and is truly what is intended with the full game.
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