Wargaming the interwar period

CROSSPOSTED FROM WARGAMING MISCELLANY

This year’s VCOW (Virtual Conference of Wargamers) took place over the weekend, and I was able to take part in several sessions.

On Saturday, alongside two other members of WD (Wargame Developments) who are experienced intercellular wargamers, I was a ‘talking head’ about wargaming the interwar period. My contribution was to give a brief outline of the conflicts that took place and some sources of inspiration that potential players might find useful. These took the form of two short MS PowerPoint presentations.

Wargaming the Interwar period

Wargaming the Interwar period: Some sources of inspiration

Professor Calculus

I am now of an age where people tend to find it difficult to buy me birthday presents because they assume that I already have everything that I need ... but today I received one from my old friend Tony Hawkins that not only surprised me but also gave me tremendous pleasure! Tony knows that I am a long-term devote of Hergé’s Tintin books (I blame Hergé for my ongoing interest in the interwar era and little known conflicts between small nations) and he sent me a copy of Michael Farr’s book about Professor Calculus.

I knew that Hergé based the character Cuthbert Calculus on the famous Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard … but until I read this book I had not realised how similar they were in so many ways. I understand that Michael Farr has written books about all the major characters who appear in the Tintin books … and I hope to add some of them to my collection in the very near future. Many thanks Tony; your present helped to make my birthday a special one!

Latest draft of my Interbellum rules is now available

After a few struggles and diversions along the way, I have finally managed to complete the latest draft of my INTERBELLUM rules, and they are available in PDF format as a download from my Interbellum website.

Please note that the rules are password protected; the password is 'interbellum'.

The rules do incorporate some ideas from my previous rules, WHEN EMPIRES CLASH!. In particular there are now rules for the use of Transport Units as well as a whole new section at the end that sets out rules for the use of aircraft over the battlefield. The rules have yet to be play-tested (or even properly proof read!), but I set myself the goal of finishing the draft today ... and managed it!

More truth from THE TRUTH?

Further to their recent revelations, THE TRUTH has published more images of prototype self-propelled artillery based on the FT-17 chassis.

The first picture shows one of the previously featured prototypes, but this time the photograph has been taken from the side of the vehicle.

The second prototype is different from those already featured in that the armament is reputed to be a 149mm howitzer. The latter has been fitted with an armoured shield that offers some protection to the crew.

It is worth noting that none of these designs allow the armament to traverse more than a few degrees, and that half the designs have armament that faces towards the rear of the chassis. These designs give the artillery mobility, but not the ability to be used offensively.

THE TRUTH prints ... the truth?

Further to its recent article about self-propelled artillery that uses the FT-17 chassis, THE TRUTH (the official newspaper of the Soviet Peoples' United Republic) has printed the following photographs.

The first photograph shows a vehicle where the 75mm gun is mounted in a fixed position low down in the hull front. Whilst this would make it very easy to use the gun where the range is short and the crew needed to be protected by armour, it is difficult to understand how it could be used to provide traditional artillery support.

The second vehicle has obviously been designed to use the tracks and lower hull of the FT-17 to provide a means of moving a 75mm gun over difficult terrain. However, the fact that the gun faces towards the rear of the hull seems to show that it could not be used offensively as it could not engage targets as it advanced.

The third vehicle seems to combine the best aspects of both of the previous prototypes. Its gun faces forward, which means that it can be used offensively, whilst the crew platform at the rear provides some shelter to the crew on a fire-swept battlefield.

THE TRUTH did not provide any further information about these prototypes, and their country or countries of origin are unknown. Only time will tell if these prototypes are the progenitors of a whole new breed of self-propelled artillery.

Interbellum sources and resources

I have continued to add both fiction and non-fiction books to my Interbellum website.

So far all the fiction books I have added are ones that were written during the inter-war period, but I expect to include non-contemporary ones is due course. In the case of the non-fiction books I have selected those which were either written during the inter-war era or which mainly deal with wars, campaigns, and/or weapons from that time period.

The website is still in its early stages of development, and I still have lots of stuff that I can add to it in due course. At some time in the future I also intend to add pages that cover films that were either made during the inter-war era or that cover incidents from the 1920s and 1930s.

Interwar Tanks

One of the books I found on my shelves whilst I was searching for sources to add to my Interbellum website was THE FIGHTING TANKS 1916-1933. It was published in 1933 and its authors were Major Ralph E Jones (Infantry, US Army), Captain George H Rarey (Infantry, US Army), and First Lieutenant Robert J Icks (Infantry Reserve, US Army). Besides containing lots of interesting data (including the approximate numbers of tanks in the World's armies) and photographs, it had a diagram that showed the comparative size of several different interwar tanks.

Interbellum sources and resources

I have begun to add some more pages to my Interbellum website.

These new pages will deal with fiction and non-fiction books that people interested in the interwar era might find useful. The fiction books will hopefully inspire ideas for new imagi-nations (or the development of existing ones) and the non-fiction books will cover data about various real armies, equipment, and weapons as well as some of the more obscure wars.

The website is still very much in its early stages of development, but I hope to add stuff as and when I can.

Vickers Tanks arrive in Slobenia!

