Angus Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

 

The Great War in Africa

Lettow Vorbeck's Private War

 

In 1914, the province of German East Africa spanned much of modern-day Tanzania, stretching from Lake Tanganyika in the Great Rift Valley to the Indian Ocean some 600 miles away to the east. to the north lay British East Africa (now Kenya), to the west was the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while to the south lay Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique). when the first World War broke out in August 1914, Governor Schnee hoped to avoid the spread of the conflict into Africa, but allowed his military adviser Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck to mobilise his small army of askaris and volunteers. For his part Lettow-Vorbeck knew the spread of war was inevitable, so he struck first, raiding into British East Africa and capturing border garrisons. What followed was a struggle which would last even longer than the fighting on the Western Front.

The Great War in East Africa saw the Germans on the defensive, as Lettow-Vorbeck's heavily outnumbered Schutztruppe did what they could to inflict casualties on the enemy before breaking away - trading space for time. On Lake Tanganyika the German naval presence consisted of a handful of steamers, which were eventually defeated by Royal Naval motor boats (Mimi & Toutou) brought overland from Cape Town, rather than by the African Queen as Hollywood suggests. then there was the German light cruiser Konigsberg, forced to take refuge up the Rufiji River, and eventually destroyed by British monitors. Her guns were still operational though, and several of these 4.1" pieces were converted into land guns, and hauled across East Africa to support Lettow-Vorbeck's troops.

 

A typical action during the war saw the Germans on the defensive, holding a strongly defensible position against one or more larger Allied columns. The Germans would inflict as many casualties as they could, then sneak away before their position was outflanked or surrounded. The German commander proved himself a master at this kind of warfare. He also used his Schutztruppe as guerrillas, launching attacks on isolated Allied columns or supply lines. The Schutztruppe themselves were almost all Africa volunteers, recruited before the war and trained to a high standard. These Askaris consistently out-performed their Allied counterparts, of whatever race or nationality.

 

 

 

As for the Allies, their armies consisted of contingents from throughout the British Empire, supported by Belgian colonial troops, and then during the last months of the war - by the Portuguese, who proved singularly ineffective when Lettow-Forbeck's force crossed their border. The Empire troops included British regulars, Indian troops (both Sikhs and Muslims), South Africans, contingents from Rhodesia and Kenya, Nigerians, and - the backbone of the force - the King's African Rifles, which were recruited for the most part in British East Africa. The British even used Masai native allies, and unlike the Germans they also had access to aircraft and motor vehicles, including armoured cars.

As a wargame period the Great War in East Africa has a lot to offer. You get colourful units, and if you take a little effort over the tabletop you also get nice looking battlefields. We bought some great-looking but fragile Acacia trees from Realistic Modelling Services , and I made elephant grass using an old broom brush, stuck in foamboard bases (foamcore in the US) coated in filler. As you can see from these pictures people can rarely resist adding other African accessories - mainly wildlife! there's also an obvious cross-over between this period and the earlier colonial era in Africa - a period we sometimes game using the In the Heart of Africa rules.

 

  

My small East African German force consist of:

  • Lettow-Vorbeck and his staff

  • 3 units of Schutztruppe (ea. 16 figs.)

  • 1 unit of German colonial Volunteers (16 figs.)

  • 1 unit of German sailors & marines (16 figs.)

  • 1 unit of "Ruga Ruga" native allies (16 figures)

  • 2 Maxim machine gun teams (one Schutztruppe, the other naval)

  • 1 Revolving cannon (a "pom pom")

  • 2 Artillery pieces (a small Krupp field gun and a whopping gun from the cruiser Konigsberg - pictured above)

  • A column of porters, carrying cases of schnapps, bratwurst etc. etc.

 

       Both Dougie Trail and Colin Jack have the forces of the British Empire, consisting of (at various times):

  • British Regulars

  • South African Infantry

  • The King's Royal African Rifles (pictured below)

  • The West African Regiment (Nigerians) - that's them on the right

  • Sikh Infantry

  • At least one Rolls Royce Armoured Car

  • Vickers machine gun teams (pictured above)

  • British field guns and mountain guns

  • Porters carrying gin and tea

       

 

 

  

As for rules, we really use two sets, both by the same author. for our larger games, or when we're too lazy to do otherwise, we use Contemptible Little Armies by Chris Peers, our preferred set for Great War and "Back of Beyond" games. they produce fast, bloody games, and Chris has even brought out a set of Army Lists to cover the armies who fought in East Africa. He includes additional rules for African terrain, and for generating African-style scenarios. The best bit is the optional random events section for bush warfare, which raises the possibility (as happened to the British at Tanga in 1914) of upsetting a swarm of "killer bees"!

However, our rules of choice for this period are another Chris Peers variant called In the Heart of East Africa - a Great War adaptation of the colonial In the Heart of Africa rules. Although very similar to Contemptible Little Armies, this set has subtle bits to it which - to our mind - do a better job of reflecting the nature of bush warfare. It grades the various troops by experience and quality, making some better at movement and shooting than others. Leadership is important, as is the protection of your baggage columns. We use a set of Army Lists published some years ago (I forget when exactly) in Wargames Illustrated, drawn up by Chris Peers along with amendments for early 20th century military technology such as machine guns, artillery and vehicles.

 

  

Downloadable Playsheets:   In the Heart of East Africa    In the Heart of Africa    Contemptible Little Armies

Another possibility (which we haven't tried out yet) is using the Price of Glory, the Great War version of the Second World War skirmish system Disposable Heroes. We've tried this for Verdun and it produced an enjoyable (although bloody) game, and so there's no reason why it shouldn't work in Africa. Once we give it a go I'll let you know how the game went. Then there's Colin's Zeppelin. In 1918 an attempt was made to re-supply Lettow-Vorbeck by Zeppelin, flying directly to East Africa from Turkey. Although the airship turned back after receiving fake radio messages that Lettow-Vorbeck had surrendered, the chance to field a game with a Zeppelin in it is almost too good to miss! One of the great things about this hobby is that whatever period you're "into", you'll always find inspiration for some bizarre scenarios!

 

  

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