Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Rolls


A Rolls Royce Armoured Car by Frontline Wargaming
Grauniad moment: Above amended to read Frontline Wargaming,
rather than Newline Designs.
As I've said before, I have have a terrible tendency to flit between projects and I have been half heartedly chipping away at a small Very British Civil War Project. The conceit for those of you not familiar with it, is that Edward VIII does not abdicate and manages to get his chum Oswald Mosley into government. This radicalises the populace and before you know it, fascist jackboots are kicking in doors and there are militias sprouting up all over the country. The Reds are turning on the government, Liverpool has declared independence, the Scots are looking distinctly shifty and Mosley is attempting to restore order by shooting anyone who disagrees with him.

The whole thing is inspired by Sir Ian McKellen's magnificent version of Richard III which depicts Richard as a black shirted fascist. It's visually very attractive and I tell myself that I'll be able to use the figures for Operation Sealion games, which I've run rather successfully before.
There is a description in the main book of a Mosley-ite armoured column whose mission is to decapitate the Anglican League, the armed wing of the Anglican church who have taken a dim view of the King a)marrying a divorcee and b)foisting a tyrant on the country. In a thoroughly bizarre way this made perfect sense to me and I found the idea of an Anglican League force very attractive and reminiscent of "Went the Day Well".

My objective is complete a small Mosley-ite force who will be opposed to the death by my Anglican militia in defence of God, country, jam and Jerusalem. The Mosley-ites will be Regular Army types with some party members, though I'm not sure what to use for them. I'll have to have a look at Richard's army in Richard III. The Anglican militia will be partisans and Home Guard of various sorts, probably with some Regular Army support.

I was putting in an order with Frontline Wargaming , a Christmas present for Donogh as it happens and I decided to add in a little something for myself while I was at it. I've always liked the look of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car myself and thought that nothing could be more appropriate to a British Civil War scenario. The model arrived well packed and I put it together in a few minutes. The finish is a bit rough, but I managed to clean most of the flash and rough patches away with my penknife after fixing Mrs. Kinch a predinner martini. I had finished the work by the time she had finished the martini, so it wasn't a long job.

I then of course dropped the model (the Garibaldi may not helped) and snapped the barrel of the Vickers from the turret, which is why the turret is looking a little underdressed. That said, a nice little model and very, very cheap.


http://www.wearehench.com/rr/101wo.html

10 comments:

  1. Personally, I'm a fan of the Lanchesters - but your mileage may vary...

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  2. The beauty of RRs, of course, is that they can be used for so much. Can't you just see your RR blatting away at a perfect scale model of the Four Courts ?

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  3. ...and to follow up on ALfront's post - can you also see it blazing across the desert towards the gates of Jerusalem under Allenby???

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  4. ... or as the sole RR among the Lanchesters and Austins with the British armoured car force in Imperial Russia... (over to you Steve...)

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  5. ....or nosing up to the wire as part of the British forces attacking the Italians in Operation Compass in the Western Desert in the early years of WWII...

    http://www.desertrats.org.btinternet.co.uk/images/Pictures/11thHussarsthroughthewire.jpg

    ...there's something deeply likeable about a Rolls Royce armoured car - I had no idea that it was in service from roughly 1914 to 1950 though!

    Good post CK..

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  6. ...or bimbling around Basra and Habbinyah during the Rashid Ali business...

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  7. That looks a nice model. Both of my RR A/Cs are old Raventhorpe models - I'm sure they'll stray in front of a camera at some point.

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  8. Hurrah you are working on your vbcw project- I will follow it with interest...
    well done old chap
    Alan

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  9. By the by Conrad what rules do you favour for this period?

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  10. Donogh - I wasn't familiar with lanchesters, though further study hasn't convinced me that they can best the Rolls on looks. Steve has the right of it - they're a deeply likeable vehicle.

    Gentlemen - I think my Rolls service will be limited to the British isles as it would require rather too many repaints otherwise. Though the beauty of Frontline Wargaming models is that three or four could be got for a tenner, should I ever decide to expand.

    Trad - the rules will most likely be an adaptation of Memoir '44, though Donogh has threatened to use Force on Force if I provide toys.

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