Chain of Command:The Abyssinian War army lists

[Happy Wanderer]

"Question do the Italian officer and ranking senior leader replace the senior leader if taken r count as separate models?"

Good question!

My feeling is that if you take a Ranking Senior Leader then he is in addition to the normal platoon structure. At a SL cost of 3 he is a high value addition to a platoon so his presence adds another layer of command for that big cost. That's how I envisage the costing and use of him to be...he's almost a personality figure.

Happy W

[Kommando_J]

I see , I assume the italian officer choice is on the other hand more of an upgrade to the sciumbasci?

[Happy Wanderer]

"I see , I assume the italian officer choice is on the other hand more of an upgrade to the sciumbasci?"

The Italian Officer rule says;

"ITALIAN OFFICER
Typically an Italian officer would lead an irregular group as its platoon leader (Sciumbasci). Therefore, if he is on-table he negates the Arrai! rule on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 if it comes into play. If off-table he fulfills the roll of an Adjutant."

Yes. I suppose that could've been explained a bit better. The Italian officer replaces the Eritrean/Somali Sciumbasci as the platoon leader as the description says. As platoon leader he fulfils all those normal roles but can also be an off-table adjutant and counter the Arrai! rule.


Now, the RSL I was confusing with another list I was working on - so I sent that last reply a bit half-cocked  - let me recant

The RSL should be treated the same as the Italian officer i.e. "he negates the Arrai! rule on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 if it comes into play. If off-table he fulfills the roll of an Adjutant."...as well as becoming the sciumbasci of the platoon i.e. not an extra figure...essentially he is a platoon leader upgrade above the Italian officer choice.

That makes sense and would be reflecting a senior or well regarded RSL exerting the same kind of influence as the Italian Officer in charge of the platoon...he's just a bit better. As a RSL essentially gives you one more CI per turn and a slightly greater command range this is appropriate for his SL 3 cost as well as his two other attributes..

I'll make that clear in the list....nice pick up..a fresh pair of eyes really helps in this regard!


The lists will reflect;

ITALIAN OFFICER
Typically an Italian officer would lead an irregular group as its platoon leader (Sciumbasci), which this support choice allows him to become. As platoon leader, if he is on-table he negates the Arrai! rule on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 if it comes into play. If off-table he fulfills the roll of an Adjutant.

RANKING SENIOR LEADER
A Ranking Senior Leader could represent a senior officer such as an experienced Chief (Scium) or other senior officer or a notable Italian leader such as Amedeo Guillet leading the Spahis di Libya. He follows the same rules above as the Italian officer.

[Happy Wanderer]

Gents,

In this post we introduce the main protagonist against the Italians, the Ethiopian forces led by emperor Haile Selassie, defenders of their homeland. Off course historically these were the two countries that fought the real Italo-Ethiopian War and thus the actual conflict can be gamed by using the Italian and Ethiopian list alone, the British and French being an addition as part of The Abyssinian Crisis counterfactual.

The Ethiopian forces are diverse. They embody true feudal warfare culture all the way through to the Imperial Guard as a modern European style force trained and organised by Belgium and Swedish military missions - there is a lot of new and interesting concepts for Chain of Command players in these Ethiopian lists…I hope players embrace game play with these diverse armies.

We shall start with the Ethiopian Chitet list, move onto the Mehal Sefari ‘organised’ forces and finally the Kebur Zabanga, the Ethiopian Imperial Guard. These lists will bring a new dimension to game play and provide many options for those wanting to try something different in their Chain of Command games.

As an aside - for those that are downloading and looking at these lists, any discussion or points of confusion that you feel need clarification would be appreciated. When constructing these lists sometimes only a fresh pair of eyes can see an obvious error or mistake and the TAC authors would appreciate that feedback.

So, to the Ethiopians…

https://abyssiniancrisis.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/chain-of-commandabyssinia-ethiopian-chitet/

[Happy Wanderer]

Gents,

The Mehal Sefari, literally "the one that camps at the center" are perhaps the most distinctive troops in Haile Selassie’s army. They have not the look of the European style Imperial Guard nor the tribal warriors of the powerful Rases, the Mehal Sefari was older than emperor himself, forming an important role in Ethiopian society. A significantly large force they were also to provide many recruits to the more professional and better equipped Imperial Guard battalions under the emperor's modernisation programme. Dressed in a blend of traditional dress and contemporary military style clothing they make for a unique looking Ethiopian soldier unlike others of their time.

