Back in the 1990's James Clay wrote a couple of articles for the SFSFW journal Ragnarok about a contemporary fictional civil war in England. With glasnost in full swing the idea of using existing modern wargames armies on England's green and pleasant shores was hugely attractive, especially with the addition of foreign volunteers joining the battle...With the popularity of a Very British Civil War set in the thirties, my thoughts turned back to James' idea and the numbers of green painted modern armour and troops I still had which I had no desire to repaint and send to Iraq or Afghanistan.
So I've started a blog aims to resurrect James' idea, develop the background and give me an excuse to use my 20mm moderns in a temperate war zone (assuming I can find them).
At the moment I'm having some fun posting news stories from the alternative-history 'point of divergence' (the 1987 General Election) as a background to the outbreak of war...
sounds interesting
ReplyDeleteAn interesting project.
ReplyDeleteThe end of Chris Mullin's A Very British Coup would make for an interesting point for the divergence. Closer to the more depressing ending of the book than the TV version. Perkins is being pushed off the stage but a left wing, militant element of the Royal Tank Regiment lead elements of the army in support of his government. It sounds far fetched but I read an article that suggested fear of militancy in some branches of the army (and especially the tank corp) in the '70s may have dissuaded elements who allegedly tried to get Mountbatten to lead a revolution. From memory the RAF and Royal Navy were seen as being safely on side but the army wasn't to be trusted.
If you wanted something a bit more recent there was a series of Spooks that could be taken as a starting point.
That Chieftain Urban Armour Camo is scary but really effective in practice
ReplyDeleteYou may recall the recent story that MI5 and elements of the Army began planning a coup d'etat against the Wilson government. Sometimes the veneer of democracy in this country seems thinner than we like to believe don't forget the claim the Queen more recently said “There are dark forces at work in this country, of which we know nothing”...
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting alternative...
ReplyDeleteRob
Excellent Blog Steve - well done. Really well done.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I love the premise, 1979 is my personal memory of riots on the street and talk of revelotion and coups. So, I'm using the creating an alternative history 10 years earlier in order that I have an excuse to buy 20mm Falklands era British infantry, AFVs and helicopters.
Cheers
Mark