Cold War Resources

[Raellus]

We have a couple of threads dedicated to non-fiction book recommendations but I think it would be helpful to have a single clearing house location for links to resources- books, PDFs, documentaries, war games, etc.) that are still available on the primary market (as opposed to items on the secondary market such as out-of-print books, used games, etc.).

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Originally Posted by Raellus

Keep It Legal

We do not tolerate piracy or copyright infringement here. Do not post links to bit-torrents or other illegal content-sharing sites.

Osprey has a couple of titles- one aviation, one on submarines- coming out in the next few months that may be of interest to all you Cold Warriors out there.

https://ospreypublishing.com/in-cold-war-skies

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/m...-submarines-pb

[Tegyrius]

Two wargaming items:

Plastic Soldier Company just released Battlegroup NORTHAG, a wargaming rules set for the 1980s. Our comrade Jason Weiser was a contributor. There are also accompanying 10mm minis - UK and Soviets first, others to follow.

Battlefront is also in the process of rolling out the second edition of Team Yankee, including some new 15mm minis as they advance the timeline from early/mid-'80s to late '80s/early '90s. The official site is a bit of a sack of cats but there is good info out on the web if you look around. The minis update includes the RDF/LT, which we all know and love as the LAV-75...

- C.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

If you want to include websites dealing with the Cold War era, there's quite a few but for the moment I'll just name a few.
If nothing else, some of these sites have images that can be useful for showing the Players what things looked like.

Tanks Encyclopedia - Cold War: - https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/cold-war-tanks.php
Despite the site name, it also lists other armoured vehicles such as IFVs, APCs, SP artillery/anti-air and of, I think, greater interest, some lesser known vehicles including projects/prototypes such as the Thyssen-Henschel/Bofors "Infantry Escort Vehicle" for those who like to throw in a "What if" or two: - https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldw...nzer-57-aifsv/

Some lesser known West German Cold War locations: - https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...any/index.html

Arcanum. Urban Exploration - military sites: - https://arcanumphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/Military
Again, another one with images but lots of them with some subjects that we don't often see a lot of, such as accommodation/recreation buildings and command post bunkers.
Plus due to the nature of urban exploration focusing on abandoned sites, many of the images are of ruined facilities or repurposed buildings (hay bales stored in a former hardened aircraft shelter for example) that can be used for gaming.

[Raellus]

This interactive site is really useful for getting an idea of what kind of damage various kinds of atomic weapons would do to cities.

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

And for those interested in kit,

https://camopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

-

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I know this site has been mentioned here in the past but it's particularly relevant for campaigns in the USA so here it is again!

A Secret Landscape: America's Cold War Infrastructure: - https://coldwar-c4i.net/

Plus, a book recommendation: - Cold War: Building for nuclear confrontation 1946-1989
I don't have any ISBN for it but it was published in 2005. The authors were Wayne D. Cocroft, Roger C. Thomas & P. S. Barnwell
There's some more specific info on the Historic England website: - https://historicengland.org.uk/image...ions/cold-war/

[Jason Weiser]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

Two wargaming items:

Plastic Soldier Company just released Battlegroup NORTHAG, a wargaming rules set for the 1980s. Our comrade Jason Weisler was a contributor.

- C.

And they misspelled my name, oh well.

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by Jason Weiser

And they misspelled my name, oh well.

I wasn't sure if it was an intentional ploy to separate your professional and personal lives from search engines. But I have corrected myself upthread.

- C.

[Adm.Lee]

Compass Games is reprinting two good games from the 1980s:

NATO, originally from Victory Games- covers Austria (some) to Denmark (some), East & West Germany and a bit west of the Rhine. Division and brigade/regiment counters, abstract airpower. The original maps were pretty clean-- roads and rails are abstracted out, leaving cities and terrain features. Three scenarios originally, based on levels of NATO surprise and/or preparedness. IMO, this played like a standard wargame.

Third World War series from GDW- originally a four-game series, now in one box. Covers all of Scandinavia (options for Sweden & Finland), western Europe (new box said to include most Poland), all of Italy and the Balkan peninsula, western Turkey, all in contiguous maps. Also, eastern Turkey (not linked to above), Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait, and pieces of Saudi, Syria, and Afghanistan in a separate map set. Also divisions & brigades/regiments, aircraft are lumped into counters of 100 or so. Maps are also "clean", as NATO. This series features a unique sequence of play, levels of unit proficiency that double as hit points-- highly skilled units are hard to kill. Soviet/Pact doctrinal rigidity is enforced by the stacking rules and SoP, and I really liked that. A few alternate scenarios, based on entry of neutrals into play, or some Balkan states trying to get out of NATO or the WP, or where the Soviet Reserve Front deploys. IMO, this was a lot more fun & realistic-feeling. This game cemented my opinion that Frank Chadwick is my favorite game designer; GDW were already my favorite publisher.

