1930's Interbellum Byzantia

 

Above - the emergence of an Imagi-Nation - see text for forces used and why

Some years ago I sketched out Byzantium re-emerging, as a Mandate state after WW1 (see here for the back story). I started building a force for project this in 28mm using Greek Evzone models from Eureka miniatures (and Disney Atlantic tanks of course) but it never really went that far. (Interestingly these Evzones, used as Real Greeks, turned into one of my most played armies because the Evzones look much the same in Balkan Wars, WW1, Russian Civil War and WW2 - and so I have gamed with them across all these periods.)

But now....post Lockdown.one of my clubmates and his son have built 1930's Imagi-Nations in 15mm, so it is time to restart my own project, albeit in 15mm scale. The benefit I am finding is that its cheaper, armies are bigger, and less detail = less work = faster gaming.

In the 1920's there was little appetite for war and most armies had huge stocks of WW1 equipment to work through before there was any justification for bringing in new weaponry. But by the early 1930's the delayed technical advances were coming quickly, and drove a lot of debate and change (and also rate of change meant systems that were a few years old were almost obsolescent and constantly forced new thinking).

However despite the changes there were some standard trends, vehicle types etc that emerged in this period, and general principles in how they are to be used:

The Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Amoured cars - there were "Light" and "Heavy" cars, usually grouped together in Reconnaisance Units

- Light were mainly for scouting and typically caried a machine gun or (later)  a heavy machine gun or anti-tank rifle level main gun. One sub-type of light armoured car is the Scout car, which can also carry a few troops.

- Heavy tended to be better armoured ans carried heavier weapons

Tanks - in this era theer were quite a few tank types. As well as Light, Medium and Heavy tanaks there were also Infantry and Cavalry tanks.

- Light were "scouting" tanks and were typically lightly armed and armoured

- "Cavalry" or cruiser tanks - were fast light tanks, used to outmanouvre eemies and and pursue after the breakthrough, so they should have longer range and carry more fuel and so were bigger than most light tanks 

- Medium were the "battle" tank, they were to destroy any enemy formations. Oddly in the early days they often have general purpose medium calibre howitzers guns but over time they inceasingly have anti ank main guns.

- Heavy tanks are attached to the infantry and help with breaking through enemy formations. They start with carrying large (typically 75mm) howitzers. In WW2 they also start to sport larger anti tanks guns (often repurposed anti aircraft guns)

- "Infantry" tanks' role is to support infanry. Speed is not an issue, so these are typically slow. They are mobile pillboxes. As infantry anti tank capability increases the need for better armour becomes clear. 

One interestng feature of the 1930's is the multi turret tank. There is an idea that tanks (especially infanty tanks) are "landships" and must carry weapons in different turrets. The French Char 2c, British Independet Tank and Russian T-28 and T-35 are the most over the top examples 

Two other AFV systems emerged in this period - tankettes and tank destroyers.

- Tankettes were very popular in the early part of this period, they were seen as either tracked scouting vehicles or infantry supporting mobile MG nests (or both) - is smaller, faster (and cheaper) lower versions of an Infantry tank. They died out as they were typically too lightly armoured when infantry anti tank improved, but the Britsh "Bren carrier" became very succesful in WW2 as it also had a transport capability.(Many tankettes were re-used as trailer or artillery tows)

- Tank Destroyers were lightly armoured tanks, armoured cars and even trucks with larger anti tank guns.

Also, from WW1 days Anti Aircraft trucks were built, and in the 1930's anti aircraft AFVs emerge. built  These were mainly based on existing armoured car or tank hulls. The armoured ones could be used in combat.

 Transport

Trucks are increasingly being used to transport troops and supplies over this period, and some unts have dedicated truck transport. Various fully tracked vehicles are used as artillery tows. 

The Kegresse and "Halftrack" emerge in this period, and are quite popular for a while. The aim is to get tracked vehicle cross country performamce and wheeled vehicle ease/speed of travel. It turns out they also had the maintenance problems of tanks. Some halftracks are also used as armoured cars.

Horses are still fairly common in rear echelon transport and artillery tows.

The Infantry

WW1 saw a number of weapons appear (machine guns, mortars, rifle grenades, light machine guns, submacine guns) that had to be worked into infantry formations. Over time the increasing use of tanks forced the emergence of anti tank infantry weapons (initially large calibre rifles) and anti tank (higher muzzle velocity) guns. 

Structure wise, there was also debate about the traditional "Square" unit (4 platoons, companies etc) vs the triangular (3 platoons, companies etc). Cavalry was still a thing in this period, they had proven very useful in the Russian Civil War, and a horse was still a very effcetive way of moving men or materiel fast in this era. A major problem was how to structure units to integrate tanks (of all sorts), with infantry, cavalry, motor and horse transport. Many counries at this time had structures where the tank units were only integrated with infantry units at a high (typically divisional) level. Some countries just dumped them all in the same Division.

Those that fought in the Spanish Civil War start to understand that integration needs to happen at a lower level, and the Germans had the radical concept of infantry in hafltracks working with the tanks - but this was still not common in 1939

Special forces didn't really exist yet, Mountain Infantry, Marines and the new fangled Parachute troops are the main major specialist formations with their own (typically lighter) equipment. 

Bicycles are used to move infantry and don't require huge logistics effort (fuel/repair), reserve infantry battalions in foot formations were often bicycle troops so they could move fast to where they were needed. Downside is troops are tired after cycling long distances.

Cavalry arguably fight more like mounted infantry so is in effect a type of mobile infantry.

Recconnaisance troops were a specialism, they were usually kept at brigade and divisional level. Non armoured cars, lightly armoured Scout cars and motorcycles are often used by these troops and they are often combined with armoured cars and/or light tanks/tankettes.

Building a Force

We are using O Group battalion level rules for this project, so for my Battalion structure I went for the compromise "3+1" battalion - 3 Infantry Companies and a Heavy Weapons Company with mortar, machine gun and anti tank gun platoons. The rules also are designed for "Reinforced battalions" with a few vehicles etc. 

