German East Africa

I saw these figures and had to include them somewhere. They’ll probably go in the Close Assault squad. In game terms it’s just a rifle squad with special rules. To represent it on the table I’ll probably make it a mixed squad of Germans and Askari.

In game terms, core units are the command squad and the rifle squads. The three types of rifle squads are the Schutztruppe, the Askari and the Naval Landing Party squads. Each can have 4 to 12 men. Schutztruppe and Naval squads can take one light machine gun.

In game terms, you’re limited to two heavy machine gun teams. Each has three men. Since casualty removal is a thing, and I didn’t want to clutter up the table with more dice or counters, I decided to magnetize the figures and just remove figures as they are eliminated.
And because I didn’t want to look at the metal washers the magnets adhere to, I decided to make magnetized terrain replacements.

It is true that the Schutztruppe had no light machine guns when the war started. It’s also true that the colony wasn’t supplied with any by Germany during the war. But the British forces were. And capturing and using those machine guns became a standard feature of the African campaign.

I couldn’t find any specific sniper models so I had to get creative. I found these two big game hunters in the Pulp Figures range. The fact that they have upturned hats just like the Schutztruppe was the deciding factor.
In doing some research I found out that the reserve companies that got called up were formed around shooting clubs. So my bit of historical fiction is that the older sniper had a daughter that were both members of the club and they both joined up to defend the colony. While sporting some civilian gear, they tried to equip themselves as much as possible with standard military uniforms and equipment.
I also learned that the reservists frequently didn’t have any uniforms or only had partial uniforms, so they wore black, white and red colored arm bands to mark themselves as legitimate combatants.

The command unit is made up of one officer armed with a pistol and two riflemen. Here’s  a variety of officers that can be used in the command squad.

While the remaining two members of the command squad are riflemen, here’s some buglers and flag bearers. While the core book doesn’t have rules for them, the next supplement to Blood and Valor will allow you to add either a flag bearer or a bugler.

The iconic image of the Schutztruppe was a jaunty khaki uniform topped off by the turned up hat known as the Sudwester. Seen frequently in pre-war portraits and post war veterans organizations, it wasn’t worn that often during the campaign. Nevertheless, the majority of my force sports them because let’s face, they’re cool.

Much more common in period photos is the tropical helmet. The high peak was supposed to allow air to circulate via air vents in the sides while also providing protection from the sun.

The field cap had mostly been replaced by 1914 but a very view photos show them being worn.

Researching historical uniforms and units is one of more challenging but also entertaining aspects of historical war gaming. One of the best resources for this campaign is the German Colonial Uniforms website.

http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/

Just absolutely choke full of useful information there are period photos, surviving examples of period uniforms, color illustrations and brief histories of numerous German colonial forces.