Weapons in the uk - in a t2k scenario

[.45cultist]

Plain ole smuggling, especially as authority fades away by both criminals and opponants. Stens can be made anywhere, one could cobble an arms presence, adjust the prices to reflect rarity.

[Olefin]

Keep in mind you may see a lot of interesting older weapons as well coming out of museum collections and the like - even down to melee weapons like swords, maces, etc..

and while they may sound like not that big a deal I would hate to be taking on a guy who knows how to handle a battleaxe or longsword or longbow or several guys like that if all I had was a gun with very limited ammunition capacity

[Badbru]

I generally ran a less world destroyed environment for my T2K back in the day, atleast as applied to France, Portugal, and Spain who stayed out of the war. I had the Duchy of Cornwall obtaining OLD stored weapons from Portugal and Spain. Mostly those nations stockpiled Mauser service rifles but also some G3 & CETME weapons. As global boat trips go it's a short one from southern England to the Ibirian peninsular. The more important trade was in ammunition. HM Govt and also places like the duchy of Cornwall also started producing Sten guns again or very similar copies.

[Apache6]

I'd expect that the UK Government, and/or their opponents would start turning out STEN guns or some other variant of easily produced blowback SMG in armories or converted machine shops. The machinists skills are there, the plans are there and requirements is remarkably low.

I like the idea that they design a simple 9mm blowback SMG which visibly resembles the SA-80, a bull-pup configuration with an optic sight. Weapon stats would be identical to the STEN, just in a fancy package. It would be more than sufficient to give Police and Territorial Reserves a edge over most threats.

[Apache6]

Might not be the best idea, but when I think of weapons in England I think Longbows.

I know that there a small group, but there is are 'hobbyists' who still practice with the Longbow. A single good archer, firing from concealment could be a nasty surprise for an unwary enemy. Very hard to detect due to lack of report.

Alternatively, a town militia with no firearms beyond a few double barrel shotguns might arm themselves with longbows, encouraged and trained by the mayor who is one of the before mentioned hobbyists. Not the best weapons, but better then a spear/pike/halbard.

[Olefin]

Actually crossbows may also be something you may see in England more than longbows. Maybe the English members of the board can provide light on if the English longbow would still be something you would see with any frequency or if it would be very rare due to the skill set needed for it being lacking in general?

In my first campaign we had a character who was a full blooded Apache and he used his bow to deadly effect - especially in several ambush situations. We ran into a town militia that had a squad of archers who originally were members of an archery club as well who took out several marauders when the town was attacked when we were there.

[simonmark6]

I would be doubtful about longbows. The wood needs to be selected by a specialist and left to cure for a few years. In addition, they are difficult to make with maybe only 30 bowyers left in the country and hellish hard to use. English (often, but not the majority in any way, Welsh) longbowmen were professionals who had to practise for years to get the physique to fire the bow effectively.
Forensic studies of the bodies of bowmen that drowned on the Mary Rose revealed that the right sides of their bodies were massively muscled, almost to the point of deformity.
Add to that, the time it takes to get proficient with the weapon you can see why King Edward said, "If you want a good bowman, start with his grandfather."
Crossbows on the other hand are easier to use and simple to make even with basic gear (your first bow might not be very safe, but they get better). Loading is a problem but if you're in cover it's not such an issue plus it is feasible to create quick loading gear using modern kit even if it would probably be easier to just build more crossbows.
Unless you have a large stockpile of pre-cured yew and a skilled bowyer, longbows probably aren't on the menu and even then no one will be able to use them effectively for four to ten years.

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by Apache6

I'd expect that the UK Government, and/or their opponents would start turning out STEN guns or some other variant of easily produced blowback SMG in armories or converted machine shops.

Given the production run of the Sterling submachine gun and the huge stockplie the british army has in 1994. I would see them being issued and put back into small scale production. I don't think there is much diffrent design in the mech? could be wrong.