This is a post I made on the Very British Civil Forum: ARBM War Room.
It is quite amazing what stuff exists in the archives.
The 1933 Census was one of my primary documents for writing ARBM. I considered a Census in the year I was writing about a lucky coincidence. (Shelldrake generously posted the link to the PDF. 1933 Census He has made a number of interesting posts recently that are well worth reading. VBCForum: ARBM War Room )
The Australian and State yearbooks are particularly interesting if you want to know everything from population distribution to exports and imports for an area. Here is the link to the 1934 Yearbook. 1934 Australian Yearbook. From here you can also get access to the state's yearbooks, except for SA and TAS who didn't produce them till more recently.
If you want to uncover information about the various factions, and probably discover more, then a trawl of the Australian archives provides a vast amount of material collected by the Attorney Generals Department: Investigations Branch and the organisations they morphed into. (The Commonwealth Security Service in 1941 and later Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, aka ASIO in 1949) The files hold official correspondence, surveillance reports, newspaper clippings, etc. Some of which is still redacted, more due to the files being scans of the original paper file rather than being classified. These files provided an insight into the numerous factions that existed at the time and were my primary source for factions presented in ARBM. With the exception of the ARC, which I created, all the factions presented really existed and many were under active surveillance.
Here is the link to the National Archive: National Archives of Australia If you start by searching on a faction from the book you are interested in you should find something. The New Guard and CPA (Communist Party of Australia) information is voluminous and will provide many nuggets.
The Newspaper archives are also useful if you know what you are looking for. I generally use Trove at the National Library of Australia. Trove
Matt
https://arbm1933.blogspot.com.au/
Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Sunday, 21 January 2018
Eureka Miniatures, Cancon and Max34
Living 10 minutes walk from Eureka Miniatures means I am able to drop in every month, talk to friends and generally enjoy the wonderful characters that make up our hobby. Nic is always welcoming and always has new greens to ogle at. This combination means that I am able to get miniatures that he has put on to molds but not formally released on the website.
Nic and Eureka Miniatures will be up at Cancon over the coming Australia Day long weekend. Along with many delightful new figures he will also have copies of my Book, "A Right Bloody Mess" for those of you who wish to delve further into the Australia in the 1930s.
One of his latest offering is the Mad Maximillian range of cars, accessories and figures. These are all 1930s inspired and offer incredible modelling opportunities. There is a corresponding set of rules, Maximillian 1934, abbreviated to Max34, by Ara from Mana Press.
Max34 is a simple and fun set of rules, with the ability to tailor vehicles statistics to match your creations. It is based in the ARBM setting and is a great example of my desire for the gamers to take the ARBM setting where they will.
Here are a couple of cars I have borrowed from the web. These beautiful examples are by Pappa Midnight and show what can be achieved.
Nic and Eureka Miniatures will be up at Cancon over the coming Australia Day long weekend. Along with many delightful new figures he will also have copies of my Book, "A Right Bloody Mess" for those of you who wish to delve further into the Australia in the 1930s.
One of his latest offering is the Mad Maximillian range of cars, accessories and figures. These are all 1930s inspired and offer incredible modelling opportunities. There is a corresponding set of rules, Maximillian 1934, abbreviated to Max34, by Ara from Mana Press.
Max34 is a simple and fun set of rules, with the ability to tailor vehicles statistics to match your creations. It is based in the ARBM setting and is a great example of my desire for the gamers to take the ARBM setting where they will.
Here are a couple of cars I have borrowed from the web. These beautiful examples are by Pappa Midnight and show what can be achieved.
Friday, 12 January 2018
2018 is Here (and my 1st International Delivery)
The silly season is over and 2018 is upon us.
The first copy of ARBM delivered outside Australia arrived today, the lucky gent hailing from Scotland. Deliver was 16 days. Not bad as this included New Year. It looks like 3 week delivery times are a good approximate, except for November/December when all bets are off.
So what does this new year hold for me? Truthfully, I have no bloody idea.
The first copy of ARBM delivered outside Australia arrived today, the lucky gent hailing from Scotland. Deliver was 16 days. Not bad as this included New Year. It looks like 3 week delivery times are a good approximate, except for November/December when all bets are off.
So what does this new year hold for me? Truthfully, I have no bloody idea.
- I have a novel in the planning phase.
- I need to clean up the games room before my wife gets involved.
- I would like to play more board games, hopefully dragging my wife beyond Carcassonne.
- I have three rule sets in development, getting one through play testing would be nice.
- Keep working on Rommel scenarios for ARBM.
- Finish my example CoC forcelists for ARBM.
- Learn IABSM and adapt for ARBM.
- Paint more.
- and the list goes on.
Now for something interesting.
An Australian Red Centre mobile patrol late in the conflict. Trucks are armed with German supplied MG-34s.
Thursday, 14 December 2017
A Right Bloody Mess has Arrived!!!
A Right Bloody Mess has Arrived!!!
Well butter
my bollocks and call me Nancy!
