British 1920s

[H.M.Stanley]

These beauties just happened to fall into my clutches ..

I'm planning on using them for the Waziristan 1919/1920s campaign and letting my Pathans do double duty

[H.M.Stanley]

Can anyone advise on the Lewis guns. Would there be a small separate squad around this time or would each [10 man] section have an LMG each as in later years?

Finally, thoughts on using the Lewis in TS&TF. Treat as a Gatling but less prone to jam?

[carlos marighela]

Around that time, in theory at least,  it was two Lewis guns per platoon. One each in two of the four sections.

[H.M.Stanley]

Thanks for that chap.

In S&TF a Plataoon is 18 Riflemen, an NCO and an Officer. Options:

A. a separate 4 man Machine gun team as per vanilla S&TF [each man = 3 x shots, so a full 4 man crew will mean 12 shots], or

B.  put an LMG in each section and 1 rifleman acts as a loader [say, 4 or 5 shots but if the gunner bites it the gun is out of commission], or

C. only 1 x LMG/loader in one of the 10 men sections and, say, half the points

What do you think?

Thanks

James

[H.M.Stanley]

I'm looking at the Price of Glory rules for the moment; although intend ordering Setting the East Ablaze later.

It looks like, the standard is only 1 x LMG although there would be precedent to add one per squad/section for missions

[Arlequín]

A real platoon was 53 men (4 per company), prior to the mid-30s. As Carlos says, they were divided into four sections, two of which included a Lewis Gun. If a S&TF platoon is 18 men, then that's obviously at 1:3, which is a bit awkward. I'd just go for 12 man platoons, 4 to a company and have a Lewis Gun in two of them.

In theory a Lewis Gun had a 12 man crew, i.e. the section it was in, whose sole purpose was to ensure the weapon kept firing. With that in mind, thinking of the gun as the centre of attention, rather than as an 'add-on', might help you formulate effective and 'realistic' rules for it.

You might find a platoon, particularly one that was understrength, putting both Lewis' in a single section and having two 'assault' sections, but I doubt you would find a situation where there was one in each section.

One MG per section didn't come in until the Bren and Vickers-Berthier, which were light enough to use in an assault (only 5 lbs difference in weight, but a 30 round spring mag is a lot lighter than a 47 or 97 round mechanical drum), and the corresponding changes in infantry tactics.

Add to that, that the Inter-War army was notoriously penny-pinching and the volume of fire from 4 weapons was exorbitant. They had the weapons (60,000 were issued in 1940), but rifles were far more economical. It was also cost and manpower shortages that eventually reduced the platoons from 4 sections of 12, to 3 sections of 10 and an extra MG was cheaper than the 18 men it replaced.

[H.M.Stanley]

Ahh .. thank you

[Arlequín]

Sorry... I thought I hadn't droned on nearly long enough there, so I added some more...  

 

[H.M.Stanley]

All help appreciated 

I've narrowed this down now to BoB 192?

Price of Glory, Setting the East Ablaze and TS&TF all tend to use 10 men squads/sections for Regulars.

I'll probably have just one in my force [rats - i have 3 of the beggers!!]

[Arlequín]

If you've got them, you may as well use them... If you go down the 'representative' route and use S&TF 18 man platoons, then a Lewis Gunner in each works (3 notional gunners as opposed to two real ones). Alternatively going with your 'Option A' you could have 2 four figure Lewis Sections, paired with 2 four figure rifle sections. The only way it's going to 'look' completely right is doing it 1:1, but with that you'll have identifiable 'Lewis Sections' and 'Rifle Sections' within your platoons. I'd be happy with that personally.

[H.M.Stanley]

This project has suddenly blossomed  

Added a bunch of Copplestone British/Gurkha figures all painted to the standard of the figures in my first post, if not better (thank you Trooper).

I now have in total:

CO with a couple of Runners
4 x 12 British Infantry incl Officers/NCOs and two Lewis Guns*
2 x Vickers teams [i might just treat this as one gun bearing in mind i have two Lewis sections too]
2 x 10 Gurkha Infantry plus Officers
Rolls Royce Armoured Car

They will face off nicely against my Warlord Chinese, Bolshy's Reds and also my Pathans (who fight in everything from the Indian Mutiny onwards)

*actually i now have 6 of the buggers!!

[H.M.Stanley]

"The only way it's going to 'look' completely right is doing it 1:1, but with that you'll have identifiable 'Lewis Sections' and 'Rifle Sections' within your platoons. I'd be happy with that personally."

I'm getting there chap .. 

[Arlequín]

Well there is a school of thought within wargaming that if you have less than a real battalion's worth of figures on the table, it's a 'small project'. 

[Trooper]

The Indian infantry are still available James, and they have no Lewis guns, and I have reduced the price.

Just a thought. 

[H.M.Stanley]

Well there is a school of thought within wargaming that if you have less than a real battalion's worth of figures on the table, it's a 'small project'.