IABSM: Polish Army Lists for 1939 Finished

I am very pleased to announce that the Polish Army Lists for IABSM for the 1939 September War are now finished and available as a free download on this site.

The lists are gathered into a single, 54-page pdf booklet that follows the same format as the two late war theatre supplements Vpered na Berlin and Battle for Liberation.

The booklet contains lists for the following forces:

  • Line Infantry Company
  • Border Protection Force Infantry Company
  • Border Protection Force Mountain/Highland Infantry Company
  • Independent Reconnaissance Tank Squadron
  • Cavalry Squadron
  • Cavalry Armoured Reconnaissance Diwizjon
  • Troops from the 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade
  • Troops from the Warsaw Armoured Motorised Brigade
  • 1st & 2nd Light Tank Battalions
  • 3rd Light Tank Battalion
  • 12th & 121st Light Tank Companies
  • 21st Light Tank Battalion
  • 2nd Armoured Battalion

In addition, there are rules for rating your Polish force, the Polish Armoury, and details of/rules for armoured trains.

Click on the picture of the front cover to download the list; or visit the Poland 1939 page on the IABSM drop-down, above.

Enjoy...and if you find any errors, or just want to let me know what you think, either comment on this post or drop me a line at the usual address.

Polish Big Man

I mentioned in the post below about the 15mm WW2 figure manufacturer, Heer46, that they produced a range of unique command figures. When I bought the aerial cages for the command vehicles of the Panzerspah company (cf) I also bought one of these "Big Men".

He has painted up very nicely (although I've still got to deal with a bit of varnish frosting) and will form the first of my Poles as the overall command figure. Now all I have to do is buy and paint up the rest of the army!

IABSM: Poland 1939: Cavalry Squadron

Here's another IABSM v3 list for the 1939 Poles: a cavalry squadron.

I've almost finished the lists now: all I need to do over the weekend is the Armoury i.e. all the stats that support the units and vehicles shown in the lists.

Once that is done, I'll gather all the lists into one enormous pdf (it will be about 50 pages I think) and repost in a download-friendly fashion.

Then it's on to the Germans and Soviets...and maybe the Slovaks for completeness.

Click the picture or here for the pdf of the Cavalry Squadron list; or go to the Poland 1939 page with all the current lists by clicking here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: Polish 12th & 121st Light Tank Companies

Another OB for the early war Poles: this time its for a force based on a company of Vickers E tanks from either the 12th or the 121st Light Tank Companies.

These were the armoured companies attached to Poland's only two motorised brigades: the 10th motorised cavalry brigade and the Warsaw armoured motorised brigade. 

Both companies also used the Vickers E tank: some with a single turret mounting a French 47mm gun, others with twin turrets each with a Polish machine gun.

There will eventually be OBs for the two brigades as well (the 10th is already up, Warsaw to follow probably later this week) but looking at the armoured element so specifically gives you the background to the brigade force even if it's one based on infantry with only a platoon or so of tank in support.

You can find the OB, along with the others, on the Poland 1939 page, which you can also reach by clicking here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: Polish Rifle Infantry Company

As promised yesterday, here's what I expect will be the mainstay of any Polish force: the basic rifle infantry company.

This was a very interesting list to put together, mainly because of the unusually large paper strength of Polish infantry squads and the way in which they were armed:  how do you deal with a 19-man infantry platoon armed with bolt-action rifles and BAR on the table-top?

I suppose the place to start is with the lists in the v2 theatre supplement, Blitzkrieg! Here, Richard Clarke’s Polish infantry squads have ten men, and are split into squads with BAR and squads without. He has, however, given the company HQ an extra squad.

I have chosen to do things a little differently.

Firstly, I have the on-table strength of an infantry rifle squad as twelve. This is a decrease of the same proportion as used for German infantry squads.

Secondly, I have chosen not to differentiate between those squads with or without a BAR (assuming that BARs would be spread as evenly as possible throughout a force) but to penalise the firepower of the larger infantry squads by capping their Actions (and therefore firing dice) at ‘3’ right the way through from eight to twelve men. This represents a combination of dealing with an unwieldy number of men, the reduced ROF of the BAR versus a true LMG (without semi-automatic rifles to compensate as in later war US squads), and an allowance for the fact that a certain number of squads might be missing BARs entirely.

