User avatar
ottarrus
Topic Author
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Osprey and T2K

Wed 08 Dec 2021, 15:16

So, I'm lucky enough to be in a Roll20 T2K4 game. Oddly enough, most of the players have only a passing familiarity with military life. I think I and another person are the only veterans. The referee specifically asked us not to get all 'old war mutt' with it, correcting or providing TMI about the military during the Cold War. So I decided that I'd do something I'd never done in an T2K game: I'd play a Pole. Why? Because what I know about life in the Polish military can be written on the back of a match book in crayon... :lol: :D
Here is a list of my Osprey research to get into the character of my Polish supply sergeant /linguist.

If you're a military historian, you're familiar with the UK's Osprey Publishing.

While they've gotten into the gaming market quite a bit in the last 5 years or so, they're primarily known as the publisher of excellent military titles going back some 40 years. Their most famous series is the 500+ volume 'Man-at-Arms' series but they publish several series on almost every military subject you'd care to delve into.

The principle benefits of this publisher is that their books are written in plain English with very little 'militar-eeze' jargon [and where that jargon appears it's most often defined in a glossary], the level of research and bibliography lists, and the photographic evidence presented. In addition [and being honest this is the part that most of us fans love] each volume contains wonderfully accurate color artwork [usually 6-8 pieces per]. My character sheet illustration is from Osprey's 'Warsaw Pact Armies' and is by Ron Volstad.

To provide everyone with a visual sense of what we're all up to in the game, I wanted to provide a list of the Osprey titles that my mental picture is using. I hope this will help those of you who have little exposure to the military in getting a sense of time and place.

I've limited my selections to the era of 1985-1995. Most of these are from the Elite series, which is more focused both by units and time period discussed. Let me also point out that titles specifically discussing the Red Army and Warsaw Pact were written during the Cold War. During the Age Before The Internet, you had to read trusted analysts in order sort out what was the truth behind the Iron Curtain and what was propaganda. Some of these titles have aged very well, some not so much.

Elite 5 Soviet Bloc Elite Forces
Elite 10 Warsaw Pact Ground Forces
Elite 12 Inside the Soviet Army Today
Elite 14 The British Army in the 1980s
Elite 16 NATO Armies Today [note: circa 1987]
Elite 20 Inside the US Army Today [note: circa 1988]
Elite 26 Tank War - Central Front: NATO vs Warsaw Pact
Elite 27 Panama 1989-90
Elite 45 Armies of the Gulf War
Man-at-Arms 177 Russia's War in Afghanistan [note: Published in 1986, for obvious reasons this is the book that is least accurate; however it does discuss the Red Army's performance in combat much like the Elite Panama title does for the US. Therefore, it is germane to the conversation.]

Unfortunately, Osprey chose not to publish much about the Breakup of Yugoslavia until several years after the conflict. Even then, later research showed that some [perhaps 15-20% of the information] was inaccurate. This was largely due to several parties [on all sides] trying to change the narrative of the historical record to cover up war crimes. They [Osprey] have since corrected the errors and a discussion of that war is upcoming in the Essential Histories volume 'The Collapse of Yugoslavia', due out early next year.
 
Raellus
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat 28 Nov 2020, 00:13
Contact:

Re: Osprey and T2K

Thu 09 Dec 2021, 04:57

I love me some Osprey books. I've got all the ones you listed, except for Elite 35: Armies of the Gulf War.

I foolishly got rid of most of the Cold War-related titles back in the early 2000s, thinking, at the time, "Well, that didn't happen! No sense in keeping this stuff." This was before I discovered the online T2k fandom. Needless to say, when I learned that T2k was alive and well, I regretted that decision intensely and eventually reacquired all of the titles I'd jettisons. Essentially, I ended up paying for most of them twice. Silly me! I'm just glad I was able to get them before they went out of print. I haven't checked recently, but I assume that some of the titles listed are no longer being published.

If one is interested in Ref'ing or playing a campaign where the PCs include SOF types, I would recommend...
Elite 4: US Army Special Forces 1952-84
Elite 13: US Army Rangers 1942-87
Elite 212: US Army Rangers 1989-2015
Elite 31: US Army Airborne 1940-90
Elite 55: Marine Recon 1940-90

And there are some newer titles that include information and images from the Cold War and early Federation periods which are useful for classic T2k:
Elite 231: Soviet Airborne Forces 1930-91
Elite 206: Spetsnaz: Russia's Special Forces
Elite 211: The SAS 1983-2014

There's also the Osprey Men-at-Arms series.
Grenada 1983
Falklands 1982

If you're looking for lots of T2k stuff, and you haven't found us yet, check out the forum I admin.
https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

-
Twilight 2000 discussion forum @ https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3
 
User avatar
ottarrus
Topic Author
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Re: Osprey and T2K

Thu 09 Dec 2021, 09:19

I love me some Osprey books. I've got all the ones you listed, except for Elite 35: Armies of the Gulf War.

