ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

The following being a couple of years-long stream-of-consciousness posts on the Twilight 2000 Face Book page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/twilight2k/).

Please note that nearly all these posts refer to the First Edition timeline. I know a lot of the vehicles here are covered on Paul's site, most of what I'm posting is for colour and context.

[ChalkLine]

20 years ago I was working on a largish building site. It was pouring down raining one day so I made up a list of what would be salvaged there if the workers just never came back.
It was a large site; about eight five-story buildings:
- Mobile 25t crane, four-wheel drive, as ten-ton truck. This has four wheels and a crane only as structure, and is abysmally slow on the road.
- 3x Hoists, each hoist lifts a steel, 1m high, 'basket' about 3m², the hoist gantry is three sided and runs on an inbuilt generator. Each gantry section was 6m long. There is no 'floor' button on each level; an operator at the foot of the gantry controls it. Total gantry length would be about 60m but it wouldn't be safe up to that height!
- 8x Oxy Acetylene welding kits, usually about 60% full. There was a supply container (20') onsite for welding supplies.
- 18 wheeler and pup trailer, dumper.
- 2x Compressors (trailer size, mondo)
- First Aid demountable shed, well stocked
- 20x temporary power poles, steel, 6m high
- 100m power cable
- 2x mini refrigerators
- 4x civilian sedans
- 3x civilian utilities (pick ups)
- 2x civilian vans
- 1300m² form-boards, 16mm 12ply. We were making the structures out of concrete. This is sufficient to make an eight-story building with three lifts in one shot. Of course, it was spread over eight buildings.
- 3x bobcats and interchangeable tools
- Four wheel drive forklift, about 8t
- 100x pallets of concrete block bricks
- 13x 20' shipping containers
- 4x 40' shipping containers
- 2x backhoes
- 1x excavator
- 1x concrete pumping truck, the arm had a ten-story reach.
- 2x concrete trucks
- 7x demountable sheds, with sinks.
- 2x demountable toilet/shower blocks, filthy.
- 14x power-boards
- 8x garbage skips
- 870x star pickets (star droppers, steel stakes)
- 3000m x 3m (9m sections) Green plastic shade cloth
- 3000m x 3m (9m sections) steel 'cyclone' chain-link mesh
- 3x 25' cabin cruisers (I have no idea either)
- 35' yacht (ditto)
- 60x (2m x 3m) 'cyclone' chain-link mesh frames with 2" steel pipe frame.
- 10x 40m (40mm) Water hose (we were always pumping)
- 5t truck with extendable crane and bore for footings
- 5x 50m coils copper water pipe
- 20' container plumbing supplies
- 20' container paint supplies
- 20' container power tools and expendables
- 20' container electrical supplies
- 20' container safety supplies

Concrete and reinforcement steel was brought in as needed so the players would have to go look for that.

[ChalkLine]

If you're like me it always confused me that when you get a vehicle in T2k you don't get *any* of its equipment, not even a jack! 🙂
Anyway, here's a load plan someone gave me for a Bradley M3A2. I'm not sure of how accurate it is but it was given to me by someone with intimate experience with Brads.

M3A2 ODS Bradley CFV
Ammunition & Pyrotechnics
2 TOW 2A ATGMs ready loaded
100 rounds 25mm APDS-T M791 ready loaded
200 rounds 25mm HEI-T M792 ready loaded
800 rounds 7.62mm (4-1) ready loaded COAX
200 rounds 25mm APDS-T M791 stowed
400 rounds 25mm HEI-T M792 stowed
1 400 rounds 7.62mm (4-1) stowed
1 000 rounds 5.56mm stowed
2 M47 Dragon missiles
2 M18 Claymore mines
16 smoke grenades for vehicle launchers
4 illumination flares
4 coloured smoke grenades
4 incendiary grenades (for vehicle self-destruction only)
Other Expendables
330 litres of fuel in the fuel tank
5 20-litre plastic jerry cans of potable water (10 lts per man per day all uses)
Vehicle Equipment
3 Fire extinguishers (turret, driver & rear compartments) (Internal Halon system inoperable)
Flotation screen & supports
Flotation screen repair kit
Spare screen supports
2 Camouflage screens and poles
Tarpaulin
2 Track links
1 Track ficture
1 Track drift pin
Maintenance platform on the upper hull (this can be attached to the hull in front of the engine access panel, to give the crew a horizontal surface to stand and work on).
Tracked vehicle tools sufficient to undertake routine maintenance and perform simple tasks.
Shovel
Axe
Mattock
Sledge hammer
Crow bar
Heavy duty two cable
50 metres of razor wire concertina
1 5-litre can of motor oil
1 2-litre can of transmission fluid
1 2-litre can of grease
2 20-litre plastic jerry cans filled with non-potable water
Grease gun
Cable reel
Pintle
Panel marker
Traversing unit
Windshield kit
Driver’s thermal night viewer & spare lens
AND/VDR-2 tactical survey meter and vehicle radiac set
AN/PRS-7 or -11 mine detector
M256 chemical detector kit
M42 alarm detector
M43 alarm detector and battery
A decontamination apparatus is stored on the forward part of the turret shield,
AN/GRA-39 radio set
AT-784/PRC antenna
Spare radio antennas
TA-1/PT telephone set
TA-312/TP telephone set
First aid kit, contents limited to a selection of wound dressings, bandages, scissors and antiseptic
Hand crank generator M91
Mounted Water Ration Heater
Camp stove
Bucket
Dozen bungee cords
Lantern, powered by vehicle
Rope, 50 m
Sandbags, empty, 1 dozen
Battery charger
Commander’s Equipment
Issue mapcase
1:100 000 map of Poland, eastern Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria
1:50 000 map of western Poland
Prismatic compass
Protractor, ruler, pencils
Angle head torch & 2 D cell batteries
M22 7x50 binoculars
Prismatic compass
M238 flag set
Scout Equipment
M60 machine gun (temperamental - doesn’t like heat, cold, dirt or water, ie frequent malfunctions)
M60 spare barrel equipment bag including asbestos glove for barrel changing
M60 tripod
AN/PRC-77 radio and LC-2 cargo frame
M49 telescope & tripod
M22 7x50 binoculars
Prismatic compass
AN/PVS-7B night vision goggles (2 prs) (no batteries)
AN/PVS-4 night vision sight (no batteries)
Individual Equipment
1 MOPP suit including gloves per man stored under his seat
1 Personal weapon, set of LBE, rucksack and duffel bag per man

[ChalkLine]

When the warbirds get grounded the ground pounders probably breathe a sigh of relief right?
Almost.
The USSR still had its huge 2S4 240mm mortar (https://www.armyrecognition.com/russia_russian_army_vehicles_system_artillery_uk/2s4_tyulpan_240mm_self-propelled_mortar_carrier_data_sheet_specifications _description_pictures_video.html?fbclid=IwAR1GiWqG PSEjkLfGyGG2Dx-Xwby47u-3UUbfk2Lm7IO-tiMo74gYDfk2_0U), a beast throwing a massive shell the size of a middling air to ground dumb bomb and capable of doing the tasks that things like the JDARM do today. Bunker busters, the dreaded CHEM shell, vast HE rounds and cluster bombs, not to mention its tactical nuclear shell.
Put a few in your game today . . .

https://www.armyrecognition.com/images/stories/east_europe/russia/artillery_vehicle/2s4/2s4_240mm_Tyulpan_self-propelled_mortar_carrier_tracked_armoured_vehicle_ Russia_Russian_line_drawing_blueprint_001.jpg

https://www.armyrecognition.com/images/stories/east_europe/russia/artillery_vehicle/2s4/2s4_Tyulpan_240mm_self-propelled_mortar_carrier_tracked_armoured_vehicle_ Russia_Russian_925_001.jpg

[ChalkLine]

The Wieliczka Salt Mine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine) just east of Kraków


https://cdn.mapmania.org/original/map_of_wieliczka_salt_mine_poland_65010.jpg

[ChalkLine]

Chemical Warfare

While the Rool-Of-Cool states the GM can use anything anywhere, T2k has always had a strong grounding in some realities about where or why things appear in the campaign. Chemical warfare, one of the most feared things that exist in the game, is not usually looked into simply because it is so feared. However, let's have look at why and where it's deployed.
Basically, chemical warfare is simply a tool in the military toolbox. Once approval has been granted for release the OPFOR or Allied commander will look at the battle-space and see if chemical weapons have the ability to act as a force multiplier and what the effects will be. They don't simply soak the battleground in chemicals.

Chemical weapons are one of a class that have effects on both sides, and as such aren't applicable to many situations. As many of the posters here have over the years have made accounts of the terrible conditions that chemical warfare countermeasures inflict on the combat personnel and their large negative effects on combat capability - especially combat endurance - it becomes obvious that chemicals have a fairly niche application.

As everyone here knows, there's essentially three sorts of of chemical weapon:
- Nerve Agents
- Blister Agents
- Choking Agents

Nerve Agents promise fast disabling of enemy forces but also heavily contaminate the battlefield. Thirty years after the end of the Cold War we can actually admit that the USSR did actually see the Poles as allies, and as such weren't in a big hurry to contaminate Poland wholesale for many practical reasons. Nerve agent release also limits the enemy from manoeuvring in the contaminated area as all nerve agents are very persistent and also have very damaging long-term contamination that may make the battleground impassable for years to come. As such important choke points and other strategic areas should never be attacked with nerve agents. Also areas that have water run-off towards strategic areas should also be avoided, especially if that run-off flows back into your own territory. Prevailing winds, which in the European plain blows mainly west, should be taken into account when looking at nerve agent deployment. This means Warsaw Pact deployment of nerve agents are more likely to blow into enemy territory than NATO deployments. However NATO long range deployments might be used to attack rear-areas without an accompanying ground attack. These attacks would be invariably area-denial in nature so players could expect them to be well-marked by Warsaw Pact forces by the time they got to them - assuming there was any local survivors.

Nerve agents, like biological and nuclear weapons, are the best way of limiting player movement into areas where the campaign simply doesn't go.

Blister Agents are less persistent in most cases, but this is relative. Stormwater runoff can become heavily contaminated and cause significant injuries on contact if the blister agent has had a heavy release. Blister agents re seen by militaries as more-easily countered and so have been kept in store alongside more effective nerve agents because friendly troops can manoeuvre through contaminated areas with less losses. Blister agents are used, like artillery, against set positions and less as area-denial. Blister agents are a serious threat to players and the GM should think long and hard on how blister agent attacks should be made on characters. I personally thing they should be encountered more as an NPC-on-NPC attack to allow the players to experience them but to be well prepared.
Blister agents are, in my opinion, at the upper limit of destructive power a GM should allow players. It should be noted that civilians are almost never protected against blister or nerve agents and collateral damage of this sort of release will be high in civilian populations, especially among the vulnerable.

Choking agents are commonly deployed by even very advanced governments on their own citizens. Choking agents have little persistence except in very high concentrations and rapidly degrade, but that doesn't mean that they're harmless. In Viet Nam the USA deployed choking agents as area denial in OPFOR tunnel complexes in concentrations that were lethal. However choking agents are easily countered if a group is prepared and make a good tactical complication in T2k combat. Choking agents are also far less restricted in use than nerve or blister agents and can be encountered far further down the command chain than the other agents that are usually restricted to the divisional level or release. They have a heavy effect when used by surprise on unaware or resting troops. Long term use on set positions can make those positions untenable, and both players and NPCs may resort to 'smoking out' well-entrenched units with these agents deployed over long periods.

Persistence.
The major aspect the players will encounter with chemical agents is their persistent nature and the contamination of the campaign area.
As noted above, water runoff is a prime area of contamination, as is the interior of areas not exposed to the weather. Some of the more persistent agents such as the nerve agent VX 'stick' to the underside of surfaces and can make contaminated areas instantly lethal for long and varying periods after deployment. The interior of structures used as shelter and defensive positions, abandoned vehicles and public structures can all be contaminated by chemical agents and the GM should give this some thought when designing a new area. Small spaces such as utility sheds that are rarely opened are especially prone to contamination. Another danger is the repair and use of utilities such as water and air services that may flush out contamination. To be fair a GM should have this happen to NPCs before inflicting it on players so the players can develop some survival skills regarding this aspect.

Anyone want to chime in?
How about storing chemical weapons and decontamination?

[ChalkLine]

The rare form of transport device:

Porters.

People who carry your stuff. Apart from their food, bedding and so on, how much can the average person carry?
Who are these people?

Some can be hired. Some might be from your country in a strange land and hook up for protection. Some might be related to you.

Something that has disappeared from the world since World War 2; hand carts.
Simply it's a cart you drag along by hand. Perhaps they can be made from wheel barrow materials now.

Also, I wonder how much a wheel barrow can carry?

[ChalkLine]

Vehicle Load-Outs.

I always liked how The Morrow Project bit the bullet and created vehicle's load-outs for their vehicles. I get the sneaking feeling that the standard Twilight 2000 'all the stuff on the vehicles has been lost' was just a cop-out.

The problem is of course that in reality no two vehicle type has the same load-out and making a list for them would be nigh on impossible.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/s600x600/71468199_10157359694725874_8440369927944142848_n.j pg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=zI-8bxTv00kAX80tQ_K&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=0c24034b967c7afff5c6081ce81d5b2a&oe=6144F466

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/70968268_10157359695510874_2903272908547686400_n.j pg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=gk7CBJddRVEAX_J4rdb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=eae0851d5a432b214722dfc03606e3a2&oe=6141A355

[ChalkLine]

What changes have you made to your game?

I went for a radical change to a more lethal system, but I also noted a few things that I personally didn't like too much about the standard game:
(Please note the following is simply personal preference)

- An over emphasis on special forces by many players.
I think this is frankly because players know 'skills = survival' and playing a spec ops gets you those skills.
To change this I just gave out a skill total that was the same for everyone and players got to choose whatever skills they liked within reason. I also made it clear that after four years alive in world war three the PCs were now as skilled as any special forces operator even if they were a lowly private in an infantry section.

- The ranks seem too high.
I've been in many a game where there are multiple colonels and sergeant majors. It just seemed silly even with the rapid advancement.
The campaigns I ran we did without rank tables and just had nearly everyone a private, one or two corporals and a sergeant plus one LT. This actually had a strange development where the privates became the main social group.

Typing this out I suddenly realised that I may have been heavily influenced by movies like Cross of Iron and Kelly's Heroes.

[ChalkLine]

Missions outside the perimeter for canton troops:

- Basic Patrols
Intelligence is vital and clearing patrols stop OPFOR from making positions outside the perimeter. Things spotted from the lookout positions need someone to go and check them out such as smoke columns and various sounds such as gunfire or screams for example.

- Salvage and Upkeep.
The perimeter is never strong enough and forays into the hinterland for barbed wire from old positions, recovered land mines (who wants that job?!), bunker materials and similar can be scavenged from spots the patrols find. Similarly fuel, even something as simple as wood for heating and stills, can be hunted up. Food is a constant requirement and intel from patrols or friendly civvies and stragglers might develop locations for these. Vehicle wrecks are great resources that need specialised missions to recover.

- Anti-Battery Missions.
Nothing sucks more than being mortared for days on end. Missions to deal with OPFOR indirect fire observers and artillery units or to place your own observers in position might be common place. From simple elimination to destroy-and-seizure missions to grab equipment such as weapons, position materials, radios and so on can be developed.
When under indirect fire attack most cantonal tasks can't be accomplished. Exposed equipment might be destroyed (a good way to keep your PCs lean and hungry and thus ready to go out and adventure).

[ChalkLine]

Here's an article on what food would be available in a Nuclear Winter. (https://www.sciencealert.com/a-nuclear-winter-would-trigger-a-global-famine-here-s-what-a-doomsday-diet-would-look-like?fbclid=IwAR3dNQU1NkX3sQlkhzOWKpfqMunr5WmEWtx-RMiZ3ymMBdRyIHPt2y73Vdw)

It prompts a lot of questions and the thing about the Twilight War is that it always postulated a 'friendly nuclear war' that wasn't overly destructive. In fact every T2K campaign I've been in on reflection the damage to the fabric of the world probably wasn't as bad as the Second World War and never as bad as The First World War (there's places in northern France that are so contaminated by chemicals from gasses and explosives from The First World War that they kill 95% of plants and are so toxic they probably can't be entered for another 700 years by unprotected people)

However a true Nuclear Winter is a really terrifying setting. A general exchange would probably stop most sunlight reaching the surface of the earth and survivors have about two to three years to get to the equatorial areas and set up enough infrastructure to exist. A campaign set on this isn't just getting back to friendly territory but transiting a whole section of a global hemisphere.
It also is a lot harsher in every respect. Everyone left behind is going to starve or die of exposure. Food supplies are going to rapidly exhausted in that short window of transit because the very next crop is going to fail after the exchange, and its going to fail on a global scale and keep on failing. Players are not going to be able to comparably comfortably wait out the winter months in a canton but instead are going to have to keep moving as the cold starts to set in around the polar latitudes and then move. Endless darkness from the nuclear clouds will make the going tough. Most people will simply psychologically fail and die, unable to move. In fact most surviving people may be even unaware that they have to move towards the equator and this will doom them.

It definitely makes for a different game in every sense. The article says that a general exchange between just India and Pakistan is probably enough to trigger the Nuclear Winter, an exchange between the WTO and NATO is more than enough to do so, even one that only uses a fraction of the combined arsenal.

The biggest problem once the players get moving may just be starting. A general mass movement in an equatorial direction will overwhelm every society on the planet, both those moving and those already at the equators. Players may well need to fight the whole way and the fight for space once they're there and finally fight again against others arriving.

[ChalkLine]

I was just watching a video on Viet Nam and came across an interesting thing that relates a bit to the Twilight War.
(Note that this does not cover every area and time but is simply a broad generalisation.)

After about '68 the Viet Cong (not the NVA) switched tactics. Prior to this they'd been fighting large unit actions and encounters would be in the nature of battles that might run up to days of combat. However the preponderance of US firepower meant that this was a losing proposition. While some of the hard-fought battles might cause large US losses in some cases usually they'd inevitably lose more men and materiel the VC couldn't afford. After '68 they shifted to ambushes to fight an attritional war where combat rarely took longer than ten minutes. Before the US troops could marshal their support the VC would simply withdraw.

This had a strange effect on infantry fighting in that it totally destroyed any ability to manouevre. The US troops would go to ground, call in airstrikes or artillery and then by the time they'd got that sorted the fighting was over. The infantry rarely shifted position from when they'd first been hit. In the vast majority of cases the skilled US infantry didn't flank, didn't suppress and envelope or any of the advanced infantry fighting they'd been taught. They just shot back until the shells landed and then cautiously went over to see if they'd hit anyone. It was a major paradigm shift in combat and many of the soldiers had to relearn the fighting they had to do.

Now, to get to Twilight 2000.
This major shift in tactics will probably happen quite a few times and at varying times in different places. A GM who wanted to have different areas of the war fighting different types of fighting could do so. For instance, during The Siege of Warsaw you might see positional fighting with trenches, barbed wire, mines and artillery duels much like in The Second World War at The Siege of Sevastopol. In my campaign the siege is unsuccessful and NATO never gets into the city but if they did then you shift to the awful 'rattenkrieg' ('rat war') of Stalingrad where there's no armour to be seen and you can fight for days for three rooms of a ruined building while the civilians huddle in the basement. However on the river banks of the Vistula there might be the Mekong Delta hit-and-run tactics mentioned above and between there and the Oder on the plains you might see vehicle manouevre warfare with sweeping movements of mobile mechanised units.
Player characters moving between areas should be confronted with new types of fighting suited to the tactical realities of the areas. Trying to add flavour this way I think would start to differentiate between player backgrounds and experiences. One player might be a survivor of the trenches, another a brown water patroller and yet another a cavalry soldier as an example.

I don't recommend penalising players for being 'out of area' but I do recommend giving players a bonus for a specialty. A point on their initiative and cool for being in a combat situation they're (undoubtedly unwillingly) accustomed to might give a nice touch of difference.

Also this means that players can specialise in something they do quite a lot and the GM can promote their area of expertise. The specialist character might get Idea Rolls to come up with a helpful tactic if they're stuck ('You remember at Warsaw you crawled through a land drain and came out behind the enemy in a similar situation'). I'd use this cautiously as players resent the GM steering their players, it can make them feel a bit like a passenger in the game. But if they don't know what 'mouse-holing' is or what a flank sweep is then I can't see the harm with the GM providing an option.

[ChalkLine]

Here's the description of my armoured train from my campaign for you to use or abuse.

[ChalkLine]

Here's a simple encounter driven scenario that might cover one or two sessions. It's nothing special and is written to be able to slot into any campaign. There's no NPC stats or maps as it's very generic.
On the whole it's here simply to round out a campaign or when you're stuck for ideas one night

[ChalkLine]

While not a standard Twilight 2000 game, I've been doing a bit of wikipedia reading and the idea of various military 'advisers' stranded deep in Africa in the 1990s and trying to fight their way out has suddenly appealed to me.

The premise is that some former troops are contacted by their respective governments to act as advisers for a rebel group in a fictional country and try and overthrow the current government. Once on the ground they realise that the intel they've been given is totally wrong and the situation is far more complex than they were briefed. After a bit of scene setting where they start to realise that they're probably not on the side of the angels (obviously there simply isn't any in this situation) a factional struggle kills the rebel group's leaders and the new leaders have other backers. As this is post-Glasnost I'd probably pick some other nation than Russia as 'bad guys', probably a fictional one as regional governments often fostered rebel groups in each other's territory. (Liberia was infamous for this).

A loyal soldier gets them a warning that the new rebel leadership has targeted them for arrest. Some of the group will be executed as a spectacle and the rest extradited to the rebel's backers for intel. The executed will probably be the lucky ones as the backer's methods of interrogation are similar to those of Idi Amin's.

In true T2K fashion the advisers have to get to an extraction zone with plenty of betrayal and conflict as well as the possibility of using their skills to do what they consider is correct on the way as they're no longer considered 'employed'. Behind them and pushing the plot is a horde of various factions in technicals displaying various levels of the brutality that marked the regional conflicts of that era.

The players start in a situation much like the end of the 5th ID; grabbing whoever and whatever they can and beating feet. The infrastructure in front of them is destroyed by the war and they may even end up cooking fuel.
Worse they may now be seen as something of a liability by their own backers; the shadowy organisations that put them in theatre. How this develops would depend on the plot.

Of course all is not lost. There was some very good people in the area in that time and they might be able to help out. However it would inevitably be a tangled situation as these helpful groups or individuals tried to liaise with each other to provide help or guidance.

[Edit] I actually started researching background for this and the setting was so awful and depressing I simply abandoned it.

[ChalkLine]

"Wow, we've got a lot of stuff!"

Players are acquisitive.

They start out fairly normally, and if you use the usual rules and say a five man group they get a load of equipment just starting out. However, after a few weeks of game time they can have a caravan of gear they can't bear to leave behind.
I've seen players happy to start out on foot with just a backpack soon end up with an MBT towing a trailer of junk, plus more. It's in their nature.

It makes a lot of sense. Everything about the setting states that all this stuff will get rarer and rarer. The constant struggle for food especially makes hoarding a natural response. Also, the game tends to throw up friendly NPCs, even the much-loved UK stragglers with their sterling SMGs, and soon they have a little train of camp followers traipsing along behind them.

Now, the first thing many GMs think is "how do I trim this train of stuff down to a lean, mean crew?"
Well, that's not hard and I'm not going to talk about that. Instead I thought we might discuss embracing the little society the PCs create and some ways it can be teased into good story-moments for players.

The first concern is of course working out how they move all this junk. Road trains are the usual method but there's also trains and watercraft as well. Now, from a tactical point of view you don't want your camp followers subject to a meeting engagement. It's going to be upsetting for the PCs if they have a heavy firefight complete with IEDs against a marauder ambush to find out that their NPCs are scattered across the road in bloody heaps and their stuff is on fire. So sensibly they should have two groups; the caravan and the scouts.
This works well with road, rail and river travel. The scout team(s) has or have a small, fast and nimble vehicle or two and they move ahead of the slow caravan looking for threats and either dealing with them or ensuring the caravan avoids them. T2K has many scouting vehicles in the list and these can often be used for rail and rivercraft as well although both these methods of travel can have specialist vehicles/vessels that travel on those mediums as well. 'Bogghammer'-style 'technical-boats' are great for river scouting and there's an enormous amount of specialist small rail vehicles in use by railways that range from the size of a jeep up to that of a railway car.
These scouting groups don't brew fuel or haul heavy loads, they are combat groups and only haul combat loads. If they need to rearm and resupply they go back to the caravan.
The caravan can haul everything else including specialist assault equipment that can toughen up the scouts. If the players need to penetrate some serious blocking situation that T-55 on a railcar or barge then comes into play without it having to be guzzling fuel every game day. Similarly the NPCs or wounded and recuperating PCs can be useful for providing supporting fires as well as just tending stills, scrounging/scavenging and standing guard. This means those mortars they've never been able to leave behind become useful and they may even be able to get a few shots off with that huge D-30 they've been lugging about to overawe any opposition. After all, the OPFOR don't know how many tubes or how much ammunition they have.

Of course the main group, the caravan, will not move fast but this in most games is a definite plus. Slow and steady exploration means that the GM can spend some time to detail the terrain they travel through.

Of course this is going to need some careful keeping track of. Players range from the bookkeeping-avoidant to those who revel in the minutiae. I find an hour or so with a cup of coffee and some paper spent with the players can organise shifts for the NPCs, how far each caravan vehicle goes on a fuel load and how much fuel the whole circus needs. You also can work out how fast the NPCs go through food and other supplies. Those NPCs permitted armaments (quite often the odd POW gets dragged along) need access to resupply as well and some NPCs will be tasked as hunters, although the large size of the caravan will tend to scare off game and it's more likely the scouts will do the bulk of the hunting.
While the card system for working out NPC motivations is a good start there's also many other systems for fleshing out NPCs and I really recommend the GM take the time to use these. The old AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide had a great set of tables (admit it, we all loved those tables) on page 101 to 102, Cyberpunk 2020 has some stuff on page 36 to 39 and I'm sure other games I don't know about have some good stuff you might want to look into, as well as your imaginations. These NPCs then become real, rounded individuals with wants, needs and desires and it becomes very easy to craft adventures and side adventures around, and the best thing is the players take them where ever they go!

How they do their scouting is of course going to vary wildly. Crossing flat farmland will be quick but traversing a ruined city might take weeks. In fact much of the time might simply be taken up finding a route the heavier vehicles in the convoy can use. While heavy trucks dragging big trailers might just need a good bridge every now and then a deep draught vessel or a heavy train might need both a special route as well as some careful engineering occasionally. GMs can use this to pause movement for a while to get the players to properly explore an area, deal with some sort of threat or even if the GM needs to take a breath to detail the upcoming route.
Some scouting groups might well be comprised entirely of NPCs and this is both a boon and a bane for the GM. It's good in that they might get into sticky situations the players have to get them out of and the GM can just feed info via them to the players, but it also means the GM has to sit down and work out their movements, consumables cost and what they discover. Also, as the players will be the commanders in most cases this will not be something you can just do all in one hit as the players will reroute them fairly often. I'd be interested in trying it out but it might not be for the fainthearted.

A caravan such as this is of course going to be an entirely different kettle of fish for settlements and groups they meet on the way. A bunch of nobodies in a hummer might not be a big problem; they won't impact the local foraging and hunting too much and the settlement would probably outnumber them so they'd feel a bit more confident but an entire convoy with heavy equipment is a different matter. As mentioned there will be concern about their impact on the local resources and also the presence of heavily equipped individuals in large numbers might be off-putting.

[ChalkLine]

Wisla Kralowa - Using Bunker Fuel

As many of you may know the use of coal/wood for the Vistula Queen has never sat well with me. I grew up among merchant seamen and when I chatted about that vessel's conversion system the general consensus of the engineers and shipwrights I talked to was "it would be easier to build a new vessel".

However, many soviet-era ships used what we call here in Australia "bunker fuel". Bunker fuel is a heavy very low grade oil from the very bottom of the fuel distillation process. It's of no use to vehicles smaller than a locomotive, you can't run a tank or truck on it. It needs to be heated up to 65–120 °C (149–248 °F) to be used and at cold temperatures it congeals into a kludgey, tarry goo. It was used in may places, primarily heavy industry and power generation. It's also extremely polluting which is why it's been largely phased out in many places but it still soldiers on in Russia for instance. It's notoriously horrid stuff to deal with and gets everywhere when being handled, which of course adds to the notorious "Post Apocalyptic Suck".

Now, rather than just brewing up fuel or cutting down trees having a heavy fuel oil used for the Vistula Queen actually adds to the game rather than takes away from it. Limiting options isn't such a bad thing as long as the GM let's the players have multiple choices. So rather than just blithely sailing down the Wisla the players now have to seek out sources of fuel for the tug giving the GM ready-made hooks for scenarios. Looting deserted towns is fun and crawling through abandoned factories or power plants (coal power plants use bunker fuel to get the combustion going) lets the players meet different situations than the usual 'settlement-with-a-problem' or armed mooks.

First off the players are going to need intel. Either the NPCs can have prior knowledge of the area or the PCs can interact with NPCs while scouting. Having one or two Boghammars/gunboats snooping along the river lets the PCs do this. Then they find out if the fuel is either on the river or inland. If on the river the PCs can simply clear the location, secure the resource and then bring the tug up to pump the fuel aboard after heating it.
If it's inland this then requires a dedicated tanker, and I'd be inclined to have them search out a tanker-trailer before leaving. A work truck towing this trailer would be a useful utility vehicle for the game and the truck could come in handy if the players also need to do any other repair, rebuilding or construction jobs in the game (and they should!)
Remember this stuff needs heating before it can be pumped out and recovered and the area it is found in may need repair or rebuilding before it can be heated up. This not only allows more encounters while this noisy process is undertaken but also allows the PCs to interact a bit with the environment such as scrounging.

This fuel gives the GM a little bit more narrative control. The PCs can have a hard limit put on their mobility, the GM can add a little tension as fuel stocks run low and it also forces the PCs to get out and look around more. A whole micro-campaign can be built just finding a good amount of fuel that opens up movement.

Here's some ideas to finish up with:
- Some NPC group has recognised the fuel's worth and has already recovered it when the PCs arrive to secure it. They can trade, negotiate or secure the fuel via violence/stealth.
- The facility storing the fuel has suffered an airstrike and is dangerous because of contamination, hazardous ruins, unexploded ordnance or a combination of these things. The PCs must deal with the dangers using their skills.
- A fuel source is now being used by a community of civilians and their militia and they are planning to use the fuel to kickstart a bit of light industry and at the very least for heating during the upcoming bitter winter. Who's need is greater?
- The PCs find some fuel but it is contaminated and requires a specialist chemist, an engineer and specialist distilling gear to clean.
- An NPC group is also running a ship and needs the same fuel, they might be in a race with the players to secure stocks. When the PCs negotiate somewhere this group might attack or try and outbid the PCs, if the PCs are too strong they might tip off nearby OPFOR units to the PC's presence. This group can be fleshed out and be great recurring rivals. Maybe some times they come to the player's aid if the player's are outmatched in exchange for sharing?

[ChalkLine]

Hmm . . did you say there's a sniper up there?
A water tower in Lubne, Poland. South near the Slovakian-Ukrainian border. These are very common structures in this area.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/95015192_10158023348885874_4495709935656501248_n.j pg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=5quEA_ob9T8AX-XKgWj&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=610ab3692225c88a278889355e064ff2&oe=61442B2D

[ChalkLine]

Steam Tug

This is the "William C. Daldy". While she's a New Zealand vessel she was built in Glasgow in 1935 and is fairly representative of a vessel built right across Europe at that time. She's a proper steam vessel so she can actually do her rated 13 knots (24km/ph) and has a crew of ten. I've fixed up the plans a bit for clarity for you.

My only problem with her is that she's a harbour tug and thus has a deeper draught than a river tug. She's actually too deep for the upper Vistula as rated in the scenario which is given as 4.0 metres. Maybe she lurks downriver and you have to take her.
Here's her stats.

Specifications
Built: 1935 by Lobnitz & Co., Renfrew, Glasgow, Scotland. Yard number 986.
Launched: 1st October 1935. Left U.K. 7th November 1935 Arrived Auckland 30th January 1936
Total Price: £30,499 Sterling including delivery to Auckland
Registered tonnage: 348 gross
Speed: 13.4 knots on trials
Bollard Pull: 17 tons (at approximately 1,300 I.H.P.)
Registered Length: 127 feet (38.7 metres)
Beam: 34 feet 6 inches (10.5 metres)
Draft: 15 feet (4.5 metres)
Boilers: Two coal fired Scotch boilers, with 3 furnaces in each
Engines: Two triple expansion steam engines, surface condensing. 980 Indicated Horse Power each. 110 - 115 revolutions per minute.
Propellers: Two 11 feet (3.4 metres) diameter
Bunker capacity: 130 tons
Coal consumption: Long tow 1 ton/hour. Harbour work 3 - 3.5 a day
Crew): 10 - Master, Mate, 2 deckhands, 3 engineers and 3 firemen.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/95629558_10158023462405874_1655438854401818624_n.j pg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=lo-ze8Yk5W0AX8iYsA-&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f593f87fe3c4fed79029c0ddd1b16a30&oe=614331F7

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/94488032_10158023462655874_1521993679349219328_n.j pg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=-AvfpryNXgAAX_SNjHb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=1dd495529d9bc6f3fb6a6f43112414a8&oe=6142AEDF

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/95128777_10158023462920874_3494899555445506048_n.j pg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=NdNNi5t3fmgAX91EUKI&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=a5b2b2ff4d9a54e7b8d5ee4ae12486d2&oe=6142EE94

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/94590136_10158023463200874_6019115237611929600_n.j pg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=ydayaWRc74EAX-KYt5K&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=aa50f2d6df30908aed1dafbba6b7be68&oe=61451767

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/94989979_10158023463515874_8748891735351885824_n.j pg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=5kR3wgygQwkAX_3R1zg&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c4ea959e1646f1f2f91c0c554ffe3ccc&oe=614231E0

[ChalkLine]

Police Forces in T2K Poland

The police in Poland are a vital game playing element because they would be a major element in player interactions. When a disaster occurs, surviving police generally take charge and organise other survivors. As the only government representatives available in the atomised environment of Poland they lend an important element of solidity to traumatised civilians as well as projecting what they see as the government's will and trying to enforce laws when applicable and practical.
Of course they're not going to be everywhere. Police tend to be rounded up or otherwise de-powered when an invading force overruns an area. Due to their protective nature many might well die in the fighting and others simply die in the general destruction or the after-effects of warfare.
Historically many former-regime police are active in insurgencies for many reasons.

In the Twilight Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa (PRL), the Polish People's Republic, the police force is known as the MO, Milicja Obywatelska, Citizens' Militia,

These guys aren't called up for military service because they are a gendarmerie, or paramilitary police force of the style that is common in Europe.

They wear light grey uniforms and in wartime would be outfitted with equipment similar to the army (Polish People's Army Ludowe Wojsko Polskie LWP) although they would be very lightly armed. They wore the Wz. 67 helmet in light grey in combat situations, a grey peaked hat, a grey ushanka-style fur hat or a blue beret (for some units). Normally they would be only armed, if at all, with the FB P-83 Wanad pistol (in 9x18mmM). I think you'd probably see them with AKMs rather than the Kbk wz. 88 Tantal if in action though.

The elite of the MO was the ZOMO, Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej, Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia. These guys were a sort of vast SWAT/Riot Troops/Disaster Reaction group who had stringent enlistment requirements (180 cm/90 kg) and even more political reliability. It was these characters that did much of the mass repression. They were armed as light infantry (including the BTR-60 in the special platoons). These guys make really nifty "bad guys" but once again I think they should be handled carefully like all NPCs.

For role playing I generally have the MO depicted as good communists, prone to corruption (like all soviet-style governments) but otherwise fairly normal. I let them have a wide ranging personalities and in fact in my canon the Warsaw Milicja make a famous last stand against NATO forces at the Warszawa Główna railway station during The Siege of Warsaw, the pivotal battle in my campaign's history. They make both good helpers and adversaries. If you don't stereotype them the players will never know what to expect and this adds a lot to the game.

The ZOMO however were used to keep the population in line and their brutality suppressing protests is legendary. They will be active in rear areas hunting down stragglers - ie: player characters. Worse, they will probably hand prisoners over to their bosses - the feared Ministry of Public Security, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, the SB. The SB was not noted for their humanity.

[ChalkLine]

More Polish Places

The Chełm Chalk Tunnels
50km east of Lublin, home of the Sov 127th CD [(2000 men): Glogow, Nowa Sol], these tunnels were medieval and were only recently fully explored after the events in the game. Several galleries were walled off and difficult to find , let alone access. These tunnels are unique in the world and cover in total about 15km. Their vast extents may provide cover for a partisan scenario in the region of the main supply line from the USSR to the front lines that runs through Lublin. Check it out.

Bochnia Salt Mine
Halfway between Kraków and Tarnów lies the little town of Bochnia and its ancient salt mines, very similar but smaller than the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This one has a little trainway running through it, in fact right through the chapel that these mines often have, and this no doubt works in the scenario because, well, why not. It's time for tunnel-train fighting.
I can see a subterranean hospital being down here for some reason, and also perhaps something more sinister. One side or the other, maybe even both, has stashed some biological weapons done there and two or more teams arrive simultaneously to do something about it. Cue "Call of Duty - Modern Warfare" style desperate penetration of a facility while trying not to bring down the mine on the nearby hospital.

[ChalkLine]

The PT-76 amphibious gun vehicle
Use in combat in the Twilight 2000 setting

You'll note that I have not referred to this vehicle as either a Light Tank or a Reconnaissance Vehicle. This is although it has often been used in these roles where it predictably performed extremely badly it was not envisioned for these roles when it was designed. The USSR experimented with it for these and rather unscrupulously marketed it as them but it's not either. In fact what its actual role is for is quite different.
Let me explain. The PT-76 gets a bad rap in T2K and Cold War gaming because it's huge, thin-skinned, under-powered and has a very bad turret/crewing design choice. The usual assumption is that the soviet union screwed up with it but kept it on because the chassis was useful.

What it's actual role is for is extremely narrow. It's a boat that can climb over sandbars and provide fire support to troops assaulting rivers and beaches, places where the soviets took extreme casualties in The Great Patriotic War. When you examine the following aspects it starts to make sense;
Actual zero gun depression.
Very large hull but a tiny turret.
A gun with a medium calibre but ammunition the soviet union had already discontinued using.
Very thin armour, so thin it can only stop rifle ammunition and shell fragments.
All systems placed below the turret ring.
Limited vision blocks. Less rather than more than their MBTs, an odd choice for a scout vehicle.
Very large, strange, two man hatch with a superimposed commander's hatch.
Looking at these things you start to see why the soviets made their trade-offs in design.
The gun has -0º depression because it's meant to shoot from the water level upwards. [Edit: The hull was modified in 1957 to allow the gun to get a -4º gun depression. I suspect that the buyers were unimpressed] The D-56T tank gun (it's actually a unique gun, not a conversion as some sources say) uses a comparatively large calibre round because they contain more HE filler. If it was to use a 'tankerised' S-60 57mm autocannon it couldn't store the amount of ammo it would need to put down the same amount of HE and the 85mm D-44 gun would have meant a vast 20 tonne amphibious hull. The hull is meant to be submerged where it's safer (HEAT rounds of the time detonated when they hit the water and no light tank armour would stop the 90mm guns then in use) so the turret is tiny to limit its target profile - and thus the hull size is less important. A large hull is vital for a swimming tank and this also mandates thin armour because weight has to be kept down. The radio and so on was placed low, below the waterline where they were safe. As it was in effect a self-propelled gun it didn't need much vision equipment, far less than even much earlier reconnaissance tanks and even less that the contemporaneous T-55. The big hatch was designed so that the turret crew could escape wearing breathing gear or life vests.

So, the PT-76 wasn't a light tank/reconnaissance vehicle and when used in these roles it failed abysmally. It couldn't fight other tanks and it couldn't see anything to be any use. The BMP, BRDM and similar vehicles filled that role instead where they perform(ed) well. When the PT-76 fought actual light tanks such as the M41 Walker Bulldog it generally was destroyed before it could get a shot off or was even aware of the enemy. In fact the soviets only put stabilisation on the gun when it was shown that it had trouble hitting beach targets in any sort of swell.

Right, enough of the essay on what it is.
Where would you see this thing?
Well, unless it's pressed into service as a gun tank like so many specialist vehicles often are with "mixed results" (ie: a death trap) it is strictly a fire support vehicle. It's best function is if you imagine it as a direct fire artillery piece with the pathetic armour and vision that entails. By the time the Twilight War starts it's strictly used by naval infantry and only they have stockpiles of its rare ammunition so it's only where they are. Each vehicle should have a section/squad of troops that accompany it as it's relatively blind and they keep infantry and their nasty RPGs away from it. If any sort of armour is in the vicinity these things immediately retire, they have no business even fighting M2 Bradleys or even lighter reconnaissance vehicles. It can be considered to have no effective armour.

Is it any use?
Well, yes and no.
For the fighting that goes on in the Twilight War it is very good in that it can get across the demolished infrastructure. It doesn't need a bridge and this should not be underestimated as to how important that is. A good example is WW2 IJA tanks that were light to the point of uselessness in opposition to anything with a gun but they could get places where anything with a gun couldn't, meaning they were often very handy indeed. The PT-76 can appear in a lakes district or riverine area and rain down HE from outside of HMG or RPG distance. A careful enemy can utilise one to manouevre into a spot to whack a strongpoint with an HE round or two and then get it out before it's wrecked.
Otherwise it's only good for carting stuff around.
Consider this when considering it for an AFV; the commander's sight is not slaved to the gunsight. This means the commander/gunner has to use two sights, one to acquire a target and then one to engage it. As these sights might be pointing in different directions and the gunner's sight is of a narrow focus there might be a lot of hunting around to engage a moving vehicle that will likely result in the vehicle's destruction. The crews know this all too well.

[ChalkLine]

This is a first world war Canadian video on what goes into making an 8" (203mm) artillery shell. (https://youtu.be/0IgHwYkZ91s)

So when you specify that some or other two can create artillery shells, ask yourself if they have this sort of set up. If they can feed, clothe and shelter the workers and if they can source the specialist metals required.
Then have a thought about the insane amount of working going into a fuze . . .

[ChalkLine]

Pilotage Map of the Kalisz area

[ChalkLine]

Soviet/Russian Body Armour

(This includes post-dissolution armour that was in development during the soviet period.
All armour apart from the SSh-68 came with a cloth TTsKO or VSR camouflage cover unless otherwise noted.)

6B2
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б2
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1979-1983
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute “Stali”
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 4.8 kg
Used by army and GRU spetsnaz (Main Intelligence Directorate of army).
6B2 is first generation army armor vest. It is first modern bulletproof vest in the Soviet army.
Was used in Afghanistan 1979-1989, 1-st Chechen campain and 1993 Moscow Crisis. Widely used in the war in Afghanistan.
6B2 consists of chest and back parts connected with each other in the shoulder joints and with the side buckles. Protective composition consists of titanium armor plates ADU-605-80 1.25 mm thick and ballistic screen of 30 layers of aramid fabric TSVM-G. Provides Ballistic protection and protection from pistol bullets.

6B3
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б3
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1984-onwards
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute “Stali”
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 10.0 kg
One of first mass produced body armour in USSR (later in Russian Federation). Vest was adopted in 1984 and first used in Afghan war (1979-89). Protected the user against rounds of AKM calibre and weighed around 10kg. Later the 6B3 was developed into more versions and camouflage covers were also adopted. The vest saw widespread use in both Chechnyan conflicts and recently even in the South Ossetian conflict.
- 6B3 - ballistic vest Zhe-85T (romanized from 6Б3 and Ж-85Т)
- 6B3-01 - ballistic vest Zhe-85T (romanized from 6Б3-01 and Ж-85Т)
- 6B3TM - ballistic vest Zhe-85TM (romanized from 6Б3ТМ and Ж-85ТМ)
- 6B3TM-01 - ballistic vest Zhe-85TM-01 (romanized from 6Б3ТМ-01 and Ж-85ТМ-01)

6B4-01-P
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6B4-01-P (6Б4-01-П)
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1988- onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 10.0 kg
This vest was produced in limited quantity for spetsnaz assault teams and for KGB Alpha and Vympel units
On the front cover located pouches for 4 AK magazines, spare parts, first-aid kit. On the back cover located 4 pockets for F1/RGD grenade and a buttpack.
(Note: I don't have the armour rating for this but I assume it's heavy assault armour with a greater than normal protection)

6B5-15
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б5
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1986-1998
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute “Stali”
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: varies
The 6Б5 vest is ballistic by having inner slabs/plates made from: Titanium, and Carbon Boride. Then having a TSVM-G inserts that go behind the plates reducing the chance of bullet penetration occurring. These vests came in sizes 1 and 2, 1 being good for 48-54 and 2 for 54-60
Furthermore, the covers are made from Nylon and Cotton
These vests had differing ballistic classes and had 8 different classifications.
6Б5-11 (First iteration of the 6Б5 vest, Came only with ballistic fabric TSVM-G)
6Б5-12 (1.25mm Titanium front and back)
6Б5-14 (Classification does exist, not enough documentation)
6Б5-15 (Most common seen variant, Carbon Boride plates in the front and back)
6Б5-16 (6mm/1.25mm Titanium plates in the front and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the back)
6Б5-17 (Front was a mixture of plates, 4.3mm Iron plates and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the front.)
6Б5-18 (Last Soviet 6Б5 vest developed, 6mm Titanium plates in the front.)
6Б5-19 (This was a classification of the vest after the fall of the Soviet Union, 4.3mm Steel plates and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the front.)

KIRASA "universal" (cuirass) armor vest
Type: Body Armour
Designation: KIRASA
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1996-1997
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: 10.5 kg.
Used during 1st and 2nd Chechen campaign by Maroon Berets MIA special forces.
Olive color set, protects from SVD 7.62 sniper rifle and AKM 7.62

Armor vest KM-1
Type: Body Armour
Designation: KM-1
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 1999-onwards
Manufacturer(s): NPO "Class"
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: 6.6 kg.
Was used by Russian police, MIA MVD, VV, SVR units.
Class II (pistols and submachine guns 9x19, 7.62x25).
Flora or VSR-98 flora camouflage.
Universal size, adjusted by velcro. Pocket for radio.
Full protection set includes:
1. 2x armor plates
2. VSR-98 flora cover
3. 2x soft buffer
4. 4x kevlar (tvaron) plates

SSh-68 Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: SSh-68
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1968-1980s
Manufacturer(s): Varies
Material(s): Steel
Weight: 1.5 kg.

SSh-68M Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: SSh-68M
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1980s-Unknown
Manufacturer(s): Varies
Material(s): Steel with internal Aramid Liner
Weight: 1.8kg.
Notes: This is the standard SSh-68 Helmet with an internal aramid/kevlar liner. As the SSh-68 Helmet was a fairly large helmet the liner was possible. In the Twilight War this would probably be a second echelon helmet, with the 6B7 for first echelon and the old SSh-68 Helmet for third and mobilisation-only troops.

PSH-77 Titanium Helmet with visor and internal radio
Type: Helmet
Designation: PSH-77
Place of Origin: Switzerland
Produced: 1977-???
Manufacturer(s): Tig Bicord AG (Switzerland), Ulbrechts (Austria)
Material(s): Titanium
Weight 2.7 kg with visor.
Weight 1.4 kg without visor
Used by Soviet/Russian elite special forces KGB/FSB. Special forces "Alpha" and "Vympel".
Helmet safety class 2.