(Note also these levels of forces can easily step up a level to the Brigade level action using Fistful of ToWs rules for example)

There are 3 cases where a Reinforced Battalion occurs as far as I can see:

(i) "Recce in strength - Infantry company plus some of the Divisional Recce units

(ii) Armour and Infantry working together (oddly enough, in a lot of the 1930's TO&E structures armour and infantry were separated, the German integrated approach was relatively radical.)

(iii) "Reinforced" means having divisional infantry heavy weapons (artillery, anti-tank, machine guns etc added) 

So all that remains is to choose the equipment that you fancy modelling. Rule 1 is they have to have been available pre 1939. Rule 2 is the nation making them had to want to sell them. Rule 3 is they had to be weird /cool looking/weird/interesting:

Update - I have changed the equipment allocation from when I started the project, as I have bought more tanls :D The Russian gear initially cited is now used by Byzantium's hostile Balkan neighbour Borduria (see this post) - this is the New History;

Byzantium is assumed to have mainly bought what was available on the export market. By the late 1930's the major powers are using everything new they build for themselves. 

So I scoured the equipment of other similar smaller nations, and this list below is what Byzantium could arguably have obtained (apart from WW1 and 1920's kit) - whether bought, built (I assume they have some level of technical ability like say Hungary or Rumania) or otherwise attained:

Light Scout car -  The Citroen Kegresse halftrack line was around cince c 1934 and the US White M2A1 scout car came out in 1935 and either could arguably have been copied by a country that wanted something like it. The Czech OA vz. 30 6-wheel light armoured car found its way to a few countries.

Armoured car - The French tried to export the Citroen P-16 halftrack armoured car, and the Swedes exported the Landswerk L-180. A Byzantine own design - based on designs by the Hungarian designer Nicholas Straussner for Hungary (39m Csaba), or maybe designing something like South Africa's Marmon Herrington would be very possible. 

Tankettes ; Everyone bought or modified the British Carden Lloyd, and the Czech AH-1V and Italian L3/33 were exported.

Light tank - Swedish Landsverk L-60 tank (also modified into a Tank Destroyer), Czech LT 35 and Lt 38  (both used by Germans as Pz 35t and Pz 38t respectively) and Soviet T-26 were exported. The UK 6-ton tank was exported widely, Mk VI is a maybe (exported but only to Commonwealth).

Medium Tank - The"light medium" Hotchkiss H-35 or a "true medium" from Czech designs (e.g. Hungarian Turan )

Infantry Tank - Some countries obtained Renault R-35s. I assume Byzantium like many countries could buy WW1 Renault FT tanks that it could upgrade, these were still used as mobile infantry support into WW2.

Heavy Tank- No really heavy infantry tank was exported in this era. Arguably Byzantium could have modified WW1 tanks like the State of Hatay did, or maybe The Old Gang would have been amenable....

A few countries used tankettes or developed them (eg Renault UE Chenillette tractor-tankette) to pull battalion heavy weapons (AT guns etc).

Also some poweful anti tank guns were available to uparmour tanks or use as towed guns (or in tank destroyers) for example the French 25mm, Czech 37mm and 47mm guns were all exported.

Trabazond - New Byzantium's Enclave on the Eastern Black Sea

Old Trabazonde - pearl of the Eastern Black Sea

One of my gaming friends has started an Imagi-Nation somehere in Mesopotamia, and I thought it may in some way come into contact with the New Byzantine city of Trabazond, on the Turkish coast so it may be worth thinking about its forces as it is a "special case". 

The Turkish province of Trabazond was taken from them by Rssian in WW1 (This is true). To reward Russia for going all Bolshevik, and Turkey for being on the wrong side, it was given to Byzantium after WW1. The real reason was mainly to give the French and British navies a permanent base in the Eastern Black Sea. (This is Imagi-Nation)

The presence of these great powers kept it safe from acquitive hands in the Interwar years, but oddly being taken over by Germany when they overran Byzantium at the beginning of WW2, and then by the Soviets at the end, probably kept it "safe" for Byzantium during the war. It resumed its role as a Great Power naval base after WW2, with the US and USSR now also having access. It was to be returned to Byzantium in 1955, at the same time as German occuption stopped. This probably kept it out of acquisitive hands in that period as well, as Byzantium was in no state to defend it.

After the Suez Crisis in 1956 it was clear to Byzantium that the Great Powers were now the US and USSR and the latter were far closer to home, so it was time to cosy up to the Soviets a bit more. As part of this, a large part the naval facilities at Trabazond were offered to the Soviets for 20 years, the rest would remain "multi national". This probably kept Trabazond in Byzantine hands, and made it an "interesting" city in the peak Cold War years, (but that is the subject of a series of spy novels ;)   

At any rate, New Byantium managed to extricate the Soviets in the mid 1970's but then had the very real problem of keeping it from various acquisitive hands in the region. This mainly meant stopping attacks from over the mountains, along the shore, or from the sea.

Population was in the high hundreds of thousands, about half that of the European Themes, so the Thematic forces are about half that of the other Themes. Because of this (did I mention the acquisitive neighbours) there is always a part of the full time Tagmata stationed here, and it is a major Naval base and Air Force base.

Each Theme is supposed to have a full size full time Thematic Brigade and a divional size force of reservists. 

However, Trabazond hasn't that level of population, and a lot of hidden strong points in the mountains need are manning. so a lot of the military population is required for that.  

The area is essentially full of separate mountain valleys and passes, and each needs a fully capable force to defend it. So the resrvists of all stripes are organised in independent Demi-Brigades per valley area, and deach Demi Brigade has a force with most of the support functions elements of a Brigade.

Ditto, the standing Regulars may need to be split among a number of valleys so they too are organised into 3 self supporting Demi Brigades rather than a full Brigade. There is also a higher use of helicopters here to move forces quickly.

The structure of a Demi Brigade is essentially an allocation of Brigade level support assets into companies (eg of Armour, Artillery, AA, AT, Comms Recconnaisance etc) attached to a Battalion level of troops (and this Battalion may not have the standard 3+1 companies of infantry ). 

