German East Africa 'Grand' Inquiry

[FifteensAway]

Okay, so here are the 'rules' (I know, he said 'rules', silly boy.):

Nothing specific to scale, manufacturer, or rule set, please.

What is the ideal composition of a gaming force for German East Africa to be able to play the greatest variety of scenarios - keeping in mind north, south, west, and even east into the Indian Ocean?  

And by 'force' I mean what units are essential to build to achieve that best variety of scenarios.  

What are the minimums - one unit of Force Publique, two, three, etc?  Troops from India, Britain, South Africa, heck, even Germany (from the airship, perhaps?)?  One biplane or two?  How many guns and sailor crews from the Konigsberg?  (hey, who stole my umlaut?)

By keeping the conversation to units, there is no need to 'break' the rules.  I'm thinking this can be a guide for me as I go hunting but, more importantly, for anyone and everyone who wants to explore this "Splendid Little Sideshow".  We can then pick our own preferred scale, manufacturer, or rules.

Thanks in advance to those willing to 'play'.  

From memory, there should be Belgians, British, India, South Africa, and German troops.  I'm sure I'm leaving some out but its been quite a few years since I've read my books on the period.

Edit: Those forces who fought under von Lettow Vorbeck, even if independently - or even competed with him under the same banners, and those forces who came against him.  So, yes, The Great War, but limited to the campaigns of German East Africa, not the whole of Africa or other German colonies - a bit too wide a scope for my purposes, but not limited to within the borders of the colony because the campaign spilled over many borders over the course of the war.  Though no reason not to list those other forces here for the benefit of others.  East would mostly mean Belgians, south east the Portuguese, east naval actions, especially the Rufiji Detla, etc.

[Plynkes]

I assume you are talking about the Great War?

You are missing Portuguese from your list of combatants for the East African campaign. Also West Africans and West Indians (which I guess can be filed under "British"). If you want to head West as you say, you might want French for Cameroon and Togoland too (though the German askari had different uniforms in the West - not sure how bothered about that you might be).

[italwars]

you can even field a kind of German Foreign Legion in East Africa...at the battle of Tanga and probably before and after until the company was dissolved and survivors merged in other unit...a FK or better Sch.K was recruited among few   white German reservists and above among  foreign European residents in DOA...i discovered the existence of this unit reading an Italian book published in the Twenties written by a certain Mr Mongardi....an italian expatriate in DOA to find work and achieving to buy some land ...his book about his life in Africa partially deal with the beginning od WW1 ...he obviously know all the German authorities and Europeans living in DOA and was convinced by Von Lettow himself , who he described as a very kind and charismatic leader, to volunteer...he and his brother fought at Tanga in a company composed of Boers, Portugueses, Scandinavians ecc...the amusing thing is that, only after a very long time, if not at the end of the War, he became aware that his country, Italy, had been  at War  with Germany and not, as he believed in 1914, was still part of the Triple Alliance with German and Austrian Empire dating from the end of the previous century...he related that his company mates were all good shots, dressed in kaki, with bush hats or privatly purchased pith cork helmets to which the Germans ordered to make holes and put foliage branches for better camouflage..he was very disappointed about ruining his brand new helmet ..his brother died at Tanga..he related about badly trained Indian troops that prefered to surrender to Germans instead of advancing under fire ...and later, probably at the battle of Taveta, Imperial troops advancing in dense packed lines lead by very visibles and also horse mounted British officers that were easy targets..as useful wargame detail he also tells about British troops sporting flags in battle...maybe it could be a nice unit to field in a wargame table..

[Plynkes]

...the amusing thing is that, only after a very long time, if not at the end of the War, he became aware that his country, Italy, had been  at War  with Germany and not, as he believed in 1914, was still part of the Triple Alliance with German and Austrian Empire...

Oops! 

[flatpack]

Really interesting period to wargame, and something I have been looking into myself.

[Michi]

I found some inspiration in that An Ice-Cream War novel a couple of years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Ice-Cream_War