MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS, 1938 (3) - AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE

Another cigarette card from the series issued by John Player in 1938:

Australian Light Horse

The reverse of the cigarette card (No.8 of 50) states:

"Members of all the Australian Light Horse Regiments served in the South African War and sixteen Regiments carry battle honours for the Great War. The members of the Light Horse Regiments, which are mostly drawn from country areas, are volunteers who provide their own mounts. The Regiments are numbered to correspond as far as possible with those of the Australian Imperial Force, but they also retain the old titles, "Royal New South Wales Lancers", "Victorian Mounted Rifles", etc. by which they were known before the Commonwealth took over control of defence matters from the separate states in 1901. We show a trooper of the Australian Light Horse; the City Hall, Brisbane, appears in the background."

Notes: 

(1). The 1938 ALH uniform appears unchanged from the 1914-1918 uniform, and there are a couple of 28mm WW1 ranges that provide suitable figures. Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog has some nicely painted figures from Brigade Games, while the OverOpenSights blog has some splendid painted versions from Blaze Away miniatures (now marketed through Lancashire Games - including mounted and dismounted, and a Hotchkiss LMG), plus a lot more helpful information on the ALH.

(2). YouTube is awash with videos of the Australian Light Horse. Amongst others, here they are in 1939; and their fathers ("The Lighthorsemen") at Beersheba in 1917 (well worth a watch!)

(3). The City Hall, Brisbane, still stands - but now dwarfed by modern steel and glass development:

The City Hall, Brisbane, today.

VBCW HEREFORD - THE BATHTUB HYPOTHESIS (4) - TERRAIN

Being the fourth in an irregular series of blogposts considering the application of Frank Chadwick's "bathtub" campaign ideas to the VBCW in Hereford. For earlier posts, click on the "Bathtub Hypothesis" label to the right...

So now we've got some cracking maps and have worked out a suitable ground scale - "one inch (on the campaign map) to one foot (on the tabletop) to two miles (on the ground)" - or about 1/10,000, as there are 5280 feet in a mile. The next challenge for a "bathtub game" has got to be the tabletop terrain....

Unfortunately, there seems to be no photographs available of Frank Chadwick's "Operation Barbarossa" bathtub game - other than the front cover of the scenario booklet itself, showing a nice "town" with external fortifications and tank traps:

Command Decision - Barbarossa 25

In the search for "terrain orientated photographs" of other wargamers "bathtub - type games", it didn't take long to run across a comparable British variant of Command Decision 25 (although developed independently), namely "Megablitz":

Megablitz Rules - see HERE for a summary

The Introduction to the Megablitz Rules set out what the rules were trying to achieve:

"...The skirmish level game is excellent if one wishes to reproduce the problems faced by squad or platoon commanders using a variety of infantry weapons, while the battalion level game allows players to see the interaction of a wider range of weapons types in the context of a larger scale battle. They do not, however, give players the opportunity to command higher level formations, where they can experience the problems of 'generalship'. At the other end of the spectrum, board or map games permit players to recreate the sort of decision making faced by Generals and Government leaders at the strategic level, but do not satisfactorily provide for players the opportunity to experience what the Russians call the "Operational Art" ('operativnaia iskusstva').."

"Operational Art" is apparently defined as "the intermediate level between the tactics of individual battles and the strategy of an entire war" with the result that Megablitz (and bathtub type games generally) "falls somewhere between the conventional board or map game and the normal brigade or divisional level wargame that uses large numbers of figures and model vehicles."

As to the tabletop terrain necessary for a "Megablitz" wargame, the rule authors specifically noted:

"Because these rules are intended to reflect the problems of fighting battles at operational level, the terrain used will be less detailed than that normally seen in games involving models. It is perfectly acceptable to use a suitably scaled map (particularly with smaller scale models). If, however, three dimensional terrain appeals, it is recommended that simple terrain showing only the major geographical features of the battlefield be used...It is also suggested that terrain features be of a smaller scale than the models being used, as this helps to remind players of the scale of the game. In general, this means using 15mm or 1/300 scale terrain features with the larger scale models (i.e. 20mm figures)..."