The Mehal Sefari and Kebur Zabanga are closely related so it is convenient to discuss them both in one post.  We provide some more detail and discussion behind the thinking when putting together the Chain of Command:Abyssinia army lists.

You can grab the list and read about the Mehal Sefari here.

http://wp.me/p6mUyQ-uH


Happy W

[Happy Wanderer]

The Ethiopian Imperial Guard, Kebur Zabanga, was formed by a Belgian Military Mission in 1928 at Emperor Haile Selassie’s request. This was as much to secure his grip on power as it was to modernise his army. A subsequent Swedish military mission, along with Belgian Congo veterans, further aided in the development of the Imperial Guard making it arguably the preeminent African military force in the Horn of Africa before the arrival of the European interventionists.

Guardsmen were the cream of the warriors available for service, it being a great honour to serve the emperor. They were armed with magazine-fed Mauser rifles, smartly dressed and well disciplined and will surely give a good account of themselves in a capable Chain of Command player’s hands.  Review the list careful as it has strengths and weaknesses, but above all , it should give any opponent plenty to contend with.

Chain of Command:Abyssinia Kebur Zabanga army list
http://wp.me/p6mUyQ-vQ

[Happy Wanderer]

Gents,

The two historical armies of Italy and Ethiopia now have their army lists. With the British, we enter the realms of the counterfactual that is The Abyssinian Crisis. With that we now need to take a close look at the interwar army of Britain, most certainly a different beast to what you think.

Neither the army of the Great War nor the one you’re familiar with from France 1940, it reflected the move towards modernisation whilst still fulfilling its roles of colonial policing and 'small wars'. This list will provide info seldom found with ease on the internet so it should prove useful to anyone interested in the armies of Britain in the 1930s.

We start with the British infantry.
https://abyssiniancrisis.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/chain-of-commandabyssinia-british/


Happy W

[Vintage Wargaming]

I was interested in yor mention of the 3pdr anti tank gun, have you found any images of this? I have a photo of a mystery a/t gun a children's Army Book of 1939 I was trying to identify a few months ago which looks like a bit of a lash up and similar to your description of the 3pdr - could I ask you for your source for it?

I am out and about all day and evening today but if I remember I will post the photo with the proper reference in the next day or two

[axabrax]

British list is very cool. I see they get to take individual support squads of colonial scouts, both cavalry and infantry. I am jealous that the British get to do this in their infantry list but the Italians, who have more native East African colonial troops at their disposal than any European force in the theater, don't get to without fielding a separate platoon. I take it that it's historically accurate for a platoon of British infantry to have a single squad of colonial scouts but not accurate for the Italians?

[Arlequín]

I was interested in yor mention of the 3pdr anti tank gun, have you found any images of this?

It was your photo which sent me digging for more information. One of the advantages of a 'what-if' is that you can bend things slightly. I'm pretty confident that the weapon is the 'short' 3pdr as used in the Vickers 6-tonner and the carriage does look very much like a GS trailer axle with the bed removed.

Penetration of 25mm With APHE is given for a 3pdr MK.II on page 6 here: http://mr-home.staff.shef.ac.uk/hobbies/ww2pen3.pdf - although I think this is one of the guns fitted to the Mediums, not the 'export'.

This provided a little more detail: http://www.miniatures.de/anti-tank-weapons-british.html - but no sources were listed and some of the penetration values for some weapons seem inflated.

However 2/3 down the page he says; "The 47 mm L.41. 3 Pdr. was a towed anti-tank gun which was replaced in frontline use by the 2 Pdr. gun. However, the 3 Pdr. remained in service in 1940 for home invasion defence, and there is footage showing the weapon on maneuvers. The carriages of the 2 Pdr. and 3 Pdr. anti-tank guns were similar in appearance".

Personally I think he's getting confused with this;



Which is actually a QF 6 pounder L.23 (as used on WWI tanks and listed below the above comment on that link)... there was another 'rougher' version;



Make what you will of all that, but your photo looks exactly like a 3pdr tank gun, even down to the 'arm-pit' traverse. With the genuine purchase of French 25mms, the moth-balled 20mm Oerlikon Ls and the illusory 3pdr, there was a fair selection of anti-tank weapons to choose from. I've not researched the '6pdr', but I suspect it was a 1940 stop-gap, rather than an interwar idea.

British list is very cool. I see they get to take individual support squads of colonial scouts, both cavalry and infantry. I am jealous that the British get to do this in their infantry list but the Italians, who have more native East African colonial troops at their disposal than any European force in the theater, don't get to without fielding a separate platoon. I take it that it's historically accurate for a platoon of British infantry to have a single squad of colonial scouts but not accurate for the Italians?