After two
years of hard graft, A Right Blood Mess aka ARBM is finally here.
So what’s got
me all hot all bothered? ARBM provides the wargamer everything they need to understand
the Australian (Civil) War, the events leading up to it and the first year of
the conflict.
The Australian
War starts on the 9th April 1933 with the secession of Western Australia, the Northern
Territory (which together form the Dominion of Westralia) and Victoria. Detail
is provided about the kidnapping of New South Wales Premier, Jack Lang, on the
13th May 1932 by the New Guard, allowing players to include this earlier confrontation.
ARBM is a
sourcebook, with detailed information about the leadup to civil war, the
factions involved and their capabilities and resources. Limited information is
provided about the first year of the conflict so that gamers may take the setting
where they will. It is rules and scale agnostic for the same reason.
The setting
is based in fact and most of the detail is historically accurate, including the
content and distribution of the armed forces, various factions, armaments
factories, etc. This will hopefully allow players to explore the gamut of plausibility
from “very historical” to “whimsical.” A good example of the latter is the
1930s cars produced by Eureka miniatures and the complementing Maximillian 1934
rules published by Mana Press.
The book is a 6.1”
x 9.2”, full colour, cloth bound hardcover running to 282 page, plus dust
jacket. Price is A$80 or £45. Copies will be on sale at Eureka Miniatures or by
contacting me at arbm1933@iinet.net.au.
Below is the
Table of Contents to give you a better idea of the book’s scope. The structure
of each faction’s information is at the bottom.
Happy gaming,
Matt
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Page
|
Table
of Contents
|
|
1
|
Preface:
|
|
3
3
4
5
7
8
14
17
|
Section
1:
An
Overview of the Australian Civil War.
Federation:
The Depression:
New South Wales Crisis:
The Gathering Storm:
Descent into Civil War:
The Australian War:
Alternate versions of
Alternate-History:
|
|
19
19
25
30
33
|
Section
2:
Australian
Armed Forces Pre-Secession.
Australian Army:
Royal Australian Navy:
Royal Australian Air
Force:
Civilian Weapons:
|
|
35
40
40
42
42
44
44
|
Section
3:
Descent
into Chaos.
Standardisation:
Uniforms:
Organisation:
Small Arms and
Equipment:
Artillery:
Wargaming Figures:
|
|
51
51
53
55
77
101
124
142
155
166
177
184
195
203
203
203
205
218
221
223
226
228
228
229
229
229
229
230
230
231
231
233
234
238
241
242
243
245
246
246
247
248
|
Section
4:
Faction
Guide
A New Australia:
Known Factions 1933:
Dominion of Westralia:
Victoria:
New South Wales &
the FCT:
Queensland:
South Australia:
Tasmania:
Australian Red Centre:
The Riverina Movement:
Australian’s Labour
Unions:
Communist Party of
Australian:
Other Left-Wing Organisations:
United Front Against
Fascism:
Australian Labor Party:
The New Guard:
Fascists within the New
Guard:
The Italian Fascist
Movement:
The Old Guard:
League of National
Security:
Other Right-Wing Organisations:
The Australian Fascist
Party:
The Centre Party:
Blue Shirts:
Silent Knights:
Australia First
Movement:
Black Shirts:
Citizens' League of
South Australia:
The Establishment:
United Australia Party:
Attorney-General’s Department:
Investigation Branch:
State Police Forces:
Societies Underbelly –
Gangs and Criminals:
Australian Immigrants
and Other Groups:
New Zealand:
Italian Immigrants:
Irish Immigrants:
German Immigrants:
Chinese and Asian
Immigrants:
Religions Groups:
Smaller and Ad-hoc Groups:
|
|
249
250
252
253
254
255
256
257
259
259
262
|
Section
5:
Wargaming
ARBM:
Repurposing Miniatures:
Potential Rule Sets:
Campaigns and
Scenarios:
Campaigns:
Company to Regimental
Sized Engagements:
Skirmish Games:
RPG-Lite:
Examples of Faction
Creation:
Geelong Workers Union:
The Murray River
Growers Association:
|
|
265
265
265
267
268
269
271
275
|
Section
6:
Additional
Information.
Australian Spirit:
Technology and History:
Militia Units:
The Setting:
Going Beyond 1933:
Designers Notes:
Useful Links:
|
|
Faction
Information:
The information present for each
faction listed in Section 4 is
structured in the following manner:
1.
Introduction and Overview:
2.
Military Organisational Structure:
3.
Army:
4.
Air Force:
5.
Navy:
6.
Key Infrastructure:
a.
Mining and Agriculture:
b.
Military Production:
c.
Transportation:
d.
Other Key Infrastructure:
7.
Wargaming the Faction:
a.
Training and Support:
b.
Uniforms and Equipment:
c.
Heavy Equipment:
d.
Primary Allies and Opponents:
8.
Wargaming Figures:
(Note: Not all factions
have every section listed above, the
minor factions only
have those parts that are applicable to them.)
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