HMG "OFSTED TANK" - AND SCIENTIFIC GENIUS

Every VBCW faction needs a "Mad Scientist", and since the banishing and imprisonment of Professor Dave Ross, inveterate scientific tinkerer and notorious cider addict, His Majesty's Government has been sadly lacking in this department. But no more! Let HMG's C-in-C, Major Everard (Alan) take up the story:

"PROFESSOR FERGAL MCGONAGALL

Inventor of the OFSTED  (Oil Fired Steam Turbine Electrical Discharge) Tank.

Another extraordinary invention from the fertile mind of the eccentric genius and inventor, Professor Fergal McGonagall. Variously described as ‘a brilliant but unstable mind’, ‘that loony bastard’, ‘the cleverest man in Ireland’, ‘a complete and utter lunatic’ and ‘totally bonkers’, the Professor has many weird and wonderful, though not always effective, inventions to his name. Examples include – the magnetic vacuum cleaner for cleaning workshop floors of metal fragments, the steam powered washing device, the clockwork rotating washing line, etc. etc.

Prof. McGonagall has been a friend of Major Everard ever since the latter saved the Professor from an angry lynch mob in Palestine when, after an evening of heavy drinking, the inebriated Irishman mistook the entrance to a local mosque for a public convenience.

Hearing of his friend’s current strategic difficulties, the Professor has devised a new armoured weapon to assist the fight against Communism and the Church, both of which McGonagall despises (along with teetotallers, vegetarians, tax collectors, Pekinese dogs, and physical training instructors).

The tank tows an armoured trailer containing the oil, fuel and water containers. These are pumped into the tank, where an oil-fired boiler heats the water to produce steam to drive a turbine which generates electricity. Upon firing, the tank discharges a high voltage current at the target, which (hopefully) suffers rather as if struck by lightning. This current can be capable of destroying all electrical circuits, melting metal, igniting fuel and starting fires, and electrocuting any human or animals caught in the discharge. However, as this example is a prototype, which has not yet been perfected, it may (like so many of McGonagall's inventions) not be entirely reliable………

For its initial foray onto the battlefield the tank will be commanded by Professor McGonagall’s nephew, Senior Officer Cadet Leo Macken-Chees, a wild young spirit known by admirers in his home town of Ballyorefall as ‘The Young Lion’, (and by his detractors as ‘the Prat in the Hat’)."

Senior Cadet Leo Macken-Chees (mounted and dismounted versions)
together with his OFSTED tank. Tanker's uniform clearly of his own design...

An "aerial reconnaissance" view of the OFSTED tank.

OFSTED tank and armoured trailer.

Onward ! The Ofsted Tank trundles off towards Major Everard's "Dinmore Hill Line"
outside Hereford, ready to "sally forth" against the gathering Communists...

Notes:

(1). the "Ofsted Tank" constitutes Alan's entry for the Modelling Challenge 2022 ("Armoured Legends") and is therefore playable as a FREE UMPIRE BONUS to Government Forces on the "Dinmore Hill Line table" at the forthcoming Spring Big Game 2023.

(2). Senior Officer Cadet Leo Macken-Chees, as Alan's "Armoured Legend" also benefits from the "Armoured Legend Special Rule" as previously posted, and replicated here for convenience : "Special Rule for "Armoured Legends" - in the event that an "Armoured Legends" tank is blown up, the "Armoured Legend" himself/herself does not die, but is "catapulted" by the force of the explosion from the tank in a random direction for a random distance (use direction die and 2D6), and thereafter continues "on foot". The bias is always against an "Armoured Legend" being killed in this Big Game - because they have to have some time 'in County" to become "the Legend" that they supposedly are.... 

 

(3). Alan has drawn up a very special firing/reaction/results table unique to the Ofsted Tank, available on the BIG DAY of the Spring Big Game 2023, apparently involving a lot of enhanced toasting of Communists (with equal chances of explosive reactions within the Ofsted itself). The Umpires are grateful (even if the Communists might not be), as this outstanding effort is one up on the usual "oh...I wrote the rules on my mobile phone....,let me check..." (of blessed memory).