Overall, I think that a conscript army would serve Reewin best. As a small country surrounded by larger, often expansionistic ones, the ability of a conscript army to develop a mobilizable reserve seems vital. While it would probably be possible to meet the new field army target on a volunteer basis, the reserve target would likely be hard. And even the current targets is for a moderate-sized peacetime military - any expansion beyond that would more or less be from scratch.
Thus, I'd argue that we should plan for a three-tiered mobilization scheme. First the Army and whatever Carabineri happen to be in the line of the conflict; second mobilized Army reserves (from recent year's conscripts) and mobilized Carabineri; third newly raised troops. I don't think that expanding the Carabineri as a 'professional irregular' force will give us as much as an Army which can fulfill the same roles plus mainline combat, while generating a far larger pool of reserves.
Here's a possible timeline I've been looking at for a very army-focused plan which moves towards that. We have been neglecting training for a long time, and pushing off expansion until after that was theoretically done, thus leaving us with neither. We now have a deadline on expansion, which means we need to move decisively if we want to establish the training pipeline first. This timeline calls for closing the Carabineri office before the crunch period to accomplish this, but I'm not against opening it later - we have simply neglected the main branch for too long and now need to get the institutions in place. In the future, the Carabinieri would benefit from the basic training infrastructure I hope to build up.
1933
Q1 (finishied)
Q2
Q3
Q4
Carabineri Maritime
Naval Base
Naval Base
Naval Base
Ordnance Office
LMG
HMG mount trials
HMG mount trials
?Ordnance?
3rd Pt (Carabineri)
Rangers
???
???
Restructure the Office
4th Pt
Navy
Chaco
Chaco
Chaco
5th Pt
Foreign Ideas
Foreign Ideas
Infantry School
Infantry School
1934
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Carabineri Maritime
Naval Base
Small Ships
?Navy?
?Navy?
Ordnance Office
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
3rd Pt
Institute Conscription
Institute Conscription
Officer School
Officer School
4th Pt
Chaco
Purchase Rifles
Purchase HMGs/Mounts
???
5th Pt
Infantry School
Infantry School
Expansion
Expansion
1935
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Carabineri Maritime
?Navy?
?Navy?
?Navy?
?Navy?
Ordnance Office
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
?Ordnance?
3rd Pt
Officer School
Officer School
???
???
4th Pt
???
More Officers
More Officers
More Officers
5th Pt
Expansion
Expansion
???
???
6th Pt
???
???
???
???
Vital actions to fill the ???s are Maneuver, Cavalry and Artillery training, but I figure those and others have more wiggle room than establishing the basic institutions and the path to expansion.
This turn, I'd argue for:
Navy: Naval Base
Ordnance Office: Write-in to trial dedicated mounts for/which could be adapted for the Hotchkiss HMG. It will be a fine AT/AA weapon for now, but the current dual-use mounting on basically a wagon isn't ideal. I would love something like the little Soviet Maxim gun carriage for the infantry/AT role.
Carabineri Office: Some useful 6-month action
Free Point: Send observers to the Chaco War
Edit: Changed the plan to call for one 6-month Carabineri action before restructuring the office as a compromise, as the timeline can fit that in but not more. I don't have anything vital to use it for though so would be just fine closing the office earlier.
For the Carabinieri, some ideas for what we could do as a write-in:
getting them modern rifles & doing rifle training (have we gotten them switched over from the black powder guns?)
a very small Carabinieri air patrol to help with the covering of the border (like, a pair of bushplanes type deal), that we eventually enlarge in ~five years for proper combat duties
buying the rangers some diesel trucks so they can act as a long range raiding group in desert areas during wartime
Do we need to use an action for an AA mount for the Hotchkiss? I don't think the current mountsare that bad; AIUI they're these:
From what I've seen, that's about as good as you're going to get for a cheap AA machine gun mount, with the only easy improvement IMO being making it so you can fold up the wheels and dig it in. I'd either do an action of just "buy more" or "see if anyone else has a competing design, and then buy whoever gives us the best deal on a good-quality 13.2 mm MG" (mostly as a way to see if FN is willing to do any work on the 13.2 mm Browning yet or if Japan or Italy's willing to undercut the French on selling Hotchkiss guns).
Anyways here's my idea for stuff:
-[ ] Write-in: Request offers for the sale of 13.2 mm machine guns and dual-purpose mountings whose capabilities match that of the current 13.2 mm Hotchkiss guns.