The "Megablitz" scale (for 20mm figures and vehicles) is 1:25,000, which the rules explain as "...4cm on the wargames table = 1km in reality, so a 6 x 4foot table represents 45km x 30km". This certainly means that one can represent a very large battlefield on a normal table - but a cost in the traditional visual/terrain element of the wargame:

May 1940 - Northern France on six tables.
The anxious French staff gather round for a pre-game briefing.

"The terrain used will be less detailed than normally seen...." The French point of view.

A different Megablitz game, but the same concept. The roads are drafting tape, only the principal
towns are represented, and then with 1/300ish buildings. No hedges, walls (or even hills) here...

Another game, but still France 1940. Here the town of Arras is modelling in "Megablitz scale"
The troops are 15mm. Note width of road, rail and river systems.

Same game further down the same table. Arras has three buildings - anything smaller than a town\city
is represented by a single building.

For more photographs of "Megablitz" scaled games and lots of enthusiastic commentary, check out these links:

(1). French Air Commander : Chris Kemp of the Not Quite Mechanised blog;

(2). French 53rd Divisional Commander : Bob Cordery of the Wargaming Miscellany blog

(3). French 18th Divisional Commander : the Dancing Cake Tin blog

(4). An overview of the whole (in 9 parts starting here) : Tim Gow of the Megablitzandmore blog

(5). A TMP discussion of the game and views on the "sparseness" of the terrain v the scale of the game.

Whatever one's views on "bathtub terrain", it should be noted that the Megablitz scale of 1/25,000 is significantly bigger than the intended "Hereford 1938" bathtub scale of 1/10,000, and both are dwarfed by the Command Decision "Barbarossa 25" bathtub scale of one inch (on the map or table) equalling 25 kilometres/16miles (on the ground) - or about 1/1,000,000! (there are 1,013,760 inches in 16 miles). This means:

(1). the photograph on the front of the Command Decision 25 "Operation Barbarossa" campaign booklet (above) can only be a "mock up" rather than a record of actual terrain used. The "town" represented looks to be about 12 to 18 inches across - or at least 192 real miles wide. Not even 1941 Moscow was that big!

(2). the "HerefordVBCW" ground scale of 1/10,000 will still mean that 1/300ish sized buildings will need to be used on the tabletop, but with the ground scale at around a third of the "Megablitz" scale of 1/25,000, the "sense of scale shock" should be somewhat reduced - and terrain appearance improved;

(3). the challenge will be the contrast between the 1/10,000 ground scale, the 1/300 buildings scale and the 1/55 figure and vehicle scale - not so much in relation to the representation of towns and villages (where wargamers are used to the representation of '1 model house = a village') but in relation to the representation of roads, railtracks, etc., particularly the width of a 'scale road' in comparison to the width of, say, a 'scale tank'....

(4). still, with so many elements of the game represented at different scales, the players should always be visually reminded that they are engaging not in a normal wargame, but in the fabled "Operational Art" !

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

As the Hereford VBCW campaign exists in a notional timeloop, where no matter the number of battles - nor the rise, fall or explosive evisceration of campaign personalities - it is always, but always 1938, the celebration of Christmas can only take place once - and that is not yet. Still, this has not prevented the various factions, keen as always on propaganda and the currying of favour, producing their varying Christmas cards in anticipation:

A restrained offering from the Anglicans, featuring the Cathedral and Coat of Arms
of the See of Hereford. Restrained possibly because the Dean and Chapter are
presently in exile in Ludlow and the Cathedral closed to public worship
(by order of the BUF)

The BUF's own offering (an actual card from 1937).
Rather gloomy and teutonic...portrait of 'the Leader' free inside!

Speaking of Leaders, Comrade Colonel Professor "Bill" Winters (of the Presteigne Communist Faction)
has his own jolly offering, inevitably featuring Stalin. Not being a Christian (although
seminary trained) Stalin clearly offered an alternative Christmas message...

Whatever the factions various efforts, with the recent blogposts on No.1 Squadron RAF and the Hawker Fury, we thought some aerial action mixed in with a dollop of winter sentimentality might prove to be this year's best Christmas offering:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!

SPRING BIG GAME 2023 - KEEP THE DATE !

Just a short pre-Christmas post, looking forward to the New Year - the Hereford VBCW Spring Big Game 2023 will take place at our usual venue and at our usual times :

Burley Gate Village Hall, Herefordshire

10.00am - 5.00pm

(doors open c. 9.30am)

on

Saturday, 25th February 2023

The full scenario is being busily worked on over Christmas and will be announced on the blog in the New Year.....

