Wargame Warrior

If the 20th Century taught us nothing else it showed that thee seeds of the next war are planted in the last. The USSR, USA and British Empire fought as Allies against the Axis powers but shared little in the way of political or strategic vision. As the war ended the divisions became apparent and the USSR ruthlessly built a barrier of closely controlled buffer states around it s borders effectively taking on the role of occupier from the Germans and Japanese. 

At the same time the USA  attempted to remodel the world order in its own image for the benefit of its pre-eminent economy and therefore military might. The British desperately tried to hold on to their Imperial status and prestige but were forced to acknowledge the role of World Superpower had been lost to the Americans.

With dozens of former colonial possessions being granted their independence with more or less indecent haste, there was almost an inevitable slip towards war in many parts of the world. Many of these conflicts were internal civil wars or across arbitrary border put in place by colonial or occupying powers. In most of these conflicts the forces coalesced  along lines of communists supported by the USSR and nationalists supported by the USA (The West.) This was the start of the Cold War. Really a proxy fight between the new World Superpowers. 

I have always had limited enthusiasm for gaming this period, probably due to growing up in the latter stages of the Cold War when the threat of nuclear Armageddon still felt very real. However a chance find of a toy Centurion tank in a charity shop (a Chinese knock-off ironically) led me to thinking about ways that the early period could be played with a more toy soldier approach, detaching it slightly from the historical reality. This would also allow me to play "what if" scenarios with impunity and crowbar in some of the interesting kit that may never have really seen action. Thus Red Force and Blue Force were born.

Blue Force