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It is a 128 page perfect-bound softcover available from Fast Forward Entertainment. Oddly, this appears to be their only book with a specifically modern or military bent. The text is in clear two column format, supplemented by a combination of computer generated images of each object, and photo-shop renderings of actual photographs. On some of the bigger vehicles, the former tends to look a bit bland, but for the majority of weapons the computer art is as good as the line-drawn pictures or silhouettes found in many other products.
I should clarify something at this point: other than the Challenger tanks, and the Mirage and (debatably) Harrier jets, and some generic items, all of the equipment is either American or Soviet/Russian. Folks looking for a wider sample are simply better off looking at the WotC Weapons Locker or Guardians of Order’s d20 Military Vehicles hardcover (although the stats will be slightly off for the latter as it is a BESMd20 product). For anything involving Russian or American forces, or countries armed by the superpowers, or against terrorists (or each other, I guess…) this will work fine.
The firearms detailed within make a pretty short list, and in truth, appear elsewhere in other books. Since many of these alternate sources can be considered “official” products, purists may immediately scoff at these stats. Having compared the Vanguard stats with the core book’s list, it appears that Fast Forward has chosen to emphasize reality over cinematic logic in choosing slightly higher range increments for some guns – absolutely not a bad idea, given the subject matter. Use them with the warning to players that their own guns’ range increments may not be as good.
So it’s better to concentrate on heavier firepower: mortars, missile launchers, and other squad support weapons. RPG-7s, Stingers and TOWs, and light Soviet machineguns all appear here too. There are separate stats and rules for the differing types of mortar rounds and grenades, most notably involving armor piercing capability and burst radii for bigger weapons (all weapons on the vehicles detailed in the book appear in each vehicle listing and are thoughtfully summarized in tables at the rear as well). I would have liked to see more specific rules incorporating indirect fire, or what exactly a to-hit roll implies when aiming at a location instead of a vehicle, but I applaud the way the designers stayed true to the core rules as much as possible.
The vehicle writeups also conform to the standard of the d20 Modern rules - which sadly omits size categories, but include purchase DCs, for the party that needs an aircraft carrier! One notable stat I do think is missed is the Crew Quality rating, which is buried in the vehicular combat rules of d20 Modern and easy to miss. It’s obvious the US military’s personnel would approach Expert quality or better, but that needs to be stated somewhere. It would be even more useful as a gauge on a terrorist or foriegn force.
The list of vehicles is quite wide, going from Humvees and pickup trucks (a generic one for the terrorists) through aircraft (fighters, helicopters, bombers, and utility aircraft like the Sentry), all the way to the Nimitz-class mentioned above. The Soviets get less attention, with no naval vehicles but a larger supply of tanks – quite useful for statting out a large portion of the world’s armor. It’s probably easier to list the things not included, but obviously any book will have shortcomings. Still, it is odd not to see some vehicles still in use like the Thunderbolt and Tomcat, or even prominent planes from the 90’s like the Wild Weasel. In the end, however, there should be enough vehicles to cover the scope of most ordinary missions.
The largest block of text makes up about twenty pages of listings for both US Special Operations Forces and potential terrorist organizations. The US stuff, compared to other books with more room to devote on the subject, is brief and superficial. The 36 terrorist groups are given summaries of locations and typical operations. Given that they include some relative unknowns (like the hardline Israeli groups Kach and Kahane Chai), it’s a shame that there are no American ecoterrorist or militia groups on the otherwise comprehensive list. Although federal law would prohibit the use of the military against domestic foes, and such entities may not be officially designated as terrorist groups, action against these would make for the underpinnings of an interesting campaign.
The last sections of the book outline the heavy weapons on the vehicles. The attendant rules touch on cluster bombs, cruise missiles, chemical agents, and biological weapons. Nuclear weapons are not included, and while that may have been an aesthetic choice, it’s a curious omission. Again, to comment on the rules, they involve very little new concepts, but are rather integrated into existing d20 Modern framework (the example I commonly cite for d20 Modern is the absence of odd numbers of damage dice, in keeping with the rules for automatic and burst fire).
It may not be enough to run an entire campaign with, but Encyclopedia Vanguard makes a useful supplement for any military-themed, American or Soviet-heavy d20 Modern game.
