Vickers Medium Mk II

 Many moons ago, I purchased a model of a Vickers Medium Mk II from the venerable Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company*, aka the HLBS, intending to use it to support my Back of Beyond armies.  I was never quite content with it in that role, however, as the army was theoretically supposed to represent forces in 1919-1920 or thereabouts, just after the Great War, while the Vickers Medium Mk II didn't appear until about 1924.

*(Note that HLBS have since sold this model on.  I believe it went to Copplestone Castings, but they don't have it anymore either as far as I can tell.  Empress Miniatures has one now, but I don't know whether it's the old HLBS model or a completely new one)

Nonetheless, I painted it up in a basic sand colour, suitable for the dusty plains of Afghanistan or elsewhere in Central Asia, without any particular justification for how one of these vehicles could get there.  Here is how it looked for many years, with a Copplestone Castings officer alongside for scale.

Interestingly, I managed to take some photos of a real Vickers Medium Mk II at the Australian Armour Museum at Puckapunyal in 2006.

As I have been painting up my Pulp Figures Highlanders for a somewhat fantasy-inspired 1940 platoon, it occurred to me that I still have this old veteran in my collection.  While not suitable for a 1920 Back of Beyond adventure, there were still a number of Vickers Medium Mk II tanks in the UK in 1940.  They were well and truly obsolete by that time, but in the event of a successful German Operation Seelowe or Sea Lion, they would no doubt have been pressed into service.  Similarly, if my Highlanders get moblised for a Very British Civil War in 1937, there would be another opportunity to bring the Vickers Medium Mk II into action.  With that in mind, I decided to repaint the old warrior in colours that roughly approximate the bronze green of pre-war British armour.  I almost went glossy, but then toned it down just a touch!

In terms of game performance, it is very slow, with a speed of 15 mph, comparable to Infantry Tanks such as the Churchill.  Armour is quite thin, but the 3-pdr (47mm) gun has a bit of kick, and was comparable to guns mounted on other early war tanks.  It also mounts several machine guns around the vehicle.  The side mounted MG have long since snapped off and I haven't replaced them.  For CoC, I understand that this should work out to Armour 2, and AT5/HE3 and Slow.

So here is the repainted Vickers Medium Mk II with a couple of fat old men for scale.  Markings are pretty much just made up, but slightly inspired by photos I found on line of the Vickers Medium at the Bovington Tank Museum.

The tracks on the original model were a bit crap, so I smeared some brown goop on them to represent mud, hoping to hide how smooth they were!  

Just for fun, here are some comparison shots of the tank with some early war contemporaries, such as the Czechoslovak CKD LT vz 38 (aka Panzerkampfwagen 38(t)) and a Panzer IV.

And here with a Churchill III.  So it's not tiny.  No giant, of course, but compared to some other early war tanks it's a decent size.