What I did on my Holidays

Overlord has asked me to do some more articles for this site. Now I have my Day job to do, and these articles actually take a bit of time, so I said I would try to stick up the odd piece on a Wednesday. These will likely be shorter and a different format to the Sunday article. They will not be a regular feature either. So without any further ado, lets get on with it.

On the 14th I had special (written and signed in triplicate) permission from my other half to disappear down to Dorset. To visit the Bovington Tank Museum. This would be my first visit, and thanks to a nice chap named Ed, and a very nice lady called Roz (who was too shy to get on camera), they agreed to open up the Vehicle Conservation Centre so I could have a walk round some of their rarer pieces.
As I had my camera with me I figured you lot might like to see some of the results.

First up we have this Vickers light Amphibious tank:

You can see the usual Carden Loyd running gear. More interestingly its got a Vickers HMG in the turret. Much like early Cruiser tanks and the Matilda. So it could theoretically mount a .50 cal Vickers HMG, meaning you might in the far future see it in game.

Next we have the D3E1 Wheel-cum-track:

An idea that was all the rage in the inter-war years. The idea is you can use the wheels on road, but when you need it as a tank you raise the wheels up and off you set. So in theory the best of both worlds.
However you also get twice the complexity and it is likely to break. That said the Germans did use a wheel-cum-track design in the Second World War.

Next we have the Excelsior:

A tank that you all will know from World of Tanks.

Next a very fetching Stridsvagn L-60:

Hopefully we'll see it somewhere in either the Combined EU or a separate Swedish tech tree.

Now we come to a Saladin:

As I've long been joking: World of Armoured Cars, you all know it makes sense. What better advert for it than something this cute?

There was also this little oddity:

Now it was defiantly Canadian, so either a Ram or a Grizzly (I forget which) but it has a gun with a muzzle brake. So I guess a US 76mm.

As I pressed deeper I found a real prize:

As you can see this is the QinetiQ ACAVP. QinetiQ is what's left of the UK Governments defence research department. The tank its self was a technology test vehicle, and is made out of plastic. Yes that's right, its really made out of plastic armour.

Now those of you who are in the UK know that the week I went down to Bovington parts of the UK were doing a passable impression of a submarine. As I was clicking away I didn't know it but my camera had gotten a bit wet and the pictures weren't being recorded. This was the last picture that I could recover from my camera before it gave up the ghost completely:

So can you ID the tank?

After Bovington I got back to my hotel only to find the water from the river already washing over the road, and the hotels garden was submerged. So I quickly grabbed my gear and checked out despite me being due to stay another night. I timed it just right as I had to drive through three floods on the way home, one of which was on a motorway!

The Good news is I have a much better camera now, and I'll have to make plans to go back.

[WoT] A Fun Tank To Play

Tanks and their are a substantial part of WoT gameplay. No doubt.

What tanks are fun for you and what are not? And most importantly - why so?
What makes fun tank gameplay for you and what breaks it?
Do you feel like there are enough unique tanks in the game that can boast their character, or the game is trending towards average-like vehicles lacking in character?

Any vehicle-tank-specs-related thoughts will do. 

[WoT] JWOT

Well, the breaking news (as promised) from Tokyo Game Show 2013 is obviously the announcement of Japanese tech tree. A good English source would be here.

Tech tree itself.

And some other images to go with the above.

TGS has begun.

The main entrance

WoT banner

Type 95 and its crew

WG Japanese office

Dream team

WoT target audience in Japan (PC)

Target audience as well, even though somewhat older (Xbox)

WoT has met Girls und Panzer. What would be the outcome?

Honestly, this was the best Gree had at its booth

Banned!

[WoT] The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum in Bovington (UK) is one of the coolest tank museums I have ever visited - and I have seen quite a few! It's enormous! I was only able to spend about four hours in the museum, and I assure you I could easily have spent an entire weekend in there, basking in the beautiful steel creatures. I took over 300 photos, including some in their private storage sheds, and I will share some of the juiciest ones here. Even more impressive, about a third of these tanks are still running and occasionally get taken out for a spin around the block!

Let's start with our favorite era, World War II... naturally, there are loads of British tanks. Of course, part of this is because the museum is located next to the Royal Armoured Corps headquarters and training base. As one of the staff there put it, whatever they can't find a use for goes into the museum. There are also a bunch of German tanks, shipped to the UK during the war for research and testing. Plus some American tanks that we left behind as just too expensive to ship back to the US. Occasional odd Soviet, French, Italian, and even Japanese tanks can also be found here. Here's a look at some of them (keeping in mind that you're only getting a small taste of the museum!).

Warning: Lots of scrolling below!

First off, the British - after all, it's their museum!

Mk IIA Light Tank

Valentine - note the target on the turret!

Black Prince - lots of tiny wheels!

Centurion Mk I

Comet

Covenanter - lots of bolts!

Crusader in desert camo - obviously a "Wallet Warrior"!

Sherman Firefly (British upgrade with 17 pdr gun)

TOG - and you probably thought we made it up!

Tortoise - this one hasn't moved in years, just like the ones I see in WoT!

This oddity consists of a tracked metal garden shed and a piece of naval artillery!

One for the French...

Char S35 Somua, with handy window for traveling in style...

And now the Germans - quite a selection!

Jagdtiger - yes, it's as big as it looks!

Panther, built by the British Army in a captured German factory at the end of the war!

Jagdpanther, also made by the British Army in the same captured German factory!

StuG III with logs (for fascine and for extra camouflage and protection)

Luchs (PzKpfw IIL) - one of only two left in the world!

A more ordinary PzKpfw II

Hetzer gonna Hetz!

PzKpfw VIE Tiger - and it runs! (They wouldn't let me drive it though!)

King Tiger with Porsche turret (this one is an original mockup with fake armor and no engine)

Another King Tiger, this one a production model with Zimmerit

Leopard (no, not the WWII scout, the postwar MBT!)

Where does this one go?

T-26 captured by the Finns (that's a Finnish swastika, not a German one!)

The Yankees seem to have left some of their equipment behind!

M24 Chaffee, named after famous American general Adno Chaffee

M3 Lee - the tank destroyer known as a tank

M22 Locust - it's so cute, I wanted to put it in my pocket!

M10 Wolverine with a coat of whitewash

This is the oldest known surviving Sherman - it's an original M4A1 (training model) sent with the first batch of Lend-Lease vehicles. Note the extra ports in the front for fixed machineguns.

M5A1 Stuart (I wonder why they didn't camo the turret?)

Patton (the tank, not the general!)

 A couple of Soviet tanks, probably re-captured from the Germans during the War!

KV-1 sponsored by the Leningrad Women's Front (although the "Za" should be in front of "Leningrad" - I think the artist thought it was an alphanumeric 3A!).

SU-76M

Meanwhile, the warehouses out back are still full of even more dusty tanks (not part of the normal tour - special for Wargaming staff!).

Yes, a halftrack Land Rover - the only one of its kind!

Interesting goodies from all over the world. Recognize any of them?

A turret's-eye view of another warehouse full of armor

What would the article be without a plug for the home team?

The Wargaming.Net Education Centre - guess who sponsors this?  :-)

In the Education Centre, students can try on hot wool tanker uniforms. Fun!

I think the body armor and brain bucket are more fun than the stuffy uniforms!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this small tour. Like I said, I have plenty more pictures, if you're interested!  :-)