Looking for information and inspiration

[Belizaire]

Hey guys,

   After watching the original "Red Dawn" movie on TV a few days ago, I got inspired to do some Cold War/modern small unit gaming. Problem is most of my knowledge and expertise, aside from my stint in the US Army from 1990-94, is WW2 and earlier. So I am looking for sources of knowledge and inspiration-- be it in print or film, events real or fictional, with a time frame from the 1970s to the present.  Here are the criteria I have established:

1. I want to do this in 20mm. Elhiem miniatures look good to me but I am open to suggestions. Or maybe another line mixes well both in size and style with Elhiem for more variety?

2. Set in the 1970s to present day.

3. Real or fictional events.

4. Light on armor. Not trying to re-create Kursk here. Soft-skinned vehicles are fine with the occasional tank.

5. If anyone has a suggestion for a "must have" force or time/place I would like to hear it!

I plan on using Force on Force for rules. Open to any and all comments and constructive criticisms.

Thanks,
   Paul

[CarlLeyland]

Your project sounds interesting and there are plenty of people on here who will be able to give you sound advice. I have only recently "discovered" Force on Force and I am really enjoying the source book that I just ordered so my advice would be an appropriate source book from Amazon...

Good luck with this and post your progress!

[julesav]

'Modern' is a rather wide subject! Just take a look at the FoF supplement books and you can go from the Arctic to Africa via a large chunk of the Middle East with a side trip to Asia (Vietnam). Hard to give advice without more idea of what you're looking for.

Personally I'm working on Rangers/D-boys and Somalis for Mogadishu/Black Hawk Down in 28mm. I'm also going to add Brits to the mix for a fictional intervention in Africa along the lines of Sierra Leone, but set back into the early 1990s.

To be honest the asymmetric scenarios in the FoF supplements are pretty generic, so you could play (for example) the Iraq scenarios with African opposition with relatively little or no modification. Equally you could use them for Govt forces vs survivors in Los Angeles/New York in a 'ten minutes after' style setting.

[CarlLeyland]

Julesav-I like the survivors scenario...I had not thought of that, now I feel I need to look for companies who make those figures in 1/72!

[v_lazy_dragon]

Picking up on the Red Dawn note...

You could check out the twilight 2000 RPG setting and source books? They involve a fictional 'Cold war gone hot' in what was the future (the late 90') when the books were written in the 80's. Plenty of scope for skirmish games using what ever you fancy (US cavalry supported by a looted BTR-80 and a battered British Scorpion - why not!) set anywhere from the disintegrating USA, through war-ravaged Europe to the blasted ruins of the Russian-Chinese frontier. Figures can be anything cold-war onwards, preferably viewed through the eyes of the 1980's (more green screen, more synthetic music) + most books have example ORBATS and a fair bit of detail which could easily be ported across to FoF.

Alternatively, the FoF Cold War Gone hot book has a scenario based off Red Dawn, as well as other low intensity scenario including a Soviet submarine crew trying to take over a small US costal town and a Red Army Faction (+ spetsnatz advisers) terrorist attack on an airfield in West Germany

[Belizaire]

Thanks guys. I know that what I am looking at covers a huge range of possibilities, but the FoF supplements-- especially "Cold War Gone Hot" sound promising. I really like the idea of a Soviet sub crew coming ashore in the US or the scenario julesav suggested about Gov't forces vs survivors in a "ten minutes after" setting.

But that brings up the question--what does "ten minutes after" mean? Ten minutes after what? I have never heard that before and a Google search turned up a million hits. Is it a book, movie, or a catchphrase for the s*it hitting the fan?

Paul

[Fireman Tim]

20mm is the way to go.  Elhiem minis are great.

S&S models do a lot of Cold war vehicles.  The ZSU-23-4 is especially nice.

S-Model make M113s, BTR-60s, BMP-1s, BRDM-2s, BMD-1s

ICM makes Zil and Ural Soviet trucks.

Revell makes a nice T-72.

I think you are on the right track with FOF as you are essentially looking at insurgents (Wolverines) vs Soviet and Cubans.  Cold War gone hot is the supplement you want.




Liberation models also makes some nice generic types for your Wolverines.

[julesav]

Paul/Belizaire

I thought I'd invented 'ten minutes after'! Lol!

I was using it to refer to during or just after the apocalypse (of your choice) games (as opposed to post-apocalypse stuff like Mad Max etc.) while there's some sort of government trying to assert/reassert control. A good example of what I had in mind is the setting for the movie 'Children of Men'.

I'd thought about it as an option for my 28mms using plastic survivors and zombies etc. but doubt I'll actually do it. It just came back to mind when I saw your query.

[CarlLeyland]

Does the Revell T72 have thse awful rubber/plastic tracks or are the tracks cast? I am an awful modeller and would probably end up losing an eye or setting something alight if I attempted those plastic nightmares!

Also S model BTR 60s?? I will look for those now...out of interest where are S model from?

[Fireman Tim]

Revell tracks on the T-72 are all plastic.  Some are individual unfortunately around the sprocket, but they are not bad and since there are track guards, you don't have to assemble the ones on the top track rollers.


S-Model BTR_60



And some of my Wolverines from a few years back....



Local High School football team on the attack

[CarlLeyland]

Love the football team! Thanks for the info on the T72...it looks great, much better than the bendy track system! Ha ha the football team is excellent, are they metal?

[Arlequín]

While there's another vote here for Red Dawn and Twilight 2000... there's always Grenada '83, or something based on a similar scenario (probably one with more evenly-matched sides perhaps).

Another vote too for the Cold War Gone Hot supplement if you like FoF... and want to do something along those lines.

[cuprum]

I can offer you to choose plastic figures 1/72. Select: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=46

Models can be found diecast: http://siberia-miniatures.ru/index.php?cPath=41_38_96

A little inspiration:

[Fireman Tim]

My 'Wolverines' are Liberation 20mm metal.  I think they are from their universal range.  The T-55 in the background is an ACE kit.

[Ash]

Have a look at Under Fire's new releases as well. Some Urban militia and generic militia could look the part.