Bobs Fictional Countries

The Idea

Another Salute another project, I hadn’t intended to start another project @Avernos honest but when I spotted ‘Tanks the Modern Age’ at £10 for starter a impulse buy kicked in.

So 2x starter sets, 2x Chieftains, a Swingfire , A Scimitar and a BMP later went into back pack (just) and homeward I went.

So I had 4x T64’s , 1x BMP for Soviets

and Nato had 2x M1 variants, 2x Cheiftains 1x Scimitar and a Swingfire.

I have since added 2x Skytrex Challenger 1’s and am looking at adding helicopters and more of the types above and some T55’s

Original plan was to stick to American/British and Russian but could not decided on Europe or Desert .

Then I realised no transfers for models which would add to above cost plus I had no modern European building it 15 so I had a rethunk !

I do have lots of Warhamster xfers for various factions , some old N guage Cardboard industrial buildings , some 15mm scratch built medieval buildings and a castle and 3 x plastic n gauge more modernish railway farm buildings .

Last night whilst building my 1st two T64’s I watched the lets play and the faction guide for Tanks and during the banter Gulf war and fictional army’s were briefly mentioned. An idea began to form.

During the Cold War , although both sides avoided fisticuffs, they did both involve themselves either directly with ground/air forces (Vietnam/Korea/Angola) or with war material /Advisers just about everywhere else) leading to the  numerous bush wars right up the fall of the Soviet Union . Even the Invasion of Iraq basically had NATO equipped forces leading Soviet Equipped Force against the  Soviet Equipped Iraq forces.

Now I could have picked one of the above, but was unlikely to find one that had all the kit I currently had so decided on a fictional one.

So for my Forces I decided to pick on the Volgans who had been a Soviet force in the old 2000 AD comics series Invasion . For the smaller skirmish style idea of ‘Tanks’ decided on not a Fictional invasion of Britain but instead set it in a fictional country, or better still a series of fictional islands in the Med/Adriatic approx the sizes of Sardinia ,Corsica and Sicily .

I hate drawing maps so scaled down island of Java and Sumatra for the protagonists and Borneo for the island that most of the battles are fought on. named Mercia , Volga and Dunheep respectively .

Fictional Med islands

The various provinces of Indirian Island Chain are a mixture of European cultures that have settled , invaded and occupied the islands since the Times of Greece and Persia, The island occupied and settled by Viking and later Normans during the 8th-12th century’s. Eventually constant uprising by the indigenous population eventually forced them back to the lower Island chain were they were able to hold on an resist later Moorish and Turkish invasions that successfully conquered most of the other islands only returning to Christian influence after the battle of Lepanto.

Whilst Mercia clung to its Nordic heritage it and the other islands were broken up into small feudal Duchies which feuded but remained fairly peaceful up until the C18th when they followed the Western European trend for small professional Armies and a series of small wars were fought only ending with French Invasion during the Napoleonic wars. which left the peninsular  with the its current island states.

1. Mercian Confederation

The Mercian Confederation has developed from a being a  Princedom as it had been in the late 18th early 19th centuries to a democratic monarchy style government similar to Denmark/Sweden and Norway . A development which grew rapidly after the discovery of oil both on an off the islands shore which gave the inhabitants a fairly healthy lifestyle, with modern industry making up at least 50% of its economy having displaced the mainly agrarian output which still dominates most of it neighbours . This allowed it to build a modest but well trained military defences force which enabled its government to maintain its neutral position through out world war 2 successfully avoiding be occupied by the Axis powers.. Since World War 2 and the Rise of Volga (see below ) much of the countries oil revenue has been used in in maintain its Armed Forces military edge of its increasingly volatile neighbour , including the recruitment of foreign mercenaries. Recently the oil has run out therefore it has begun to look for alternate sources leading to the discovery of extensive oilfields in their neighbouring Island of Dunheep, offering technical advice and resources to the island numerous small governments  in return for oil rights.

This of course changed with the Volgan Invasion of Dunheep’s Western Shore. The Mercians responded rapidly dropping fast reaction forces on Dunheep’s western coastline ostensibly as protection for it various prospect teams which were cataloguing the increasing number of mineral resources discovered on the island. These forces though rapidly moved East to delay the Volgan Invasion on the Eastern shore line whilst heavier armour and infantry assets were assembled and moved to the island.

Volgan Combine.

Having forced the Scandinavian invaders back to the enclave in Mercia the local inhabitants developed into a feudal society of various Rival Dukedoms , each maintaining small armed forces which constantly feuded with each other until the Napoleonic period. Napoleon worried that one of them would side With Great Britain and provide Her navy with a safe naval base in the East Med, either invaded or coerced the various dukedoms during 1800-1805 period, forming them into a confederation similar to that on the Rhine.

As his fortunes waned this confederation broke away and made a separate peace with Great Britain and this loose confederation managed to keep itself pretty much out of World affairs until the WW2, Mussolini saw the island as an easy way to expand his influence and match Germany’s expansion  and invaded all the islands barring Mercia in late 1940. The loose nature of the confederation prevented a unified defence and despite some heroic and often battles the Various Volgans states had fallen by March 1941.