-[ ] Send Observers: Paraguay - Send a military attaché to learn from the Bolivian army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)
-[ ] Write-in: Ensure distribution of plentiful 6.5 mm Arisaka ammunition and instructions for use, to the Carabinieri. Hold a shooting competition every year, with the best-performing unit in each company, and the best performing company in each brigade receiving a small monetary reward.
-[ ] Construct a naval base - Currently the RMCF is based out of the commercial port facilities at Kismayo, but this state of affairs is not acceptable in the long run. We have little secure storage for arms and ammunition, we don't have proper facilities for the effective routine maintenance of our ships and the port fees are shocking. If we established a proper naval base, all of these problems would go away, although drydock facilities would still be provided by the private sector. (12-Month Investment.)
--[ ] In Kismayo, the largest port city
Anyways here's my idea for stuff:
-[ ] Write-in: Request offers for the sale of 13.2 mm machine guns and dual-purpose mountings whose capabilities match that of the current 13.2 mm Hotchkiss guns.
-[ ] Send Observers: Bolivia - Send a military attaché to learn from the Bolivian army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)
-[ ] Write-in: Ensure distribution of the 6.5 mm Arisaka, along with sufficient ammunition and instructions for use, to the Carabinieri. Hold a shooting competition every year, with the best-performing unit in each company, and the best performing company in each brigade receiving a small monetary reward.
-[ ] Construct a naval base - Currently the RMCF is based out of the commercial port facilities at Kismayo, but this state of affairs is not acceptable in the long run. We have little secure storage for arms and ammunition, we don't have proper facilities for the effective routine maintenance of our ships and the port fees are shocking. If we established a proper naval base, all of these problems would go away, although drydock facilities would still be provided by the private sector. (12-Month Investment.)
--[ ] In Kismayo, the largest port city
I think we should start army training sooner so we can handle an actual expansion at some point in the near future. Unless there's a timeline set up that I'm not totally aware of.
Anyways here's my idea for stuff:
-[ ] Write-in: Request offers for the sale of 13.2 mm machine guns and dual-purpose mountings whose capabilities match that of the current 13.2 mm Hotchkiss guns.
-[ ] Send Observers: Bolivia - Send a military attaché to learn from the Bolivian army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)
-[ ] Write-in: Ensure distribution of the 6.5 mm Arisaka, along with sufficient ammunition and instructions for use, to the Carabinieri. Hold a shooting competition every year, with the best-performing unit in each company, and the best performing company in each brigade receiving a small monetary reward.
Okay, thoughts on the write ins:
- Requesting offers for the 13.2mm guns is fine, that's going to be a six month one that's basically the same as the Ordnance Board testing for AT or AA weapons except looking at DP weapons. There's not going to be more than three or four 13.2mm competitors so we'll probably chuck in some more options. As usual, anyone can speak up if they have preferences and if you don't we'll just pick whatever we think looks interesting?
- The Carabinieri are already equipped entirely with 6.5mm Arisakas, although some of them are still using the older Type 30s rather than the Type 38s that you're producing. For the rest, if you still want to do it, three months.
I think we should start army training sooner so we can handle an actual expansion at some point in the near future. Unless there's a timeline set up that I'm not totally aware of.
That's a good point. I really want to see the Chaco War ASAP, though, since it could give us a good idea of what our army needs to be like in order to resist a foreign invasion, and the later we delay it, the more big battles we miss.
If we wanted to do an infantry school, we could still squeeze it in with the last quarter overlapping with our recruitment drive?
Edit: it only barely works, and it would require getting foreign help setting up the infantry school. I am... less than enthused with this, unless we hit gold with "the foreigners have good ideas" and have found someone other than the Japanese to help with training.
Edit: how's this as an alternative - we close the Carabinieri office temporarily, and use the slot for infantry training and army expansion. Then, in '35 or '36, we reopen the office briefly to see how the branch's doing, maybe try and diffuse some of our training and doctrine through to the Carabinieri in case they need to fight as guerillas?
Do we need to use an action for an AA mount for the Hotchkiss? I don't think the current mountsare that bad; AIUI they're these:
From what I've seen, that's about as good as you're going to get for a cheap AA machine gun mount, with the only easy improvement IMO being making it so you can fold up the wheels and dig it in. I'd either do an action of just "buy more" or "see if anyone else has a competing design, and then buy whoever gives us the best deal on a good-quality 13.2 mm MG" (mostly as a way to see if FN is willing to do any work on the 13.2 mm Browning yet or if Japan or Italy's willing to undercut the French on selling Hotchkiss guns).
