Toxn

I'd say that, of the French tanks, the S35 is about the best bet to create a useful vehicle, and could probably support a much larger turret ring than it had historically (perhaps as large as 1.5m!). The PzII also has some hidden potential, although it's a lot more tightly packed and might support a turret ring of maybe 1.2m. That's in the same range as the BT-5 (which doesn't have much growth potential in that department at all), and gives you the opportunity to propose your own turret layout. Another dark horse in all of this, to my mind at least, is the Puppchen. It may not have the best effective range, but for that you get something with next to no recoil and the ability to smash any armour you're likely to face. This is where a layout similar to the modern BMP-3 (a high-velocity small-calibre gun mounted alongside a lower-velocity large-calibre gun) might be used to provide an all-around useful armament.

Thinking about it a bit, I wonder about the pros and cons of just leaving the mini-turrets in but taking out the guns and crew. The result would be fairly useful spaced armour - perfect for eating bazooka rockets and setting off bursting charges. I call this the "funbag airbag" approach

This is a good line of thinking. I'd say that radically reworking the suspension might be a bridge too far - but if it were as simple as cutting it out and welding it back onto external brackets then it may be doable. Widening the hull superstructure or adding side bulges (ala T-55 et al) in order to eke out every centimeter of potential turret ring diameter might be the easiest way forward here. I think where you might run into problems is actually with the limited space fore and aft - increase the turret ring size too much and you risk having no space left for the driver or engine. Getting rid of the convertible drive is almost a no-brainer - easy as removing the sprockets and welding the steering linkage to the hull. The low-energy version, and one that is still perfectly acceptable, would be to eke out the margins on the design by, say: beefing up the suspension coil springs, replacing the road wheels, sprocket and tracks with longer-lasting models (if such can be found), removing the convertible drive, slapping applique armour onto the hull and turret front, replacing the turret rear rack with a local radio and putting a commander's cupola in. This gets you straight into a respectable position by having something that would give 37mm gun crews and Stuart commanders pause.

@heretic88 This is perfect, thanks! With the removal of the mini-turrets I think it won't gain much weight either....

I find the lack of replies disturbing. Oh well, I'm drowning in work on this end too, so I hereby unilaterally grant us all another two weeks to submit. That's Sunday the 22nd, folks...

Should I give everyone another week?

How is everyone progressing?

I think the Marauder is in game, but none of the others. I know that a lot of the unseen mechs eventually became reseen after some careful copyright-circumventing redesigns a few years back. On another note: I finally managed to get a Kintaro put together. Although I don't like how it looks aesthetically, it's just really hard to argue against 4xSRM6 plus full armour...

So I've been playing the recent Battletech game a bit, and I have thoughts. Background: I've played quite a bit of Megamech (no tabletop, sadly - not enough folk doing tabletop games in general around here) and generally go for no-mech builds because fuck your giant robots. The game disappoints me by having a 4-mech lance limit, so lights are even more useless than normal. This is made even worse by every scenario involving you being outnumbered. So no mass tactics or manoeuvre tactics for you, mechwarrior. So you're all but doomed to having big, heavy, slow, armour-based builds if you don't like the idea of just scraping your pilots out of the cockpit between missions and shoving new recruits in. Besides the intricacies of weapon damage spreads, heat outputs, the stability damage mechanics, initiative et al (which are mostly interesting to tabletop nerds who feel like the game doesn't play how they remember it), there are also a few technical niggles. Sometimes an enemy mech will move next to a small rock and become inexplicably impossible to melee attack. Sometimes the mandatory ingame 'cinematic' camera will position itself so that you can only see waving bushes. Sometimes the game crawls to a halt when a big object like your dropship gets loaded in (an instance of Unity Engine syndrome). All that said, smashing giant robots together never ceases to be fun, and I've been enjoying what amounts to the sad adult version of that. I give the game a Stock Shadowhawk/10, being that it's not terrible (and can get fun if you fiddle with it a bit), but does not blow the world away with how great it is (optimised Kintaro) or provide some fun twist that makes the formula sparkle in a new setting (Disco built of Grasshopper). PS: I should mention my lack of bona fides again here, because my current go-to team composition is legendarily awful: - Banshee for my main, which is a one-trick pony fitted out with arm augments and as much armour as it can take. - Victor, for lack of any better mechs. Running a mix of AC10 and SRM. - Dragon, again for lack of anything better right now. Also going in for SRMs - Disco-variant Grasshopper, running hot but lethal if you can move in behind someone. Other than that I keep a couple of Griffins on standby for jumpy-shooty-backstabby things, a melee-optimised Shadowhawk, a single Centurion (to my endless shame I had to sell the one other one I managed to piece together due to going broke), an LRM-boat Trebuchet (which is not optimal, but oh well), a disco-variant Vindicator and, of course, and Urbie (sans small laser because the fuck are you going into CC with an Urbanmech?).

