The setting for the Malleson Mission was Transcaspia, the area of the Russia Empire that is now Turkmenistan, centred on Ashkebad/Ashqebat, and containing a railway from the Caspian Sea into the heart of Central Asia, in the dying days of WWI. The ostensible British aim in being there was to protect the railway and prevent it being used by either the Turks or the Germans to transport men and materiel closer to India. This then span out into a campaign against the Bolsheviks under the command of the Tashkent Soviet, and in support of the breakaway Ashkebad Soviet (sometimes referred to as the 'Ashkebad Committee' for no real reason other than 'soviets' were the Reds and 'committees' were the Whites, even if the word is the same), with the same aim of protecting the railway, and also perhaps securing supplies of cotton (particularly for manufacturing gun-cotton) from the Turkmenistan cotton harvest.
However, the trains themselves are not exactly the easiest thing in the world to wargame - not without a huge space anyway, which I don't have. I think at the moment the way to do this will be to look at the railway as terrain that needs to be controlled, and stick to troops fighting over it. The battlefields are then likely to be small settlements along the railway where skirmishes can take place. In my head at least, this is a perfect 'skirmish campaign' - small groups battling to control resources and terrain in a linked series of battles. I will have to get myself a proper campaign map, that being one my favourite things about all of this.
So apart from the trains (and the odd Bolshevik plane flying out of Tashkent or from a scratch-made runway somewhere?)... what was there, in the time between say July 1918 and July 1919? This is the list that I have been able to come up with, mostly information from 'The Transcaspian Episode' by Colonel C.H. Ellis, and 'A Faraway Campaign', by Captain F. James, supplemented by information from the lovely people at Lead Adventure Forum.
1 - 19th Punjabi Infantry: Ellis says three companies of Punjabi Infantry were in Transcaspia, though he's a bit unclear on this point and it might be four; so, as far as I can tell, around 300-400 (ish) Indian infantry (in my mind these are Sikhs, in particular, but I may have made a mistake here) - Copplestone and Brigade both do these, including machine gun sections. Copplestone I think is best for the troops, including the machine-guns, Brigade does troop packs as well as 'Command' packs that include seemingly officers and NCOs, and some figures armed with eg Lewis guns;
So apart from the trains (and the odd Bolshevik plane flying out of Tashkent or from a scratch-made runway somewhere?)... what was there, in the time between say July 1918 and July 1919? This is the list that I have been able to come up with, mostly information from 'The Transcaspian Episode' by Colonel C.H. Ellis, and 'A Faraway Campaign', by Captain F. James, supplemented by information from the lovely people at Lead Adventure Forum.
1 - 19th Punjabi Infantry: Ellis says three companies of Punjabi Infantry were in Transcaspia, though he's a bit unclear on this point and it might be four; so, as far as I can tell, around 300-400 (ish) Indian infantry (in my mind these are Sikhs, in particular, but I may have made a mistake here) - Copplestone and Brigade both do these, including machine gun sections. Copplestone I think is best for the troops, including the machine-guns, Brigade does troop packs as well as 'Command' packs that include seemingly officers and NCOs, and some figures armed with eg Lewis guns;
2 - the Hampshire Regiment (one company, which Ellis says is '90 strong') and the Royal Warwick Regiment (two companies, no actual numbers that I’ve found) - again Copplestone and Brigade seem like good sources for British Army in tropical kit;
3 - some Royal Artillery, from the 44th RFA: one battery, about 185 men, four guns - I have no idea who does WWI British artillery in tropical dress;
4 - the 28th Indian Light Horse: three squadrons according to Ellis, which may mean the entire Regiment, as the textbook size of a cavalry regiment was three squadrons, the headquarters company and a machine-gun section. The regimental strength in theory (but this perhaps only refers to British Cavalry regiments rather than Indian Cavalry regiments) would be 549 including 26 officers; each squadron (commanded by a Major or Captain) was divided into 4 troops (commanded by a Lieutenant), each of which was then divided into 4 sections of 8 men (under a Corporal) - so 8x4x4x3 = 384 in squadrons (I'm assuming the 8-man section includes the Corporal, but that the 12 Lieutenants and 3 Captains are not included in this total). The other 11 officers and 139 other ranks presumably make up the headquarters company and the machine-gun section (so effectively a squadron of 128 men and 5 officers is the cavalry equivalent of a 'company').