I recalled the wheels being a lot bigger, in a way that would make it a lot higher profile and harder to traverse, probably mistakenly - if that picture is it then the mount we have is probably good enough for now, pending actual tests or experience. Although, how many of these are we going to want anyway? Would two in each battalion and the current six at the brigade level make sense? If so, that's about 100 for the targeted ~20,000 man army, plus more (50?) for training and spares - there may be nobody who isn't selling 13.2mm HMGs already who'd have a reasonable price given our experience with the ZB.30. It may be best to plan on just buying more, and move straight on to grenades or field guns.
I recalled the wheels being a lot bigger, in a way that would make it a lot higher profile and harder to traverse, probably mistakenly - if that picture is it then the mount we have is probably good enough for now, pending actual tests or experience.
This is what it was speculated to be on Discord, but I don't recall anything actually posted by the QMs. This is something probably worth asking the QMs on - @ QMs, is this what our mount looks like, and does the Army liaison have anything to say about the 13.2?
Although, how many of these are we going to want anyway? Would two in each battalion and the current six at the brigade level make sense? If so, that's about 100 for the targeted ~20,000 man army, plus more (50?) for training and spares
Okay so uh... The current org of the 1st has the 6-gun battery at the battalion level (since the 1st is essentially an elite battalion), while the 2nd has it at the brigade level. I'd personally rather keep it at the battalion level service-wide, creating a structure somewhat similar to the Japanese Infantry Battalion (Strengthened) which has a headquarters and train, 4 rifle companies, the machine gun company, the battalion gun company, and the anti-tank company. Assuming a battalion is around 1000 soldiers each, then to hit the 20,000 target, we need to go up to somewhere shy of 20 battalions, each with 6 heavy machine guns; subtract the 24 we have, then add another 50 for spares, and we're at 146 guns. I think that's a decent-sized order.
I do like six per battalion because it means the battalion commander can choose to send a pair of guns off with each of the three companies the battalion has if he feels they need it for anti-tank defence. It's also only 6 guns fewer per brigade.
- there may be nobody who isn't selling 13.2mm HMGs already who'd have a reasonable price given our experience with the ZB.30. It may be best to plan on just buying more, and move straight on to grenades or field guns.
Yeah, but from who? Japan, France, and Italy all produce the Hotchkiss domestically, and one of them might give us a better deal than the others for a functionally identical gun. We should try and see who'll give the best deal
I just realised, did we decide on who's artillery we are gonna buy for the army expansion? We currently haven't really standardised on one nations designs and still use fairly dated Krupp guns alongside more modern Japanese artillery.
I'm personally in favour of just going with the Japanese designs as they are pretty decent all things considered, we could probably purchase some older designs as well from them at a discount.
I just realised, did we decide on who's artillery we are gonna buy for the army expansion? We currently haven't really standardised on one nations designs and still use fairly dated Krupp guns alongside more modern Japanese artillery.
I'm personally in favour of just going with the Japanese designs as they are pretty decent all things considered, we could probably purchase some older designs as well from them at a discount.
Are we buying artillery for the army expansion yet? I would assume the choice of new artillery would require an action.
Japan's economy is starting to do well, so they may not be that desperate to sell at extremely low prices. We may also want to consider mortars, since they'd possibly do well for our needs (big bang for relatively low cost and light weight)
Wouldn't mountain guns also fit that criteria? I know our nation doesn't have much (if any) in the way of mountains but I just think that lighter and thus more mobile pieces will do us better than heavier guns.
Mortars have the benefit of being easier to manufacture than actual artillery pieces and relatively portable, but will not have the same range. A light mountain howitzer would also be worthwhile, honestly, but we're still figuring out a bunch of really basic stuff about the army, so artillery is a bit far out for us right now.
Mortars have the benefit of being easier to manufacture than actual artillery pieces and relatively portable, but will not have the same range. A light mountain howitzer would also be worthwhile, honestly, but we're still figuring out a bunch of really basic stuff about the army, so artillery is a bit far out for us right now.
Some heavier mortars can do pretty well - the Soviet 107 and 120 could hit out past 6 km, for example, at the cost of being about three times as heavy as a standard 81 mm mortar. That said, it's pretty favourable when compared to the Japanese 70 mm, at least when looking at paper stats (the 70 mm is also shorter-ranged than your average 81 mm mortar, to be fair; direct fire capability seems to have a high cost)
Some heavier mortars can do pretty well - the Soviet 107 and 120 could hit out past 6 km, for example, at the cost of being about three times as heavy as a standard 81 mm mortar. That said, it's pretty favourable when compared to the Japanese 70 mm, at least when looking at paper stats (the 70 mm is also shorter-ranged than your average 81 mm mortar, to be fair; direct fire capability seems to have a high cost)
I think we should look at surplus field guns for now, mainly since they're probably going to be very cheap due to WW1 and possibly multipurpose, then branch out in a few years once we have seen and can maybe produce a light mortar and can usefully operate/coordinate with more modern guns.
