Fria Ligans forum

A that UK devolves into a civil war between loyalists and a Moscow-sponsored fifth column of radicals and useful idiots...?

Considering many elements of British history of the past 100 years, this actually sounds almost uncomfortably plausible...!


I could definitely consider developing that one.

Yes, it does. Though I am not an expert on anti-English rule on the island of Great Britain itself. However, I could imagine the KGB fostering and equipping Welsh, Scottish and even Cornish groups of nationalists, plus communist hardliners, in addition to shipping weapons to Northern Ireland. After a couple of nuclear hits, Great Britain could easily become a state fighting a civil war on top of a world war.

There is that — but it doesn't stop there!

Looking at the political history of Britain from the end of the Great War forward, one can see how the far left had a powerful destabilising influence particularly on British economy, and how this influence picked up from the 50'6-60's onwards, particularly — but not exclusively — during Labour governments of course. The country fell from sixth place among the world's industrial nations to something like the twenty-fourth from the 60's to the end of the 70's alone. Endless strikes, nationalised heavy industries where large portions of the work force were content to just cash in their paycheques and regular annual salary increases, with no personal investment in actually delivering working products, let alone any quality to speak of, were running the country into bankruptcy.

Enter Mrs Thatcher. The Iron Lady broke all of that, and was quite ruthless about it.

So, moving this into the game's timeline (or at least, as I think it should be) ... Thatcher is outmanoeuvred in Heseltine's palace coup in 1990. But with the Communist Bloc nowhere near a collapse but still a considerable force to be reckoned with, with its tentacles penetrating deep into Western countries, all the sleeper agents and useful idiots that had been forced into the margins during Thatcherism still have their masters on the other side of the Iron Curtain. When Gorbachev's ousting signals the official end of Perestroika, they can be re-activated and get back to work.
And as the European situation deteriorates, they can redouble their efforts towards various separatist movements. Exploiting the division lines that do exist in British society — with the outbreak of war, radicalist movements left and right, separatists all over, even radical religious groups, can be activated into open dissent. And in the later phases, with perhaps a nuke here or there, the country can just ... break apart.

What makes me use the words "uncomfortably plausible" about this scenario is that there's really not all that much fiction in it...

Breaking apart or simply stop working on a functional level, yes, I can see that happen. At least in (good) fiction.

This would give Soviet agents (clandestine, openly or just political allies) options to create safe havens for larger - but still small - operations. GRU spetsnaz operating almost openly near NATO bases, while understaffed and hardly trained Home Service Force members would try to run COIN operations against marauders, gangs of escaped POWs and the proverbial fifth column.

Failed State UK so to speak.

I think that would not only make sense, but also be interesting to play. This way, the UK would be its own spiel and setting. It is both, "promised land" to the west, because it's not all nuked out and US soldiers could catch a boat home from there, but it's also a variant of post-apocalyptic hell. One could run into a gang of Soviet ex-POWs middlemanning between spetsnaz and communist sympathizers, while the street corner is a green zone of Her Majesty's Armed Forces with barricades and check points leading from the pub right onto the pier where small vessels are serviced for the next pirate hunting action around the Orkneys.

Failed State UK so to speak.

Exactly that!

Failed State UK so to speak.

Exactly that!

That sounds like a very interesting place to play. Wouldn't want to live there.

Failed State UK so to speak.

Exactly that!

That sounds like a very interesting place to play. Wouldn't want to live there.

I love the idea of playing a campaign with the goal to "find a better place". Let's say you used to live in the greater Glasgow area, being stationed at Faslane or Holy Loch. Now, that's mostly glowing in the dark, raiders battle the rest of Comacchio Group Royal Marines (fleet protection) on behalf of Soviet assets in the area and you just want to find a better place to live. Where do you go? All across the island and through the Euro Tunnel? Try to catch a boat across the Channel?