Plans - 20mm Twilight 2000 Post Apoc

This is something of a 'journey home' for me - afterall, the first non-GW gaming I did was Post Apocalypse (inspired by the Fallout Tactics computer game), and it's a subject I have revisited many times over the years, the most recent incarnation being my BritApoc setting. I've fancied the idea of Twilight 2000 ever since I came across it, as at the time it was one of the few 'gritty/realistic/non-road-warrior-or-gamma-world settings out there.  Infact, some of the inspiration for BritApoc probably came from it, albeit indirectly. Apart from thinking about maybe doing a couple of BritApoc games with ragged British fighting ragged Soviets, that is about as far as the idea went until I came across some of the TW2K threads on the Guild (see below!).

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=1671&p=13721&hilit=tw2k#p13721

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=1069&p=7315&hilit=tw2k#p7315

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=437
http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=221&p=622&hilit=elhiem+vietnam#p622
http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=456&hilit=twilight2000

I would already have a large number of 'Cold warriors' as well as some ragged 80's style partisans, so things were beginning to look set up. I was initially going to do 'straight' Twilight 2000...however, I'm not a great one for being tied into a 'canon' these days (did enough of that with Games Workshop, and as someone once said, why be limited by someone else's imagination?) so I swayed towards doing my own thing 'Twilight 85' if you will. Then I actually *read* the Twilight 2000 background (1st & 2nd edition - the first is Pre-Gorbachev, the second post, and for ease of integration of my figure collection, I'll be using the first...), and wow. So I'll be adding a few 'future which never came' elements to my forces (US army LAVs in MERDC camo!)

I'm not sure what scale games I'm aiming for (or what rules) - part of me expects the usual small groups of 4-12, but I also fancy major 'warband' size battles (about reinforced platoon strength) which are something I would struggle to do with my BritApoc stuff. I'm guessing that I'll use Force on Force for these games, especially as apparently one of the SOG campaign packs has post-apocalypse rules :)

Location wise (as it'll seriously impact on the forces available) I'm currently looking at the a region towards the Polish border in the DDR, so that I can use Soviets, Brits, Yanks, Canadians, Federal Germans, East Germans, Poles and possibly Czechs, as there aren't really too many other figures suitable for use in some of the other fronts (although, some games in Jugoslavia could be a good use of the various Balkan Wars Serbs, and having a Cousin-in-law who was in the Turkish Army in the 1980's kind of makes me want to do some Turks - especially giving the range of vehicles they and the Greeks used)

Anyway, enough airy-fairy hand wringing, on with the planning! The forces I'm currently thinking of are:

Soviets/Warsaw Pact
The Soviets have to be in there! These troops will be representing the remains of a joint Polish/Soviet force which was attempting to exploit the depletion in allied resources left by NATO's (well, the US MilGov aligned half's) last push into Poland. For the main body of these guys I will use Cold War forces, with the addition of a few raggedy types in mixed uniforms and head gear, maybe also use some of the RH 'Generic' figures in Soviet helmets & Civilians in Soviet helmets to add character. Vehicle support will probably be a motley assortment of Warsaw-pact armour - maybe a couple of BTRs and a T72, but probably some older kit too (T-62's and BTR 152s or some such). almost certainly a couple of heavy weapons either mounted in/on vehicles or ready to disembark ready to provide additional fire support. As with all major military forces these days, they are more along the lines of local warlords, but they have still endeavoured to maintain a series of offensives against NATO.

Marauders 
As bandits, deserters and renegades, and the occasional 'good guy' unaligned to other forces. They are truly independant and will happily strike at anyone if it offers a good possibility of loot.  These guys will need to be a mix of figures, with a range of uniforms and equipment. Luckily for me, I already have the perfect foundation for this by using my NATO partisans, although they might well need to have a few more vehicles rather than the current planned technical  I'm guessing these will probably be '1-off' bits of kit (probably diecasts) which I'll pick up anyway knowing my inner horder...! They'll be a mix of Eastern & Western, possibly with some 'bodge' jobs (gives me an excuse to get/use one of the Vietnam Aussie M113 Fire supports with a Saracen turret) and armoured civilian kit. I'm also hoping to add some 'European Road warriors' to add to the post apocalypse feel of the setting, but without getting too mad max on it!

Town Militia/scavengers/etc
I'd envisage most settlements having a few 'have a go heroes' in addition to any forces stationed there by one of the 'powers'. I'll probably just use the few civilians I am doing without partisan armbands to fill in for these guys...

NATO Cantonment
The remnants of NATO in this area are a ragged mix of East (!) & West Germans, Americans, 'free' Poles, Canadians and Brits. These troops have given up any goal of ejecting the Soviets from the region, and have instead fallen back on trying to maintain the status quo, and protect what troops lie within their Cantonment from the deprivations of some of the other forces in the area. These will be a mix of my various NATO figures, with added Americans & also a home for some of my East Germans (Following a Coup, they switched sides and asked for NATO assistance. These guys will have a real hodge podge of kit - but I'm hoping for atleast 1 LAV and a couple of Humvees to capture that 'TW2K' feel....