The Sound of Drums - A British Hearts of Iron AAR
Part One
1st January, 1936
The First Cabinet Meeting
Greetings to the Cabinet members, selected Members of Parliament, Chiefs of the armed forces, assorted commanders, ambassadors and to the Minister of Silly Walks. Thank you for assembling at this time, particularly given the current reshuffling of the Cabinet. No, no need to congratulate me on winning the election - the CFC Party was almost guaranteed to achieve victory.
Sadly, if we wish to achieve similar results on the world stage, were going to have to completely revolutionise Britains infrastructure. Our industrial capacity is low, our armies spread thin, and there is a very real threat that even the Royal Navy could be overtaken by the United States or, worse still, the Japanese Empire. Please take a look at the first handout given to you:
The production screen
To translate for those less informed, the figures simply confirm how bad things are. We can only begin production of a limited number of things, and even those will be restricted. Our manpower is low, so we will have to be extra careful in choosing which of the armed forces will be improved. The Royal Navy should be unaffected, and I propose we begin construction of new vessels immediately.
It is quite clear as well that we will be forced to trade for resources - particularly rare materials and metal. We can use our oil and energy reserves for that, and should continue trading with members of the Commonwealth, France and the United States.
Regarding foreign policy, relations with our allies remain good, and the same goes for the United States, though they continue to maintain their isolationist policies. Relations with the rest of Europe can be considered neutral at best, icy at worst. All appear to be concerned with themselves, so to speak, in particular Germany and Soviet Russia, who seem to be attempting a rejuvenation of their countries.
If you would please have a look at the second handout:
Current technology
This is a very simple approximation of Britains abilities, as well as showing what we consider our best military units. As you can see we have the ability to fund up to five research teams at any one time, and I suggest we use that as long as our money holds out. I personally believe we should have each of the armed forces (army, navy and airforce) represented by one tech team each, another to improve our industrial strength, and the fifth one either inactive, or for use in any additional field.
Finally, over this next year we will be reorganising the entire armed forces across the Empire. In particular we need to strengthen our far eastern presence, given the increasing threat of another Sino-Japanese war, and to do so it would probably be best to boost our fleet strength there, simply as a deterrent. Given our need to defend India, Egypt and Britain itself however, this will no doubt cause further problems to an already overstretched military.
If there any questions, suggestions or comments, then feel free to ask. Thank you for your time, gentlemen.