  

The Chauchat Redemption

For some time I have had a Problem...my Greek WW1/1920's Byzantia Evzones need Chauchat gunners, and no-one makes the figure. However, I then found out that Gripping Beast's New moon range does headless Chauchat gunners, so all that remained was to find Evzone heads (I had none spare to hack off existing troops).

Enter the Perry's American Civil War Zouave Officer  set, which I picked up second hand for my 1848 project. It has lots of heads, and it seemed one Zouave tasselled cap looked a lot like the Greek Pharaon cap - well, near enough - so, on they went (picture above). Bit of filing to talke away the puttees and presto - believable Evzone chauchat gunners.

Next are rifle grenadiers....

Interestingly, although the Chauchat had a poor reliability reputation in the mud of the Western front, it was found to be pretty useful in the dryer regions the Greeks operated in.

(The Perry officer set truly is the Gift That Keeps on Giving - it has provided officers, standard bearers and drummers for my balkan/turkic style 1848 army units (as well as the other "straight" bodies being converted to artillerymen with tassled caps - will put some up at Xmas when I finish them)

Army Sizing 1920

Following the analysis of Army Sizing in 1756, the next step is to define the size of the military in the 1920's. Firstly, the initial analysis is c 1810 when Ottoman Europe was about 8m strong. By 1910 the population was about 24m, a 3 - fold increase. World War one ensured little growth.

Thus New Byzantium, reconstituted as Byzantia in 1919, re-emerged with a 3 fold population increase, from 800,000 to 2.4m. Using the 1% rule, we can calculate that a peacetime military of c 24,000 is affordable, and with Militias, trainees etc it can rapidly mobilise to c 48,000. Assuming again a c 1/3rd tail (Typical World War One level), that is a 16,000 person effective standing military. About 1/3rd are in the Navy and Air Arm, leaving c 11,000 in the Army. This gives (at about 600 men per Battalion) about 18 Battalion sized formations, roughly doubling at the time of callup.

As with the Napoleonic wars. the Great Powers bled themselves white in World War One, running between c 15% and 20% of all the population called up - so double that for % of males - (Russia was less, at c 7.5%, but that is partly a function of the society structure and partly exiting early). At full stretch, Greece as a late entrant in World War One had 230,000 men in arms with a population of  c 4.8m (ie c 5% of the population). The other Balkan states, fighting more intensively, averaged c 13% (Bulgaria at 20% was at major state levels)

(Warning - stats differ wildly per source so these are orders-of-magnitude views)

Assuming the same difference between large and small states in troop raising capabilty,  I set the 1% limit as a peacetime standing army, the 2% limit as with reserves called up, 5% as a state at war with a draft, and 10% as a small state at near total war. That means that in a major conflict Byzantia can mobilise about 120,000 men and at full stretch will be at c 240,000 (10 %)  Once you get to Bulgarian levels of 20% (480,000) the state is ruined whether they win or lose.


Most of New Byzantium fought in the Turkish army in World War One, but in the aftermath of the war the Byzantia view was that the defeated Germans and Turks were not the best example, and so they re-modelled themselves on the French army they served alongside in the Russian Civil War (most commentators there confused Byzantia with Greek troops, probbaly because they were both French equiped and used the Greek alphabet)

The big lessons from that conflict was the usefulness of fast moving Armoured Car and Cavalry, and easy to move medium artillery, and that has influenced Byantia's thinking. Tanks were felt to be less useful so they equip just one Guard unit.(Tanks also were less reliable and needed a larger support structure than armoured cars, about 20 men per tank as opposed to 10 per car)

Byzantia managed to wheedle a War Gift from the French and British, ostensibly to help fight in the Russian Civil War, so loaded up on decommissioned armoured cars, tanks, guns (and planes) from the two great powers over the 1919 - 1922 period.

The current structure of the army is:

Guards Brigade - these are a Battalion each of Tanks (Scholae Klibanaroi), Armoured Cars (Trapezitae), two Line Infantry (Varangians, Les Biscotins) and one Light Infantry (Gianitzaroi) - making five of the 18 peacetime Battalions, leaving 13 for the regular Army.

The rest of the battalions are re-constituted as per the regimental organisation of 1756, but re-equipped:

- an Armoured Car Regiment (Battalion sized) - the Latinikon (many are demobbed White Russian, French and British soldiers familar with the cars)
- A "Heavy" cavalry regiment - the Sipahoi - though some are not quite clear on the use of heavy cavalry going forward and there is talk of conversion to armoured cars. Others of course feel a Gentleman should always and only be on a saddle.
- Two Cavalry Regiments - the Skythikon and Turcopoloi
- Six Infantry Regiments of 1 (standing) Battalion
- Two Light Infantry (Evzone) Battalions who can operate in mountains and the deep woods
- An Artillery Regiment, supplying all the heavier Artillery (as per Byzantine tradition, mortars and light mountain guns are attached to infantry and cavalry Battalions)
 
How to organise them is the great debate in the mid 1920s - concentrate the cavalry and armour to break through at a point, or disperse it to stiffen the infantry?

A Race for Cars

In this scenario, played as a Russian Civil War game , the Bad Guys (Bolsheviks) had a convoy travelling along a sunken road in a wood that was shelled by our Good Guys (White Russian and French) side. The Bad Guys deserted their vehicles and run for cover, and we have sent a platoon to retrieve the trucks for ourselves. Only problem is, the Bad Guy platoon has collected its wits and is also returning.

Mud & Blood rules, the opposing forces had equal numbers and organisation - each a platoon of 4 squads of 9 men and an HQ section of 9 men commanded by a Lieutenant (Level IV Big Man), assisted by a Sergeant (Level III) and each squad had a Lance Corporal equivalent (Level I).

