Anybody Gamed this?

[abhorsen950]

Hello everyone, GCSE History has been a blast so far, looking at why all the countries slipped into the second world war from the first, looking at the Treaty of Versailles very interesting stuff, we watched a film about what Germany was like after the first world war and how there was a tiny Communist out break, Germany sent the army in to sort this out, the film only touched on it so I figured the outbreak ended very quickly.

The point of the post? Anybody gamed this period? Anybody know any rules to game the period?

Cheers
Steve

[Plynkes]

Not really my cup of tea but there has been some discussion of this theme here on the LAF in the past. If you type "Freikorps" into the forum search engine you ought to find some posts about it.

[abhorsen950]

Cheers for that, will do so now :')

Thanks for a quick response
Steve

[Lowtardog]

I think Cannon Fodder in Australia make a few figures for the period

[abhorsen950]

Excellent ill have a nosey...

[WillieB]

Steve,

It's a fascinating period and it is only the lack of a decent figure range that keeps me from playing it.

That uprising wasn't that tiny at all! In fact there were several during that period all over Germany (almost all Communist) but the biggest one saw at least 50.000 'rebels' taking up arms. At a given moment you even had the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
The rebellions were put down by police, what remained of the army, but more importantly, the various Freikorps. Osprey has a book on the latter and it isn't bad at all.

Now, Freikorps soldiers looked almost exactly the same as late WWI soldiers so there's plenty of choice. Oddly enough a lot of ex- soldiers (remember the German Army never officially surrendered in WWI!) also found their way in the communist militias.

I suppose that you could use many of the so-called VBCW or Irish Civil war figures for communist militias. Take a look at Musketeer Miniatures and Reiver Castings for these. The Musketeer figures especially are little gems.

Cannon Fodder had a small series with some very typical figures. They made an arrangement with Blaze Away Miniatures, but it seems that particular series ( KAMERADEN!) is no longer available from them. The links on the Blaze Away site don't work.
Some Russian Civil War figures can certainly be used and I feel that even specific Spanish Civil War figures might be useful.

At the same time Army and Freikorps units were fighting Polish troops and insurgents in Silesia and Posen.

In 1923 French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr area, confiscating raw materials and finished products after Germany defaulted a reparation payment. Most German workers went on strike but the German government decided to pay their wages anyhow, and started printing extra money.  This eventually led to hyper- inflation. Several strikers were shot,mainly by the French army, but I feel this isn't very interesting as a war game.

[voltan]

I remember there was some articles in wargames illustrated a few years ago about gaming freikorps actions, dug it out issue 225 july 2006- digging a bit more shows the second article in 226

[abhorsen950]

Cheers for that guys, you've given me a bit more of an insight, I will track down that book you speak of, any rule recommendations for the period? I was thinking VBCW But that's just my thought, somebody could maybe do a lot better.

Thanks again
Steve

[area23]

Through the Mud and the Blood sells a PDF with interwar revolutionary actions scenarios.

The German revolution was a full blown revoltion but it was mostly an immense popular uprising without any real or competent leaders, and was betrayed by the newly installed social democracy. Eventually the revolution was lost. The rise of national socialism and the 2nd world war of course completely overshadowed the events and the revolution became an almost forgotten footnote in modern history.

I read this book a month ago, and gives a fascinating insight on the actual situation.
http://www.amazon.com/Failure-Revolution-1918-1919-Sebastian-Haffner/dp/0916650235
(-some nice recensions if you scroll down)

I collect german revolutionaries and freikorps. But I'm a collector, not a 'real' gamer.
Most figures I use are Brigade Games WW1 germans. Here are some pictures of my stuff:
http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Area23/gallery/1980/
As you will note not everything is historical, as I lean to a Pulp interpretation for my miniatures

[joroas]

I was thinking VBCW But that's just my thought, somebody could maybe do a lot better.

They are only a series of what-if source books, they are not a set of rules..........

[Red Orc]

I would say (this is one of those areas that I'm interested in but have never gamed) that any rule set compatible with VBCW or the Russian Civil War/Back of Beyond setting would be appropriate, and anything for the war in Spain wouldn't be too wide of the mark. Also, if you come across anything for the Irish War of Independence/Civil War in the 1920s then that might also be close enough. Finally of course, WWI games (as the Wehrmacht was in effect the same army as late WWI, and the various soldiers', sailors' and workers' militias were probably armed mostly with 'liberated' weapons) can provide much of the necessary hardware rules too.

EDIT: there's a set of free rules for VBCW from Empress (thread about them here, including links to the rules and to a discussion about them on... TMP I think?) that may be suitable. They rely on action cards so if you make your action cards faction- and setting-specific they should be fine.

As for figures, late WWI Germans obviously, and as others have suggested, Spanish, Irish, and Russian interwar ranges can provide suitable figures. Some VBCW minis can also be used.

It may seem a bit odd, but don't ignore Pulp/Cthulhu ranges either, you can get some suitable minis in those ranges too. Not so much zoot suits and flapper skirts/cloche hats though, they were definitely more 20s-30s than 10s-20s.

EDIT: someone's done a VBCW blog listing loads of suitable amnufacturers, but I can't at present find it, perhaps someone else can point you in the right direction. It has most interwar and late WWI manufacturers on it if I remember correctly.

I recommend googling some images... 'Berlin 1919 rising' and 'Rosa Luxemburg' should throw some stuff up (and of course get some books about the period, if only from the library).

This is an image from Berlin 1919, purportedly...



These guys are the communists ('Spartakists', from the 'League of Spartacus', a revolutionary, pro-communist split from the Socialist Party). Note the extensive use of WWI helmets/caps and rifles...

[abhorsen950]

Thanks for the rules, I'm loading them up as we speak. I'd also like to thank everybody who had answered in this thread giving me more detail of the situation and photos and such.

Would any old Pulp rules be suitable? Ill look for some free SCW rules or RCW tonight.



Thanks everyone
Steve

[Calimero]

Free pdf rules from Empress Miniatures for the VBCW can be found here...

http://www.empressminiatures.com/BCWRULES.pdf

[abhorsen950]

Big thanks again to everybody!!

[answer_is_42]

you even had the Bavarian Soviet Republic.

I just looked this up, I had no idea such a nation ever existed. A tantalising glimpse into a Europe that never was.

I'd certainly consider gaming this period, a few WW1-era Germans and some militia figures and you're set. And don't forget the other conflicts in the region at the same time - the Hungarian-Romanian War, for example.

A thoroughly interesting period, with myriad gaming possibilities.