WWII, Vietnam or Korean war starting equip/weap and careers?

[TyCaine]

Does anyone have WWII, Vietnam or Korean war starting equipment / weapons lists and careers?

My group is looking for a change in setting, and rather than looking at another apocalyptic setting we're looking at either WWII, Vietnam or Korean war settings.

Can anyone help me out or point in the right direction?


T.C.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I'd personally go with Vietnam for a few reasons that basically come down to more modern technology and the ability to have some spooky encounters in the dark, misty jungle - and I don't mean supernatural in that sense but I'm thinking of the PsyWar Op "Wandering Soul" http://www.psywarrior.com/wanderingsoul.html

There was a location in the Ia Drang/Chu Pong area called by the Vietnamese, the Forest of Screaming Souls. It's mentioned in “The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh, there were many North Vietnamese/Viet Cong troops killed in the forest and it was believed that because their bodies had not been properly buried, their souls haunted the jungle. The book is a must read if you want to see the war from the other side. I think you can get the book on Google Play and from Amazon for Kindle and so on, there's a review of the book here http://www.independent.ie/entertainm...-26327792.html

Then there's the story of the strange radio transmission believed to have been from a French GCMA unit (mobile commando forces) hiding out in Vietnam that was received by US forces when they were fighting in Vietnam... about 10 years after the French had supposedly left.
There used to be a page about it at http://www.alliedcoldwarvets.com/GCMA.html but the domain has lapsed.
This website has some information from the dead website, http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=2291
You’ll have to go down to a comment by Cannoneer No. 4 dated November 4th, 2009 at 19:42 It’s about two thirds down from the top of the page and the text is in italics.

Here's a list of equipment used in the Vietnam War that includes infantry weapons, vehicles and aircraft: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon...he_Vietnam_War

Another MASSIVE benefit you have if you set the game in Vietnam, is that you have people on this forum who had relatives serving in that war but better yet, you have veterans of that war on this forum as well.

[unkated]

Korean War site: http://www.koreanwaronline.com/arms/arms.htm

Has weaponry for both sides. A lot of this equipment is described in the T2K Infantry Weapons and Heavy Weapons books.

WW2... LOTS of possible sides, and lots of possible equipment. And, again, lots of the weapons are available in the T2K Infantry Weapons Guides.

Other equipment, you can find descriptions of a lot of items (search for WW2 Equipment Infantry <nation>)

I'd suggest limiting to an area, and limit yourself to those combatants. (For example "Stalingrad" and look for German and Russian equipment, or "Philippines" and look for re-War US and Japanese equipment...

Uncle Ted

[LT. Ox]

By the way The Setting (Viet Nam) has one or two very good things going for it, as far as gaming goes, and that is size or make that scope.
You can avoid the heavy mechanized mass unit actions and while snipers were out and about in the other arenas Viet Nam was the place the teachers of our modern units learned their stuff. Pretty much the same for Special Ops, Special forces and Seals.
Small unit Actions were the norm so that makes it a bit nicer to scale into your table top war ground.

Just my two cents

[rcaf_777]

Check out the RECON RPG Books I have the Deluxe Revised RECON. Its a Vietnam RPG. The Deluxe Revised RECON has lots of information on the setting, equipment units ect. Thier is also a few Merc Adventure too.

[TyCaine]

Thank you everyone so much! I'll take a look at all the sources mentioned.

The weapons lists can be matched against what's in the Infantry Weapons guide, and the same for many of the vehicles, so I should be able to pen some lists together of what's available similar to the Twilight lists...

One thing I was wondering (bearing in mind I haven't had the chance to review all those links yet) is whether there are any 'standard issue equipment' lists available? For Twilight you have a standard kit each person will have at the start of the game, plus whatever you can purchase, just wondering how I would go about figuring such a list out for the different eras, and does anyone know (from direct experience or from stories they've heard) what the likelihood of the soldiers in any of the eras being able to buy their own kit would be, and should it be figured out similar to Twilight era or not?

In Twilight the players can also purchase stills, vehicles and so on, in the more regimented eras of WWII, Korea or Vietnam I can't see how that would work, certainly not for the bigger stuff, but what do you all think?

[LT. Ox]

laugh and I am not gonna share
Sorry that was kinda stupid ...but fun.
Would you like a list of what a US Army enlisted man received on?
1.) Arrival at Basic training
2.) Advanced individual training or AIT
3.) Jump school
4.) Ranger school
5.) Officers Training School
6.) Jungle school
7.) In country
8.) Separation
The various schools added little to what was the normal issue and I did not have experience with any other schools of any duration other than listed. Things like CBR (Chemical biological and Radiological) Riot training etc. were not deemed sufficient to issue and gear for other than class room work or field exercise.
As I was an Officer I can say the individual weapons were allowed with Co (Commanding Officer) permission this often had to go as high as Brigade. I carried a Browning Auto 12 that had been reworked by one of our armorers. I know of others that would get a different side arm as many personnel of that period distrusted the Issue 1911 unless heavily reworked.
I know that enlisted personnel were to carry only that which they were authorized, that was commonly over looked by officer in the field same with ammo loads. You carried what you thought you would need and most guys I know started heavy and sorted down after a short period of time.

Well let me know what ye want I am here a lot and do not mind laying it on.

[Ancestor]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

Check out the RECON RPG Books I have the Deluxe Revised RECON. Its a Vietnam RPG. The Deluxe Revised RECON has lots of information on the setting, equipment units ect. Thier is also a few Merc Adventure too.

I ran a RECON game back in high school (much of my campaign was based on the movie Platoon, the TV show Tour of Duty, and several of the 80's Vietnam Memoir books such as Chickenhawk-aka incredibly cliche!).

I do remember they had a random encounter table. I was hurting for material so I took the chance...and against all odds the dice rolll brought my PC LRRP into direct contact with an entire NVA Regiment! Fun times!

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Ancestor

... against all odds the dice rolll brought my PC LRRP into direct contact with an entire NVA Regiment! Fun times!

Wouldn't be the first time - look up Battle of Long Tan.
Same sort of overwhelming odds were faced by Australians in the opening stages (and pretty much the entire following campaign) of the fighting along the Kokoda track in New Guinea in 1942. Note this (and at Milne bay around the same time) was the first time anyone had managed to halt the Japanese advance anywhere, and was done by Australians, and Australians alone.