ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

"Wow, we've got a lot of stuff!"

Players are acquisitive.

They start out fairly normally, and if you use the usual rules and say a five man group they get a load of equipment just starting out. However, after a few weeks of game time they can have a caravan of gear they can't bear to leave behind.
I've seen players happy to start out on foot with just a backpack soon end up with an MBT towing a trailer of junk, plus more. It's in their nature.

It makes a lot of sense. Everything about the setting states that all this stuff will get rarer and rarer. The constant struggle for food especially makes hoarding a natural response. Also, the game tends to throw up friendly NPCs, even the much-loved UK stragglers with their sterling SMGs, and soon they have a little train of camp followers traipsing along behind them.

Now, the first thing many GMs think is "how do I trim this train of stuff down to a lean, mean crew"
Well, that's not hard and I'm not going to talk about that. Instead I thought we might discuss embracing the little society the PCs create and some ways it can be teased into good story-moments for players.

The first concern is of course working out how they move all this junk. Road trains are the usual method but there's also trains and watercraft as well. Now, from a tactical point of view you don't want your camp followers subject to a meeting engagement. It's going to be upsetting for the PCs if they have a heavy firefight complete with IEDs against a marauder ambush to find out that their NPCs are scattered across the road in bloody heaps and their stuff is on fire. So sensibly they should have two groups; the caravan and the scouts.
This works well with road, rail and river travel. The scout team(s) has or have a small, fast and nimble vehicle or two and they move ahead of the slow caravan looking for threats and either dealing with them or ensuring the caravan avoids them. T2K has many scouting vehicles in the list and these can often be used for rail and rivercraft as well although both these methods of travel can have specialist vehicles/vessels that travel on those mediums as well. 'Bogghammer'-style 'technical-boats' are great for river scouting and there's an enormous amount of specialist small rail vehicles in use by railways that range from the size of a jeep up to that of a railway car.
These scouting groups don't brew fuel or haul heavy loads, they are combat groups and only haul combat loads. If they need to rearm and resupply they go back to the caravan.
The caravan can haul everything else including specialist assault equipment that can toughen up the scouts. If the players need to penetrate some serious blocking situation that T-55 on a railcar or barge then comes into play without it having to be guzzling fuel every game day. Similarly the NPCs or wounded and recuperating PCs can be useful for providing supporting fires as well as just tending stills, scrounging/scavenging and standing guard. This means those mortars they've never been able to leave behind become useful and they may even be able to get a few shots off with that huge D-30 they've been lugging about to overawe any opposition. After all, the OPFOR don't know how many tubes or how much ammunition they have.

Of course the main group, the caravan, will not move fast but this in most games is a definite plus. Slow and steady exploration means that the GM can spend some time to detail the terrain they travel through.

Of course this is going to need some careful keeping track of. Players range from the bookkeeping-avoidant to those who revel in the minutiae. I find an hour or so with a cup of coffee and some paper spent with the players can organise shifts for the NPCs, how far each caravan vehicle goes on a fuel load and how much fuel the whole circus needs. You also can work out how fast the NPCs go through food and other supplies. Those NPCs permitted armaments (quite often the odd POW gets dragged along) need access to resupply as well and some NPCs will be tasked as hunters, although the large size of the caravan will tend to scare off game and it's more likely the scouts will do the bulk of the hunting.
While the card system for working out NPC motivations is a good start there's also many other systems for fleshing out NPCs and I really recommend the GM take the time to use these. The old AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide had a great set of tables (admit it, we all loved those tables) on page 101 to 102, Cyberpunk 2020 has some stuff on page 36 to 39 and I'm sure other games I don't know about have some good stuff you might want to look into, as well as your imaginations. These NPCs then become real, rounded individuals with wants, needs and desires and it becomes very easy to craft adventures and side adventures around, and the best thing is the players take them where ever they go!

How they do their scouting is of course going to vary wildly. Crossing flat farmland will be quick but traversing a ruined city might take weeks. In fact much of the time might simply be taken up finding a route the heavier vehicles in the convoy can use. While heavy trucks dragging big trailers might just need a good bridge every now and then a deep draught vessel or a heavy train might need both a special route as well as some careful engineering occasionally. GMs can use this to pause movement for a while to get the players to properly explore an area, deal with some sort of threat or even if the GM needs to take a breath to detail the upcoming route.
Some scouting groups might well be comprised entirely of NPCs and this is both a boon and a bane for the GM. It's good in that they might get into sticky situations the players have to get them out of and the GM can just feed info via them to the players, but it also means the GM has to sit down and work out their movements, consumables cost and what they discover. Also, as the players will be the commanders in most cases this will not be something you can just do all in one hit as the players will reroute them fairly often. I'd be interested in trying it out but it might not be for the fainthearted.

A caravan such as this is of course going to be an entirely different kettle of fish for settlements and groups they meet on the way. A bunch of nobodies in a hummer might not be a big problem; they won't impact the local foraging and hunting too much and the settlement would probably outnumber them so they'd feel a bit more confident but an entire convoy with heavy equipment is a different matter. As mentioned there will be concern about their impact on the local resources and also the presence of heavily equipped individuals in large numbers might be off-putting.