"Altyn" Titanium/Aramid Helmet with clear visor and internal radio (without radio is the K6-3)
Designation: Алтын
Place of Origin: USSR, Russia
Produced: 1984-???
Manufacturer(s): NII Stali (НИИ стали)
Material(s): Titanium, kevlar
Weight with face-shield/visor: 4.3 kg

6B7 Kevlar Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: 6Б7
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 2000s-onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Kevlar
Weight 1.2kg
In development in the Soviet Union prior to the dissolution and slated to replace existing helmets for the ground forces in the 1990s. An updated version, the 6B7-M1, was adopted by the Russian SVR (army) in 2008

STSh-81 “Sfera”
Type: Helmet
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 1981 to 1994
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Titanium
Weight 2.4kg

SSSh-94 “Sfera”
Type: Helmet
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced:1994-onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Steel
Weight 3.3kg

[ChalkLine]

Your T2K character

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/100626618_10158123003795874_1678741062027313152_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=abNJSVxyTXUAX_ttAg7&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5a88b2787509eff5c45b9b05ffa73cb7&oe=6142689E

[ChalkLine]

East German stay-behinds after Reunification.

Anyone who's done any reading on the loathsome Stasi understand why the East Germans were happy to reunify with West Germany, however after reunification the people that made up the Stasi and former NVA didn't just disappear, they still resided in Germany. In the Twilight War most of these people must have looked at an uncertain fate.

The most obvious thing to do would be to immediately round them up and intern them as they posed a significant security risk. These individuals had links to various Warsaw Pact forces and the Stasi in particular worked closely with the KGB among others (the KGB thought so highly of them that they were the only intelligence service permitted to work inside Russia). Obviously many former members of these organisations and organisations like them were not particularly linked or even positive towards the east but some undoubtedly would have been.

It's tempting to create stay-behind units from these people. Utilising cached equipment in secret locations they could wreak appropriate havoc where needed. They might have a variety of ideology and motivations that vary from unit to unit and would undoubtedly use the classic cell structure to minimise any compromising of other cells when caught.

While demolition and sabotage are simple enough to design we might want to create more complex aims for these groups.

[ChalkLine]

So, you've got yourself a settlement but the nasty OPFOR are monitoring your hand-helds? No worries, here's something to string between your bunkers.

Field Telephones.

Battery-powered hand sets appeared to all be able to run of external power, usually in the 3 volt range. Most phones seem to have a hand crank to enable ringing at the other end if not used with a switchboard. Nearly all these phones, you can probably assume it is all of them, are sound-powered. The only reason you need to use power is to ring the buzzer. If you don't have a dedicated switchboard, and let's be honest you won't, a simple task will be to rig up a series of switches that exclude or include lines for multiple use. In this case it's possible to have "party lines" of multiple phones.

German

FF OB/ZB (Introduced late 1950s)
Requires 2x D-Batteries
5.0kg

SFT800 (Introduced early 1980s)
3.6kg

USA

TA-1
Sound-powered
1.2kg

TA-43
Requires 2x D-Batteries
5.0kg

TA-312 (Introduced late 1960s)
Requires 2x D-Batteries
4.35 Kg

USSR

TA-57 (Introduced 1957)
Requires 1x 1.5v Battery
2.5kg

[ChalkLine]

Chemical and Biological Warfare

HAZMAT Suits and Endurance

Many people here have been in the military and understand the destructive effect HAZMAT suits have on endurance and functionality. However it's difficult to represent anecdotal information in a game environment so I thought I'd post the two primary systems that cause that degradation of ability.

First and probably the most notable is heat build up.
Not being able to escape the heat your body generates is an incredible and unpleasant experience but the effects are not only overheating but the actual composition of your muscles change. They become less elastic and lose the ability to flex. This is not a linear progression but rather a bell curve as the effects rapidly degrade after a steady decline. I can't over-emphasis how dangerous this is. Not only can the victim's organs shut down and brain damage occur but in extreme cases the muscles can actually stop being elastic strands and become just masses of jelly-like tissue. In a twilight 2000 environment there's probably no possible recovery from this and a lingering death is almost certain.

The other one is exhalation of carbon dioxide. Both these two are linked. Carbon dioxide build up occurs because HAZMAT filters cannot pass nearly enough air through them to both give the lungs the required oxygen and expel enough carbon dioxide. Physical exertion builds up lactic acid in the bloodstream that is broken down in the organs and then expelled as carbon dioxide. If this can't be done at the correct rate a logjam occurs in the body and the lactic acid is not broken down. The upshot of this is the body fatigues very quickly.

So there's three primary systems working here; heat build up, oxygen intake restriction and carbon dioxide expulsion restriction.

The effects tend to snowball and also create feed-back loops which increases the snowball effect.

In game terms what happens is the character is in the three work states given in the rules; rest, light work and hard work. The saves are harder for each work state as the work gets harder.

An important thing about this mechanism is it's very unlikely the PC will notice the effect happening before other, watchful PCs do due to the disruption of brain activity. This isn't like ordinary heat-stroke, it's much faster occurring and more damaging, especially as the usual methods of relieving heat stroke cannot be maintained in a HAZMAT environment. So the GM should apply Observation checks for team mates to see the effects occurring and the victim has a much higher save on the roll.
Contaminated Environments in the Game

I'm a big believer in the MOPP suit. I think at least once in each campaign a hazardous environment should be encountered to bring home that this was a Nuclear, Chemical and Biological War. This is not a summer Sunday afternoon in the woods.
As it's a bit unfair to inflict this sort of nightmare on unprepared PCs it's best to use the universal "I Show, You Do" approach where the PCs can see someone else go down with this, how it occurs and what the effects are.

On a game note to varying effects even just gas masks do this with less but still some heat build up.
Now, having the OPFOR dump some VX on your PCs as they drive along is probably going to get you some hard stares from across the table. Harsh campaigns might have this, my campaigns are very harsh and I wouldn't, but normally it's best to give the PCs both a bit of reaction/preparation time and access to at least normal protective gear. This means you'll need a significant carrot and/or stick to send them into the environment about which the players probably have few illusions about.

There are two main differences in the situation apart from environmental factors; Attacks and Contaminations.

An attack means the risk is acute. The level of contaminants are high and none have had time to degrade. These are extremely hazardous environments where a failure of the containment systems probably means heavy exposure. Obviously these are rare. To be frank the players are nearly never important enough for the OPFOR to expend precious contaminants purposefully on them, however there are many gas mines used by both sides that might create this situation. Generally I tend to use those as events that happen to other people (they are great for blocking off avenues of exploration) but as it's your game I leave that to you.

Contamination is a far more common situation and this gives the PCs several options an attack does not, not the least of being simply to avoid the contamination. In this case a failure of the protection does not necessarily mean exposure depending on the nature of the contamination. Some contamination are so persistent they can be be considered permanent Attacks. One of the biggest problems in a contamination environment is that the individual goes through cycles of hyper-vigilance, awareness and negligence. Once again other PCs can monitor the player. As a side note hyper-vigilance is fatiguing. This is not a good situation for the player. If the player becomes negligent then the normal risks of an exposure increases dramatically. As this has such severe repercussions I'd suggest the GM let this be based on player attitude rather than arbitrary dice rolls and leave those to NPCs. The Leadership skill can buff rolls here.

There is an enormous amount of literature on the effects of contamination and decontamination which I won't go into here. The GM should take into account the amount of weathering and degradation of the contaminant. Weathering degrades exposed surfaces and leaves unexposed areas less effected. This makes simple things such as going over a fence hazardous because the bottoms of the railings may still be heavily contaminated. Also note that some agents rapidly break down, especially some biological agents, and can cause far less damage. If you really want to give your PCs a heart attack have them become inadvertently exposed to a serious agent that has degraded to the point here it is about the level of an irritant.

[ChalkLine]

Settlements - Party-Driven Settlements

Quite often in the campaign the group decides to settle down and oversee a settlement. I've had immense fun doing this as not only are adventures self-generating but they add a layer of involvement for the players.

Settlements rarely involve starting anew but are usually the characters gathering enough NPCs that an existing position is reconfigured into what Twilight 2000 terms a "Canton".
In my campaigns so far these have taken two forms:
1) An existing civilian settlement is settled in and developed. This has been by far the most common.
2) A military position such as a bunker system or outpost is created or adapted as a settlement.
Both have aspects that impact the balance of features. A civilian settlement is often at a trade point nexus, a resource point or similar where a military outpost usually has a site positioned for its defensive capability.Note the term "balance of features". As GM resist the temptation to make everything perfect, every situation should be a trade-off. Some features will be sub-optimal and thus require a greater expenditure of resources, time and manpower than others. Strangely enough in my experience players actually like this and these become the standout memory of the game at that part.

Civilian Settlements.
Configuring a town or farm and so on is simple. It involves simply adding defensive positions and repairing the infrastructure. Existing infrastructure may or may not have been designed with self sufficiency in mind and usually isn't but can be modified

Military Settlements
These settlements are more difficult in some ways because military positions, especially pre-war ones, are usually not designed with self-sufficiency in mind and as the supply chain is a distant and pleasant memory all the infrastructure must be created from scratch.

Basic Necessities:

Defence.
First and foremost Twilight 2000 is a violent environment and comfy spots the players make others will try and take. The important part of this is that it's easy to skimp the interim defence plans for the advanced plans that will come later. Don't do this. Have the players tested constantly so these defences give a pay-off. Players will get bored doing things they start to consider window-dressing.
The first defence plans are simply guarding existing features. Every soldier I've talked to can tell you exactly how much dirt they've shoveled in their lives and rubble and earthwork positions are the primary positions here. If you don't have a working plan of fighting positions the US field manual of the time has some great information for you:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/.../policy/army/fm/index.html
After this the troops will strengthen the position and create a continuous perimeter. To foreshadow this have some OPFOR attempt penetrations into the positions by identifying strong-points and trying to infiltrate between them. Two to three man teams sneak in while the strong-points are either unwary, distracted or engaged. This can be a whole adventure right here. The perimeter should contain two primary features that you undoubtedly already know; the free-fire zone and the barrier. A fun adventure can be PCs going off in a truck to salvage barrier and defensive materials such as concertina wire. Note that this stuff is often booby trapped. However the PCs may want to salvage that too. Of course not only the PCs want this stuff.
After the perimeter is established the defences are simply hardened. This can be as involved as PCs like and some of my PCs actually carefully constructed concrete bunker systems. I can post reams of stuff about that. However one of the most important aspects will be mines. Passive and/or command-detonated mines are a massive force multiplier and decent minefield allows the players to reduce the perimeter guard significantly. Note that in some cases you don't even need the actual mines, the warning signs are enough. However this implies they take them from an existing minefield thus leaving it unmarked, a sucky thing to do. Maybe making your own is the way to go.

Water:
Water supplies are integral to any settlement. Most people seriously underestimate settlement water requirements that are usually about ten times field requirements. Water needs a few things, firstly being the water source itself. After that a pump, piping (which may already exist) and a holding facility that is usually elevated and most importantly armoured. Enemies seeing an elevated structure assume it's an observation point, the players may indeed use it as one, and direct fire at it. Perhaps they learn about this the hard way 🙂
Pumps should be dug in both to protect them and to stop their noise alerting enemies. Waterwheels and windmills are very effective although vulnerable structures and of course use no fuel. Their structures make good defensive points. Piping may be below ground or above ground. Water-points do not have to be a tap in every house, having running water is an unimaginable luxury as it is and a central water-point is fine. Note that if the players neglect to both armour and link the water-point to the defensive positions they can get very thirsty with water just a few metres away if it can be swept by hostile fire.

Food:
This is an amazing subject considering the situation. A lot of food is actually capable of being created inside the defensive perimeter and the players should think to to so. Pigs especially need little room and can turn a large amount of waste into food. Livestock raids by post-nuclear soldiers drive home the environment the players live in. Note that in nearly all cases livestock is very vulnerable to enemy fire even if inside the perimeter, as are glasshouses and food gardens. Chemical contaminants can wipe out the player's food production in one strike as it kills livestock and contaminates the ground and even irritant gasses can do this.
Actual broad acre farming is problematic. If you model climate damage in your game it might not be even possible. As there are no longer industrial fertlisers the rewards are much smaller as well. Also note that it requires about 0.4 hectares (1.0 acres) of grain production to support one cavalry horse. Broad acre farming is normally outside the perimeter and liable to being overrun by the enemy or burnt/contaminated in an effort to deny the players resources. Defending this ground can be extraordinarily hard but the payoff should be equal to the effort.

Non Player Characters.

It is tempting and easy to have the NPCs simply as robots but you are doing your players and yourself a disservice if you do so. Having complex personalities as your NPCs brings a richness to the game and makes the players live in the world. Some NPCs might not be all that helpful, some can be very much so, some can have good qualities offset by drawbacks and finally some can be treacherous. Every game should have some treachery.
The key I think in developing NPCs in a settlement is to introduce them slowly. If you you dump fifteen squabbling NPCs on the PCs their eyes will cross and they'll ignore them. Then when something happens the NPC could have helped with will lead them to feeling cheated. NPCs are obvioulsy the way you introduce outlier skills into the game. As T2K is in most editions very lean on skills the player who takes "Civil Engineer 6" is taking a big risk in combat should their lack of skills let them down.
In the dark ages before the internet GMs were recommended to have index cards for each NPC. These days a simple word file for the NPCs is enough and as you play leave yourself a bit of time to update the NPC's entry. I have a file the PCs can access that briefly notes the NPC, their wound state and skills as well as the weapons and equipment they have. As players can never know what sort of skills an NPC really has you can have a previously boring NPC in the settlement turn out to be a plumber before the war and suddenly you can make a focus of a session that NPC.
NPCs are living, breathing people with wants and desires. This may mean many things. Some NPCs may bargain to some extent before using their skills. Keep in mind the PCs are generally offering a big thing in the intrinsic safety and stability of the settlement and the NPC would be very aware of that. Make the bargaining only for certain characters or for when the NPC is being taken advantage of. Note that NPCs often have strong solidarity and if one NPC is treated badly the whole lot start to show negative effects.
NPCs are going to want to have a say in the direction of things the players do. This will cause conflict as players resent infringement on their agency and so has to be handled carefully. It's best if you can make the players understand the NPC's viewpoint, it makes perfect sense if they want a bandit they caught to be strung up over the gate but perhaps the player's promised not to do so. Have the NPCs say clearly why they want things and not simply what they want.

This has gotten way too long to add industry, crafts, trading and all the other stuff I wanted to talk about.

[ChalkLine]

Has anyone had a look at the Romanian Cold War military?

It's interesting because Romania wasn't really a very enthusiastic member of the Warsaw Pact and it's army wasn't all that thrilled by the way the country was going and with the Patriot Guards, Romania's territorial defence, even less so. In 1989 the Guards were turned out to repress the people and they promptly made the people's uprising an armed uprising.

The reason I go into this is that Romania had some really nifty kit. It was variants of the Soviet stuff but with a unique twist and some of this stuff actually suits T2K a little bit better in some respects because it's really functional yet robust even for Warsaw Pact standards.

The one I've really been enjoying reading is the ABC-79M, a little recon-APC. The Romanians were already making the BTR-80 and when they saw they needed something like a BDRM recon vehicle they simply cut the BTR-80 down into a four wheeler rather than get stuff from outside the country. These purpose-built variants had a short chassis and the BTR's turret. In retrospect it's amazing no one else thought of it (and it makes you wonder what other vehicles would be like if someone did that).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Romania
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_People%27s_Army)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotic_Guards_(Romania))
(https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Equipment_of_the_Romanian...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Pu%C8%99c%C4%83_Automat%C4...
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC-79M)

[ChalkLine]

Tank Riding

Tank riding, or "Infantry Tank Desant" is the practice of riding atop a tank into combat rather than merely for transport. While on the surface this might seem stupid it actually has some slight advantages as it allows the tankers to have more eyes and weapons scanning for threats. However tanks draw fire and the practice of "scrubbing" infantry off tanks rapidly becomes standard.

Now, while most people assume this is purely an eastern Bloc practice this is not the case. The USA for instance has not totally disavowed the practice and reading some field manuals shows that there's actually instructions given on things to keep in mind when adopting this practice.
Of course with things like an M1 series MBT the gas turbine makes riding on the engine deck dangerous in the extreme however there are images of US vehicles carrying infantry on the turret and even the front deck (which doesn't seem wise). This must be either an emergency or a doctrinal shift because the M551 manual strictly bans infantry from riding forward of or in close proximity to the smoke/grenade launchers.

How many troops can you get on your ride?
Luckily, there's actually a table for this:

- Heavy tank, 10-12 soldiers
- Medium tank, 8-10 soldiers
- Light tank, 5-6 soldiers
It should be easy to extrapolate from this how many PCs you can get to cling onto a fast moving vehicle as it smashes through urban wreckage and trees that do their best to wipe them off.

[ChalkLine]

BMP-1M, probably the Twilight War standard.

During the 80s we thought the BMP-1 would stay as it is and would be thrown into depots before being issued to third-echelon troops. It seems the Russians, knowing they didn't have the rubles to make the BMP-3 in sufficient numbers, decided to have a hard look at the old war horse.

The big complaint among the many of the BMP-1 was that it was built with another role to the one it now occupies (although that role didn't exist when it was designed). It was only designed to stop shell fragments and rifle calibre rounds, not even having enough armour to defeat the 12.7mm on the sides. This is the vehicle in the rules.

Obviously, this had to change. I could go on about soviet battle concepts, they're quite different to what they led us to believe, but the main thing is that the soviets moved from a "well, we're going to lose men, let's make sure the objective is achieved so it doesn't turn into a slugging match where we'll lose lots of men" theory to a theory where they needed to stop attritional warfare grinding down their troops. This occurred during their Afghan commitment and went fairly unnoticed by the west.

Thus we get the first modernisation; the BMP-1 Afghanka package. This is a survivability package to minimise crew losses. It is a 6mm applique armour package that brings the sides of the vehicle up to a level where it's resistant to 12.7mm armour piercing rounds. They also developed a system where the troops could remove the ATGM from the roof (already upgraded to those used by the latest vehicles) and replace it with a carried Plamya 30mm AGL in a remote mount. If you really want the old 73mm-armed BMP in your game you should be using this one.

However after Chechnya, Afghanistan and watching the west in Iraq the Russians decided that the standard BMP-1 was going to be a rolling coffin in modern combat and embarked on a widespread upgrade to give these vehicles some effective firepower to hold western IFVs at bay.

Here we get the BMP-1M, a very different beast and probably quite a surprise to many people. They turfed out the old turret because they'd come to believe that IFVs were unavoidably going to be involved in urban combat. In its place was put a remote mount, here's the blurb:

"It is fitted with a TKB-799 "Kliver" one-man weapons station armed with a missile pod, a 30 mm 2A72 multipurpose autocannon (it can be used against both ground and air targets) and a 7.62 mm PKTM coaxial machine gun. The missile pod is mounted on the right side of the weapons station and normally holds four 9M133 Kornet (AT-14 Spriggan) or 9M133F "Kornet" ATGMs with a laser jam-resistant fire control system, but these can be removed and replaced by a pod of 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grouse) surface-to-air missiles. It carries 300 rounds for the main gun, 2000 rounds for the machine gun and 4 ATGMs. It also has a modern computerized fire control system with a two-plane stabilizer and a 1K13-2 telescopic sight with distance measurement/thermal/laser channels and ballistic calculator with external sensors.
Computer simulations proved that the BMP-1M can outperform the American M2/M3 Bradley at firepower efficiency (the tested aspects included ATGM power, the effective range of the ATGM and the autocannon during day and night conditions and launching the ATGM while on the move). In these simulations the BMP-1M won a combat engagement with the M2 Bradley 1.3 times more often."

This beastie was available in 1998 but you can bet your bottom ruble it'd be turning up a lot earlier during the Twilight War.

[ChalkLine]

Do you still have East Germany in your campaign?

I've had reunification but before it was made the East Germans shifted stocks of all their gear to other communist nations. This leaves all sorts of NVA kit turning up in odd places.

This causes problems. Also in my game the Germans created several emergency units using residue NVA stocks for service elsewhere. Sometimes these units end up encountering units using old NVA equipment. However the Germans only use Bundeswehr body armour and webbing.

(I also ditched the "French Stab In The Back" gimmick as it's frankly offensive. Instead there's Warsaw pact troops all over Germany and in France)

[ChalkLine]

My players have just encountered this Twilight 2000 refugee vehicle

Goat Cart
Weight: 34kg (75lb)
Capacity: 227kg (500lb)
Uses one goat as a draught animal. Generally constructed from lightweight steel construction and wheelbarrow wheels. In T2K the operator usually walks alongside the vehicle.

This draught vehicle has surprising cross country mobility and is really only limited by the skill in which the load is secured and the balanced nature of the load itself. It generally moves at human walking speed.

[ChalkLine]

Denmark, a much-forgotten NATO member, actually fielded their version of the M41 Walker Bulldog right into the Twilight 2000 period.

Now, it's been covered in some source-books but the salient feature is that it was updated to mid-nineties grade while still keeping the venerable to impressive derivative of the late Second World War US M1 76mm cannon in its 76mm M32A1 form.

Now, this gun is absolutely perfect for Twilight 2000 and I don't use that lightly. The reason is that it's powerful but not too powerful. While powerful enough to see off anything below an MBT the M32A1 isn't so powerful that your players can tear a swathe right across Poland and Germany. If you come up against a T-62 or above you have to pull your head in and go around or become extremely creative in how you deal with it. This means a GM can give the players the effects of modern tank warfare but also have that moment where they look at the two T-80s nosing around the hill an decide that that direction is not worth investigating.

As the Danish M41, the M41DK, has only about 25mm of very well-sloped armour it can tussle with stuff that mounts KPVs but has to be an ambush predator for anything else. Thus the infantry players still have a role as they screen and protect the gun tank. They go in, clear out the RPG teams and look for mines/IEDs so the M41DK can get into position and then it does its job. This sort of combined arms warfare should be the meat and potatoes of T2K fighting.

For play I recommend one player be the TC and give the rest of the crew positions to NPCs. The TC controls the NPCs through his Leadership skill (or equivalent). Still, the GM should do the NPC's rolls or the TC suddenly gets a whole bunch of characters to play and that makes a power disparity for those players who elected to run a PBI out there in the mud. I recommend also a far larger diversity for crew personalities than the cards and training quality. I'd make entirely new characters and base them on someone. This makes the crews much more memorable and stops them being robots that one player controls.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M41_Walker_Bulldog)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/151388159_10158792515210874_7366476992275786497_n. jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=5j81u4iUKvkAX8_hWI-&_nc_oc=AQlZ5BkThi4PVF8B5BzjEY4gl61rQYvwhUSVVNvTrBb UDrk9QkezcPhB_-yoSD0uHAAuTzvZtFvnaypYxn2Dib7B&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=a86c3a93cc28048d13b7f8e67810f9f7&oe=614354C7

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/111009809_10158285672600874_1190119956160815272_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=2HQ-bl89--cAX9Q6A0n&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=aa9c6c92745f193577d2d34b894bdf1f&oe=61431BA0

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/109510509_10158285672760874_1797077217697593509_n. jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=GCkRDFPVpTcAX9ac4Df&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f58e416fd20ea2a7afcdf9e085d42d25&oe=6142250F

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/114097353_10158285672860874_7511002551028679401_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=fSSJ8CxFIlsAX9tXUkP&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=fd3b75771243b26530db185a1945545a&oe=6142381A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/109551399_10158285672935874_7595676204141839410_n. jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=dbeb18&_nc_ohc=SX095KpMBUAAX_NCNwK&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=9ed400118aaf39ea35ea4ec75b7d5a31&oe=6144962B

[ChalkLine]

Well, last game the players were sneaking across the rainy, muddy Polish fields when they found one of these lying in the mud.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/109663659_10158287835015874_8419837368354025934_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=x6HPACr7rTwAX-ISEmn&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c5ea13fbf3046e29390307ffd77abdfe&oe=61439121

[ChalkLine]

BRDM-2M

What's not to love? It's a UAZ with (some) armour!

The BRDM-2M was pioneered by the, uh, "BRDM-2M" but not the Russian one but rather the Polish one.

The Poles noted that even though they loved this thing it had serious flaws. They especially didn't like the way you had to enter and exit the vehicle's deck hatches. The vehicle isn't short so it's a big drop to the ground and they wanted a way to get in and out quickly, it is a scout car after all. You need to get out and scout.

So the Poles had a long hard look at it and decided they didn't need the belly-wheels. Out they went and now not only could they put actual doors just aft of the forward wheels but there was room inside for two scouts as well.

The Russians looked at this and thought the Poles had totally missed the point. Until the Polish vehicles worked so well in actual combat. At that point the Russians also looked at ditching the belly-wheels and adding stuff including the doors and passenger positions. However when they switched to newer radios in the 1990s they noticed that there was now room in the turret due to the smaller systems. Rather than lavish stuff on crew comfort, Russian wars are supposed to be unpleasant, they managed to cram in a mount for the AGS-17 slaved to the main armament and now had something a bit like a M1117.

Okay, new stats:
Same speed stats except the vehicle doesn't have the same obstacle crossing ability the old one had which was remarkable. Now it's just "good".

+1 AGS-17, external mount but belt fed from internal stores. I can't tell you how much ammo it carries for this but I do know the other ammunition stowage is unchanged.
+2 passengers.

(While this might not be all that common, I would make it common though, all the Polish ones had the extra passengers during the period)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/110186251_10158288189400874_7616562195200433353_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=bKvVk71N3XsAX9xBpTc&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=e56b793f2a94514ef1014b38f5b0d106&oe=61447C2D

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/108171104_10158288189545874_8330278325473532401_n. jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=HR6avRiQ7z0AX8Z74eD&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=925eb4753d4c8563967f574520c32bf1&oe=6142CD12

[ChalkLine]

Phases of the Twilight War

Note: This is my take and it's not the usual one. I'm not pushing my program but rather throwing this out here for anyone that might find it useful.

By definition the Twilight War is unlike any other. It goes from a state-of-the-art modern peer-to-peer conflict using all weapons possible and winds down to gangs of soldiers wandering around scavenging food and gear. There may well be phases beyond this that simply don't bear thinking about.

The reason this is important as not only will the whole concept of operations change but it will also strongly reflect the legacy equipment left around, something that impacts strongly on the game. In The Second World War Nazi Germany came up with a bewildering array of "Last Ditch" equipment that ranged from the technically advanced to the medieval. There may well be other things sometimes touched on in the game like the M16EZ, that are sprinkled in the campaign.

Some of these phases will not happen everywhere at the same time.

Note: This uses the 1st Edition timeline. (In this the Chinese start a war with the USSR and the West joins in later).

Phase One: Preceding 1995.
The March to War
This is just before the war and it's worth having because otherwise things get left out.
The history states "after a period of increasing tensions". In this stage every future belligerent nation takes stock of the unfolding situation. The USSR and the PRC have switched to full wartime economies. The West has several options but it's likely that every military of the time will defer destroying obsolescent equipment. I place this around 1987+. Plans will be created to have in place systems to rapidly restore "boneyard" and "mothball" equipment however the systems themselves will not be created but rather serious preparations for them. Military expenditure while be increased but not significantly. R&D projects will be increased. Observers will watch the fighting and note technical and doctrinal lessons being learned. Plans will be created for the TO&E of legacy units.

Game effects.
Larger numbers of pre-war equipment will be created. Some gear that is historically from post 1995 will be fast-tracked and will appear in the game earlier.

Phase Two: 1995
Eastern Engagement
The Warsaw Pact and the PRC are now serious and it's now that their modern equipment starts pouring out. The USSR starts creation in the large scale that post-Cold War history associates only with elite units: body armour, night vision gear, squad communications.
NATO starts creating large stocks of modern gear that will be shipped to the PRC next year.

Game Effects:
Apart from a higher level of equipment it is as can be expected.

Phase Three: 1996
The West gets involved.
At this point the West starts arming the PRC (who then shamelessly reverse-engineers most of it) and in a strange reversal of what has happened in the Middle East the Warsaw Pact encounters NATO equipment used by poorly-trained but enthusiastic troops. Large amounts of it are captured and shipped back for examination and the WarPact are appalled at the level of connectivity involved in these modern systems. Crash programs reverse-engineer these in an effort to incorporate them into Soviet equipment and doctrine and these are then tested against the Chinese. (Note that at this time Albania is a Chinese ally flanked by hostile nations. This does not bode well for their future in Europe)
NATO also gets direct doctrinal information on state-of-the-art WarPact gear and the rising level of experience in the Eastern European armies as they get blooded.
Game Effects:
Some late 1990s equipment is already in place due to the experience from the preceding year. I would go so far as to make gear from 2000 to 2005-ish available.

Phase Four: 1997
It All Goes South
In this part Germany partly reunifies and the Western Front opens up.
With the fighting in Germany and the US drive into Poland the fresh but un-blooded NATO troops meet Polish and Russian forces in Poland. These troops have been cycled through the Chinese Theatre and are hardened and experienced in manouevre to the extent NATO does not expect. At this point every nation on the planet starts rearming as fast as they can if they are not already well down that path. With two year's experience on the nature of the fighting advanced systems are created and shipped to the general conflict in Europe. I'm not averse to early 2000s gear appearing here, war is a huge accelerator of technology and this is largely ignored by the canon. Notably the city-fighting means you'll see things like TUSK upgrades for M1s and similar vehicles appear on all sides.
Those programs to rebuild and restore mothballed equipment swing into action. As it's bleedingly obvious that This Is It the West's total manufacturing starts churning out top-of-the-line munitions while also refurbishing everything and anything.

Game Effects:
Out-of-period equipment is put into production. Things such as weapon optics and rails become common. Legacy gear is rebuilt and upgraded to modern standards, if not for Western Theatre use then for holding the line elsewhere and to supply allied nations. All the peripheral builders of proposed but not accepted equipment also swing into action resulting in much of the small-scale stuff sold to minor countries appearing in larger quantities.

Phase Five: 1998
Is Everyone Having Fun?
This where we have a lot of to-and-froing and then it all happens as the nuclear strikes hit first tactically and strategically. Industry is smashed and if you were working in a tank factory you became reduced to hot plasma.
Only well-hidden, and rarely then, industry survives. Dispersed equipment stocks are used. The bulk of governmental effort goes into disaster relief.

Game Effects:
Production ceases. It's "make do with what you have".

Phase Five: 1999+
What Do We Do Now?
The war continues for some unknown reason, probably because no one tells everyone to stop. This is where the run-down of gear starts in earnest and quickly things like ATGMs start to dry up as they are used out-of-doctrine to hit anything that looks "blowupable". This phase I usually call "The Missile Drought" as the top of the line munitions are expended.
However, the military units are still in business and now the civilian sector (their reason for being) are ash they take over production. It's at this time we see things like rechargeable batteries and low-tech solutions being built in restored factories. The focus is on sustaining the gear they have and not creating new answers. Lower tech solutions are grafted onto high-tech equipment.

Game Effects:
It is here the GM gets a chance to shine. Repurposed and add-on equipment starts to diffuse out to the troops. Also, second-line gear kept in depots replace things like optics that are no longer produced so those Aimpoints start to disappear. Some vehicles are turned into Frankensteins as old systems are shoehorned in to replace newer, destroyed ones. We have to be careful here as older systems are invariably larger, bulkier and heavier and may not fit. It might be common to see armoured boxes welded onto the exteriors of vehicles to mount extraneous systems. Really, by the time the players get a hold of it nothing is standard. It will probably have been upgraded and then part of that in return downgraded, making for some truly unique kit.
Very advanced gear will tend to be more worn out usually as it served longer unless it's been lying under rubble for a few years. An M60A5 with a 120mm gun jammed in but all the MGs are Browning M37s isn't unusual. Maybe it only has a thermal camera for the TC but not the gunner.

Note that autocannon barrels get shot-out faster and it will be common to see worn-out cannons, especially on the more modern ones as they were in combat service longer.

Towed artillery might make a comeback. As the SPGs wear out their weapons might be removed and new mounts created or old mounts repurposed. This goes for any gun-carry vehicle.

Specialist vehicles are going to be repurposed as fighting vehicles. Having an armoured radar vehicle is pointless as is a command post vehicle if it can be used for other stuff. Some turrets can drop in on surprising vehicles or you can simply plonk a weapon on top as the much-loved ZSU-23mm gun has been everywhere. Divisional workshops are the focus of this but it gets steadily more dispersed as the units break up.

[ChalkLine]

Beutefahrzeug (Loot Vehicle)

This was a Second World War German term and these were very common as they were always under-stocked with native vehicles (they really liked Shermans). However, they usually did a few things to them to ease logistics problems.

First off, the replaced the radios if they could. When you think about it this is a no-brainer. Second off they'd usually try at least to replace the secondary weapons. German co-axial machine guns would be shoe-horned in unless it was one of the large amount of units that used captured weapons stocks. In the Cold War the PKM-Ts and the various MAG versions actually aren't that different in size. They'd also often change the cupolas on captured armoured vehicles so the TC had the same capabilities as that of their own vehicles.

In a Twilight 2000 sense all these apply. A T-80 in NATO service would have these modifications as well as the over-size identification markers and probably a large IR marker as well.

As I've mentioned earlier some of them will have retro-fits of NATO sensors to bring them up to standard. Some might even have engine swaps. Soviet engines are notorious for running dirty as they have huge tolerances to cope with massive temperature changes and it's a bit of a fuel waster in a logistical sense. NATO smoke launchers are another probable change (nearly no one uses these in their games).

UK-service vehicles would have had the large reel on the outside to connect vehicles in laager so they could maintain radio silence. There's probably no room for the water-boiler so it'd be a hardship post. Maybe they could mounted a liberated samovar on the outside.

[ChalkLine]

Twilight Smoke Launchers.

(No one uses these in their games)

The standard NATO vehicle smoke launcher is a 66mm grenade. The Warsaw Pact uses the 71mm "Tucha" launcher. Generally it produces a thick IR-defeating smoke and may or may not be based on white phosphorus. WP smoke grenades are simply WP grenades, there's no difference except they have about three to four times or more the payload of a 40mm WP grenade. As they have a very simple fuzing system they have a larger payload percentage.

However vehicles can also launch CS gas, but that's a niche munition.

Early on and its up to you if you want to reintroduce this but vehicles also had the option of fragmentation munitions for these installations. These were often used in urban fighting or other places where the vehicle might be overrun by hostile infantry. Note that the US M34 WP grenade had a fragmentation jacket.

As a rough guide the standard load for smoke grenades was 32 rounds with four to eight being on each side of the vehicle. Some vehicles expected to fight in urban terrain even had them facing in a 360º arc. These munitions are stored internally.

I'm not quite sure of the firing procedure. I know many installations allowed for single and barrage fire. I hope someone can enlighten us on this.

These little fellas go a long way. Here's a diagram from the M551 showing its arc. As is obvious these things present a very real risk to friendly personnel.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/114025478_10158304132150874_4556211845015187978_n. jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=OpP0amnC1qEAX8tQD7P&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f588bc7ea4b100c5756ff0e849157c2a&oe=6143963E

[ChalkLine]

This is a really long technical look at what survival would be like for one centre; Kraków. It is a model for the sort of capability that will be available to anywhere in the Twilight 2000 world. If this sort of boring navel-gazing makes your eyes cross it probably won’t be very interesting.

In a spare moment I gave some thought to The Free City of Kraków. To be precise how its economy works. This is pretty much going to be a critique and then I thought we could workshop an actual real, logical Kraków.
Note: I'm not disrespecting GDW here. They did a great job on extremely little information. Older posters here will remember just how little information came out of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War.

Now, disclaimer: I've never been quite sure why the Kraków authorities thought making a "free city" would be of any use. By definition in Twilight 2000 there's very little travel and what little there is can be handled by normal procedures. In effect they're saying to Lublin "NATO Welcome Here", and you can imagine how well that would go over. Secondly, no matter how well-disposed many people were towards the west before the war that's not going to be the case any more. The west was well-thought of in many places because they offered a lot and didn't do anything overly damaging to Poland, most of the western hatred was focused on Russia and East Germany. Since then in the game NATO has massively nuked Poland. Now, let that sink in. Not only did they invade but they also used nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. NATO has killed an enormous amount of Polish people. NATO PCs will not be viewed as "good guys" by many Poles, and also the activity of NATO marauders will be conflated with NATO troops. (This also goes for other nations, they're probably sick of Russia too, but at least Russia fought alongside the Poles). Now add in anti-NATO propaganda.

In my campaign Kraków is a very different place to what GDW envisaged. Anyway, that's just an aside.

Now, this might well be far too much detail and nitpicking, but I was wondering how they grow food, produce materials and so on. The reason I do this is because it puts stuff in the world. If there's an ammonium nitrate source it's not only extremely valuable to everyone, you can make fertiliser and explosives with it, but it's really something the players should bounce off. It makes the world real rather than an exercise in rolling on tables.
The first big problem with Kraków being that you simply can't run industry on a significant scale without significant power generation and the generator listed on page 17 of the source-book brings up a few problems. Firstly, yes you can move a boiler, although they are insanely technical and fragile things, but it also means you have to move the generators, the transformers, and then you have to rebuild the electrical infrastructure hooking it to the grid all while needing a food and security surplus to allow you to apply the personnel to the task.

Nowa Huta had a power plant but that's almost certainly bombed into oblivion (canonically it was vaporised in a triple nuclear strike) and also it ran on brown coal, and that would mean yet another industry required. Worse, the coal came originally from Silesia (it's complicated but Poland had a lot of odd inefficiencies due to Stalin-era requirements of industry going to certain places for political reasons and this meant long supply lines) and of course this isn't going to arrive, even if the plant is both reasonably intact and running at extremely low capacity. The problem with our steam-powered plant is we simply can’t fuel it. Wood does not produce enough calories when burnt and also you’re going to run out of wood in just a few months. In addition wood is difficult and costly to transport from it’s ever-moving harvesting areas.

So, big power is out. So that means small power, and of course you can distil fuel and run that but really it's both inefficient and insufficient to run things like lathes, industrial presses and so on for the likes of the Wojo Mortar Factory that is going to need at least those two pieces of industrial tools and many more.

[Edit: Since then I've researched the Dąbie Power Station, a small hydro-electric station on the barrage (weir) at Kraków.]

Secondly, it's stated that Kraków imports most of its food. From where? Now, as I said before I don't blame GDW for this but people familiar with modern farming know that there's a massive infrastructure associated with it so you can make a reasonable surplus.

In the 1950s to 1960s there was a thing called The Green Revolution (The Third Agricultural Revolution) when inefficient smaller farms switched over to agri-industry on a massive scale (the Soviets showed exactly how not to do this in the 1920s) and of course that infrastructure is gone in Twilight 2000. Fertiliser, pesticides, the systems for storing and applying those two, and especially the massive infrastructure that revolves around irrigation and its equipment (and the fuel required). Modern farming uses a large amount of fuel. This infrastructure came from central hubs that then went to transportation feeders, both military targets (although food production targeting is a war crime it's usually inevitable collateral damage).
Simply put there is no food for Kraków to import and there's no way the people nearby could get it there. While "sail it on a barge" is the canonical answer it doesn't really cover the logistics of getting the food from granaries, loading barges with heavy equipment and then fuelling them for the run downriver. Even if it was possible, would Kraków produce enough for it to be worth it when those people know that cyclical famine is now a thing they have to contend with?

So we have no food and no fuel. But that doesn't mean we can't have some sort of large unit in Kraków running a city.
So, we have to have Kraków produce enough food and also create a surplus. Luckily, there is a large amount of farmland to the north west of the city, however I can’t get a size on this to determine how many people it can support.

Unfortunately potassium and phosphorus do not occur naturally in Poland and along with nitrogen (which is not hard to get with ingenuity) you need all three for commercial surplus level farming. (The Polish government is probably getting all three from Russia which explains their ability to support troops and Germany has sources which explains NATO continuing on). This means the farming production is going to drop to pre-1870s levels.
Now, this was between 0.6 to 2.0 tonnes per hectare in optimum conditions, with the low numbers being for backwards areas with little mechanisation (what there was for the time) and the higher level for optimised areas in advanced countries. It took between 625 and 875 man-hours to produce that amount. Note these are when the mechanisation is gone. Tractors and farm gear will quickly wear out, especially when not lubricated or using poor quality fuel. Even so the immediate loss of fertilisers will be the main reducing factor in output.

Those numbers are only important if you want to go into eye-glazing detail, and that’s not even where I’m going and my reputation proceeds me. Instead the basic rule is that 80% of an established population will be engaged in food production. In transient or survival-level farming that number jumps to 95%. In areas that have access to modern farming level technology and infrastructure that plummets but I think only Lublin could manage that locally.

This means that the Kraków soldiery spends nearly all their time farming and only small patrols and checkpoints guard Kraków itself. It also means those patrols take away from those running the very inefficient post apocalypse industry and commercial activity. As can be seen almost no one lives in idleness and things like bars and shops will all be part time affairs. It also means the Kraków troops are going to be centred in the farming areas and more of a reaction force. The centre of Kraków is going to be a very dreary place as the focus of the city will be on the farming areas.

With food understood and the subsistence level of production worked out we now look at power production. As can be understood fuel is the primary problem. The only really available source is agricultural waste, however most of that is put back into the soil as fertiliser and only a tiny amount will be available to brew fuel. Forestry reduction is available in the short term, this might be where Kraków is now, but as mentioned above forestry is also a fuel-intensive industry. The two nearest coal deposits are the Lublin Basin, they’re not sharing with a rogue unit, and the Upper Silesia Basin which is too far away. However the canal between the two was used as a transport hub and is unlikely to have been directly targeted by anyone. GMs might want to have a resource war between Kraków and Silesia over the coal at some point.

It now appears that Kraków on the surface simply can’t get the power to run any industry on the scale of a factory capable of making mortar shells (the fuzes are totally impossible), which is rather sad. It is in fact unlikely they’ll be able to maintain their equipment and will eventually go under to someone with access to fuel unless the expand to absorb such a region.

[ChalkLine]

Component units in the Kraków Defence Forces.

(Following on the Kraków theme)

The unit controlling Kraków is listed as the "8th Motor Rifle Division", which is actually something of a misnomer. The Polish called those units "Mechanised Divisions"

By the way, I really don't think the 8th are going to disband the colours and call themselves an OTK unit if for no other reason that the local OTK unit was already in place.

Here's the official Order of Battle from 1985:

8th "Dresden" Mechanised Division
- 16th "Dnowsko-Łużycki" Tank Regiment
- 28th "Sudecki" Mechanised Regiment
- 32nd "Budziszyński" Mechanized Regiment
- 36th "Łużycki" Mechanised Regiment
- 4th Artillery Regiment
- 83rd Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment
- 47th Rocket Artillery Battalion
- 1st Tactical Missile Battalion
- 15th Division Artillery Commander Command Battery
- 5th Reconnaissance Battalion
- 19th Sapper Battalion
- 13th Signal Battalion
- 8th Supply Battalion
- 8th Maintenance Battalion
- 39th Medical Battalion
- 64th Chemical Defence Company

Also, the 8th will be associated with a few other units that would have been in Kraków. These are:

3rd "Carpathian" Brigade WOP ("Border Protection Troops")
- 264th WOP battalion
- 32nd WOP battalion
- 34th WOP battalion

5th Podhalańska Brygada WOW ("Internal Defence Forces"; "Wojsk Obrony Wewnętrznej")
- command and staff
- three motorized infantry regiments (each with three battalions, a - mortar battery and a battery of guns)
- tank battalion
- 122 mm cannon squadron
- 120 mm mortar squadron
- 57 mm AA cannon squadron
- reconnaissance company
- company of sappers
- chemical company
- communications company
- traffic regulation company
- medical company

Kraków Territorial Defence "Bartosz Głowacki" Regiment. ("OTK").
- command and staff [4] .
- 4-6 infantry companies each with 3 infantry platoons and a heavy machine gun platoon
- special company including sapper platoon, communications platoon and chemical platoon
- supply platoon
This is who we think the "ORMO" were. They are the local military defence unit.

Kraków Civil Defence Units ("OP") Obrona Cywilna PRL
Don't underestimate these people, this is what every civilian is more or less part of. As Poland was a communist country they subscribed to the "People's War" concept and everyone had a role to play in the conflict. If you had nothing else you could do the OP took you.

Kraków Militia ("MO") This was the pre-war police force. It must be remembered that Polish police were paramilitary.

One unit you'll notice that are not here is the local ORMO units. This is because the ORMO was an arm of the Polish communist party, the guys the 8th are rebelling against.

Also I should belabour the point that Polish society in the Cold War was more militarised than what we in the west (assuming the reader is western) are used to. Some sort of civil training was very common. Civil Defence was especially widespread. Note that "civil defence" meant just that; not only did they do disaster relief and medical services but the OP also did things like create strongpoints, assist AA weaponry and other military functions.

[ChalkLine]

Running Text-Based Twilight 2000 Games.

Many times we've all been stinging for a game but can't organise a tabletop campaign. T2K is by definition more of a campaign game due to its resources management and travel focus so one-off games usually don't do the trick. As such we often think "hey, I'll just run this online on RPOL or something". Lots of people have, and I encourage you to join one, but what makes it difficult to run in a one-off session is also what makes it very hard to play as a play-by-post or play-by-e mail game. This is because the medium is incredibly slow.

I mean *really* slow. It took me five years to run a very detailed game with two to three "Turn Posts" a week to get the players together, do a small investigation, clear a small group of marauders from the environs of a bridge and then deal with a counter attack. So this brings us to our first rule:

Keep It Small

You have to have small, compartmentalised adventures. They have to be easily resolvable because you will have players either go missing for a while or disappearing entirely. A long campaign is simply impossible given the level of detail that T2K involves unless you are going to gloss over much of the richness of the campaign.
So instead of a long adventure you instead have several small adventures that link to each other. The idea here is that if the thing goes on too long some players will simply become too fatigued to deal with it and drop out. This also gives the players a bit of autonomy; they finish up one area and then can choose the next direction from the choices you give them. Always keep in mind what the next scenario will be however, because here is where the next thing comes in:

Foreshadowing

This goes for any game but is vital for text games. "Foreshadowing" is a literary term for where the writer introduces a plot element early so the reader gets used to it and when it finally features in the script it seem natural that it should occur. If your next scenario features marauders then have survivors of one of their attacks be a feature of some of the NPCs. This links the scenarios together in more ways than just exploration. Foreshadowing is great for mysteries, introducing NPCs and laying the groundwork for large events. Due to its plt-setting nature it makes things seem like to campaign is "alive" and doesn't freeze when the players turn their back.

That leads to the next bit:

The Living Campaign

Because text-based games have to be very focused and you have to provide lots of information in an economical form that doesn't make the reader's eyes glaze over, the important work of giving the feeling that the world is alive and doing other things has to dealt with in most posts, it's not something you can forget and just dump on the players later. In a firefight they should hear artillery off in the distance. When travelling they might hear shooting in the hills or see tracers at night. This needs a bit of practice because it can also be distracting and confusing, the player suddenly doesn't know if a mortar duel twenty kilometres away is landing on their convoy or not. Have one of the last surviving helicopters fly across the far north, its rumbling rotors waking them from their sleep. In one game I had a trio of cruise missile flash over the brigade they were in and keep going. They were headed for France but the players never found that out.

Firm Rules.

Finally I'm going to post my two-decade old play-by-post rules here. Each has a little explanation of why the rule was needed that is usually omitted from the rules page when I play.

Jim's Play-By-Post Rules

1) Do Not Meta-Game
"Meta-Gaming" is where a player uses information or knowledge not available to their character.
This is not that much of a problem any more and usually is exhibited by excited and enthusiastic players. As text-based games are slow many players try and be in as much action as possible or access information (such as another player spotting a sniper but being unable to warn his companions) that is not available to them.