This is when the nations the famous father of the countries current leader  came to the fore,

O apleftherotis or the liberator had left his native islands to study in Moscow  enamoured by the teachings of Lenin , returning in 1938 he had begun at the behest of his masters in Russia to build small communist cells to unify Volga and overthrow the various Duchy Governments in his native land. The invasion provided a fertile training ground , particularly after the German Reich took over the occupation in mid 1943 . Aided by both the Soviet Union and Great Britain his was able to lead an uprising in late 44 that overthrew the increasingly isolated German Garrison not needing or wanting to be  part of the later British and American liberation of the rest of the islands under occupation in the chain.

The liberator following the war used the cold war to gain financial and military aid for his fledgling nature, aided by the the islands rich iron ore veins to help fund and develop his nations development,keeping a fine balance between the two cold war factions although nominally communist up until recently the country had remained more liberal in outlook until recent years.

factors led to the recent escalation of the  historical feud with the Neighbouring Mercia .

In 1982 The Liberator died of ‘Natural Causes’ to be replaced by  his more Dictatorial son Ton Tyranno  aided  by a cable of Russian Trained army officers who opposed his fathers more liberal regime.

By this time the iron oil mines had begun to play out and the economy had begun to collapse into mass unemployment. The Soviet Union with an eye to both the oil reserves in Mercia and recent discoveries in Dunheep was keen to help in the Ton Tyranno’s answer to unemployment , conscription. supplying considerable material aid in aircraft , tanks and guns to the rapidly expanding army. Tyranno now had the resources to not only capture more local resources but also to lead his people in their final revenge on the Hated Mercians. These plans were temporarily put on hold when the Soviet  Union collapsed and much of his aid dried up.

As fortune would have it the collapse led for a period other avenues , and the regime purchased as much spare parts and equipment as it could from the ex Soviet republics who were offloading military equipment for hard cash.

In addition he was able to the same with the French as they modernised there tank and vehicle stocks.

The 1st act would be invade The resource rich and sparsely populated Island of Dunheep. Aware that the Mercians would have to respond, they hoped to draw most of their forces currently deployed across the small estuary between there tow Islands allowing them to Launch an invasion on Mercia itself relying on their islands superior population numbers and larger army to make for Mercia’s technological superiority in both armour, aircraft and training of its armed forces.

Unfortunately the planners hadn’t taken into account the  doggerd resistance  of the Dunheep locals who with limited and often outdated resources showed an amazing ability to delay and harass the overconfident Volgan Invaders

Dunheep Island

Dunheep could be almost considered to be an island of fable, Apart from a few places its shoreline is dominated by almost impassible mountains, leading to a central highland plateau, which due to its high altitude leaves it as a temperate rather then tropical climate as are most of its neighbours. Geologists believe it a much younger island than its neighbours and has risen above the surface of the med in fairly recent times geologically’.

The islands shoreline barriers prevented any exploration apart from a historically handful of shipwrecked survivors until the late classical period when various geological upheavals cut pathways into the interior .

When intrepid Mariners of the both the Byzantines and the Turk ventured assure they were surprised to find that these shipwrecked survivors had grown into small if isolated communities that proudly dated themselves back to the Spartans. The limited amounts of Fresh water on the island precluded any real attempt at further colonisation by any of the powers in the region. On the few occasion any of the local powers have tried to annex the island, the fanatical resistance of the locals and the sheer cost of supporting any armed occupation force has tended to reinforce the point that it was not financially worth it.

Only the recent playing out of local oil and mineral resources has influenced any attempt to prospect the island . As Fate would have it what was found was vast deposits of oil. and various metals including rare ores not found anywhere else. When these were found in 1983 Dunheep went from  a place most civilisations since the dawn of time had avoided to very Desirable Real Estate.

The only force to ever previous  attempt it had been by the Axis forces in WW2 who occupied the island mainly to prevent the allies turning it into a floating airbase for attacks on Southern Europe. These forces were left isolated by allied gains and surrendered to the increasingly hostile if not totally unified local resistance which had been supplied by the Allies from the air.

It was not until the invasion by the Volgans that anyone learned just how much equipment the Italians and Germans had left behind when they surrendered in early 44. Nor did anyone realise that the native Dunheeper had developed due their isolationism an amazing ability to maintain , repair and hide that equipment for future . This realisation was to cause the Volgans dear in the early stages of their invasion when they not only faced old but operational Panzer III, IV’s and Semovente’s but were bombed by old ME109’s.

Cannbearsed Islands

Currently left undeveloped for now left open if another player wants to develop it for other game campaigns and periods.

