A Very British Post-Apocalypse?

[Kommando_J]

I've been toying with the idea of this for a few years, I love VBCW but...the fact it occurs before WW2 does mean that WW2 units for the most part cannot be fielded, and after WW2 things are a lot more organised so a civil war along the lines of VBCW seems very unlikely.

Looking at the Atomic Cafe rules got me thinking, why not just do the same for Britain?

So I come here to seek knowledge so hat I can adequate fluff things out (also to serve as a showcase for progress made).

...GFor starters what would be the earliest feasible date for a nuclear war that could involve Britain?

[v_lazy_dragon]

Not quite the same answer- but I did some 1970s British post apoc stuff (bit triffids, bit various lurid novels). Plenty of figures from the Geezers range, Crooked Dice, Mofo/Gripping Beast (Falklands war figures for the military), Mongrel/Badger (again military), Mini Figs Winter of 79 figures and Mike Bravo miniatures (no idea if they are behaving better these days).
Plus potential for conversions of WW2 figures and some modern street violence types...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Have you had a look at Winter of '79?

Wikipedia says first detonation in 1952, but how quickly Tube Alloys could have provided a viable weapon in an alternative timeline is open for debate.

[Kommando_J]

'79 is a too late for what I am thinking, too much difference in aesthetic and I might want to use some older ww2 personages, i'm thinking Prime Minister for life Churchill?

I think sometime during the early 1960's might be best?

[Kommando_J]

Or maybe I am looking at this wrong, instead of a full scale everybody dies-style nuclear war its instead a series of atomic engagements with obvious devastation and radiation but not a full regression in terms of loss of government/organisation etc.

Thoughts?

[Cat]

The first experiments to test sub-atomic particle theory began in 1897 by J.J. Thomson at Cambridge.  James Chadwick proved the existence of the neutron in 1932, also at Cambridge; and eventually went on to work with the Manhattan Project.

You don't need atomic bombs flying to start an apocolypse, just a big experiment at Cambridge that goes quite pear shaped. 

[von Lucky]

Early 1950s?

My mind went straight to one of the James Bonds books or films:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(novel)

[Kommando_J]

A good point, i'm starting to really get into the idea but hammering out the details of the world is a sticky wicket, for example i've always the less 'popular' tanks like the vickers light tank and would think in this PA world would recieve a new lease of life as they still hold up excellently against small bands of raiders and mutated beasts.

Thnking about the various countries I have a few ideas:

- Britain and France would form an alliance ruling what is left of the allied countries along with what Americans were stranded when the incident happened, the Ango-Franco alliance is now a republic with the apparent death of the royal family with Churchill and de Gaulle essentially consuls as joint rulers.

London and Paris are now the capitals with outlying and coastal regions still vulnerable to raiders, leading some communities to go independent rather than count on aid from distant rulers concerned more with the unclaimed parts of Europe.

- The Germans are split in three, one group has allied with the Anglo-Franco government, determined to atone for the crimes of their past and retake and restore Germany (mostly an irradiated ruin and breeding ground of mutants that poses a continuous threat to Europe).

Some of the surviving politically-minded elements (especially among former SS forces) have banded together with the goal of carving out a fourth Reich in the ruins of Europe.

- Russia itself is in chaos with Stalin presumed dead in the bombing of Moscow, Zhukov attempts desperately to keep the USSR from further disintegration, all too aware that failure could mean the once superpower could be reduced to a series of tiny warring kingdoms as factionalism, ethnic differences and years of mismanagement finally come to a head.

- Finally a host of independent factions have emerged from foreign filibusters and navy turned privateer forces to mercenary Germans and former soviet bandit gangs.

[Kommando_J]

Although the thought of a stalker-style exclusion zone with bratin being the one site of a nuclear incident causing it to be cordoned off is tempting...

[Cat]

Britain bing a cordoned off zone would certainly work.

Alternatively, if the atomic race was on in earnest before the war, lots of countries would be poised to make the same drastic mistakes in rapid succession; especially if they thought the first country to go wrong had been bombed by another, leading the rest to escalate their work.

1950s works particularly well if the US hadn't bombed Japan.  Once Russia has the bomb, the Korean War would be highly likely to escalate out of ignorance of just how bad that would turn out for everybody.

[Kommando_J]

Yes, maybe have Britain the site of a massive incident after a series of linked experiments go awry, have Churchill and surviving government up sticks to France, Scotland has become affected too with mutant creatures roaming the landscape forcing a return to well fortified tower houses and the like for those in rural areas.

Many Britons either refuse to leave or are made to stay in all but name with authorities fearing contamination being brought to mainland Europe, many have banded together in groups ranging from akin to the LDV groups of the most recent war to little more than bandit gangs.

Allies send in expeditions to study the strange new mutations and physical effects, of course the Soviets would sneak in their own groups.

[Mr.J]

I like this as a concept. More food for thought might be the episode "The Secret War“ number 18 of Netflix’s anthology series Love, Death & Robots.
Occultism in rural Russia causing chaos and distraction during WWII. My favourite episode of the series and well worth a watch if you haven’t already.

[Storm Wolf]

More like the final book of James Herberts - The Rats, limited nuke exchange , survivors deal with the aftermath, just in the 50s not 80s

[Bullshott]

Read and watch some 1950s British sci-fi to get a feel for the period and 'science gone wrong' scenarios in the minds of authors at that time. Even if you don't use the scenarios, the background detail (survival, civil service and military attitudes and options for contaiment, available technology and a 1950s 'feel') will be very useful. As a starting point:

The Day of the Triffids
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Quatermass Experiment
Quatermass II
Quatermass and the Pit
The Death of Grass (adapted for film in 1970 as No Blade of Grass)

[Storm Wolf]

Read and watch some 1950s British sci-fi to get a feel for the period and 'science gone wrong' scenarios in the minds of authors at that time. Even if you don't use the scenarios, the background detail (survival, civil service and military attitudes and options for contaiment, available technology and a 1950s 'feel') will be very useful. As a starting point:

The Day of the Triffids
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Quatermass Experiment
Quatermass II
Quatermass and the Pit
The Death of Grass (adapted for film in 1970 as No Blade of Grass)

The day of the triffids, the midwich cuckoo's and my absolute fave Quatermass and the pit are all ace👍👍👍

May i also throw into the ring, The Kraken Wakes and Z for Zachariah