"In an Indian Cavalry regiment the full strength of British officers is only twelve; a commanding officer, adjutant, and a quartermaster; a second-in-command, four squadron commanders, and four squadron officers..." (James, A Faraway Campaign)
James at least implies then that the 28th Light Horse was composed of 4 squadrons - unless the fourth 'squadron' he implies here is the headquarters comany. These were composed of Rajputs, Jats, Punjabis and, if indeed there was a fourth squadron, potentially another group, but I'm still combing through to find references to the actual regimental composition. It's possible I've completely misunderstood something somewhere. Anyway - I think the Brigade Indian Lancers are good for this.
4 - the 28th Indian Light Horse: three squadrons according to Ellis, which may mean the entire Regiment, as the textbook size of a cavalry regiment was three squadrons, the headquarters company and a machine-gun section. The regimental strength in theory (but this perhaps only refers to British Cavalry regiments rather than Indian Cavalry regiments) would be 549 including 26 officers; each squadron (commanded by a Major or Captain) was divided into 4 troops (commanded by a Lieutenant), each of which was then divided into 4 sections of 8 men (under a Corporal) - so 8x4x4x3 = 384 in squadrons (I'm assuming the 8-man section includes the Corporal, but that the 12 Lieutenants and 3 Captains are not included in this total). The other 11 officers and 139 other ranks presumably make up the headquarters company and the machine-gun section (so effectively a squadron of 128 men and 5 officers is the cavalry equivalent of a 'company').
"In an Indian Cavalry regiment the full strength of British officers is only twelve; a commanding officer, adjutant, and a quartermaster; a second-in-command, four squadron commanders, and four squadron officers..." (James, A Faraway Campaign)
James at least implies then that the 28th Light Horse was composed of 4 squadrons - unless the fourth 'squadron' he implies here is the headquarters comany. These were composed of Rajputs, Jats, Punjabis and, if indeed there was a fourth squadron, potentially another group, but I'm still combing through to find references to the actual regimental composition. It's possible I've completely misunderstood something somewhere. Anyway - I think the Brigade Indian Lancers are good for this.
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| Brigade Games Sikh Command: BG-WIAB46 Sikh Command II (4)-BG-WIAB46 |
Under the direct command of the Ashkebad Committee:
5 - some Turkmen cavalry: around 1,000-1,500 of these – Siberia Miniatures do the only C20th Turkmen I know of, but perhaps some other Central Asian or Cossak figures might be suitable with the addition of telpek hats, maybe made of green stuff? That would be quite the project I think;
5a - I've recently found out about 500 Caucasian Cossacks: Ellis says they were from Daghestan, and shipped over from Baku (perhaps somewhat late in the campaign) to support the Ashkebad Committee, though another source mentions 'Astrakhan Cossacks', so perhaps there are two groups but this is not certain - but whether there is one group of Cossacks or there are two, I'm pretty sure that Copplestone and other manufacturers can supply these;
6 - some troops of the Ashkebad Soviet; it seems these were both regulars (a regiment or part of a regiment of Armenian Rifles) and irregulars, the implication being that these were heavily composed of railway workers. I don't know if the Armenian Rifles had any special uniforms (the pictures I've seen seem to show troops wearing whatever they could find) but Copplestone do a lot of White Russian forces that might be suitable (especially if they have moustaches or can be convincingly made to have them, the pics I've seen of the Armenians show that they mostly had them) along with Russian Partisans that may be of use for militia; I should perhaps already be splitting these in to 6a - Ashkebad Militia Infantry and 6b - Ashkebad Regular Infantry. I have a variety of late 19th-early 20th century minis that may at a pinch serve to flesh out the Militia. The Regulars may or may not be the same as…
7 - some White Russians (Denikin's troops? The '80 ex-Tsarist regulars' mentioned at the battle of Dushak, unless these are actually the Armenian Rifles) - again Copplestone is good for these I think, and Wargames Atlantic do plastic WWI Russian troops that might serve as well;
8 - some White Russian artillery - also from Copplestone;
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| Copplestone Russian Partizans (can be used either as Ashkebad or Bolshevik militia): BU41 - Russian Partisans - Copplestone Castings |
Bolshevik forces:
9 - Bolshevik infantry (with machine guns) - these would be a mix, based on pre-revolutionary units and factory/works militia units (possibly, like the Ashkebad milita, 6a, heavily based on railway workers), and hardly yet 'Red Army', so maybe (as with the Ahkebad Infantry) I could divide these in to 9a – Bolshevik Militia and 9b – Bolshevik Regulars;
10 - Bolshevik cavalry;
11 - Bolshevik artillery - again probably based on the Tsarist army;
12 - Austrian POWs (Austrian, Hungarian and German according to Ellis) fighting for the Tashkent forces (maybe 1,000 of these).