Abandoned convoy in a wood - each side enters from opposite table corners, armoured car in centre

The French approach approach was to send 4 squads to the right side (closer) side of the column - 2 units of very poor White Russian line infantry stiffened by one of French poilu and one of crack Foreign Legion and a diversionary force (the newly painted Turcos) to our left. The Bad Guys sent 3 sections to their right (our right), and 2 to their left, hoping to grab the whole convoy.

In essence, the 3 Section unit of Bad Guys drew really great cards, and moved forward rapidly with their Lieutenant. The one section of Turcos were thus rapidly mown down and retired with over 50% losses. This allowed the Bad Guys to commandeer 2 vehicles

.
On our side, the Big Force moved more slowly, and a firefight with the 2 delaying sections of the Bad Guys took time but they were eventually sorted out by a Legion bayonet charge on the cars they were sheltering behind.

A bayonet charge by the Foreign Legion (White hatted Good Guys) sends the Bad Guys packing

There was then a tussle for the Putilov arnoured car in the centre - the Bad Guys had got to it and started driving it away, but lost a lot of their men in the process (including their Lieutenant). I shouldaddd at this time that both sides artillery were making random shots still as no one had told them that a rescue/snaffle sortie was happening.

The game ended with the Good Guys pursuing the rapidly fleeing remnants of the Bad Guys through the forest, taking potshots as they ran, and trying to puncture the tyres of the escaping Putilov. A stray bullet did cause a breakdown but the crew were able to get out and fix it despite pinging bullets and drove off.

Result - Bad Guys got 2 trucks and their armoured car away, heroic Good Guy French captured 2 trucks and caused 70% losses to their platoon with only 30% losses to us and were in command of the field. The points system we were using judged it a narrow 52 to 48 for us Good Guys (Hurrah). I think our concentration strategy was probably superior, as (i) the concentartion of 4 squads firepower took a huge toll on the Bad Guys and (ii) if the Bad Guys hadn't had that great rush of initiative earlier they would would have been delayed a bit longer by the Turcos and struggled to get the armoured car.

Mud and Blood yielded an enjoyable game from a simple scenario (we had played the same awhile ago with another set of rules, but it wasnt as much fun - the M&B random card system really adds interest). Owing to the more unpredictable nature its important to get your grand strategy right.

Imaginary Enemies

With the 1920's Byzantia army now nearly fully built, and the 1756 army in full rebase mode, plus the summer campaigning season approaching, it is time to expand the horizons to the neighbouring states and see who is surrounding the Pocket Empire Holy Kingdom of New Byzantium.

And here we come to the first problem - shall they be Imaginary or Real, and if Imagined, how so - from my own (hopefully) fertile imagination, from others' - Tintin's Syldavia and Borduria, Hope's Ruritania, Christie's Herzoslovakia - or (and this seems most attractive) from some of the other members of the August community of Imagi-Nation creators. All have advantages and disadvantages:

- Real nations have the advantage of being known, in all sorts of ways, and any opposing force so built can play other opponents without them asking embarassing questions about why you have American Civil War Zouaves painted up like that

- One's own imagination can furnish more opponents than one can shake a stick at, but the worry is that they are all a bit same-ey.

- Literary Imagi-nations are a good bet, as you can glean something of them from the books/films/comics/whatever, but you risk the "how come your Bordurian Mountain Regiment  look like Greek Evzones, when everyone knows they should look more like American Civial War zouaves" issue* :-)

Besides, sources of Bordurian history in 1756 are sadly sparse.

- Other people's Imagi-Nations are very tempting, as there is a backstory and (in theory) two heads are better than one in creating campaigns etc, even though the endgame is to lop one head off. (Owing to poor translation, New Byzantium takes Kipling's advice rather literally, and have worked out the best way to cut to the chase is to ensure that all around you do actually lose their heads...). The problem with playing with Other People is thay can be so ill mannered as to win the battles, so this option shall have to be watched with great care.

Sadly, the current knowledge of the surrounding area is sketchy (literally - all there are are sketches). West and Northwest lies Habsburg land and other small states, to our East lies the Sublime Porte, to the Northeast lie unknown lands and mountains and eventually the Black Sea, to the South is the sea and (further on) Greece, still (in 1756) under the Ottoman boot.

In fact it is a bit embarrassing, as the physical geography of the region is fairly unclear still (never mind the political lie of the land), and while it sounds very romantic to say that Byzantion is six days hard ride from Strelsau, it is not helpful in planning the movement of the entire 1st Corps. (In fact, even the Gianitzaroi got lost on their way to Trnova, as "over yonder hill" is not entirely helpful, so Don Dharko got away - for now!).

This spring, His Excellency will despatch a second mapping team, this time with a guard detachment, as the last one disappeared somewhere in the Trans-Syldavian mountains**

So if anyone is on our borders, declare yourself now and let diplomacy (by all other means) commence! Besides, it saves money on the mapping project.....

* Well, it wasn't a problem till I just started it :-D

** The only survivor of the first Geographical Survey had an attack of the humours and keeps on screaming about "where - wolves" or baying at the full moon, poor fellow.

Odessa Files - Part VI - Defence of Malodrevnya

A small action using Price of Glory rules, with converted lists and some amendments to the "To Hit" and To Save" rules which we felt was too bloody when we first tried them out.

The Bolsheviks are advancing on Odessa, and a platoon size group of (2 squads of) Greek Evzones and 1 squad of French troops, plus 2 machine Guns are thrown together to defend the hamlet of Malodrevnya,. Scale 1:1 (below):

Defending Malodrevnya - troops occupy all the houses, Foreign Legion right bottom behind wall

It wasn't clear where the Bolsheviks would attack from so the troops occupied all the houses, except the Foreign Legion detachment who occupied some ruined walls on the most likely direction of attack (bottom right of picture).

The Bolshevik attack, when it came, came across the whole of the right and top of the table - as seen from the other side of the table, below - two big platoons plus some other troops and outnumbering the Allies c 3:1, but the Greek and French troops were higher grade

Here come the Bolshies!