The Armies

Volgan Army   ‘Peoples Revolutionary Volunteers’ PRV (or PeRV’s as nicknamed by Mercians) for short

The Volgan army was only formed in the late 50’s as the various wartime communist cells guerrilla groups were integrated into the new nations armed forces.  As in Yugoslavia many had been in rival duchies prior to the 2nd world war and their only unifying factor had been their hatred for 1st the Italian and later German occupiers. Therefore the integration at times could be painful if not bloody and took almost 5 years to achieve. By the time of the Dunheep invasion these divisions were still to some extent ingrained into its factions and often reared its head during the many engagements the army was to become involved in .

Even then it had initially been not to different from the pre war duchy armies of the island, with units formed into add hoc battalions based mainly on the old Duke doom’s splits. Quite often only the Liberators charisma and political manoeuvring prevented the various battalions in the army from fighting each other.

Initially the army consisted only of 3 infantry regiments , one based in the north, the centre and the south, each having a couple of batteries of artillery attached, virtually all its equipment being either German or British in origin from the days of the liberation either captured or give them to by British SOE.

Its sole armour assets consisted of 3 ex French tanks in German use a Somua and a couple of Hotchkiss light tanks.

This pretty much remained the case until 1974 when Turkey Invaded Cyprus. The instability of the Cypriot National Guard to stop the Turkish Armour  came as a shock to the  Liberator and the Volgan’s Peoples committee. It was decided that not only did the army need to be put on more traditional and less revolutionary army structure , but also that the island needed its own armoured force to resist and deter  aggression from their traditional enemy Turkey . Falling back on his old alliances in the Soviet Unions he found they were only too happy to supply him with arms and advisers , and in the next couple of years 3 full Regiments each consisting of 2 battalions of 31 tanks following Soviet organisation.With the Fall of the Soviet Union , French equipment began to trickle into the infantry with the associated logistical problems Each is assigned in peace time to one of each or Volgans regions and with a further Guard regiment of 3 Battalions in the central region as a tactical Reserve. The Guard consists mainly of T64’s with land T72’s up until the fall of the Soviet Union, when a company of the T72’s were moved to the line battalions and replaced with French AMX 30’s as scout tanks . Line Battlions have mainly T72’s but can consist of older T62″‘s and T55 which have all been upgraded to the M variant.

Each regiment is attached to a  Regiments of infantry one  battalion being mechanised and one on foot, other than the guard who again have 3 battalions of mechanised infantry. The mechanised infantry has a mix of BMP 1’s and 2’s

The army has one Artillery Regiment consisting of 3 Battalions of mixed guns. towed and self propelled. A Further battalion of self propelled ATMs vehicles o of various soviet and later French design was added during the late 80’s

Volgan Airforce Peoples Revolutionary Air Troops (PRAT’s for short)

Small and made up mainly of rotary aircraft mainly of Hind’s MI-24’s, recently a small contingent of 6 Su 25’s have been added as they were being sold off post the Soviet breakup.

Mercian Army – Kings Royal Army Corps  CRAC (Crackers to the Volgans)

As with the Volgans up until the Turkish Invasion the CRAC’s was a mainly infantry force with a sole squadron Centurions on its western coastline facing Volga. This was backed up by a Regiment of Foot Guards , and two Regiments of Fusiliers each or Two Battalions supported by a regiment of Artillery which was mainly world war 2 era British 25pdrs(still used for ceremeonial purposes).

As with the Volgans the Turkish Invasion their developed a certain amount of panic within the Mercian Paliament and a massive re-armament program was begun. The Crown Prince has served for a time in The British Army and was familiar with the British Chieftain with influence 120 were obtained of the mk8 version with improved engines of L60 mk 12 , sufficient to equip the newly re-named Guard Armoured Regiment consisting of Two Battalions. backed up by a mechanised infantry regiment in FV432 Apc’s . Recon squadrons in each were equipped with the excellent Simitar and Striker tracked vehicles. At the time with the mechanisation of Fusilier battalions with M113 variants was considered sufficient for national defence.

The increasing tension with the Volgans in the later 1980’s and the possibility of having to deploy military aid to Dunheep forced the army and parliament to again increase the size of the army to counter any Volgan moves against their interests on that island. The Chieftain was considered unsuitable for the rapid battles of manoeuvre that were more likely on that island , Although a few Challenger 1’s had been purchased, they were not available in the numbers for the new force and The U.S was approached and the newly introduced M1 Abrams were purchased in sufficient numbers to equip 2 independent tank battalions to be attached in the form similar to the U.S armies tank teams to be attached to the Fusilier battalions. For recon LAV’s and later Bradley’s would be added as they became available. Although British the designation of squadrons is used for armoured companies, the Fusilier Regiments have been re-named at the Crown Prince behest as Panzer Grenadiers Regiments.

Mercian Airforce Royal Mercian Luftwaffe (The crown prince thought it sounded cooler than Airforce)

Like the Volgans this is mainly of rotary aircraft with a two squadrons of Bell AH1 Cobra backed up by  tow Westland Lynx in multi configurations.

Fixed wing aircraft consist of a full Squadron of A4 Skyhawks and a full Squadron of Mirage 5’s , a flight of 6 old Skyraiders can be used for ground attack.