2) Do Not Lie to, Cheat or Steal From Other Characters.
The basic social agreement of gaming is that players will work together. The game is dangerous enough for the characters without their colleagues actively trying to get them killed. Also note that while this sort of behaviour might seem like fun role-playing many players approach this as a relaxation from such behaviour. Please be considerate.
This is a new rule because, hey, I'm 56 and what was cool and edgy when I was 20 is tedious and offensive now.

3) Be Aware Your Actions Have Reactions.
You are not an island, mistreating NPCs will eventually get out, you will find it difficult to interact peacefully with the world if you have a reputation for torture or murder. It's a tough world but there are obvious over-reactions that will impact negatively on your reputations, you have been warned.
I'm not a big believer in making examples of players but sometimes you have to show that the PCs are not always the biggest dog in town, and if they have a bad reputation those big powers will seek them out.

4) You may NOT kill or attack with intent to harm another PC without prior GM approval.
The GM reserves the right to make an empathy roll, if you fail this roll you cannot bring yourself to harm the other player, although you're more than welcome to be bitter and nasty! The GM may well re-roll this without your knowledge as time and the campaign goes on, so you may 'be pushed too far' and be told that you are ready for violent confrontation, but PCs aren't permitted to open up on other PCs willy-nilly.
I use the Cyberpunk 2020 rules (without classes) and one of the statistics is "Empathy". This statistic is you interpersonal stat and is quite important in play, and it's also the sort of "shield" the players has against becoming the evil they strive against. While I hate alignments I think we can all agree that evil really does exist in the world and generally the players are opposed to it. I had to boot a guy who just up and shot another PC during an argument over a triviality, and then another guy used the new 'no attack' rule as a way of sheltering his own poor interaction, thus it was modified again. I try and make it clear that while a player knows that a gun can only do so many "hit points damage" the *character* only sees a deadly weapon.

5) Turns: The GM posts Two times a week, Australian Tuesday and Friday
You must have your response in before then or you are NPC'd for that turn. If you miss three turns without telling anyone, your PC is 'walked offstage' and out of the game. If something catastrophic has occurred, your PC is then brought back on when you can play again.
Turn Posts are different to just posting. The Turn Post moves the action along and is exactly the same as ending a round of combat, and is used for just that during combat. This gives players a firm idea of when things have to be achieved by and how long they can discuss things. Also, people were dropping out without warning or not responding and holding up turns for weeks. I picked twice a week because I had those days off more than any other reason. We had a guy who had a house fire, so you could hardly blame him for not posting, but others just vaporised and I needed a system for everyone to know when they'd be cut out. After this I always was given good warning that a player would have to miss turns

6) Players MUST answer other players
You should always answer any speech directed at your character, even if it's to only post something like 'I ignore John.'
If this isn't instituted some players aren't answered and are stuck waiting for a response, missing turns and slowing everything down. Sometimes this turns into the dreaded 'talking to the air' where players address the air rather than be held up.

7) PCs must NOT 'think aloud' about other PCs. Never post 'Fred thinks John is a total jerk, his plan is stupid and will get them all killed.' etc. It's cowardly, the other player gets no right of response, role-play out your differences and resolve them on the board, that's the name of the game.
We had a rash of this; I had to stamp on it because I was getting a lot of off-list complaints. It's a pernicious thing that many players fall into, the other way of doing it is the PC speaks to an NPC while well away from everyone else, but it amounts to the same thing.
- When in combat, post a combat summary after your post.
The summary looks like:
Who you are,
Where you are,
What you're using,
What you're doing.

Such as:
Private John
In the ditch, crouching, by the wrecked BTR.
M16A2, 5 magazines
Covering Private Fred's advance to the gully.

9) A Rules-Speak Paragraph is A Good Idea.
If you post a long and descriptive turn, you may want to follow it by a 'rulespeak paragraph' after your turn - but before your summary - if you're concerned the GM may get it wrong. Don't skimp on your descriptions, they're the meat of the game, but sometimes a quick clarification of the 'round 1: run to barn, round 2: ready bow, round 3: shoot at brown-haired bandit’ makes things amazingly easier for me to GM out and I hate it when I make mistakes about your intentions.
I know it's hard to come up with thrilling narrative every turn, but please try and make longer posts of good descriptions of your actions for a few reasons. Firstly, they get me really enthused to write the story for you. Secondly, they add so much to the game. Thirdly, fifteen separate posts of "yes", "no", and "maybe" tends to "spam-out" people in different time zones, they get up and there's a hundred posts of drivel that they can hardly inject themselves into. It also is amazingly confusing to GM.

10) Trim your posts.
Only have in your post the text that you are responding to or relates to your post, and only respond AFTER the text and not before.

11) Colour Your Speech.
When your PC talks, the text of his comments should be enclosed within inverted commas and the text should be Blue, this is so other players can sort your conversation from your descriptions. However, if a character thinks something they are written the same way but they are in italics; "such as this."

[ChalkLine]

What sort of add-on units we could attach to the the 5th?

This wouldn't contradict canon at all, it would be an interesting addition and give players other choices when starting.

My first thought would be a unit do attach orphan NATO units to. Some sort of umbrella unit.

The next would be somewhere to put ex-Warsaw Pact troops in the same manner. Once again they'd have their own organisational charts. (In 1st Edition the East Germans might have an odd tension on who wants them)
Finally we can make up some purely T2K units that deal with farming, battlefield reclamation and fabrication.

[ChalkLine]

Polish Civil Defence, Air Raid Shelters and Disaster Relief.

The Cold War Polish people lived in a militarised society. They prepared for a conventional war on their territory, and in the T2K world this preparation will bear fruit.

It has to be remembered that in the People's Republic of Poland everyone had a job to do and if war erupted everyone had a job to do in that. Civilian training in disaster relief was on a level unequalled in the West. The civilians had shelters and were expected to use them. In devastated areas civilians were expect to fall back with the troops and not stay in place. Civilians will be active in the defence of their country and NATO is an invader.

Civilians were incorporated into the war effort under the umbrella of the Obrona Cywilna PRL (OP).
The OP was the primary civil defence organisation and a large proportion of the civilian population had a role in it. The OP as a civil defence unit is off limits to hostile forces and it is illegal to utilise their equipment. Civilian infrastructure such as school buses and bus shelters were designed to be quickly converted into ambulances and aid stations. This thinking permeated the Polish government and society. Firemen, police and medical staff all wore military uniforms. In fact nearly everyone in this situation wore uniforms, it would be rare to see civilian clothes after a while. Civilians had access to shelters and these were stocked with food, medicine and NBC equipment. Huge amounts of earthmoving gear was available to them to shift rubble and enter damaged buildings. The OP had comprehensive NBC detection and decontamination equipment that included decontaminating every facet of life right down to livestock.

Now, it's very hard for me to tell as I don't speak Polish but there was another organisation that has the acronym ZOS. They were either part of the OP, ran in parallel to them or were superseded by them. ZOS had fire, medical, sanitary, technical, social and specialist shelter staff all organised along military lines. ZOS seems to have worked alongside the MO (police) in rear area operations and go into action to mitigate the effects of the war on the population. Poland had the experience of the Nazi occupation to draw from and had no illusions as to how bad war could be and prepared accordingly.

Air Raid Shelters were short term shelters. They were located in a huge amount of places such as railway stations, hospitals, industrial plants and government buildings. These things were not small. They usually had double thick steel doors, a decontamination room, a generator/air filtration/water systems complex, medical centre, storage area for uniforms, helmets, medical equipment, tools, food, and other stores, a series of actual shelter areas, a commander's room and an array of escape tunnels. Most were buried well below ground with a concrete shield overhead and would have survived anything but a direct hit from a heavy bomb. In the twilight 2000 world these will form the nucleus of survivor enclaves. During the real world many of these shelters existed in structure only but during the drumbeat to war it is unlikely that Poland would have neglected these structures.

Note that Nowa Huta near Kraków had over 250 of these structures. (http://www.schronywnowejhucie.pl/en/shelters-in-nowa-huta/?fbclid=IwAR1ximVQzocKpsPzC4FKcQXo3DeHQ2MdRT_FdgjF iWUug0ZNk-ZTSXNQiQA)

OP Guardsman

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/230279320_189867086525367_2052376822577411312_n.jp g?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=9SYXZ1Ue71YAX-5MdPb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=252b20e9cb3f42bdb5a85486018d2b4d&oe=61427F74

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/229970893_189867076525368_4256281423177202305_n.jp g?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=5NYyBnVtCnYAX_ZlIiE&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5f19f6447d9adbf0b2a7f2686de8cda7&oe=614323E3

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/230969450_189867083192034_4634333521669945128_n.jp g?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Rbt6i_SkGW8AX-cwvkn&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=9e65f59f296973cb8a5822f3c1848792&oe=6142F040

[ChalkLine]

Some very good bunker diagrams

[ChalkLine]

On my quest to make the perfect Twilight 2000 Sheridan I think I've finally found it.

Believe it or not but way back in 1967 there was already concerns that the M81 (as it was then) Gun/Launcher may not be a good idea. As such Rock Island Arsenal did a crash program of four other weapon systems to fit in the M551 turret should the M81 develop problems.

Of the four only two were recommended mainly due to space problems, although it was mentioned that if serious redesign work was done all four would fit in the turret. The two weapon systems were:

- M32 76mm Cannon, the same as was on the M41 Walker Bulldog
- XM180 105mm Gun/Howitzer from the XM104 super mobile lightweight howitzer (which really should have gone into service)

Of the two the XM180 was the preferred weapon system as it coupled low pressure and trunnion loading with high damage output and ammunition that was still largely in service.
This weapon fired much faster than the existing M81 because it didn't need a compressed air purge to blow out the bore so the combustible cartridge cases wouldn't ignite prematurely. It's likely that by the time of the Twilight War an A1 version of the gun/howitzer would have been developed with a bore evacuator for even faster firing. Notably the XM108 could fire any 105mm howitzer ammunition in US stocks and new racks for the vehicle gave a stowage of 50 Rounds. (I note the UK ammo has a squash head round)

If the M551A1 is the M81-armed standard version with vision upgrades and a minor modernisation package that would make the M32 76mm the M551A2A1 and the XM108 105mm the M551A3A1

Here's an image of the gun way back in 1967

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/117988019_10158356111420874_2846571217918370417_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=ZHwpUxP3FpwAX-_d2rt&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=019b9db5ea23968c3463ac53d1f7ccbc&oe=614216A5

[ChalkLine]

The Polish PT-91 Twardy MBT really should exist in the game, it's awesome.
Although prior to the dissolution there was a strong drive to keep military equipment the same across the board, invariably Russian equipment, it's obvious in hindsight this was impossible to maintain. I guess to ease the problems that might arise from this situation there'd be lots of cross-training with Russian kit so when they resupplied other national armies with gear in case of loss of industrial capacity due to strikes or being overrun there were fewer problems.
Of special interest is the PT-91EU which was an Urban Warfare variant. Although in real life this vehicle turns up way later in 2011 the exigencies of war would see it being developed far earlier. Due to its high survivability it's likely more of these would survive than the other variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT-91_Twardy

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/PT91_Twardy_MSPO09.jpg/1920px-PT91_Twardy_MSPO09.jpg

[ChalkLine]

ZSU-23-4M2 "Afghan" version.

What, it gets worse?!

The deadly "Zoo" or "Shilka" evolved over its ongoing lifetime and the ZSU-23-4 in the books is not necessarily the ones your PCs will meet on the battlefield.

During the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979-1989 the Soviets developed the M2 kit for their Shilkas. This was the following and converted the weapon from the anti-air role to the ground support role:

- Removed the Gun Dish J Band anti-air radar
- Installed enlarged ammunition bays doubling ammunition capacity from 2,000 to 4,000 rounds.
- Installed the TPNZ-49 tank night scope.
- Installed the PSNR-5 man-portable ground surveillance radar.
- Ammunition was a mixed belt of BZT API and OBZT HE-T ammunition to destroy by blast and penetration.


Now, it's important to note that these modification kits exist in the Twilight 2000 era. It just a job of dropping the beast back to a workshop and having them fitted. It's likely this will happen wholesale when the air threat diminishes.

However, what you can use against Afghan rebels and what you can use against NATO regulars are not the same thing. NATO troops can reach out and kill things at night time and the Shilka can only accurately hit targets at around 1,500m in the ground support role. It's going to need some sort of mix of Applique armour, ERA and bar armour.

I can't tell if the Shilkas in the book had the old, unmodified engine that was slow in the book and all the upgrades the vehicles had by the Twilight 2000 era M3 vehicle.

https://preview.redd.it/a0svvtu880651.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&92feceec

[ChalkLine]

I do love vehicles that, to put it bluntly, were no good.

If it was that they lost their raison d'être due to technological advances, if they were good ideas that were ahead of their time or in case of the vehicle coming up, they were simply a crap boondoggle, I do love my failures.
The M247 Sergeant York SPAAG could have been awesome. It's one of those vehicles that simply "looks right". It was an utter failure, but the failure was mainly due to its design criteria as much as dodgy corporate swindling and corruption.

What the US Army wanted: A ZSU-23-4 with bigger guns and a fast engine.
What the US Army asked for: an SPAAG using two heavy guns and a heavy radar on an out of date chassis that still had to keep up with the M1 Abrams, one of the world's fastest tanks.

They specified the M48A5 chassis because they had lots and they were very reliable. They also stated that it had to use off-the-shelf equipment so the radar was a repurposed air-to-air radar, not even a ground attack radar. Now, Ford Aerospace seemed to have been thinking if they got the contract the could simply deal with the issues later. Issues like making it work.
Really, the whole sorry tale is too long to go into here. I do recommend you look it up now that 35 years have passed.

What I want to do is suggest that the M247 didn't ignominiously end its days being blown to pieces on live-fire ranges but that the 50 that were made in our alternate universe languished in a boneyard simply because everyone was too embarrassed to talk about them. There they sat, essentially useless and incapable of even defending themselves until the final phase of resupply for the European campaign. By this time the Mil-24 Hinds were all gone and the USA is desperate to send its troops ground fighting vehicles. They looked at the M247s sitting there and gave them the ZSU-23-4M2 "Afghan" treatment.

The hypothetical M247A2 is purely a ground support vehicle. It has had its radar stripped out and the AN/PPS-15A(V)1 ground search radar (1,500m for personnel, 3,000m for vehicles) placed in the forward radar nacelle.
The ammunition is increased from 580 to 650 rounds.
The turret armour is given applique panels that bring it up from STANAG 4569 level 3 to level 4 armour protection, capable of resisting the KPV 14.5mm. A sliding mantlet is provided to protect the crew from direct fire of the same level. The rear of the turret is kept the same and the hull is of course the basic robust M48A5. In the European theatre ERA blocks and wire/bar armour were occasionally used by some units. This extra armour drops the road speed to a slow 40kmh, a speed demon it is not.
The turret had a large bustle rack at the rear and is still roomy after the removal of the large radar even when the extra ammunition is fitted.

The commander's cupola from the LAV-25 was fitted and has a NATO heavy mount capable of accepting the M240E1 GPMG (spade grip version), the M2HB HMG or the Mk19 AGL. Many were equipped with gunshields at various times.

The sights are upgraded. The optical sights are retained and light intensification added. The commander has no override for the gun. At least one of these vehicles was fitted with thermal sights during its war service.
Note that the 40mm twin autocannon are belt-fed, a huge improvement over the crew-intensive five round clips normally used. Its crew remains three with commander, gunner and driver, making it something of a bear for maintenance and an endurance test when keeping watch.

[ChalkLine]

The ubiquitous Polish FSC Żuk A-07

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/118961256_10158402400655874_5279412801859906451_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=1FhpDfWNhlAAX_kALLH&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=db04a3c89921a05e4ea7f1371b5bdbf5&oe=6141C0CE

[ChalkLine]

One of the things that always irked me a tad is that GDW liked to resurrect ancient titles for modern commanders. It seems to have been based on some sort of "hey, it's Europe right? They'd love someone called "baron"!"

Looking at failed states, and everywhere in T2K is a failed state, tinpot dictators tend to give themselves military monikers, sometimes extremely grandiose ones (Idi Amin? "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular"), to legitimise themselves and to let their goons fool themselves into thinking they're part of a properly constituted and respectable force.

I think the players will meet a certain Marszałek ("Field Marshal") Czarny when they get to Warsawa

[ChalkLine]

Lublin and the Warsaw Pact in the Central Polish Corridor. The WarPact MSR.

Way over near the Ukrainian/Belarusian border of Poland is the large town of Lublin, seat of the Reserve Front Head Quarters.
Oddly enough most of the headquarters' actual units seem to be at least about two hundred and thirty kilometres west, the nearest being at Piotrków Trybunalski which is the base for the Fourth Soviet Guards Tank Army.
This implies there's an MSR (Main Supply Route) connecting the two. Now, it will probably eventually fail but when the 5th Infantry Division (US) gets nailed at Kalisz it's definitely still in operation.

The route crosses the Vistula/Wisła river at Pulawy, then heads due west to Piotrków Trybunalski and then heads north west to Łódź itself.
Now, it's written in the various sources that the Polish government and the Warsaw Pact command is having trouble with bandits in this area, so you can expect heavy contingents of anti-partisan elements from both Reserve Front HQ and its security elements in Lublin, the formidable Soviet 20th Tank Division and the 6th WOP Brygada (BGB) from Łódź and the nearby 11th WOP Brygada (BGB) from Lask. Not listed will be the various OTK local defence units, formations not to be discounted.

While the 11th are cavalry you can expect the 6th to be mounted in light vehicles with possible guntrucks, UAZ-469 and Tarpan Honker technicals if they send a rapid reaction force. The 20th Guards Tank Division however is a different proposition. They can send actual APCs, IFVs backed by their 8 remaining MBTs along the route and won't hesitate to do so. Players running into a patrol should think carefully about attacking as the situation will simply escalate until the 20th take a serious interest in eliminating the threat to its rear areas. Note that as these are all experienced Warsaw Pact units they won't be mindlessly attacking from the front but will hit hard and fast from all directions.

Along the MSR you'll find a series of fortified checkpoints possibly stiffened by dug-in light and heavy armour. It would not be unreasonable to find these checkpoints using hardened concrete bunkers and even with things like IFV or MBT turrets installed. At this point the supply routes are actually more important than combat capacity.
The checkpoints will send out patrols to dominate the area and fly the flag. Apart from fighting marauders and bouncing player characters they'll also do things like gather up Displaced Persons and then send them towards collection points and relief camps. They might reconnoitre interesting sites for salvage and collect intelligence on things too large to handle themselves.
Support for these units will be at a premium so they can't expect much, but they definitely will be able to call on mortar support if they're close to their base.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/119458289_10158418658365874_5699918006011368317_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=P8B0vjJVHzwAX_kRuOQ&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=d9ec9105938e40ae29c4984cf9f44b77&oe=61440792
As movement is often restricted to infantry endurance there are large checkpoint/bases for platoon sized elements at Zwolen, on the outskirts of Radom, the Pillica river bridge at Inowłódz and at Tomaszow Mazowiecki (all available on Google Maps)

[ChalkLine]

Self Propelled Guns and why every party should have one.

Twilight 2000 is not actually a modern warfare game but a distinctly different creature, and in the context of the game vehicles often change roles and capabilities and there's no better example of this than SPGs.

Most of the game involves long distance slow movement using limited fuel. Combat is often meeting engagements involving lightly armed and unsupported infantry in a wide variety of situations. While the premier infantry support vehicle, the IFV, is capable in many regards the one thing it lacks is heavy payload direct fire high explosive capability.

There are two stand-out vehicles that vie for supremacy here and they are the British FV433 Abbot and the Soviet 2S1 Gvozdika (SO-122 in T2K terms). Both these vehicles are to be preferred over their heavier 150mm+ counterparts because they are much faster firing, have smaller crews, are amphibious (although this might well change, see the close support package below), carry more ammunition onboard, use less fuel and are more nimble vehicles.

However as standard they are not suitable. Their extremely light armour, just 12mm for the Abbot and 20mm for the Gvozdika, makes them vulnerable to even 12.7mm AP rounds [Edit: Gvoszdika is frontally proof against 12.7 SLAP it seems because like most Soviet light vehicles it has HHA composition steel for its armour] and HEDP rounds from the various grenade launchers commonly encountered in Twilight 2000 engagements. Of course dedicated anti-armour weapons are a threat unable to be countered.

A close support combat package is thus required, being:
- Applique armour to bring the vehicles up to 25mm to 30mm armour levels.
- Bar armour where possible.
- Close defence machineguns. A HMG/Grenade Launcher and and at least one GPMG.
- ERA if possible.
- Possibly even Shtora anti-ATGM dazzlers if these systems are able to be salvaged from BMP-3M, T-80 or T-90 vehicles.

It is unlikely that a vehicle would have all these upgrades. Bar armour tends to be destroyed by ERA detonation. ERA is heavy, reduces mobility, increases fuel consumption and is a danger to accompanying infantry.

Both vehicles have an onboard crew of four.

Finally the two vehicles each have an ammunition variant that the other does not have. The Abbot can fire the bunker-busting L42 Shell 105mm Field, HESH round that has a myriad of applications and is a good HE weapon as well. The Gvozdika has the SH-1 AP Flechette infantry killer as well as some dedicated HEAT rounds (BK-6M and BK-13). The Abbot is faster firing but the Gvozdika has a much larger payload.

Of course these are not main battle tanks or even assault guns, their armour is far too light on a battlefield where the RPG-7V and the AT-4 are common. The infantry has to first go in and clear out opposing infantry, then suppress anti-tank positions so the SPG can manoeuvre in to a firing position and destroy its target. At this point the vehicle should immediately retire. These vehicles are even capable of destroying dug-in or otherwise immobilised MBTs if handled well, although such missions might be considered "high risk" to say the least. Like SPAAGs the SPGs have high angle firing arcs and can engage enemies in elevated positions and this makes them suitable for urban combat.

One of the big drawbacks, and it's a huge one, is that these vehicles have terrible gun depression. The Abbot has an awful -5º depression and the Gvozdika has an abysmal -3º depression. This means the weapons have difficulty engaging close, low targets and can't fire from hull-down positions. While the Soviet vehicles always had the terrible gun depression, the T-72 had only a -5º and the early PT-76 couldn't depress its gun at all, this sort of drawback in Twilight 2000 is significant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FV433_Abbot_SPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2S1_Gvozdika
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/122_mm_howitzer_2A18_(D-30)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/119901190_10158439883685874_7874658577845376751_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=OdMuxM0TxfIAX8rgERv&_nc_oc=AQlvcBYjcxknnzVan9pmjm1sLbLpDdvatlVIZh3cgvt 1UX8Ch6YVlJ8M18Ac0En8Fa5jKSLL2k_KcQGWSkkKAljk&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=ceb1d477b1f3a53dfe800d2382d3e4dd&oe=6144B5D9

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/119989198_10158439884630874_1956118978948901499_n. jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=UOz57y3foVAAX8M2gdE&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=7415819748dbbcec2b4b3df85e50c169&oe=614486F4

[ChalkLine]

A few thoughts on adding the Gulf War to the game history.

Most people include the Soviet-Afghanistan War in their campaigns. However doing so means there's going to be some very skilled veteran Russian officers and senior NCOs getting around when the Twilight War starts. The same goes for the 1st Russian-Chechen War but for more ranks.

In a similar fashion people might be thinking of introducing the 1990–1991 Gulf War which also would be good experience for western troops. If you do so you should understand the massive influence this war had on Russian warfare concepts. According to a report for the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College "The Soviet Military Views Operation Desert Storm: A Preliminary Assessment" there was a lot of consternation about the outcome of this war and it's not an overstatement to say that this caused a revolution in Russian warfare so that the warfighting in the Twilight War would be significantly different.

The Russians deemed that their level of training was insufficient to deal with western armies and that the system for training conscripts would have to incorporate a new full time army of professional troops capable of being rapidly expanded. A quote from a Russian source is:
"It's simply impossible to continue to reject the idea of deep military reform from bottom to top. (The Gulf War) plays in our favor because it's absolutely clear that these sophisticated weapons can't be used with high efficiency without an adequate level of preparation of personnel, and also demand a new kind of commander."

They fully understood the difference of Iraq's rather unskilled (at all levels from trooper to generals), unmotivated and poorly/unevenly equipped army compared to theirs but also understood the West had actually only conservatively exerted themselves to deal with Saddam's forces compared to the level of exertion a war with Russia would involve. The major levels of concern were precision weapons, interconnectivity (the Interconnectivity Revolution was only just underway), and the acknowledged technology gap in some areas that had developed. Principle among these were computing power and night vision/sensing, not only in its capabilities but in its level of deployment through the forces. One level of concern was the way the West had deployed force with precision over mass, meaning that even though they 200,000 troops in-theatre they hadn't required that number to force a resolution. This implied that heavy blows could come from all directions, even from comparatively small and seemingly poorly-supported forces such as airborne or marine troops.

"Volouev asserts that the U.S. Army expects that confrontations in a TVD (the Theater of Strategic Military operations-a purely Soviet concept telling the reader that the argument also applies to the Soviet Army) will be highly mobile and aggressive. The front will be fragmented. Operations will occur along isolated, separate gaps in formations. PGMs will give combat operations the quality of tactical and operational focus that blurs distinctions between offense and defense, the front, flanks, and rear. Combat operations will become three-dimensional with width, depth, and height parameters. Strategic systems will perform tactical missions-something the VVS has been particularly keen on. Army aviation helicopters will repeatedly reduce by a factor of 8-10 the time needed to maneuver forces and assets on the battlefield. Air/Land Battle will become a means of destroying and defeating larger enemy formations in depth."

Note that the Russians and the Soviets before them weren't blind to these concepts, they fully understood the West had been developing them. However they were concerned at not only how pervasive the systems were but how quickly they had been developed. A lot of the Soviet planning had been not only out-fighting but also out-staying the enemy.
As can be understood this sort of thinking led to rapid and frank re-evaluation of how the whole concept of warfare was to be undertaken, and what strengths could be called upon and which strengths needed to be rapidly developed. The Russians had already moved away strongly from the early-mid Cold War thinking of costly breakthroughs that were designed to save lives in the long run after the Soviet-Afghanistan War. In that war they had met an enemy that could outstay even the Red Army, causing a revision of systems towards survivability that arguably has produced things like the T-14 Armata family and the crash program in body armour of the 1990s. Now the Russians were thinking along the lines of integrated systems that would produce the S-300/S-400 integrated air defence network and similar concepts, precision weapons and other concepts faster than the canonical campaign allows for.

In summary integrating the Gulf War into the campaign brings these things closer.

[ChalkLine]

Soviet Slat Armour
(You guys must be getting sick of all this Soviet stuff)

During the Soviet-Afghanistan War the threat from captured and Chinese-supplied RPG-7s proliferated and the close combat ranges made this threat a high priority. While the Soviets were looking into the ERA-technology that would emerge as the Kontakt-1 and Kontakt-5 ERA packages there was a protection gap that needed to be filled.

The Soviets had already developed the BDD composite armour turret package (not cast blocks as is listed in T2K) and this added a large amount of protection against both kinetic and chemical jet rounds, but it weighed in at 1.8 tonnes for the turret alone. Now their vehicles were being attacked from all sides and something needed to be done quickly.

The USA had developed slat armour during the American-Vietnam War for a variety of purposes including installations, boats and vehicles. The Soviets quickly developed a slat armour package for their deployed vehicles that covered the hull and turret sides and rear. The package weighed in at 0.55 tonnes and could be fitted at any workshop that had an arc welder (the same as the BDD armour package).

Here's a few images:
https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/119858225_10158441629620874_5535504999096101120_n. jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=OQiKJjFUxPsAX8YVRSp&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=997d0efe0496bf5e59c82cc77c7e4284&oe=6142DC65

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/120075178_10158441629535874_6059783389825377925_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=zqs2bUXOGM8AX-c-shp&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=6a255755ace72ffe44895a10712687b0&oe=61439A70

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/119954186_10158441629580874_166759700504473073_n.j pg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=_kg3yN6jTRIAX_s5vgk&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f73ef56e2995e17e74d84211a9047499&oe=61439D6E

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/120181467_10158441629665874_344891467514856655_n.j pg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=giqvcaJbAcsAX87eOC3&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=225968ee5468e5e93a8e06b6b19644ee&oe=6142AB86

[ChalkLine]

M60/AX "Super 60" (http://www.military-today.com/tanks/super_m60.htm?fbclid=IwAR2DRyDs9arnwBWkNPsVjGLG_Ng khMXieAPGIIC87JFGukEF2W5pn6Huc1s); the M60A3 for the Twilight War.

The M60A3 in US service was declared surplus to requirements in 1991. A steady wind-down of stocks occurred but by the time hostilities are discernable it's sensible that the Department of Defence would put the brakes on discarding these vehicles.

General Dynamics had put out a serious upgrade package for the M60 in 1985 that was turned down because the US was moving towards M1. However it is to be noted that this package was superior to pretty much every other package available and was a pretty much bolt-on upgrade. I'm just going to cut-and paste the wikipedia entry:

"The tank upgrade is based on the M60A1 RISE hull and the T95E7 turret as used on the M60A1 and A3 variants of the M60 series. Mobility was increased by 20% with a new engine and transmission. It featured the AVCR-1790-1B engine coupled to a Renk RK-304 transmission with 4 forward and 4 reverse gears. The torsion bar suspension system of the M60 was replaced with the National Waterlift hydropneumatic suspension system (HSS).[101] Survivability was enhanced with a layer of Chobham spaced applique armor built around the M60A1 turret, that noticeably changed its appearance. The hull armor is enhanced with a layer of laminated steel armor panels covering the frontal arc of the hull. A pair of steel track skirts were added as well as Kevlar spall liners for the fighting compartment. It has a crew of 4, the commander, loader and gunner are positioned in the turret and the driver in the front of the hull.
The weapons of the M60/AX are similar to those of the M60A3, but different models were used. The main gun is the rifled 105 mm/L55 M68A1E2 with a longer XM24 tube and a thermal sleeve, the same weapon used on the M1 and M1IP versions of the M1 Abrams MBT with 43 rounds.[102] The 7.62 mm M73 coaxial machine gun used on the M60A1 is replaced with a 7.62 mm M240C, with the same number of rounds. The M19 cupola was replaced with a low silhouette model with a pop-up hatch for the commander and a 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun on a pintle mount with 600 rounds. The Fire Control System (FCS) is essentially the same as used on the M60A3TTS consisting of an M21E1 solid-state ballistic computer, Raytheon AN/VSG2 Tank Thermal Sight (TTS) for the gunner, a Raytheon AN/VVS2 flash-lamp pumped ruby-laser based range finder, accurate up to 5000 meters, an M10A2E3 electro-mechanical ballistic drive and solid-state analog data card bus. The prototype built did not have an optical range finder but one could have been easily installed.
As one of the first upgrade packages offered for the M60 series, the M60/AX prototype demonstrated the potential for upgrading the M60A1/A3 and even the M48 series as well. Even though this update package offered M60 users an opportunity to dramatically increase the combat capabilities of their tank fleets, no country ever bought the update, and the program effectively ceased by the end of the Cold War. Only one prototype was built. The overall failure of the Super 60 Program was likely due to the lack of immediate necessity for such a vehicle."

While it's noted that this vehicle became the Israeli "Magach" it was actually a superior vehicle due to General Dynamic's superior manufacturing ability.
Note that the Super M60 as depicted is the "demonstrator model". Super M60s in the Twilight War would probably under go similar modifications the M1A1 underwent such as the TUSK program. Importantly there's no need for any design work to be done, the upgrade is ten years old at the start of the war. The sensors would probably be upgraded to M1A1 standards and incorporate other technology that had arisen during the time of its design and the start of the war.

http://www.military-today.com/tanks/super_m60.jpg

[ChalkLine]

A bit of a sobering thought:
In 1989 the BMP-2 factory was making 1,800 vehicles a year

[ChalkLine]

One of the few problems I have with Twilight 2000 is the backstory is such a crock of horseshit.

Nearly every NATO nation decides to either stab NATO in the back or stay neutral?! Please, it's not just stupid but it's also offensive.

Every nation's behaviour, both Warsaw Pact and NATO, in the backstory is so incredibly stupid it totally destroys the "willing suspension of disbelief" for me.

Yes, yes, I know GDW was trying to create a world war fought everywhere but what they did make was a good game that is fun despite its backstory and not because of it. If they'd simply had a proper Cold War fight with the proper sides it'd stop punching you clean out of the immersion.

Grumble grumble get off my lawn.

[ChalkLine]

This is probably irrelevant to most people, but a 44 gallon drum (UK)/55 gallon drum (US) holds 200 litres which roughly equals 200 kilograms of potatoes.

I'm a bit torn on the humble spud. They are extremely energy dense food and don't really deserve to be termed "wild food".
(An empty 44 weighs 20kg)

[ChalkLine]

Ahh, I should have added this:
Paul lists this:

Drum, 200-liter: Normal steel or aluminum drum, though plastic is becoming available. Weight: 10kg; Price: $30 (V/V)

I would add:
Rotary Oil Drum Pump: Pump for dispensing fluids from large drums. Weight: 2.0kg; Price $50 (V/V)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/120838580_10158462827270874_5761540362278794000_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=o8wbVXaZsTIAX_iplFN&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=1903d52cd7dcf98aec8e58e00e086fb8&oe=6143133E

[ChalkLine]

Iso-Butanol, the fuel that acts like T2K "alcohol"

Iso-Butanol is a biofuel under study that is derived from agricultural waste. It has a whopping 98% efficiency of that of gasoline and it doesn't even use the high-sugar feedstock like sweet sorghum or beets that modern bio-fuels use. It needs a fermentation-distillation system that uses some odd microbes, the infamous E-Coli stomach bug is one, and it needs some finicky kit to make. It's still in the experimental phase (this is actually great news for the world, it doesn't even use the edible parts of the food).

Now, a few of us have never been comfortable with ethanol-methanol fuels for the simple reason is they don't work the way they do in the books. Ethanol has a very high burning temperature and needs to be mixed with other fuels to lower it. Methanol has, to use the Australian idiom, bugger-all energy. Neither fuel has nearly enough energy to run a vehicle or frankly you'd see everyone cooking fuel now.

So, for those OCD people such as myself you can consider that the iso-butanol revolution came early. As the war ground on the fuel crunch hit and one side or the other introduced the fuel and the other side quickly caught on and did likewise. Specialty brewing/distilling kits were issued to the troops and these are the "stills" we see in the game.

If you don't like having that sort of high-efficiency fuel around simply rule that the kits the troops make and the microbe stock they have access to is less efficient.

[ChalkLine]

A possible menace for the T2K battlefield.
Now illegal since 1995, blinding lasers (https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/misc/57jmcz.htm?fbclid=IwAR2R8KH7ZR4MSmT2mJ7_ArRdVTal5t HhE4xHEbWerjnGt_SeY7WKM83UQEM#:~:text=One%20is%20s aid%20to%20be,binoculars%20would%20also%20be%20bli nded) were developed but not fielded by all the powers.
If you're feeling brutal here's some ways they work that are more involved than you might think.
There is no protection against blinding lasers that still allows you to see.

[ChalkLine]

Horses (yet again)

Many months ago a poster here brought up the brilliant point that there wouldn't be all that many horses in Poland and probably not enough for cavalry units. I did some "research" since then and found that Poland actually had several state horse studs and Polish race horses were an important vector of western funds. In The Second World War these studs were moved east and then south for safety to save them from the Germans. They did actually fall into their hands but it seems obvious to me that this would probably happen again. The obvious upshot of this is that horse units are raised in the east and sent west using Russian and Polish breed-stock. This saves them from the worst of the chemical warfare. Similarly cavalry units in NATO are raised from French and Spanish stocks (if you ignore the stupid French stab-in-the-back theory) and are moved east and this is where the horse studs are.

Now, this all might seem useless trivia but it does give us some useful information. Cavalry units after the general collapse might even furtively trade across enemy lines for instance. Also horse stocks are rife for raid-and-capture and a scenario of troops raiding across the Oder to grab mounts if your supply line to your mount resupply collapses.

As we've discussed earlier horses actually do not run on grass. If you want grass-fed horses you need something on the order of seven remounts per trooper as horses are rested. Cavalry work is hard going for horses and historically in pre-modern armies fodder took up the bulk of logistical space as horses need high energy feed. There's also the annoying thing that horses won't graze in strange territory after dark even if fodder is their supplement. This gives you in idea of why horses with their higher land speed don't cover as much ground as infantry; horses move more quickly but for a shorter time. Also if you're running a cavalry game then unlike in the infantry game clean water becomes an issue. Horses drink about 30 litres to 50 litres a day, we can say 30 litres if resting and 50 litres if working. This water has to be clean. So a careful scouting route has to be made and water sources reconnoitred.

Although we tend to think of cavalry as just a few guys on horseback and maybe a packhorse or two, in an actual unit this will be different. The best example of this is going to be European cavalry units serving in the Second World War. For scenario and campaign ideas here's a Lone Sentry article on soviet cavalry from the early 1940s.

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/cavalry/

[ChalkLine]

Group Morale

Panic in Twilight 2000 2.2 relates to wounds and incoming fire and this is an example of personal morale.

Group morale is the behaviour of groups to events and situations. Player characters are not effected by group morale in standard games but non player characters do not have this luxury.

Normally, a unit's morale is based heavily on its leadership. Well indoctrinated, well-rested and well-fed troops with good leaders are capable of surprising accomplishments. Unsure, tired and starving troops with poor leadership regularly break at first contact. They will flee if possible or surrender if it is not. Often they will not even fight at all. In their desire for self preservation they might discard their weapons and anything else that hinders their ability to run at top speed. Leadership also incorporates many other aspects of group character and leadership figures often help shape unit behaviour in many situations, but that's getting a bit complex for this post.

It would be onerous to have to roll for every individual NPC constantly during a fight. Instead GMs should think on the following aspects before the encounter to come up with a sort of unit character to understand how they will react during combat.

- Leadership (if any)
Troops under an effective leader have the morale rating their leader has and this is why leaders are primary targets. Leadership usually but not always is equivalent to rank, however actual leadership roles have been found in very low ranking members of units. This aspect is brittle, troops that have a significant difference in NPC quality such as Novice troops under a Veteran leader often break when they become aware the leader is out of action.
- Training.
The four NPC levels depict training and the acclimatisation of the individual to combat and campaigning. Very experienced troops might be reduced to Novice morale if they are ill, disillusioned or fearful. Training has a strong influence on reaction (see below)
- Condition.
Hunger, thirst, fatigue and similar conditions sap the individual of their will to fight. Sieges frequently are resolved when troops simply lose the will to continue fighting due to privation.
- Indoctrination.
The level of commitment to fighting comes from how the soldier sees the situation and the information they are given about the fighting. Many things influence this and these include exposure to formal and informal indoctrination such as political training or propaganda or rumours and biases. Fraternisation strongly effects the will to fight and soldiers who have had friendly relationships with the enemy frequently refuse to fight at all.
- Circumstances
A catch-all category that influences the group and individual. For instance troops that have traded with the enemy might assume they will be given good treatment if they surrender. Troops who have been engaged in atrocities might assume that surrender will mean abuse followed by execution (although even at the last moment troops often choose surrender knowing this will happen to put off death for a short time). If a strong position is to the rear troops might wish to fall back towards it or if reinforcements are nearby troops might fight on knowing help is at hand.

All these modify the following hard fact:

The vast majority of troops do not attack at 10% casualties, retreat at 25% casualties and flee at 50% casualties.

Humans are not D&D orcs and only very rarely fight to the death (this is really a player character thing). These events are so rare they are nearly always noted in the history accounts. When morale fails there are three major human reactions that follow in decreasing order: Flight, Freeze and Fight. These reactions become Retreat, Surrender or Last Stand. Highly trained individuals have this retrained to Fight and Retreat through various means. Anyway, this is very rarely group behaviour. Note that most military operations deliberately give equal size units escape avenues as last stands can cause significant friendly casualties out of proportion to their operational gains.

Morale Failure Reactions:
As there's little if any evidence for group minds morale tends to fail in a smaller section of the unit and rapidly spread. Isolated individuals under pressure, flanks struck from the side, lower quality troops witnessing a leader's fall or capture often break first and then other members of the unit become aware of it and lose morale as well. While some leaders or sub leaders can salvage the situation and rally the troops on the spot what usually happens is some sort of reduction in fighting capability is managed. This can happen over and over during combat. One flank can start to fall back which requires rallying and shoring up while another sector comes under pressure. Troops can press forward and then stall or fall back. This sort of behaviour brings realism to T2K fights that are often lacking.

Player Leaders.
Using all this lets the players take the roles of battlefield leaders in unit actions. GMs should consider the nature of the led troops, the behaviour of the player leader and situation. Some troops might respond well to a brutal player leader while others might not. All these factors should give dice modifiers to the Leadership skill roll. All-or-nothing rolls should be avoided (as in all things) and excellent rolls should give excellent results and only-just-failures should not mean the troops run for the hills. Careful managing of the Condition, Indoctrination and Circumstance aspects relating to the troops can give bonuses while neglecting them can give adverse results. Note that heavily indoctrinated troops might misbehave when not under a leader's immediate control.

[ChalkLine]

Does anyone use dirt bikes in the game?
I'm a motorbike rider myself and I have to say I'd rather not be riding a dirt-squirt around World War Three Poland. Not only are they pretty noisy but they have fairly limited carrying capacity. They don't even have the illusory armour of a humvee in which you can at least crouch down in the back and hope they don't see you. It also takes all your hands and feet to control the thing. Yes, I've seen people shooting things off bikes but let's be honest, you can't do it in life and death fighting. When people use them to kill people in cities the pillion passenger does the shooting.
The only use I can find for them would be for getting around inside the canton with and you can use a pushbike for that. If you scout with it you'd better make damn well sure you didn't miss an enemy on your next bound.

[ChalkLine]

I put a few thoughts down about something, added a bit and then bit more and I sort of got a bit carried away. 3,000 words later . . .

Here's a combined Soviet-Polish unit to chase the characters around. Not actually bad people, however they want that intel document you have and they're determined to get it.

[ChalkLine]

Leaving France in NATO

If you do away with the kinda dumb France stab-in-the-back-legend you can have the falling out between France and Germany anyway. In this scenario French troops have trouble with German forces and displaced persons as they start to carve out cantons (just like everyone else, it's just seen in a different context). Perhaps rumours are starting that the supply lines coming out of France and Spain also have stuff going back and the Germans feel they're being strip-mined of assets.

If you do have this you can move the non-German, non-British and non-US troops (the only NATO troops in T2K really) up to the gap in the line towards the southern German-Polish border. Sooner or later these troops are going to want to go home for stabilisation work and you can either leave them in place for some good multinational NATO colour or have their cantons deserted as they pull out and make for their respective territories.

This opens up some more backstory. Instead of the French Perfidy you can have NATO thrust right back across the French border in some places at some times and thus whole swathes of German territory have WarPact troops still in place, living off the land and looking for a way out now that their strategic reason for being is gone. Soviet plans might involve linking up with these isolated units and if you're doing Going Home these units might present a problem for the fairly quiet section of getting across Germany.

This also gives you a far greater political angle. When the collapse starts national character is going to figure heavily when it comes to unit cooperation. Does a French unit really want to go to aid of a German unit when another French unit is in danger? Most of the time they will but this strain will steadily mount and the players might have to navigate a national political minefield of competing requirements. Also they can play each off each other, like if they're pulling out and some unit demands all their equipment but a nearby unit is prepared to be far more equitable if they pass through their territory instead (and do that little job for them the PCs don't know about yet).

[ChalkLine]

Russian Shotguns

(This kinda doesn't fit for Poland games but I add it if your PCs ever get into ex-USSR territories)

While we generally tend to assume that every soviet citizen had a Kalash in the cupboard that really only applies to the post-soviet breakdown period. Of course soviet citizens had to undergo mandatory conscription so the idea that these trained individuals should have easy access to rifles was something the soviet authorities weren't keen to allow. Thus Russia had strict rules on rifle ownership, however shotgun ownership was common for hunting and as such were often used in places were rifles would be used in the west. This meant Russian shotguns usually had rifle sights and also rifled slug and heavy dart ammunition were not uncommon.

These slugs, darts and sabot rounds were varied and grew over time. Russia also adopted the plastic shotgun cartridge early and constantly refined them. Here's some of the basic slugs:
Brenneke Slug: Actually a German design, this was quite common in the 1960s to the 1980s. As an enormous amount of these were in circulation it's likely some would still exist.
Polev Slug: Designed in the 1980s, this is a complex plastic shell slug purely for big game. There are several variations but these were not in use in the Twilight Era apart from the first. The actual slug looks like a honking great pistol bullet and has the same damage potential as a big game rifle.
Mayer "Turbinka" ("turbine") Slug: Another from the 1960s, this slug is similar in some ways to the US Foster Slug in having a forward weight bias for stability. Notably a turbinka can be home-made if the sophisticated moulds are available however careful mixing of the slug material is important for bore life and accuracy.
"Udar" ("strike") Sabot Round: A sub-calibre round with serious armour penetrative ability and range. Originally a specialist round for government use it soon became a sought-after black market item for hunting and no doubt for settling the odd personal grievance.

Now, when it comes to Russian shotguns the name "TOZ", "Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod" or the Tula Arms Plant is as easily recognised to a Russian as Winchester or Remington is to an American, it is a TOZ shotgun that will be on the wall or behind the door. TOZ made a plethora of civilian weapons and I won't list them all but I will note the most widespread shotguns.

TOZ-34 is an under-and-over double barrelled shotgun, 3.00kg
TOZ-66 is a side-by-side double barrelled shotgun, 3.00kg
TOZ-87 is a semiautomatic, 4 or 7 shot shotgun, 3.20kg

[EDIT]: Note that there are lots of Russian hunting rifles and in some very curious calibres, I'm just posting these as they are so common. Please don't think rifles were totally banned, it was just harder to get a licence for them.)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/123440852_10158534736980874_8778510501997490831_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=N168YHXQYucAX_aCcu-&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=0f582cf7bd13d1090925ed0a90d0341f&oe=61438575

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/123292615_10158534737210874_2611288784996118912_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=DCczDYgduokAX9XsHdz&_nc_oc=AQlml54x2RUcV7jv4bBwdpIGCywsoOtvmK_GquRIpPT alj-JlLXIUh0jG118OGdFXYoCUWLXTgTLaexeEvAO8FUN&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=825e4c82641312677c6a088e10d792f3&oe=6143CAA8

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/123398263_10158534737420874_2233382642114189039_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=l-N0nHDsYwAAX-icilu&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f41d7b7cf827d836aebd0209c8db99e4&oe=6142BA52

[ChalkLine]

(Summary: arctic troops should eat double)

Another nuclear winter is rolling in on my players and soon the winter whites will be part of the dress code. As it's going to be a long hard winter with even more famine and nutrition deficiency illnesses I thought I might make a few notes here about climate and food.

Firstly, modern westerners have different bodies to twilight soldiers. Since the 1970s our body fat content has doubled due to our modern food types. This layer of energy-rich insulating fat will be much missed by the troops who have been primarily eating potatoes and dog meat for over a year. They are lean and stringy rather than buff. You can see the average perfectly fit, healthy and enduring soldiers today that would be categorised as "moon faced" in former wars.

Twilight 2000 has us surviving on terms of kilograms, an annoying metric but useful for kit purposes. The net says one MRE is 1250 calories, well below the daily requirement for soldiers in tropical environments (3300 calories). Notably this number is for 1947 and is more presentative of twilight 2000 conditions. This is considered bare survival level and just above a starvation diet. Realistically twilight 2000 troops should binge occasionally and build up a body reserve, especially before it gets cold.

So, winter rolls in for Poland and the normal temperatures vary where you are. but -5ºc is the common bottom temperature. However we've thrown nukes about with MAD (pun) abandon so we could probably expect temperatures to hit -15ºc regularly. Note that this is a best case Nuclear Autumn. I can see really horrid blizzards rolling in off the Russian Massif going well below that. Don't forget wind chill lowers the temperature from -5ºc to -30ºc and even just slowly moving in a vehicle adds the minimum amount.