[ChalkLine]

Wisla Kralowa - Using Bunker Fuel

As many of you may know the use of coal/wood for the Vistula Queen has never sat well with me. I grew up among merchant seamen and when I chatted about that vessel's conversion system the general consensus of the engineers and shipwrights I talked to was "it would be easier to build a new vessel".

However, many soviet-era ships used what we call here in Australia "bunker fuel". Bunker fuel is a heavy very low grade oil from the very bottom of the fuel distillation process. It's of no use to vehicles smaller than a locomotive, you can't run a tank or truck on it. It needs to be heated up to 65120 oC (149248 oF) to be used and at cold temperatures it congeals into a kludgey, tarry goo. It was used in may places, primarily heavy industry and power generation. It's also extremely polluting which is why it's been largely phased out in many places but it still soldiers on in Russia for instance. It's notoriously horrid stuff to deal with and gets everywhere when being handled, which of course adds to the notorious "Post Apocalyptic Suck".

Now, rather than just brewing up fuel or cutting down trees having a heavy fuel oil used for the Vistula Queen actually adds to the game rather than takes away from it. Limiting options isn't such a bad thing as long as the GM let's the players have multiple choices. So rather than just blithely sailing down the Wisla the players now have to seek out sources of fuel for the tug giving the GM ready-made hooks for scenarios. Looting deserted towns is fun and crawling through abandoned factories or power plants (coal power plants use bunker fuel to get the combustion going) lets the players meet different situations than the usual 'settlement-with-a-problem' or armed mooks.

First off the players are going to need intel. Either the NPCs can have prior knowledge of the area or the PCs can interact with NPCs while scouting. Having one or two Boghammars/gunboats snooping along the river lets the PCs do this. Then they find out if the fuel is either on the river or inland. If on the river the PCs can simply clear the location, secure the resource and then bring the tug up to pump the fuel aboard after heating it.
If it's inland this then requires a dedicated tanker, and I'd be inclined to have them search out a tanker-trailer before leaving. A work truck towing this trailer would be a useful utility vehicle for the game and the truck could come in handy if the players also need to do any other repair, rebuilding or construction jobs in the game (and they should!)
Remember this stuff needs heating before it can be pumped out and recovered and the area it is found in may need repair or rebuilding before it can be heated up. This not only allows more encounters while this noisy process is undertaken but also allows the PCs to interact a bit with the environment such as scrounging.

This fuel gives the GM a little bit more narrative control. The PCs can have a hard limit put on their mobility, the GM can add a little tension as fuel stocks run low and it also forces the PCs to get out and look around more. A whole micro-campaign can be built just finding a good amount of fuel that opens up movement.

Here's some ideas to finish up with:
- Some NPC group has recognised the fuel's worth and has already recovered it when the PCs arrive to secure it. They can trade, negotiate or secure the fuel via violence/stealth.
- The facility storing the fuel has suffered an airstrike and is dangerous because of contamination, hazardous ruins, unexploded ordnance or a combination of these things. The PCs must deal with the dangers using their skills.
- A fuel source is now being used by a community of civilians and their militia and they are planning to use the fuel to kickstart a bit of light industry and at the very least for heating during the upcoming bitter winter. Who's need is greater
- The PCs find some fuel but it is contaminated and requires a specialist chemist, an engineer and specialist distilling gear to clean.
- An NPC group is also running a ship and needs the same fuel, they might be in a race with the players to secure stocks. When the PCs negotiate somewhere this group might attack or try and outbid the PCs, if the PCs are too strong they might tip off nearby OPFOR units to the PC's presence. This group can be fleshed out and be great recurring rivals. Maybe some times they come to the player's aid if the player's are outmatched in exchange for sharing

[ChalkLine]

Hmm . . did you say there's a sniper up there
A water tower in Lubne, Poland. South near the Slovakian-Ukrainian border. These are very common structures in this area.

[ChalkLine]

Steam Tug

This is the "William C. Daldy". While she's a New Zealand vessel she was built in Glasgow in 1935 and is fairly representative of a vessel built right across Europe at that time. She's a proper steam vessel so she can actually do her rated 13 knots (24km/ph) and has a crew of ten. I've fixed up the plans a bit for clarity for you.

My only problem with her is that she's a harbour tug and thus has a deeper draught than a river tug. She's actually too deep for the upper Vistula as rated in the scenario which is given as 4.0 metres. Maybe she lurks downriver and you have to take her.
Here's her stats.

