EDITOR'S NOTE: Doug Johnson is the founder
and editor "emiritus" of Savage and
Soldier, now edited by Lynn Bodin. S&S should
be required reading for every wargamer in this period.
Doug's area of expertise is the Sudan and Colonial
gaming in general. He plans a series of articles, of
which this is the first, dealing with getting into
Colonial wargaming.
There is a romance to the wars of the colonial empires in the late nineteenth century that is found in few other periods. For most of us it is a romance of small imperial contingents set against the backdrop of exotic and little known peoples. It is a romance that fades quickly when we try to transfer it to the wargame table, for it is difficult to translate what is exotic and unknown into a tangible army of figures.
Common wargamers' complaints about the colonial period are lack of army and uniform information, lack of rules and lack of figures. These complaints are no longer valid. We have the uniform and army organization for many periods (admittedly you can still get some of it only from Savage and Soldier or Soldiers of the Queen), there are plenty of workable rules floating around, and the number of wargame scale figures have increased dramatically in recent years.
Wargamers are becoming increasingly aware of modern research in African and Asian history, so our knowledge is ceasing to be one-sided. One of the main problems is how to put our new information into effect. In future articles I will deal with the details of fighting colonial battles. In this article I will deal with the first stumbling block -- the raising of colonial armies.
Units and Periods
Most of us begin a new wargaming period by first raising a favorite unit or a favorite army. In other periods we can be content with only one army because we are sure of finding an opponent with the same period of interest. This is not as true for the colonial period where generally any one player must raise at least two armies, one imperial and one 'native".
The process is still the same as the wargamer may first raise a favorite imperial unit (Foreign Legion, Gurkhas, 21st Lancers, 24th Foot) and then build an army around it. Or he may build a balanced imperial army with all branches represensed (infantry, cavalry, artillery, and perhaps even machine guns or gun boats) and properly scaled to what he can afford. Once he has done this he usually loses interest as he finds when he tries to build a native army that he must acquire a vastly larger number of figures and spend a longer time painting them to give it a ghost of a chance against his well turned-out imperial troops.
Thus a number of "colonial" wargames are fought between opposing imperial armies with only a few native levies" thrown in. This is unsatisfactory for it is not historical. It is done because the approach is back-to-front. Armies should be raised the other way around, with an adequate and balanced native army built first, and then a smaller imperial force scaled to meet it.
Ratio
In choosing a ratio of men to figures it is possible to keep numbers of figures down to a manageable level by assigning different ratios to the different sides. If the basic units, of an imperial army are divisible by 20 or 25, then it makes sense to make individual figures represent 20 or 25 men and place them on bases accordingly. But it makes equal sense to make native figures represent a larger number, perhaps 40 or 50 men, and mount them on appropriately larger bases.
Points values, firing and melee tables would be adjusted accordingly. A similar system is already being used in rules of other periods representing the differences in national characteristics. In this way you can retain the proportions of men present in colonial battles without having to reproduce exactly the same proportions in figures.
With the numbers problem safely out of the way, you must now decide what sort of native army you want, for they are not all the same. If you want one organized around a core of relatively well-armed and competent riflemen, then you will do best to adopt the Sikh or Afghan armies, the Indian Mutiny, the Malagasy army, the Boers, Maoris or Indian frontiersmen, Samori Ture's sofas, Rabih Zubayr's riflemen, or some campaigns of the Mahdist and Abyssinian armies.
If you prefer to rely on mobility and shock tactics with a minimum reliance on musketry, the Zulus, Ashanti, Dahomey or the cavalry armies of the Western and Central Sudan would be more suitable.
You must now build an army according to the points system used in your rules. Most sets today give different values to different classes of fighting men representing types of equipment used, training, morale and general fighting ability or inclination. I believe that most colonial rules do not recognize the range of varies, of types of troops in either type of army, and that some improvement would be made if a system closer to those used in ancient rules was adopted.
Right now native armies are classed rather like the "barbarians" of ancients rules, giving the basic spearman a relatively low value, but making the expense of equipping him and training him up to a higher standard much more than for an imperial army.
This does not reflect all historical circumstances, and there were numerous armies that had well-trained, well-armed, semiprofessional riflemen. Few rules allow for their existence, or make it far too expensive to rely on them. Trained riflemen, in armies that had them, should be more expensive than imperial troops, but not as expensive as riflemen in armies where rifles were harder to come by.
Aside from that, native armies should have various classes of regular warriors, reflecting either their willingness or ability to fight. Some armies should have a "dissafected subject levy" class to represent political divisions within the state. Where armor was used for cavalry, some added expense should be reflected in the set-up points.
Raising an Imperial Army
Raising an imperial army presents another set of problems. Most wargamers are Eurocentric: that is they concentrate far too much on the European units involved. As most of the European empires were won and held by askari and sepoy troops, this is scarcely an accurate reflection of the period. A commander should thus decide on a formula for his army, of something like two or three askaris (or more) to one European.
The great advantage of askaris was that they were cheaper to raise and maintain in a colony than European troops. They could also move faster than Europeans. Their fighting ability varied, according to training. Due to old equipment or lack of training their accuracy and rate of fire was frequently lower than Europeans. Their morale varied, as did that of individual European units. This should be reflected in your rules.
There should be at least three classes of European and askari troops: good (or elite), average, and weak. A good askari unit, composed of well- trained veterans (like the Gurkhas, Sikhs, and most Sudanese) should be at least on par with an average European unit. A weak askari unit would be one that was raised recenty, or was incompletely trained, or whose morale was shaky.
A weak European unit would be one that had recenty landed and was not yet acclimated or used to bush war fare. Or it could be a unit amalgamated from man, different ones and has not yet become a unit. Or it could be assigned a task it is not used to, such as the Heav,y Camel Regiment in the Sudan who were cavalrymen expected to fight as infantry. Whether their "weakness' is to be represented in their fire-power, morale or reaction time is up to you to work out in your rules.
Mostly Infantry
Most of the troops in an imperial army should be infantry. While cavalry can also be used in its traditional role, you will find that most of your mounted troops will fight as mounted infantry. A designated mounted infantry unit, being armed with rifles, should shoot farther than cavalry with its carbines. But being infantry mounted on horses, it should not be able to move at the same rate as cavalry. Camel corps should move even slower, but the great advantage of camels is that they can be lashed so that no holders need be left behind to keep them still. Thus all camel troopers can be on the firing line, which is not the case for cavalry or mounted infantry.
Some imperial armies may also have European "militia" or native ''friendlies" added as ad hoc units raised for special duty. Their reliability and fire-power should be lower than trained troops, and they should be considerably cheaper.
A judicious mixing of European, askari, militia or friendly troops will produce an imperial army of very mixed ability. It will be far more reminiscent of the patrols and expeditions sent out in history, and it will have a good run against a determined foe. It will produce a different game, rather more like an ancient than an horse-and-musket game, but then, that is what it should be like.
Related
Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 1 #1
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1979 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com