So what will the troops be eating?

The gold standard for arctic weather food intake is 4400 calories per day. We could argue that as a game mechanism that we could use double standard twilight 2000 rations of 2500 calories per day but I think this is being fairly lenient. 3750 calories, or triple standard rations, is actually more likely for troops who expect to be outside and active. Twilight 2000 life is hard, grinding work with little sleep and constant stress.

[ChalkLine]

So, your party of military hillbillies straggle into a Polish village short on fuel and food.
However, when they get there they find the locals aren't willing to trade. Their spokesman demands the group instead redeem the hundreds of Military Payment Certificates (MPCs) they'd been saddled with during a period of former occupation, reducing them to a poverty level even lower than elsewhere.
Of course the group can't pay and the sullen villagers send a runner to report the group to a local OTK outpost while being nice to their faces.

(In Vietnam the locals would regularly get saddled with MPCs, a form of military scrip designed to keep high value US dollars out of the Vietnamese economy and ruining it. These would regularly be changed over on secret "C Days" to a new type, ruining the local people who didn't understand and were kept in the dark on how the currency worked. After a few times of this they tended to join the Viet Cong and attacks on bases after C Days were frequent.)

[ChalkLine]

The Polish Government in Exile

When NATO goes over the border in the Twilight War they can't just rampage around in Poland without good reason, those things just aren't done (legally). So, they have to be invited in, and to do this they need a power that asks them to and this will be a hastily created "Government in Exile" (GiE) which of course will be instantly branded a "Puppet State" by the Polish People's Republic (PPR).

To be honest, political scientists get very cautious naming these entities because there's a whole lot of moral bias going on, the best description I've seen for them is a "Nominally Sovereign State". These can be as free willed as The Free French Government in The Second World War to something as blatantly controlled as one of the many Imperial Japanese puppet states*.
Usually these powers are complex and change stature frequently, at first supportive and then suddenly becoming obstructive. Like any political entity it may only partially be concerned with military rationales as they have to consistently tread a fine line between excusing their allies and appearing to be a puppet of their military guarantors.

However, in role playing terms it's first and foremost important to say that the PPR are going to hate these people with an incandescent fury. Not only are they to them national traitors but in communist terms they are also class traitors. They are everything a communist Pole is going to loathe, and seeing them fight alongside those who nuked, gassed and plagued as well as bombed their own country makes them implacable enemies (their own allies doing the same might be treated with a bit more lenience, what the average Polish survivor thinks will vary widely).
So, when the US 5th Infantry Division (Mechanised) goes under the first thing that is going to happen is a lot of unpleasantly harsh questions are going to be asked of the POWs about the 1st Polish Free Legion and where they are, what their strengths are and what their support is. Also are going to be some uncomfortable questions about who in the civilian population supported them. These questions aren't going to be asked by the Polish People's Army but rather by the less restrained political authorities.

It will be priority one for Polish PPA troops to engage, destroy and then capture any 1st Legionnaires. Note this will probably clash with Soviet war aims which will be to encircle and destroy NATO main force units. PPA troops will be extensively indoctrinated before engaging rebels to whatever levels are locally possible. If possible political troops will be integrated with PPA units to enforce discipline and deter desertion. A classic problem for political operations such as these is troops allowing rebels to escape because they can sympathise with them even if they don't agree with them.
Historically soviet forces avoid these operations but if they see the need to join in they will use the usual soviet method of ensuring success: overwhelming force. Unlike local troops soviet troops will see no problems with encircling and annihilating rebel units as a method of enforcing political orthodoxy (believe it or not but NATO will generally act in a similar way on their side of the border). World War Three is an ideological war fought for ideological aims and this means ugly ideological operations.

So, where does this place player characters? First off, Polish and Soviet players are at an even more increased risk than normal. Deserters who go over to the other side are always treated badly, and switching sides in an overtly political war even more so. Communists officials have historically treated traitors harshly and while Stalinism is over forty years dead at this time the very fact there’s a war on means that all sides will be run by hardliners.

Secondly, there will have been vestiges of the GiE here and there right across Poland. These people will most have left with retreating troops but a portion of those that remained will have survived. They may be operating as Stay Behind Troops or Partisans. Note; don’t expect normal military aims from a partisan group or any other paramilitary group. Quite often their operations have more to do with group dynamics than any coherent military aim. Of course many partisan groups are brave and dedicated people.

GiE officials may want to try and create enclaves in the desolate Polish rear areas. These cantons will draw military activity like honey draws flies. The players may well understand that eventually someone will inform Lublin for whatever reason and then the hammer will fall, Lublin is likely to tolerate the Black Baron far more than a GiE hamlet.

GiE offcials and infrastructure can be a help to the players. If they’ve had a series of awful rolls, bad outcomes or simply rotten choices then blundering onto a hidden GiE base can be a godsend. These are good plot devices because they can’t keep the players too long or they’ll draw attention, especially if the players have the usual gaggle of clapped out vehicles along. A GiE base can be rife with intrigue, betrayal and other drama the players can blunder into. Factional struggles, petty personal squabbles that blow up into existential threats and other threats abound. These are even more likely than the usual tiny village problems because of the massive overreaction that Lublin has for these groups so they have to maintain the utmost secrecy. Lublin is, of course, well aware that they are out there and has dedicated specialist TKO units that exist solely to root them out and destroy them.

Some missions that these groups give in exchange for their help can be at odds to the strictly military or survival orientated tasks the players are used to. Tax gathering (everyone loves the tax man! Not.), persuading villages to switch sides, drawing off inquisitive government forces, hearts-and-minds ops and some of the weirder Vietnam-era operations are all possible. The players might be happy to get on the road again.

Finally, traces of this organisation should be rife, even if they are grimly negative. Bodies strung up from lamp poles with placards on them remind the average Pole of who is really in charge, and usually it is Lublin. Some average Poles may be on the road because they made a bad choice out of two bad options in some situation where both sides demanded loyalty. Informers realise that both sides are willing to give precious food or security for information and that there are denunciation networks available to them.



(*I try not to use recent examples for obvious reasons)

[ChalkLine]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Polish_cheeses

'nuff said

[ChalkLine]

I haven't really gone into it but is the 5th Infantry Division's doomed ride even possible logistically?

The supply lines don't seem to make sense and they sort of would require rail transport to shift the tanks and other heavy equipment. I don't even think the trucks could actually be moved on the alcohol possible to the unit.
Has anyone ever had a look into this?

If it does require a higher level of logistical support it means the collapse the players see is happening really fast as everything just falls to pieces. This kinda follows the historical maxim of "everything varies with time and place" meaning the 5th Infantry division collapses logistically at the worst time when the Soviet units are looming over it.

Another thing that's always made me wonder is "where is the massive supply lines of the Soviet 4th Guards Tank Army?" I know a few logistical units are mentioned but they are nowhere near enough for a unit that's just powered across Poland. They also should be following rail lines now I think on it.

[ChalkLine]

Distinctive Soviet Tactics developed in the Soviet-Afghanistan War.

Most of the standard soviet tactics are the same as those of the west. However during and after the Soviet-Afghanistan War many innovations and idiosyncratic tactics turned up that are little known outside some tactical appraisal documents. Here's a few:

- Carrying heavy weapons forward.
After dismounting from their carriers soviet troops will lug their 12.7mm HMGs and 30mm AGLs along with them. This extra-heavy weapons group is attached to the normal heavy weapons group. Lightening these weapons and their ammunition has become something of an obsession in Russia since then.

- Bronnegruppa
"The bronegruppa is a temporary grouping of four-five tanks, BMPs or BTRs-or any combination of such vehicles. The BMPs (tracked combat vehicles) or BTRs (wheeled combat vehicles) are deployed without their normally assigned infantry squad on board and fight away from their dismounted troops. The grouping has a significant direct-fire capability and serves as a manoeuvre reserve."

- Enveloping detachments (obkhodiashchii otriad)
A fast moving, hard hitting group designed to sweep around and block avenues. Now, every force does this but this unit was specifically trained in the task. While they might mount an attack from an unexpected direction the emphasis of these troops was speed.
The soviets also radically changed their doctrine and when possible emphasised training in switching rapidly from pre-Soviet-Afghanistan War tactics to post-war ones. This includes armoured columns quickly reorganising into combined arms units for other purposes.

Many of the other innovations don't really carry over into the Twilight War phase. Note that after the Soviet-Afghanistan War there was a heavier emphasis on training for small unit actions, flexible logistics and units operating away from parent units due to the lessons learned in that war.

[ChalkLine]

I'm reading up on Armoured Reconnaissance and I just encountered probably the most blunt statement of military reality:

"It's pointless to strive for risk-free scouting. Small scout teams are to be sent forward into traps in order to avoid that the whole formation walks into that trap."

[ChalkLine]

The following is for discussion. It's not a hate-on against GDW and as it's for discussion "it's just a game" is not a valid answer. The point is at the end of the post that we might have something to think about the demise of the 5th Infantry, Mechanised (US) that may not have occurred to other GMs.

Over the decades (sigh, I'm old) I've constantly wondered about aspects of the game. One that's been bothering me a bit lately is the 5th Infantry Division's doomed ride into Poland in what became an unsupported attack that couldn't possibly be sustained.

There are a few main problems. Warfare runs on the trinity of Strategy, Tactics and Logistics and it fails on this basic level in at least two of the points.

The first is that supply-wise it's just not doable and even 17 year old me suspected this back in the old days.

"A typical US armoured division was composed of 350 tanks, 200 Bradley fighting vehicles and 16,000 soldiers. Together their daily supply requirement could amount to 5,000 tons (4,350+ tonnes) of ammunition, 555,000 gallons (2,081,976 litres) of fuel, 300,000 gallons (1,135,624 litres) of water, and 80,000 meals".

Now, obviously the 5th Infantry Division is a shadow of its former self but it's still going to consume a torrent of supplies that people underestimate by orders of magnitude. Remember that the divisions' logistical base will probably have a maximum of five 83 ton stills and all the gathering, monitoring, storage, forage, guarding and so on that takes to maintain all the while the division is actively using that fuel while making it. That goes for all the other stuff as well. Yes, the division was hoarding its supplies but it still looks impossible even then.

Secondly it just looks like they can't hold what they take. Reading up on The Red Ball Express, the logistics of the western allied push into continental Europe, it becomes apparent that your logistical train even using brand new vehicles with fresh lubricants and proper fuel suffer horrific wastage. Fatigue alone killed many drivers and their vehicles before you take into account bad roads and infrastructure and that's before the enemy takes an interest. Just one blown bridge or ambush means this lifeline clogs up. A single division pushing into Indian Country can't secure this line and it probably would have ground to a halt long before the soviets hit it.

Thirdly we have to think for a minute in the context of the situation. That tank ammunition will never be replenished and the troops knew it. Same with the artillery fuzes in the ammo and so on and so on. Driving into a largely static enemy country where the soviets and Poles seem generally happy to stick to their side of the Oder and expending these precious resources seems to make no strategic sense when they should be eliminating Marauders in Germany and rebuilding their side of Europe.

Okay, I've argued why it wouldn't work. But actually in the game it doesn't.

Maybe it was planned that way.

What on earth would make the NATO forces lurch into Poland in an unsustained and unsustainable attack?

Perhaps NATO knew that the soviets were coming with a mobile, well-equipped force that could locally overmatch any units in Germany? If a single division could be placed forwards in its path it's possible that they could knock the momentum out of it and stall it long enough to allow for interior forces to be deployed where it could strike from there. If you think this is insane it actually happened in the Korean War when the US 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division was forward deployed to buy time to allow the US forces and this unit was utterly was destroyed at the Battle of Pyongtaek, although the heroic men of the 34th went in knowing full well what was about to happen. Reading Death of a Division it's obvious that the 5th didn't know they'd end up unsupported and floundering around in Poland without a vital logistical lifeline.

Or maybe some MilGov/CivGov bastardry is involved? Could the preparations for Operation Omega be underway and CivGov is worried that MilGov is about to return several heavily armed, well equipped and battle hardened divisions from Europe? Those units could well decide the whole question in one campaign season. Regardless of that's not actually what Operation Omega was it could easily and probably would be perceived that way. Did some local CivGov supporters organise for at least one division to get so mired in Poland that it couldn't get out?

Did the Soviets pull off an espionage coup? Have they managed to suborn some general somewhere to pull that logistical tail out from under the 5th?
Or did NATO simply panic and cut the 5th loose? Was some higher-up overpromoted past his or her ability and when the 5th wandered off they lost their bottle and drew everyone back over the Oder leaving them out there without support and logistics?

You can bet your PCs are going to suspect just a few of these things.

[ChalkLine]

Horse Drawn Wagons

This is kinda over-detailed and probably would never feature in a campaign, but it's just some thoughts on why you won't see old-style wooden construction wagons in the Twilight World.

Wooden wagons are insanely complex and require wood crafting skills that simply don't exist on a large scale and take far too long to relearn or teach in the time period. During a national emergency you don't take a huge amount of people out of the workforce and teach them an ancient, almost forgotten-at-the-time massive array of skills. Many years ago as a re-enactor I wanted to make a comparatively crude wagon wheel and I was amazed at the amount of knowledge and equipment it took to make a proper wooden wheel let alone a functioning axle.

But that's not important because welded mild steel is lighter, in some ways more flexible and also more rigid where needed and well understood. Light rubber tyred-wheels are widespread and motorcycle and off-road vehicles make these wheels and axles. There's only a short window where criteria and perhaps even standard plans can be created but I think this would happen.

What would a "developed" version look like?
First off, unless it's cargo-bearing it might not be a rigid frame but rather two articulated units for better manoeuvrability such as some German examples from The Second World War.
Simple box steel frames support a lightweight cargo bed if fitted, probably wooden but thin steel isn't that different in weight. Drop down sides for some cargo versions might be fitted and users could experience the joy of having their fingers mashed when the other person suddenly drops one.
A standard width would allow bows and covers from existing cargo vehicles for light weight weather protection. A lightweight small generator platform under the cargo bed allows for radios and a standard aerial mount would go somewhere, probably forward and just behind the front passenger, however this puts it at risk in fording procedures and a space between operators and payload area might be better. For local protection a small frame between the driver and assistant would hold individual weapons and under their vehicle seats, probably the same all-weather seats from some light vehicle, would be space for ammunition and personal storage. If a battery is fitted (and I can't see why not) there'd probably be convoy marker lights for low visibility mounted on the extremities of the vehicle.
There has to be space for pioneer tools and also to store the horse tack and harness and this usually goes between the payload and operators as well, shifting the power to one side in a metal box.

Obligatory German versions:

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/136391590_10158674390315874_2874303036376073435_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=QT2nNiuB0R4AX9GL948&_nc_oc=AQnEakLb8_u7116sDPzWmTav3TBYWMrvw3Zxhg-U6v_ikZZhTifg8ax4GiAWKwjn74bjJieoNzCA_kHXtfuFG3kR&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=29a76405902ff60eb629d723e652a3e7&oe=61438475

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/135224956_10158674390495874_8105528146936160247_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=X1izsiu5o-gAX_tOC9k&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=56d81021f7f4669f42d736cbee11738a&oe=6142B6A3

[ChalkLine]

So, we talked about the upgraded Super M60, the T-55M2 and others, but there's still a whole lot of ironware that'll be dragged out of reserve and upgraded before being thrown to the front. Two of the big things I like to emphasise with these jobs is that it both won't be an even process, some will have stuff others don't have, and also that no one sends out 1960s vehicles into combat in 1995 without as many upgrades as they can jam in.

There's oodles of the venerable and successful M48 still around in the timeline. After a rocky start (like every vehicle really) it became a bedrock of NATO and really the M60 is only an upgrade of it. However there's aftermarket industries that can be called to the colours to bring these things close to standard and send them into battle (undoubtedly driving the logistics people insane).

The Super M48

Like the Super M60, this is a bringing together of the upgrade kits to a new standard. I think this is a really attractive vehicle.
The hardness of the base M48 armour, a mere 200 BHN, was extremely underwhelming but this actually has a payoff in that low BHN armour spalls less and the comprehensive spall management package in the Super M48 might make this the least spall-prone vehicle of this class in the theatre.

Essentially they take the already upgraded M48 and strip it bare before rebuilding it and replacing everything that can be updated. Forget everything you know about these vehicles and look at some of these fine features . . .

MOLF 48 Fire Control System
L7A3 105mm Rifled Main Gun (this is the Low Recoil Force gun also used on the Stingray)
New electro-hydraulic gun/turret drive and weapon stabilisation system
New roof-mounted primary gunner’s sight with day and night channels
New power pack comprised of a 1000hp MTU MB 837 Ea-500 V12 diesel engine and Renk RK-304 automatic transmission with 4 forward and 4 reverse gears
MG3 coaxial machine gun
Modular appliqué armour
Smoke grenade launchers

These tanks would probably be backing up German and US (the US still had gazillions of them) formations as second line vehicles. Most of the Super M48 package is German manufactured so it'd probably not see use in other theatres.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/134740676_10158677427050874_5644825789255557024_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=qDXK-lCftVoAX-Z-7EA&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=1e6866ae0bdf4a34f1345f030b0e26af&oe=6142EE2A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/136976018_10158677427085874_517897638033714798_n.j pg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=gxJf6hdJYDIAX9_oBpa&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5b4a456b34f6bf9f07296e056af7a63f&oe=61448CD9

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/135208156_10158677440110874_1817401170628590472_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=XhsFHueAkUYAX90tfXO&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f86e880f28cce539dda63c2314b3d22b&oe=61430234

[ChalkLine]

I posted about the impressive Dutch M41 DK-1 Walker Bulldog a while back, but Tank Encyclopedia as has just put up an article about the 90mm Cockerill-armed Belgian M41 LCTS 90. This popped up in 1994 and is perfect timing for armies wanting to upgrade their M41s (I'm modelling a Spanish one modified for T2K one now but not with the LCTS turret).

Essentially it just drops the LCTS 90 turret on the basic M41 hull and gives it a gruntier motor.
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/m41-lcts-90/

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/135701451_10158679605730874_3743900209618479496_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=0vnldL2P5NkAX9mY35c&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=3ce605d1fafe1828aa97bbbd835d8909&oe=6144FD62

[ChalkLine]

More of those things . . .

Textron "Jaguar"

A weird 1996 prototype, the Jaguar was made by a Textron/NORINCO cooperative effort on the Type 59 chassis, the Type 59 being a Chinese T-54/55 with a local flavour and being even more rudimentary. Textron did their magic and you see the creature before you. The Chinese pulled out in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square atrocity and Textron went on without them, developing the critter you see here. Here's what the magic wand did:

-Applique armour
- Upgraded torsion bars, hydropneumatic suspension optional.
- Modified M68/L7 105mm gun firing standard NATO ammunition.
- M240C 7.26mm coaxial MG and M2HB 12.7mm pintle HMG
- Fully stabilised with electrohydraulic gun control and stabilisation system.
- Laser rangefinder and digital fire control
- Detroit Diesel 8V-92TA eight-cylinder diesel developing 750 hp coupled to an Allison Transmission XTG-411 fully automatic transmission

So, where would this sort of thing turn up?
Well, perhaps in the Chinese Theatre as part of the military aid package given to China. You could if you want have a bunch sent over to the European Theatre in some small batches when the supply lines are cut as part of that last throw-over-what-we-can-scrape-up effort if they're sitting around idle and they might even trundle about in the CONUS. Finally, they might be given to forces formerly in the Soviet orbit who were used to working the the T-55s.
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product4406.html

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/136070973_10158686747135874_1896149732124244017_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=ugcOZdA9suAAX8QzgBN&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=b7f750077bf8acabfe1056cf4a909cf4&oe=6141CEFB

[ChalkLine]

Having played Metro: Exodus recently a good thing was when the party started out with just the engine and tender itself rather than the whole train and then added cars they found elsewhere.

Now, you can't actually do it like in the game as trains nearly never have a big enough platform for the operators and any meaningful load, it would be less than the inside of a humvee. However if you gave them say just the engine/tender combination and a flatcar they could start off with perhaps a box formwork and sandbags and then you can let them add carriages as they go. This actually makes sense as rolling stock is immensely valuable and usually salvaged within an inch of its life if damaged so it should be very rare.

Now add cars. The first car would probably be a boxcar or a passenger carriage. As they don't have the workcar yet they can't do fancy armour but don't forget a flat car can carry about 80 tonnes (80,000kg) when pulled by a steam train and Poland is very flat, so the problem here isn't going to be weight but rather width of armour and internal area. As one of our posters pointed out some time ago it takes a three sandbag thickness wall to be reasonably safe from rifle calibre (7.62mm) rounds, that leaves very little room inside.

Casting about there's an obvious answer; concrete. Concrete only needs 75mm/3" to stop 7.62 x 51mm rounds and if the concrete has a high density of aggregate reinforcement this will break up the rounds and be even more effective (this system was used in WW2 "plastic armour" for merchant ships and was bitumen containing heavy amounts of dolorite road base chips, all held against the superstructure with plywood formboards. It not only stopped the rounds but also snapped off the tips of AP rounds). Remember that automatic weapons attack cover like a jackhammer, they smash the wall until they chew away the protection so embrasures should eventually have metal reinforcement. While simple letter box slits can be made (these are what give pillboxes, a contraction of the term "pillar box", its name) but the firing ports from early IFVs can be chopped out and installed as well. The BMP 3 has them for PKMs!

After the players have built this, tasks involving civil/combat engineering, carpentry and metalworking skills, let them find the work car. This should be the culmination of a hard adventure involving detective work, diplomacy and serious fighting. Once they have this prize they can do some serious armouring and chopping up MBTs and APC/IFVs for armour, mounting turrets and other rail-based battleship stuff is within their reach.

An artillery car usually had two guns in rotating turrets if possible, however one gun and a local defence station was common as well. These guns are run like a battery and need a battery command car (which can replace a local defence station) for targeting and so on. Similarly a mortar car, probably more useful than a howitzer car as the ammo is more abundant, is possible and once again the mighty 2B9M Vasilek screams to be used here but the French Brandt 60mm gun/mortar would be good as well if the GM feels the 2B9M is too powerful. Nearly all these cars, like all cars, also had LMG embrasures and rifle embrasures. Yugoslav trains had twin aero rocket pods in open mounts for serious area saturation (if you've never seen these Soviet monsters been fired check out one of the many youtube videos. They're more like a shotgun)

Twilight 2000 being what it is a medical bay will be needed. If clearly marked all main force enemies will try and refrain from targeting this car but marauders or stragglers should be handled on a case by case basis. It needs wide doors to get stretcher cases in and should also have the living quarters for the medical staff. Of all cars this and the engine should be gasproofed first.

The command car can be part of the passenger car. Here the train is "conned", targets are identified and threats assessed. This is where an officer NPC should be as they fight their battle and update the tactical specialists to the shifting battle conditions and keep them on-mission. This individual makes the call when the train is moved.

Those flatbeds that can carry 80,000kg? Yes, there's no MBT that weighs that much. An MBT can be dragged along at the rear of the train and with the right ramp gear can detrain itself although usually an unloading team and ground guides are needed. Even if they don't have the fuel to manouevre they can be unloaded and driven to an overwatch position with an accompanying security team of infantry. This is one of the few ways you can keep your Abrams in play. Of course if you have the length you can drag all sorts of vehicles along to extend the reach of the characters, but having never unloaded a train I'll leave the process to some of the wise people here.

A flat car of rail ties and timbers gets added at some point.

A horse box gives the players a cavalry contingent that is sheltered from splinters and small arms fire.

Finally, you must have a scout vehicle(s).
Due to the nature of the vehicles they should have originally been four wheeled vehicles, 6x6 or 8x8 don't really work and tracks require making an entirely new lower chassis, and should ideally be former APCs or IFVs. These can also drag rail trailers of up to 10 tonnes (10,000kg) load and use a tiny amount of fuel. Nazi Germany would have two to four of these little things that worked in teams, a scout team and a support team of which two would have turrets. These check out the tracks ahead, go down side rails to see what's there and also which line of track is the least dangerous or damaged. Stations, always a danger spot, should be carefully checked out and a foot sweep is almost mandatory.

Back to Metro: Exodus.
While I like the game you can't really lounge against the side of the engine, that thing is full of pipes of boiling steam and even spaced armour will get absurdly hot.

[ChalkLine]

Blockhouses

A "blocking house" is an outmoded term for any singular strongpoint that allows a small amount if troops to hold down the approaches to any area. A blockhouse differs from most positions due to its heavy nature and the small amount of troops it holds. Notably a blockhouse does not hold the element that patrols its area.
The primary role of a Blockhouse is domination. A Blockhouse can restrict avenues of approach, they can overawe settlements and they minimise the numbers of troops needed in these roles.

They suffer from some serious problems in Twilight 2000 in that light automatic cannon on mobile platforms are still common as are rocket propelled grenades. As these systems are all mobile and have engagement ranges far in excess of the average 1,300m engagement range of the Polish theatre* they can be engaged by direct fire with destructive effect. This means the standard military Blockhouse will change in form but not role.

The need for a two or more story structure remains. However the lower element will be the main fighting position and the upper element will be a lighter observation platform. Due to the prevalence of accurate point fire systems such as designated marksman rifles all observation should be by either periscope or camouflaged observation positions. During combat these positions should be evacuated.

Blockhouses differ from many positions in that they do not have external supporting works. There are usually no external fire trenches or gun pits to cover the work's flanks as there is simply too small a garrison to occupy them. A blockhouse instead usually relies heavily on belts of mines and obstacles to delay attackers until a ready reserve can arrive or the position falls .

Blockhouses are not a universal answer to low troops numbers. In many cases a commander will prefer a normal position designed to be evacuated when under pressure as a delaying and alert measure. A Blockhouse is usually only erected when a small unit must fight in place and cannot retreat while awaiting relief.

Use in the game.

The enemy will erect Blockhouses on the final approaches to vital settlements or along supply routes. Players will encounter these tough nuts when they're getting too close to a main force unit. As blockhouses are often resupply points for patrols and radio relay stations they will be defended with more than usual persistence.

These positions make a good starting point for non-Kalisz campaigns. The players can be a patrol checking in on a Blockhouse or the tiny microcosm of mismatched troops dropped in the Blockhouse and told hold down a sector. Later they hear that their parent unit is being overrun, has an internal revolution or some other thing that pushes them out of the position and onto the road. They can also be a position the players are put in if they make it back to allied lines and you are not using something similar to Operation Omega. This keeps them in a good spot, gives them a forward fighting position largely up to their own devices and still lets them go to the parent unit for some R&R.

(*This is from a Cold War Warsaw Pact estimate)

[ChalkLine]

2000ad Winter Die-Off

In our nice, well supported lives with amazing just-in-time civilian logistical systems and established infrastructure we tend to view winter as an interesting turning of the seasons whereas for people in a devastated world without support, stores or communications the implacable onset of winter, nuclear or not, is viewed with a sense of sick, helpless dread.

Currently I'm thinking the death rate from exposure, illness and malnutrition among survivors across nuclear Poland will be on the order of 25%+ and in some regions far higher. This should be the worst winter in human history for death, exceeding such times as various famines and epidemics. This is due to the fact that in many places the extreme effects of no-holds-barred Hot War will have wiped the landscape clean of not only life but the means of supporting life. Simply put, anyone who tries to stay in these zones is doomed.

Gas attacks contaminate the ground, not only making cropping poisonous if even possible (and the survivors have no way of knowing their meagre crops are contaminated) but also incapable of supporting game. Nuclear strikes litter the areas with heavy metals such as iodine, cobalt and others that continue to contaminate the area. This hidden killer, undetectable without equipment (although the OCP, Poland's Civil Defence Units, had a large amount of these) will kill for centuries. Finally the much underestimated bioweapons and mother nature's homegrown horrors tend to thrive in winter environments as sanitation is generally poorer, survivors huddle together in small environments and desperate and infected people are made into refugees who flee famine and infect others until they are literally met with violence.

Yet it is famine that kills the most. Marauder groups almost never have enough supplies and by definition their survival tactic is purely to take what little anyone else has until they scour the area around them and then have to move on. Food preservation is a difficult and dangerous science, before the modern era it was one of the vital tasks of the female gender role to the point where armies took their women with them on the march, and getting it wrong means trying to reclaim spoiled food: often a lethal "Hobbe's Choice". Military units who's main concept of interaction with the world is often brute force tend to stock up on food by viewing it as the strategic resource it is. They might ruthlessly triage civilians and even troops as "useful mouths" and "useless mouths", expelling those that threaten the whole, adding to those adrift in the snows.

For those on the move seeking food there is usually no good outcomes no matter what actions they take. Some of the harsh winters during The Hundred Years Wars saw the annihilation of entire regions that along with the Black Plague did not recover even thin population densities for three centuries. Attempting to fight for food puts these people up against those who are willing to fight to keep it. Looking for food is pointless; the secret of success is finding, producing and holding onto food well in advance of winter.

So what do the players do in this dismal setting?

Hopefully they will only be dimly aware of most of it, much of what they discover of the situation will only be apparent in the spring. However they will constantly come across three situations, all similar. This is either civilians, marauders or military units looking for food.

As noted above they are vectors of disease. In a previous post I also mentioned that food intake has to be higher for combat situations, so players will want to limit these at all costs. Finally there's some simply awful choices to make.

Marauders are easy; everyone hates bandits no matter where they come from and they can be dealt with out of hand. Military units are more of a problem, they will view the players as a tactical problem and of course can choose when and how to attack within a certain window, giving them the tactical initiative. Attacking civilians are rare, instead they will simply implore the players to help and may just try and stay as at least under the player's defence area it is safer than elsewhere.

Some things can happen to the players to force them out into the countryside. Raids aimed at their supplies might penetrate their position and even if they don't take any supplies the food store might be damaged in the process. Food spoilage might occur, even "domestic food" has a shelf life and sudden levels of wastage might force the players to head off to a rumoured food source. Finally they might take pity on another group and seek out food for them (I would immensely reward players risking themselves for this)

[ChalkLine]

Safe at last!

So, the PCs have fought their way across the hell of Twilight 2000 and have re-joined a military unit. Now, they can rest and get back to soldiering, getting ordered around and inevitably losing a lot of their agency . . . .

We can't have that now, can we?

First off, the good bits. The PCs should be rewarded. They shouldn't strive for something and be penalised for doing what they were expected to do. They probably have a lot of stuff they've accumulated and you want to prune that away. I'd do so but reward them by upgrading a significant bit of kit. Have the unit gift them something hardcore like an M2 Bradley if you feel the need to take a bunch of stuff away so they don't feel cheated.

Now, do some housecleaning. Players operate best when they are mean and lean. Cutting away NPCs and excess vehicles/kit makes them have to actually get out in the weeds and adventure again rather than just detailing a bunch of drones to do stuff for them. Don't kill these people off, send them elsewhere so the players are a small tight unit once again.

Now, time to pull the house down.

The unit they rejoin has a much-respected commander and a few sub commanders. You can crib wildly off RE Howard's Conan books here by making each of these sub commanders either a NATO national and/or specialist troop type. Each of them has adherents, fiercely loyal to themselves (this is in all Conan's intrigues). Take the time to let the PCs get to know these people. Now, something happens. Maybe Spetznaz/partisans get in and kill the commander. Maybe there's an internal revolution. Maybe one sub commander kills another and the overall commander dies in the crossfire. However the CO is dead and that's vital as he was the glue that held everyone together.

At some point one guy who may or may not be the guilty party fingers the players as the cause. The unit dissolves into internecine fighting but significantly all parties are gunning for the players. The fact that a civil war is going on means they can't combine to take the players out in a coherent fashion and gives the PCs time to slip away and hit the road again, maybe whacking one of the treacherous bastards on the way out and increasing the mayhem.

[ChalkLine]

Remember the "Giraffe" Abrams? 🙂

If you like things like that there was also a slew of oddities on the other side, probably the closest that came to fruition was Obyekt 195 "T-95", a truly frightening monster of an MBT mounting a 152mm smoothbore gun and featuring many of the aspects that would come to pass on the T-14 "Armata" such as the turbocharged diesel engine and remote turret.

While it seemed fairly unlikely at the time it was a possible rare tank that might have been fielded in small numbers. It's unknown if it was to have the same heavy IFV and APC versions that the T-14 has it but would definitely work in close coordination with the most up to date Soviet versions.

It would have featured either a prototype Relikt ERA or the existing Kontakt-5 ERA. It had a funky 30mm co-axial automatic cannon, Shtora-1 laser jammer and Drozd active counter measures as well as the first Russian thermographic system.

Its backbone is the 152 mm 2A83 smoothbore gun, now awaiting further development. This is no low velocity gun but a special system with a long-throw autoloader so it could fire very long-rod APFSDS rounds, heavy ATGMs equal to Hellfire or TOW and honking great HE or HEAT rounds.

All in all it would have been a bad thing to have on the other side. In real life it was deferred as too many parts were sourced from successor states so a total redesign was done that put it back until now.

(Note that Paul Mulcahy's site has old data but the armour should be right)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/145358303_10158760910630874_7485394132994343021_n. jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=D_0Wtpo5JSoAX93SCGc&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=04b4b72e04e117d62636c2d9ed0173b5&oe=6143F2E1

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/145016775_10158760912810874_5751071208862289540_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=qWpnOkrsyWkAX_AS2h5&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=fa0b4efbf6fdee70bc95dbac7c312dab&oe=61424603

[ChalkLine]

Q: What sort of tents did the Soviets use?
A: None.

Actually, that's a lie. The Soviet army did use tents but they were mandated for use only in night marches.

Instead they used Dugouts.

(Note these are not fortifications but accommodation even though they do allow some protection from fragments.)

Each Motor Rifle Section would prepare a dugout and it should be able to be completed within 24 hours while still standing watches etc. It requires a total of 100 man hours work using the following components:

12 x 2.5 m poles (sourced locally)
70 x 6.0 m poles (sourced locally)
120 x 5.5 m planks (sourced locally)
12 x 2.0m poles (sourced locally)
5m³ spruce branches (sourced locally)
8 kg wire
2 x roofing iron
1 x field oven
1 x door
1 x window

These 1 metre-deep positions had a triangular roof made of 3cm to 5cm round logs laid over 5cm to 11cm supports and then covered by a layer of clay 15cm to 25cm thick and then covered by turf. The supports would be either nailed or wired together.

A normal individual can stand upright inside the dugout and each bed is 30cm to 60cm wide and 1.8m long. Duffel bags are placed at the head of the bed.

Winterisation is achieved by the application of more clay on the end walls and drainage ditches around the position. Many dugouts had electrical power sourced form a generator position.

While this dugout was standard other sizes existed, some capable of housing a motorised rifle platoon.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/147687678_10158763461560874_13807326436806889_n.jp g?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=RW30HStUKcIAX-u0l-g&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=77e02bcef87dfe026c4fdb0092e9103a&oe=6142876F

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/147029599_10158763461450874_5324733556283758906_n. jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=3TcgaHXMzzYAX_Aqmag&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=a61a58a581900aa7696c647504799c87&oe=61425A5C

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/146105637_10158763461480874_5942005462785913182_n. jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=hdTek11HVGMAX-npK-P&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=b0bae907dff7143dfe169927e6ea60c3&oe=61450D28

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/146677807_10158763461460874_7618882915952368815_n. jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=gQFJXk_uv5sAX9Eus_E&_nc_oc=AQkdovv6N9akJ9yiVdd6IRy3tGBGUGn2aQCiVMfcOIT cVKfhqILbl1PsFq5F9ajsDaiW0d2_zdAtQYFU0nXD2s6S&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=ac5c437929c945e6f4ef4d5a958a2f71&oe=6141D94C

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/146684163_10158763461470874_2239309857276759252_n. jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=Sa1coni7cLcAX_2-skt&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=d833044b7fd8d75ea97f8c90dd165159&oe=6144B027

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/146422634_10158763461600874_6318763689947325294_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=NHrR8AVnmuMAX9aYmI6&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=b0801d72eaa4f2c2d0158dd90b9163e7&oe=6145036D

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/145394023_10158763461650874_814942261179611958_n.j pg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=i8Kos7XTc7gAX_rO7TN&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=1187d95573319085b1df3ecda82ce019&oe=61443612

[ChalkLine]

The Vistula to Warta water route.

Next time your PCs are playing through Pirates of the Vistula they might want to know that at Bydgoszcz on the Vistula there's a canal that runs in a dead straight east-west line towards the Notec River. The Notec is a tributary of the Warta which is a tributary of the Oder and at that point they're back in friendly lines (or so they think).

Now, this isn't going to be easy. For a start this looks like a really good supply line for Warsaw Pact units. Bydgoszcz is listed as a devastated ruin (nearly always a campaign in their own right) and is 50km downriver from (ie: they have to go past) the Soviet 22nd Cavalry Army HQ at Torun along with the Soviet 96th Cav. If they somehow get past this impressive force and its widespread reinforcements then they can sneak into Bydgoszcz and see if the canal is still open. Now, Bydgoszcz and the canal is where the Soviet 207th Motorized Rifle Division fell to bits. According to the rules only a few of the components became marauders and the rest seem to have realised the realities of the situation and have just became locals. This makes a good place to transit.

The river continues on east through wild country and then suddenly heads south. During this phase you start to meet Polish units. Now, as there's Polish Free legion activity in this area it might be pretty hostile to say the least as these two powers vie for control with the balance of power being on the Polish People's Army's side. Unfortunately the Notec runs right past Czarnkow where it heads west again and under a town bridge, Czarnkow being the home turf of the 2nd Polish Army HQ! (I told you this might be a supply line . . . ) The 2nd Poles have only their own security units with them but the surrounding region is soaked with Polish units. This might still be doable if the players have evaded any previous pursuit, kept a low profile recently and go hard and don't stop until they're out of the location. However the Poles certainly aren't stupid and if the players are detected at all they'll know a boat can't get off the river and they will go looking for them. However the Notec often has little parallel courses running alongside it on Google Maps and the players can pull some cool cat and mouse stuff here. If they are detected though they're going through the AO of the Polish 17th Cav who will not be happy to see them. However the 17th are light on heavy units and spread thin so once again not getting bogged down might work here.

However, all good things must pass. After this the river runs a west south west course and runs straight into some of the heavier Soviet units in the barrier positions and almost certainly becomes a supply line if it already isn't. The hard part is done though, once through the Polish 17th Cav the way north west to NATO lines is free of known WarPact units and is only a howling desolation of ruins that is the Oder-Warta Valley.

Now, if this is a supply line as I've been talking about it can still be done. Supply lines are not only goodies going forwards but they are also goodies going back, and these might be NATO equipment both large and small and even NATO POWs. A bit of actual river piracy suits most PCs quite well and lying up before storming WarPact vessels for some gripping boarding actions to get resupply might be fun. Actions do get reactions though and if you want to see quick reactions from a unit just interdict its supply line and see what happens. Even if these lines are only token things they are still vital, I'd say a lot of these units that fragment had supply cut off shortly beforehand.

[ChalkLine]

A universal Player Character Vehicle Table as an alternative to the other excellent one already here

[ChalkLine]

The BTZ-3 Armoured Fuel Tanker

During the little Afghan fiasco the Soviets discovered that getting fuel up to the troops had become somewhat problematic, what with all the bullets flying around. So, in the spirit of "lessons learned" they created the BTZ-3 Armoured Fuel Tanker.

From the outside it looks exactly like a BMP-1 without a turret, all the hatches, firing ports and so on remain the same. Instead of a turret the deck is sealed by a circular plate with an access hatch.

Inside they stripped the hull out, leaving the front two crew positions and installing two 1,500 litre fuel tanks, a single 100 litre oil tank and various pumping gear. Opening the rear hatches allowed access to hoses and the roof "troop compartment" hatches allowed access to machinery.

Of course in the scheme of things 3,000 litres is too little, 5,000 litres is considered minimum - but if a tanker truck can't get up forward its possible one of these might. If nothing else they present a very low target, not something to be ignored.

[ChalkLine]

TKB-0249 "Crossbow" grenade launcher

Introduced in 1998, probably earlier if the USSR doesn't implode in your timeline.

The Soviets really warmed to the grenade launcher idea. Due to having less radios than Western armies there tended to be something of a lag in getting supporting fires. Just speculating, this may be why they started attaching AGS-17s to infantry platoons but they also attached 12.7mm MG guns to that unit so I might be misunderstanding their doctrine.

Anyway, even with the RPG-7V along for the ride they liked the idea of an organic accurate grenade launcher, probably because the RPG-7V's ammo is on the bulky side and also its blast effect is a bit over the top if you're using it in the support role.

So in 1998 they brought out the Crossbow ("arbalet") which sort of doesn't have an analogue in the West. Essentially it's a dirty great big grenade launcher that's used for accurate point firing. Instead of just plastering the area this launcher shoots accurate grenades onto small point targets such as bunker embrasures, weapon pits or windows. They occasionally refer to is as a "sniper grenade launcher" in imperfect translations.

In many ways it seems to be a weapon in search of a role. Troops in battle usually have little compunction against hitting positions with weapons that are way too powerful for the application and most commanders would rather their lads carried stuff with too much destructive capacity rather than too little. Still, you can pack a lot of the ammo.

Anyway, this 10kg beasty is a drum-fed weapon from a bipod utilising 10-round magazines containing the standard 30mm VOG-17M or VOG-30 grenades. It's considered highly accurate as grenade launchers go and evidently has less recoil than an assault rifle. Notably I've never seen it in use anywhere. Maximum range is 1,700m.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/147014123_10158773474380874_1611342076621645108_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=Ka1M89vps3EAX9FmJ_g&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=787fa180c76fe862ba5d4e965a5d316c&oe=61435E80

[ChalkLine]

M67 Recoilless Rifle
(For that time when you want to be sure)

While everyone loves the Carl Gustaf ("Charlie Guts-Ache" to Australians) the US had a workhorse analogue in the 90mm M67 RR as well. Often thought to have been phased out when the M47 Dragon was introduced it actually soldiered on for niche applications as it's rock-solid in extreme environments when Dragon or TOW might fail.

The Alaskan 6th Division (Light), 502nd Infantry Regiment in Berlin and the Rangers hung onto this monster as long as they could through to the end of the Cold War and its even been reintroduced recently in Afghanistan.

Weighing in at a spine-shortening 17kg with 4kg rounds for HEAT and HE munitions it reproduces everything the Carl Gustaf does in an admittedly heavier package except one; the M67 also had a 3kg canister round loaded with 2,400 steel flechettes that could turn everything to chaff for 300m.

So yeah, this critter goes back into the starting kit options.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/149070580_10158773547165874_7436202017762491567_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=EoBf3OlPJeQAX_g8wNH&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=319b28d36276db3d1cba428049080fb2&oe=61431BD9

[ChalkLine]

Wild Food Spoilage.

Summary:
- Wild Vegetable Preparation Time = 1 period per 100kg (2d6% wastage/month)
- Wild Grain Preparation Time = 1 period per 200kg (1d6% wastage/month)
- Carcass Preparation and Storage = 1 period per 50kg (1d6% wastage/month)
- Dried Meat Preparation Time = 1 period per 50kg + 6 Days Drying + 1.5kg "salting" salt per kg. (1d6% wastage/month)
- Salt Meat Preparation Time = 2 period per 50kg + 3 Days Drying (1d6% wastage/month)
- Dried Meat Preparation Time = 1 period per smoker up 200kg + 2 to 3 periods smoking (no wastage)
- Fats Preparation Time = 1 period per 100kg meat (no wastage) Requires large cookers.
Each of these periods shown requires a Task
- Easy: Survival/Cooking/Biology (unskilled)

(Note this can be an Average Task or even higher if the required equipment is not available or if the player has to avoid observation. Salting must have "salting" salt or is not possible).

Food goes off, and it goes off faster depending on a range of factors. Firstly, it definitely doesn't like getting wet. That bit about all the food you gathered from a field? Well the first time it rains you can either have everyone pull the vehicles off the road to dry out the food somehow or you can throw most of it out. This is because most players don't have nearly enough containers to put the stuff in so it's often lumped into the back of a truck in a huge, awful mess of a mound (which will give you wastage as well). Players should become obsessive about gathering and cleaning those 44 gallon drums.
Food doesn't like to just sit, although some food is more stable than others. Spuds and other roots will sit happily in a cool, dark and ventilated space for a few months. Wheat and other grains last better in the kernel so if the players didn't separate the chaff (page 150, T2K v2.2) they will find it spoils rapidly. While grain might last 6 months if stored correctly you can expect your root vegetables to be useless in three months tops, less if in not ideal environments.

The following assumes that each unit of meat is about 50kg, and even small units take the same time.
Meat, game or fish, goes off fast and unrefrigerated meat in small amounts is dangerous after two hours. Really dangerous. Now, this actually isn't all the meat, the outer layers are the most affected by the atmosphere and all the greebies in it in a well-dressed carcass (something the players are adept at is cleaning carcasses by now, even with just a bayonet). But if you can't preserve your meat for some reason you'll get rapid wastage as you keep cleaning off the carcass. Raw meat has to be kept away from flies and other vermin, usually by wrapping in coarse cloth that can still breath such as burlap, coincidently what most of the sandbags are made from.

However if you want meat to stay stable you have to start to do some serious work, it takes about six days minimum to air dry meat correctly. The food should be kept stationary in this time. Now, it's conceivable you could make up a large meat rack for a truck but expect a large amount of your load capacity to go out the window, far more than the mass of the food. This can only be done in areas with a low humidity.

Salt-curing meat is the other method suggested last time. Now, for a start you need more than just normal sodium chloride, you also need some special salting salts that include nitrates and nitrites, this will have to be traded for as the players aren't going to just find it. You don't need much but it is still needed otherwise the fats in the food will oxidise. Salted meat has little fat, the salt won't penetrate it. Fat is vital for the players so we'll cover this elsewhere. Salt-cured meat must be dried for three days before being salted and then takes after cooking, the cooking process takes a period to gather equipment and fuel, set up, clean the food, cook and then prepare for drying. All this salting stuff is really wasteful of salt, you can use half again as much salt as you have meat.

Smoked meat is a dark art.
A smoker is either a hole in the ground, a structure or a portable device, this last one being far preferable to gypsy player characters however portable smokers can only handle limited amounts of meat at a time whereas a smokehouse or smoke pit can be constructed to process as much as the PCs desire. On average a smoker can do its job in 2 to 3 periods using 20kg fresh-cut hardwood per 50kg meat. It takes 1 period to get everything set up.

Animal fat is vital, especially in winter. Players are going to want to create lard from carcasses. It takes another period of cooking to render animal fat that should be added to the preparation times, if not reduce the amount of nutrition the food provides in snow periods. Note that the players also derive soap from this step which should give them a bonus to avoid some diseases and even lower some enemy recon rolls! Being less stinky also makes hunting easier.

It also takes some upkeep and just looking after this wild food is going start eating into the player's time. Players will be assume to be constantly checking the food sources and making sure that it's aired, vermin free and clearing out wastage. This should be assumed to be part of their daily upkeep.

[ChalkLine]

So, ten stragglers of various nationalities got hoovered up in the last scenario and the first thing a player asks is "what are their names?"
Well, the Fantasy Name Generator (https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/?fbclid=IwAR0_06wWJ9N08vXeRFDLnrK-njEzA6Vnz6fh81jtVLkx-pz1AN7jsRn0MNw) is here to help you out. It can give you hundreds of names by nationality and language for the real world ranging from Australian Aboriginal names to Zulu names and everything in between.
It also generates tons of other stuff as well, it will generate business names by type, town names and landform names. And it also does lots of fantasy names as well.
A brilliant GM tool and for those players that get stuck on naming their PC, check it out.

[ChalkLine]

This thing's adorable.

