Andreivia: an imagi-nation (part four)

Links to previous parts:

Part One    Part Two    Part Three

2015 saw what was perhaps the high point of our exploration of the Andreivian Civil War of the 1990s.  Those who've been following this rambling tale may recall that, earlier in the year, the 'Return to Tcherbevan' game at Crisis Point had ended when the US 101st Airborne had detained Serj Benkian. 

The Andreivian-Armenian leader's covert visit to his compatriots fighting in and around the capital had proven to be an error of judgement. It would also prove to be the seed for a chaotic and most enjoyable gaming experience.

As I recall them now, the hot summers of my early-1980s sixth-form days were spent playing boardgames during the day and attending drunken teenage parties in the evenings. I'm sure this wasn't by any means the full picture but it's the boardgames I want to focus on here.

Among the games we played, at a friend's house in genteel West Kirby, was an old SPI game called, if I recall correctly, Russian Civil War.  This had an unusual approach to the subject. Players controlled forces chosen at random from more than one faction. Thus you might have some Latvian nationalists, Red Army units around Moscow, Denikinite troops in the south, and some stranded Czechs in the Far East. You would build up victory points as the game went on but in the end you'd only keep the points you'd gained in favour of the side that ended up winning the war.  

Memories of this approach bubbled up from my subconscious in late 2015 when I was thinking about a game to run at Christmas.

At some point in the past I'd mentioned that the capital of the breakaway Andreivian-Armenian republic was called Vani. 'Trouble in Vani' would see the power vacuum caused by Benkian's detention spill over into fighting in the streets of that previously peaceful city.

In a moment of unabashed Monty Pythonism I created four rivals for power in the Andreivian-Armenian Republic. The Armenian Popular Front was led by Daron Bogassian. Its rivals were the Popular Front of Andreivian Armenia, led by Adam Kardashian; the Armenian Republican Movement, Benkian loyalists led by Deputy President Sergei Agassi; and the Democratic Union of Armenia, led by Alexandra Tankian.

Each player would randomly draw three units that they would command during the game. Each unit would be able to score victory points by completing its objectives. The victory points were represented by different coloured tokens.

Arc of Fire came very much into its own during this game. The card-driven activation system meant that the action swung about all over the board as first one and then another unit attempted to achieve its aims. 

The PFAA Snatch Squad broke into the Amina Modi ladies' outfitters as Adam Kardashian apparently likes to wear women's clothing when not in front of the TV cameras. The Police patrol spent much of the game hiding in a stationery cupboard in the Town Hall, while the APF Militia lost their commander to a well-positioned DUA sniper right at the start of the fighting.

Serious the game was not but all involved seemed to have a good time. As I recall Benjamin Sharrock did a great job of gaining victory points but alas for the wrong faction. The Democratic Union of Armenia were victorious overall and Andy Sangar ended up having scored the most points in their support. Well played sir!

By 2016, the situation is Andreivia was sufficiently familiar to the Crisis Point regulars that we were able to have multiple games each run by a different umpire. We played Arc of Fire again of course but also Force On Force (thanks Mark Kniveton) and Pulp Alley.  I won't going to too much detail here because reports have appeared elsewhere. 

Aside from the actual play, however, Crisis Point 2016 also featured some interesting conversations in the pub. By September of that year, those conversations, carried on whenever to or more Andreivian scholars were gathered together, had steered us in the direction of an earlier period of history.

Unlike the original imagi-nation, which as we've seen grew out of my desire to use the assorted late-20th century kit I'd collected, the new concept was driven by the consensus among the players that they'd all like to try something different whilst keeping some sense of continuity with what we'd done before.

Andreivia: Dawn of Liberty would take us back to the dark days at the end of the First World War. If Russia and Turkey were convulsed by civil war and the collapse of empire, surely little Andreivia would see its fair share of conflict too?

After a little research, I chose a date of April 1918. Although the Turks and Russians had signed a peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk, fighting continued on the Caucasus Front involving both powers and their various proxies.

This time we decided to represent the whole of Andreivia with a few large tables. Skirmish-sized units would represent the larger forces sweeping through the Caucasus in this time of chaos. By choosing another fictional setting we were free from the constraints of historical research and many of the players were able to contribute forces from existing collections. Ian Shaw brought a load of Andreivian infantry and the fact that they wore British uniforms, whilst mine were converted Airfix Foreign Legionnaires, could be hand-waved away with ease. 

We seem to have got into a pattern whereby a new concept will see us through a couple of consecutive Crisis Points and this was no different with the 2017 and 2018 events both featuring the 1918 version of Andreivia, as did a couple of stand-alone games played in between.

Across these gaming sessions we managed to write some great stories into the history of Andreivia. The principle that events emerging during games becoming a firm part of stablished history and the commitment of players to the setting are both illustrated by the Soviet Cossack's slaughter of an Andreivian police detachment in the graveyard attached to the English Church in Tcherbevan. 

This prompted Richard Phillips to construct a memorial that, in modern-day Tcherbevan, stands at one end of Culture Ministry Boulevard. It's even got its own roundabout base!

Looking at the layout of the base I wonder if Richard may have accidentally established which side of the road Andreivians drive on?

The slaughter of the police was perfect grist for the mill of the great Andreivian propagandist Solomon Rubenstein (played by Tom Davis) whose leaflet-scattering biplane flights over the battlefield were the stuff of legend. Tom also had propaganda posters erected to promote the Government's line on the key issues of the day:

And that is pretty much it, as far as games played in Andreivia are concerned. If the pandemic hadn't scuppered our plans for 2020, we could have expected to see more of the sad history of this war-torn land if Crisis Point had gone ahead with an "Andreivia Through the Ages" theme.

Jamie Crawley has put together the forces for the Battle of the White Stones - a clash between the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires in the late sixth century. This will be played in 6mm scale with Simon Miller's To The Strongest rules when we get the chance.  

Another 6mm game planned for a future gathering is one exploring Andreivia in the eighteenth century. Neil McCusker and Andy Taylor will be at the helm for this one and I believe Sam Mustapha's Maurice will be the rules in use. I like those rules so I'll be interested to see what they come up with.

Finally on the cards for Andreivia Through the Ages was a WW2 game using, I think, the Battlefront rules. Will McNally, Andy Canham and Richard Phillips are behind this one. It doesn't fit with the timeline I originally created for Andreivia but I'm delighted for them to run with the idea. As I would say to anyone who wants to have a go at using this setting: Your Andreivia May Vary. And that's a good thing.

So that's how Andreivia got to be how it is today. I hope this provides an interesting counter-point to the build-everything-up-in-immense-detail approach done so painstakingly by the likes of Henry Hyde. I admire Henry's approach but it's not for me.

So however you do your imagi-nation gaming, I hope it gives you as much joy as Andreivia has given me.