More recently a friend decided to open up his imaginary 1920's "East Indian" campaign i.e. that of the sub-continent of Asia, to those locals interested in playing (eventually). As humour, I offered the following "historical" explanation to how a bunch of American c1870 horsemen became involved in a war fifty years and half a world away:
From: General Waywronge , US Army Public Relations Department
To: Military Allocation and Transport Department, Washington DC,
Date: 3 May, 1920
Regarding: Transportation of United States Army Historical Reenactment Troop, Fort Cheyenne circa 1876.
Destination: Northwest Frontier Settlement Theme Park
Request: Transportation of said troop plus horses, arms and ammunition, to mentioned location with all due haste for annual ‘Red Indian Days’ in June of this year.
———
“Sergeant, where is North West Frontier?” asked the two week old replacement; he was confused upon reading the request. The First Sergeant of the Military Allocation and Transport Department, already frustrated by the constant questioning by what he considered to be a halfwit - even by Army standards - did not even bother to look up from his reading of Gunga Din. “Well it is in India, you idiot, in the North-West part, hence the name.”
“Got it! North West India.”
The sergeant, to his pleasure, heard a muttered muttering from the clerk, “Oh yeah, that makes sense, ‘Indian Days’!
After many minutes of scribbling of orders the sergeant
engrossed in his Kipling book, had to respond to yet another question.
“ Sergeant that's a pretty big area on the map. Can you narrow it down for me?”
The sergeant replied, “Try Jhamjar.”
“ ‘Jhamjar’, Sergent?”
“Jeez a’ ”, cursed the Sargent, “J…H…A……..”
It was thus that a small troop of US Army re-enactors in bluecoats and armed with old colt revolvers found themselves not pretend-fighting Red Indians in the plains of America but actually fighting Indians with machine guns several continents away