The heaviest action were on the two left  hand buildings, the Foreign Legion (top) were shot down very fast (too close to enemy coming on table) but two Chauchat teams in the house held the Russians off for quite a while, until finally being overwhelmed and the remnants retiring, but the shaken Russians stayed behind the cover of the wall even then. Where is a Comissar when you need one?.

The main action was on the bottom left house, where 2 machine guns and a sniper took a big toll of Russian troops, an fought off two attempts to take the building by charge before finally succumbing to huge Russian firepower concentration and another mass charge. Lieutenant Metaxa was the last to die in the house, bravely defending it to his last gasp.

What's left of the Russian assault on the house (still a lot of them) finally breaks in

At this point, with c 1/3rd of the troops remaining, the Greeks chose to retire. They had taken nearly double their number of Bolsheviks with them but there were still hordes of bolshie Bolshies on table.

Rules wise the game was a bit less "bang - all fall down" with our mods, but I still prefer Mud & Blood for small actions, the "Initiate" workflow here I found more cumbersome than M&B's card system.  My honourable opponent, on the other hand, really likes the initiation system so it's clear its an individual taste thing (but then, he is a Bolshie beggar after all....)

Relevant Imagi-nation Content:

This is a dry run of my Byzantia Imagi-Nation army - decent line infantry and a few elites vs the continually border-bashing Bolshie hordes of neighbouring Bolshovia.

Byzantia - I love it when a plan comes together

Byzantia's elite Varangian Guard assault a farmhouse strongpoint

A bit of background - I have a Greek World War One/1920's army, which I got mainly because:

(i) I have had a plan for doing Back of Beyond post-WW1 Imagi-nation gaming for some years.

(ii) I also have a thing going (you may have noticed) for Byzantium, so the Balkans were my chosen turf.


(iii) About 5 years ago I was offered c 100 Eureka specially made c 1900 Evzones at a good price (Evzones are the Greek elite light infantry - the guys who now stand guard and ponce about in skirts, tassels and pompoms but who have a war record the Foreign Legion would be proud of.). Ideal for the rank and file of a Balkan Imagi-nation, as the Evzone uniform - being quite different - stands up fairly well into the 1920's and makes them ideal Imagi-Nation material.

Byzantia Infantry in action in Trans-Syldavia

(iv) Last year some guys at my club decided to get into WW1, but we decided to do Eastern / Salonika Front as (a) it seemed less written about, more mobile and thus more interesting and (ii) one of the guys wanted to build Russians anyway. I immediately bid my Greeks for the project, and we were off

After building the WW1 armies, we kinda fell into the Russian Civil War to allow my friend's Russians to fight my Greeks (see the Odessa Files posts here) as they are on the same side in WW1.

Anyway, the Russian Civil War (for those who are not familiar with it) is full of the most weird and wonderful troops, contraptions and personalities and I have managed to build my Imagi-Nation up while also building up a (reasonably) believable Greek/Allied army for WW1 and the Russian Civil War. The combination of Greek, French and White Russian troops has allowed ample scope for my Imagi-Nation of Byzantia, so I thought I'd reel it off so you could see how the plan (all accidentally, I swear) came together:

- The Varangian Guard - traditionally wore blue and were heavily armoured - however, someone gave me some poilu, and these are now French Trench Stormers in Varangian Horizon blue

- The Gianitzaroi - my guard Turkish regiment - they are actually Turks, but double as Turcos in my French army - there are minor differences to Turcos, but first you have to know what a 1918-20 Turco without his  overcoat on looks looks like to pull me up :-)

- My own Fluff has a western mercenary unit - les Biscotins (aka Byzantine Boukellari, or Biscuit Eaters) and they double as the Foreign Legion.

Les Biscotins prepare to defend a Byzantia border village, Varangian Guard can be seen in the house behind.




- as to the 1920's Byzantine cavalry, between the French, Greek, Cossack and White Russian volunteer/mercenary cavalry there is every permutation and combination you could dream of!

- the Latinikon drive tanks (Brrrrm Brrrm) and the Tagmatic heavies are in (still got to build them) Ford Model T Armoured Cars

So - Result. I now have a WW1, RCW and Byzantia army in one build. Pictures to follow, Varangian Guard up top.

.....just wait till you see the specially designed Renault-Danglis tank......

The Odessa Files Part V - Action at Srednogorod

One of the small skirmishes in the Bolshevik advance on Odessa. The small town of Srednogorod was the scene of an encounter battle between Bolsheviks and Graeco-French allies, trying out Contemptible Little Armies (CLA) rules. The objective was simple - take the town!

CLA only defines "units" of 8 - 18 figures so we went for 1:1 scale, both sides c1,000 points (c 100 figure armies - about 2 platoons plus support weapons)

The Bolsheviks fielded 2 platoons of 4 squads of 10, one being elite, and also had a unit of Cossacks, 3 Machine Guns, 3 Field Guns....and a Putilov Armoured Car. 

The Greeks fielded 2 platoons, each of 4 squads of 9 men, including a Chauchat per squad, 2 Machine Guns, a Mortar and a Schneider-Danglis 75mm mountain gun'. You can only field 2 units of Evzones in an army in CLA, so all the Evzones were played as ordinary troops

The Greeks also has French support for the first time, a unit of Poilu in Bleu, and a unit of the Legion d'Etrangere (Elite) (It's interesting, once people in the club knew we were doing eastern World War One Salonika Front / Russian Civil War / Back of Balkan Beyond Imagii- Nations they started donating various figures here and there, so I now have enough for a squad/platoon/company of Poilu in bleu, similar Foreign Legion, a Machine Gun, and enough other various bit and pieces to move the Byzantia Imagi-Nation along quite nicely - of which more, later)

To be honest though , the Russian Civil War is so "back of beyond" it has been quite fascinating in its own right. We fell into it just to allow Greeks to play Russians to test various WW1 rulesets (our German opponent not being around), but it has proven a fairly fascinating gaming environment owing to the variety of nations and troops involved, the open nature of the games, the penny packet armour used)

 

(Greeks on the left, Bolsheviks on the right, armoured car at the bottom)

The two armies raced for the town, the Cossack cavalry and the armoured car tried to attack down one flank so they could get into the Greek rear. (Above). The first action occurred as two units of Greeks saw the Cossacks heave into view and let fly with Chauchat and rifle fire, toppling some of the Cossacks. The 75mm gun also fired at the Cossacks, to some effect but when one of the Greek machine guns and the mortar opened up, they had had enough and fled. Sadly for the Greeks, the Putilov car then rolled up and its murderous fire swept the Greeks - those who didn't fall ran (caught in open by enemy armour), and the Greek flank was about to collapse with 2 squads gone and two more Russsian units moving up on foot behind the Car.