Go wild - there is no limit on entries (beyond my patience and the bounds of good taste), so put your sensible idea up with your wacky one.

This is the competition entry thread. Please submit your complete entries here (all entries will be judged complete when judging begins in the first week of November) and keep the other competition thread for discussion and chatter. Once judging is complete I will make a post here to discuss the entries and announce a winner. Best of luck! Update: final submissions should be in hand by the 22nd of November 2020.

I think we have enough to get this train wreck arolling... Good luck gents - I'll leave this thread open for discussion/WIP entries and make a thread for final entries. Judging will happen on the first week of November, and any entries you have in the final entry thread will count so don't be shy to put something up there.

Don't forget Italian equipment in general. You are allowed to use your own guns, after all...

A quick reminder:

I think production only re-started in 1943 (only around 1000 were produced before then), and it's too obviously useful for the Germans to just sell off captured stock. Same goes for the 76mm M1936, the reworked version thereof (7.62 cm FK 36(r)) and and the ZIS-3. The meta reason, of course, is that I don't want you all to have access to an 'easy' upgunning option . Edit: and before anyone asks, Pak 40, KwK 40 and up are off limits as being "too modern" to either sell or licence, although you are welcome to the ammo designs.

Licenced production yes, sale no. Production licences are also available for all ammunition currently in German use (ie: non-experimental), although no strategic materials (copper, tungsten) or products will be sold to Italy.

Under the clarified criteria, the tank to beat is now the M3 Stuart and the role is shifted towards a light tank rather than a tank hunter. The weapons to defend against are principally the 37mm guns M3 and M6, M1 Bazooka, M2 Browning and M1 75mm Pack Howitzer. Edit: I do expect anyone ballsy enough to pick the T-28 to make a Sherman-equivalent though.

This isn't intended to be a days-long exercise. You should be able to knock together a quick picture (even just a rough shoop) and description within an hour or two.

These are all good comments, so I've had the a think on the underlying purpose of the competition. The inspiration was the battle of Gela, where R35s were pressed into Italian service and, used quickly and en mass, managed to punch well above their weight. Partly this was because the heavy stuff wasn't available to the allies - the counter-attack was launched quickly enough so that the Renaults were facing 37mm guns and bazookas. And partly it was due to the sheer balls-to-the wall bravery of the tank crews, who drove unsupported through naval gunfire and into the town armed with half loads of short 37mm and machine gun ammo. So I think the core here would be less about making a panzerjager knock-off and more about just generally improving the vehicles so that, in that moment where they can be used, they can operate more like proper light tanks and less like suicide weapons. I'll amend the contest entry to reflect this.

Any info on the A11? Mass, dimensions, performance, pictures and the like?

As mentioned in the suggestion thread: when considering armament (or other components) you can choose from those provided weapons, plus any Italian equipment you want (so long as there's enough of it to go around) and anything else you can justify. Note that the further you get from off the shelf and commonly available, the more convincing the justification needs to be.

The new competition thread is up.

You can choose from these, plus any Italian weapons you want (so long as there's enough of them) and anything else you can justify. Note that the further you get from off the shelf, the more convincing the justification needs to be.