Weighing in at a tiny 2,900kg and capable of moving at 55km/h, the XM108 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM104?fbclid=IwAR2T6LxEx5W6MnxE-ZUzOJbA1sq7DWGdvwMXE4l9xkLZYxkYM8-TH-v6fDI) was to have a crew of four gunners and was to be deployed with rapid reaction groups. It could cross mud, snow, swamps and water. It was unfortunately tested well before "Hello Kitty" stickers were available.

It also provided absolutely SFA protection to the tiny crew and carried no ammunition. The 105mm guns were "being phased out in favour of the heavier weight artillery" (didn't happen for another fifty years) and of course the Blue Sky School said they could do anything that was needed, no need for organic weapons.

Twilight 2000 Role:

Added to airborne formations later in the war, the tiny guns outperformed the standard M102 howitzers in the area of recoil trunnion loading meaning they could be deployed on softer ground, but otherwise maintaining the same standard of fire up to the small crew's endurance. Although nothing is said, the standard M102 had a crew of eight gunners so I'm assuming more gunners would turn up on an ammo/support vehicle.

GM Use: Have one of these stoically motor west with a few guys on it if you want artillery stragglers, just for the laughs.

Edit: These little things don't really offer anything the M102 doesn't except it can cross water or soft ground, I'm submitting it because it's cute.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/151172857_10158792613490874_6321885273819948029_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=57PSixhWyA0AX8dZ-73&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=e8cc5ea4d3952410f642692180b47b90&oe=6143E719

[ChalkLine]

The Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV)

Replacing the long-nosed M35 2.5 ton truck and the M809 and M939 5.0 ton trucks, the FMTV is the first line gear for the US army in tactical trucks in the T2K setting.

I wonder, however, if they became a bit like the Soviet experience.
The Soviets had been using the long-nosed Ural 357 trucks since roughly the early Pleistocene Era when they switched over to the KamAZ 4310 series, a similar cab-over design that has gone on to be legendary in Soviet/Russian service and the term "to KAMaz out of here" is now ubiquitous. However it's been strongly disliked by the actual drivers since Afghanistan as an IED or mine detonates directly under the cab. The rough equation (depending a lot on the weapon) is that for every metre away from the blast you quarter the blast effect. The KamAZ developed a nasty reputation as a crew-killer.

So maybe when going through the list you might still take the old clapped-out M35, M809 or M939 after all.

Still, the FMTVs are nice looking trucks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Family_of_Medium_Tactical...
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../M35_series_2%C2%BD-ton_6%C3...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M809_series_5-ton_6x6_truck
(The M809 page has some great line drawings to help with visualisation of the variants)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M939_series_5-ton_6x6_truck

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/150203611_10158793228715874_7933792601119542431_n. jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=RfzOR7auPrYAX9Ip8ff&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=cf2c5a11dbc0a7228fd0a40dd7e3e0a6&oe=6142D6E7

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/151333106_10158793234455874_5715150444780701947_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=CXr-i2f-O6wAX-7wAZc&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=acd4229d61122a474cfe5b43dcb79845&oe=61421ACC

[ChalkLine]

Driver Tasks and Events

Much of Twilight 2000 is going from A to B.
However, due to recent activities the interval tends to be somewhat "modified" by various events. This means that drivers, the unsung heroes of the Twilight games who don't get to man the cool guns, should be doing things to keep their interest high.

Now, this is going to be a very long post. You might want to skip much of it and go to the end bit which will be situations to navigate if you don't want to read the waffle.

I really can't labour the point enough as to just how much the infrastructure of your World War Three is smashed. Yes, there will be some relatively untouched places but on the whole they will be rare. Bombing, artillery, heavy vehicles (those rubber track cleats disappeared in the first year and the soviets never even used them at all) all abuse the infrastructure. Modern buildings are actually rather fragile compared to some of the mediaeval houses you see in The Second World War images and modern buildings have a habit of collapsing into a pile of crap although Eastern European modern buildings were often built with an eye towards survivability in a conflict. However even just neglect can do immense damage to infrastructure as culverts block up, pot holes blow through the road base and stuff falls down dragging other stuff with it, making an awful mess. If you do any damage and then don't fix that damage immediately it's ten times worse within a few months as nature starts trying to make new systems around the heaps of rubble.

The players and the hordes of NPCs are going to insist on driving over this wreckage. Most military vehicles can climb absurd slopes, usually sliding at about 60º, but even they won't be able to get over most wreckage. For instance an MBT usually has only about a just over a metre obstacle clearing height and wheeled vehicles often are less than this. So, how does the GM adjudicate all this?

First off you need to know that it's there. As usual trawling through images of wreckage gives the GM great ideas and tools to use in play. Making up a list beforehand is I'd say essential and I'm going to ask the list members to add more hazards in the comments below so we can create a file the GMs can use. I actually recommend never rolling on tables, they're awful things that break immersion and frequently give silly results but rather craft an adventure using the lists provided.

Now, there's essentially two methods of negotiating a hazard and that's under pressure and not under pressure. This is because when not under pressure the Driver or the Ground Guide can diagnose the hazard(s), evaluate if the vehicle is capable of negotiating it and then developing a strategy for dealing with it. After that it's up to driver skill and the vehicle's capabilities to deal with the hazard. Under pressure simply means there's no time for that and often the driver has no idea there's even a hazard there until the vehicle is in it. They have to rely on skill, experience and the vehicle's innate off-road capability to deal with the problem.

The Ground Guide.
Ground Guides help vehicles of whatever size and loading condition get through hazards by giving instructions to the driver whether they can or cannot sense the environment themselves. Ideally the Ground Guide and the Driver should both have at least 4+ in the same language. From bitter experience I can tell you the Ground Guide and the Driver should ideally have negotiated many smaller obstacles together first before tackling a difficult obstacle together so they understand each other's assessment criteria and it's relation to reality. It is vital that a Ground Guide have vehicle driving experience themselves, sending a non-driver out to assess a hazard is an exercise in futility.

Note that a driver can always get out and go and look at the obstacle themselves, acting as their own ground guide in a sense.
If there is time an obstacle can be diagnosed to ascertain what hidden hazards and features it presents. Succeeding in this task reduces the drive task by one level with GM approval. Of course sometimes no matter how much you check out a problem the essential difficulty still remains.
Diagnose Hazards -
Drive (wheeled) or Drive Tracked): [Task difficulty varies]

Of course, if you have all the time in the world you can actually just bust a gut and make a road over it. broken down small bridges can be filled in with logs, dirt heaped over them and a road made. Sure, it will wash away soon but you'll be gone. Similarly, craters can be filled in, rubble cleared away and so on.
Mitigate Hazard -
Civil Engineering or Combat Engineering

Finally, there are composite hazards/obstacles. These may need several rolls to get past. The GM should require a diagnose, engineering and drive roll for each one.

A short list of actual hazards for your trip away:
(Important note: Hazards are often observed by the enemy and covered by their fire or used as IED/mine locations.
A note in Attribute Only tasks: multiply all Attributes by 1.5, rounding up)

- A small bridge has been demolished/collapsed creating a "V"-shaped gap about a truck-length long.
The ground on each side is soft. A tracked vehicle requires an average task to negotiate the soft banks, failure means it cannot get across. A catastrophic failure results in it getting bogged.
Wheeled vehicles require engineering assistance to fill the gap. Even with the gap filled the task is still hazardous as the filling material can shift, sliding the vehicle into the gully on one side of the ruined bridge. Note that very long vehicles such as the HEMMT are at a bonus due to their trench-crossing ability due to their long wheel base.
Task: To fill the gap
Civil Engineering or Combat Engineering: Easy [1 period for two personnel to cut material, transport material and place it. For every extra two personnel halve the time to a minimum of one hour]

- A small bridge has been demolished/collapsed creating a "V"-shaped gap about a truck-length long. The centre of the bridge has been filled in with logs and dirt.
The same as above but the work has already been done by someone else. However the in-fill might have already started to shift and the driving task is slightly higher.

- The road is heavily cratered by a heavy artillery/bombing strike.
This is only of importance if the players can't get around it such as in a street or some other choke point.
This is a composite task. There are several hazards in a row and the ground guide is quite exposed moving through them, finding the best path. Note that you can get serious problems with this simple hazard as a vehicle gets far in before bogging and then the extraction vehicle bogs trying to get in to remove the first vehicle.

- A bridge or causeway about fifty metres long is flooded.
Downstream there is a blockage and the watercourse has backed up, making it impossible to see the nature of the structure underneath due to the muddy water. Standard practice is for a ground guide to get soaking wet walking across the flooded structure first. That's right, out there in the open. Pucker up and put on your armour.

- A bridge or causeway about fifty metres long is flooded.
Recent rains have flooded the area, making this a potentially lethal situation that kills hundreds of people each year. The water flowing over the structure occasionally has debris ranging from floating items no bigger than a suitcase up to whole trees moving at high speed, root-ball first and striking like a battering ram. The structure underneath the water has taken serious damage and may or may not be repairable. Whole sections of the sides of the structure are missing in a random pattern and trying to get across blindly will result in going over the downstream side and being swept away or the upstream side and being pinned by the current. This is as deadly as a firefight and many sensible people will simply avoid it and go back the way they came.

Tasks:
To walk across the flooded section
Agility: Average to Difficult

To recover a swept away individual:
Strength: Average
(Swept away individuals have to make a Swimming: Difficult task to avoid drowning rolls. This increases to Formidable if the individual is wearing other than minimal equipment)

Note that all recovery attempts for vehicles will be at a level higher and catastrophic failures result in an individual being swept away if they don not make a swimming check

[ChalkLine]

The KGB
(Russian: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) "The Committee for State Security".

I see the KGB mentioned a lot and I thought I'd define who they are and what they do in the Twilight War to clear a few things up.

First up, the KGB is a counter-intelligence military organisation. They are separate from the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and the SSV (the Soviet Ground Forces). Regardless of what they did in peacetime they have two primary functions in war time; defeat domestic espionage and to succeed in foreign espionage. This will take the form of two main operations, the first being hunting down and capturing foreign agents in the USSR and the second is to maintain intelligence webs in enemy countries and to carry out acts of sabotage.

As you can see, they have no place on the battlefield. About the only time you might encounter them would be in either a NATO-held Canton or in Kraków and even then they would be loathe to be found out. For the KGB their secrecy is their armour, they depend on it to survive.

The KGB does not hunt spies in other Warsaw Pact nations, they have the native intelligence organisations do that instead. They do maintain a liaison officer in each branch and are part of any Warsaw Pact intelligence command chain. Very little is known how this command structure worked but they seemed to have had a dual-reporting system where they let other nations do their thing but had to be kept in the loop.

Sabotage units do not liaise with special forces units such as Spetsnaz. Instead they create their own cells of saboteurs that source equipment through deniable channels to create confusion in the enemy. For instance it is likely that a saboteur operating in the USA would be American and armed with US equipment.

All the other stuff, the military intelligence operations you'd see in Europe, is done by the GRU. If you have the (frankly silly) "Division Cuba" in your campaign then all the spook stuff should be done by GRU officers and their attendant Spetsnaz.

[ChalkLine]

The MVD.
(Russian: Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del) Ministry of Internal Affairs

Probably one of the most important formations in Twilight 2000 and one that is totally neglected. The MVD is a parallel military organisation to the SSV and is a defining feature of Leninist Communist countries; it is a militarised umbrella organisation that includes not only internal security troops but firemen, paramedics and police. There is considered no distinction between these and other groups. In European terminology it is a Gendarmerie and it is the parallel to the Polish TKO. In US terms they have a separate identity and a Corp d' Esprit similar to the situation with the USMC in contrast to the US Army.

The reason MVD troops are so important to the game is that they act in concert with similar Warsaw Pact organisations to provide rear area security, ie; the area the players are in.
Unlike the Polish TKO the MVD was a behemoth that had over one and a half million men under arms. These troops aren't second rate warriors, they are specialists that not only secure rear areas from stragglers, provide disaster relief and wipe out special forces but they also act as a ready reserve to deal with penetrations of main force units as well as fight on the front lines. One of their specialties is urban warfare. To do so they are heavily armed but have an emphasis on fast movement and independent action.

For a TOE you can use standard USSR Motor Rifle Division for the Field Units (the ones the players will encounter) but generally with a smaller armour contingent. The MVD also do prisoner control, both civil and military, and so on being the police force. The MVD was essentially broken into three parts, the Police Force that stays in the USSR, the Logistics units and the Field Units. Note that the MVD rigorously maintains a separate chain of command to the SSV and this means that the MVD is not going to be drained off to fill up depleted army divisions. However they do fight in front line situations as well, having fought in all the conflicts of the USSR up to and including the 2nd Chechen War.

The MVD had unique uniforms with their own particular camouflage patterns and are often easily distinguished from main force SSV troops. MVD troops used a variety of specialist weapons such as the OTs-02 Kiparis SMG, OTs-14 Groza bullpup, OTs-20 Gnom revolver and many more. I can actually trawl up all their unique ironmongery if people are interested.
The MVD had several Spetsnaz groups of their own and these may well figure in the campaign, however most of these will have suffered massive attrition and others had a policing orientation similar to elite SWAT groups that would probably keep them in the USSR.

I have mentioned elsewhere the MVD “did not get on well with the KGB”. To give you an insight into this situation in the early 1980s some MVD officers and enlisted men hunted down and murdered a KGB officer in the Moscow Metro, as they were the police it’s unsurprising that no one is was never charged for this crime and the reason for why the man was killed is unknown to this day.

The MVD in the Twilight War.
While some of the MVD is going to be on the Oder Line holding back the “capitalist imperialists” they are also going to be behind the lines and controlling the population, providing what disaster relief they can and dealing with stragglers (ie: player characters). The USSR was quite sensitive to how their troops operated after the fiasco of the Prussian Campaign in the latter Second World War and preferred that their troops acted as back up to local internal troops, in this Poland this is the TKO. However it is likely that the TKO would have suffered massive casualties fighting for their homeland so it is equally likely that MVD units will instead have the local surviving TKO contingent attached and who are the primary interaction with the locals.
The MVD is going to secure the web of supply lines leading back to what is left of the USSR. As the strikes were quite limited there will a degree of industrial capacity, the USSR having a far more dispersed logistics network, and as this is a communist group of nations the military will be given the bulk of that capacity and the civilians will get what’s left. Note that while the situation is bad in the USSR a lot of cooperation can be gained over the civilian population by loudly supplying the troops and like everything in a communist country these operations have to have a political/ideological component. From these logistics centres the MVD will range out and try to exert control over the devastated areas. The players will encounter them holding checkpoints, involved in disaster relief operations, guarding logistics routes, maintaining communications relay outposts, engaged in bandit and partisan suppression and of course hunting down NATO stragglers.

[ChalkLine]

OTO Melara Mod 56 Pack Howitzer

This old soldier served in several nations before being put into storage and in fact remains there in many European nations. In the Twilight War it's in the armouries of Britain, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and it still soldiers on with the Greek and Italian armies to this day.

It's a pack howitzer meaning that it can be broken down into sections for transportation and to overcome obstacles by loading up squaddies and making them hump it over the intervening barrier. It's 1,290 kg weight breaks into 12 sub-sections and it's such a little gun that it can be towed by a Jeep or Land Rover. You can even pop the wheels off and fit it into the back of an M113.

This is almost a field gun, an obsolete class of weapon that equally mixes direct and indirect fire capabilities. The weapon has an asymmetrical axle meaning once in place you can lower the gun for a smaller silhouette or leave it at its normal height for indirect fire. Its little stubby barrel means it hasn't got the range of the longer howitzers but it can pop up anywhere due to its mobility. However it's not suitable for long fire missions due to its light construction, it works best as a shoot-and-scoot gun. It fires the standard US type M1 ammunition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_Mod_56
http://www.pmulcahy.com/towed_guns/italian_towed_guns.html

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/156210404_10158833694620874_4171195881368544860_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=5CFdslY5Ca0AX8xESOy&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=a6c0b2e201c4aa2905c7c42223227009&oe=6144B13C

[ChalkLine]

Artillery and the Twilight 2000 Soldier

From 1939 to 1985 artillery was the biggest killer at war.

This is no generalisation. A study over that period titled "Development of Protection Technologies" published in the June 2009 issue of Defence Technology Review, ballistic casualties in general war, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Israel, and the Falklands were recorded as 59% from projectile fragments, only 19% from bullets, and 22% from other causes.
Obviously artillery has a place in the Twilight 2000 game.

However as an adventure device it's awful. Players understandably dislike not having the ability to strike back in some way and their ability to influence artillery's lethal power over them is limited to mitigation techniques, primarily relocating or taking cover. Due to this nearly all GMs leave it out of their games (the same as proper sniper attacks).
However, it can still be used - albeit carefully.

Firstly, artillery doesn't automatically hit.
Weather (you guys don't have every game on a cloudless and still summer afternoon do you?) can disperse fires, spreading out the rounds so that even accurate shots don't all hit on target. Shifting targets like moving player vehicles can land in front or behind, signally to the players that the enemy will shift fire soon. Bad weather can lower the gunner's effectiveness, serving the guns in a heavy rainstorm just makes everything harder as the gunners slog about in deep mud. The guns might physically shift in bad positions, meaning the dispersion of their fire is increased.

NPCs using artillery on players have to take many things into account.
Gunners don't live attached to their guns and the artillery and its command might not be ready for shooting. The guns might be pointing the wrong way, some guns such as the Soviet 122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30) have a 360º traverse but most do not, meaning the weapon's trails have to be physically shifted to aim at the target. The guns might be remote and may have to be moved to be in range of the target and that alone can take hours as the guns don't just have to be pulled down, hitched up and towed to the new firing position but that position also has to be scouted and secured all while the artillery convoy is protected. Once there the guns have to be oriented on the map, the fire mission calculated and so on. This is especially hard if the players have annoyingly moved in the meantime.

If artillery is pre-ranged on an area there may well be signs of it in the mess left after previous fire missions, alerting the players to the unhealthy condition of the location. Ranging markers might be found in the area, alerting players to the danger.
Finally, there might be mitigating factors that limit the effectiveness of the munitions. Artillery shells are meant to come in almost vertically and don't explode in a sphere of unhappiness, but rather as a disc with a lessened danger zone on front and behind the shell. Direct fire artillery is more dangerous to the sides of the line of fire than to the front angles or behind, although this is only relative and if you're close you might have a lessened fragmentation threat to some degree but the shockwave is still the same. Fuzes might contain high levels of duds as happened during the initial stages of The Great War due to poor manufacture. Clever direct-fire gunners try and hit above or just behind infantry if they have the option as infantry to get cover in front first.

Artillery uses different fuzing and this directly modifies the effects of the munition. "Super-Fast" fuzes detonate instantly on contact with anything and produce a ground burst, individuals in field positions such as rubble sangars, trenches or other fighting positions have a significantly lessened fragmentation danger. "Proximity Fuzes" detonate above the target and this can be set before shooting, the distances are variable depending on the fuze type (many have variable distances that can be set) and some of these also have a Super Fast setting in case the Proximity setting fails. These are extremely dangerous as the can burst above firing positions or individuals in the open and cause maximum casualties. They are offset by having overhead cover. Note that as they burst above the ground they have a slightly reduced blast effect. Finally "Delay Fuzes" detonate a fraction of a second after contact allowing them to penetrate cover and detonate behind it or to dig into earthworks and detonate for maximum effect beside or inside the position.

There are many other types of fuzes. Some fuzes such as the US M734 fuze have the following settings (from wikipedia):
PRX = Proximity air burst between 3 and 13 feet
NSB = Near surface burst between 0 and 3 feet
IMP = Impact burst on contact. (In the event an IMP setting fails, detonation is 1/2 second after impact.)
DLY = Delay after impact of 0.05 seconds in the fuze explosive train before the shell detonates.

In all four settings, the high explosive in the mortar shell is detonated by a cascading explosive train of four increasing energies within the fuze. These are the Microdet electric detonator, the explosive lead, the explosive booster, and the delay primer assembly functioning as follows:
In the PROX, NSB, and IMP fuze settings, a firing circuit applies a voltage to the small Microdet which faces and ignites a bigger explosive lead that channels into the explosive booster which initiates the shell's high explosive.
In the DLY setting, the explosive lead is initiated instead by the delay primer assembly, which operates even in the event of power supply or electronics failures.

Reliability against duds is increased by the fact that if the M734 fails to detonate the mortar shell at one setting, it will immediately and automatically use the next one along, i.e. failure at the PRX setting causes NSB detonation to be selected. Similarly, failure to detonate at the NSB setting will automatically cause IMP to be selected, and so on.
This redundancy is a safety factor designed to prevent malfunctioning mortar shells from being buried upon ground impact and becoming a risk to civilians after a battle or becoming ammunition for enemy activities.
However it is likely that as the war ground on and the vast amount of fuzes were expended simpler, single-setting fuzes would return in large numbers and the gunners might have the wrong fuzes for the task. Proximity Fuzes with their multifunctional uses and high lethality would probably be expended firstly, followed by the various instant fuzes. This might once again ameliorate player casualties.

[ChalkLine]

D-44 85mm Divisional Gun

What, an AT gun? isn't that a Second World War thing?

Believe it or not the USSR still used this sort of gun as a stop line defence. Never supposed to see the main line of battle, this style of gun lurked in the rear line and right now is seeing action in several places across the globe. They would be carefully sited for oblique fire and dug in with a security element and most importantly belts of minefields. Notably it was calculated that weapons in this class like the "Rapira-3" ("Rapier-3") cost 05% as much as similarly armed MBT (note that the 125mm Rapira-3, although not the 100mm "Rapira", and the 125mm Sprut-B were never really adopted for service and only made in small numbers. The vast majority of this sort of gun was either the 85mm D-44 or the 100mm MT-12 anti-tank gun (2A29), a heavier weapon)

The D-44 is a strange gun, it's an actual field gun. This means that it is optimised for both direct fire and indirect fire. It's also extremely obsolete, the last MBT it could penetrate everywhere frontally was the US M47 (which had really terrible armour, like only 200 BHN) and that old warhorse was retired in the early 1960s.

What makes this gun so significant is that it was the primary training gun of the Soviet Bloc. Everyone used this gun or similar versions to train their gun crews, and as such there are simply buckets of them. 10,800 of them to be exact. And as such they still see combat to this day and they're still churning out ammo for it. This means there's tons of them to appear in the AO when more sophisticated weapons disappear through attrition.

The D-44 is actually a viable weapon in Twilight 2000 as apart from the odd rare MBT that someone somehow manages to haul about it only has to face IFVs, APCs and Light Tanks, something it can easily demolish. It's no heavier than the Second World War Wehrmacht 7.5cm Pak 42 yet it develops much more behind armour effect. What makes this weapon distinctive is not only is it comparatively mobile but it is physically small for such a weapon, it's only 1.42 metres (4 ft 8 in) high. Tactically that's tiny. This thing can be dug in with it's barrel not far off the ground in an earthwork and be almost invisible, and this is probably where it will turn up. Note that even thermograph has trouble seeing positions like this.

Mass: 1,725 kg (3,803 lbs)
Length: 8.34 metres (27 ft 4 in)
Barrel length: 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) 55 calibers
Width: 1.78 metres (5 ft 10 in)
Height: 1.42 metres (4 ft 8 in)
Crew: 8
Sights:
- OP2-7 daylight sight
- S71-7 and PG-1 indirect fire complex
- APN-3-7 "Yablonya" passive/active infrared (note that the IR illuminators are not always attached to the weapon but tripod mounted supplementary units that complemented the system may be some distance from the gun itself. This can cause confusion in attackers as illuminators are switched on and off as tactical requirements require.)
- DAK-2M laser rangefinder
- Some batteries may have the PSNR-1 portable ground reconnaissance radar station (10km)

It's usually deployed in three-gun platoons, two of which comprise a battery. It's tractor is the ubiquitous MT-LB fully tracked vehicle and it is accompanied by other MT-LBs as ammo carriers and command vehicles, otherwise they'll use various trucks, usually the Ural 375 or older ones like the GAZ-66.
Why mention this dinosaur?

You can do a "Guns of Navarone" scenario for these or other AT guns. A friendly group has to pass by some area dominated by these weapons, which are of course immobile and dug into a trench system complete with firing positions. The friendly group is being chased by some overwhelming group so they have a strict time limit. The players must infiltrate and destroy the guns before the friendly convoy passes. This can be the bit where the players get separated from their unit and head off into Poland for further adventures. I know, it's a lot of waffle just for one little scenario idea.
http://www.pmulcahy.com/misc_pages/lgcal_guns.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/85_mm_divisional_gun_D-44

(Note that the images are of practice formations. You'd never see them in battle like this. The last image is of a WW2 Soviet light AT position for reference)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158674655_10158834393705874_3545755567293195510_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=LmD2aKU60YQAX99bApK&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=2ebd542a08e1a0b1c669476a53025c72&oe=61437A7A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158039394_10158834394920874_6917136659354751173_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=hlctPyscZvoAX-IBXND&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=79c102e0fce5f75f791fa55826ba47a8&oe=6142777F

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158062327_10158834399405874_7088393523297933253_n. jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=Ud2r_3kd2rgAX9QBhzM&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=2229e361181afb1f62ae76d0a082813b&oe=61456BB0

[ChalkLine]

BTR-152

Paul Mulcahey has some great info on the BTR-152, an armoured truck that players should try and grab a hold of. However he doesn't have the up-gunned version I'll note here.

First up, the venerable BTR-152 is an odd critter, it has oodles of space inside, especially the open-topped version. This makes it a decent T2K cargo hauler that's immune to 7.62x51mm on the sides and 12.7x99mm on the front. They can carry a ton of people however the engine is kind of ordinary to be charitable, although the transmission and suspension is great. Inventive players might consider an engine swap (and move those fuel tanks away from behind the driver and front passenger!)

But the old beast also had a little-known career as a sort of guntruck. They mounted a stock 7.62mm GPMG over the driver behind a gun shield but got festooned with all sorts of weapon loads after that:
- Single 12.7mm DShKM HMG (instead of GPMG)
- Quad 12.7mm DShKM HMG (no GPMG)
- Single 14.5mm KPV HMG (instead of GPMG)
- Double 14.5mm KPV HMG (no GPMG)
- Quad 14.5mm KPV HMG (no GPMG)
- Single SPG-9 Kopye (Spear) 73mm recoilless gun

And they could even carry a decent load while mounting these monsters; eight troops or equivalent cargo. This makes it a great cargo/fire support vehicle.

As an aside, I found the load list for it:
Axe
Compartment for RPG launcher
Headset bag
Container for RPG rockets
Compartment for driver/co-driver personal effects
Compartment for spare radio parts
Gun rack
Compartment for spare parts
Compartment for ammunition
Starting lamp
Oil tank
Compartment for spare parts
Block winch (some variants have a front winch, the rest have tow cables)
Spare tire
Ammunition box
Shovel
Canvas bucket
Spare box (?)
Mounting kit (?)
Antenna
First aid kit
Tool kit
Compartment for spare parts
Saw
Extinguisher
“Document bag”
Jack
Starting handle
Tow cable.

The open topped version came with a canvas cover and later versions had IR driving lights to be used with IR driving goggles.

http://www.pmulcahy.com/wheeled.../russian_wheeled_apcs.htm

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/157993234_10158834549365874_1321032095933128448_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=7HonzZT9UKcAX-hYiGO&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=72d607926ec5d9012640cfd1b4bfa0cb&oe=614512BC

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158432615_10158834549465874_5114663819461898746_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=33VlL0DNv4UAX_ARJKA&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=dda4a638309d695eb3b0cde3ea25667d&oe=6142149F

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158823195_10158834549550874_6715256230392586233_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=yMTZRuDULyAAX9tGEwb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=49a88600bde9792542c747931141160d&oe=61431F1A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158606349_10158834549645874_5148415003571434394_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=xOIUG-eOpgoAX-fVmIV&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=cfb21013a4bb2463864c7098fc421e73&oe=614321CD

[ChalkLine]

Just a little thought:
Every armoured Soviet vehicle with NBC capability uses the GO-27 gamma radiation detector. This device alerts the crew and actives the seals and over-pressure systems. A huge amount of similar systems outfitted Soviet vehicles as well as the infantry, in fact these types of detectors were very common among the Polish Obrona Cywilna PRL Civil Defence units.

Even if NATO units didn't have access to these devices it's not a long stretch for GMs to assume that they'd been recovered from Warsaw Pact vehicles and integrated into NATO survivor vehicles.

[Edit]
AND/VDR-2 Gamma-ray and Beta radiation Detection System. (Civilian name RDS-110V)
This unit comes standard on all US armoured vehicles such as the M2 Bradley IFV. It's a demountable, lightweight radiation detector with the following characteristics:
Wide dynamic range for dose rate and dose
• Pre-settable audio and visual alarms
• 600 hr battery life
• Vehicle mount for operation using vehicle or aircraft power (available option)
• Not affected by EMP
• Nuclear hardened
• Meets MIL-STD-810G for military environments
• Operable/readable by personnel in Mission Oriented Protection Posture (MOPP IV) or arctic clothing
Dimensions:
• Radiac meter: 19.2 x 10.4 x 4.8 cm (7.6 x 4.1 x 1.9 in.).
• Detector probe: 18.2 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm (7.2 x 2 x 1.5 in.).
• Radiac set in pouch: 23.2 x 17.5 x 7.9 cm (9.12 x 6.88 x 3.13 in.).
Weight:
• Radiac with Beta /Gamma Probe: 1.73 kg (3.8 Ib).
• Radiac set in pouch: 2.08 kg (4.6 lb).
Power:
• Six AA batteries.
• 600 hours of continuous operation and monitoring.
• Low battery LCD indication with 10 hr of battery life remaining,
a “Go/No Go” feature provides battery status.
• Can be operated on vehicle or aircraft power (12 or 24 V dc via universal connector).
Alarms:
• Has selectable Visual and Audible indicators for DOSE and RATE alarm for
day or night use.
• Alarm levels are settable over entire dynamic range.
Probe and Detectors:
• “SMART” probe Technology: Instantly recognized and functional upon hook-up, without any adjustment, programming or calibration.
• Combined two GM Tubes; low range EWGM and high range GM.
• Beta radiation: 0.01 μSv/hr to 50 mSv/hr.
• Gamma radiation: 0.01 μSv/hr to 99.9 Sv/hr (dose rate) and 0.01 μSv to 99.9 Sv (total dose).
• Energy response: ±20% 80 keV to 3 MeV.
• Accuracy: ±10% of true dose and dose rate over the entire dynamic range.
• Dose rate: Minimum detectable level 0.01 μSv/hr.
• Response time: Within 10% of final reading in 4 sec at 10 mSv/hr; returns to background within 4 sec. Meets ANSI N42.17A.

[ChalkLine]

Arsenal Lavina Multi-Shot Grenade Launcher

The Bulgarian “Lavina” («Лавина», Bulgarian: “Avalanche”) is a six-shot, 40mm grenade launcher designed for the Soviet VOG-25 series of grenades. Now, this thing is rare in Bulgarian service so by the time it gets to places like Poland it'll be incredibly rare. However as we all know this is just the sort of thing to get players salivating so maybe now's the time to create some lost Bulgarians who can either be traded with or fought against.

This is a double action only revolver which because the VOG-25 is caseless is faster to load than usual weapons of this type as there's no need to eject spent casings. Note that the sprung telescoping stock that incorporates a buffer pad implies this "little" guy has some hefty recoil.

Calibre: 40mm caseless (VOG-25 grenades)
Type: Multi-shot revolver pepperbox
Length: 525 / 388 mm
Weight, empty: 6.3 kg
Capacity: 6 rounds
Maximum effective range: 400 metres

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/159261872_10158838092070874_3223043976329008589_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=3j2UKeL-87cAX8Sz7dt&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f3296ca8d60bd05f75326f7316a294f8&oe=61454AA8

[ChalkLine]

KPV Ammunition.

The basic ammunition of the KPV listed in the rules is the B-32 round. This is a steel-cored armour piercing round with a small explosive tip for aim correction. It's got a black and red tip and is well known to T2K players.
However there are two more types that saw use in Soviet service that give the redoubtable KPV more utility, these are the BZT Enhanced Penetration rounds and the MDZ explosive round.

BZT and BZT-M Armour Piercing Incendiary ammunition
The BZT, first introduced in the early 1990s, has an incendiary load in the tail but is otherwise similar to the B-32. The BZT-M was introduced shortly afterwards to replace the BZT and uses a tungsten penetrator. However due to the shortened penetrator it seems that the BZT series has similar penetration and energy values to the B-32 and just adds an incendiary effect. These appear in dedicated belts or are added to B-32 belts in a 1:4 ratio. It has a purple and red tip.

MDZ High Explosive Incendiary Ammunition
This is the interesting one. The MDZ rounds are designed to be used against soft targets such as unarmoured vehicles, infantry in the open and installations such as communications gear. They are also the primary anti-aircraft round.
The MDZ uses phlegmatised PETN explosive and a simple detonator cap rather than a fuze, and this means it carries the same payload as the Soviet 20mm HE round that uses a bulky mechanical fuze that takes up much of its payload. Twilight 2000 v2.2 stats would be C1 B5, -4C. It has a solid purple bullet.

[ChalkLine]

An interesting thing I've just read is that Polish houses (https://www.mamdom.com/aboutpolishhouses.php?fbclid=IwAR1rCrytEzmGeM2Ul5V h5qdADweGARjq9juzBT69_bYR6s1MFW-oz1BRl0g) often have a "half floor".

These are half-sunk levels with the main living area above. No doubt this has to do with the frost line being between 0.8m and 1.8m down in Poland (the frost line is the level you have to sink your foundations for us warm climate people).

This means your players are going to see Polish houses in a few new ways. This half level is a natural fighting position providing good cover and concealment. These half levels often have their own access, especially with the new builds.

There is standard methods of fortifying these sorts of structure. Usually the first thing to do is reinforce the floors above as much as possible so massive baulks of wood create a layer overhead combined with vertical heavy supports. This level is then sandbagged for a few layers.

Underneath the walls should be sandbagged as they are often only concrete block or double brick construction. After this blast walls are erected, these are baffles so that any munition penetrating the roof does not directly fragment the entire space. Behind every firing point should also be another sandbag wall to stop projectiles penetrating into the space and attacking defenders. As the firing points are at ground level they offer natural grazing fire for the area. Of course this is the optimum, you can even make these positions gas proof if you want go all out, but that sort of position is doable by a squad in a reasonable amount of time.

As Polish houses, especially in rural and regional areas, do not abut closely you cannot mousehole between them and covered trenches should be created between positions. These trenches should have traverses built in so they cannot be enfiladed. If a blast wall is placed in front of its entrance a loophole can be placed in it to cover the entry.

They are also a trap for vehicles. Trying to plough through a Polish house, never a good idea in the first place, should end up with the vehicle dropping a metre of so into the wreckage. You'll probably see unfortunate vehicles suffering this all over the place.
Of course, now that many buildings are abandoned many of these levels will be flooded.

[ChalkLine]

MG3 Multimounts

For when you simply can't expend ammunition fast enough and can't get an M134

Double: 12.0kg, $500 R/-
Quadruple(!): 15.0kg, $750 R/-
(Weight is approximate. I can't really think why these wouldn't take other MGs)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/159782146_10158842384850874_992077034562387688_n.j pg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=4XtDi4UHGkcAX8lc6Pg&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=334d091a43483bb0cb36ba39fe3e602a&oe=6142DF6E

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/160281539_10158842384880874_3476031856494239882_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=1KtU3IXYkC0AX-wDlSc&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=01785b0efb4ef954717a5f1c5c39b887&oe=61457BCF

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158366733_10158842384935874_999621157921125327_n.j pg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=9C4qI6GiszAAX-N7nUe&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=9ee118be59759ecfcca6b560349ad08b&oe=61441C75

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158458434_10158842384965874_6212702301984685380_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=9s2jEFCoc18AX-JyRoU&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=b23f29ee84b9d7c848388d33373e1ebd&oe=61438787

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158261324_10158842385050874_5054627889850329719_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=aBIs_-AT1SoAX_dCiwl&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=692acc1a2013acf43f65fc4479aaab9a&oe=6143FF08

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158663566_10158842385110874_5984413713918513881_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=_ikyeRq6gT4AX9Y5Q_O&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=4ee318d4e9e2e8145819f54b8c151d91&oe=6142E803

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/158910147_10158842385230874_350862965228798731_n.j pg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=IGCzvnReGA0AX-DKYtS&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=b559a0febf7ccfad96ba9534442f2486&oe=6141D2A3

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/159138959_10158842385260874_252932826293778719_n.j pg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=DVPsMPnXelAAX9mzuBb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c259248656637da8de432217a4e3226e&oe=6144DD95

[ChalkLine]

Land Rover 101 Forward Control

This little critter is a really good Land Rover Defender and Humvee alternative for beginning UK players. Now, it was sold off in the early 1990s but with storm clouds gathering I think GMs and players could make a case for it being kept on.

Of course, you would probably wonder why you'd want a clapped-out old mid 1970s truck but this really isn't the case. It seems the MoD had a large amount of these trucks and the vast majority of them spent nearly all their time in storage. Even today you can easily get them with only a few thousand kms on them. This of course begs the question "why did the MoD get rid of these perfectly good vehicles?" The answer seems to be that the MoD had and still has the habit of doing some strange things. (A classic case would be ditching and rebuying the ATMP 6x6 Supacat three times . . . )

Anyway, it's gorgeous and should be in your game. Paul Mulcahy of course has stats for it under "Land Rover 1000 kg Truck".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_101_Forward_Control

https://www.military-vehicle.org/vehicles/land-rover-101/

https://www.ultraflex4x4.com/.../Land_Rover_101FC...

http://www.pmulcahy.com/light_uv/british_luv.htm

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161360092_10158855962860874_5424555892983359688_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=7y8lBK6r7H4AX_qB0j3&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=394049f661054f6d1ccaa3124d014d49&oe=61423DED

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161706964_10158855962895874_3182329660761723742_n. jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=BHOKUWmMBbAAX-LPAy3&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f8668419b651c996d8b1bb4e4ef9f1c1&oe=61422CCF

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161395933_10158855963085874_3037874260591724547_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=1n7SlDv6HvoAX9LugCs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=51f35b248babd12354456bd8547b79a7&oe=6144AF5F

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161982805_10158856008710874_665088936820045551_n.j pg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=tsQEiqfJejgAX9pxCVr&_nc_oc=AQnVDFQAlUh-qaCmKhiuD7rTzARQIS-9fFVGF8OhnpoZakdi6pnLnloicuI5bM_PwDqOa2TpQA2ZiyKOq HmP6ffC&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=dd7122ac8467f8733ed50dff72c8ebb0&oe=6142B21A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161746887_10158856008810874_8734458984284768664_n. jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=K3nd07D7tuQAX_DktDG&_nc_oc=AQlyN5iZQa8dEMFBjRqS05LxLjZEkS6XJ8FzFYkgiRX l8Z2ZE3XG24bzFzKDlhPaBoCiM59PgxpcK_sf241JbMTD&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=e8dd82d41f9239889a147d0c41bdda8c&oe=614252B5

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161555093_10158856008860874_1059756012576436548_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=bTKjiFj8Cd0AX9qQl87&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=48d9368bedf113b9cce0cbd32190eb62&oe=6144E1A3

[ChalkLine]

Rail Adapter

A precision-made, slimline adapter that converts one rail system to another. Each rail adapter is unique to its two systems and cannot be used to carry another optic from a different rail system. The vast majority are Soviet to Picatinny and Picatinny to Soviet but there also adapters to the UK and German systems as well.

Note that the NATO standard was the Picatinny Rail (MIL-STD-1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail) from February 1995 but adapters exist for legacy optics.
Some field conversions do exist but these tend to be larger and lift the optic higher off the bore axis.

$250
0.25kg (including pouch and adjusters)
(S/R) or (R/S) as applicable.

(Note: the 1994 AK-74M/AK-100 and subsequent AKs such as the 7.62x39mm AK-103 of 1995 come standard with a dovetail rail, prior to this only the "N" versions could accept a rail)

[ChalkLine]

Spähpanzer 2 Luchs

The German Ghost

This vehicle is kinda unique in many ways, a wheeled long range reconnaissance vehicle is no outlier but the complex and physically large Luchs ("Lynx"), which is bigger than a BTR-70, has some unusual features in modern vehicles.

The first is its rear driver, something common in armoured cars of The Second World War. The Luchs with its eight-wheel steering can get its normal 19m turning circle (about the size a bus has) down to 11m (about the size a car has) but even then you can't turn and show your thin rear armour if you have to pull out in the face of hostile fire. So the Luchs can simply be driven in either direction and has a driver facing each direction, and its complex gearbox allows it to reach the same 100km/h speed either forwards or backwards.

Secondly is the speed in which it can swim. The Luchs is a comparatively fast swimmer for an armoured car and can just drive straight into the water without the need for the crew to deploy fording boards or rig for swimming, something found usually only on Soviet vehicles which automate those systems.

Extensive work was put into making this vehicle as quiet as possible, and it was so quiet that it was commonly supposed to be a risk to friendly troops in that it would suddenly appear at high speed on roads.

It's 20x139mm Rheinmetall Mk 20 Rh-202 automatic cannon might seem underwhelming but it can generally damage opposing reconnaissance elements until the up-armoured BMR appears. It is also extremely accurate, possibly one of the most accurate autocannons and its 139mm-long cartridge gives it more penetration than the standard 20x102mm US ammunition. The commander's MG3 is an ammo hog but can lay down serious suppression, it puts out twice as many rounds as the usual MGs in various service around the world and systems such as FNFF that have developed suppression rules can make it a massive killer.

As a player vehicle it can't slug it out against opposition light armour, it was designed expressly to avoid that sort of fight. However its blistering speed means it can dash to the flanks and take other vehicles under fire and then just as quickly retire. GMs will need good maps for this thing as players will want to utilise its speed in order to increase survivability.

http://www.pmulcahy.com/wheeled_lcv/german_wlcv.htm

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161274513_10158864660825874_4225345188771879531_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=JGD974GbXFwAX-88rnM&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=9987119aeaac305f2212f288a341476c&oe=61431703

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/162133003_10158864660965874_1215115469317555338_n. jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=4rNwNHc65hwAX9J0YQ7&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=8c4e676897e311271d783bc8db1aa65f&oe=614263C9

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161001271_10158864661025874_4074582707867143710_n. jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=e8_siT_64KsAX8-PW33&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c046f9ae33f5e32610c47d105e24aa35&oe=614283B7

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/161783570_10158864661160874_6171280857392184439_n. jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=8dJhsTcDfCoAX_ubpK5&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=0f6653c089c855d343e607ea67394cd8&oe=6143300D

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/162061231_10158864661235874_686716774281648568_n.j pg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=DOafvZT0EDQAX_sYXb0&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=08ae50db6ea55028ac97f2c7981b4896&oe=6141D976

[ChalkLine]

Westland WG.33

(A what if, or possibly an April Fool's scenario)

"Suicide Bubble" might be an apt name for this, or maybe the "Fort Zinderneuf Helo" after the Beau Geste fort where everyone got killed when they got ordered up the observation tower. This little thing was an observation prototype that never got off the ground but you are well within your rights to assume that Westland Helicopters made one or two without any official requirements and shipped them off to Europe before someone at the MoD realised what was going on and made them stop.

The WG.33 had a circular body giving excellent vision.
Rotor diameter: 5.0m, fuselage length: 2.0m, max take-off weight: 500kg, max speed: 157km/h, cruising speed: 130km/h.

It has as much armour as a sturdy shower curtain.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/164375204_10158884565170874_286131407902840521_n.j pg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=FfSSgYcKVA4AX9R456j&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5a3ae680f432a347a504a34999a72709&oe=61435698

[ChalkLine]

Reloaded Ammunition: T2K hazards

While I personally don't use reloaded ammunition in my games except for niche calibres as I think the projectiles and primers would probably be more scarce than the ammunition itself, we might want to look into the possibilities in such ammo.
Now, the esteemed reloaders here might want to chime in.

The infamous Turkish 1941 7.92mm Mauser rifle round immediately springs to mind when thinking about poorly stored large scale military chambering (thank you Daniel Thompson for the correction) . Unlike the careful reloads done by nearly all private reloaders these factory loads are infamous for having widely varying pressures and have been known to blow up semi-automatic and automatic firearms and the lighter other types of firearm. Note that many military weapons are designed to be able to bear some high pressure rounds if accidently loaded but if fired enough through the weapon even they will eventually fail too.

So, what's the problem with this stuff?
First off, if the players are swapping brass for rounds (we used to use a 1:10 round:brass ratio) then they might be getting various odd stuff indeed. Primers might be poorly seated, the incorrect type or home made. The projectile might be of the wrong type for a variety of reasons leading to varying accuracy and in some cases even to pressure spikes in the chamber if it is incorrectly sized or weighted. The cases might not properly reconditioned leading to splitting or warping. The propellant is undoubtedly sourced from post-war manufacturing of varying power ranging from the damp-squib to the massive overload that destroys the gun and blows the firer's fingers off. I once saw the aftermath of what happened when a heavy-bore hunting rifle let go and the bolt drove back into the firer's face and it wasn't attractive.

So, as we can see you're taking your life in your own hands with this stuff. It might let you down in combat or actively maim/kill you at worst.

The problem from a game perspective is this is pretty sucky stuff to do to the players, what with the radiation, bandits/military, hunger and so on they have it hard enough as it is. If you think about this aspect you want to warn the players in advance through foreshadowing. Add an extra individual into the combat and have the players find his weapon featuring a stoppage after the fight. Have a friendly person warn you about the ammo from a certain supplier. Give them a chance to be wary. I'd also limit this as to make it extremely rare or they'll just avoid it from then on and that feature of the game will disappear. One game effect is that if your PC's have in your opinion too much ammo than this crap can start to appear and they'll stick to military rounds they trust and offload what is probably garbage. However if you go this route you must be scrupulously fair and have the individuals/events they source this junk off suffer the full effects, if not more so, in combat.

By the way, getting crap ammo off a trader is perfect way of sending the players into a vendetta-driven detour to catch the bastard if their favourite sniper rifle suffers damage.

Players are not numpties who just jam any brass into their weapons. They have their weapon skill to spot bad brass that is visibly defective and also they should have the same skill to notice if the power is varying. Misfires and other mishaps are immediately obvious of course. Give the players either weapon rolls or MEB rolls for 1st edition when they first look at it and you can assume they do check it out unless you're playing a firearms newbie.

A simple table is easy for bad ammo:

01-02 Misfire
03-04 Jammed round
05-19 Functions normally
20-20 Catastrophic failure

You can add variables, some rounds might be just a little crap and give a minus on this table. Some rounds might be death in waiting and add a tiny bonus.
For automatic weapons this is simply unworkable in practice. make an adjudication.

Note that in many cases this ammunition might still have saveable brass.

A final note, some ammunition might be remade to match standards as well. I leave that up to GM adjudication.

[ChalkLine]

Vehicle Wrecks.

First off, Matt Geisler has an awesome page on vehicle recovery and even creating post apocalyptic recycling infrastructure (https://twilight2000.fandom.com/wiki/Salvaging/Scrounging). If you want a sound but unique campaign economy you have to use this.

Everyone loves finding a wreck. Out come the spanners and the players descend on it like a horde of happy little locusts. Woe betide the mechanically-inept GM who has a player with an actual knowledge of working vehicles as the GM will totally misunderstand the players is sneakily building a land battleship with bits. Anyway, it's all good fun.

So, where is some good places to put wrecks?

I like to use what I call the "Fallout Method". Anyone who's ever played the fallout video games knows the devs tell stories with found objects. Just looking at and interacting with the objects builds a narrative that draws players into a story and makes the encounter memorable. "Tank in ditch" says nothing, but saying that beside the tank is some expended medical supplies and spent brass implies the crew fought a last ditch fight beside their stricken vehicle. A drag trail to another position then a sad vignette of some graves show where they didn't get away. The story now sticks in their minds. Usefully these landmarks are also good tactically, you'll hear the players say things like "we'll go back to the tank with the graves and go down the other road".