It was at this point the Mountain Gun saved the day, the Greeks stopped their knees knocking and fired over open sites - and scored a direct hit on the Armoured Car, destroying it!. This cheered up the Greeks no end, and caused the Bolshevik foot to rethink their option against a flank still covered by a machine gun and Mountain Gun.

Over open sights, the Greek mountain gun prepares to try and stop ther Charge of the Putilov Car!

On the other flank the Bolshevik artillery made things very hot for the Greeks until they could shelter in some thick woods and a small hamlet nearby, where they stayed, slowly being whittled away by Russian assaults while desperately trying to drag a machine gun and mortar over to help (heavy weapons move slowly and can only shoot in line of sight)


While this was occurring, French Poilu and Bolsheviks troops clashed in the village, and desperate close range shooting and hand to hand fighting started. The Russians committed the Bolshevik Elite commanded by a Komissar, the French Foreign Legion also joined in the fray. The Bolshies slowly won via pure numbers (although a lot cheaper, they fight better in hand to hand than Greeks or French troops as they count as Ferocious - only the Legion could match them.)

 The game ended with the Greeks retiring to lick their wounds , the French wiped out in their debut game.

CLA Is the 5th ruleset we have used for Eastern Front WW1/RCW, it is the simplest - very "beer and pretzels" so we got the game finished quickly. It has the most comprehensive army lists of all the sets (The Salonika Front and armies in the East like Greeks are ignored by all the others, which is odd as the more open nature of the warfare makes for much more excting games in our opinion). However, we felt the rules were a bit too simple for our needs, and (unless we were reading it wrong) having 5 point "Ferocious" poorly trained (but clearly very motivated)  Bolsheviks troops beating 10 point French Poilu and being the equal of Legionaires in H2H was a bit rich.

Odessa Files Part IV - Assault at Czerizy

Scenario

The day before, a battalion of Bolsheviks threw the White Russians out of the town of Czerizy, north of Odessa but on the Allied side of the River Bog (the map above is French, hence the spellings) and thus now occupy a key bridge over the river, and reconnaisance shows that more Bolshevik forces are moving towards it to cross (see Part I for the overall tactical situation). The Greek 5/42nd Evzones are ordered to re-take Czerizy, and control the bridge. They are reinforced with a company of White Russian cavalry, and 2 French tank squadrons are also moving up to support and will reach the battlefield later in the day. Dawn breaks with a battalion of Bolsheviks trying to dig-in in the town while the rest of the 3rd Red Rifle Regiment plus an Artillery company is moving up to cross the bridge and are strung out on road through Czipili . Dawn also sees the Greeks marching rapidly along all the roads to the right of the map - a battalion on each of the two right hand roads and the bottom one, (three battalions in all), and the White Russian cavalry entering from the bottom. What the Greeks do not know is 2 Red Armoured Car squadrons have rushed to the village overnight. (The map is from TooFatLardies WW1 scenario book, the scenario design is our own.)


Forces:


Bolsheviks - 3rd Red Rifle Regiment:

Regiment HQ + Commissar
- Artillery 3 x Batteries of 75mm inf guns

3 Battalions of infantry each:
- Bat'n HQ
- 3 Infantry Companies
- MMG Platoon

2 Troops of Armoured Cars (1 of Putilov, 1 of Rolls Royces)


Allies - Greek 5/42nd Evzone Regiment.

Regimental HQ plus attached forces
- Cavalry Scout Platoons
- Mortar Platoon
- Attached 75mm Mountain Gun battery

3 Battalions, each of:
- Bat'n HQ
- 3 Infantry Companies
- MMG Platoon

Plus:

- French support - 2 x attached light tank Troops

- White Russian cavalry company


The Battle...

....opens at near dawn with the Greeks  marching along the roads, screened by Greek (top of map) and White Russian (Centre and bottom) cavalry scouts.

As the Greek forces get to the road junction in the mddle of the table, they are shocked to see 2 companies of Red armoured cars charging out from the village. The machine-gun fire shakes the White Russian cavalry, who flee, as do the advance companies of the central Greek battalion. TheGreek left hand battalion (bottom of table) is made of sterner stuff and assaults the one company of armoured cars with grenades, knocking them out. The other squadron then retires to the village post haste, especially as clanking up the road from the bottom it sees 2 squadrons of French light tanks which have started to take pot shots at them..

 

Shaky camera footage as Greek Evzones race past a burning Bolshevik Putilov armoured car

At this point the Red commander has a hard decision to make - the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Regiment has just started crossing the bridge, an essential reinforcement as the Bolshevik troops are outnumbered over 2:1 as the crack Evzones approach, so more uinfantry is urgently required - but the Greeks also have tanks! So the Bolsheviks push their own infantry off the road (some are even driven over or have to dive off the bridge) as they drive the Artillery Company over into the town.

Bolshevik guns move across the Bridge, a race against time and tanks..... 

Bolshevik guns deploy in the nick of time, but block the bridge to others......

The Reds deploy the guns in the nick of time, and destroy the first tank squadron at close range as it tries to enter the town on the main road, but prioritising the guns means that the lack of Red infantry in the houses now starts to tell, the Greeks coming in fast with less losses than one would expect,  and at the top of the map one of the Evzone battalions enters the town, wiping out the Bolsheviks in the houses above the main road in fierce fighting. The Bolshevik CO, the Commissar and the HQ platoon then rush into the buildings throwing grenades at the Greeks, and their brave but suicidal delaying action (For the Motherland!) is just long enough to gain time for elements of the 2nd Russian Battalion to cross the bridge and start to fight for the buildings - otherwise the Evzones would have got perfect firing positions over the bridge and also swept down through the town behind the Red defenders.