9 - Bolshevik infantry (with machine guns) - these would be a mix, based on pre-revolutionary units and factory/works militia units (possibly, like the Ashkebad milita, 6a, heavily based on railway workers), and hardly yet 'Red Army', so maybe (as with the Ahkebad Infantry) I could divide these in to 9a – Bolshevik Militia and 9b – Bolshevik Regulars;
10 - Bolshevik cavalry;
11 - Bolshevik artillery - again probably based on the Tsarist army;
12 - Austrian POWs (Austrian, Hungarian and German according to Ellis) fighting for the Tashkent forces (maybe 1,000 of these).
Copplestone do all of these latter troops (or something like them at least). The only things Copplestone don't seem to do in fact out of the whole list are the Indian Cavalry (that are available from from Brigade Miniatures), the Turkmen (available from from Siberia Miniatures) and the British Artillery in tropical kit. Surely someone must make them. How do people gaming DunsterForce get their figures?
Anyway; my plan (to get things moving) is to get some small forces together. I've got myself some Indian Infantry (some riflemen and some machine-gunners) so I have started on the 19th Punjab Regiment. They're very nice figures, from Copplestone. Unfortunately, I looked at some Brigade minis and though they are lovely, at present the shipping from the US makes it practically impossible to buy them - $25 dollars for some Indian Infantry Command, but $35 on top for postage. I have had minis from Brigade before, I definitely bought some gas-masked, pith-helmeted VSF/Steampunk chaps from them a long time ago, but the postage must have been much more reasonable at that point. For the moment I'll have see to what I can make of the Copplestone figures, with some of my pith-helmeted 'British Chaps' that I have as officers maybe.
I assume I'll get some Bolos next, it seems like a good idea to have some chaps for my chaps to shoot at, and to shoot at my chaps, for sure; that's how wargames usually work, after all.
I assume I'll get some Bolos next, it seems like a good idea to have some chaps for my chaps to shoot at, and to shoot at my chaps, for sure; that's how wargames usually work, after all.
The ruleset I'm planning to use at the moment is 'Setting the East Ablaze', now in its 3rd edition (because it takes me ages to do things - as indicated, I actually started musing about this 12 years ago - I still have the 1st edition), which proudly declares itself to be a bit cinematic rather than literally historically accurate, which is fine by me. A bit of improbable heroism or other theatricality on the tabletop is better for storytelling, I think, than rules about how many of your troops are currently incapacitated with dysentery or why your ammunition convoy has been delayed. I am happy enough for this to have a somewhat Pulp-y feel to it.
Of course, I also need some terrain, of which I guess sandy/rocky hills and square adobe buildings will feature heavily, which is a whole new story.
And then I will I hope get in a few skirmish games to get my head round the ruleset. If I ever get that far, this has been a long time coming after all.
There are a bunch of people who have blogs and information about all this that I have most useful in doing this, so many thanks to all of them whether they know I've used their research or not. Particular mention must go to Mark Plant who has done excellent work tracking down sources and assembling resources at his 'Pygmy Wars' blog, and Cuprum who has done likewise from the Russian side (and also, as 'Siberia Miniatures', produces Turkmen cavalry), but there are lots of others too. Here are some links to sites that provide lots of historical or gaming information:
Pygmy Wars - Fronts - this is a great place to start
Pygmy Wars - Fronts - this is a great place to start
Transcaspia - this is from the Wayback Machine, a very interesting blog about gaming the Malleson Mission, sadly now without the maps that are linked in the text
Back of Beyond Bibliography? | Lead Adventure Forum - as the title says, a bibliography of 'Back of Beyond' books and other sources which contains a lot of interesting information about the campaign as well as wider stuff about the Russian Civil War and other theatres of 1920s military action
The Soldier's Burden - blog with extensive info and some nice maps
