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One of the heavy artillery units available to the Legiones Astartes is the Medusa, which carries a short ranged but extremely powerful siege mortar capable of breaching all but the thickest walls. When a breach has been secured, the Medusa will then rumble forwards to support the assault, levelling buildings with a single shell.
Introduced in 1923 the Vickers Mediums were the first British tanks to see service fitted with a sprung suspension and a rotating turret. Designed to fight on the move, their high speed of 30 mph restored mobility to the battlefield. The hull was riveted. The engine, an air cooled Armstrong Siddeley, was mounted in the front of the tank, alongside the driver. Originally described as a light tank, the advent of even smaller tanks weighing about five tons, resulted in the Vickers’ design being reclassified as a medium tank.
This is the Vickers Medium Mark II* at the Bovington Tank Museum.
It was the main British tank from 1923 until 1935.
The Medium Mark II was completely obsolete by the beginning of World War II. The survivors were used for training during the first few years of the War. Some were issued to combat forces to make up their strength after the loss of most British first line tanks during the retreat from France in 1940. Others were sent to Egypt as training vehicles and were pressed into service with the Western Desert Force. They were buried as fixed defences at Mersa Matruh and Tobruk.
Vickers sold 15 Medium Tanks to the Soviet Union in 1930, they were used for training. Rather surprisingly, the Finns captured half a dozen of these relics from the Russians in the autumn of 1941. At least one other went to Australia, while a single example of a developed version, the Mark C, was sold to Japan. This vehicle formed the basis of the Japanese Type 89 tank design. A single example of the final version, the Medium Mark D, was sold to Eire where it remained in service until 1940.
These would be the mainstay tanks of any A Very British Civil War scenarios
This Blood Angels Legion Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank was on display at Warhammer World.
Once the Arcus strike tank was one of the most advanced support platforms available to the Space Marine Legions, but for reasons long since lost to the past, the Adeptus Mechanicus holds the pattern as a slight against the Omnissiah and refuses to produce or repair such vehicles. Without the specialised knowledge of the Machine God’s adepts, the advanced launchers of the Arcus have slowly failed and been replaced with more common rotary launchers and stocks of its rare warheads have dwindled. Now it is used by the Space Marine Chapters that retain examples of this rare pattern as a fast strike tank, racing it forwards to saturate a target area with incendiary devices of a more commonplace provenance and using its renowned speed to escape unscathed, enabling them to clear otherwise redoubtable bunkers and fortresses with brutal efficiency.
The Panzer II was the common name for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II (abbreviated PzKpfw II). Although the vehicle had originally been designed as a stopgap while more advanced tanks were developed, it nonetheless went on to play an important role in the early years of World War II, during the Polish and French campaigns. By the end of 1942 it had been largely removed from front line service, and production of the tank itself ceased by 1943.
This one was on display at the Bovington Tank Museum.
When they first appeared, in 1936, the Panzer IIs were regarded as platoon commander’s tanks. They were also employed to give fire support to the Panzer I in combat with enemy tanks. However by 1940 they had been outclassed and were relegated to the reconnaissance role. This exhibit, an Ausfuhrung (or Model) F featured improved armour and was introduced in 1941.
This tank was captured by British forces in North Africa but it is shown in the markings of 1st Panzer Division at the time of the invasion of France in June 1940.
This Vickers Crossley Armoured Car Chevrolet (Indian Pattern) was on display at Bovington.
In 1915 the British Army started to use armoured cars in India, particularly on the North West Frontier, to relieve troops needed elsewhere. They proved so successful that this soon became standard policy. Shortly after the war the Indian Government purchased 16 Rolls-Royce cars to a new design but these proved so expensive that subsequent orders were placed with Crossley Motors in Manchester who made a tough but cheap 50hp IAG1 chassis. Substantial numbers of these cars were supplied between 1923 and 1925.
The body design, which was very similar to the Rolls-Royce version and built by Vickers at Crayford, had a number of interesting features. These included a dome-shaped turret, with four machine-gun mounts, which was designed to deflect rifle shots from snipers in ambush positions in the high passes. A clamshell cupola surmounted the turret for the commander, while side doors opened opposite ways on either side so that a crew member could dismount safely under fire. The crew area was lined with asbestos to keep the temperature down and the entire body could be electrified to keep large crowds at bay.
By 1939, when the Royal Tank Corps in India had handed most of its equipment over to the Indian Army, the Crossleys were worn out. The bodies were then transferred to imported Canadian Chevrolet chassis, with pneumatic tyres, and in this form served with Indian forces in the Middle East in the early years of the war.
From a previous visit, photographs of the Vickers Crossley Armoured Car Chevrolet (Indian Pattern) and from another visit, more photographs.
You can imagine in an early Very British Civil War scenario in the early 1920s, the Vickers factory making these armoured cars available to one of the armies for fighting the civil war. You would have to think about some rules for allowing the entire body could be electrified and the impact that this would have in games.
A beloved menace among Speed Freeks and grounded Ork Flyboyz alike, the Megatrakk Scrapjet is a roaring, rocket-propelled war-rig that brings the frantic thrill of aerial dogfighting directly to the battlefield floor.
Built around the salvaged fuselages of crashed Ork aircraft, these scrap-built monstrosities allow former pilots to relive the glory of low-altitude strafing runs, and the devastating point-blank collisions that grounded them in the first place.
Powered by a thunderous rocket engine, the Scrapjet hurtles toward enemy lines at terrifying speeds, using a massive, thrust-driven nose drill to grind through heavy armour and infantry.