Communist Party Workers working on their most favourable 1938 scenario...
(or possibly doing election work in 1928)

while "the Leader" has called a "special 1938 scenario planning meeting"
(or possibly just a meeting in Hull, 1937)

and the Anglican ladies are busy 'stitching up the terrain" (literally)...

Modelling Challenge Note - don't forget that, if you were lucky enough to snag your free model tank at the Spring Big Game 2022, provided you've actually completed the 2022 Modelling Challenge ("Armoured Legends"), you can play the result as a free addition to your forces in the Spring 2023 Big Game ! Hurrah ! Check the Modelling Challenge 2022 label to the right for full background and details!

No.1 SQUADRON RAF (PART FOUR) - FROM FURY TO HURRICANE

No.1 Squadron RAF was one of the last of the RAF's squadrons to change over from the Hawker Fury biplane to the Hurricane Mk.1 monoplane, achieving re-equipment with the new fighters by the end of the first week of November 1938. Within only a year, No.1 Squadron would be at war. 

The end of the Fury, 1938.

Re-equipment took place within weeks of the Munich Crisis at the end of September 1938. The imminent prospect of war in September 1938 had nevertheless caused No.1 Squadron to camouflage its previously brightly coloured Furies:

A diecast Corgi model of a 'Munich Fury' in camouflage colours

The underside of the same diecast Corgi Fury showing the black/white underside arrangement

Airfix Magazine carried a number of articles on the peacetime Fury and the Munich Crisis Fury (probably best to download these and 'blow them up' for legibility):

Thus, the era of the "silver wings" came to an abrupt end (other than in the alternative timeline of the VBCW, of course), and so too the era of "Pulp Illustrations":

Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer, from 1934. Barnes appears to have
been an American competitor to Biggles - but here he is in a Fury.

Model Airplane News showcases the Hurricane, April 1936.
At this time, the Hurricane was still very much in development
and nowhere close to squadron service - possibly explaining the
unique colour scheme shown here!

A much more realistic scheme from a cigarette card - 1938.
Note interesting roundel patterns.

The cigarette cards of 1939 understandably emphasised the number of available Hurricanes

as did this July 1939 edition of "Popular Flying". Note roundels again.
Shame the hangars haven't been camouflaged - although such is probably 
just the illustrator.

The difference between the Fury and the Hurricane was immense. In amongst the blizzard of performance statistics (which do not seem to be that reliable or easy to compare) about the two machines, Paul Richey's comparison seems the most telling, i.e. the Fury was "one man, 695 horsepower and two slow-firing Vickers machine guns", while the Hurricane was "one man, 1030 horsepower and eight quick firing Browning machine guns".

WARGAMES DEVELOPMENTS - NUGGET - CHRISTMAS READING

Bob Cordery, he of the "Portable Wargame" rules and Wargaming Miscellany blog, is also one of the long term organisers of the "Conference of Wargamers" (aka "COW"), an interesting (and perhaps, some might say, occasionally eccentric) organisation originally set up by Paddy Griffiths back in 1980. Busy chap, Bob Cordery.

Anyway, the Conference of Wargamers have recently updated their Handbook, and if you're looking for some Christmas reading, all 64 pages of its wargaming goodness can now be downloaded for free at this LINK HERE:

Very interesting discussions of all types of games, from "Tactical Exercises without Troops" (TEWTs), Committee Games, Megagames, to "Matrix Games" - all the things that COW has learned (and played) over the years. Some of them might be applicable to Hereford 1938 (particularly Matrix Games - see also HERE).

And that's not all. COW publishes a journal known as "The Nugget", and has kindly made available (as a free download to non-members) Nuggets Nos. 193 - 336 - see HERE. Obviously and rightly, you have to join the Conference of Wargamers to read the latest Nuggets - but the vast amount of material which has already been made available, free, gratis and for nothing, is a feast of wargaming reading. Some (very random) short selections:

