Expendable but Unbowed: The LAV-25 in the Twilight War

[Tegyrius]

I recently acquired a copy of the Osprey LAV-25 book, which got me thinking about the odd ways in which Twilight: 2000 history diverges from the real world. The designers seem to have done their original work during the brief period in which the U.S. Army was considering purchasing the LAV-25, basing a fair amount of divisional TO&E assumptions on it and the 9th Infantry Division's light motorized experiments. As we know, real-world evolution was somewhat different, with the Army occasionally flirting but never committing until 4-68 Armor finally, um, borrowed some Marine LAV-25A2s in 2018 to return some sort of thing-with-a-gun capability to the 82nd Airborne.

But... the LAV-25 remains an iconic Twilight: 2000 vehicle, featured in the core rules' opening fiction, the character creation random vehicle table, and American color plate C2. So what if?

As occasionally happens, this idea stuck in my brain and I couldn't do any other writing until I got it out. My mental blockage is, hopefully, your gain. Enjoy.

http://www.de-fenestra.com/t2k/downloads/T2k_LAV-25.pdf

- C.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Nice work, I particularly liked the story of Ivan Eater.

As an aside, the first image you used intrigued me. At first glance I thought it might have been an Australian ASLAV. The black & white treatment rendered the vehicle colours unidentifiable so I checked the credits and found colour versions.
So why did I think it might have been Australian?
The trees.

They looked like the trees commonly found in the eastern part of Australia.
When I tracked down some other copies of that specific image, sure enough, it's a LAV-25 from the USMC 3rd Light Reconnaissance Company, in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (which is located on the east coast of Australia).
https://www.defense.gov/observe/phot...to/2001239146/

[Ewan]

That’s an excellent little piece on the LAV-25, I wonder what other vehicles could get the same sort of write up.

[stilleto69]

Great work. I really like how you added those little details like the 1st engagement between US & Soviet forces in Norway and in Iran.

[Tegyrius]

Thank you, gentlemen.

@SSC: Your obsessive attention to botany is impressive but I'm keeping the photo where it is.

@Ewan: I think this format works best with equipment whose Twilight War development differs from real-world history. The LAV-75 is the first obvious choice, based on the collective development work done in the LAV-75; Stingray; M8 AGS thread. I also could see this being a good way to expand the US Army AAA in T2k thread into a comprehensive article.

- C.

[Raellus]

As always, great work, Teg.

-

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

<snip>
@SSC: Your obsessive attention to botany is impressive but I'm keeping the photo where it is.
<snip>
- C.

No objections from me, it's a great photo of the LAV-25 and I think most people would agree that it's a good image to lead into the article

Curiosity is probably my strongest life motivation so when something switches it on, I'm driven by it until it's satisfied.
The trees looked familiar so I "had" to know where the photo was taken.
My apologies if it seemed I was doubting the authenticity of the image