Specifications
Built: 1935 by Lobnitz & Co., Renfrew, Glasgow, Scotland. Yard number 986.
Launched: 1st October 1935. Left U.K. 7th November 1935 Arrived Auckland 30th January 1936
Total Price: L30,499 Sterling including delivery to Auckland
Registered tonnage: 348 gross
Speed: 13.4 knots on trials
Bollard Pull: 17 tons (at approximately 1,300 I.H.P.)
Registered Length: 127 feet (38.7 metres)
Beam: 34 feet 6 inches (10.5 metres)
Draft: 15 feet (4.5 metres)
Boilers: Two coal fired Scotch boilers, with 3 furnaces in each
Engines: Two triple expansion steam engines, surface condensing. 980 Indicated Horse Power each. 110 - 115 revolutions per minute.
Propellers: Two 11 feet (3.4 metres) diameter
Bunker capacity: 130 tons
Coal consumption: Long tow 1 ton/hour. Harbour work 3 - 3.5 a day
Crew): 10 - Master, Mate, 2 deckhands, 3 engineers and 3 firemen.

[ChalkLine]

Police Forces in T2K Poland

The police in Poland are a vital game playing element because they would be a major element in player interactions. When a disaster occurs, surviving police generally take charge and organise other survivors. As the only government representatives available in the atomised environment of Poland they lend an important element of solidity to traumatised civilians as well as projecting what they see as the government's will and trying to enforce laws when applicable and practical.
Of course they're not going to be everywhere. Police tend to be rounded up or otherwise de-powered when an invading force overruns an area. Due to their protective nature many might well die in the fighting and others simply die in the general destruction or the after-effects of warfare.
Historically many former-regime police are active in insurgencies for many reasons.

In the Twilight Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa (PRL), the Polish People's Republic, the police force is known as the MO, Milicja Obywatelska, Citizens' Militia,

These guys aren't called up for military service because they are a gendarmerie, or paramilitary police force of the style that is common in Europe.

They wear light grey uniforms and in wartime would be outfitted with equipment similar to the army (Polish People's Army Ludowe Wojsko Polskie LWP) although they would be very lightly armed. They wore the Wz. 67 helmet in light grey in combat situations, a grey peaked hat, a grey ushanka-style fur hat or a blue beret (for some units). Normally they would be only armed, if at all, with the FB P-83 Wanad pistol (in 9x18mmM). I think you'd probably see them with AKMs rather than the Kbk wz. 88 Tantal if in action though.

The elite of the MO was the ZOMO, Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej, Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia. These guys were a sort of vast SWAT/Riot Troops/Disaster Reaction group who had stringent enlistment requirements (180 cm/90 kg) and even more political reliability. It was these characters that did much of the mass repression. They were armed as light infantry (including the BTR-60 in the special platoons). These guys make really nifty "bad guys" but once again I think they should be handled carefully like all NPCs.

For role playing I generally have the MO depicted as good communists, prone to corruption (like all soviet-style governments) but otherwise fairly normal. I let them have a wide ranging personalities and in fact in my canon the Warsaw Milicja make a famous last stand against NATO forces at the Warszawa Gł3wna railway station during The Siege of Warsaw, the pivotal battle in my campaign's history. They make both good helpers and adversaries. If you don't stereotype them the players will never know what to expect and this adds a lot to the game.

The ZOMO however were used to keep the population in line and their brutality suppressing protests is legendary. They will be active in rear areas hunting down stragglers - ie: player characters. Worse, they will probably hand prisoners over to their bosses - the feared Ministry of Public Security, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, the SB. The SB was not noted for their humanity.

[ChalkLine]

More Polish Places

The Chełm Chalk Tunnels
50km east of Lublin, home of the Sov 127th CD [(2000 men): Glogow, Nowa Sol], these tunnels were medieval and were only recently fully explored after the events in the game. Several galleries were walled off and difficult to find , let alone access. These tunnels are unique in the world and cover in total about 15km. Their vast extents may provide cover for a partisan scenario in the region of the main supply line from the USSR to the front lines that runs through Lublin. Check it out.

Bochnia Salt Mine
Halfway between Krak3w and Tarn3w lies the little town of Bochnia and its ancient salt mines, very similar but smaller than the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This one has a little trainway running through it, in fact right through the chapel that these mines often have, and this no doubt works in the scenario because, well, why not. It's time for tunnel-train fighting.
I can see a subterranean hospital being down here for some reason, and also perhaps something more sinister. One side or the other, maybe even both, has stashed some biological weapons done there and two or more teams arrive simultaneously to do something about it. Cue "Call of Duty - Modern Warfare" style desperate penetration of a facility while trying not to bring down the mine on the nearby hospital.

[ChalkLine]

The PT-76 amphibious gun vehicle
Use in combat in the Twilight 2000 setting

You'll note that I have not referred to this vehicle as either a Light Tank or a Reconnaissance Vehicle. This is although it has often been used in these roles where it predictably performed extremely badly it was not envisioned for these roles when it was designed. The USSR experimented with it for these and rather unscrupulously marketed it as them but it's not either. In fact what its actual role is for is quite different.
Let me explain. The PT-76 gets a bad rap in T2K and Cold War gaming because it's huge, thin-skinned, under-powered and has a very bad turret/crewing design choice. The usual assumption is that the soviet union screwed up with it but kept it on because the chassis was useful.

What it's actual role is for is extremely narrow. It's a boat that can climb over sandbars and provide fire support to troops assaulting rivers and beaches, places where the soviets took extreme casualties in The Great Patriotic War. When you examine the following aspects it starts to make sense;
Actual zero gun depression.
Very large hull but a tiny turret.
A gun with a medium calibre but ammunition the soviet union had already discontinued using.
Very thin armour, so thin it can only stop rifle ammunition and shell fragments.
All systems placed below the turret ring.
Limited vision blocks. Less rather than more than their MBTs, an odd choice for a scout vehicle.
Very large, strange, two man hatch with a superimposed commander's hatch.
Looking at these things you start to see why the soviets made their trade-offs in design.
The gun has -0o depression because it's meant to shoot from the water level upwards. [Edit: The hull was modified in 1957 to allow the gun to get a -4o gun depression. I suspect that the buyers were unimpressed] The D-56T tank gun (it's actually a unique gun, not a conversion as some sources say) uses a comparatively large calibre round because they contain more HE filler. If it was to use a 'tankerised' S-60 57mm autocannon it couldn't store the amount of ammo it would need to put down the same amount of HE and the 85mm D-44 gun would have meant a vast 20 tonne amphibious hull. The hull is meant to be submerged where it's safer (HEAT rounds of the time detonated when they hit the water and no light tank armour would stop the 90mm guns then in use) so the turret is tiny to limit its target profile - and thus the hull size is less important. A large hull is vital for a swimming tank and this also mandates thin armour because weight has to be kept down. The radio and so on was placed low, below the waterline where they were safe. As it was in effect a self-propelled gun it didn't need much vision equipment, far less than even much earlier reconnaissance tanks and even less that the contemporaneous T-55. The big hatch was designed so that the turret crew could escape wearing breathing gear or life vests.

So, the PT-76 wasn't a light tank/reconnaissance vehicle and when used in these roles it failed abysmally. It couldn't fight other tanks and it couldn't see anything to be any use. The BMP, BRDM and similar vehicles filled that role instead where they perform(ed) well. When the PT-76 fought actual light tanks such as the M41 Walker Bulldog it generally was destroyed before it could get a shot off or was even aware of the enemy. In fact the soviets only put stabilisation on the gun when it was shown that it had trouble hitting beach targets in any sort of swell.

Right, enough of the essay on what it is.
Where would you see this thing
Well, unless it's pressed into service as a gun tank like so many specialist vehicles often are with "mixed results" (ie: a death trap) it is strictly a fire support vehicle. It's best function is if you imagine it as a direct fire artillery piece with the pathetic armour and vision that entails. By the time the Twilight War starts it's strictly used by naval infantry and only they have stockpiles of its rare ammunition so it's only where they are. Each vehicle should have a section/squad of troops that accompany it as it's relatively blind and they keep infantry and their nasty RPGs away from it. If any sort of armour is in the vicinity these things immediately retire, they have no business even fighting M2 Bradleys or even lighter reconnaissance vehicles. It can be considered to have no effective armour.

Is it any use
Well, yes and no.
For the fighting that goes on in the Twilight War it is very good in that it can get across the demolished infrastructure. It doesn't need a bridge and this should not be underestimated as to how important that is. A good example is WW2 IJA tanks that were light to the point of uselessness in opposition to anything with a gun but they could get places where anything with a gun couldn't, meaning they were often very handy indeed. The PT-76 can appear in a lakes district or riverine area and rain down HE from outside of HMG or RPG distance. A careful enemy can utilise one to manouevre into a spot to whack a strongpoint with an HE round or two and then get it out before it's wrecked.
Otherwise it's only good for carting stuff around.
Consider this when considering it for an AFV; the commander's sight is not slaved to the gunsight. This means the commander/gunner has to use two sights, one to acquire a target and then one to engage it. As these sights might be pointing in different directions and the gunner's sight is of a narrow focus there might be a lot of hunting around to engage a moving vehicle that will likely result in the vehicle's destruction. The crews know this all too well.

[ChalkLine]

This is a first world war Canadian video on what goes into making an 8" (203mm) artillery shell.

So when you specify that some or other two can create artillery shells, ask yourself if they have this sort of set up. If they can feed, clothe and shelter the workers and if they can source the specialist metals required.
Then have a thought about the insane amount of working going into a fuze . . .

[ChalkLine]

Pilotage Map of the Kalisz area

[ChalkLine]

Soviet/Russian Body Armour

(This includes post-dissolution armour that was in development during the soviet period.
All armour apart from the SSh-68 came with a cloth TTsKO or VSR camouflage cover unless otherwise noted.)

6B2
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б2
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1979-1983
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute oeStali
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 4.8 kg
Used by army and GRU spetsnaz (Main Intelligence Directorate of army).
6B2 is first generation army armor vest. It is first modern bulletproof vest in the Soviet army.
Was used in Afghanistan 1979-1989, 1-st Chechen campain and 1993 Moscow Crisis. Widely used in the war in Afghanistan.
6B2 consists of chest and back parts connected with each other in the shoulder joints and with the side buckles. Protective composition consists of titanium armor plates ADU-605-80 1.25 mm thick and ballistic screen of 30 layers of aramid fabric TSVM-G. Provides Ballistic protection and protection from pistol bullets.

6B3
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б3
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1984-onwards
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute oeStali
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 10.0 kg
One of first mass produced body armour in USSR (later in Russian Federation). Vest was adopted in 1984 and first used in Afghan war (1979-89). Protected the user against rounds of AKM calibre and weighed around 10kg. Later the 6B3 was developed into more versions and camouflage covers were also adopted. The vest saw widespread use in both Chechnyan conflicts and recently even in the South Ossetian conflict.
- 6B3 - ballistic vest Zhe-85T (romanized from 6Б3 and Ж-85Т)
- 6B3-01 - ballistic vest Zhe-85T (romanized from 6Б3-01 and Ж-85Т)
- 6B3TM - ballistic vest Zhe-85TM (romanized from 6Б3ТМ and Ж-85ТМ)
- 6B3TM-01 - ballistic vest Zhe-85TM-01 (romanized from 6Б3ТМ-01 and Ж-85ТМ-01)

6B4-01-P
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6B4-01-P (6Б4-01-П)
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1988- onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Cloth, titanium and kevlar
Weight: 10.0 kg
This vest was produced in limited quantity for spetsnaz assault teams and for KGB Alpha and Vympel units
On the front cover located pouches for 4 AK magazines, spare parts, first-aid kit. On the back cover located 4 pockets for F1/RGD grenade and a buttpack.
(Note: I don't have the armour rating for this but I assume it's heavy assault armour with a greater than normal protection)

6B5-15
Type: Body Armour
Designation: 6Б5
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1986-1998
Manufacturer(s): Research Institute oeStali
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: varies
The 6Б5 vest is ballistic by having inner slabs/plates made from: Titanium, and Carbon Boride. Then having a TSVM-G inserts that go behind the plates reducing the chance of bullet penetration occurring. These vests came in sizes 1 and 2, 1 being good for 48-54 and 2 for 54-60
Furthermore, the covers are made from Nylon and Cotton
These vests had differing ballistic classes and had 8 different classifications.
6Б5-11 (First iteration of the 6Б5 vest, Came only with ballistic fabric TSVM-G)
6Б5-12 (1.25mm Titanium front and back)
6Б5-14 (Classification does exist, not enough documentation)
6Б5-15 (Most common seen variant, Carbon Boride plates in the front and back)
6Б5-16 (6mm/1.25mm Titanium plates in the front and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the back)
6Б5-17 (Front was a mixture of plates, 4.3mm Iron plates and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the front.)
6Б5-18 (Last Soviet 6Б5 vest developed, 6mm Titanium plates in the front.)
6Б5-19 (This was a classification of the vest after the fall of the Soviet Union, 4.3mm Steel plates and 1.25mm Titanium plates in the front.)

KIRASA "universal" (cuirass) armor vest
Type: Body Armour
Designation: KIRASA
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1996-1997
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: 10.5 kg.
Used during 1st and 2nd Chechen campaign by Maroon Berets MIA special forces.
Olive color set, protects from SVD 7.62 sniper rifle and AKM 7.62

Armor vest KM-1
Type: Body Armour
Designation: KM-1
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 1999-onwards
Manufacturer(s): NPO "Class"
Material(s): Cotton, Nylon, TSVM-G, Titanium, and Carbon Boride
Weight: 6.6 kg.
Was used by Russian police, MIA MVD, VV, SVR units.
Class II (pistols and submachine guns 9x19, 7.62x25).
Flora or VSR-98 flora camouflage.
Universal size, adjusted by velcro. Pocket for radio.
Full protection set includes:
1. 2x armor plates
2. VSR-98 flora cover
3. 2x soft buffer
4. 4x kevlar (tvaron) plates

SSh-68 Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: SSh-68
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1968-1980s
Manufacturer(s): Varies
Material(s): Steel
Weight: 1.5 kg.

SSh-68M Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: SSh-68M
Place of Origin: USSR
Produced: 1980s-Unknown
Manufacturer(s): Varies
Material(s): Steel with internal Aramid Liner
Weight: 1.8kg.
Notes: This is the standard SSh-68 Helmet with an internal aramid/kevlar liner. As the SSh-68 Helmet was a fairly large helmet the liner was possible. In the Twilight War this would probably be a second echelon helmet, with the 6B7 for first echelon and the old SSh-68 Helmet for third and mobilisation-only troops.

PSH-77 Titanium Helmet with visor and internal radio
Type: Helmet
Designation: PSH-77
Place of Origin: Switzerland
Produced: 1977-
Manufacturer(s): Tig Bicord AG (Switzerland), Ulbrechts (Austria)
Material(s): Titanium
Weight 2.7 kg with visor.
Weight 1.4 kg without visor
Used by Soviet/Russian elite special forces KGB/FSB. Special forces "Alpha" and "Vympel".
Helmet safety class 2.

"Altyn" Titanium/Aramid Helmet with clear visor and internal radio (without radio is the K6-3)
Designation: Алтын
Place of Origin: USSR, Russia
Produced: 1984-
Manufacturer(s): NII Stali (НИИ стали)
Material(s): Titanium, kevlar
Weight with face-shield/visor: 4.3 kg

6B7 Kevlar Helmet
Type: Helmet
Designation: 6Б7
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 2000s-onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Kevlar
Weight 1.2kg
In development in the Soviet Union prior to the dissolution and slated to replace existing helmets for the ground forces in the 1990s. An updated version, the 6B7-M1, was adopted by the Russian SVR (army) in 2008

STSh-81 oeSfera
Type: Helmet
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced: 1981 to 1994
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Titanium
Weight 2.4kg

SSSh-94 oeSfera
Type: Helmet
Place of Origin: Russian Federation
Produced:1994-onwards
Manufacturer(s): -
Material(s): Steel
Weight 3.3kg

[ChalkLine]

Your T2K character

[ChalkLine]

East German stay-behinds after Reunification.

Anyone who's done any reading on the loathsome Stasi understand why the East Germans were happy to reunify with West Germany, however after reunification the people that made up the Stasi and former NVA didn't just disappear, they still resided in Germany. In the Twilight War most of these people must have looked at an uncertain fate.

The most obvious thing to do would be to immediately round them up and intern them as they posed a significant security risk. These individuals had links to various Warsaw Pact forces and the Stasi in particular worked closely with the KGB among others (the KGB thought so highly of them that they were the only intelligence service permitted to work inside Russia). Obviously many former members of these organisations and organisations like them were not particularly linked or even positive towards the east but some undoubtedly would have been.

It's tempting to create stay-behind units from these people. Utilising cached equipment in secret locations they could wreak appropriate havoc where needed. They might have a variety of ideology and motivations that vary from unit to unit and would undoubtedly use the classic cell structure to minimise any compromising of other cells when caught.

While demolition and sabotage are simple enough to design we might want to create more complex aims for these groups.

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So, you've got yourself a settlement but the nasty OPFOR are monitoring your hand-helds No worries, here's something to string between your bunkers.

Field Telephones.

Battery-powered hand sets appeared to all be able to run of external power, usually in the 3 volt range. Most phones seem to have a hand crank to enable ringing at the other end if not used with a switchboard. Nearly all these phones, you can probably assume it is all of them, are sound-powered. The only reason you need to use power is to ring the buzzer. If you don't have a dedicated switchboard, and let's be honest you won't, a simple task will be to rig up a series of switches that exclude or include lines for multiple use. In this case it's possible to have "party lines" of multiple phones.

German

FF OB/ZB (Introduced late 1950s)
Requires 2x D-Batteries
5.0kg

SFT800 (Introduced early 1980s)
3.6kg

USA

TA-1
Sound-powered
1.2kg

TA-43
Requires 2x D-Batteries
5.0kg

TA-312 (Introduced late 1960s)
Requires 2x D-Batteries
4.35 Kg

USSR

TA-57 (Introduced 1957)
Requires 1x 1.5v Battery
2.5kg

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Chemical and Biological Warfare

HAZMAT Suits and Endurance

Many people here have been in the military and understand the destructive effect HAZMAT suits have on endurance and functionality. However it's difficult to represent anecdotal information in a game environment so I thought I'd post the two primary systems that cause that degradation of ability.

First and probably the most notable is heat build up.
Not being able to escape the heat your body generates is an incredible and unpleasant experience but the effects are not only overheating but the actual composition of your muscles change. They become less elastic and lose the ability to flex. This is not a linear progression but rather a bell curve as the effects rapidly degrade after a steady decline. I can't over-emphasis how dangerous this is. Not only can the victim's organs shut down and brain damage occur but in extreme cases the muscles can actually stop being elastic strands and become just masses of jelly-like tissue. In a twilight 2000 environment there's probably no possible recovery from this and a lingering death is almost certain.

The other one is exhalation of carbon dioxide. Both these two are linked. Carbon dioxide build up occurs because HAZMAT filters cannot pass nearly enough air through them to both give the lungs the required oxygen and expel enough carbon dioxide. Physical exertion builds up lactic acid in the bloodstream that is broken down in the organs and then expelled as carbon dioxide. If this can't be done at the correct rate a logjam occurs in the body and the lactic acid is not broken down. The upshot of this is the body fatigues very quickly.

So there's three primary systems working here; heat build up, oxygen intake restriction and carbon dioxide expulsion restriction.

The effects tend to snowball and also create feed-back loops which increases the snowball effect.

In game terms what happens is the character is in the three work states given in the rules; rest, light work and hard work. The saves are harder for each work state as the work gets harder.

An important thing about this mechanism is it's very unlikely the PC will notice the effect happening before other, watchful PCs do due to the disruption of brain activity. This isn't like ordinary heat-stroke, it's much faster occurring and more damaging, especially as the usual methods of relieving heat stroke cannot be maintained in a HAZMAT environment. So the GM should apply Observation checks for team mates to see the effects occurring and the victim has a much higher save on the roll.
Contaminated Environments in the Game

I'm a big believer in the MOPP suit. I think at least once in each campaign a hazardous environment should be encountered to bring home that this was a Nuclear, Chemical and Biological War. This is not a summer Sunday afternoon in the woods.
As it's a bit unfair to inflict this sort of nightmare on unprepared PCs it's best to use the universal "I Show, You Do" approach where the PCs can see someone else go down with this, how it occurs and what the effects are.

On a game note to varying effects even just gas masks do this with less but still some heat build up.
Now, having the OPFOR dump some VX on your PCs as they drive along is probably going to get you some hard stares from across the table. Harsh campaigns might have this, my campaigns are very harsh and I wouldn't, but normally it's best to give the PCs both a bit of reaction/preparation time and access to at least normal protective gear. This means you'll need a significant carrot and/or stick to send them into the environment about which the players probably have few illusions about.

There are two main differences in the situation apart from environmental factors; Attacks and Contaminations.

An attack means the risk is acute. The level of contaminants are high and none have had time to degrade. These are extremely hazardous environments where a failure of the containment systems probably means heavy exposure. Obviously these are rare. To be frank the players are nearly never important enough for the OPFOR to expend precious contaminants purposefully on them, however there are many gas mines used by both sides that might create this situation. Generally I tend to use those as events that happen to other people (they are great for blocking off avenues of exploration) but as it's your game I leave that to you.

Contamination is a far more common situation and this gives the PCs several options an attack does not, not the least of being simply to avoid the contamination. In this case a failure of the protection does not necessarily mean exposure depending on the nature of the contamination. Some contamination are so persistent they can be be considered permanent Attacks. One of the biggest problems in a contamination environment is that the individual goes through cycles of hyper-vigilance, awareness and negligence. Once again other PCs can monitor the player. As a side note hyper-vigilance is fatiguing. This is not a good situation for the player. If the player becomes negligent then the normal risks of an exposure increases dramatically. As this has such severe repercussions I'd suggest the GM let this be based on player attitude rather than arbitrary dice rolls and leave those to NPCs. The Leadership skill can buff rolls here.

There is an enormous amount of literature on the effects of contamination and decontamination which I won't go into here. The GM should take into account the amount of weathering and degradation of the contaminant. Weathering degrades exposed surfaces and leaves unexposed areas less effected. This makes simple things such as going over a fence hazardous because the bottoms of the railings may still be heavily contaminated. Also note that some agents rapidly break down, especially some biological agents, and can cause far less damage. If you really want to give your PCs a heart attack have them become inadvertently exposed to a serious agent that has degraded to the point here it is about the level of an irritant.

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Settlements - Party-Driven Settlements

Quite often in the campaign the group decides to settle down and oversee a settlement. I've had immense fun doing this as not only are adventures self-generating but they add a layer of involvement for the players.

Settlements rarely involve starting anew but are usually the characters gathering enough NPCs that an existing position is reconfigured into what Twilight 2000 terms a "Canton".
In my campaigns so far these have taken two forms:
1) An existing civilian settlement is settled in and developed. This has been by far the most common.
2) A military position such as a bunker system or outpost is created or adapted as a settlement.
Both have aspects that impact the balance of features. A civilian settlement is often at a trade point nexus, a resource point or similar where a military outpost usually has a site positioned for its defensive capability.Note the term "balance of features". As GM resist the temptation to make everything perfect, every situation should be a trade-off. Some features will be sub-optimal and thus require a greater expenditure of resources, time and manpower than others. Strangely enough in my experience players actually like this and these become the standout memory of the game at that part.

Civilian Settlements.
Configuring a town or farm and so on is simple. It involves simply adding defensive positions and repairing the infrastructure. Existing infrastructure may or may not have been designed with self sufficiency in mind and usually isn't but can be modified

Military Settlements
These settlements are more difficult in some ways because military positions, especially pre-war ones, are usually not designed with self-sufficiency in mind and as the supply chain is a distant and pleasant memory all the infrastructure must be created from scratch.

