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So what's everyone using for references? I have a pretty extensive (and expensive!) library, much of which dates back to the 1980's and 1990's, including a bunch in Russian (yes, I can read them - courtesy of almost two years at the Defense Language Institute). I don't have nearly as many as I used to, particularly military manuals, as my wife doesn't get why I have them (and we have moved several times, a couple internationally, and those things get heavy, fast). I even have quite a few uniforms left, including many Russian and Soviet ones, along with at least a couple each of my US ones from woodland BDUs through ACUs and OCP. In my defense, most of my career was spent in special operations and military intelligence, so the interest in the Soviet Union and Russia was partly work-related.Anyway, to start off the conversation I thought I'd drop in a few photos of books grabbed off my shelves this afternoon. I'm not as organized as I'd like to be, so this isn't a complete view of my collection (much of which is centered around World War II, plus I intentionally stopped before getting to vehicles since I have way too many books on those). If anyone needs pics of pages or larger images or information on authors etc., please let me know and I'd be happy to provide them.

Since the attachment limit here is very low in size and number of attachments, I will follow this topic with a post showing more of them.

Here are a couple more pics. If I get around to it (or there's more interest than I expect) I'll also do photos of some of my books on vehicles, improvised munitions, and/or historical references for the period (or even some of my uniforms).

Well, I've got the two Russian Armour books in the second photo of your first post.
Also, Osprey publishing books don't count we all (should) have loads of those.

Probably my main T:2k reference books from way back when would be 'The Modern British Army' by Terry Gander, 'Armies of NATO's Central Front' by David Isby and Charles Kamps, and 'Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army' by Davis Isby.
Lots (and lots - I like books ) of others, plus various manufactures' flyers I picked up at various Farnborough airshows through the 1990's and beyond, but I reckon those three are my core T2K references

Also, Osprey publishing books don't count we all (should) have loads of those.

Agreed. I left dozens of those on the shelf. Not even worth it, LOL.

Probably my main T:2k reference books from way back when would be 'The Modern British Army' by Terry Gander, 'Armies of NATO's Central Front' by David Isby and Charles Kamps, and 'Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army' by Davis Isby.
Lots (and lots - I like books ) of others, plus various manufactures' flyers I picked up at various Farnborough airshows through the 1990's and beyond, but I reckon those three are my core T2K references

I barely have anything by David Isby (outside of old SPI games!) but I wouldn't mind finding some of his books. The Tank Museum in Bovington or the IWM in Duxford might have some interesting books but possibly too modern. The 80's and 90's stuff is getting hard to find.

Somewhere I still have my SMCT (Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks, aka "Smart Book") from 1987... with my notes from BT still in it. I also have my 3rd party "Soldier's Handbook" from then, and somehow wound up with a late 90's version, as well. It covers customs and courtesies, uniforms, and much of the stuff in the "Smart Book." Scope is similar to the Bluejacket's manual, except that the BJM is a Navy pub, and the Soldier's Handbook is 3rd party.

I still have T2K 1E, 2E, and 2.2E core sets with a few expansions, and all of 1E and 2.2E on CDRom... (Far Future still sells those CDs of PDFs... but mine were a gift from Marc Miller.)

I also, somewhere, have 3 of the Assault series games (Assault, Boots and Saddles, Bundeswehr. I never got Chieftain.) And Harpoon. With Harpoon, and Jane's, one can guestimate later ships...

Somewhere I still have my SMCT (Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks, aka "Smart Book") from 1987... with my notes from BT still in it. I also have my 3rd party "Soldier's Handbook" from then, and somehow wound up with a late 90's version, as well. It covers customs and courtesies, uniforms, and much of the stuff in the "Smart Book." Scope is similar to the Bluejacket's manual, except that the BJM is a Navy pub, and the Soldier's Handbook is 3rd party.

I kept my Smart Book for years. Wish I still had it! It was like a Ranger Handbook for basic training!

I still have T2K 1E, 2E, and 2.2E core sets with a few expansions, and all of 1E and 2.2E on CDRom... (Far Future still sells those CDs of PDFs... but mine were a gift from Marc Miller.)

I also, somewhere, have 3 of the Assault series games (Assault, Boots and Saddles, Bundeswehr. I never got Chieftain.) And Harpoon. With Harpoon, and Jane's, one can guestimate later ships...

I have most of the T2K books I think in softcopy, only 2.2E in hardcopy. I'm not sure what happened to my 1st ed. set. Boots and Saddles was a great game for sure!

For my money, those two you have dead center in the manuals are the good stuff here: the Ranger handbook and FM 100-2-3. Both have a trove of knowledge that's directly applicable and are full of adventure ideas. FM 100-2-3 might seem above the scope, but in the opening chapters there's a lot of good material on the "who" and "why" of the Soviet army: where they come from, where and what they train, and tons of other human factors that are real handy for having believable Soviet characters and NPCs around.

I don't know what, but I'd add some books in on the setting. What do I know about what it meant to live in late 20th Century Poland? Just enough to be dangerous; not honestly what I'd currently call enough to run a decent game there.