Apart from that, there has to be a reason why the wreck/derelict is left alone. As such, apart from the standard "abandoned in forest/swamp" encounter, I thought I'd put up some interesting wrecks that might test the problem solving and resources management skills of the players.


- Collapsed Bridge.
As with the M4 Sherman in the image, a heavy vehicle has proven too much for a bridge. Depending on how long it's been there the bridge may have become progressively more unstable. While periscopes, MGs, ammo, fuel and radios are probably gone the actual vehicle's engine and transmission, tracks/wheels etc are still there if they can get it off to say nothing of the perfectly good hull.
There are many ways to get this fellow off the bridge depending on how much work the PCs are prepared to do and players with a week can simply rebuild the bridge right under it.

- Into the Basement.
You need some set up for this. You have to be both in a town and you need an explosion, an untended IED that the players blow in place could be a good one. This brings down an adjacent wall and shows the backside of a vehicle sticking straight out of a basement at an angle where the driver tried to go through the building and went in, bringing much of the building down on the vehicle. Sadly, this is a war grave and the trapped crew couldn't get out. This does mean that while external features such as pintle weapons, smoke launchers and radio antenna are toast the base vehicle is fine. You just have to get it out.
Really, serious earthworks are called for here and if the major structure is still looming over it that needs supporting too. Digging out the rubble, packing in a ramp and shoring up the ruins here are a possible way to retrieve the carcass.

- Glub Glub.
Swimming vehicles don't always make it across. This amphibian rolled over in the river, the crew bailed out and it was swept along until it came up against something. To be blunt, this is going to be a big job not just to recover but to get going again as vehicles detest being submerged. For a start the open vehicle is half filled with stinking mud. Secondly as it's not on its wheels/tracks it resists being extracted, the players have to get lines onto it in such a way that they can right the vehicle, orient it toward the bank and then try and pull it out. Long hours in the river, places open and with little cover, can be expected here. Even just digging the bastard out to where it can be pulled out will take days as even just it sitting flush on the mud makes it almost impossible to recover because of the suction on the hull. However it is totally intact but you can write off the fuel.

- That's Suspicious . . .
This light vehicle is just sitting there in the long grass, looking like it was parked up and the occupants walked away. Well, they did but very carefully. The whole area is simply soaked in aerial mines that have deployed tens of little trip wires in all directions. Demining is up there in the "least fun in the world" category and this roller might not be worth recovering due to the fact you might not be sure you got all of them.

-Yeah, Nah.
This is a variation on the above. This vehicle has been penetrated and the biggest piece of unexploded ordnance the players have ever seen is sticking out of it. Something like a 120mm mortar round minimum, up to a huge honking "Tulip's" 240mm round has landed right next to it and the vehicle is half over the crater with the UXO sticking out.

- I'm Going To Kill That Bastard
A wonderful looking light armoured vehicle is seriously bogged but it looks like a day of work will get it out. It even has all its periscopes and antennas, which is a good sign.
Unfortunately it's in a disputed area and a hostile Observation Post uses it as a benchmark and they dislike people messing with it. First off, the OP crew have a forward observer and the players can expect them to expend either light mortar in 60mm range or automatic grenades on people playing with "their" vehicle. Second off, some annoying bugger with a marksman's rifle takes pot-shots at you if you come close to it from very long range. He moves after a shot or two to avoid counterfire but sure enough he knows it'll take you hours to get it out so he can have another crack at you. All the while the FO is bracketing you with that light artillery. Once you get close to the OP they get serious and the people they are working for counter attack from the flank.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/167721887_10158892115750874_2434928482857261800_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=JOwXRGnerAQAX9oqD8e&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=e79b2fa3fdb0c6d84f74d4a1a67265b1&oe=6142F2F9

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/168050287_10158892141060874_5806303239484129058_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=cz6J-XCicekAX8AW94I&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=244452c3dfed6bc3fbe60a9a769e98f2&oe=61427DD9

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/167670359_10158892142345874_2609677397892510896_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=7czdC1lFjEUAX-Z_r5-&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=49d64571896b2ce5a3d566b47b31b347&oe=6142E181

[ChalkLine]

"What's Got These Guys so Angry?!"

During the course of play the party manages to pick up a civilian specialist who has high levels of skill in some area they desire. This person isn't a particularly nice individual, they are fairly transactional in that they constantly demand high levels of remuneration in excess of what their skill is really worth. However they tend to blur into the background like many other NPCs.

This person has a past. Formerly they filled a similar role in a bandit group and during a raid on a regular Soviet military unit they managed to find something of a treasure, although how it is valuable they are not so sure. It is in fact the colours of a Soviet guard unit. The person was spotted by an observation post and marked but jumped ship from the bandits just before the Soviets caught and annihilated them in search of their banner.

Unfortunately, like most people who think they're quite clever the individual has made some fairly simple mistakes. Soviet scouts were tracking the person in addition to their usual duties and made yet another long distance observation when the person joined the player group. The Soviets now consider the player to be not only bandits but looters of war graves, far different from the universal looting that goes on in T2K. As such they have developed something of an obsession about their colours.

Of course, it's simply not true. However no one usually talks to the enemy especially when they're springing ambushes or hunting you through Poland. This individual with the banner has absolutely no loyalty to the group and if they get near a place like Kraków the person jumps ship again, stealing whatever they can from the players (especially a light vehicle) and heads there leaving the players to deal with the furious Soviets.

Once again, the person has no idea of how to cover their tracks. The players will see the Soviets suddenly disengage and head after the thief. It's at this point they might actually talk to the Soviets who, even though this is a loyalist unit and is fighting NATO, is quite prepared to pay in information to get their banner back. They know where a good condition NATO AFV is in bandit territory and if the players were to go into the city to get their flag back they might be willing to part with that information . . .

[ChalkLine]

"Ahh, the old "Medicine Wanted', that's #10".

T2K is an older game, having been around for decades. As such the players start to know what the tables are by heart and the rapidly get accustomed to the "Settlement Crisis" table.
This means they get complacent, and complacency is fun.

#1 "Food Shortage"
All lies, lies I tell you. The settlement is loaded with food, they're just uncomfortable with telling the players how they got it. Maybe it's because they raided a NATO rear area unit, killed everyone and took the food. Maybe they did something similar to a neighbour, or maybe they've taken up a nasty habit of cannibalism. In any case the settlement tries to fob the players off onto getting more food for them. They're adroit liars and skinny kids will be artly displayed all the while the leaders wring their hands about how they won't make it through the winter. If the players do fall for these con men make sure later they meet an aggrieved party who lost their food who can tell them the truth.

#2 "Engineer Needed"
Well, yes they are telling the truth here. Well, most of it.
That's not actually a fertilizer/pesticide factory they're building but a chemical weapons outfit, something the players might have strong views on - especially when the settlement uses it on some rather inoffensive neighbours. It's very easy to convert between the two.

#3 "Ammunition Shortage".
Alas, they're telling the whole truth here, these guys really need ammo and lots of it. However later on an OPFOR unit tells the players they've just armed a bandit group preying on the local people they protect and if they don't remedy their blunder they'll stomp them hard with their T-80s.

#4 "Impending Attack".
Once again, the literal truth except it's either a retaliation raid from people they've been persecuting or a police raid by a NATO unit for the crimes of banditry. It'd be embarrassing to lay mines and wire, set up fire lanes and organise training to then later get a call from a desperate group of friendlies who are getting cut up in the defences.

#5 "Internal Unrest"
Do the players unknowingly root out NATO sympathisers?

#5 "Rampant Corruption"
This actually happens in real life unfortunately. Friendly outside groups try and root out corruption only to realise they've blundered into a situation where groups of oligarchs are brutally vying for power, all the while hiding inside the government. However it can turn into a fun "Fistful of Dollars" scenario.

#7 "Citizens Kidnapped"
Dodgy elements have abducted poor starving civilians, punish them! Except they can range from star-crossed lovers absconding to desperate fugitives trying to tell local forces about the vicious repression in the settlement based on arbitrary grounds. Maybe it's simply someone skilled who's left a small town for a bigger one with more scope for their services and if they're returned the settlement hamstrings them right in front of the players to stop the absconder running off again.

#8 "Mechanic Needed"
What seems like a desperate call for help on closer inspection turns out to be the local petrol-heads want to soup up their Polski 125p Fiats so they can race laps around the settlement. Of course "we need to get as much speed as possible to evade the patrols" is the excuse given, but the players later on see them running a post apocalyptic derby without a care in the world.

#9 "Epidemic, Doctor Needed" and #10 "Medicine Wanted"
Really, it's because these people simply refuse to use good sanitation and when an outbreak occurs they send well-meaning players off to capture/liberate/steal a stronger medication than is needed. Later on the players find evidence they sold the stuff to the enemy for a nice profit. If the players then return and demand explanations these glib bastards state the enemy requisitioned it and could the players please go get some more?

[ChalkLine]

Kraka
(Kraftkarren "Faun" "Lkw 0.75 t gl Kraka Type 640")

Once again, the cute vehicles keep coming.

This little vehicle was in service with Bundeswehr airborne troops from the early 1960s to the 1990s, well within the "retention envelope" of the Twilight 2000 war.

Although it was originally a simple cargo carrier it was developed into a bewildering array of weapons carriers (Waffenträger) that mounted either an MK 20 Rh 202 20mm autocannon, a MILAN or TOW (6 missiles) ATGM, a 120mm mortar and even a ten barrelled MLRS I can't find any information on as Germany only had heavy MLRS systems at the time, perhaps someone can enlighten us or it was an prototype of some type.

There was also a two and a four (very cramped) cot medivac vehicle.

As usual, Paul Mulcahy has stats (Kraka 640) 🙂
http://www.pmulcahy.com/light_uv/german_luv.htm

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/171566686_10158910200235874_5577172581682082232_n. jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=p25Zn0yUTcsAX_AwSlE&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=1300a1a8670effa124935ff7d6743aad&oe=61428D16

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/168980243_10158910200345874_4447999235933949284_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=maUdDY7LtuYAX9DX6tJ&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5fe39bbe96b9df0622d209b533e26100&oe=6144966A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/168857152_10158910200600874_831627813535705393_n.j pg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=-d0jJYC2ZK8AX80Cbm8&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=2a05245000d55be1b5294af11ffd8742&oe=614352EE

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/169433886_10158910200660874_7940662402853291927_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=mO4Ci3XWkugAX-muw-h&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=84d6002d218c8d7700a486dfe871a725&oe=6144B7E8

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/171758236_10158910200910874_3927455720544301984_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=sJcOT0lGar4AX8OjBJs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=a1f3bda4e3f07db7b3d410c9f38c1b43&oe=61455898

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/170359490_10158910200850874_6662659847951759959_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=TphhQYp2Ri4AX_1vtBk&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=9eb57ecafe0ecdab889e966cef14a1c9&oe=61438F02

[ChalkLine]

Ambush

Please note: this is a simplistic game style post on ambushes. Like most military activities this seems to be an incredibly complex activity.

Twilight 2000 has some very cheerful and optimistic ideas about travel movement. In reality it would be likely that survivors will make only a fraction, if any, of the stated possible movement due to the fact that they have to be constantly on the lookout for ambushes.

By the time the US 5th Infantry Division (Mech) and its added units are crushed at Kalisz both its members and its opponents are extremely competent (if tired) soldiers. Like NATO troops, Eastern Bloc soldiers are not orcs or morons and they will not mindlessly attack in a frontal fashion and line up to die. They do not advertise their existence until the time is right and just tooling along the roads keeping a lookout simply is not feasible. Sooner or later you will die.

The Ambush Commander.
If the ambushing unit has an officer he will assess the situation and first of all decide whether if it's worth engaging at all. Note that this can be worse than a hasty ambush, this individual simply sends some sort of message to a higher command who makes notes on the players and assigns the optimum sized force to deal with them. This means that when the ambush does occur it will be an order more complex and deadly.

The ambush commander needs good intelligence and this is supplied to him by his forward observation posts (OP). These small groups stay hidden at all costs and simply relay information. Note that if the ambush fails they probably will never even engage and this means that the failed ambush will become knowledge to enemy commands when they can contact them. If they are not equipped with radios then a runner is required. This means the OP must be closer to the ambush commander’s command post (CP) and lowers response time. Otherwise signals can be relayed via optical methods such as flags, lights or similar. The usual method used by most armies is known to NATO as “SALUTE” and is this format:

Size and/or strength of the enemy.
Actions or activity of the enemy.
Location of the enemy and direction of movement.
Unit identification. The designation of the enemy unit may be derived from unit markings, uniforms worn, or thorough information provided by enemy prisoners.
Time and date the enemy was observed.
Equipment and weapons observed.

It should be noted that Eastern Bloc troops are fully aware that NATO troops can inflict heavy casualties beyond what their numerical size might imply, just like they can. If the ambush commander is directed by higher command to engage or if they consider that they have adequate assets to deal with the players then the next step is undertaken. Note this means that players might get an encounter rolled and never even see it as the ambushers decide not to engage and simply let the players roll past.

With this knowledge in hand the ambush commander hands over the tactical implementation of the ambush to the senior NCO under a set of guidelines that lay out what the commander wants to achieve. There are several sorts of ambushes, the obvious first that comes to mind is the annihilation of the enemy force but others might a shoot-and-scoot ambush that degrades the enemy’s ability to move, degrades essential equipment, vehicles or weaponry, force the ambushees to flee in a specific direction (usually into a worse ambush) or simply a delaying attack that forces the ambushees to deploy and slow down.

Remember that the CP and the OPs do not engage, it is far more important that these units stay intact so that the result of the ambush is known to command. Communications and medical staff are with the CP. The CP supervises the ambush and monitors its progress. If the ambush commander decides to call off the attack then the command is passed to the senior NCO who pulls his people out while the security element covers their retreat.
Ambushes can happen in any area at any time and in any condition. Just because a choke point is there doesn’t mean the ambusher utilises it. In fact some ambushes take place just in front of choke points which force a unit to deploy to check it out.

The ambush should have two initial priorities:
- cause as many casualties as possible.
- significantly degrade the ambushed force’s mobility.

Other priorities such as the destruction of heavy weapons, command and control, communications and so on come immediately after. The first priority significantly affects the second; heavy casualties usually cause an ambushed unit to stall in place. The priority on the degradation of movement is because the primary defence of an ambushed unit is to utilise as much mobility as possible to escape the killing zone (KZ) where the ambushing group is oriented to maximise their firepower. Normally a unit that is ambushed will turn their weapons in all directions to suppress the ambushers and speed through the KZ and out.

Most actual targets are usually obvious. If the OPs have decided the composition and deployment of the ambushees the heavy weapons will be placed so they have flank shots into armoured vehicles. Exposed drivers and gunners can be ready to die first. Automatic weapons will generally be in positions to either engage unarmoured vehicles or the places where armoured vehicles deploy their dismounts.

Ambush Element
The ambush element usually takes the shape of two distinct groups;
-Assault Element
This is the largest group and they do the actual killing. Their deployment will be covered in the next section. The ambush element should always be sited in a position where each ambusher’s arc of fire overlaps and no safe zones can be created.
- Security Element
This group covers the KZ escape routes and also guards against enemy reinforcements.

Ambush Deployment
Each ambush is different. However there are three very common ambush deployment types:
-Linear Ambush
In this ambush the assault element is along the flank of the ambushed force’s line of march and the security element is at either end and behind the assault element. This is a weak ambush, the ambushees rear element can pivot and attack the security element and possibly roll up the assault element’s line. It is suitable for a hasty ambush where the ambush element can withdraw quickly.
- L-Shaped Ambush
A more dangerous proposition. The bulk of the assault element is once again parallel to one side of the ambushee’s line of march but another element closes off the front of the line. This sort of ambush can occur easily in a built up area where the ambushees head into a T Junction. As the ambushees deploy to face the flanking force they are taken again in the flank by the end element.
- V-Shaped Ambush
The worst of the ambushes in some ways as there is almost nowhere to go that is safe. In this situation the ambush element is set up in a “V” shape that envelops both sides of the ambushees. A high level of discipline is required as friendly fire among the ambushers is possible.

Explosive Devices.
While not a feature of all ambushes and rarely a feature of hasty ambushes explosive devices add a level of lethality and disruption to an ambush. Untended devices such as mines can block off the apparent exit to the KZ and stall if not actually destroy vehicles in a secondary KZ. Command operated explosives can decapitate command or destroy heavy units in a single strike. Command detonated explosives often but not always initiate the ambush, and some can be placed in areas that ambushed forces take cover or try to manouevre through to evade the KZ. Note that IEDs are not a 21st century phenomenon, they were used extensively during the Second World War and even more so during the US-Viet Nam War. Unused munitions will be collected after the attack and reused. Note that by the 1990s command/victim-activated detonation fuzes were supplied for the fuze wells of all mortar and artillery shells. Note that these things simply can’t appear anywhere and due to their nature might give away signs of their emplacement. A hasty ambush might have tell-tale command wires going into a nearby object. Small culverts under roads are extremely suspect and even rubble piles from collapsed walls that spill onto the street might need to be checked out.

A command detonated device needs an operator who usually oversees the location of the device. This can be well hidden, this individual doesn't even have to fire a weapon so they can be for instance deep in a building and just detonate the explosive when radioed or he observes his required target occupy the location of the explosive.

Artillery
For ambushes the automatic grenade launcher and the mortar are the artillery par excellence as they can rapidly saturate an area with explosives.
Poor Conditions.
Generally in most campaigns the Eastern Bloc forces do not have parity in night observation devices. They are well aware of this. If a night ambush is mounted and they feel they have insufficient NODs they’ll simply bathe the area in flares.

Leakers
Some of the ambushees will probably escape. The enemy don’t let these individuals disappear from their minds, they actually expect some to get away. They’ll be vigilant for their appearance. Survivors will be questioned for the composition of the force and the OPs will be on the lookout for the escapees.

Game Play.
As you can expect, this would be a slaughter of player characters.
First off, the players are probably going to want to avoid roads of any type if at all possible. I haven’t even mentioned the carnage that something like an ancient T-55M2 firing down a kilometre or two of open road from a hull-down, concealed position onto the ambush site can achieve. The best way to not get into these positions is to avoid them entirely. As such rigorous scouting is needed, the players are by definition in Indian Country and this sort of bloodbath can happen at any time.

Second off, the GM must understand that the enemy isn’t sitting around with their fingers on the trigger. The skill of the enemy cuts both ways; they won’t expend themselves stupidly and for no point on a risky and unworkable ambush most of the time. If the players appear suddenly, adroitly avoid the ambush site and motor off they’ll probably just swear at them and try and report the encounter. Sure, the higher command might make a note of the players but if there’s a lot of bandit activity they might well consider them a lesser threat.

Finally, if worse comes to worse pop smoke and bug out.
The ambushers can’t cover every option. Obscuration might limit the players ability to react but it does the same for the enemy. Find a weak point in the KZ and punch a hole in it. Yes, the players have to write off the fallen and wounded but that’s what happens in an ambush. Maybe they can scout them out and recover them later.

[ChalkLine]

Those odd Eastern Bloc camouflages.

Have you ever noticed how some of the mid-Cold War uniform camouflages seem to have little actual camouflage value?

It came out of a German, I don't know if it was Second World War or East German, study that showed that solid colours were better for moving troops. Evidently "busy" camouflages draw the eye if the soldier is actually moving.
The Germans thought that the individual soldier was more vulnerable when he was a fleeting target and quickly moving from position to position and as such created the various "rain drop" camouflages that they considered the best compromise. When the soldier was stationary they were to use fieldcraft to avoid detection.

As friends who served in Afghanistan have told me that people wearing literally black and white blocks of colour can disappear into the terrain it might have had some validity as a concept.

The Russians were never convinced though and adopted a variety of more conventional blocky style camouflages.

(East German and Polish uniforms for examples. Note that the Polish first echelon troops had a different colour camouflage in the T2K setting)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/177523006_10158945260155874_4223831711809989816_n. jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=wxVQTLOIc8EAX9IrNRe&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=41cf49e671ab85cf27540332192d5787&oe=6144EEDC

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/177814694_10158945260290874_2601358684109828674_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=px7uhuCCLPYAX-ulgui&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5af15c4cbc7296f7168ee9d92bd25cd4&oe=61446377

[ChalkLine]

Small Emplacement Excavator

As you've probably noticed by my posts my players usually don't get far before they bog down due to logistics and this usually means some sort of defensive site.

Now, having the players stand forlornly there with a spade and a mattock off the humvee is humorous at first but if you're serious about getting some dirt between you and the incoming supersonics you need machinery.

Here the US Army and the Bundeswehr offers the following:

The Small Emplacement Excavator is a Unimog truck turned into a suspiciously effective front-end loader. Also known as the Unimog 419 (the big engine 'Mog 406 series or the "U-1300L" from Paul Mulcahy's website) but assuming that it only has its external load available. This isn't strictly true, it has its normal cargo bed which you can dump stuff in but its normal load weight is used up by the digging equipment limiting that greatly.

The digging gear can be removed in one period and stored, only using up 750kg of its 2,250kg load with the attachments and making it an awesome truck again. You can even use the digging arm as a light crane by slinging a chain off the knuckle.

Honestly, there's so much to love about 'Mogs although they have been known to roll over.

Price: $7,500 S/- (the WarPact have their own versions)
http://www.military-today.com/engineering/see.htm
http://www.pmulcahy.com/light_uv/german_luv.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unimog#Variants

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/176187354_10158948269710874_2604529818492892346_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=dx1RMdKkRvUAX-dEn_r&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c958b7fda2a9bf6f31e045dc10f277c2&oe=6142516C

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/179181960_10158948269760874_6219078610241745945_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=WOkgrksdcPMAX-JDlCz&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=d3aeb0239ac78131017509ceca46df24&oe=614361AB

[ChalkLine]

Internal Defence Forces (Poland)
"Wojsk Obrony Wewnętrznej" (WOW)

The Territorial Defence Forces or the OTK ("Obrona Terytorium Kraju") had several sorts of unit, most are what are erroneously referred to as "ORMO" in the GDW books. However they had several large formations known as the WOW and these were the hammer to the other OTK unit's anvils. Local OTK would hold and defend but the WOW would bring heavier force to bear to wipe out serious problems behind the lines.

WOW units came in three sorts, the three Territorial Defence Brigades which are the 1st Masovian Brigade of the Internal Defense Forces, 1st BWOWew ("1 Mazowiecka Brygada Wojsk Obrony Wewnętrznej"), 2nd Podlaska Brigade of the Internal Defense Forces, 2nd BWOWew ("2 Podlaska Brygada Wojsk Obrony Wewnętrznej") and the 5th Podhale Brigade, 5th BWOWew ("5th Podhalańska Brygada"), two independent regiment, three communications regiments, four regional regiments, four pontoon regiments and two pontoon battalions (the Poles know their river-crossed country only too well) and three engineering battalions specifically tasked as reaction forces to weapons of mass destruction.

(TKO units came in various types as well, and they include one Independent Defence Brigade, eighteen Independent Territorial Defence Regiments and sixty three Territorial Defence Battalions.)

An impressive number and it is these rather frightening individuals that will be hunting your scrawny arses across the Vistula Valley.

First off, here's the TOE of the 5th Podhales at the start of the war.

- command and staff
- three motorized infantry regiments (each with three battalions, a mortar battery and a battery of guns)
- tank battalion (probably T-55AD-2)
- 122 mm cannon squadron
- 120 mm mortar squadron
- 57 mm AA cannon squadron
- reconnaissance company
- company of sappers
- chemical company
- communications company
- traffic regulation company
- medical company

Here's the TOE for the 15th Independent Regiment

- command and staff
- motorized infantry battalion (three motorized infantry companies and a support company)
- tank battalion
- school battalion
- 120 mm mortar battery
- anti-tank battery (85 mm D-44 cannons)
- anti-aircraft battery
- sapper company
- communications company
- traffic regulation company
- supply company
- NBC warfare company

Now, obviously these units will not be at full strength. The beauty of these guys is that they can be literally anywhere in Poland, ready to pop up and give your players grief at any moment. Their mission is to seek out and deal with groups such as the players. Note that they have their own comprehensive communications network so if the players run into them then they get logged by the intel guys and the hunt is on. Obviously they have several fires to put out with the general level of banditry and players that amble along, helping locals and generally being inoffensive might be placed low on the list of priorities. However players destroying WarPact infrastructure and units, threatening supply lines and generally being a military bother will find these characters turning up quite quickly and repeatedly.

WOW units will often work in conjunction with Soviet MVD units and other similar allied rear are security troops.

And here's the kit of the average WOW trooper:

Field Uniform, wz. 68 "Moro" camouflage¹ 04.00kg
wz.68 "kostka" ("cube") Backpack 02.00kg
Blanket 01.00kg
MP-5 field protective mask and bag 01.00kg
6x 8-hour duration MP-5 filters
OP-1 NBC Suit and bag 08.00kg
Poncho 01.00kg
wz. 67 Steel Helmet w/ netting 01.50kg
6B2 Flak Vest 04.00kg
CZM Flashlight 0.20kg
wz. 70 Webbing² 02.00kg
6H4 Bayonet and scabbard 00.50kg
RKA (AKM) Assault Rifle 03.30kg*
6x 6L10 Magazines 03.00kg
120x 7.62x39mm 57-N-231³ 01.60kg
6x RGZ-89 Fragmentation Grenades 02.40kg⁴
2x RDG-2B Smoke Grenades, (White) 01.10kg
Individual First Aid Kit 00.20kg

¹"Rogatywka" Cap, "Uszatka" Woollen Hat, Shirt, Trousers, Field Jacket, Boots, Underwear
²Belt & Suspenders, SDPL Entrenching tool & Carrier, First Aid pouch, 2x Ammunition Pouch, 1 lt Canteen, wz. 70 Mess Kit
³8 x 15r stripper clips in two cardboard boxes
⁴2x of the 6 are in the Pack
(*Rear area troops had the AKM ("RKA", " Radziecki Karabinek Automatyczny" "Soviet Automatic Rifle") rather than the Kbk wz. 88 Tantal or the Skbk wz. 1989 Onyks)

EDIT:

I should have noted the usual TKO TOEs as these are the "ORMO" you see listed.

TKO Regiment TOE
- command and staff
- 4-6 infantry companies: 3 infantry platoons and a heavy machine gun platoon
- special company: 2 sapper platoons, 2 communications platoons and 2 chemical platoons
- supply platoon

TKO Battalion TOE

- command, staff, political section, quartermaster
- two infantry companies
- economic platoon
- economic team
- transport team
- communications team

The "economic teams" are disaster relief specialists.

[ChalkLine]

The Samovar

(A little bit of colour for your Russian characters)

Where you get Russians you'll get tea.
Russian troops are notorious tea-drinkers and drink their tea usually without milk and often sweetened and this is usually served in a metal-based glass. Within Russia, tea preparation differs, but usually includes lemon, and sugar or jam. They first brew a concentrated brew up and then mix it to taste with plain boiled water.

The preferred method of making tea is in a samovar, a metal boiling vessel consisting of an urn with a vertical metal tube inside filled with solid fuel. The Russian jackboot, the sapog, can be used as a bellows to get the fuel hot. No, I have no idea how you'd do that.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/180651582_10158966162775874_8603336002884911834_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=_yOYpLHajVYAX9B3r7s&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=cb542cdf7e8363cbb8472cbfc6c6a532&oe=6143065F

[ChalkLine]

Combat Recovery of Vehicles

In the brutal grind of the Soviet-Axis front of The Second World War the Axis slowly started to run out of armoured vehicles. The savage fighting unparalleled in its intensity, ferocity and longevity elsewhere on the planet meant that the huge Soviet factories so painfully evacuated east could out-manufacture the Axis factories that nightly were pounded from the air meanwhile in the west the allies could bring in vehicles manufactured safe distances from the fighting. This led to a strange phenomenon in the style of combat.

Whole battles would range over who could recover a knocked-out armoured vehicle first. In the midst of the fighting the Axis troops would throw forward recovery teams to drag out the precious combat hulks for rebuilding. At the same time they'd also try and recover the enemies' vehicles as well to make up the shortfalls in their own armoured lists. Noting this, the Allies on all fronts responded by sending their own teams in to drag vehicles out in an effort to beat the Axis to the prize or they'd simply end up facing the same vehicle after a short period. The US actually made their own specialised tank recovery/transporter known as the M25 Dragon Wagon that still looks like it could see service today in its angled armour and no-nonsense build concept. Also both sides would fight bitterly to ensure the battlefield was held long enough to recover the wrecks, the Axis so they could reuse the vehicles and the Allies so they could recover their own and deny Axis vehicles to the enemy.

In Twilight 2000 both sides see the same situation arise again. While certain anti tank weapons result in an unrecoverable wreck many leave a vehicle capable of salvage.

A simple scenario can be created where the troops fight over just such a downed vehicle and this can even be inserted into the period just before the break out at Kalisz or in other campaigns. The situation that is needed to recreate this bitter style of fighting is:
- Decent troop numbers.
- A coherent enemy rather than scattered bandits or small patrols.
- Recovery gear available to both sides.

The following sort of assumes and M1A1 has been disabled prior to the breakout at Kalisz. It can be easily adapted for other situations.

First off, play out the demise of the vehicle. While in the normal style of small campaign you can make this a simple IFV or APC (most commanders wouldn't risk a recovery vehicle over a truck) in large unit settings a late-era MBT is the obvious choice. Either the players knock it out or near it when it goes down.

The first thing friendly forces will try and do is secure the area and recover the crew. Specialists such as AFV crewmen are valuable and medical teams will push up to the vehicle to try and provide aid and extract the wounded. If the vehicle is in a highly exposed area this can be extremely dangerous, the recovery teams may even try trenching forwards under the cover of night. The wreck site must be secured and this is easier said than done, for a start it's already known that something capable of damaging an armoured vehicle overwatches the area. Each area capable of dominating the vehicle's location has to be occupied and secured. It's at this point the enemy begins to be assured that a recovery effort is underway and starts their own efforts to secure the site.

While the recovery teams are on their way the local troops will have to deal with the first counter attacks. The enemy will probe forward, not looking for a serious fight but rather trying to estimate the level of security the area has. The local troops try and oppose these probes and also search out and negate any observation posts that are set up. The enemy isn't stupid, they know what's going on and will task assets suitable to the prize. If the enemy has artillery the OPs might at this time range a few shots to register some locations the defenders might set up. While the security element fights off the probes they should also be furiously digging in for what comes next.

Now the enemy knows where the vehicle is, roughly what sort of opposition there is and what the nature of the AO is they might mount their first serious counter attack. Utilising what artillery fires they have the attack should come from at least two directions at once, this is the sucky bit about holding a known location. Hopefully friendly flanking units can fend off some of the enemies flanking movements but there should be tense moments while radio gives updates on how well those efforts are going.
While taking care not to hit the vehicle, the enemy FOs direct fires onto areas of serious resistance. If these are in the open the fuzes are air bursts meaning there's no cover. If they are dispersed positions they will probably be ground bursts and if it's hardpoints then they will probably be delay fuzes to explode after they penetrate the cover. Clever defenders will use a variety of defences.

The enemy are intelligent soldiers and not obedient orcs; they assault using the terrain and timing to keep the odds on their side and don't rush forward like morons to a certain death (anyone who that that was a good idea was dead by 1996). Often the players will just see muzzle flashes. They can roll whatever numbers they like but should only have the vaguest idea if they hit people. Environmental factors such as screams, visible wounded and so on are fairly rare and often drowned out be the din of the battle. Players who disregard incoming fire attract more incoming fire, often of the explosive variety.

Should the counter attack be a serious effort command will vector over reinforcements from the reserve if they can spare them. Note these aren't unlimited and there's other actions going on. Command will always try and save enough troops in the reserve to deal with breakthroughs so keep this in mind.

After the fighting is going on and the enemy and the players rearranged the scenery with whatever ordnance they have at hand at some point either the enemies' or the player's recovery team will show up, possibly both. Now the big effort starts. The recover team has an immediate security team that covers their area but they need the enemy removed from the AO. The enemy has exactly the same idea.

Note that NPCs don't usually throw themselves to their deaths. Attacks should stall at 10% losses and the enemy commander doesn't throw more troops into a meatgrinder without extremely good reason. The vehicle isn't worth it yet. At 10% the enemy stop pushing forward and 25% they start to fall back in good order. At 50% they make a run for it and at 75% they'll discard weapons in their flight. The players shouldn't always know this happens, often they'll only notice a lull in the shooting. Note that this might simply be the enemy commander shifting the axis of attack. A good way to guess that the enemy has had enough is when they start popping smoke and the other side should always be smoking the crap out of the place. (A note on smoke: if the players have a good position the enemy might simply fling smoke at it to neutralise the players' fire)

If the players have fought off the enemy push they can go forward and set up a perimeter. If they have to fall back (do players ever actually retreat?) then they have to push forward and the situation is reversed. Rinse and repeat until one side starts to run out of assets.

If it looks like the vehicle is going to fall into enemy hands and cannot be retaken then it has to be destroyed or contaminated to deny it to the enemy. During the fight the recovery team will have stripped weapons, radios, vision gear (including periscopes, they're removable), ammunition and POL (Petrol Oil Lubricants) if possible.

If it looks like the players are planning to demolish the vehicle the enemy will call artillery on it in the attempt to kill demolition teams and hope the vehicle is not too seriously damaged, assuming they can see it.

Note that recovering a vehicle is the sort of mission the enemy will risk a similar asset on. If they do commit an MBT or MBTs these won't wander in by themselves or lead an assault. Their weapons have extremely long ranges and MBTs work best in the T2K setting as support elements, standing back and slamming positions with heavy HE while being far enough away that players would have to deploy an ATGM to hit it. Armoured vehicles *always* have an infantry security element (infantry are cheap) who push forward to deny rocket-range positions to an attacker. If vehicles are attacked with an ATGM they will pop smoke and retire, shifting position. Meanwhile the infantry will note the position and call it in using the vehicle's radio.

Sooner or later one side will get their recovery team into position and start to recover the vehicle. This can take hours depending on the situation, however a vehicle too badly bogged will simply be blown in place.

What's the pay off for all this?
Have the players rewarded in a campaign sense. For a start such a defence should be appreciated by command. If they recover the vehicle reasonably intact it should turn up later to provide heavy support for the group, possibly during the breakout.

[ChalkLine]

Polish BRDM-2 M96 and M97
Polish BRDM-2 upgrades.

A while back I did a post on the Russian/Soviet BRDM-2M and I mentioned the Polish variants but never detailed them. Here's some data on them but as these come in after the fall of the Polish People's Republic there's some NATO-specific mods I'll change to Warsaw Pact. They're fairly obvious and people wanting a NATO BRDM-2 only need swap weapons, radios and optics.

The Poles love their BRDM-2s and they still soldier on to this day in the Polish Land Forces. Polish experience with the vehicle noted several deficiencies notably too small a crew, deck hatches only and that the belly wheels had little practical use even on rough ground. Oddly enough the Poles never bothered with the painfully thin armour, the vehicle was designed at a time when rifle calibre rounds and shell fragments were considered the primary threats.

M96
With this in mind the Poles went to work and stripped out the belly wheels of the BRDM-2 and put in a new hull floor. With this large extra space they installed a side hatch on each side and put in two passenger seats low in the hull. This is the basic Polish BRDM-2 in Twilight 2000. A new Tatra engine and transmission gave the vehicle more power and a spare tyre rack on the rear of the hull relaces the previous Polish practice of placing a spare on top of the turret. Finally the turret is replaced with an elongated oval version for extra room. Inside is a carrying space for an RPG-7V for use by the dismounts.

Not to sit on their laurels, as the storm clouds of war approach the Poles start to modernise their equipment. A large amount of BRDM-2s are brought up to Zbik standard:

M97 Zbik
Featuring a new square turret the Zbik (Wildcat) gains a roof hatch for the commander and a hatch for storing a 9K111 Fagot (AT-4 "Spigot") post that mounts in front of the hatch. Six 81mm "Tucha" smoke grenade launchers, three on each side of the front of the turret, are mounted. The vehicle mounts better radios, a laser range finder and a 60 mm LM-60K mortar (12 rounds). The new turret allows a -4.2º to + 32.5º vertical traverse.

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183496373_10158973257725874_988239645651637622_n.j pg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=-851le0bBa0AX-vR16A&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c126a34dc6b5c8c01218cf0d5611badf&oe=61438CD8

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183935581_10158973258005874_4727291223007662417_n. jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=cy3YRUGRMAsAX-ybTb_&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=48597ef448ec00baef7c748cdd8d6c09&oe=61445B7A

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183816057_10158973258335874_5508932285939806356_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=YMgRDeAR8yUAX-wJ3T3&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=bffc290fde9cc34fc01870f9e53be2bb&oe=6143B9EB

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183462245_10158973258375874_5059537624544345362_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=Gkcu2Ms69AIAX8RGqLZ&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=f3f7bfe51c56509fe243ab10a3083013&oe=6142FED0

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183775232_10158973258470874_8865528694144507427_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=eoRFAXD_xmQAX9-sgu6&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=6ebf9be71661b3b6de0ff5446e2e8470&oe=61422903

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/182815990_10158973258685874_2836510944215806507_n. jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=Xmzuntkh2X0AX_kH_tp&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c0c16f3ecab2d586674887d602837939&oe=6142A468

[ChalkLine]

Dedovshchina
Russia's brutal tradition of hazing.

Soviet troops are often but not always subjected to a severe form of hazing that may lead to suicide, mental trauma, injury or death. It's probably the most brutal hazing tradition of any military. Numbers are hard to estimate as western sources are inevitably biased or engaged in misinformation but GMs should consider whether a Russian soviet unit in the game has a history of dedovshchina.

It should be noted that not all units do this as it's well understood to be detrimental to unit performance and cohesion and some commanders make serious attempts to limit or eradicate the practise even during the soviet period. Battle experience in Afghanistan and later in 1st Chechnya proved that units allowing higher levels of dedovshchina performed poorly. Poor outcomes include desertion, fratricide, suicide and severe lack of unit cohesion and effectiveness. Another problem is the intra-unit animosity makes every task more complex; handing the Dragunov to a man and ordering him to cover the advance of a hated superior has to be avoided for instance. Dedovshchina was officially made illegal in 1982.

Dedovshchina is intimately associated with the grey market within the military, and this economy reaches from the lowest ranks into the officer corps which makes it difficult to eradicate. This has its roots in the hard facts that troops are paid very poorly (or not at all during the dissolution) and persons higher up the chain expected those below them to make up the shortfall in wages. This can lead to very poor behaviour when stationed in foreign areas on the part of the troops as they try and satisfy their superior's expectations while having less of a bond with the locals.

Notably dedovshchina was reduced to a large degree in what the soviets termed "The Great Patriotic War" (WW2). During this time command was far more vigilant, superiors had to watch their troop's performance or be replaced and possibly suffer severe repercussions. As the soviet troops enter the "survival phase" of Twilight 2000 it's unlikely that most units would persist in this behaviour, but it makes an interesting GM tool if animosities have persisted from an earlier period. It is also a perfect reason to incorporate former soviet troops into the game.

[ChalkLine]

(For UK campaigns)

Sterling "SMG" in 7.62×51mm NATO

If the worst ever happened Britain planned on making "Last Ditch" weapons such as the Second World War Primitiv-Waffen-Programm in Germany.

Thus this creature was designed and even one produced as a proof-of-concept. It is a full-auto/semi-auto lever-delayed open-bolt weapon that uses the Sterling SMG control group and L1A1 SLR or L4 Bren magazines. It could mount the L2A1 SUIT sight.

(Nobody knows its weight, ROF or accuracy and the MoD refuses to tell. It's probably still kept as plans and tooling).

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/182647531_10158979717215874_5162728232221193293_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=mcd7fo-68G4AX8ylf2Y&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=8b5e4f18ce1d8429c30c315c410c145d&oe=61442F8C

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/183148002_10158979717610874_7950718866230330144_n. jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=EuUQhlhMZrIAX-O3UTK&tn=onbhrTvD61FhbJBs&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5938dd892936be6a1f293a679e5a0100&oe=6142CA0C

[ChalkLine]

A short scenario.

This one is essentially so the players can actually use an anti-material rifle the way they should be used.

(Note that it's a myth that 12.7mm weapons can't legally be used against personnel, you can use tank cannon on personnel and no one cares. That myth arose because originally the M2HB was an AT weapon and troops were instructed not to fire on personnel and unmask the weapon before the proper target was in its sights.)

Like my scenarios often are the main enemy are marauders. This is a fairly simple scenario that once again requires the PCs to engage with either local civilians or some other stability-operation group from either side. However the group shouldn't be Russian as they turn up in the scenario. Note that if it is the Polish civilians who get the group to deal with the Sniper they might provide the group with a venerable but deadly PTRS-41 14.5mm AT rifle fitted with a modified PSO-1 sight, otherwise a military group will provide a native weapon. If they do get the PTRS then this even more than other anti-material rifles puts out a huge muzzle blast and concussion that makes this thing almost impossible to hide as well as being extremely long and hard to move.



I didn't mention it but none of the civilians should be military age (15 to 50) as in Poland people of that age will be in the army. As such only children and the elderly are "civilians" in this setting.

[ChalkLine]

Troop Nationalities Table

This is my table on troops percentages from both sides. However this assumes a general and "traditional" NATO vs WTO war in Poland and not the canonical GDW setting.

[ChalkLine]

In 1963 the "Mongoose" missile system was renamed "Rapier" because no one in the project could think of what the plural of "mongoose" was.

[ChalkLine]

Pokhorony okurka refers to a type of informal punishment in the Russian (and previously the Soviet) army and can be translated as ‘a cigarette butt funeral’. The punishment is imposed upon soldiers caught smoking in prohibited areas.

If such a violation is identified, the guilty soldier and his unit are ordered to carry out a march and dig a metaphorical (human-sized) grave for the cigarette. The commander gives a sarcastic funeral speech about the cigarette butt, soldiers shovel soil onto it and march back to their base. Depending on the gravity of the misconduct, its frequency, the discretion and creativity of the commander, particular scenarios may vary.

The punishment can be intensified by its suddenness; for instance, the unit can be woken up in the night by an alert. A forced march can be complicated by the request to undertake it in full uniform (with helmet and bulletproof vest). The length of the march and the size of the pit can vary as well. The ritual can be accompanied by the appointment of guards of honour, the three-volley salute and other ceremonial procedures inherent in military funerals. The diversity of these scenarios emphasises traditional, informal and entrenched nature of this practice.

I'm noting this because it illustrates a famous aspect of Russian culture: "Our strict laws are counterbalanced by their non-observance".
This sort of informal punishment arose because Russian military law is extremely strict and usually far too draconian to implement in real life without the serious eroding of morale and thus unit efficiency. Instead a sort of shadow legal system arose based more on practicality. It also shows the dual nature of the Russian officer who also functions as the higher-level NCO rather than just a mission specialist.

[ChalkLine]

Armoured Trains - More Thoughts

While armoured trains will probably have been used in the Twilight War, it's my belief they won't be seen in wide use until a bit later after the war itself dies down and the industrial base builds up again. This is based on why they arose and why they declined historically.

Most people would assume that armoured trains declined because they were restricted to the railway lines, the armoured train had unparalleled mobility in some ways and massively restricted mobility in others. But this is not why they declined. During The Great War, the Russian Civil War and the concurrent wars in Eastern Europe and The Warlord Era in China armoured trains maintained their dominance even after tanks and especially armoured cars (and some armoured cars of the era such as the Garford-Putilov were a match for tanks in combat). It is mainly to do with the military objectives of the time, and these were invariably the capture of the railway lines themselves.

At a time of limited manufacturing ability damage to the fabric of the railways was avoided. Marshalling yards, stations and the lines themselves were prizes and something not easily repaired. Rolling stock was immensely valuable and only slowly replaced. All this meant that the trains were sitting on infrastructure the enemy were trying to avoid damaging. It was The Second World War when railways could easily be replaced along with its rolling stock and in this time strategic strikes were mounted against the railways in massive amounts.

You'd think this period might suit the time the players are in but not really. The lines are already smashed in the Twilight War and need rebuilding. Realistically NATO is no longer interested in Poland so large scale incursions will be rare. Yes, the MSRs bringing materiel and livestock from the remaining industrial centres will be used but these won't be used the same way armoured trains are properly used (as a massive force multiplier). They will be security elements and will be more likely armoured rail cars utilising LAV chassis with the occasional MBT chassis mounted in support. These vehicles will frequently need to leave the lines as the infrastructure was heavily targeted during the war.

[ChalkLine]

UAZ 469 Weapon Carriers

The ubiquitous UAZ 469 in the rules is not listed as armed, but there were in fact many weapon carrier variants. The USSR, Poland and East Germany (and more I think) all used it as a carrier for the B-10 recoilless rifle. While this might seem an irrelevant weapon with the pervasive use of the RPG-7V it far outranges that weapon and provides heavy, cheap firepower on a light chassis.

Similarly, Afghanistan saw the introduction of a rear ring-mount over the cargo bed capable of taking the Pact Heavy Mount or the AGS-17. There were also hillbilly-armour versions of these that also had gun-shields.

Finally, the big KPV appeared on a pintle mount on the rear bed in Afghanistan.

But for sheer insanity the UAZ was stripped of its bodywork, given angled light armour and a quad .50 cal MG mount in The Balkans. (not the Maxon Mount)

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/238954382_10159190039390874_9074094394854860470_n. jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=KVFtoUblTIwAX8WXAdw&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=5b1f0c608ec75782102d78c61b556f68&oe=61440E03

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/238859563_10159190041395874_7185727170090290550_n. jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=ltnG0trg9_cAX-asvVi&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=0437953eb083c1d01cf2907c36ef1e4e&oe=614568B0

[Olefin]

Small Emplacement Excavator

As you've probably noticed by my posts my players usually don't get far before they bog down due to logistics and this usually means some sort of defensive site.

Now, having the players stand forlornly there with a spade and a mattock off the humvee is humorous at first but if you're serious about getting some dirt between you and the incoming supersonics you need machinery.

Here the US Army and the Bundeswehr offers the following:

The Small Emplacement Excavator is a Unimog truck turned into a suspiciously effective front-end loader. Also known as the Unimog 419 (the big engine 'Mog 406 series or the "U-1300L" from Paul Mulcahy's website) but assuming that it only has its external load available. This isn't strictly true, it has its normal cargo bed which you can dump stuff in but its normal load weight is used up by the digging equipment limiting that greatly.

The digging gear can be removed in one period and stored, only using up 750kg of its 2,250kg load with the attachments and making it an awesome truck again. You can even use the digging arm as a light crane by slinging a chain off the knuckle.

Honestly, there's so much to love about 'Mogs although they have been known to roll over.

Price: $7,500 S/- (the WarPact have their own versions)
http://www.military-today.com/engineering/see.htm
http://www.pmulcahy.com/light_uv/german_luv.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unimog#Variants


The SEE was in the third fanzine in the story of the 7th Division's Engineers as one of the vehicles that players would be able to use in the scenario. Great to see it here too

[CDAT]

...
(Note that it's a myth that 12.7mm weapons can't legally be used against personnel, you can use tank cannon on personnel and no one cares. That myth arose because originally the M2HB was an AT weapon and troops were instructed not to fire on personnel and unmask the weapon before the proper target was in its sights.)...

I did some research into this years ago, as near as I could find it comes from the 101st AB in Vietnam, when they were using M113 with the .50 and two 7.62 MG's. The Vietnamese were waiting for the MG's to run out of ammo (all ran out at about the same time) then a guy with a RPG would step out and shoot the track. So the commanding General (I do not remember his name and to lazy right now to look it up again) put out an order that you would not use the .50 to engage the troops, but would save it for when the M60's were reloading to take out the anti-tank weapons (this became equipment over time).