Thanks!  

It was a hard call to be honest and I confess we 'might' not have it right... we did our best. The British did however routinely use local guides in every campaign I'm aware of and had no integral reconnaissance elements in their infantry regiments at this point in time. The Italians however had their own Esploratori platoons.

If someone is dead-set on mixing Italians with their more exotic allies and auxiliaries, there really is no reason why you can't. We've presented our view and I really don't think adding a section or two of whatever you like will upset any reasonable opponent. Determining their support table slot would not be rocket science either.

As Burger King say "have it your way".  

[Vintage Wargaming]

Thanks that's interesting. At the time of the Abyssinian Crisis official policy would still have been the best anti tank weapon is another tank so it is interesting to speculate what you can use. The same book has what looks very much like use in the UK of the Bofors 37mm, which I had only come across in British use in the Western Desert

Thanks

Clive

[Arlequín]

You're welcome.

1935 was right on the cusp of everything changing for the British. Not counting the increasing numbers of light tanks, there were only something like a hundred medium tanks in total, spread across three home battalions and the growing 6th Battalion in Egypt. With the Germans and Italians parading what seemed like hundreds of tanks, I expect there was 'a bit of a flap' to say the least.

The 2pdr was accepted into service in October 1935, if memory serves, and was intended originally to equip each infantry battalion with three weapons. I have no idea what the rate of production was, but it was going to take time. I think it was something in the region of 500 had been produced by September 3rd 1939; but by then they were no longer to be in the battalions, but in actual Anti-tank units.

For those interested, the gun Clive and myself were discussing is this one;



and here's the gun as fitted to a Vickers E

[Happy Wanderer]

...the next list chaps....

The British empire, and the very nature of the conflict in The Abyssinian Crisis, brought forth troops acclimated and best able to handle the conditions in Ethiopia. This involved the Askari forces of the empire, be they from British Somaliland, nearby Kenya or further afield in the Southern Sudan or beyond.

These diverse troops create an interesting array of forces for the British Chain of Command:Abyssinia player to choose from. The two main British Askari forces in The Abyssinian Crisis are the King’s African Rifles in Kenya and the Somali Camel Corps in British Somaliland. Both bordering colonies to Italian Somaliland and Southern Ethiopia.

This list can be used to depict King’s African Rifles and the Somali Camel Corps platoons in their various forms as well as any other ‘Askari’ formations (i.e. forces raised from the indigenous population, rather than Europeans) that players wish to use.

https://abyssiniancrisis.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/chain-of-commandabyssinia-british-askaris/

Cheers

Happy W

[Arlequín]

At the time of the Abyssinian Crisis official policy would still have been the best anti tank weapon is another tank so it is interesting to speculate what you can use.

Well on the topic of speculation, the 1928 Edition of 'Section Leading' gives a battalion headquarters wing as having a No.2 Group which is labelled 'Anti-Tank Section', which is then modified to an 'Anti-Tank Group' as an edit.

I'm at a loss as to what the anti-tank weapons were that this unit could be serving. As the other three headquarters groups (the HQ itself, a combined AA/RP/maintenance group and the band) are roughly platoon-size, I think we are talking perhaps 16 - 24 men, rather than 8 or so. By extension similar units later are three weapon teams (AT Group 1936), or two sections of two weapons (MG Platoon), so I imagine we are talking a unit of similar size to these. 

I know there were at least 20 or so Oerlikon/SEMAG 20mm autocannon bought for the 'Mobile Force' experiment in the late '20s, but I'm not aware of anything in the quantity needed to outfit all battalions... presuming there wasn't just an expectation of something which never actually appeared.

[Vintage Wargaming]

I know there should be something interesting about the time at which the anti tank role became an artillery responsibility rather than an infantry one but I would need to do a lot of digging through my frankly inadequate library to find anything. I am slightly obsessed with the Birch Gun but I haven't seen anything suggesting they were ever envisaged as having a tank destroyer type role (which I think they could have filled quite well). So I guess the question might be were there towed 3 pdr a/t guns. A/t artillery is conspicuous by its absence from all the late 20s and early to mid 30s Pathe stuff I have seen - everything else seems to be there, 18 pdrs and 3.7" howitzers with Carden Loyd tows. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence but it does suggest at the very least they were rare. There must be a source which covers this but I have been unable to find it.