You are an engineer at an Italian locomotive and tractor-making company in early 1943. The writing is on the wall for the Italian army in North Africa, with a lot of equipment having been lost and the enemy on the brink of kicking the axis out of Tunisia and then heading across the Mediterranean. In short, things are looking more than a little desperate. However, all is not lost. Il Duce himself has stepped in and, with the assistance of the Germans, procured both some of their finest captured vehicles for use in the upcoming defense of the homeland. Since many of these vehicles have been... gently used, and the existing firms like Ansaldo are flooded with orders, your firm has been asked to work on them in order to bring them up to the standards demanded by modern warfare. In addition to these vehicles, the Germans have also graciously agreed to sell weapons from their existing stock of captured equipment, as well as providing production licenses for some of their more modern equipment. You have also been given permission to work with local weapons manufacturers in order to modify existing artillery to suit your needs. Italian automotive and engine manufacturers are similarly available to help. Finally; your firm's experience in locomotives and tractors means that you can modify hulls and put together turrets and turret rings. You can also produce castings (although not very large ones) and weld armour plates. Your job, which you have no choice but to accept, is to choose a vehicle from among the captured stock being offered for sale, and propose a series of plausible fixes in order to give it a fighting chance against the American and British equipment currently in the field (specifically light tanks and light anti-tank weapons). It is not foreseen that any of these vehicles will be able to plausibly take on modern medium or heavy designs head-on. Instead, what is wanted are general, implementable improvements to the characteristics of the chosen vehicle. These improvements should be aimed at making these vehicles more useful in the initial battles which are foreseen taking place against airborne and landing forces, in general cooperation with infantry, and as scouts. The submission should include one or more drawings or blueprints (at least a side view of the vehicle, but preferably a 3-point view and isometric view), a description of the modified vehicle, a description of how the modifications would be accomplished and a description of how the modifications would improve the design overall. The text of the submission should short and descriptive rather than long and exhaustive, and should not exceed 1000 words in total. Images may be photoshopped using existing pictures. Judging will be done on the basis of plausibility and effectiveness, with innovative solutions being encouraged in order to get the most bang for buck out of the base vehicle. Beyond implementation, the fixes should prioritise combat effectiveness while also improving reliability, crew ergonomics, communication, mobility and protection as much as possible. The foreign vehicles available for modification are: Renault R35 (already in service) Hotchkiss H35/39 Somua S35 (already in use for training purposes) T-26 BT-5 T-28 (only available in very small numbers, so need to be extremely effective) Panzer II Ausf.C The foreign weapons immediately available for purchase are: 15mm ZB-60 25mm Puteaux and Hotchkiss 3.7cm KPÚV vz. 34/Pak 34 (t) 3.7cm ÚV vz. 38/KwK 38(t) 3.7cm Pak 36 4.0 cm Pak 192 (e) 45mm M1937 (53-K) 4.7cm KPÚV vz. 38/Pak 38 (t) 47mm APX 7.5cm Pak 97/38 7.62 cm F.K.297(r) and 7.62 cm PaK 39(r) 8.8cm Raketenwerfer 43 Licenses are also available for the manufacture of foreign engines (Maybach HL62 TRM, Maybach HL120 TRM and Praga Typ TNHPS/II), periscopes, sights, radios, cupolas and automotive subassemblies. All foreign vehicle weapons, subassemblies and components are available for reverse engineering and manufacture. IMPORTANT NOTE: This competition hasn't been finalised, and is waiting on your input! Vote to participate by giving this topic a 'controversial' (grapefruit-induced tears being the only currency of value), and if we get enough participants we'll pull the trigger. Ask any questions you want below, and when/if the competition goes forwards I will make a new thread for entries. Edit: thanks to excellent feedback, the competition proposal has been somewhat edited. If you want an idea of what my mindset is here, read up on the battle of Gela (bearing in mind that the wikipedia entry is shite) and ask how much better the counter-attack could have gone if the Italian vehicles had been equipped with radios and had the ability to move faster than jogging speed. Edit 2: since I failed to mention this above - this is not a one-man, one-entry sort of competition (although I'm not keen on the ten-men, one entry approach either). If you have two good ideas then you can submit twice. The only rules are not to test my patience and to keep it within the bounds of good taste.

Indeed. How about this: I'll put up the detailed post as a seperate topic and include a voting option to gauge interest (eg: if x number of people respond with a grapefruit then it's on). I'm happy to pull the trigger on a mini-comp so long as I know it'll have at least three finalised entries (which means you need something like a minimum of 5-6 participants).