Compass is also running a Company Scale Series, which is mostly WW2-- games are out for Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Novgorod, and Montelimar, but also a Fulda Gap game. As the title says, counters are companies, a player pulls chits from a cup to see which division/regiment/unit may activate some companies, so the action can be unpredictable. I've only played one WW2 game once, but it's pretty good. Given that it covers the two tech levels of the 1940s and 1980s, I wonder if it could be hacked for a "run-down" 2001 game, like Ruins of Warsaw or Krakow vs. Silesia?

Compass also has a Ty Bomba game, Brezhnev's War, advertised as a 1970s game, but really it's closer to 1978-1981. The map is huge, relative to the brigade (NATO) and division (Pact) counters, so the action is freewheeling and fast-moving. IMO, Pact doctrinal rigidity is nowhere to be seen, the Pact divisions felt like bands of Cossacks, deploying willy-nilly all over the map.

Thin Red Line Games, a publisher from Italy, has produced 1985: Under an Iron Sky. This is a reboot of an old SPI game, again division/brigade/regiments, but air, artillery, helicopter, air defense, EW assets are on the map. Units can spend a lot of movement points to do a lot of things. Many elements that are abstracted out of the above games are in here. I'm still learning it, it's very crunchy. A second game for Scandinavia is out, but I've not picked up any details on that.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Contested Ground Studios (CGS) produced a game called Hot War, a scenario where the Cold War went hot. While the game is, like T2k, set in the aftermath of World War Three, Hot War is set in the 1960s and more importantly, it's a horror game and has weird science and the occult as central elements.
While this is obviously not going to be everyone's cup of tea, the game deals with factional splinter groups, paranoia, hidden agendas, investigation and subterfuge on top of the survival and rebuilding themes.
Hot War preview: - https://www.flamesrising.com/hot-war-preview/

Again, it is a horror game but people might find elements of it useful for T2k and at the moment, it's in a bundle with a parallel game from CGS on DriveThruRPG for free. I say parallel because although Cold City also takes place during the Cold War and has a similar theme of horror, weird science, conspiracy and investigation, it isn't so much a companion game as an alternate reality version (for example, the timeline is earlier in Cold City so WW III has not happened).

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product...-Bundle-BUNDLE

[Jason Weiser]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Compass Games is reprinting two good games from the 1980s:

NATO, originally from Victory Games- covers Austria (some) to Denmark (some), East & West Germany and a bit west of the Rhine. Division and brigade/regiment counters, abstract airpower. The original maps were pretty clean-- roads and rails are abstracted out, leaving cities and terrain features. Three scenarios originally, based on levels of NATO surprise and/or preparedness. IMO, this played like a standard wargame.

Having done a playtest against the designer? I can tell you, you're in for a treat. It's not your daddy's NATO. I tried to play it that way, and I got my clock cleaned. It's meatier, faster, and damned LETHAL.

Third World War series from GDW- originally a four-game series, now in one box. Covers all of Scandinavia (options for Sweden & Finland), western Europe (new box said to include most Poland), all of Italy and the Balkan peninsula, western Turkey, all in contiguous maps. Also, eastern Turkey (not linked to above), Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait, and pieces of Saudi, Syria, and Afghanistan in a separate map set. Also divisions & brigades/regiments, aircraft are lumped into counters of 100 or so. Maps are also "clean", as NATO. This series features a unique sequence of play, levels of unit proficiency that double as hit points-- highly skilled units are hard to kill. Soviet/Pact doctrinal rigidity is enforced by the stacking rules and SoP, and I really liked that. A few alternate scenarios, based on entry of neutrals into play, or some Balkan states trying to get out of NATO or the WP, or where the Soviet Reserve Front deploys. IMO, this was a lot more fun & realistic-feeling. This game cemented my opinion that Frank Chadwick is my favorite game designer; GDW were already my favorite publisher.

I am looking forward to this as well, but I was a little sad to hear Chadwick had not updated the OOB to match recent data. Ah well, if the new rulebook still has the conversion data..we can do it ourselves!

Some other news on this front, take a look at Adam Starkweather's "The Doomsday Project - Episode 1, Battle for Germany." (also from Compass Games) It's just plain awesome looking, has a lot of chrome, and I will be playtesting it with the designer soon. I am reading the rules now. What will I say? When this game comes out, you're in for a treat.

Link to the game is here: https://www.compassgames.com/the-doo...r-germany.html

Not to mention kiddies? Bruce Maxwell is re-releasing through Compass Games his magnum opus. Air and Armor is coming back through Compass Games!

https://www.compassgames.com/air-arm...e-edition.html

Yeah, they may be my new GDW along with Free League....Oh wallet, please forgive me.