The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers Presents........... 
A LINE IN THE SAND OIL, RELIGION and POWER
in
THE MIDDLE EAST, 192?
23rd –26th August 2013
THE STORY SO FAR…………..
It is 192?. The aftershocks of the 1917 Russian Revolution continue to traumatise the civilised world. Old Empires are struggling to reassert their mastery and new powers have arisen. Britain and France have decided to impose themselves in the one theatre that still remains opens to their Imperial ambitions: The Middle East.
The Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 has been enacted, and a line has been drawn between French and British influence in the aftermath of the collapsed Ottoman Empire. France is to have Syria and Britain Palestine and Iraq. Both however are struggling to impose control. The French, thin in numbers and resources, face a series of ever more dangerous revolts against their rule. In Palestine, the British struggle to contain the growing Jewish demands for independence, whilst Iraq is a constant drain as rebellion after rebellion stretches British resources to the limit. Both Imperial powers suspect the other of stirring up trouble in their back yard.
Meanwhile all around them there are other powerful forces at play. To the north a resurgent Turkey under the inspirational leadership of Kamel Ataturk resents the intervention of the West into their backyard. Their backers, Bolshevik Russia, gleefully confident after their success against the west in Mongolia, are keen to help Ataturk reassert Turkish hegemony in the region.
To the south, Ibn Saud, the Sultan of Hejd, plots from his desert wastes and awaits his chance to establish a unified kingdom of Arabia. In Iraq, his cousin, and direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, King Faisal of Iraq still harbours ambitions to retake Syria, from which he was forced out of by his Imperial backers in 1920.
Further afield, the potent mixture of oil, religion and ancient ambition attract our usual bag of adventurers, opportunists and all round scumbags…..
Baron Ungern Von Sternberg, in exile after his crushing defeat at Urga, harbours ambition to reclaim the Empire of Frederick Barbarossa, after an old gypsy women in a Cairo market assured him it was his destiny. Adrian Enver Pasha, the so-called ‘Beast of Bukhara’, might seem to - on the surface at least - have it all. Empire, oil, and an almost unbroken record of military success against all comers. But as always, it is what you don’t have that eats your soul. His enemies taunt him that he cannot be a ‘proper’ Muslim leader, or the heir to the Caliphate, unless he controls at least one of the Holy Places of Islam. There is also the small matter of a rumoured revolt in his backyard by an ancient Christian sect, the Gherkushian Liberation Organisation. And what of Mad Bob, last heard of running the world’s largest prawn farm somewhere on the Arabian peninsula? And behind all of this is lure of black gold. The Royal navy’s decision to convert from coal to oil at the end of WWI has recast the strategic agenda of the Great Powers. Three main rivals play out for hegemony in the region: The Anglo Persian Oil Company, S.O.A.P Oil and a new entrant: Großdeutschen Ölgesellschaft, The Greater German Oil Corporation, or G.O. for short.
And meanwhile at Megiddo, the ancient ‘Armageddon’, an international team of archaeologists are rumoured have uncovered a discovery that could entirely re-write the history of the world.
Gentlemen, the scene is set. And as always you will be dealing with forces well beyond your comprehension……
ESSENTIAL FLAVOUR: READING & VIEWING
- ‘A Line in the Sand’, by James Barr (2011). What actually happened.
- ‘The Berlin to Baghdad Express’ (2010) by Sean McMeekin
- ‘Ataturk’ by Austin Bay (2011)
- ‘Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm’ by Daniel Allen Butler (2011)
- ‘Setting the East Ablaze’ by Peter Hopkirk (1984) (read it again if you have it, obtain a copy if you have not).
- ‘Greenmantle’ (1916) by John Buchan
- ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) (DVD)
- ‘Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade’ (1989) (DVD)
- ‘The Ninth Gate’ (1999) (DVD)
- ‘Sirocco” (1951) (DVD)
23 January 2012, 08:26:03 AM
