Weapons Timelines for the Twilight War

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

I can't recall where I read it, but I did see an article a few months ago that suggested that the UK still had a stockpile of SLR's which ran into the tens of thousands, so I think it's highly likely that the SLR would be the most commonly found weapon amongst British forces either though neccessity or choice. I also like the idea of reissuing Brens, and would probably add to that the possibility of very occasionally encountering militia and Home Service Force units in the UK armed with .303 Lee Enfields. There's also likely to be a number of MP5's in circulation as that was the standard issue long arm of most British police forces (at least on the mainland).

One minor thing - whilst I agree with most of what you've said here (including the reissue of the Bren gun), IRL Sterling Armaments went bust in the late 80's, so wouldn't be in any position to start remanufacturing the AR18.

(Of course, that doesn't mean that they have to go bust in a T2K World...)

On a side note, finding ways for marauder groups in the UK to be armed is a source of constant headaches for me...there are only so many dodgy French weapons dealers or abandoned HSF caches...I do sometimes envy those whose work is set in the US where it seems (to me at least) that both lawful and unlawful groups have relatively easy access to large amounts of weapons.

Interesting views on the G11 / G36 debate also. I've always been a fan of the G36, but as I use a Version 1 timeline following the logic here I think I may have to dump it in favour of the G11.

The relative shortage of arms and ammo is an appealing trait to running a campaign in terh UK rather than the US -in teh US no one asks twice if marauders have M2HBs, magnum .44s and SMGs.

But I guess you need some armed elements to counter any organized forces .So I guess you have used the obvious choices :

1) marauders are former services personel with all their gear intact-like a unit gone rogue,be it police,army,TA,any other govt. agency you can see armed in a T2K type scenario-events have led them out on the dark paths of reaving and so on

2) typical type marauders with studded leather jackets etc that have plundered caches ,armories,museums,arms dealers,auction houses ,private houses etc

3) slaves for guns programs run by foreigners selling arms to fuel their business.Danes,Norwegians,French,Netherlands have easy access to the UK coasts by ship-and these countries shave alot of guns in the populace

4) the illegal manufacturer - tons of designs are easily made from scraps or with a minimum of machihng and tooling.There have been numerous posts on the topic on the forum .The StenGun is typical .But the British Standard SMG is also interesting .AS is the PPSH-43 for the more well equipped black market dealer.See thebigbookofwar for some examples.

5) battlefield overflow. Squaddies will take home or send home lots of stash if possible -so will the dishonest and greedy in REME and any other organizations that have a pipeline both to and from the battlefields.

6) what about surrendering enemy units ? Couldnt they throw away or lay down arms that end up in the hands of baddies?

7) a destabilizing program like the Jerries did in 1916 with Russian arms in a sub that were supposed to end up in the Irish hands ? Only now its captured US and German weapons on a their way in a Russian sub..Or a Yankee plot if GM is feeling nefarious..

anyways - I am sure you have all these angles covered -but if not these are my two cents

[Rainbow Six]

Cheers HQ. You've got some good ideas there.

The fifth one on your list reminds me of a story that a mate of mine who was in the First Gulf War (with the REME!) told me once. Apparently a shed load of Iraqi weapons and kit was smuggled back to Germany at the end of the War and shortly afterwards the German police noticed an increase in armed robberies at petrol stations...

On a serious note, my mate did say that when units moved back to the UK they had to leave any contraband in Germany as HM Customs checked returning Army units extremely thoroughly so normal practice was generally to sell the gear to someone staying on in Germany.