"Nick the Tsar is a splendid little nugget of a game, based on a White attempt to rescue the Imperial family from the dastardly Reds at Ekaterinburg, with the emphasis firmly on fun rather than learning any great insights into the Russian Civil War. Indeed, any game which ends with the injunction to the players from the Umpire : "Now go next door and laugh at the other Russian Civil War game for not having any goat rules" is surely doing something right (though I'm not quite sure what). One of the games attractions is the visual appeal of the 54mm figures and buildings to match. Another is that basic and simple game tools and mechanisms have been subsumed into the look and feel of the period...for example, movement is measured by 'sickle' (from one end of the handle to the other for 'walking', from the end of the handle to the tip of the blade for "running"). If your personal figure is shot, rather than boring old saving dice, you go to a 'revolver chamber' made of six 35mm film containers sprayed brass: in best Russian roulette tradition five have slips saying "Phew, that was close..." and only one has "Aaagh, they got me". No prizes for guessing which one I drew...." (David Bradbury, Nugget 216)

"The Warsaw Pact Political Consultative Committee 1981. A simple but accurate drinking game of the last days of the Brezhnev era. It will be an advantage not to have any skills in RPGs for this game, but those who have them are equally as welcome. No rules, but full briefing and pre-prepared speeches given for all comrades during the opening drinks. Fancy dress optional. (Russell King, Nugget 297)

"A Battle of Monsters. A lawn game loosely based on the Second Battle of Villers Brettoneaux (24th April 1918). Starting with a gas attack and going rapidly downhill from there, this game is absolutely not simply a lame excuse for the fielding of large numbers of 1/32 tanks..." (Tim Gow and Nick Husband, Nugget 319)

In amongst all the fun (usually with matchstick firing vintage diecast artillery pieces) there are lots of serious articles and thoughts on various types of wargaming systems. Very much recommended - and if these editions of "The Nugget" aren't quite your thing, well, you certainly got as much in value as you paid !

VBCW FARMERS (3) - LEADERS AND SPECIALISTS

After the happy discovery of EM-4's Confederate Infantry as a "cheep" way of producing a VBCW "Angry Farmers" Platoon, some suggestions (if you're not up for converting EM-4s figures with Perry ACW or Desert Rats sprues) for compatible Leaders and Specialist figures:

A venerable Britains/Herald plastic farmer figure from the 1960s.
30mm tall, originally sold with two types of milkmaid, quite often
on Ebay - but beware, precisely the same figure was also made in
40mm and 54mm! Excellent as a leader, or his shotgun can easily be
 removed and replaced with a cradled Lewis Gun or other LMG.

Crusader Miniatures 28mm Russian Partisan LMGs. Two of these
would work straight out the packet - the other two would need headswaps
- or banishment to a VBCW Soviet backed force.

Crusader 28mm Partisans Mortar. Only one headswap really needed, and then only
if you're fussy.

Steve Barber Miniatures 28mm ACW Confederate Grenade Throwers.
Great for AT Bomb teams.

Steve Barber Miniatures 28mm Confederates again - good for gun crews/logistics teams

Eureka Miniatures Australian Home Guard/Ex-Diggers Vickers MMG. No worries!

Eureka Miniatures Australian Home Guard/Ex-Diggers Molotov Cocktail teams.
Excellent for AT Bomb Teams!

WALLIS SIMPSON (BEFORE THE PUBLIC SCANDAL)

Academic historians still argue as to the importance of Mrs Wallis Simpson (as she then was) to the outbreak of the Very British Civil War. For some, she was the principal cause; to others, only a proximate cause. Most agree, however, that she was a causa sine qua non.

For a lengthy period, the British Press voluntarily censored itself about the relationship between Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. The American Press, however, was not so restrained:

An original US Press Photo of Mrs Simpson on 15th October 1936 (12.30 pm)
transmitted by wire 1st November 1936

    

The reverse of this photograph reads:

'WALLY' AT A COCKTAIL PARTY

LONDON...A NEW PHOTOGRAPH OF MRS ERNEST "WALLY" SIMPSON, FORMER BALTIMORE, MD, BEAUTY, WHOSE RISE FROM A BALTIMORE BOARDING HOUSE TO FRIENDSHIP WITH KING EDWARD VIII CAUSED A BUZZ OF GOSSIP THAT HAS BEEN INTENSIFIED BY MRS SIMPSON'S FILING OF SUIT FOR DIVORCE FROM HER WEALTHY BARRISTER HUSBAND. MRS SIMPSON WAS PHOTOGRAPHED HERE AS SHE ATTENDED AN AFTERNOON COCKTAIL PARTY."