I foolishly got rid of most of the Cold War-related titles back in the early 2000s, thinking, at the time, "Well, that didn't happen! No sense in keeping this stuff." This was before I discovered the online T2k fandom. Needless to say, when I learned that T2k was alive and well, I regretted that decision intensely and eventually reacquired all of the titles I'd jettisons. Essentially, I ended up paying for most of them twice. Silly me! I'm just glad I was able to get them before they went out of print. I haven't checked recently, but I assume that some of the titles listed are no longer being published.

If one is interested in Ref'ing or playing a campaign where the PCs include SOF types, I would recommend...
Elite 4: US Army Special Forces 1952-84
Elite 13: US Army Rangers 1942-87
Elite 212: US Army Rangers 1989-2015
Elite 31: US Army Airborne 1940-90
Elite 55: Marine Recon 1940-90

And there are some newer titles that include information and images from the Cold War and early Federation periods which are useful for classic T2k:
Elite 231: Soviet Airborne Forces 1930-91
Elite 206: Spetsnaz: Russia's Special Forces
Elite 211: The SAS 1983-2014

There's also the Osprey Men-at-Arms series.
Grenada 1983
Falklands 1982

If you're looking for lots of T2k stuff, and you haven't found us yet, check out the forum I admin.
https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

-
All excellent additions to the list.
I chose not to include Grenada, Operation Eagle Talon [the failed Tehran hostage mission], and Operation Gothic Serpent [aka 'Black Hawk Down'] because they were either too early or they were overly focused on just one unit and nationality type. As I said, most of my fellow players are a] non-military and b] post-Cold War. Whatever exposure they have to military life is 9/11 or later... and that's all not very useful in a T2K context. Also, and this really did surprised me, NONE of us are 'green face paint' types. Nobody decided to go Operator or Spook or Officer. We're all just a bunch of knucklehead sergeants trying to stay out of way and survive this madness.
 
Raellus
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat 28 Nov 2020, 00:13
Contact:

Re: Osprey and T2K

Fri 10 Dec 2021, 03:16

I can see why you omitted some of those titles. As an aside, I prefer games "starring" ordinary soldiers in extraordinary circumstances.
Twilight 2000 discussion forum @ https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3
 
User avatar
ottarrus
Topic Author
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Re: Osprey and T2K

Fri 10 Dec 2021, 03:45

I can see why you omitted some of those titles. As an aside, I prefer games "starring" ordinary soldiers in extraordinary circumstances.
Yeah, I prefer 'ordinary men finding the extraordinary in themselves' as well.
My particular PC is Polish supply sergeant. He's unusual only in that he's college educated. He studied languages and literature and can speak English and Russian. However, he was labelled as 'politically unreliable' by the Communist regime and so he served his conscription time as a truck driver and joined the reserves after his mandatory time as a patriotic gesture. He doesn't have one 'combat' oriented specialization.
The rest of my party is similar. The closest things we have to 'Rambo' types is a cavalry scout and a combat engineer.
 
Raellus
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat 28 Nov 2020, 00:13
Contact:

Re: Osprey and T2K

Sat 11 Dec 2021, 00:44

Very cool. I find that sort of party composition much more interesting than a team of SOF types because it usually means the PCs have to try problem-solving/RP'ing their way out of tricky situations instead of shooting their way out.

-
Twilight 2000 discussion forum @ https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3
 
marroon69
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 30 Nov 2020, 15:38

Re: Osprey and T2K

Thu 30 Dec 2021, 16:30

these are very cool. So am I missing it or can you not get digital formats? We play online it would be great to get digital access and be able to use the art or share the text. I am not saying I want a pdf or what ever format for free....I will gladly pay for it but just seems I cannot find it.
 
User avatar
Ursus Maior
Posts: 278
Joined: Tue 25 Aug 2020, 20:58
Contact:

Re: Osprey and T2K

Thu 30 Dec 2021, 22:34

You can buy Osprey publications as PDFs from their webstore here: https://ospreypublishing.com
liber & infractus
 
marroon69
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 30 Nov 2020, 15:38

Re: Osprey and T2K

Thu 30 Dec 2021, 23:02

hmmmm it appears not all of the content is available in PDF...for example the first one on the list "Elite 5 Soviet Bloc Elite Forces" is only paper back for some reason.

Here is the link I was looking at
https://ospreypublishing.com/soviet-blo ... -forces-pb
 
User avatar
ottarrus
Topic Author
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Re: Osprey and T2K

Sun 02 Jan 2022, 05:51

these are very cool. So am I missing it or can you not get digital formats? We play online it would be great to get digital access and be able to use the art or share the text. I am not saying I want a pdf or what ever format for free....I will gladly pay for it but just seems I cannot find it.
I'm a collector of Osprey Military titles in the dead tree format, so my suggestions all came from off my shelf.
All told, counting all series, I have something like 350 Ospreys.
Osprey is a bit patchy when it comes to which titles are physical copy and which are pdf. Some are paper only and some are pdf only.and there isn't a whole lot of logic as to which is what. Credit where it's due, they deliver on time and in good condition when they ship a title. OTOH, you damned near need a Sawz-All to get the package open! :D :lol:

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests