Winter of '79 – Living on the Front Line
Civil War in the Disunited Kingdom
Mark Hannam, Matthew Sparkes & Mike Bradford
ISBN: 978-1-85818-708-2
210mm x 297mm (A4)
56 pages
Paperback
£16.50 GBP
These rules represent an alternative history of the late 70s and early 80s. In this vision, the 'Establishment' take control of the legitimate government and the subsequent 'crackdown' is faced with spontaneous popular resistance led by trade union, liberal and left-wing elements, which boils over into civil war.
What did happen, what could have happened, what would have happened, doesn't matter at all. Not a jot. Living On The Frontline: Winter of '79 provides you with the context and motivation for fighting games based upon a premise of DPM vs Donkey Jacket, SLR vs Armalite, Brit against Brit, in the late seventies and early eighties.
It identifies the protagonists as left vs right, reaction vs liberalism. You can choose to define this at the national level, regional or right down to the local basis. What's happening nationally doesn't necessarily matter if you want to just fight out some actions in Borchester and do house to house, barn to barn fighting around Ambridge.
All we need is a rationale for the battle, who is involved, how they are uniformed and what they are armed with.
VBCW this is not! No tea and hand grenades Vicar. But there is no reason you can't have colorful private armies, trade union and left-wing militias, local defense leagues, new military and paramilitary formations, each with their own identity defined by your choice of uniforms, camo, weapons, badges and personalities.
Equally, the forces on your tabletop can simply be armed civilians vs military, helmets vs berets, maroon vs green, SLRs vs Armalites. International volunteers? Foreign assistance? Your call.
So why 1979? Because it's a watershed. The Winter of Discontent, the collapse of the Callaghan government, the rise of Margaret Thatcher. In the years immediately before, we see the vested interests and right-wing gearing up for a 'battle to save civilization' as they knew it. A fear that Belfast could easily be replicated on the streets of Birmingham, Londonderry in Liverpool. In the years immediately after, we have unrest in Brixton, Bristol, Toxteth and the Miners Strike.
Whilst I may have chosen to play through the scenario of a popular opposition to a right wing crackdown following the election of Margaret Thatcher, you may choose to have it the other way round – with a Moscow backed Marxist take over being thwarted by a military coup or a protracted war of resistance by secret armies.
The rules are just the core set for a series of "What-if" supplements of military combat in various theatres.
All in all, there's everything to play for. So, lets slide back the bolt, put a round up the spout and take the safety off…