This seems to me to be a good compromise: especially as the large squads capped at three Actions represent units that showed no particular extra training to their contemporaries, but will effectively be braver than most as they will stick around for longer.

Those who disagree with my interpretations, above, are at liberty to field “understrength” squads of ten, subtracting one dice to any fire from a squad without a BAR.

To see the Polish rifle infantry company list, click on the picture. Or to see all currently available lists on the Poland 1939 page, click here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: 21st Light Tank Battalion

Yes, you guessed it: it's another list for the Poland 1939 project!

This time we have an order of battle for the 21st Light Tank Battalion, equipped with French R-35 tanks.

The 21st saw action against both the Germans, at Kamionka Strumilowa, and the Soviets, at Krasne. It contained forty-five R-35s.

You can see the list by clicking on the pic to the right, or click here to go to the main Poland 1939 page.

Now that I've warmed up on the lists for the armour, tomorrow should be the big one:  the standard Polish infantry rifle company. 

IABSM: Poland 1939: 2nd Armoured Battalion

Another list for the plucky Poles: this time covering forces based on one of the three light tank companies from the 2nd Armoured Division.

FT-17 Tank photographed at the Musee d'Armee, Paris

These units were equipped with somewhat obsolete French FT-17 tanks, some of which were still only armed with machine guns. To give you an idea of how bad they were thought, the platoon and company commanders didn't actually ride in the tanks, but drove around in field cars or on motorcycles!

To see the list, click on the pic; or click here to go to the Poland 1939 home page to see all available lists.

IABSM: Poland 1939: 10th (Motorised) Cavalry Brigade

A third list for the Poland 1939 project, and this time it's the turn of the 10th Motorised) Cavalry Brigade.

The brigade consisted of cavalry units converted to the role of motorised infantry, and was the only fully operational Polish motorised infantry unit of the campaign. The infantry element of the brigade consisted of the 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment and the 24th Uhlan Regiment, each consisting of four company-sized motorised rifle squadrons; an HMG squadron; and an AT platoon.

This was the formation christened the "Black Brigade" by the Germans because of the black jackets worn by the Polish motorised troops.

Click on the pic to see the list.

Or click here to go to the Poland 1939 page with all the lists.

IABSM Poland 1939: New List Added

I have now completed and posted the second of the IABSM v3 OBs for the Polish army of 1939: that of the 3rd Light Tank Battalion.

The 3rd Light Tank Battalion was a make-shift unit consisting of only two companies of tanks: the 2nd Company, equipped with double-turreted 7TPs; and the 5th Company, equipped with single-turreted, improved 7TPs.

Originally intended for the 10th Motorised Cavalry brigade, the 3rd remained in Warsaw for the city's defence, and was attached to the central city defence HQ.

As ever, the core content of the list comes from Alexander's work on the Anatoli's Game Room blog, and is gratefully used with his permission.

Click on the pic to see the list, or click here to visit the Poland 1939 page containing all the IABSM v3 lists published so far.

IABSM: New Project: OBs for Poland 1939

Today marks the start of my latest project for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!: the creation of a set of v3 compatible army lists for re-fighting the September 1939 invasion of Poland.

I have been looking to model a 1939 Polish force for some time but, being someone who likes to have things handed to them on a plate, have been waiting for the v3 Blitzkrieg! theatre supplement to arrive before starting to buy figures. Until now, that is, when I have decided to produce IABSM v3-specific lists myself.

The impetus behind this project are the superb September 1939 campaign army lists for Flames of War that appear on the Anatoli's Game Room blog. Their author, Alexander, has given me permission to use his work as the basis for a set of IABSM lists which, combined with my own (much more limited) research, will appear on this website over the next few months.

The lists will follow Alexander's format of, where possible, concentrating on specific formations, especially for the armoured and specialist units. I'm afraid I don't think I'll be posting the Armoury until all the lists are up...but only because I want to put together all the stats for the various troops, weapons and vehicles on offer all in one go.

Today's launch includes the posting of the first of the lists: the 1st & 2nd Light Tank Battalions i.e. a force built around a company of 7TP jw (i.e. single turret) tanks. The OB also provides the detail needed for those elements of the the two battalions that appear as support options for other lists.

You can follow the progress of the project and download the various lists from the Poland 1939 page, available by clicking here or from the IABSM dropdown in the page header, above.