Thursday 31 December 2015

Poland 1939 - a force list for BKCII

With Pendraken due to release their Polish range hopefully sometime in the New Year, I thought I'd spend an hour or so trying to figure out what I would need to make a flexible force for use with BKCII. So after a bit of research this evening using the excellent The Polish Campaign 1939 by Zaloga & Madej as a guide, along with Polish Armour of the Blitzkreig from Osprey and the BKCII rulebook, I came up with the following:

1 x CO

2 Battalions each with:
2 x HQs
1 x Recce (armoured car, cavalry, tankette or m/c infantry)
9 x Infantry
4 x MG
1 x 37mm ATG + draught horse tow
1 x 81mm Mortar

Possible Support Units:
1 x 75mm Artillery Support Unit + tow per Battalion
1 x 40mm Air Defence Unit (really a Divisional asset but nice to have in larger games)

Possible Armoured Support:
2 x TKS with MG & 1 TKS with 20mm per Battalion (these were the main armoured units for the infantry).

7TP or FT-17 tanks attached from the High Command or Reserves. (The R35 tanks were in reserve but were never used, but still remain a possibility).

Vickers E tanks were only used by the Warsaw & 10th Mechanised Brigades, so although a possibility, will most likely be used in 'what if? scenarios.

Air & Artillery Units
As these are largely 'off table', I'm not worrying about these at present.

In most games I will only be fielding a Battalion, or one that is slightly re-inforced. However being able to field 2 full strength Battalions allows me game scenarios such as the historical 'Counteroffensive on the Bzura' where the Polish Army successfully attacked the German Army in the flank. 

Alongside the historical campaign, I'm keen to explore certain 'what ifs?' based upon plausible historical opportunities missed by the Allies. One such is the Saar Offensive that if it had been continued, would have caused the German High Command all sorts of headaches as the German border was lightly defended with minimal heavy weapons, armoured and air support. Or how about the Soviet Union invading Germany whilst she was weak? As you can see plenty of possibilities.

Given that I have a British force already painted and French based and undercoated, I have plenty if 'toys' ready to go to play out my hypothetical scenarios and campaigns. Rather importantly I need to sort out my lead mountain to find my Germans and get some lists sorted so that I know what I need to base up. So no chance of the grey cells atrophying at the moment, so all I have to do is maintain a bit of focus...

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