[ChalkLine]

I did some research into this years ago, as near as I could find it comes from the 101st AB in Vietnam, when they were using M113 with the .50 and two 7.62 MG's. The Vietnamese were waiting for the MG's to run out of ammo (all ran out at about the same time) then a guy with a RPG would step out and shoot the track. So the commanding General (I do not remember his name and to lazy right now to look it up again) put out an order that you would not use the .50 to engage the troops, but would save it for when the M60's were reloading to take out the anti-tank weapons (this became equipment over time).

I can't find my source but I think this exact thing happened over and over.
Originally tanks were either little and well protected (FT-17) or big and less protected (British Mk IV). The little ones couldn't survive the .50 AP round but the big ones created a problem; they were so big inside that 37mm AT shells, the standard of the time, could sail right through one and out the back without hitting anything and this got worse as the vehicle got more refined and the crews were reduced in size. However the M2 (not the HB variant I have noted above) could riddle the bastard and kill everyone inside. The US developed this doctrine fighting UK-supplied or captured armour in The Russian Civil War.

[Adm.Lee]

There's a lot to chew on in here, thanks for posting it all!

[mpipes]

In 1963 the "Mongoose" missile system was renamed "Rapier" because no one in the project could think of what the plural of "mongoose" was.

Why it is mongeese of course!

[pmulcahy11b]

Why it is mongeese of course!

:D +1

[Raellus]

Thanks for posting your codex here, Chalkine. It's a great resource and I hope that you continue to add to it.

-

[CDAT]

I can't find my source but I think this exact thing happened over and over.
Originally tanks were either little and well protected (FT-17) or big and less protected (British Mk IV). The little ones couldn't survive the .50 AP round but the big ones created a problem; they were so big inside that 37mm AT shells, the standard of the time, could sail right through one and out the back without hitting anything and this got worse as the vehicle got more refined and the crews were reduced in size. However the M2 (not the HB variant I have noted above) could riddle the bastard and kill everyone inside. The US developed this doctrine fighting UK-supplied or captured armour in The Russian Civil War.

Are you sure of this? As near as I can find the M2 (and the .50 BMG round) were not fully developed tell after the death of Browning (in 1926), there were some test bed units as early as 1921 (such as the M1921 MG), but all the issues were not worked out yet. Also it was made due to a need of an anti-aircraft gun, but I have never seen it listed as an AT weapon. As near as I can tell depending on the round (only looking at AP) the .50 BMG can penetrate between 19mm (3/4 of an inch) to 34mm (1 1/3 inch) so not really what I would think of as an anti-tank round (yes it can take out WWI and some of the early WWII tanks). So not saying it was not, but I have never seen it listed as such and the dates that I have seen for it have production starting well after WWI and the Russian Civil war.

[Olefin]

Are you sure of this? As near as I can find the M2 (and the .50 BMG round) were not fully developed tell after the death of Browning (in 1926), there were some test bed units as early as 1921 (such as the M1921 MG), but all the issues were not worked out yet. Also it was made due to a need of an anti-aircraft gun, but I have never seen it listed as an AT weapon. As near as I can tell depending on the round (only looking at AP) the .50 BMG can penetrate between 19mm (3/4 of an inch) to 34mm (1 1/3 inch) so not really what I would think of as an anti-tank round (yes it can take out WWI and some of the early WWII tanks). So not saying it was not, but I have never seen it listed as such and the dates that I have seen for it have production starting well after WWI and the Russian Civil war.

It was used during WWII in the anti-armor role but it was more against lightly armored vehicles and not tanks - the AP and API rounds could penetrate the hull plates or fuel tanks on German half tracks and light armored cars and they could penetrate the armor on the light Italian, Japanese and French tanks they faced as well as the rear and side armor of the original Panzer II, III and IV tanks before they started up-armoring them.

But you are right - it was more a weapon of last resort when it came to armor - if you took on a tank there were a lot better weapons to use than the M2 Browning

[kato13]

Have not logged in for a while.

Just wanted to say this thread is awesome.

[Olefin]

Have not logged in for a while.

Just wanted to say this thread is awesome.

I would like to second what Kato said about the awesomeness of this thread

[ChalkLine]

Ugh, facebook has stopped me linking images to it. Looks like I'll have to go through and find some way to host them.

[ChalkLine]

Tractors

One of the most useful vehicles ever constructed is the agricultural tractor. While it might seem a strange topic for a post this will probably be one of the most critical vehicles for non-military activity.

The Ursus ('Bear') tractors were famous for rugged simplicity and reliability in a time when western tractors were growing in complexity and cost which came with a commensurate lessening of reliability. Poland, being a country with a large agricultural sector, had many indigenous agricultural plant companies and a thriving import/export trade in this equipment.

During the Twilight period Ursus in Poland had been producing many tractors, here is three versions:

- Ursus 2812 (light tractor). 2,000kg, 25km/h, 60 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 1,300kg), 28Kw Power Take Off, Pulley - 21.0L/Period working, 10L/Period on road

- Ursus 1014 (medium tractor). 4,000kg, 25km/h, 90 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 3,000kg), 60 kw Power Take Off, Pulley - 45.0L/Period working, 22L/Period on road

- Ursus 1614 (heavy tractor). 5,000kg, 25km/h, 200 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 5,500kg), 100Kw Power Take Off, Pulley, 4x4 - 70.0L/Period working, 35L/Period on road

(0.75l/period x Kw)

A three point hitch is the adaptor point for machinery and includes a hydraulic system. The lift value is the maximum weight of an attachment.

A power take-off is normally a drive shaft running out of the engine to provide motive power for an attachment. Like the three point hitch it is an adaptor point (important note: these can be incredibly dangerous)

A pulley is simply a wheel that transfers power by pulley action.


Attachments:

Tractors are only the motive power, they are mainly made useful by their attachments. In Twilight 2000 they are either using their traction via tow cables, towing a trailer or attached to machinery such as ploughs or diggers.
Trailers.


Trailers

Generally a tractor can tow twice their weight so it may be possible to tow some of the following trailers at reduced load.

- Single Axle Livestock Trailer, 3.5 Tonne
Weight: 1,800kg, Load: 3,700kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 20Kw, Notes: Rear loading doors, unroofed, rear ramp, spare wheel. Capacity: 4x 700kg animals, 6x 550kg animals

- Single Axle Livestock Trailer, 7.5 Tonne
Weight: 3,150kg, Load: 7,850kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 30Kw, Notes: Rear loading doors, side access doors, roofed, rear ramp, spare wheel. Capacity: 8x 700kg animals, 10x 550kg animals

- Single Axle Utility Trailer, 2.5 Tonne
Weight: 1,300kg, Load: 2,400kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 20Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Utility Trailer, 4 Tonne
Weight: 3,100kg, Load: 4,000kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 25Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Bale Trailer, 9 tonne (low flat trailer with no sides for hay bales)
Weight: 1,950kg, Load: 8,900kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 80Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Bale Trailer, 15 tonne (low flat trailer with no sides for hay bales)
Weight: 4,800kg, Load: 15,800kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 45Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Tandem* Tipping Trailer, 13 Tonne (*two rear wheels, no front wheel)
Weight: 5,200kg, Load: 13,200kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 75Kw, Notes: spare wheel, this vehicle has 4mm walls 1.8m high

- Single Axle Dump* Trailer, 8 Tonne (low, fixed trailer. Lifts up at the front on hydraulic rams)
Weight: 2,200kg, Load: 8,100kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 45Kw, Notes: Rear folding gate.

- Tandem Utility Trailer, 13 Tonne (high sided, rear ramp trailer)
Weight: 10,800kg, Load: 13,200kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 135Kw, Notes: Rear folding gate, 2.2m high 1mm sides


Plant

Backhoe
Each backhoe has a seat, jacks to raise the tractor off the ground and a digger arm. Excellent for making deep trenches.
28Kw: 330kg
60Kw: 430kg
100Kw: 530kg

Front End Loader
A large bucket on the front of the tractor that lifts up and tilts for moving bulk material. Good for quickly creating earthworks and vehicle hides.
28Kw: 300kg
60Kw: 400kg
100Kw: 500kg

Auger
A honking great big drill for making deep holes in the ground. Excellent for making sturdy anti-vehicle barriers.
28Kw: 100kg
60Kw: 200kg
100Kw: 300kg

There are far more attachments but they are dedicated agricultural tools. Generally a farm would have three times its weight in tractors in these pieces of equipment

[swaghauler]

Check out BELARUS tractors. They are another Eastern European tractor that sold very well in the West too.
On the Asian front, there's only one name in tractors made as a cooperative venture between China and India and is now the best-selling tractor in the world... MAHINDRA Tractors.

One added detail you might need to add is with regards to the hydraulic attachments system. There are...
SINGLE (two hoses & quick-couplers) for use with minor implements like snowplows and manure spreaders that only need hydraulics to raise.

DOUBLE (four hoses & quick-couplers) for use with variable geometry units that may be required to rotate or flex/bend like buckets, backhoes, and plows.

TRIPLE (six hoses & quick-couplers) for use with full geometry units like backhoes with claws, buckets with claws, and hydraulically adjustable forks.

Most tractors come with a Double Point Hydraulic system (noted by having TWO hoses on each side of the tractor) but small tractors may only have a Single Point system (noted by only having one hose on each side of the tractor). This will limit the equipment the tractor can use as much as PTO power will.

[ChalkLine]

Dogs in Twilight 2000

Dogs tend to occur in three different situations in Twilight 2000; as guard dogs, as war dogs and as wild dogs.

Guard dogs are one of mankind's oldest early warning systems.
A dog's hearing is about 2.5 times better than a human's and they can pinpoint a sound to within 5º of its origin. In fact this is accurate enough that at close ranges you can use a dog to 'point' and direct grenade launcher fire and expect a fairly good chance of a hit on the source of a sound within 100m. Similarly dogs have been used at close ranges to direct machinegun fire at unseen targets.

A dog's sense of smell is of course legendary and comes in at about 40 times better than a human's admittedly poor sense of smell. Dogs can detect not only a target but can also track the scent trail and fully understand how this corresponds with the target's movement.

Guard dogs are extremely valuable, it would not be unusual to find settlements trading pups with a good guard lineage and breed. Settlements would utilise guard dogs to not only provide early warning against human threats but also wild dogs and similar animal threats. Note that guard dogs can be trained to alert handlers silently of threats.

War dogs are used by all combatants in Twilight 2000's Polish theatre. Using their senses noted above a war dog can track a target off to the side of the target's line of movement on the downwind side. This is incredibly useful as small foot patrols will often pause and set up an ambush to surprise followers. In Vietnam Australian tracker dogs could allow combat patrols to parallel a target and intercept them while being totally out of contact with the enemy. War dogs can be used in a shock attack and their fast movement and ability to knock down even quite large people is not to be underestimated.
War dogs can also be used as messengers. Well trained dogs can quickly, quietly carry messages unseen to other areas.

Another use of war dogs is mine detection dogs. These dogs work especially well against IEDs and above-ground munitions.

Wild dogs are extremely formidable. Usually in Twilight 2000 they are depicted as charging the players at first sight. From experience hunting dangerous feral dogs in Australia* I can say that this would be extremely rare. Usually a wild dog utilises its superb senses to observe threats from out of contact. Wild dogs learn vey quickly by observation that humans can kill dogs if they can see them so they avoid this at all costs, often you barely see any movement. Their prey of choice would be wounded, distracted or sleeping larger prey or unaware juveniles. They attack from ambush from multiple directions and have anecdotally used distraction pack members to occupy a prey's attention while the actual hunting dogs get close into position. Wild dogs are well known for using many different hunting styles from long pursuit to leopard-crawling up close before assaulting in without warning.

Dogs are mankind's oldest domesticated animal and the only domesticated animal we can be sure we have undertaken significant evolution alongside. People form strong bonds with dogs and this can have positive and negative effects in warfare. Dogs are extremely good for reducing stress in humans and historically soldiers and survivors have adopted dogs when they can. Conversely, dogs are relatively fragile in regards to modern weaponry and having a wounded or killed canine companion can have adverse morale effects. While players are immune to morale this will have a large effect on non-player characters.

Modern canine body armour, including the modern canine mask/helmet, were rudimentary in the Twilight 2000 setting. All sides have a lightweight ballistic harness that included a webbing system. This would usually hold water for the dog and a medical first aid kit. Some larger dogs can quite easily carry large amounts of ammunition if the load is spread carefully over the dog but this can easily damage the dog if in adverse situations. Loaded dogs are prone to heat stress and if pushed can simply collapse and die in a very brief interval.

(*I adore dogs but feral dogs can pull down and kill children as almost happened to a friend's child. This is why they are culled in Australia along with the immense ecological damage they do.)

[ChalkLine]

Alcohol Fuels.

In 1981 the US Army did a study of pure alcohol fuels* and found the following results.

Methanol promoted engine wear in certain sections of the engine. Top of bore and top of ring, cam followers and cam lobes, valve faces and valve guides all wore about seven times faster than ethanol or gasoline fuels. This was due to chemicals created as the by-products of combustion.

The found that pure alcohol fuels ran cleaner engines with less gumming and other deposits.

However Ethanol has its own problems. It absorbs water from the air and this separates if the engine is allowed to sit for extended periods (they didn't say how long). It is also corrosive and will attack the fuel lines of that period.

Game Effects:
Really, this can be used just for colour for mechanic characters or GMs could call for more rolls for methanol-powered vehicles.

(*They also studied alcohol blends and found no appreciable difference to 100% gasoline)

[ChalkLine]

A Third Echelon Campaign

In most games the players get the gee-whiz stuff at the very start and it slowly degrades during the game. Little by little, they start to pick up AKMs for the ammo, shoot off their 40mms and so on.

But in this style campaign the players starts off with real last-ditch stuff, not even Vietnam-era body armour. 1950s webbing, old style uniforms, weapons two generations out of date and so on. A hardcore GM will make their equipment and weaponry actually a severe disadvantage so the players have a strong incentive to scrounge, loot and cobble together more modern gear that’s more effective. The vehicles are clapped out old horrors that should really be in the back lot of a museum awaiting restoration. Even horses should be scruffy old nags. Worse, it could be cheap repurposed civilian gear that rapidly falls to bits.

The main challenge in this is letting the players get access to their own side’s equipment. Unless you want them indistinguishable from the enemy in a short spate of time you need to let them find out where stuff they can use is. It also really kicks up the trading aspect of the game.

This by definition is a lean campaign. I’m usually of the opinion that the enemy simply don’t engage if possible if they're down to their last magazine because really by then you’re combat ineffective, but in this style game everyone is short of everything and the players should not be able to pick up four magazines off a fallen enemy. Usually loot should be in the order or a dozen rounds, and I’d bump the combat difficulties up so there’s a lot more shots per hit than there is now (T2K, and all modern games, makes it far too easy to hit in a firefight).

[ChalkLine]

Updating the BTR-40 and the BTR-152.

The soviets seemed to have this obsessive aversion to throwing anything away.
It’s well known that right up to the dissolution the USSR and the rest of the Warsaw Pact hoarded oodles of 1950s equipment due to their belief that if the west started a war it would be a strategic war, and the only way to outlast the west was to have stockpiles of marginally useful gear that would still act as a decent force multiplier in a late war scenario. As such they doggedly hung on to crap like T-34s which really just took up storage space. However, in the Twilight War this logistical strategy would probably have paid off to some degree.
Also, those Lo-Tek objects made good sales to foreign clients as they tended to rugged simplicity bordering on the primitive.
However, as everyone knows if you create a whole organisation to do something that organisation will usually expend a lot of time and effort to both justify its existence and to try and enlarge its budget. It seems this depot organisation was no different. Copious plans were created on how to implement the old junk into the by now very different army. I found this interesting on how they saw the BTR-40 and the BTR-152.

These two complimentary vehicles were simply armoured trucks. Open roofed, all wheel drive the BTR-40 was an armoured GAZ-63 4x4 truck and the BTR-152 was an armoured ZIL-157 truck. Not even the Soviet Union hung onto those prehistoric bangers so if the ancient BTRs did get taken out of storage they’d have had very little in the way of spares support, making them useless.

It appears in typical Soviet bloody-mindedness this had been a consideration in truck design. It makes you wonder what a guy putting together a new truck thought when he read through the regs that demanded any future truck chassis must fit under those ancient APCs.
However, it seems to be the case. The BTR-40 will fit over the modern GAZ-3309 and the BTR-152 fits over the ZIL-131.
Modern Russian truck designers must be a far happier breed.
So, what does this mean?
Well, it depends on your campaign and how much you want to bother with this stuff. But here’s my stats for an out-of-the-depot BTR-40M and a BTR-152VM

BTR-40 (Original Vehicle)
Mass 5.3 tonnes
Crew 2 + 8 passengers (2+6 for the roofed BTR-40V)
Armour 6-8 mm
Main armament 7.62 SGMB MMG (1,250 rounds (total)) (optional)
Secondary armament 2×7.62 SGMB MMG (1,250 rounds (total)) (optional)
Engine 6-cylinder GAZ-40
80 hp (60 kW) at 3,400 rpm
Power/weight 15.1 hp/tonne (11.3 kW/tonne)
Suspension 4x4 wheel, leaf spring
Ground clearance 400 mm
Fuel capacity 122 L
Operational range 430 km (road) 385 km (cross country)
Maximum speed 80 km/h

BTR-40M (Twilight 2000 Vehicle)
Mass 4.0 tonnes (1.3 tonnes lighter)
Crew 2 + 8 passengers (2+6 for the roofed BTR-40V)
Armour 6-8 mm
Main armament 7.62mm PKM GPMG (1,250 rounds (total)) (optional)
Secondary armament 2×7.62mm PKM GPMG (1,250 rounds (total)) (optional)
Engine V8 gasoline (carburetor) ZIL-130
150 hp (111.8 kW) at 3,400 rpm
Power/weight 37.5 hp/tonne (27.9 kW/tonne)
Suspension 4x4 wheel, semi-elliptical springs
Ground clearance 400 mm
Fuel capacity 2x173.1 L
Operational range 1000 km (road) 800 km (cross country)
Maximum speed 95 km/h
And like the new BTR-152VM it gets power steering.

BTR-152V (Original Vehicle)
Mass 10.2 tonnes
Armour welded steel 15 mm front, 9 mm sides and rear, 10 mm roof(if present), 4 mm bottom
Main armament 7.62mm SGMB MMG (1,250 rounds) or 12.7mm DShK 1938/46 HMG (500 rounds)
Secondary armament 2×7.62mm SGMB MMG (1,250–1,750 rounds) on side pintle mounts (optional)
Engine ZIL-137K 6-cylinder in-line petrol, 107 hp (80 kW)
Power/weight 10.8 hp/tonne (8.1 kW/tonne)
Suspension wheeled 6×6 leaf spring
Ground clearance 300 mm
Fuel capacity 300 L
Operational range 650 km
Maximum speed 65 km/h

BTR-152VM (Twilight 2000 Vehicle)
Mass 9.91 tonnes
Armour welded steel 15 mm front, 9 mm sides and rear, 10 mm roof(if present), 4 mm bottom
Main armament 7.62mm PKM GPMG (1,250 rounds) or 12.7mm NSV HMG (500 rounds)
Secondary armament 2×7.62mm PKM GPMG (1,250–1,750 rounds) on side pintle mounts (optional)
Engine ZIL-137K 6-cylinder in-line petrol, 123 hp (92 kW)
Power/weight 12.4 hp/tonne (9.3 kW/tonne)
Suspension wheeled 6×6 leaf spring
Ground clearance 300 mm
Fuel capacity 105 L x2
Operational range 795 km
Maximum speed 80 km/h

Note that as far as I know none of these conversions have ever been done so this is all rough calculation on the difference between the base trucks and the modern trucks.
These things of course are pretty much useless as APCs but they make very good trucks for hauling crap, being a tad more survivable than base truck and giving protection to the cargo unlike up-armoured modern cargo haulers. Slat armour and applique armour are possible but probably useless, especially for the BTR-40 which doesn’t have the base armour to survive an even diffused jet from a tiny HEAT warhead. You pay for this by they being an utter bear to load, unload and secure your gear.

[ChalkLine]

Dug-In Tanks.

Not the field expedient positions, but rather tanks emplaced permanently.
Probably a common encounter in the Twilight War's latter stages, dug-in tank emplacements can be used to dominate a sector. However forgoing mobility for whatever reason, usually because the vehicle has lost whatever mobility it had, means that several steps have to be taken to ensure its combat effectiveness.

Firstly, siting the vehicle needs careful thought and consideration of not just the surrounding terrain but also of the local area where artillery may set up to engage the emplacement. This has to be balanced with the problem of getting the vehicle to the site, it's not easy to drag a 68 ton monster into a swamp for instance.

Secondly, the vehicle needs extra protection. Firstly this is done by terrain, ensuring the vehicle can only approached from one direction and orientating the hull towards it. Secondly add-on armour is established with overhead protection often emplaced for smaller vehicles and applique armour and stand off armour for larger vehicles. Burster layers should be emplaced in the terrain around the buried hull to break up long rod penetrators. Slat armour might be attached to the turret and even armour plates attached frontally with a counterweight on the rear of the turret.

If the emplacement is just a turret on top of a bunker then it can take any shape from the small to the very large. An abandoned hull, nearly always with the engine, transmission, suspension and running gear removed, can use the vacant engine bay as not only a protected shelter but also this can be opened up to provide access to the turret. This can also be the route that connects the turret to the rest of the fortification works.

These emplacements are usually not isolated, an infantry detachment with some sort of limited mobility is needed to cover it and stop the position being engaged from multiple directions simultaneously. Infantry shelters and fighting positions hardened against artillery should cover the flanks and rear. Telephone wire should be buried at least a metre below the ground between all positions.

The mobile reserve should be used to develop flanking counter attacks in conjunction with organic and higher echelon artillery.

Dealing with this sort of position can call on more than just skills for players, it takes clear tactical thinking and a weighing of assets against results. it can be a hard, wheeling fight just to get into a position to launch an ATGM against the site (a Cold War estimate was that the maximum engagement range in Poland would be 1,300m in Poland, even less in Germany and basically point blank in places like the Fulda area).

If the position has to be abandoned usually the emplaced turret will be destroyed. The most common way of doing this without explosives it to, after an emergency strip of systems, drain the recuperator fluid and remote fire the gun, demolishing the recoil system and the cannon trunnions and making it a write-off.

These positions work well as barrier guards and were commonly used by the USSR to cover river crossings.

[swaghauler]

Other very important attachments for tractors include

Moldboard or Ripper Plows: These are used for turning fields. These are described by the number of plow blades they have and those plow blades are called "bottoms." So a "four bottom plow" will have four blades and plow 4 furrows in a single pass. If the plow is pulled by a tractor, there is a general rule of thumb that you need 20 horsepower per bottom on a modern plow. Amish mechanically articulated plows normally require 1 draft horse per bottom. The largest plow I've ever seen is a 12-bottom plow. It required 250 horsepower and 4 wheel drive to plow with.

Diskers: These are plows designed to cut furrows into FINE particulate dirt (like sand). They are described just like the plows above according to the number of "bottoms" they can plow in a single pass. The rule of thumb is 10 horsepower per bottom on diskers.

Hay Rakes: These spinning wheel-type implements will gather hay into long rows so you can bale it. They require 25 horsepower to work efficiently.

Threshers: An Amish mechanical implement that cuts a 4 to 6 foot swath of hay or grass in a single pass. Powered by one horse, this system just drops the hay where you cut it without gathering it into a long line.

Round and Square Balers: These machines take a variable amount of horsepower based on the machine. On average, you will need...
70-pound square bale = 30 horsepower
140-pound square bale = 50 horsepower
600-pound round bale = 75 horsepower
1200-pound round bale = 100 horsepower

Combines: While these can be purchased as "stand-alone machines," they can also be bought as attachments. Their horsepower requirements are the same as the Balers above. Most towed combines will NOT separate the crop from the chaff (most self-contained combines WILL separate edibles from waste chaff AND dump said chaff back on the field as mulched waste for "seasoning" the field for its next planting).

Claw Buckets & Hoes: By giving these devices a "claw" or "thumb" (for hoes), you greatly expand what can be picked up from pipe to logs to brush. Horsepower requirements vary with the size of the bucket (in yards) and you will need a TRIPLE HYDRAULIC connection.

Brush Hogs: These specialized heavy-duty cutting blades can be used to clear undergrowth and even cut down small trees. Its cousin the articulated saw can cut down trees or buck (delimb) timber. Horsepower varies with size. Hydraulically run versions require a DUAL HYDRAULIC system.

Sprayer Attachment: This towed rig can be used to spray pesticides, lay out nitrogen fertilizer, or even for decontamination of surfaces. Small sprayers will require about 20 horsepower.

Every attachment here has a horse-drawn counterpart used by homesteaders and the Amish to farm with. There are also tractor-drawn Mechanical Implements (the term for Implements powered by their own movement).

[ChalkLine]

Warsawa.

Some time back I was getting a Ruins of Warsaw play-by-post off the ground before my health suddenly deteriorated. As that game will probably never be run as it looks like I'm not getting better I thought I might share my campaign ideas with you.

In this re-imagining the setting reflected modern conflicts more than the set piece marauder force fight in the book. I actually like the original but the aim for my game was different, the players would have to navigate the shifting loyalties of the factions and aid the leaders to maintain their forces and hold the enemy off. In the battle the real enemy was winter, if the 'good side' can maintain its food stocks until the onset of winter the other side will collapse.
The problem is that rather than some cartoonish 'Black Baron' the enemy was a shifting coalition of bandit forces all representing themselves as freedom fighters. In some cases they probably even believed it to be true. They had shifting names that translated to things such as “The Polish Democratic Army” or “The Masurian Independence Movement” that split and combined much like in The Spanish Civil War. Of course, deep down they were robbers, murderers and thugs who used violence and terror to achieve their aims.

As such the urban "Rattenkireg" was supplemented by constant attempts to woo troops and settlements from one side to the other. If the player's side lost too many settlements either through military action or desertion they were doomed.

The overwhelming problem here is "The Prisoner's Dilemma". Simply put, this is a case where you have to decide if you can trust others not to betray you first. If a settlement with all its petty human jealousies, resentments and fears starts to think that the settlement over the river is going over to the other side to combine against them then they start to think they'd better do it first. Even though they knew the enemy was frankly evil the worry is do you risk your people fighting a losing battle or join the winning side, keep your heads down and hope you come out all right? Especially when it’s shown the enemy has absolutely no mercy for those who oppose them (the opening scene was them shooting women and children who were fleeing).

The campaign was going to be much larger. For some reason the original setting was set smack-bang right in the centre of the three nuclear strikes. In this game the settlements were larger with a larger area of no-man's land between them. Warsawa is an amazing city with some fascinating and varied areas and I wanted to take advantage of them such as the old 19th century fortifications, the river itself, the vital few remaining bridges.

The world was going to transformed, not just by the horrific nuclear strikes but primarily by the long Siege of Warsaw that receded it. The groundwater was not safe to drink and standing water had to be avoided as it was still contaminated by the extensive use of chemical weapons, these weapons being ideally suited for sieges. The terrain was a mix of The Battle of Stalingrad and The Battle of Berlin and these two battles were going to be borrowed from heavily for ideas. For instance I was going to have The Warsaw Metro expanded before the war and considerable fighting was going to down there in its dry, semi-flooded and flooded sections. Some of these sections were struck by bunker-busting munitions.

Koronev's 10th Guards were a wild card. Riffing on GDW’s description I had them as ultra-idealistic deserters such as the men of the Kronstadt Rebellion in 1917. Still communist, they were firmly convinced they were going back to make a non-Leninist Svoiet Russia (there were all probably going to get killed). One groups was going to be a women’s detachment that the friendly Russians would tell the players not to approach them; “Don’t go over there tovaritchse, that is the where the girls are camped and they are, shall we say, a bit politically enthusiastic”. However they were going to be fanatical fighters.

The Russians had the same problem the players and the other nationalities had; the Poles loathed them. While the Poles have always hated Russians, no matter how well disposed the Warsovians were to the West before the war they’ve been shelled, gassed and nuked by those they thought were coming to their aid and now the Poles in Warsawa have a visceral hatred of them. This hatred extended to every non-Pole, the Poles just want everyone out of Poland and for them to stay out. Weirdly enough given historical animosity, it’s well known in Warsawa that the Germans never wanted to enter Poland and only did so under extreme pressure, they’re tolerated the best of the NATO crowd. Similarly the other Warsaw Pact troops are also tolerated better/ The primary goal of the entire game was to win the trust of these understandably bitter people. This was to start with them intervening in a massacre and develop as the suspicious Poles overcame their dislike.

There was to be a gaggle of forlorn, lost non-Russian Warsaw Pact elements in among the defenders. Some examples were the always cheerful Hungarians who would come up with wildly improbably ideas on how to get home (“let’s build a dirigible!”) as a way of keeping their morale up. The East German sniper team who forlornly knew they could never go home as they were traitors to their homeland. The squabbling Yugoslavians (in my campaign Yugoslavia doesn’t entirely fragment and the Soviets have some units of them and their unique kit) who instantly close ranks any time any of them are threatened and a few others.

Anyway, that’s what was in the cards. It was a big campaign with no set ending or course, it was going to be largely left up to the players.

10th Guards Equipment

245 troops
6 SA-7/16/18 MANPAD
3 RPG-7V
3 BTR-80
12 UAZ-469
9 GAZ-66
1 URAL (Command Van)
1 ZIL-131 (Maintenance Truck)
4 KRaZ/Ural truck
12 Ural (Command)
2 UAZ-452 Bukhanka Van
1 POL Truck
1 UAZ-452A Bukhanka Ambulance
2 GAZ-24-10 "Volga" Sedan
1 POL Trailer
4 2-axle cargo Trailer
1 1-axle generator Trailer
2 2-axle generator Trailer
1 water Trailer
3 Field Kitchen - Trailer

[ChalkLine]

Wieger StG-940

Military History Not Visualised has put out a video on a gun I never knew about, the Wieger StG-940.
This was made in East Germany for foreign sales but the also use by the special forces (and the loathed Stasi).
It's an AK-74 melded with a Galil and came in 5.45x39mm and 5.56x45mm.
They were built in their tens of thousands, but about that little is known as it was a secret project as the DDR was "a peaceful country" 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieger_StG-940

Here's the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2n4m-UxPSk

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Wieger_941.jpg/1920px-Wieger_941.jpg

[swaghauler]

Small Emplacement Excavator

As you've probably noticed by my posts my players usually don't get far before they bog down due to logistics and this usually means some sort of defensive site.

Now, having the players stand forlornly there with a spade and a mattock off the humvee is humorous at first but if you're serious about getting some dirt between you and the incoming supersonics you need machinery.

Here the US Army and the Bundeswehr offers the following:

The Small Emplacement Excavator is a Unimog truck turned into a suspiciously effective front-end loader. Also known as the Unimog 419 (the big engine 'Mog 406 series or the "U-1300L" from Paul Mulcahy's website) but assuming that it only has its external load available. This isn't strictly true, it has its normal cargo bed which you can dump stuff in but its normal load weight is used up by the digging equipment limiting that greatly.

The digging gear can be removed in one period and stored, only using up 750kg of its 2,250kg load with the attachments and making it an awesome truck again. You can even use the digging arm as a light crane by slinging a chain off the knuckle.

Honestly, there's so much to love about 'Mogs although they have been known to roll over.

Price: $7,500 S/- (the WarPact have their own versions)
http://www.military-today.com/engineering/see.htm
http://www.pmulcahy.com/light_uv/german_luv.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unimog#Variants

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/176187354_10158948269710874_2604529818492892346_n. jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=dx1RMdKkRvUAX-dEn_r&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=c958b7fda2a9bf6f31e045dc10f277c2&oe=6142516C

https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/179181960_10158948269760874_6219078610241745945_n. jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=WOkgrksdcPMAX-JDlCz&_nc_ht=scontent.fbne6-1.fna&oh=d3aeb0239ac78131017509ceca46df24&oe=614361AB

Unimogs are standard issue for ALL US petroleum [logistics] units and are used to emplace the FFSSP (Forward Fuel System Supply Point) or "lego petroleum" as we called it (a system of easily emplaced rubber hosing, pumps, and rubber fuel bladders up to 500k gallons in size). Unimogs dig the ditches that hold the rubber hoses which run from the fuel bladders to the pumping station. Move palletized pumps and fuel bladders and build fighting positions to protect the FFSSP. The 475th Quartermaster Unit in Meadville PA had 8 Unimogs in their TO&E. The Unimogs can also attach grapples (for hauling pipe for the Theater Petroleum Supply System's aluminum 20-foot pipe sections) or put on fully articulated forks. In addition to the articulated forks, fixed fork extensions can attach to the bottom of the bucket while the bucket is still attached. They aren't as "nimble" as articulated forks, but they allow you to pick up small loads without removing the bucket. The Unimog comes with a Triple Hydraulic attachment system to expand the number of possible attachments. The bucket/grapple/forks can be taken off in 5 minutes (the one period time is to remove the hydraulically operated arms or the entire backhoe, not just a bucket). The bed is a tilt-bed on US models and can be locked out when the hoe is mounted. With the hoe removed, you now have a dump trailer/bed holding 2 cubic yards of material.

[karannsharmaa2]

I always liked how The Morrow Project bit the bullet and created vehicle's load-outs for their vehicles. I get the sneaking feeling that the standard Twilight 2000 'all the stuff on the vehicles has been lost' was just a cop-out.

[kato13]

I always liked how The Morrow Project bit the bullet and created vehicle's load-outs for their vehicles. I get the sneaking feeling that the standard Twilight 2000 'all the stuff on the vehicles has been lost' was just a cop-out.

Sneaky sneaky spammer

https://forum.juhlin.com/showpost.php?p=88681&postcount=8

They take an older post and copy it to make it look like it belongs. Then later they alter their sig and profile to add links (cross links used to be really important to google rankings)

Saw the poster register from Pakistan (know spammer source) but for a second I thought we might actually have a user from there. :(

[ChalkLine]

A note for gamers.

The load weight given for trucks are the loads allowable for good sealed roads.
Usually an off-road truck can carry nowhere near what it is capable of carrying on a modern road. The standard formula is:

Truck Off-Road Load Limit
Maximum Load: (0.7 x Road Load Limit)

Thus a 5,000kg truck is only capable of shifting 3,500kg off-road. Even then you are making your tasks harder, I think anything over half that weight should increase tasks by one level and also increase risks by a level by which I mean obstructions or obstacles that wouldn't bother a lightly-laden truck suddenly become a problem.

Note that is applies to High Mobility trucks, normal road trucks probably can't take any load off-road and probably can't take themselves off-road. Their suspension is set up wrong, they don't have the ground clearance or ramp break-over clearance.

A little side note, usually we all like to get a winch on game trucks. Really, these aren't always a good idea. A PTO winch really needs to be set low or it simply lifts a load rather than drags it and this means you lose ground clearance. It's up to the individual player or GM if they want to role play that out.

[ChalkLine]

What happens to the Polish Non-Combatants?

In previous posts I've discussed how the Polish People's Party subscribed to the 'people's war' concept so the 'civilians' you see in the standard Twilight 2000 setting really aren't a thing, instead they are either in the disaster relief services or TKO. Essential workers if displaced from their workplaces either join these organisations or are moved away with their industries if possible (more on that below).

This asks the question: what happens to those people who aren't in those categories?

Well, first off, who are we talking about; children, the elderly and their carers are the main group.

These people were in the case of an invasion to be evacuated immediately beyond the Vistula Line, the official WTO red line for nuclear warfare. From what little I've read in the sources they were to be evacuated along the three major rail links, two through the Baltic states and one through Ukraine. Transit camps were to be erected by the OP outside the 'military radius' of these transit hubs. While the idea of this radius is obvious; they were not in danger of being struck by strategic strikes against these hubs, the actual radii weren't given or what the perceived threat was. Perhaps they had a few pre-planned areas depending on how far the war had progressed towards the nuclear stage but really I'm just guessing. Poland, being a communist state, had a plan for everything and school and state busses seem to be the primary method of mobility.

On a simple materiel in/refugee out system the people move through the transit hubs, along the rail lines and out to other states. Now as I only read the CIA Polish civil defence briefings I don't know where they go or what happens when they get there. It's my guess large camps are built by the civil defence of the host states and eastern bloc international support systems were worked out. I'm guessing these camps wouldn't be that far from Poland, probably still within the transit states but really they could be anywhere.

Of course, this is a best case scenario. As we all know those hubs were primary targets. The Poles, not being idiots, had decided on alternate land routes for the above-mentioned busses off the main supply routes. You can only guess what that trip would be like. Of course there'd have to be a fleet of logistics vehicles accompanying them and I'm guessing they'd be sourced from state government but non-combat fleets. No doubt these would get a brisk green paint job and be sent straight back into the war.

Now, the essential workers are really two types and they are simply those who can be relocated and those who can't. This isn't covered in any cursory search of courses but I'm guessing that as the fighting intensified after the initial WTO counter-thrust they'd be pulling up every military factory possible and shipping it as far away from the strike aircraft. GMs can use this hypothetical scenario for two sources; Poles returning home from factories and continued usage of the nifty Polish military equipment.

[Olefin]

A Third Echelon Campaign

In most games the players get the gee-whiz stuff at the very start and it slowly degrades during the game. Little by little, they start to pick up AKMs for the ammo, shoot off their 40mms and so on.

But in this style campaign the players starts off with real last-ditch stuff, not even Vietnam-era body armour. 1950s webbing, old style uniforms, weapons two generations out of date and so on. A hardcore GM will make their equipment and weaponry actually a severe disadvantage so the players have a strong incentive to scrounge, loot and cobble together more modern gear that’s more effective. The vehicles are clapped out old horrors that should really be in the back lot of a museum awaiting restoration. Even horses should be scruffy old nags. Worse, it could be cheap repurposed civilian gear that rapidly falls to bits.

The main challenge in this is letting the players get access to their own side’s equipment. Unless you want them indistinguishable from the enemy in a short spate of time you need to let them find out where stuff they can use is. It also really kicks up the trading aspect of the game.

This by definition is a lean campaign. I’m usually of the opinion that the enemy simply don’t engage if possible if they're down to their last magazine because really by then you’re combat ineffective, but in this style game everyone is short of everything and the players should not be able to pick up four magazines off a fallen enemy. Usually loot should be in the order or a dozen rounds, and I’d bump the combat difficulties up so there’s a lot more shots per hit than there is now (T2K, and all modern games, makes it far too easy to hit in a firefight).

How about playing Soviet characters from one of the mobilization divisions then that were basically equipped with WWII/Korean War era equipment - i.e. old T-34/85's for tanks, WWII rifles and submachine guns, etc.. - given how the Soviets basically never threw anything away that would be a great way to introduce something like what you described above

Love to see the PPSh-41 and PPS-43 as part of their equipment

[Raellus]

What happens to the Polish Non-Combatants?

In previous posts I've discussed how the Polish People's Party subscribed to the 'people's war' concept so the 'civilians' you see in the standard Twilight 2000 setting really aren't a thing, instead they are either in the disaster relief services or TKO. Essential workers if displaced from their workplaces either join these organisations or are moved away with their industries if possible (more on that below).

Interesting musings, as always, Chalkline.

I imagine those plans would fall apart relatively quickly. Many wartime exigencies would interfere with any large scale civilian evac- the use of roads by friendly military units (either heading to or from the front), enemy interdiction by means of airstrikes, long-range artillery, battlefield tactical missiles (with conventional warheads, initially), and or area denial munitions.

Also, I reckon it's likely that resources allocated for evacuations, on paper, would be quickly redirected to service military needs once war breaks out- especially if it doesn't start off so well for the Polish army. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Lastly, when enemy attackers advance more quickly than expected, the resulting disruption, even carnage, can be severe. This happened to German civilians on both fronts in the final months of WW2. In East Prussia, especially, there are scores of documented reports of T34s machinegunning and even running over columns of civilian evacuees, and Soviet artillery mercilessly shelling same. Sometimes, the identity of the evacuees was unknown to the attacking force- the Germans used the same trains to move troops and civilians back and forth between the front and rear areas- but others it was abundantly clear. This was payback for the way the rampant German military treated civilians in Soviet territory (although this does not justify Soviet vengeance measures, it does explain why they were so callous and widespread).

Lastly, in a country the size of Poland, there's only so many places displaced civilians can go, and really no place that is not within reach of the enemy.

-

[ChalkLine]

How about playing Soviet characters from one of the mobilization divisions then that were basically equipped with WWII/Korean War era equipment - i.e. old T-34/85's for tanks, WWII rifles and submachine guns, etc.. - given how the Soviets basically never threw anything away that would be a great way to introduce something like what you described above

Love to see the PPSh-41 and PPS-43 as part of their equipment

I think that would be a lot of fun. If the GM is careful then he can make modern equipment 'treasure' so the players should be up against essentially militia.

[ChalkLine]

Interesting musings, as always, Chalkline.

I imagine those plans would fall apart relatively quickly. Many wartime exigencies would interfere with any large scale civilian evac- the use of roads by friendly military units (either heading to or from the front), enemy interdiction by means of airstrikes, long-range artillery, battlefield tactical missiles (with conventional warheads, initially), and or area denial munitions.

Also, I reckon it's likely that resources allocated for evacuations, on paper, would be quickly redirected to service military needs once war breaks out- especially if it doesn't start off so well for the Polish army. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Lastly, when enemy attackers advance more quickly than expected, the resulting disruption, even carnage, can be severe. This happened to German civilians on both fronts in the final months of WW2. In East Prussia, especially, there are scores of documented reports of T34s machinegunning and even running over columns of civilian evacuees, and Soviet artillery mercilessly shelling same. Sometimes, the identity of the evacuees was unknown to the attacking force- the Germans used the same trains to move troops and civilians back and forth between the front and rear areas- but others it was abundantly clear. This was payback for the way the rampant German military treated civilians in Soviet territory (although this does not justify Soviet vengeance measures, it does explain why they were so callous and widespread).

Lastly, in a country the size of Poland, there's only so many places displaced civilians can go, and really no place that is not within reach of the enemy.

-

Really, it was never going to work as you said as modern warfare is just too fast. As we've seen with recent conflicts it's really hard to tell apart a civilian convoy escaping or some logistical element removing vital infrastructure. It should be remembered that due to the hostile climate in winter Russian troops move in buses or van-trucks that are difficult to tell apart from civilian elements. There was no satellites, tasking is very much on a "I just saw it, should I shoot it? By the way, everyone's shooting at me so make it quick" situation.

This does give the GM a good way of depopulating areas if they don't want the players inadvertently shooting civilians and the upset this causes. In my games an encounter roll doesn't show you the enemy it just shows the presence of the enemy. I've had whole firefights with players just shooting at muzzle flashes and the enemy doing the same. In situations like this the GM might not want the guy on the Mk19 encountering furtive civvies in the bushes unless he's going for hard pathos.

Those camps should be found on occasion abandoned, reoccupied by some group or even never able to move and simply stranded. I think the civilian element and their role in the game is really underexamined. My players hated the 12th Dresdens in Krakow before they even met them because they encountered the starving refugees they'd excluded from the city as 'unwanted mouths' in camps outside the perimeter.

[ChalkLine]

Soviet Explosive Reactive Armour of the Cold War

This is an overview. As there's now four standard Twilight 2000 systems and a myriad of conversions I'm putting this up so GMs can think about how Soviet ERA is represented in their games rather than giving rules values.

Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) is now well known but when the last of the GDW Twilight 2000 games were written it was just assumed to be exactly like the Israeli "Blazer" ERA. However the Soviet ERA was fundamentally more effective than NATO believed at the time.

During The Cold War the Western view was that Soviet ERA was a desperate attempt to provide some sort of protection for their comparatively lighter and less armoured MBTs. This was later found to be totally wrong and the ERA packages where the foundation of MBT armour survival systems. In game terms you will not see any vehicle with over 30mm of base amour in the Warsaw pact without ERA and this goes for legacy vehicles dragged out of depots. Yes, you might see a T-34/85 festooned in Kontakt-1.

Once the true nature of WTO ERA packages is understood you can bet your favourite boots that NATO will reverse engineer them. ERA kits for all sorts of WTO ERA will be developed for NATO MBTs. Whether indigenous NATO ERA packages gets to the troops or NATO relies on captured munitions is up to the GM. Other-than-Europe campaigns might have surprises for players when an MBT trundles into view clad in WTO-style ERA.

During the pre-2000 period the following Soviet ERA was available:

4C20 Kontakt-1
4C22 Kontakt-5
4C23 Kaktus (prototype)

Kontakt-1
4C20 Kontakt-1 was implemented in 1985 and was an interim solution to get ERA onto vehicles before the more mature Kontakt-5 could be implemented. Oddly enough this ERA has soldiered on for really no good reason even after it was superseded in 1989. Vast amounts of this ERA have been manufactured and this may have been because of the late Cold War tensions an urgent need for ERA was felt. As such buckets of this stuff is still around even after being liberally sold off at bargain basement rates.

Each unit of munition is 5.3kg and an entire MBT can have its ERA package installed in two hours by its three man crew. On average the ERA package for an MBT would weigh 1,200kg. Any MBT equipped with Kontakt-1 is a "B Variant". This stuff is enormously resilient, burnt-out MBTs with their entire hull armour destroyed by fire have been seen with their Kontakt-1 packages unharmed.
Due to the dynamics of the Kontakt-1 package the blocks must be installed at a 68º angle. This means that nearly all vehicles require a special underframe to support it and not a bunch of lugs as listed in the rules (a hold over from the early Blazer mounts).

Because Kontakt-1 is so stable it has nearly no effect on kinetic energy rounds, the reason for it being rapidly superseded. The Soviets intended their ERA to work against KE rounds from the very inception of the program and this is why Kontakt-1 can only be considered an interim solution.

Against HEAT Kontakt-1 is very effective.
- 9M113 Konkurs = 86% reduction (MILAN 2 equivalent)
- M72 LAW = 92% reduction
- 9K112 Kobra (125mm) = 58% reduction

For armour reduction Kontakt-5 has an average penetration reduction of 60% for a single-warhead HEAT round

Kontakt-5
4C22 Kontakt-5 is the main level of defence you will see on Cold War MBTs of the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union was very aware that the Nazi German's stinginess in helping their Axis allies equip with modern equipment was one of the factors in their defeat and had plans to equip every MBT in the WTO with this armour package. Kontakt-5 really is the standard for Cold War ERA and was designed to be fielded with a slat armour package covering the rear third of the MBT as had been developed during their Afghanistan experience. The proliferation of NATO 120mm guns hastened the introduction of this munition.
Kontakt-5 was an adjustment to the sensitivity of the installation. It was designed to be immune to strikes of 30mm autocannon yet activate against anything heavier.

Kontakt-5 is heavier than Kontakt-1 and the mass of an MBT's armour package is around 2,000kg. Individual "Dynamic Elements" (blocks) weigh 10.35 kg.

For armour reduction Kontakt-5 has an average penetration reduction of 60% for a single-warhead HEAT round and 20% for a KE round. This values vary as seen with the Kontakt-1 values above. Here is an excerpt of a NATO study from 2007:

Jane's International Defense Review 7/2007, pg. 15:

"IMPENETRABLE RUSSIAN TANK ARMOR STANDS UP TO EXAMINATION"

By Richard M. Ogorkiewicz

Claims by NATO testers in the 1990s that the armor of Soviet Cold War tanks was “effectively impenetrable” have been supported by comments made following similar tests in the US.

Speaking at a conference on “The Future of Armored Warfare” in London on the 30th May, IDR's Pentagon correspondent Leland Ness explained that US Army tests involving firing trials on 25 T-72A1 and 12 T-72B1 tanks (each fitted with Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor [ERA]) had confirmed NATO tests done on other former Soviet tanks left behind in Germany after the end of the Cold War. The tests showed that the ERA and composite Armor of the T-72s was incredibly resilient to 1980s NATO anti-tank weapons.

