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"NAUTICAL/AVIATION HANDBOOK", OVERVIEW.

The "Nautical/Aviation Handbook", has one major difference from the American, Soviet & Nato "Vehicle Handbooks", in that it is not a second edition replacement for a book released to support the first edition of "Twilight 2000", a Post-WWIII roleplaying game, but rather for two articles, "Air Module, Part 1" (Challenge 26) and "Air Module, Part 2" (Challenge 28), released in GDW's "Challenge Magazine" and the rules for Ultralight aircraft printed in "Airlords of the Ozarks" (Not yet reviewed).

The purpose of the book is threefold, to add rules for handling aircraft to the basic second edition "Twilight 2000" rules, to provide players and GM's with aircraft and boats they may encounter/use in their adventures (No B-2's or frigates) and finally to provide details on the organisation of airforces/helicopter squadrons for the major nations (US, France, Germany, UK & USSR(Russia)).

The book begins with an introduction outlining the selection criteria used for choosing aircraft/boats and noting that unlike previous releases this book is primarily intended for use with "Merc:2000". The introduction is followed by the aviation rules, this covers takeoff/landing, combat, parachuting and other aircraft related tasks. These rules are designed for roleplaying over realism, one of the most important being the coverage of hardpoints(attachments for equipment), it is assumed that any hardpoint can handle any weapon/piece of equipment.

The Aviation rules are followed by an Equipment/Weapons section. This begins with parachuting/ground pickup equipment. Following this is a list of weapons and combat equipment. Each item is given two price & availability codes, one for "Merc:2000" and another for "Twilight:2000". "Twilight 2000" prices are usually double the "Merc:2000" prices to reflect the rarity of the listed items after WWIII. For some reason in the weapons/equipment section, the "Twilight:2000" price and availability is given first, while in the rest of the book the "Merc:2000" price and availability is given first.

The Equipment/Weapons section is followed by the vehicle data sheets, these are organised into sections as follows, watercraft, aircraft(ground attack/transport), helicopters(ground attack/transport). As with the other "Vehicle Handbooks" each data sheet has a picture of the vehicle, a short history, weapons/equipment information and price/availability information. Some of the vehicles in the boat section have lower "Twilight:2000" prices than "Merc:2000" prices, I am unsure if this is a mistake, but I would recommend that GM's treat the higher of the two prices as the "Twilight:2000" price.

At the centre of the book is a set of "Osprey Publishing" style colour plates showing various aircraft as they would appear in service, the captions that go with the colour plates have been written using the "Merc:2000" timeline as their basis. While the plates are good, at least one of the captions, describing a picture of a Fleet Air Arm Harrier, shows a surprising lack of research, the winged fist emblem on the aircraft is described as a "flight marking". It is in fact the insignia of 801 Squadron Fleet Air Arm.

As with the previous handbooks, I think that the colour plates should have been placed between the data sheets and the tables of organisation at the end of the book, as it breaks up the flow of the data sheets.

The final portion of the book is the discussion of how aircraft and helicopters are organised by the five major powers.

"NAUTICAL/AVIATION HANDBOOK", VERDICT.

As with the other handbooks, the "Nautical/Aviation Handbook" does exactly what it sets out to do, the artwork is strictly average, with the exception of the very good, Timothy Bradstreet & Grant Goleash pencil sketches that accompany the tables of organisation.

I rate the book as being a three out of five for both style and content.

Nautical/Aviation Handbook
Nautical/Aviation Handbook Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 01/04/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) A useful resource for both players and GM's Product: Nautical/Aviation Handbook Author: Loren K. Wiseman Category: RPG Company/Publisher: GDW Line: Twilight 2000 Cost: Page count: 104 Year published: 1991 ISBN: 1-55878-061-0 SKU: 2009 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 01/04/02 Genre tags: Modern day Post-apocalyse	"NAUTICAL/AVIATION HANDBOOK", OVERVIEW. The "Nautical/Aviation Handbook", has one major difference from the American, Soviet & Nato "Vehicle Handbooks", in that it is not a second edition replacement for a book released to support the first edition of "Twilight 2000", a Post-WWIII roleplaying game, but rather for two articles, "Air Module, Part 1" (Challenge 26) and "Air Module, Part 2" (Challenge 28), released in GDW's "Challenge Magazine" and the rules for Ultralight aircraft printed in "Airlords of the Ozarks" (Not yet reviewed). The purpose of the book is threefold, to add rules for handling aircraft to the basic second edition "Twilight 2000" rules, to provide players and GM's with aircraft and boats they may encounter/use in their adventures (No B-2's or frigates) and finally to provide details on the organisation of airforces/helicopter squadrons for the major nations (US, France, Germany, UK & USSR(Russia)). The book begins with an introduction outlining the selection criteria used for choosing aircraft/boats and noting that unlike previous releases this book is primarily intended for use with "Merc:2000". The introduction is followed by the aviation rules, this covers takeoff/landing, combat, parachuting and other aircraft related tasks. These rules are designed for roleplaying over realism, one of the most important being the coverage of hardpoints(attachments for equipment), it is assumed that any hardpoint can handle any weapon/piece of equipment. The Aviation rules are followed by an Equipment/Weapons section. This begins with parachuting/ground pickup equipment. Following this is a list of weapons and combat equipment. Each item is given two price & availability codes, one for "Merc:2000" and another for "Twilight:2000". "Twilight 2000" prices are usually double the "Merc:2000" prices to reflect the rarity of the listed items after WWIII. For some reason in the weapons/equipment section, the "Twilight:2000" price and availability is given first, while in the rest of the book the "Merc:2000" price and availability is given first. The Equipment/Weapons section is followed by the vehicle data sheets, these are organised into sections as follows, watercraft, aircraft(ground attack/transport), helicopters(ground attack/transport). As with the other "Vehicle Handbooks" each data sheet has a picture of the vehicle, a short history, weapons/equipment information and price/availability information. Some of the vehicles in the boat section have lower "Twilight:2000" prices than "Merc:2000" prices, I am unsure if this is a mistake, but I would recommend that GM's treat the higher of the two prices as the "Twilight:2000" price. At the centre of the book is a set of "Osprey Publishing" style colour plates showing various aircraft as they would appear in service, the captions that go with the colour plates have been written using the "Merc:2000" timeline as their basis. While the plates are good, at least one of the captions, describing a picture of a Fleet Air Arm Harrier, shows a surprising lack of research, the winged fist emblem on the aircraft is described as a "flight marking". It is in fact the insignia of 801 Squadron Fleet Air Arm. As with the previous handbooks, I think that the colour plates should have been placed between the data sheets and the tables of organisation at the end of the book, as it breaks up the flow of the data sheets. The final portion of the book is the discussion of how aircraft and helicopters are organised by the five major powers. "NAUTICAL/AVIATION HANDBOOK", VERDICT. As with the other handbooks, the "Nautical/Aviation Handbook" does exactly what it sets out to do, the artwork is strictly average, with the exception of the very good, Timothy Bradstreet & Grant Goleash pencil sketches that accompany the tables of organisation. I rate the book as being a three out of five for both style and content.