Painted a company of 9 Vickers export tanks last week (T26a) - destined for the Slobenian front. The twin-MG turret platoon is shown below:

I'm not that impressed with the finish - the moral of the tale being, don't paint a company of Sci Fi mech armour then get carried away when you are tired and a bit slap happy with the brush.

Mind you, they are 15mm SDD models and a bit light on detail/crisp lines so can't beat myself up too much.

They're fine for the table just now, but I think I'll need to revisit them with a Polish style camo.

Cheers
Mark

Interbellum at The Too Fat Lardies

Too Fat Lardies - are currently having a sale across all of their products. Well worth a look, but for Interbellum gamers the Summer Specials have a lot to recommend them at only £3.50 (link) each.

There are articles, scenarios and rules supplements covering a wide range of Interbellum subjects - Russian Civil War, German Freikorps, Spanish Civil War and other conflicts.

The 2006 Summer Special is of special interest as it includes several articles about colonial warfare in the Interbellum period.

• Grabbing Mussolini's Baubles: IABSM for the Interwar colonial conflicts.
• Trouble Brewing Up: a North West Frontier Scenario for the above.
• I'll Be Seein' Ya: an East Africa scenario for the above

The same issue also includes:

• Guards, TO POLTAVA! A Russian Civil War mini-campaign for Triumph of the Will
• Aah, Condor: SCW stats for Bag the Hun

Plus all the usual Lardiness. Even if you don't play the Lardy rules, the articles, scenarios and how to's, all make up a great read in their own right.

Cheers
Mark

The Central Banana Republic

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I own a hardcopy of the US Marine Corps SMALL WARS Manual (1940) and just a little inspired after this blog took off I read through it again. The book is an invaluable DIY manual should you ever want to invade a Banana republic and I thoroughly recommend you read it if you are interested in the 'colonial' side of the Interbellum. A download is available here: http://www.smallwars.quantico.usmc.mil/sw_manual.asp.

The Small Wars Manual put substance to my desire to do something with Eureka Miniatures 15mm 1941 US Marines, the ones with Tommy helmets, armed with Springfields etc. We're talking Back To Bataan rather than Sands of Iwo Jima. So, fully imbued with Interbellum ethos I've created the Central Banana Republic to capture some flavour of the 'Banana Wars" in Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Panama during the 1920s and 30s.

This discrete project also gave me an additional push to rework my jungle terrain - which can be seen in more detail on my blog dedicated to 15mm Sci Fi gaming. I'll rework the pics for this blog once I have the correct period minis painted.

Rules? As it stands - We Can Be Heroes 2 for the smallscale 1-2-1 stuff and and Ambush Alley and Force on Force for anything larger.

Cheers
Mark
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Polish Invasion of Czechoslovakia 1938

The annexation by Poland of the Zaolzie region of Czechoslovakia in 1938 is pure Interbellum gaming fodder.

There are some fantastic photos on Militaryphotos.net. Steer clear of the majority of the responses as they are twaddle and would make TMP proud:

Polish armour entering a city

Polish 10th Brigade

Cheers
Mark
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Interbellum Imagi-Wars in 1/600th

I admit to being a confirmed 15mm gamer but the Interbellum Imagi-Wars has me seriously looking at 1/600th and Oddzial Osmy's great range of 1/600th miniatures.


There's something about the miniatures meets Panzerblitz that appeals to me, and I can easily play divisional size actions using Chris Kemp's excellent NOT QUITE MECHANISED or Tim Gow's MEGABLITZ rules. Even if you don't want to play these rules, I recommend a gander at Chris' Eastern Front org charts for the Italians, Hungarians and Romanians. Perfect middle European fodder if you are searching for Orbat ideas without falling into the trap of creating Ruritanian Panzer divisions.

What I like about the Oddzial Osmy range is that the Polish range alone includes infantry, cavalry, tankettes and a whole heap of Vickers export models. In this scale it's both economical and practical to get them ALL onto the gaming table in the same scenario. Of course we lose the character of the uniforms but this can be made up for in the character of the formations and major equipment used.

If you are interested in the potential of 1/600th, look at the Polish, Italian, early Russian, French and some of the early German models.

Attractive and effective terrain can be scratch built very easily or bought cheaply from Irregular Miniatures as this photo from their website shows:

So, I may opt to continue playing Interbellum Imagi-Wars in both 15mm and 1/600th to get the most out of this fun gaming genre - and to fill in whilst I wait to see what Flames of War bring to the party with their planned 15mm Early War releases this August.

Cheers
Mark

Gradual developments

This blog does seem to be gathering a momentum of its own, and as a result I have added a few bits and pieces as part of its ongoing development.

The most important of these has been to add links to what I have termed 'Interbellum and related Imagi-nation blogs'. If anyone has any further suggestion for blogs that might fall into this category, please leave a comment (with a link or the URL if possible) and I will add it.

In the meantime I am off to have a cup of tea and a serious think about recent events in Tradgardland. Is war imminent? I wonder...

Not a bad start!

Well Internbellum has been 'live' for less than a day and already it has one follower, two contributors, and several people who are line to join the list of contributors.

I expect that over the forthcoming weekend things might pick up a bit, but if you are interested in being a contributor just contact me at warden(delete)@dircon.co.uk (just remember to delete (delete) when you paste the address onto your email).