The constellation of conflicts that consumed the former Russian Empire in the period 1918 to 1921 and beyond, known shorthand as the Russian Civil War (or the “Russian” Civil Wars by Jonathan Smele’s book of the same name), went far beyond a simple division of Reds. vs. Whites. 

As Smele emphasizes, the new Bolshevik state that Lenin and comrades had birthed in revolution the previous October was at war for survival against enemies both Left and Right, democratic and totalitarian, urban and rural, ruling class, bourgeoisie, and peasant, Russian and non-Russian, Christian, Muslim, and atheist, as well as foreign intervention forces from Russia’s former Great War allies, the British, French, Japanese, and Americans, among others. 

A two-player Reds vs. Whites duel cannot capture the complexity of this maelstrom in a holistic way, particularly when forces such as Petliura’s new Ukrainian state and the Makhnovist “Black Army” separately waged war against both Red and White armies for their own independent aims, using characteristically distinct strategies and tactics.

Hammer and Sickle expands the playing field of this 20th century-defining conflict by delineating four asymmetric factions, yet with an elegant ruleset that enables quick learning and fast play, so that the entire conflict is covered in 2-3 hours.

Let’s break down the four factions and their asymmetries.