German East Africa
How it got started
I first read this book back in the 80s. This fascinating account of the East African campaign served as the spark for this project. 
Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbek as he appeared circa 1914. Lettow-Vorbeck was the commander of the German East Africa Schutztruppe (translates roughly as “protection force”) from 1914 to 1918. Even though the entirety of German East Africa was occupied by the Allied powers, and being outnumbered by a factor of 21 to 1, he remained undefeated throughout the war and carried out the only successful incursion onto British territory of the war. He surrendered after the armistice because he didn’t know the war was over and had to have news of the armistice to be confirmed by the British. His success in tying down some 300,000 allied troops is largely due to his use of guerrilla warfare. He is sometimes referred to as the first guerrilla but at the time was called The Lion of Africa.
The Great War YouTube channel is an absolutely fascinating and monumental work covering the First World War in one week segments, for the entire four years of the war. There are also specials on various personalities, weapons and tours of historic locations. Even just casually interested viewer’s will find themselves watching just more and more videos. Well worth checking out.
When I first got a demo game of Blood and Plunder, I liked the mechanics but don’t really care for pirate themed games. But I did see it’s potential for other eras. So when Blood and Valor came out, I was very excited to see it covered the East African campaign as well. 
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