We have played our first Back of Beyond skirmish. It was a very small battle with some tsarist infantry trying to dislodge a red force half its size from a small village it had fortified.The battle did show us the advantage of being in defense in the period of machine guns and bolt rifles.
The whites had their chance still. Having more than twice the number of figures, they almost overwhelmed the bolshevik defenses, their high point being when a lucky grenade destroyed a machinegun nest and its crew, leaving a part of the perimeter defenseless for a time.
But that was not enough, and white squads were broken one after another when trying to cross the empty space riddled with bullets.
Showdown rules worked well and everyone was satisfied with the game. The rules were understandable enough and there was no problem using them. Though the concept of Shaken was not immediately clear.
A showdown battle seems to be finished in a few turns. That means that even if movement rates are quite high, I should have let the battle begin with the ennemies in closer proximity.
We did use the first BoB figures I did make for the game. I hurried too much for the game and I am not too happy about the result. The figures were usable but had not much flavour to them (the basmachi I did earlier for the campaign was much better). I hope to do better when I'll have to draw more interesting or exotic personnalities.
