Twilight 1990

[95th Rifleman]

I've been looking at ways to re-visit T2k and one of the simplest came from a mate of mine. He's a wargamer rather than a roleplayer and we where talking about T2k and it's backstory (especialy the botch job they did converting the timeline). His responce made me think.

"Well the first timeline worls if you have it all kick off in December '86"

So I did a bit of thinking and it seems to really work, a retro and old-school cold war goes hot scenario. Anybody else considered running twilight in the 80's?

[Mohoender]

No but it's an awesome idea and I would be more than happy to read that.

[Cpl. Kalkwarf]

I have considered it and was thinking more of Twilight 1984. In 1983 there was this military Operation called "Able Archer" that came very close to setting off WW3.

[Rainbow Six]

Haven't ever thought about it, but I think it's definitely a good idea...sounds very feasable...

[Lundgren]

I have not thought about it. But to quickly toss up some thoughts...

Both the Tiananmen Square protests and the collapse of the Berlin wall in -89 could have sparked a much more severe situation. But then, it would probably more have been Twilight 1993.

Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985, so replacing him with with a hawk; then create a chain of communication breakdown between the new GS and Reagan; that could result in a volatile situation. But in that scenario, I don't think it would be a Soviet/China war -> Germany sends troop westward -> WW III chain of event. The Chernobyl disaster could probably be used as a part of the escalation, directly or by giving an opportunity.

[Rainbow Six]

There's a novel by Frederick Forsyth called the Devil's Alternative which is set in the 80's (I don't think a specific date is specified). Part of the plot involves the Soviet Union planning a pre emptive attack on the west following a gigantic FUBAR that poisons a large amount of the Soviets' wheat harvest (not dissimilar to the circumstances in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising but replacing oil with wheat).

Weren't General Hackett's books (and, by extension, Team Yankee) set in that period as well?

Thinking about Harold Coyle, events outlined in Sword Point could also spark WW3 in the 1980's?

[95th Rifleman]

I was thinking that the Afghan war may be the kick-off point. Assume the west was more pro-active in supporting the Taliban or maybe the Chinese get involved. The situation could branch out in one of two ways.

1) The Soviets finaly have enough of this crap and roll over the German border.

2) The East Germans decide they don't want to end up with their soldaten dying in Afghanistan (say Afghanistan REALLY heats up and starts sucking in WP soldiers at an alarming rate). They make a secret deal and the war follows the V1 timeline but 10 years earlier.

[Lundgren]

The Talibans wasn't a factor then, so I assume you meant the Mujahedin

Being tied up in Afghanistan, I don't see the Soviets attacking first in Europe. So I would go with option 2, the v1'ish timeline.

The Iran-Contras scandal was around that time as well. So a bit of bad intel could give Moscow the wrong idea on what was going on.

[James Langham]

Originally Posted by 95th Rifleman

I was thinking that the Afghan war may be the kick-off point. Assume the west was more pro-active in supporting the Taliban or maybe the Chinese get involved. The situation could branch out in one of two ways.

1) The Soviets finaly have enough of this crap and roll over the German border.

2) The East Germans decide they don't want to end up with their soldaten dying in Afghanistan (say Afghanistan REALLY heats up and starts sucking in WP soldiers at an alarming rate). They make a secret deal and the war follows the V1 timeline but 10 years earlier.

A Soviet push into Pakistan to hit the Mujahedin bases there is always an option to kick things off (compare to the push into Cambodia in Vietnam). Plus it gives you a warm water port.