Wallis Simpson obtained a decree nisi against Ernest Simpson on 27th October 1936. The British Press' self-censorship broke down on 3rd/4th December 1936, leaving Edward VIII to make his fateful decision during the night of 7th/8th December 1936. The timeline to the Very British Civil War had begun..

MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS, 1938 (2) - BIKANER STATE FORCES

In 1938, India was still the "jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire, a place of (usually) playboy Maharajahs and their (always) colourful "State Forces", as exemplified by this contemporary cigarette card:

Indian State Forces - Bikanir (or Bikaner)

The reverse of the cigarette card (No.29 of 50) states:

"The Bikanir State Forces number about 1,800, consisting of one battery of Artillery, two motor machine gun sections, two squadrons of Lancers, an Infantry Battalion, and the Ganga Risala, a Captain of which is shown in our picture in Full Dress. This famous Camel Corps rendered good service in the early days of the Great War in the fighting east of the Suez Canal. Bikanir is one of the largest of the Rajputana States, but much of it is desert, and its population numbers less than one million. The Maharajah of Bikanir holds the honorary rank of General in the British Army and is an extra aide de camp to the King. The Old Palace and Fort, Bikanir, are shown in the background."

Notes:

(1). More details on the Bikaner Camel Corps (the 'Ganga Risala") can be found HERE. 

(2). Biographical details of the splendid Ganga Singh, Maharajah of Bikaner, can be found HERE. Definitely not a playboy Maharajah...

(3). No details can be found on the other elements of the Bikaner State Forces of 1938 (whether the exciting sounding "motor machine gun sections" or the "two squadrons of Lancers") but this toy soldier source suggests that Bikaner artillerymen were uniformed in blue, and that the artillery battery was camel-drawn;

(4). As to suitable 28mm figures, Mark Hargreaves of the "OverOpenSights" blog has already "been there and done that" (back in December 2014!) producing some splendid Bikaner Camel Corps figures from "Perry Sudan Camel Corps figure(s) with a Woodbine head" for camel mounted troops and "a Woodbine WW1 Indian Army figure" for dismounted equivalents, in both cases "with greenstuff additions to the head dress". Woodbine is now marketed by Gripping Beast :

Mark Hargreave's wonderfully produced and painted Bikaner Camel Corps.
Full information and many more photos at the OverOpenSights blog - well worth a visit!

(5). The "Old Palace and Fort", Bikaner, still stands; no longer home to a Maharajah (Mrs Gandhi officially abolished such titles back in 1970) - but, in the modern way, an "exclusive luxury hotel":

The Old Palace and Fort, Bikaner

MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS, 1938 (1) - BRITISH GUIANA

In 1938, the critical year of the Very British Civil War, John Player & Sons (part of Imperial Tobacco) produced a series of cigarette cards depicting the "Uniforms of the British Empire Overseas". Here in the Hereford VBCW, we do like a nice cigarette card - in this case, contemporary evidence of some of the troops that returned from overseas to fight for "the King Emperor" (or, if you're a Yorkist, fight to replace him with a different "King Emperor"):

The British Guiana Militia

The reverse of the cigarette card (No.48 of 50) states:

"British Guiana, which was ceded to Great Britain in 1814, has an area of 89,480 square miles and a population of over 328,000. The British Guiana Militia was constituted in 1891 and consists of a machine gun company and infantry companies. The Force is equipped with modern arms and is trained on the lines of the Territorial Army. It is under the command of the Inspector-General of the Police and has a permanent military staff to supervise its training. Our picture shows a Company Sergeant Major of the Militia; the Town Hall, Georgetown, British Guiana, appears in the background."

Notes:

(1). it appears that - unbelievably enough - no 28mm manufacturer has produced figures for the British Guiana Militia, 1938. However, West Wind have produced four Colonial Police that could pass; and Empress Miniatures' "Jazz Age Imperialism" lines might be profitably plundered for special items such as machine guns. Gripping Beast do 28mm separate heads in Wolseley Helmets. Any other suggestions, leave a comment!

(2). British Guiana became independent in May 1966 and was renamed Guyana. The 2022 population of Guyana was c. 808,000. Shorn of all imperial pretensions, The Town Hall, Georgetown still stands:

No Militia today - replaced with Mondeos and Toyotas. Sic transit....