Basic Necessities:

Defence.
First and foremost Twilight 2000 is a violent environment and comfy spots the players make others will try and take. The important part of this is that it's easy to skimp the interim defence plans for the advanced plans that will come later. Don't do this. Have the players tested constantly so these defences give a pay-off. Players will get bored doing things they start to consider window-dressing.
The first defence plans are simply guarding existing features. Every soldier I've talked to can tell you exactly how much dirt they've shoveled in their lives and rubble and earthwork positions are the primary positions here. If you don't have a working plan of fighting positions the US field manual of the time has some great information for you:

https://www.globalsecurity.org/.../policy/army/fm/index.html

After this the troops will strengthen the position and create a continuous perimeter. To foreshadow this have some OPFOR attempt penetrations into the positions by identifying strong-points and trying to infiltrate between them. Two to three man teams sneak in while the strong-points are either unwary, distracted or engaged. This can be a whole adventure right here. The perimeter should contain two primary features that you undoubtedly already know; the free-fire zone and the barrier. A fun adventure can be PCs going off in a truck to salvage barrier and defensive materials such as concertina wire. Note that this stuff is often booby trapped. However the PCs may want to salvage that too. Of course not only the PCs want this stuff.
After the perimeter is established the defences are simply hardened. This can be as involved as PCs like and some of my PCs actually carefully constructed concrete bunker systems. I can post reams of stuff about that. However one of the most important aspects will be mines. Passive and/or command-detonated mines are a massive force multiplier and decent minefield allows the players to reduce the perimeter guard significantly. Note that in some cases you don't even need the actual mines, the warning signs are enough. However this implies they take them from an existing minefield thus leaving it unmarked, a sucky thing to do. Maybe making your own is the way to go.

Water:
Water supplies are integral to any settlement. Most people seriously underestimate settlement water requirements that are usually about ten times field requirements. Water needs a few things, firstly being the water source itself. After that a pump, piping (which may already exist) and a holding facility that is usually elevated and most importantly armoured. Enemies seeing an elevated structure assume it's an observation point, the players may indeed use it as one, and direct fire at it. Perhaps they learn about this the hard way 🙂
Pumps should be dug in both to protect them and to stop their noise alerting enemies. Waterwheels and windmills are very effective although vulnerable structures and of course use no fuel. Their structures make good defensive points. Piping may be below ground or above ground. Water-points do not have to be a tap in every house, having running water is an unimaginable luxury as it is and a central water-point is fine. Note that if the players neglect to both armour and link the water-point to the defensive positions they can get very thirsty with water just a few metres away if it can be swept by hostile fire.

Food:
This is an amazing subject considering the situation. A lot of food is actually capable of being created inside the defensive perimeter and the players should think to to so. Pigs especially need little room and can turn a large amount of waste into food. Livestock raids by post-nuclear soldiers drive home the environment the players live in. Note that in nearly all cases livestock is very vulnerable to enemy fire even if inside the perimeter, as are glasshouses and food gardens. Chemical contaminants can wipe out the player's food production in one strike as it kills livestock and contaminates the ground and even irritant gasses can do this.
Actual broad acre farming is problematic. If you model climate damage in your game it might not be even possible. As there are no longer industrial fertlisers the rewards are much smaller as well. Also note that it requires about 0.4 hectares (1.0 acres) of grain production to support one cavalry horse. Broad acre farming is normally outside the perimeter and liable to being overrun by the enemy or burnt/contaminated in an effort to deny the players resources. Defending this ground can be extraordinarily hard but the payoff should be equal to the effort.

Non Player Characters.

It is tempting and easy to have the NPCs simply as robots but you are doing your players and yourself a disservice if you do so. Having complex personalities as your NPCs brings a richness to the game and makes the players live in the world. Some NPCs might not be all that helpful, some can be very much so, some can have good qualities offset by drawbacks and finally some can be treacherous. Every game should have some treachery.
The key I think in developing NPCs in a settlement is to introduce them slowly. If you you dump fifteen squabbling NPCs on the PCs their eyes will cross and they'll ignore them. Then when something happens the NPC could have helped with will lead them to feeling cheated. NPCs are obvioulsy the way you introduce outlier skills into the game. As T2K is in most editions very lean on skills the player who takes "Civil Engineer 6" is taking a big risk in combat should their lack of skills let them down.
In the dark ages before the internet GMs were recommended to have index cards for each NPC. These days a simple word file for the NPCs is enough and as you play leave yourself a bit of time to update the NPC's entry. I have a file the PCs can access that briefly notes the NPC, their wound state and skills as well as the weapons and equipment they have. As players can never know what sort of skills an NPC really has you can have a previously boring NPC in the settlement turn out to be a plumber before the war and suddenly you can make a focus of a session that NPC.
NPCs are living, breathing people with wants and desires. This may mean many things. Some NPCs may bargain to some extent before using their skills. Keep in mind the PCs are generally offering a big thing in the intrinsic safety and stability of the settlement and the NPC would be very aware of that. Make the bargaining only for certain characters or for when the NPC is being taken advantage of. Note that NPCs often have strong solidarity and if one NPC is treated badly the whole lot start to show negative effects.
NPCs are going to want to have a say in the direction of things the players do. This will cause conflict as players resent infringement on their agency and so has to be handled carefully. It's best if you can make the players understand the NPC's viewpoint, it makes perfect sense if they want a bandit they caught to be strung up over the gate but perhaps the player's promised not to do so. Have the NPCs say clearly why they want things and not simply what they want.

This has gotten way too long to add industry, crafts, trading and all the other stuff I wanted to talk about.