Red Dawn Rises!: Revolution in Central Asia 1918-1920 – Vol. 1 in the Scenario Series for Setting the East Ablaze

Red Dawn Rises! Revolution in Central Asia 1918-1920 is the first in a planned series of scenario books for our Setting the East Ablaze rules.

Although written specifically for warfare in Central Asia in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War (1917-26), we have found that the rules are very flexible. The earliest they have been played successfully is the Second Afghan War (1888), the latest modern day Africa. Both, with minor adjustments, worked well. These scenario books will cover a slightly wider core period and a significantly wider geography. Most will be based around historical engagements, but those of you who follow ‘The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers’ adventures in their alternative reality of 192? will be glad to hear that those tales will also be told before too long.

The backdrop for this first set of scenarios is the main source book for the so-called Back of Beyond period: Peter Hopkirk’s "Setting the East Ablaze – On Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia". This rollicking tale, first published in 1984, tells true stories of the period in breath-taking fashion.

This book contains eight/nine scenarios, each with a historical context, objectives, army lists and maps. Most are playable on a 6’ x 4’ table, and require manageable amounts of figures and terrain. It covers the period from February 1918 in the immediate chaos following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 up until September 1920, when the Reds really began to exert their brutal grip on Central Asia. All games are based on known historical facts and orders of battle, and where none exist, a reasonable extrapolation of what was known. If some of the historical battles were very one sided (as they were), I have tried to rebalance the sides to give a better game.

 Scenario 1: Counter Revolution in Samarkhand
     Pt1: The Mutineers Attack!
     Pt 2: The Revolution Strikes Back!

 Scenario 2: The First Battle of Bukhara
 Scenarios 3-4: The TransCaspian Episode
     The Battle of Kakhka
     The Battle of Dushak

 Scenario 5: Bailey Vanishes
 Scenario 6: Counter-Revolution in Tashkent
 Scenario 7: Bailey Escapes
 Scenario 8: The Fall of Bukhara

—description from the publisher