Favorite Light Utility Vehicle

[Raellus]

I deliberately didn't get super specific with model numbers since so many variations of each of these vehicles exist, but the focus is on Cold War-era vehicles, pre-1997. You can specify specific models in a follow-up post, if you'd like to be more specific than the options allow. Cheers!

[Benjamin]

XR311 is my favorite. The G.I. Joe V.A.M.P. is just the thing for every discerning Twilight PC group.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

XR311 is my favorite. The G.I. Joe V.A.M.P. is just the thing for every discerning Twilight PC group.

Great pick! Don't forget to vote "Other".

I wonder if/how the XR311 could have made its way into the U.S. military (or allied militaries) in the T2k timeline.

Perhaps China ordered it (AT versions especially, like the one mountin a six recoilless rifle cluster) as a stopgap measure after the Soviet invasion?

-

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I'd pick a Unimog, probably the S404 model as there were plenty of them in the West German military at the time but I'd just as happily take the S427 model. Even though that model had only just started production in 1985, there should still be lots of them around to pillage for spares.
The other reason for taking the S427 was that it had an enclosed cab and not the canvas roof open cab of the S404.

[Legbreaker]

I honestly can't pick anything. For me, the best light vehicle would be the one you have until you can get your hands on something a little more suitable.

[cawest]

just a van. it can carry cargo or you can sleep in it when bad weather rolls in.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by cawest

just a van. it can carry cargo or you can sleep in it when bad weather rolls in.

Fair enough, but vans aren't really known for their off-road capability. You'd pretty much be road-bound in a van. The options on the board all give a party at least a modicum of off-road mobility, some considerably more.

[cawest]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Fair enough, but vans aren't really known for their off-road capability. You'd pretty much be road-bound in a van. The options on the board all give a party at least a modicum of off-road mobility, some considerably more.

Fare enough... how about a M109 Van

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by cawest

Fare enough... how about a M109 Van

Well if it's tracked vehicles you want, just park your VW Combi in the back of the M548. Done!

[Olefin]

FYI if we are talking about the US there would be all kinds of sport utility vehicles that could be nominated

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Olefin

FYI if we are talking about the US there would be all kinds of sport utility vehicles that could be nominated

-too many to fit in one poll, so I stuck with military vehicles.

Other countries have trucks/SUVs too, BTW. The first image in Osprey's New Vanguard volume on Technicals is a Dodge truck operated by the PFLP in Amman, Jordan in 1970. Various militias employed various makes and models of trucks (CJ-series Jeeps, Dodges, Chevys, Land Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers, to name a few) technicals in Lebanon in the 1980s (widely considered the birthplace of the technical). Chad and Libya (especially the latter) made extensive use of civilian model truck-based technicals in the Great Toyota War of the late 1980s. And then, of course, the technical became famous in Somalia in the mid 1990s.

It's not just paramilitaries that operate trucks and SUVs outside of the U.S. When I lived in Ecuador in the late '80s, a lot of upper class [civilian] families owned SUVs (Toyotas, Mitsubishis, and Chevys, predominantly, with a few older model Land Rovers still kicking around). So, although they were/are most common there, SUVs and trucks are not exclusive to the U.S.A.

[rcaf_777]

Volkswagen Type 183

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Raellus

-too many to fit in one poll, so I stuck with military vehicles.

Other countries have trucks/SUVs too, BTW. The first image in Osprey's New Vanguard volume on Technicals is a Dodge truck operated by the PFLP in Amman, Jordan in 1970. Various militias employed various makes and models of trucks (CJ-series Jeeps, Dodges, Chevys, Land Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers, to name a few) technicals in Lebanon in the 1980s (widely considered the birthplace of the technical). Chad and Libya (especially the latter) made extensive use of civilian model truck-based technicals in the Great Toyota War of the late 1980s. And then, of course, the technical became famous in Somalia in the mid 1990s.

It's not just paramilitaries that operate trucks and SUVs outside of the U.S. When I lived in Ecuador in the late '80s, a lot of upper class [civilian] families owned SUVs (Toyotas, Mitsubishis, and Chevys, predominantly, with a few older model Land Rovers still kicking around). So, although they were/are most common there, SUVs and trucks are not exclusive to the U.S.A.

I agree with you completely and amend my previous statement - and for those wanting to set a campaign in Africa by 2001 there literally is every kind of modified SUV technical/gun truck you can think of in use. They would make up the bulk of the Somali mobile forces being used for everything from APC's to anti-aircraft to anti-tank equipped SUV's - even ones with light mortars mounted to them. Ditto for much of the Rwandan Army and for the LRA as well.

[Raellus]

I appreciate how one can't see the results of the poll until one has taken it.

I'd been holding off, but to bump it (and see the results to date), I made my pick.

I chose the Humvee for a few reasons:

1. It's on the cover of T2K v1!

2. For the most common model, its relatively easy to mount heavy weapons to (and provide a modicum of protection for the gunner with a lightly armored gunshield).

3. Of the other options, it's relatively easy to add "hillbilly armor" to.

4. I used to think Humvees looked really cool, especially when they were rolling around Panama during Just Cause, '89.

[rcaf_777]

M561, 6×6 tactical 1¼-ton truck AKA the Gamma Goat