As it charges into the fray, a fearsome array of welded, bolted, and lashed weaponry unleashes total carnage, unleashing a barrage of rokkits and missiles into enemy armour while a cackling Grot tail-gunner blazes away with a chatter of big shootas to keep pursuers at bay.
Constructed in late 1915 by William Foster & Co. of Lincoln, Little Willie holds a monumental place in military history as the world’s first completed working tank prototype. Developed under the auspices of the Admiralty’s Landships Committee and engineered jointly by Sir William Tritton and Major Walter Wilson, the 16.5-ton vehicle, originally dubbed the Lincoln Machine No. 1, was built using unarmored boiler plate to test the feasibility of a tracked, armoured war machine.
Driven by a 105-horsepower Daimler engine and fitted with trailing rear steering wheels, it demonstrated that an internal combustion engine paired with tracks could carry heavy armor across difficult ground. However, its low-slung, boxy hull and high center of gravity gave it poor trench-crossing capabilities, while its planned overhead gun turret was abandoned to lower its profile. Although Little Willie never saw combat, its fundamental lessons directly inspired the iconic rhomboidal design of the successor prototype “Mother” and the subsequent Mark I tank. Today, as the oldest surviving tank in existence, Little Willie is preserved as a flagship exhibit at The Tank Museum in Bovington.
Born from the greasy ingenuity of Snakebite Orks with a canny eye for battlefield economics, the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy wasn’t initially conceived as a weapon of war, but rather a mobile snack bar for the speed-addicted Speed Freeks. Imagine ramshackle, rattling pens on wheels, teeming with edible squigs, keeping pace with the thunderous advance of Warbikers, buggies, and Trukks. Above the din of engines, the Squigbuggy crews, all toothy grins and booming voices, would hawk their squirming wares.
For a hefty bag of teef exchanged mid-chase, a lucky (or perhaps unlucky) customer would have a choice squig launched directly into their waiting hands – or even their cavernous maw – courtesy of the vehicle’s ingenious Squig Launchas. However, legend, thick with the pungent aroma of squig and Orkoid mishap, whispers of a pivotal moment. It was when a particularly ferocious Attack Squig, mistaking the launcha for a new burrow, was accidentally fired into the face of an unsuspecting Ork. In that instant of unexpected carnage, the true, brutal potential of this mobile menagerie of mayhem was violently unleashed.
Now, the rumble of a Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy signals more than just lunchtime. These ruggedly built vehicles, instantly recognisable by their bellowing engines and the chaotic mass of squigs and Orks clinging to every surface, now muscle their way to the forefront of any Speed Freek advance. They unleash volleys of their living, close-range artillery, turning enemy ranks into a squirming, panicked mess. The Squigbuggy, once a purveyor of battlefield snacks, has evolved into a fearsome engine of destruction, proving that even the humblest beginnings can lead to gloriously violent ends.
For me two of the most interesting vehicles at Tankfest 26 were the two armoured vehicles from the Irish Army Museum at the Curragh.
These were used by the Irish Defence Forces. There was a Landsverk L180 armoured car.
There was also a Landsverk L-60 tank..
These were of Swedish origin. The Irish government only bought two Landsverk L-60 tanks. Likewise there weren’t many Landsverk L180 armoured cars either, after an initial order of two, a further six were delivered in 1939. Another five were ordered, but could not be delivered because of the war.
Seeing these and later reading about the Irish Defence Forces it got me thinking about possible period scenarios involving these armoured vehicles. I also got thinking what if the Irish government decided to beef up their armed forces in response to threats to their country.
German Invasion of Ireland – The German High Command did in fact draw up an invasion plan for Ireland, called Operation Green. The plan was to mislead the UK about German plans, and the plan itself was seen as a support for the main Operation Sealion.
Though you could also see a scenario, where the Germans did successfully invade Great Britain, and then plan to invade Ireland to prevent the US from using Ireland as a staging for liberating occupied Great Britain (and the rest of Europe). Following a successful invasion of the UK mainland, and the surrender of the UK, the German High Command decided that the threat posed by a neutral Ireland being used a stepping stone by US forces and was too great.
British Invasion of Ireland – In order to stop Germany using Iceland, the British did invade the island country in the North Atlantic. Operation Fork saw the landing of Royal Navy and Royal Marines forces at Reykjavík, who occupied Iceland without resistance. Would they do something similar with Ireland. The British government, in secret liaison with the Irish government, drafted Plan W, a planned occupation of Ireland by the British Armed Forces to counteract a potential German invasion.
The question is, would there be resistance from the Irish forces. Would neutral Ireland seek support from others, America perhaps, even Germany.
Both these ideas, depending on the timeframe could be used as the basis for some interesting games between various forces.
These Tempestus Scions Valkyrie flyers were on display at Warhammer World.
The Tempestus Scions are elite special forces of the Imperial Guard. They have the best equipment and weapons. The Valkyrie are troop carrying gunships used by the Imperial Guard. They are used to take soldiers into the heart of the battle. Flying through the enemy gunfire, landing in the hotzone and dropping off their payload before flying up in support.
Sometimes the troops are jumping, using grave chutes, from high above the battlefield. The Valkyrie is armed with lascannons or a multi-laser, and under the wings are missiles or rocket pods. The Valkyrie, like most of the Imperium’s aircraft, is piloted and operated by the Imperial Navy, with a pilot, co-pilot and two door gunners. Though not a helicopter, the Valkyrie is used in a similar way.
I do have a Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier kit, but it currently remains unbuilt in its box. I did though paint some for Aeronautica Imperialis.
Gallery of Valkyrie models.