Greek Evzones storm the top o' the town, the Bolshevik CO and his platoon prepare to sell themselves dearly

In the centre and bottom of the town, the Evzones are assaulting across the board, now taking heavier casualties but also starting to cause casualties on the Russian defenders as the Greek mountain gun battery, machine guns and mortar platoon have set up and are shooting and shelling the Bolsheviks in the buildings.  The White Russian cavalry, having recovered their nerves, try to come around in a wide circle into the bottom of the town, but meet Russian trroops dug in, and take fearful casualties in close fighting in the orchards there.

And then, night starts to fall and utimately the Reds have kept the Greeks from taking the town, thay have blocked the streets with their guns, artillery tractors and bodies so the Evzones and tanks can't get in and get to the bridge, and this allows the third Russian battalion to start coming over the bridge, so the Greeks (feeling their losses now) and French retire. Tomorrow is another day....

Analysis:

We used Rapid Fire rules to play a Regimental level game, albeit with 28mm figures. They very worked well - the lack of lots of armour, its relative fragility vs WW2 armour (even Machine Guns at close range can KO a light tank or armoured car) balanced by teh dearth of anti-tank weaponry. The race between early Greek numerical superiority vs Bolshevik problems with reinforcing over a narrow bridge bottleneck made for a very exciting game, with the advantage swinging both ways. 

The Greek approach was simple - get there firstest with the mostest before the Reds could reinforce their position, and to put as much weight of fire on them across the board- a classic use of Evzone assault troops. The downside of this was inability to deply heavy weaepons ear;y, so the tanks were used to spearhead the attack.


The Russians eventually won by agressive (and suicidal) delaying tactics , to slow the Greek advance down (especially the "charge of the light armoured car brigade" early in the battle - in Rapid Fire, troops attacked by AFV and unsupported by their own AFVs are very likely to retire - and the Allies did!) . The Reds then very nearly lost it after the tanks arrived, but managed to KO the first French squadron at close range as it approached the town by rushing their guns over the bridge (Comrade Napoleonski to the rescue!). But by doing that, they nearly lost it as the lack of infantry allowed the Greeks to clear the top half of the town, and only the suicide attack of the CO and Commissar platoon bought enough time for reinforcements to rush over the bridge and slow the Greeks down with house to house fighting, and more importantly allow the rest of the Red third battalions to cross the bridge. At this point the Greeks losses, now at about 33% overall, started to tell against them as fresh Bolshevik units started to move into the fighting.

The Greek field hospital is kept very busy...Rapid Fire rewards use of medics in the rules

Byzantia's 1920's/1930's military doctrine debates

Byzantia was created by the vicorious powers at Versailles in 1918, as a Mandate from lands of the defeated powers - Bulgaria and Turkey - and a bit of Greece to remind them of their recalcitrance in the hard years of WW1. Luckily for them their closest enemies were either wrecked (Bulgaria). busy wrecking themselves (Russia) or wrecking each other (Greece and Turkey)

In the late 1920's, the falout of WW1 is starting to settle down, which means these voracious neigbours are looking outwards again, so Byzantia is feeling the heat and knows it needs to sort out its defences. 

Byzantia's General Staff  is of course reading all the latest military theories and doctrines, while observing what people actually do as well:

Firstly, Air Power:

The French air force was the world's largest and most powerful when World War I ended in 1918. Although not a separate service, it nonetheless enjoyed a certain prestige for its excellent performance during the war. Things soon deteriorated, however. Demobilization de·mo·bil·ize
tr.v. de·mo·bil·ized, de·mo·bil·iz·ing, de·mo·bil·iz·es
1. To discharge from military service or use.

2. To disband (troops).
..... Click the link for more information. hit the air arm particularly hard, partly because the army officers in charge gave preference in funding to ground forces and equipment. In addition, French politicians reflected the mood of the people, who were increasingly fearful of and pessimistic about a German resurgence. Defense policy, readily supported by the army, increasingly focused on a defensive stance in the east. The Maginot Line would stand as an impregnable and concrete trench when the Germans returned. Air theory, which in France stressed the offensive and revolutionary nature of strategic air attack (as it did in Britain, the United States, and Italy), was distinctly unwelcome in such a passive environment.

In both Britain and the United States, budget cuts took a severe toll on the air arms. In Britain, for example, the Royal Air Force (RAF) received on average a mere 15 percent of the defense budget, and in the United States, the Air Corps had an even smaller share. Similarly, the RAF found itself constantly under attack from the army and navy which sought to disestablish the RAF as a separate service and take back the airplanes they had lost in 1918. In the United States, of course, the Army firmly controlled its Air Corps and quashed ail talk of a separate service.

As you can imagine, the Generals really like this - the Air Marshall is somehat annoyed, and instead quotes Billy Mitchell, dreaming of fleets of bombers that can fly higher and faster han any fighter and project power from on high. So much so that he is arguing for Byzantia to set up shop and manufacture the flown then dropped U S "Barling Bomber" (above picture)

Secondly, the Land War:

The victorious armies were saddled with huge stockpiles of 1918-model equipment and ammunition and had to use up these stockpiles at peacetime rates before major new expenditures could be justified, so real change is very slow (and Byzantia can get its hands on this "modern" equipment easily and cheaply - as can their foes, sadly).

JFC Fuller is oft quoted, with his ideas to defeat the enemy by a "pistol shot to the brain" of enemy headquarters and communications, instead of by destroying the combat elements through systematic attrition. But to do that needs a fast twenty miles per hour tank (which cheap WW1 surpus is not) to exploit the rupture of defences caused by slower tanks, and men in trucks to keep up with them. But Fuller is ignoring the role of infantry in the mechanized team, argue ther opponents. Men in trucks is all very well, but that can't safely get them fighting in close coordination with armor.