In contrast to the original, or 'light', type of ERA which is effective only against shaped charge jets, the 'heavy' Kontakt-5 ERA is also effective against the long-rod penetrators of APFSDS tank gun projectiles, anti-tank missiles , and anti-armor rotary cannons. Explosive reactive armor was valued by the Soviet Union and its now-independent component states since the 1970s, and almost every tank in the eastern-European military inventory today has either been manufactured to use ERA or had ERA tiles added to it, including even the T-55 and T-62 tanks built forty to fifty years ago, but still used today by reserve units.

The combined protection of the standard armor and the ERA gives the Tanks a level of protection equal to our own. The myth of Soviet inferiority in this sector of arms production that has been perpetuated by the failure of downgraded T-72 export tanks in the Gulf Wars has, finally, been laid to rest. The results of these tests show that if a NATO / Warsaw Pact confrontation had erupted in Europe, the Soviets would have had parity (or perhaps even superiority) in armor ”- US Army Spokesperson at the show."

Kaktus
4C23 Kaktus is the Dissolution Period prototype that led to Relikt ERA, the most modern Russian ERA apart from the little-seen Malakit on the T-14 series. It is not impossible that Relikt was finished if you use a non-standard no-dissolution campaign as it was brought into service in 2006. As such Kaktus was certainly available but issued on a very small scale as it was preferred to wait for Relikt, a Twilight 2000 war would probably change that.

Kaktus has a unique characteristic. Prior to Kaktus all high-efficiency ERA required heavy MBT armour behind it to not only survive the remaining penetrative HEAT jet but also to absorb the shockwave of the ERA itself. Kaktus however can be mounted on light vehicles and the up-armoured versions of the BMP were the primary beneficiary of this ERA. The BMP-3B comes standard with this package. Generally you need at least 20mm of RHA equivalent (don't forget Soviet 550BNA HHA is equivalent to 1.3 times standard RHA) to support this ERA package ruling out the flimsier vehicles such as the poor old PT-76.

Kaktus can be attached at any angle to the vehicle.
The size of the blocks varies so I would simply use Kontakt-5 as a base (10.35kg). As this stuff can go on any vehicle a rough estimate is 2,000kg for an MBT and 1,100kg for a smaller APC/IFV. As usual this includes the slat armour package for the rear third of the vehicle.

It is an extremely effective ERA and is claimed by NII Stali to be 1.9 to 2.0 times the effectiveness of Konatkt-5. For armour reduction Kontakt-5 has an average penetration reduction of 90% for a single-warhead HEAT round and 40% for a KE round.

[ChalkLine]

(because I think I'm funny. Here's something to bring back those 'good memories')

"Cosmoline" MIL-SPEC Grease (MIL-C-11796C, Class 3)
1.0L Can (1 quart) 0.9kg, $4 V/V
3.8L Can (1 gallon) 3.2kg, $9 V/V
7.6L Can (2 gallons) 6.4kg $16 V/V
11.4L Can (3 gallons) 9.5kg $23 V/V
19.0L Pail (5 gallons)15.9kg $26 V/V
205.0L Drum (54 gallons) 181.4kg $200 V/V

[ChalkLine]

Soviet/Russian Vehicle Thermographic Sights

It's well known the Soviets preferred to sink R&D into light intensification rather than thermographic sights before the dissolution of the USSR. The main reason was the resolution of the Gen-1 thermographs; out past a certain range the target appeared as a blob and couldn't be clearly identified and the risk of blue-on-blue was too high for a widely deployed vision system. In this regard Soviet thermographs were slightly inferior in resolution to western variants.

However they did actually mass produce and deploy a system, and this was the Agava-2 Gen-1 thermographic on the command variant of the T-80, the T-80UK, first appearing in 1992 after the dissolution.

What's not widely known is they had a Gen-2 variant, the Agava-M1, ready for widespread fielding in 1995 for general retrofitting. Unlike what you'd expect this had nothing to do with the French systems they were looking at but an in-house model developed from the earlier Agava-2.

However the breakup of the federation and the collapse of the economy meant like so many nascent systems this project was shelved due to being sourced from countries now outside Russia. Once the technology was secured the project was continued on shoestring budget and resurfaced as a retrofit in 2016.

Depending on your backstory this means that Soviet thermographs might now be available for a variety of vehicles, but probably not in any uniform fashion. The first vehicles would be the T-80UKs getting updated and their old Agava-2s bolted onto other vehicles.
Like all thermal sights it's a fairly evident installation being an armoured drum on the top left of the turret possibly allowing players to realise something's up with the vehicle. Small vehicles such as the BMP-1 to -2s, BTRs and BRDM-2s would need them mounted on the hull or a new armoured bulge mounts on the turret top.

[ChalkLine]

Government and Law in the Polish People's Republic during the Twilight War

(This is uses the 1st edition timeline rather than the ludicrous 2.2 edition where Germany invades Poland. Again. If you have any doubts about the likelihood of this just ask a German for their opinion of it.
I've covered some of this in prior posts.)

A fundamental paradox of the Eastern Bloc was that even when the USSR began to institute limited reforms the Soviet buffer-states tended to remain rigidly authoritarian due to their unpopular governments. This is an important factor in the makeup of the Polish state during the war.
When the NATO troops cross the Polish frontier the The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) or PRL, immediately went over to war footing. Martial law was decreed and the system of Wojna Ludowa, or "People's War' was introduced.

People's War is critical to understanding Twilight 2000 Poland.
Under the Wojna Ludowa concept every single citizen works together to repel the invader. The concept of "civilian" disappears and is replaced with either "combatant' or "supporting non-combatant". All personal projects and the tiny Polish private sector is immediately halted and the full weight of the communist state is thrown at the enemy. Any reference to "civilian" in the rules regarding Poland should be ignored, they make no sense unless the individual is 'trapped' behind NATO lines and then they legally under PRL law should attempt to pass through the lines to Polish-held areas to assist the war effort.

The PRL had universal conscription pre-war and any male between 16 and 56 years old is either working in supporting industries or drafted back into the army. Any female between 16 and 56 was expected to take up the support tasks the draftees had to abandon to fight and later would become frontline troops in their own right. Every single non-combatant becomes a member of the OP-PRL or the OTK, the Polish Civil Defence and the Polish Territorial Army respectively. In the case of OTK duties these are off-hours duties such as guarding infrastructure or patrolling facilities and enforcing martial law. All non-combatants are expected to either evacuate the facility along with its infrastructure if the enemy threaten if at all possible and if not they are expected to fight to repel the enemy. Children and the elderly are evacuated to the USSR or the Baltic States if possible or as far east as can be achieved.

The ruling PRL political party, the PZPR, hands over power to the Wojskowa Rada, 'Military Council', or WR, and the civil authorities simply support the war effort. The Milicja Obywatelska, 'Citizen's Militia' (police force), or MO is not conscripted and their paramilitary wing the dreaded Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej, 'Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia', or ZOMO are used where military police action is required, usually against the PRL's own citizens although they can operate as light motorised infantry in their BTR-60s.

Martial law is onerous. A strict curfew operates between 0600 to 2200 and anyone violating curfew is immediately arrested. "Shooting on sight" is not a phenomenon, authoritarian states respond to crises by becoming even more legalistic if that is possible and instead offenders for any crime appear before military tribunals and are made an example of by long and demeaning trials. Censorship was of course already in place pre-war.

Unless the crime is active treason the usual punishment is harsh forced labour under heavy guard, which is given every licence to mistreat prisoners, while the offender is used as a propaganda exercise. Crimes that are particularly abhorred by the state are avoiding work, hoarding supplies, spreading enemy propaganda (defeatism is later added to this) and smuggling, all of which not only violate martial law but also offend communist ideology and thus incur extra approbation from the authorities. Smuggling is especially heavily policed and deterred as it is considered stealing from the state, the war effort and the people. Note that only East Germany allowed conscientious objectors in the Eastern Bloc, if you can fight and are ordered to you must.

As before the war any right to strike is forbidden and mandatory confiscation of war material is common.

Those convicted of actively aiding and abetting the enemy are stripped of their citizenship, executed by hanging and afterwards placards detailing their crimes are affixed to their publicly displayed bodies and at the place of their crimes. As the military situation deteriorates more capital crimes are added to the list depending on the locality, situation and attitude of the relevant authorities. In the case that too many abettors are captured, say in the case that a NATO canton is overrun and the Polish workers are recovered, then the captives are marched into the Polish hinterland, placed into camps and used for rubble-clearing, demining and UXO clearance while being subject to harsh treatment 'befitting traitors' and enduing re-education. Note that the re-education is undertaken by the civil authorities and their lack of restraint towards political criminals was well known. This system has a powerful deterrent effect.

The PRL steps up its denunciation state. This is a state in which citizens are encouraged to monitor each other and denounce any unpatriotic activity or even conversations. In some places the MO will simply write this off as harmless but in other, especially sensitive areas, the MO will be rigid in its behaviour towards such transgressions. Denunciation states invariably fall prey to civil axe-grinding where petty rivalries can played out by frivolously denouncing rivals. Oddly enough this useless 'noise' can make the secret police less effective as they have trouble discerning real security threats from the backbiting but it can be hell for unpopular community members as they're dragged into the police compound on frequent allegations.

As you can see this means the Poland the players see in the game will be very different than the one depicted in the books. The Poles will ferociously defend their country partly due to innate patriotism but also due to the severe nature of the PRL and its treatment of those who undermine the fight against the invader. Polish Free Legion personnel not only risk themselves but their families who will be arrested, detained, interrogated and probably sent to holding camps in the interim as hostages until the authorities can think of what to do with them. Family members in the army will probably be demoted as untrustworthy, they should have informed on their traitorous relatives in the state's eyes, and in all doubt sent to units where political control is pervasive and rigid.

[Homer]

Wow, that’s total national mobilization. With measures like those in place being the domestic norm, I wonder how the poles would view civilian populations in neighboring (western) states?

[ChalkLine]

Wow, that’s total national mobilization. With measures like those in place being the domestic norm, I wonder how the poles would view civilian populations in neighboring (western) states?

Well, the weird thing is most people don't realise how the Eastern Bloc and especially the Soviets saw The Cold War.

The Soviets saw the Cold War as essentially a tradition going back to the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War¹, on their side Western aggression never really stopped and the West simply used them to bleed out the Nazis in The Second World War. The Soviets had endured eight million dead and had demanded that Germany be demilitarised (like Austria) but instead the West re-armed them, a serious red line. This is largely due to the fact that for the entire Second World War the Nazis had been saying they'd make peace with the West and then combine with the USA and Britain to crush Bolshevism and as far as they could see this was exactly what was happening. So when the West created NATO it was the sum of all their fears; their view was that the West was going to crush them while they were weak after fighting the Nazis thus the Iron Curtain and the Warsaw Treaty Organisation (fun fact: they called NATO "The North Atlantic Pact" :) )

So this gives you an idea how they saw Western societies and their peoples as well as their readiness. In Communist perspectives the workers of the West were too fragmented to resist being mobilised for war so mobilisation would only occur on a cost basis but that the West, as usual being suspected of being uncaring of workers lives due to their belief in eternal class war, would use their troops right up the point it looked like the economies would suffer too much.

So in game terms you can expect communists to see the West as eternal enemies, always ready to invade and always trying to undermine their 'perfect system'. Soviet troops especially will be distrustful of British, German and US troops. This is odd because in GDW's game those are the only troops that see combat in Poland so T2K is a worst-case scenario for the Soviets.

¹In Britain's case the antagonism really goes back to the 1820s, something we called The Great Game and something they see as just some sort of weird Russophobia

[Homer]

Yep, if you’re sitting on the eastern side of the IGB, or the Oder, T2k looks very much like the west once more taking advantage of a situation to make a land grab/power grab.

Your description really does make Poland sound like a place where there is a “rifle behind every bush”. I don’t imagine the Germans would be seen as anything less than a implacable foe, and US, UK, Danish, and Canadian troops with them would be equally guilty by association.

Kind of makes me wonder how badly the Soviets (supposed allies) behaved to have some Poles and Polish towns become neutral or supportive of NATO troops.

[Ursus Maior]

The Polish people feared a new partition, yes, but they loathed the Soviet Union, because they saw the Soviet Army as one of occupation. And frankly, that's exactly what it was. The Soviet army was not there to defend Poland, but to create a buffer to secure the USSR. Everyone in the Warsaw Pact knew this, but only two-and-a-half countries made it out of the conundrum that was the Eastern Bloc's fear of being occupied by Soviet armed forces ad perpetuum.

Yugoslavia left the bloc early, when the USSR war still weak. Having liberated itself during the war, Tito wasn't depending on Stalin as much as others. So, when the Soviet leader finally botched his relationship with Tito for good, Tito could leave the Soviet sphere of influence with Western help. Yugoslavia was not as important for the Soviet security cordon and when Stalin died, Khrushchev went for a climate change. So, Yugoslavia was safe.

Albania went second, and the matter is quite complicated, but in the end, Albania wasn't worth any effort and the split became public during the Khrushchev thawing. So the tiny Adriatic state, never having been occupied in the first place, left the Eastern Bloc per se almost quitly.

Next were Hungary and the ČSSR, both failing in their endeavors ultimately. In both cases, however, the enterprise to leave the Soviet zone of influence was almost doomed from the start. Hungary and ČSSR were direct neighbors of the USSR and thus extremely important to the defense of it. Them being part of the Soviet empire was not something that could be discussed. Also, in both cases, the split was to occur on the basis of local leaders aiming at not only leaving the Soviet empire, but also Marxist socialist ideals as preached by the USSR. In both cases, popular revolts were important parts of the political shift, something the Soviets always feared for themselves. So they went down hard on both, Hungary and the ČSSR.

Thus, when Romania aimed at leaving the direct zone of influence and especially occupation by the USSR, their leaders looked at the lessons others had endured and counted two and two together: being a direct neighbor of the USSR, Romania couldn't hope to leave the bloc entirely. But it got rid of occupation quite early. This left being tied militarily to the USSR by means of the Warsaw Pact. This was hardly negotiable, but Romania pulled off to never participate in big exercises and especially not having Soviet troops on its soil.

Romanian leadership had a narrow and slippery path to walk, in order to accomplish that. First of all, any form of official disobedience to Marxist socialist ideals was out of the question. Second, any form of popular unrest was, too. And third, the economy had to provide enough so that the USSR couldn't bully Romania into submission. The latter part worked, thanks to large scale investment into heavy industries, especially steel. This led to considerable fallout as the USSR basically sanctioned Romania, but Romanian leadership cooperated with the West as a consequence.

Romania only barely made it. While the Soviets never set foot into the country militarily, Romania's economy was so desolate and the security apparatus so immense that Romanians struggled probably the most during the fall of the regime in 1989. In the end, Ceaușescu and his wife were the only Eastern Bloc dictators to get killed by their own people for what they had done to their country. However, the killing of the Ceaușescus had profound impact on Erich and Margot Honnecker, the East German counterpart of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu.

[ChalkLine]

Encounter Weapons

1 Assault Rifle 1-6, SAW 7-10
2 Assault Rifle 1-6, Battle Rifle 7-10
3 Assault Rifle 1-6, Battle Rifle 7-10
4 Assault Rifle
5 Assault Rifle 1-5, w/Grenade Launcher 6-10
6 Carbine 1-9, w/Grenade Launcher 10-10
7 Carbine 1-7, SMG 8-10
8 Civilian Weapon 1-8, Unique/Odd 9-10
9 Marksman's Rifle 1-7, Sniper Rifle 8-10
10 Pistol 1-8, Improvised/Melee 9-10

Own Military 1-7, Other Military 8-10

Grenades: 1d6-3(+2 if Regular)

[ChalkLine]

Mortar Shells as Rockets

Usually an NPC thing, this is a concept for GMs to use so they can have artillery that doesn't automatically turn the PCs into a set of smoking boots.

These are mortar bombs repurposed as rockets for use in the simple tube MLRS. They don't have quite the range of the usual rocket nor do they have the same explosive power although they are pretty close. Usually I give clear numbers for things like this but in this case it's really what the GM needs for the scenario. The basic guidelines are:

- Longer range than a mortar but shorter range than the rulebook rocket

- Lower accuracy. This is the big one. These things swamp the area but the chances of fragmentation is lower due to the wider dispersion. This is to keep the game playable.

- Same damage as the mortar bomb placed in the craftshop-made rocket hull, mortar bombs must be a smaller calibre than the MLRS rulebook rocket munition.

- Non-trivial chance of 'loony bombs'. These are rockets that fly off in odd directions.

If the players start to become cavalier about these rockets remember that the crews of the MLRS might have issue rockets they keep in reserve that are accurate, powerful and long ranged. Never sneer at the GM.

Some MLRS suitable for this:
(incomplete list)

Soviet:
- BM-21 "Grad" (122mm)
- 9P138 "Grad-1" (122mm Short)
- BM-21V "Grad-V" (122mm)
- LPRS "Grad-P" (122mm Short)
- BM-14MM 2B2R (140mm)
- BM-14-17M 8U35M (140mm)
- RPU-14 towed 8U38 (140mm)

Czech:
- RM-70 (122mm)
- RM-70/85 (122mm)

Yugoslavia:
- M-63 "Plamen" (128mm)
- RAK-12 towed (128mm)
- M-77 "Oganj" (128mm)

USA:
- M91 towed (115mm) [This would require barrels to be manufactured to replace the VX rocket containers which function as a barrel]

[ChalkLine]

Ammunition Belt Loader.
Quickly loads loose rounds into the appropriate belts.
Wt: 5.0kg
Price: $10(V/V)

(These are usually in the box containing the complete weapon along with its tools, two spare barrels and so on)

Shown: 7.62x54mmR Belt Loader from the PKM on its storage box (image not in Juhlin forums)
There is a Swedish version that does M31 link belts so I'm assuming there are NATO versions

[ChalkLine]

FV101 Skorpion 30 (not a misspelling)

This is the FV101 Scorpion rearmed with the Soviet Shipunov 2A42 30mm automatic cannon.

The 2A42 is 100kg lighter than the FV101's standard L23A1 76mm gun and produces about half the recoil force: 5,100kg vs 16,500kg for the standard 76mm.

It is the standard weapon taken from wrecked BMP-2s:
"A stabilized 30 mm 2A42 autocannon with dual ammunition feeds, which provide a choice of 3UBR6 AP-T and 3UOR6 HE-T / 3UOF8 HE-I ammunition. The gun has a selectable rate of fire, either slow at 200 to 300 rounds per minute or fast at 550 rounds per minute. This gives a continuous fire time of 100–150 seconds (or only 55 seconds, depending on the rate of fire chosen) before running out of ammunition. The original stabilization provides reasonable accuracy up to a speed of about 35 kilometres per hour."

500 rounds are in a basket fixed to the floor of the turret basket. The weapon is infamous for the amount of fumes it puts into the turret and two high volume fans have been placed in the turret roof. Even so, firing the weapon at its full rate of fire often has the crew leaving their hatches open. Normally the weapon is only fired in short bursts.

[ChalkLine]

Death of a Division - the logistics story
So I've been rethinking Death of a Division using the rail lines as a supply line but going over it the scenario idea doesn't work as I wanted the PCs to play surviving corps-level logistics groups falling back down the rail.
However I thought I'd share with you where the original logstics rail lines went through to see if they can help in any way.
The Fifth starts its final journey in canton at Chojnice and I'm assuming that's where the initial rail-head is.
- Chojnice to Tuchola: Direct Rail
This is a simple trip. The convoy escorts and trains can go straight there.
- Tuchola to Torun: Rail through Dworzec Kolejowy "Wierzchucin", skirt Bydgoszcz on the north and the east.
This is to avoid crossing the Vistula which the rails don't anyway. While dangerous it's still not out of the ordinary.
- Torun to Krośniewice: Aleksandrów Kujawski, Włocławek, Ostrowy on Route 91. Nowy Ostrowy (8.1km by road, 5.6km to Krośniewice) is the railhead, the rail continues south. Coal station.
Here things start to come unstuck. The lines are very long and unprotected. The logistics guys would be voicing concerns big time by now. They've stopped short of Krośniewice at Nowa-Ostrowy (just outside Ostrowa) and captured a coal loading area which is ideal for a rail-head. While dodgy as for the length of the line it's a good set up.
However at that point the enemy gets across the Vistula at Torun and cuts the line. I'm assuming the convoy guards have massed at Włocławek awaiting orders. When Kutno, up to that time contested, is cut they get marooned.
- Nowy Ostrowy, Kutno, Łęczyca, Ozorków, Łódź.
The division can't get into Łódź and there's no falling back. At this point they have to leave the rail lines. All rail assets are blown in place to deny them to the enemy.

[ChalkLine]

Survival Trivia:
Running distilled water steam through a gas mask filter will remove benzine and toluene. Something the Russians worked out after the collapse of the Russian economy and rampant pollution.

[ChalkLine]

Communist 'Human Wave' Attacks.

It's often said that communist forces, especially Russian and Chinese commanders, use 'human wave assaults. This is entirely untrue and was even untrue during the Russian infantry actions after The Great War.

Frequently what is termed a human wave assault derives from two sources:

The first being Second World War accounts from Axis troops which the West accepted for political reasons. These commanders were keen to portray themselves as 'apolitical professional Prussians' rather Nazi accomplices. However Soviet troops of all nationalities were considered by the commanders as frankly inferior (or worse) and to have been beaten by them would admit losing to soldiers worse than their portayed scientific, cool soldiering. Thus the myth of the mindless wave of human meat assaults driven on by the NKVD 'barrage troops'. In historical fact the Axis used more barrage troops than did the Soviets and Soviet soldiers were simply sent back forward and not shot - unlike their commanders.

The second reason is from accounts of the actual troops. To them being massively outnumbered seems that the troops are endlessly pouring in, no matter how many they put down. This comes from an important concept in Eastern soldiering; you're more likely to be killed in a retreat where the enemy gets a free shot at you and then having to assault all over again than in pressing the attack. At the point of commitment the soldiers have it ingrained into them there's no turning back, the better-equipped troops have essentially endless munitions to pour onto you if you don't disrupt them. This does indeed look like fanaticism.

This doesn't mean that these attacks are stupid. People who have assumed this over the last century have paid dearly. For instance, here's an qualifier for The Battle of Kapyong during the latter Korean Civil War that is illustrative:

The PVA attacks had been launched quickly and aggressively, placing their light machine guns on the flank in support and attempting to close to attack the 3 RAR perimeter with grenades. Contrary to some contemporary western accounts, the PVA did not use human wave tactics. Rather, using a tactic known as 'one-point-two sides', they used massed forces and infiltration to achieve local numerical superiority and to penetrate the gaps between the forward companies, before attempting to envelop the 3 RAR while drawing their fire to the front, away from their threatened flanks. They would normally attempt to close with UN defensive positions using darkness or poor visibility to cover their movement and to counter US air superiority, before attacking using massed force, coordinated with close fire support. However, although normally well-planned and closely supported by machine-gun, mortar, and artillery fire, PVA attacks in Korea were often inflexible in execution once launched. This was mostly due to the lack of radio communications below battalion-level, with the PVA instead relying on whistle blasts, bugle calls, and runners for command and control, and although their 60 mm (2.4 in) and 81 mm (3.2 in) mortars had provided particularly effective indirect fire support, these problems were again evident during the fighting at Kapyong

What does this have to do with roleplaying?

Using mindless forward assaults rapidly becomes boring for most players, they like enemies they have to out-think. A fight where every players gets a perfect target picture of the enemy who only moves directly towards them would be considered dumb in a 1990s corridor-shooter video game. It's very same same.

Enemies that stop short and dig in, forcing you to attack them, enemies that suddenly swing off to the flank and out of sight, enemies that feign retreat, enemies that act like they value their own lives are all realistic, threatening enemies.

[ChalkLine]

Dams.

Europe has an estimated 150,000 dams that have exceeded their lifespans.

It is highly likely that these dams will fail without the excessive upkeep required for such old structures. In fact even the dams with plenty of life will fail anyway.

But these old dams will go first. Poland is dotted with old dams and these will fail during the campaign period causing unexpected hazards, population shifts and serious environmental problems.

Fallout likes dams. They are natural sediment-traps and all that washed-away fallout heads there. Whenever the dams fail they don't just inundate the downstream areas with filthy, disease-bearing water but the radiation problems will become acute. The players may find themselves very thirsty . . .

"Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink"

EDIT: Don't eat bottom feeder fish

[ChalkLine]

An article on the problem relating to Poland's bridges, very few of which can carry the weight of a western MBT

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/omfv-the-armys-polish-bridge-problem/

[ChalkLine]

KPV ground carriage: 105 kg, $1,000 -/R
KPV ground tripod: 39kg, $400, -/R
Soviet 6T7 heavy tripod*: 16kg, $350, R/C
*Cannot mount DShK or DShKM

[ChalkLine]

Vehicle Mounts for Weapons.
These ubiquitous items are all considered 'V/V' availability.
Weight is usually minimal but is useful for scrounging, carrying that pedestal mount back up a gully is going to be tiring
Pedestal/Pintle Mount: 22kg, $400
Takes any size weapon from 5.56mm to 12.7mm by using adjustable sleeves Sleeves are held in box affixed to side of pedestal.
The MTPU KPV-T Pedestal Mount weighs 300kg is -/R and costs $1,000 w/o weapon
(Allows 360º firing arc when mounted in centre of cargo area.)
Firing Station Mount:
NLT/PLT equivalent: 6kg, $100
NMT/PMT equivalent: 7kg, $200
NHT/PHC equivalent: 10kg, $300
Double Mount: x2kg, x$2
Additional Mount: 13kg, $450
Takes any size weapon from 5.56mm to 12.7mm
(Allows 45º to 180º firing arc when on hatch or side of a cargo area etc. The Double Mount is a double position for two weapons however the weapons must feed from opposite sides. The Additional Mount is a smaller mount attached to either the ring or mount that mounts a weapon of smaller size than the main mount. Penalties for these heavy stations should be decided by the GM)
Catch Bag: 2kg, $20
Catches links and brass
Ammo belt can holders:
(Each holds 1 belt)
5.56mm 1.5kg, $5
7.62x39mm 1.8kg, $5
7.62mm 2.0kg, $5
12.7mm 3.0kg, $6
14.5mm 5.0kg, $10
30mm Grenade 6.0kg, $8
40mm Grenade 6.5kg, $8
(These are brackets and boxes for ammunition boxes that are affixed to either the inside or the outside of the vehicle. The can be made in multiples simply by modifying the values.
Gun Shields:
Found very useful after Vietnam and Afghanistan, these shields are widely available. They can be fitted to any mount including tripods. The PHC comes with a 45º shield standard.
45º Shield: 23kg, $1,200
(This light shield bends slightly around the weapon and protects mainly from the front)
90º Shield: 38kg, $1,800
(A better and more protective version of the 45º shield, this shield imparts a -1 to observation rolls)
180º Shield: 45kg, $2,500
(This shield wraps right around the weapon station and is gives a -2 to observation rolls and -2 to responding to unexpected fires from the flanks.)
360º Open Turret: 225kg, $5,000
(A heavy weapon station often mounting multiple weapons. This station often needs a spotter to find targets but makes the gunner unable to be targeted by direct fire, shooting at the gunner uses the vehicle tables. Due to the lack of transparent plates this station gets a -4 to observation. As it is hand-traversed it requires and -4 to react to targets at unexpected fire from a direction the weapon is not aiming at. The front section of the station is a 90º shield and there are armour plates protecting the sides and rear of the gunner. The gunner can use personal weapons over the top of the shields in which case they have half cover and brackets on the side shields are placed to accommodate the storage of those personal weapons. This mount can only mounted on a level hatch.)

EDIT: Gunshields are rated vs 7.62mm MG rounds

[ChalkLine]

T-55 Fender Tanks
These are the fuel tanks found on T-55s and were ubiquitous throughout the soviet army for carrying extra fuel. They carried 95 litres in a flat, easy to stow configuration that had carry-strap loops on all sides.

T-55 Fender Tank.
C/V 2.5kg empty, 79.0kg full. $5

[ChalkLine]

Stowage Upgrade
A comprehensive effort to wrap your vehicle in external stowage racks and stowage boxes
Benefit:
- Adds another 10% stowage per vehicle tonne.
- Acts as 'slat armour' for 30mm or 40mm grenades (your kit sacrifices itself to save your life)
Drawbacks:
- Costs 10% more fuel
- Makes some driver tasks more difficult by one level, GM choice (such as squeezing through gaps, fast turns etc)
Tasks:
Scrounge (Average) per tonne of vehicle. One period per task
Mechanic (Average) per tonne of vehicle. One period per task

Equipment Required:
- Two people
- Arc welder for steel vehicles, heavy drill for aluminium vehicles
- Basic tool kit

[ChalkLine]

Group Encounter #2: ‘Patrol’

What is a ‘patrol’?
I mean, that seems a dumb question but non-military people (such as myself) may not understand that a ‘patrol’ is a technical definition. A good one is:

‘A patrol is a detachment of ground forces sent out by a larger unit for the purpose of
gathering information or carrying out a destructive, harassing, or security mission.
Patrols vary in size, depending on the type, mission, and distance from the parent
unit. Most combat patrols are platoon-sized, reinforced with crew-served weapons.’
Note the important concepts:
- The Patrol is part of a larger unit.
- The Patrol has a set purpose.
- The Patrol is composed of sub-units with different tasks.
GMs creating a Patrol from Encounter #2 need to identify these qualities and detail them:
1) The Larger Unit
This unit does not pat the Patrol on the head and send them off into the wild blue yonder. They view the Patrol as a valuable asset and will only risk it if the mission is vital. Patrols will be supported somehow, be it by direct and indirect fires or by rapid reaction forces.
The patrol and its parent unit will maintain contact somehow even if they do not have electronic communications at hand. Common method are flare signals, recognition panels and/or other pre-timed signals. Patrols may have to check in with other elements of the parent unit, a patrol not arriving at a checkpoint will have the parent unit notified. Note that rapid reaction forces may get there too late to help their Patrol but will probably be able to work out what happened through the battle site. The GM should think this through and have the have the parent unit react with what information it has, adapting as the situation matures.
Obviously PCs not considering this may find themselves in hot water very quickly.
2) The Mission
The Patrol unless tasked to deal with the PCs has a job to do and a bunch of hillbilly stragglers is probably not it. This means the Patrol may not engage in combat if it jeopardises the mission.
There are essentially three types of encounter: ‘they see you, ‘ you see them’ and ‘you see each other’. If the players spot the patrol they may be able to divine what the mission of the patrol is, even just by the way it is moving or staying still.
In meeting engagements where the two groups stumble onto each other there may be an exchange of fire but this still does not mean the Patrol will press an attack if it is not in theirs and the mission’s interests. Having a Patrol bump into the PCs, fire off some shots from the scouts and fall back while firing off three flares really should scare the players.
Remember that as noted above the Patrol has methods of maintaining some contact no matter how slight with the parent unit. If they decide to not engage the players and avoid them they will probably notify their parent unit as soon as possible

3) Sub-Units
In nearly any conceivable situation the PCs will not know the location of the entire Patrol. The elements are kept separate so they cannot be taken out with an ambush. A Patrol officer usually has a designated manoeuvre unit for dealing with situations where the scouts discover something hostile and a heavy weapons unit for hitting the problem once the manoeuvre unit fixes the problem in place. Ideally the scouts should find the problem, if the Patrol engages the manouevre unit engages it and when the Patrol officer thinks he has a good idea of the problem’s dispositions he unmasks the heavy weapons of the support unit onto it.

Thinking on this we can use the following definition of Patrol Sub-Units:

Elements of Combat Patrols
Patrol Headquarters - this is the command group of the patrol. It is composed of the
patrol leader, and other support personnel essential to the patrol such as the radio
operator, Corpsman, and forward observer.
Assault Elements - engage the enemy at the objective.
Security Elements - secures the objective rally point, isolates the objective, and covers
the patrols return from the objective area.
Support Elements - provides supporting fires for the assault unit attack and covering fires
if required, for its withdrawal.
Elements of Reconnaissance Patrols
Patrol Headquarters - the command group of the patrol. It consists of the same personnel
as a combat patrol.
Recon Element - maintains surveillance over the objective.
Security Element - provides early warning, secures the objective rally point, and protects
the reconnaissance unit
Now, I’ve been quoting liberally from a document on patrolling here to hopefully whet your appetite. I recommend non-military GMs such as myself review it, it’s an easy read, to add some grit and reality to their encounters. It looks like Ivan isn’t a gaggle of guys smoking cigarettes anymore . . .

[ChalkLine]

Interactive Topographic Map of Poland

Make sure you seize those heights!

https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-4h57/Poland/?center=51.63102%2C17.97329&zoom=12&popup=51.62443%2C17.86171

[ChalkLine]

Polish P-3 Concrete Prefab Trench Reinforcement
From an earlier post

Having a hell of a time calculating this. Guesstimating the size and plugging it into a concrete calculator gives me about 200kg each which seems way off.
[Edit: Pre-cast concrete manholes of similar dimensions weigh between 15kg and 35kg. I'm just giving a number of 25kg as a round number)

Anyway:
Concrete Prefab Trench Reinforcement P-3 (Polish)
2.0mx0.5m(average)x0.15m, 25kg
Price $2 (C/V)

(Note: I also have some data on Soviet precast bunker sections SBK, PRU-3 & PRU-2 as well as their standard fittings. However I'll wait to update all this when I get images working on this forum)

[ChalkLine]

Slat Armour

I don't know if this is covered in any rules or house rules such as Paul Mulcahy's.

A vehicle must have at least 5mm of RHA-equivalent to mount slat armour effectively.
Vehicles mounting slat armour are no longer amphibious. It takes one hour per ton of slat armour to mount or dismount the slat armour package.
1) Slat Armour (as fitted standard or by divisional-level workshops)) usually weighs 15% of vehicle mass, extends 0.5m from the vehicle hull. This armour weight must be subtracted from the vehicle cargo weight (including external cargo weight).
2) Light Ad Hoc Slat Armour (LAHSA) weighs 10% of vehicle weight but is one level less effective (covered below)
3) Medium Ad Hoc Slat Armour (MAHSA) weighs 20% of vehicle weight and is as effective as pre-war slat armour (entry #1)
4) Heavy Ad Hoc Slat Armour (HAHSA) is an urban survival package made in the field that covers the entire surface of the vehicle above the belly. It weighs 30% of vehicle weight and also protects against top-attack. No pre-war slat armour protected against top-attack.
Slat Armour adds 500mm of armour vs HEAT rounds to areas protected by the hull. LAHSA provides 350mm of armour. Slat armour does not cover the rear of the vehicle unless it is HAHSA.
Slat armour increases the difficulty of drive rolls by one level unless the driver elects to disregard the slat armour's survival.
On a failure roll 1d6;
1-5 = usual fail result.
6-6 = slat armour in that sector of the vehicle is damaged.
On a fumble that sector is physically ripped off the vehicle or two adjoining sectors are damaged, GM's choice.
Damaged slat armour is scrunched against the vehicle side, dragging on the ground or similar. It provides no armour benefit on that side.
Slat armour usually covers the front and hull sides of the vehicle as well as all around the turret if any.
To work out sectors on the hull roll 1d10:
1-2 = Hull front.
3-6 = Left hull side
7-0 = Right hull side
To work out sectors on the turret roll 1d4:
1 = Front
2 = Right Side
3 = Left Side
4 = Rear
Most failed driving roll damages are only to the hull.

I should note that ad hoc armours are field expedients. The might be bed springs, chain link fences or similar scrounged material. They require a scrounge roll for each sector covered.

For every 10% a vehicles external cargo weight is exceeded subtract 10% from speed and fuel endurance. Reduce mobility by another level.
Each ton of slat armour requires a man/period to create with a minimum of one period per sector.

Repairing a sector of slat armour that survives a HEAT strike requires one period and a mechanical roll. The materials required require one scrounge roll.

[ChalkLine]

Communication Wire
WD-1/TT and WD-1A/TT have two twisted, individually insulated conductors and the WD-1A/TT has two insulated conductors bonded together. The conductors have the following characteristics:
• Four tinned-copper strands and three galvanized-steel strands.
• Inner insulation of polyethylene and outer nylon insulation jacket.
• Tensile strength of approximately 90kg/200 pounds (both conductors).
• Weighs 21kg/48 pounds per l,600m/1 mile.
WF-16/U has four copper-cadmium alloy standard insulated conductors in two pairs. One pair is olive drab; the other brown. The olive drab conductor has a ridge along the side for night identification. Conductors have the following
characteristics:
• Copper-cadmium alloy stranded.
• Tensile strength of 90kg/200 pounds.
• Weighs 29kg/62 pounds per 1,600m/1 mile.
• Four-wire, field wire.
Spiral-Four cable is used to provide four-wire transmission line for carrier communications. It also can be used for longdistance voice-frequency (VF) circuits.
WF-8/G has four stranded-copper conductors separately insulated with polyethylene and spiraled around a polyethylene core. One pair of the spiral-four cable is colored for identification. The spiraled conductors are covered by an inner jacket of polyethylene, carbon-cloth stabilizing tape, steel braid, and a thermoplastic outer jacket. The steel braid adds tensile strength to the cable, permitting the cable to be used in self-supported aerial cable lines. Telephone Cable WF-8/G is part of Cable Assembly CX-1065/G and Telephone Cable Assemblies CX-1606/G and CX-1512/U.
CX-11230 ()/G is inter-area coaxial cable. It provides a four-wire cable transmission medium for wideband PCM and time division multiplexing (TDM) carrier systems. Cable assembly CX-11230 ()/G has two twisted coaxial tubes jacketed in lowdensity polyethylene. The tubes are protected by mylar tape and a medium-density polyethylene jacket. The two tubes terminate in a universal connector at each end. A copper-clad steel braid strength member is part of the cable assembly.
The cable is sturdy enough for both ground and aerial use.
CX-4566A/G is a twenty-six pair cable that has a stranded conductor with 26 pairs of color coded wires. It provides cable distribution for local telephone lines and circuits, interconnects communication shelters, and is used in conjunction with distribution boxes and cable stub CX-4760/U. It terminates in a universal connector at each end. The cable is sturdy enough for both ground and aerial use. It is supplied in 76m/250-foot lengths on Metal Cable Reel RC-435/U. Other lengths and the related connectors and inserts U-185B/G, U-186A/G, U-187A/G and MX-3227/U are all produced by Associated Industries.
Reel DR-5 is a metal spool-type container used to store, transport, lay, or recover field wire. It will hold 4,000m/2.5miles of field wire and can be mounted on Reeling Machine RL-207/G, or Reel Unit RL-31-.
Reel RL-159/U is a metal spool-type container used to store, transport, lay, or recover field wire. It will hold 1,600m/1 mile of field wire and can be mounted on Reeling Machine RL-207/G, Reel Unit RL-31-E, Reeling Machine RL-172/G, or Axle RL-27().
Spool DR-8 is a metal container used to lay or recover field wire. It will hold .4 kilometer (1/4-mile) of field wire and can be mounted on Reel Unit RL-39 (component of Reel Equipment CE-11).
Reel DR-15-B is a metal spool-type container used to store, transport, lay, or recover Field Cable. It holds .4 kilometer (1/4-mile) of cable and can be mounted on Reel Unit RL-31-E or Reeling Machine RL-207/G.
Reel RL-435/U is a lightweight cable reel used to store, transport, and install a 30.5m/100-foot length of Field Cable CX-11230/G.
It can be mounted on Reel Unit RL-31-E or Reeling Machine RL-207/G.
Wire Dispenser MX-306/G is a cylindrical canvas and tape container that holds approximately 800m/0.5-mile of Wire WD-1/TT or WD-1A/TT. The wire of two or more dispensers may be prespliced in tandem when it is necessary to lay a
wire line of more than 800m/0.5-mile without stopping to splice. The dispenser has many useful features.
Axle RL-27-B is used to lay and recover field wire. The axle is a machined-steel bar 0.75m/2.5 feet long used for mounting wire reels. The axle has two knurled handles, one removable for mounting Wire Reel RL-159/U on the axle. The axle has roller bearings and is equipped with a removable crank for re-winding wire. The axle can be carried by two individuals or placed on some improvised mounting.
Reel Unit RL-31-E is a light-weight, portable, folding A-frame of steel tubing used for paying out and recovering field wire and field cable. The reel unit features:
• Brake unit for controlling speed of the reels during payout of the wire.
• Crank for reeling in wire on reels.
• Carrying strap for carrying the reel unit litter style.
• Divided axle when two reels are mounted on the reel unit. This axle allows either reel to operate independently. (When the divided axle is used, two cranks and two brakes are necessary for operation. They are issued with the equipment.)
The reel unit can carry a single Reel DR-5 or DR-15-B, or two Wire Reels RL-159/U. Reel Unit RL-31-E can be mounted on ground or vehicle. A special vehicular installation kit is available.
Reel Equipment CE-11 is a lightweight portable unit designed to be carried by one person. It consists of Reel Unit RL-39 and a sound-powered telephone handset with case and carrying strap. Reel Unit RL-39 mounts Spool DR-8 having a
capacity of 400m/.25-mile or Field Wire WD-1/TT or WD-1A/TT (Spool DR-8 not included as a component). When Telephone Set TA-1/PT is used, it is carried on the belt.
Reel Unit RL-39 is a chest-type reel having an axle with carrying handles, carrying straps, and a crank for rewinding. Reel Unit RL-39 mounts Spool DR-8-A, which has a capacity of 400m/.25-mile of Field Wire WD-1/TT or WD-1A/TT (wire not included as a component). Lines may be laid with this equipment either by handcarrying the reel or by strapping it to the back. To recover telephone wire, the wireman snaps the carrying handles to the carrying straps and rotates the reel with the crank and axle. This reel is normally used to lay short local circuits, up to 400m/.25-mile over difficult terrain, or in a forward combat area.
Wire Pike MC-123 has a two section pole, joined by metal fittings. The top section terminates in a hook, fitted with a roller.
This hand tool is used by wireman to lay or recover wire from a truck. During wire laying, it is used to place the layed-out filed wire along the side of the road. For wire recovery, it is used to provide an even feed and guide for the wire to the reeling machine

[ChalkLine]

Travel (T2K 2.2):
Drivers should roll the appropriate skill for their vehicle once per period with the task difficulty based on the terrain.
Nice neat roads, graded and equal to pre-war conditions are an Easy Task.
The usual deteriorated roads with slight battle damage are a simple Average Task.
Straight out cross country is a Difficult Task, as is heavily battle-damaged or ruined roads.
Ruins are a Formidable Task.
Tracked vehicles reduce the task difficulty by one level.
If a Catastrophic Failure is rolled, roll on the following table:
01 - Blown Tire or Shed Track
02 - Blown Tire or Shed Track
03 - Blown Tire or Shed Track
04 - Blown Tire or Shed Track
05 - Blown Tire or Shed Track
06 - Ditched
07 - Ditched
08 - Ditched
09 - Seriously Ditched
10 - Seriously Ditched
Blown Tire or Shed Track
- The players must spend one hour and a mechanical roll (Easy) to replace the wheel or track. Double time if one player for wheeled and quadruple time for one player if tracked.
Ditched
- The vehicle has gone off the road and into a hazard. The players can self extract using the same times as above.
Seriously Ditched.
- The vehicle is in dire straights and cannot self-extract from the hazard. Another vehicle of equal weight or clever engineering is required to extract the vehicle. This can be a whole scenario.
No matter what outcome the Catastrophic Failure gives the GM should immediately roll for an encounter.

The GM is open to varying the nature of the outcome and adding twists and environmental hazards.

[ChalkLine]

Players often have horses and horses aren't meat-scooters, they are thinking things with personalities. Here's some personalities to give them:
(This is not a 'roll on table')
Horse Personality Table
- Hydrophobic. Hates water. One level harder to cross water. Can detect flash-floods by smell with 100% accuracy.
- Ornery. Plain mean, this horse often attempts bite or kick attacks at anyone nearby. Constantly watching you out of the side of its eyes. Bites your feet in the stirrups. Can kill unwary stable-hands.
- Loves to Roll. When near patches of sand or shallow water this horse attempts to roll without warning.
- Greedy. Incredibly focused on food. The horse pushes other horses away to get at their food which causes fights. Can overeat itself to death. Is prone to wind-sucking.
- Wood-Chewer. Chews on wood nearby, destructive. Ambles off occasionally to pursue this vice.
- Skittish. Jumps in fear at everything. Thinks branches are snakes. Shies at a blowing leaf. Infuriating. Shies when trying to jump. May give alarm of an unknown stealthy approach.
- Bolter. This horse suddenly starts galloping for no reason. Highly dangerous for inexperienced riders. Ride roll or be thrown. Horse raises head so it does not have to respond to bit.
- Placid. Big, dumb and lovable. Likes to sook and get hugs. Not frightened of anything apart from very high level threats. Likely to return to a fallen rider.
- Nosy. Always interested in what you're doing. Pokes big head through windows, looks into your knapsack, wanders off to look at stuff.
- Jaunty Gait. High falutin' step, a pleasure to ride if a bit tiring.
- Lazy. Fat old pig. Lies down if left alone. Needs to be urged to do anything. Ambles along slowly. Occasionally just stops dead in its tracks and needs a few minutes to be got going again.
- Animal Friend. Has one other type of herd beast it is inseparable from. Will cry out and fret if separated, possibly hurting itself by trying to get over fences to its friend. When with little friend horse is defensive and will fight threats if friend, but not rider, is threatened. Little friend has its own personality to be determined by GM. ('friend' tend to be goats)
- Devoted. A mixed blessing. It will defend a fallen rider against anyone or anything including friends trying to help. Tends to follow rider around getting in the way.
- Brainless. Dumb as a box of hammers. Can't work out how to get through gates or over rocks. Tends to stand still and gaze at the world in wonder.

[ChalkLine]

Scenario Idea:
The PCs are advancing through unknown territory when they encounter an honest-to-goodness carrier pigeon carrying the message "2nd platoon, Echo Company, 2/1 Marines under attack at grid 51.732403, 18.484480. DO NOT EAT PIGEON"

[ChalkLine]

The justly famous T2K campaign overview Going Home has the famous Last Train to Clarkesville section where US and Polish train buffs use an old steam locomotive.
This is entirely unnecessary. The US Army MOS 65A and 65B all included steam locomotive trades and these personnel were trained in WarPact steam locomotive use.
Similarly all WarPact countries stockpiled steam locomotives, no need for one to be in a museum, and trained specialist troops to use them. Trains weren't just left out in the weather but rather were kept up to date in maintenance and ready for operation. Purposefully they were not updated to include any electronic equipment.

[ChalkLine]

Hard Tack
Essentially extremely dry hard bread, hard tack is a block of nutrients. It must be kept very dry but if done so hard tack can last a decade without changing the taste.
All that is needed is flour, a small amount of salt and some water.
The dough is made very dry and thick. Biscuit-shapes about three inches across are then formed pierced with many holes to allow every bit of moisture to escape. This is then baked very slowly at a low heat in an oven, easily made out of cleaned steel drums, for two periods (eight hours). These ovens can be used for storage when cleaned afterwards.
The amount processed is up to the GM. Really players should be able to convert all 'wild food' taken from fields into 'domestic food' using this method in a few days maximum. This can be done while tending stills at no extra fatigue cost for example. In fact apart from the dough making and unpacking of the ovens players could even sleep through the process.
Softened hard tack tastes no different to unleavened bread and is often used as thickener in stews and chowders. It is prone to contamination by insects but these are easily removed by various means, they add only a tiny amount of protein and taste bitterish.

[ChalkLine]

(I've had to miss a ton of data on equipment due to the difficulty of linking or posting images, I'll see what I can do about that in the future)