Voting is on, and no one has a plan. Don't know if this is valid but oh well.
[X] Plan: Fighting Attempt
-[X] Send Observers: Paraguay - Send a military attaché to learn from the Paraguayan army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)
-[X] Weapon Testing: Anti-Tank Weapons - The Ordnance Office will research a handful of field guns and large calibre rifles from around the world. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of AT weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
-[X] Restructure the Carabinieri Office - Reduce staffing in the Carabinieri Office to retain oversight of programs in progress and free up capital for investment elsewhere. This does not cost an investment point and can be done at any time. (3-Month Wait.)
-[X] Construct a naval base - Currently the RMCF is based out of the commercial port facilities at Kismayo, but this state of affairs is not acceptable in the long run. We have little secure storage for arms and ammunition, we don't have proper facilities for the effective routine maintenance of our ships and the port fees are shocking. If we established a proper naval base, all of these problems would go away, although drydock facilities would still be provided by the private sector. (12-Month Investment.)
--[X] In Kismayo, the largest port city
Wouldn't it be a better idea to get Japanese investment for the port? It'd definitely come with caveats but it seems kinda wasteful to build an entire port for just an aging cruiser when that investment point could be used for something else for the rest of the year.
Edit @Acc. No. 1409 I think we have presently 5 investment points no? The carabineri action (and the chaco war) one doesn't require an investment as such id recommend possibly adding on the " [ ] Analysis: The Foreigners Have Some Good Ideas - Send observation teams overseas to take the best ideas from foreign nations. (6-Month Investment.)" to the plan and possibly start work on the infantry school or setting up a reservist force from ex carabineri.
Wouldn't it be a better idea to get Japanese investment for the port? It'd definitely come with caveats but it seems kinda wasteful to build an entire port for just an aging cruiser when that investment point could be used for something else for the rest of the year.
Edit @Acc. No. 1409 I think we have presently 5 investment points no? The carabineri action (and the chaco war) one doesn't require an investment as such id recommend possibly adding on the " [ ] Analysis: The Foreigners Have Some Good Ideas - Send observation teams overseas to take the best ideas from foreign nations. (6-Month Investment.)" to the plan and possibly start work on the infantry school or setting up a reservist force from ex carabineri.
We're currently paying a fair bit of money to not have a permanent Japanese presence. Flip-flopping on this would likely cause the government to lose trust in us. We'll also possibly be building a port for more than one cruiser, since modest naval expansion is the best way for us to deter Japan from getting too handsy if we eventually need that, and a brownwater force will better defend the Italian border at relatively low cost.
We're currently doing The Foreigners Have Some Good Ideas, so we're down by an investment point.
Here's my plan, almost identical to @Acc. No. 1409's, except doing a 6-month action to just procure new HMGs because the army thinks they're great and I think they tick off both the battalion level AA and AT box.
[X] Plan: From the Lowest Bidder
-[X] Write-In: Negotiate offers for the purchase of 13.2 mm machine guns and dual-purpose mountings whose capabilities meet those of the current 13.2 mm Hotchkiss guns.
-[X] Send Observers: Paraguay - Send a military attaché to learn from the Paraguayan army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)
-[X] Restructure the Carabinieri Office - Reduce staffing in the Carabinieri Office to retain oversight of programs in progress and free up capital for investment elsewhere. This does not cost an investment point and can be done at any time. (3-Month Wait.)
-[X] Construct a naval base - Currently the RMCF is based out of the commercial port facilities at Kismayo, but this state of affairs is not acceptable in the long run. We have little secure storage for arms and ammunition, we don't have proper facilities for the effective routine maintenance of our ships and the port fees are shocking. If we established a proper naval base, all of these problems would go away, although drydock facilities would still be provided by the private sector. (12-Month Investment.)
--[X] In Kismayo, the largest port city
Oh this is back, very cool! I'll need to read through it to familiarise myself with the system before I feel confident to vote in a plan, but I'll just say that if we want a premier army then we'd likely want to lean towards conscription and 'mass' mobilisation, as much as our industry base allows it that is. To win a war you first need to be able to endure it after all, and that means being able to throw trained manpower into the fires of war.