France is choosing to construct a sophisticated version of the defenses that had apparently worked so well at Verdun, they will call it the Maginot Line.  The French doctrine seems to be viewing combined arms as a process by which all other weapons systems assist the infantry in its forward progress. Tanks are considered to be "a sort of armored infantry," subordinated to the infantry^. The French cavalry are experimenting extensively with armored cars and motorcycles, and even half-tracks. These half-tracks sometimes formed combat teams with armored cars and towed artillery! There is much excitement over an embryo Light Armoured Division, with lots of Armoured Cars.

Very interesting for a small country that can afford some armoured cars and maybe new tanks - but large underground fortifications and fleets of bombers are a tougher ask, esecially in the anti-war environment of the 1920's/early 1930's

Some are even arguing that the German approach, concentrating all their resources on a relatively narrow front for breakthrough. This concentration of forces requires the careful integration of all weapons and arms at battalion level or below to overcome the enemy's defenses. The infiltration tactics of 1917-18 reflected this viewpoint and were retained after the armistice,the 1921 German Regulation on Command and Combat of the Combined Arms included not only the infantry assault battalion and the carefully planned artillery and preparations of 1918, but also close air support, gas warfare, and tanks in an Infantry-support role. But the Germans lost the war, so what could they know?

Some of Byzantia's officers (quite a few ex White Russians and Greeks) fought in the Russian Civil War. Because of the vast distances and understrength armies involved In the Civil War, penetration and encirclement were no longer difficult, and fluid maneuver was the rule. Cavalry rules! shout the horsey types. However, Russia was far more open than the hilly Balkans, so others are arguing for using the terrain as much as possible, and training specialist troops to use it well and "be like Ghosts".

There is also a trend in all armies to move from the "square" 4 platoon and 4 company structure to the "Triangular" 3-platoon - 3 company structure. Take the Americans for example, Pershing is banging on about moving the machine gun and other specialized heavy weapons into the infantry rifle organization at every level. To avoid an excessive span of control, each commander has a headquarters, three subordinate rifle units, plus a weapons unit--three rifle platoons and a heavy weapon platoon in each company, with three such companies plus a heavy weapons company in each battalion.

And then there is the question of how to pop enemy armour - Heavy Machine guns can nail armoured cars and light tanks, but you need something at a lower level, as combat experience showed. Last but not least is what to do with the Chauchat - Byzantia was equipped with them by the French and they arre still the primary squad Automatic Rifle, and it works far better in the hills of the Balkans thean the gritty trenches of France - but maybe get a weapon with more firepower - or just have more Chauchat teams?

So, a ferment of change.....

Hat tips here and here

An even Newer Byzantium

It did occur to me that Imagi-Nation readers may be interested in 1920's and 30's Newer Byzantium, set in the 1920's/30's as a way of playing Balkan Back of Beyond type games - basically WW1 with all that wonderfully weird 'tween the wars kit, and lots of political intrigue.

It springboards off my Greek WW1 army. (I was offered c 80 Eureka Greek Evzones of the 1908 - 1918 period few years back and just had to buy them). Evzones are the men in skirts (called the fustinella), tassled hats and pompoms on their shoes who now function as the Greek guards - but a cursory glance at their history will tell you they were top class troops. The Greeks were present in various Balkan wars, WW1 (see here for my army) as well as fighting in  the Russian Civil War (that's the picture above) and vs Turkey, so are quite active anyway, but I wanted to mix battles, intrigue and the small political struggles that characterised the 1920's and 30's, so I always had in the back of my mind that they would be the foot soldiers of a 1920's Balkan nation..

The backstory is that New Byzantium comes into being after World War One, and is created independently because none of the major powers can agree who to give this (fairly vaguely defined)  bit of the Balkans to, and thus they make it independent again. (New Byzantium was re-absorbed by the Ottoman Empire after the Napoleonic Wars, and despite agitating did not achive independence in the Balkan Wars period.

As with my 18th century outfit, I have reached back to Olde Byzantium for the regiments. The Guard now comprises of:

- The Varangian Guard (Armoured Stormtroopers), many ex White Russians now serve in it.
- The Gianitzaroi (Elite assault troops of Turkic origin who for various reasons dn't want to be in Turkey)
- The Scholae (heavy tanks)
- Trapezitae (top class lancers but also trained to operate as crack rifle armed cavalry)

Latinikon - not Guard, but certainly elite - the New Byzantines were impressed with the French Foreign Legion idea, and have thus recruited de-mobbed soldiers from Western Europe to an outfit based on the same lines.But, being Byzabtine no-one is a Real man if not mounted, so they function as Dragoons/mounted infantry

WW1 finally having convinced the powers that be that the heavy cavalry days are over, New Byzantium has resurrected the idea of provincial territorial heavy cavalry but put them in armoured cars (the local nobles being very keen on motoring, this went down well). The Skythikon and Turkopoloi remain as cavalry units but operate as any other cavalry of this period.

As always, the Vardariots function as police/gendarmes so are often first to be involved in any Troubles.

There is of course a vast difference between the dress uniforms of the army which hark back to more gaudy times, and their standard dusty khaki in real operations.

And of course, there is a small Air Corps, operating with (initially) easy-to-get WW1 cast-offfs and then getting 1920's/30's aircraft a few years later than the major powers.

As the main victorious powers in the region were Britain and France, and France seemed to be the more influential, New Byzantium begins it's life with primarly French organisation and equipment, but also quite a few bits purloined from defeated Bulgarian, Ottoman and German forces (and neighbouring Balkan nations).

This is the period of the first editions of Tintin and other literary Imagi-Nations, so New Byzantium is certainly well aware of the tensions between Syldavia and Borduria, unsettled intrigues in Ruritania, even peaceful Herzoslovakia is not untouched, and it also has Johnny Turk breathing down its back. This is also the period of Communist and Fascist demagogues, and dangerously democratic ideals fomented by Secret Societies, never mind the crackpot schemes of various Mad Professors in Transylvanian castles....