Russian Civil War 1918–1922

In late 1917, the revolutionary Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin overthrew the social-democratic Russian Provisional Government that had been formed following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.

What followed was a chaotic multi-faction civil war in which the Bolsheviks fought for control of Russia against a loose alliance of counter-revolutionary forces known as the White Army.

The situation was further complicated by the rise of nationalist forces in Poland, Finland, Ukraine and the Baltic states that sought freedom from the old Russian Empire.

[2] in the mid-1970s, game designer Jim Dunnigan was drawn to chaos of the Russian Civil War, and attempted to create something of that atmosphere, later writing, "Giving the players too much rationality would deny them the key element of the event.

In 2011, game designers Ty Bomba and Joseph Miranda revised the rules of Russian Civil War, expanding the map, and adding new counters for more nationalist and interventionist forces.

In Issue 28 of Moves, Steve List commented, "The game has much to offer — diplomacy for the honest, skullduggery for the treacherous, and schizophrenia for the undecided.

"[3] In a retrospective review in Issue 3 of Simulacrum, Brian Train called Russian Civil War "one of those rare birds in the hobby: a multi-player game that genuinely works, is balanced towards no one player (because of the random setup) and almost never plays the same way twice."

Train concluded with a recommendation to find a used copy of the game, saying, "Besides its obvious collector's value, you will want this one if you have any friends at all (although if you're too sneaky playing this, you won't have them much longer!