File: villers-bocage tacmap.png (3.23 MB, 1600x1137)

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> Addendum: Tactical map of Villers Bocage in rough terms (tank icons not to scale)

> Stop here and make ready on the gun, you can get a shot into the Tiger's side as it comes around the corner, oblivious to you. (Aim? Where? What round?)
Y, the turret ring, AP


Corporal Patters (Cromwell IV)
> "Cut right across the Tiger's bow, you'll catch it unawares!" (Distraction)

>>733452
>> Stop here and make ready on the gun, you can get a shot into the Tiger's side as it comes around the corner, oblivious to you. (Aim? Where? What round?)
>Hull? AP?

Patters:
> "Stop and hit that Tiger as it rounds the corner!"

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>> INFO POST 3: Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M)
Born of the British Cruiser Tank program with development beginning in late 1940, the A27M Cromwell was one of the most successful British tanks of the war, combining the powerful Rolls Royce Meteor engine with decent armour and the versatile QF 75mm gun to create a fast, manouevrable and small tank that was still capable of filling the roles generally taken by the American made Sherman. However, by the time of its introduction in late 1943, and certainly by the time of its first combat service in June 1944, the Cromwell was already past its prime, especially in the anti-tank role, having been delayed several months due to the damage caused to British tank design and production by the defeats of '40 and '41. Such delays and slow production would continue to plague the Cromwell and its variants throughout the war, and without the necessary numbers of tanks to equip the majority of their forces, only the 7th Armoured Division, the 'Desert Rats', was equipped entirely with Cromwells as their main line tank.

In 7th AD service the Cromwell was initially poorly received, many veterans being disillusioned with British tank design, complaining that the new tank was more cramped than the Sherman and that its flat armour would be far less effective. However, once they saw combat in Normandy following D-Day, tankers rapidly realised that German AT weapons were often so lethal or so close amongst the bocage that the Sherman's armour was just as flimsy as the Cromwell's but with its great speed and agility in tight terrain as well as a lower profile, the Cromwell offered some definite advantages over its US counterpart, though neither was effective against the heavier tanks in the German arsenal. The Cromwell eventually earned itself a good reputation amongst crews, but its shortcomings meant that efforts to improve or replace the design were beginning even as the first vehicles rolled off the production lines. These included the A30 and A34 (Challenger and Comet) tanks, as well as the program by Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W/BRCW) to produce a version of the Cromwell with a welded rather than riveted frame that would save weight and improve the vehicle's survivability. The result were the Cromwells Vw and VIIw, which used the saved weight to attach an extra 1-1.5 inches of armour to front of the vehicle, giving them the same frontal turret and hull armour as a Tiger I. While few were made as BRCW was ordered to focus on the creation of the Challenger and other Cromwell producers lacked the know how to easily tool for welded construction, with just 123 example of all models made, they are inarguably the ultimate versions of the Cromwell.

> Would you like to know more? (What? E.g. Technical specifications, particular capabilities or service history stuff)

>>733452
>>733500
Supporting this.

>>733500
This sounds risky, but could payoff

>>733514
Whats the Armor penetration of our Cromwell?

>>733666
Well Satan, since you asked, it's effectively around 100mm hitting flat armour at point blank, but a lot of other factors can play into it, including armour overmatching the shell's diameter and the like.

>>733739
And what is the thickness of a Tiger?

File: Tiger I Firing Eastern Front.gif (1.99 MB, 480x270)

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> Stop here and make ready on the gun, you can get a shot into the Tiger's side as it comes around the corner, oblivious to you. (Aim? Where? What round?)
> "Cut right across the Tiger's bow, you'll catch it unawares!" (Distraction)

"Bob, stop us here! Dick bring the gun around and wait for the shot, aim for its turret ring! Load AP!" Your crew chorus back affirmatives and Caesar grinds to a halt, turning its frontal armour towards the corner and waiting. You close the hatch above you, peering out the vision blocks of the cupola as the Tiger begins to inch forwards once more. Below you in the turret the breech clunks as a shell slides home.

"Up!" The radio chatter from 4 CLY is still panicked and disorganised, but you can't focus on it anymore, all of your senses are tunnel visioned onto the corner.

"Corporal Patters, cut forward across the Tiger's front, you'll catch it unawares then be able to slip away while we finish it!"

"You're insane! You'll get us killed you daft bastard!" Patters response blurts back over the radio, panic clear in his voice.

"That's an order Corporal," you pause for a moment and take a softer tack, just as the Tiger begins moving forward in earnest again, "Don't worry, we'll hit him before he can get a shot off, now go."

"Y-yes, sir." Patters disappears down into his hatch and the Cromwell IV slides right and then zooms off towards the Tiger, closing the distance rapidly just as the front of the Tiger's hull emerges around the corner. For a moment it looks like the plan will go off and Patters will tear past without a hitch but his driver misjudges the distance and the Tiger suddenly accelerates forward just as the Cromwell passes it, smashing into the British vehicles side and ripping its tracks of with a hideous tearing noise. It then reverses a few feet, getting room to bring its turret onto the Corporal's vehicle as your turret makes fine adjustments, trying to find the mark for the Tiger's turret ring.

"Got the shot, Major!" Yells Dickie from the gunner's seat.

"Then bloody well fire!" The 75mm gun fires, the sound strangely muffled by the vibrating interior of your Cromwell, and the shell zips across the 50 or so yards between you and the Tiger. The shell goes high, straight into its turret side and the gun traverses left towards Patters' vehicle and ricochets off with a sound of tearing steel, flying into a house on the other side of the street and shattering one of its corners. Your tank is silent, and you feel something icey grab hold of your heart. The Tiger halts for a moment, then reverses the last few feet and brings its gun around. Patters' driver's hatch opens and the driver attempts leap from the vehicle, but the Tiger's hull MG barks and cuts the man to pieces before he can even get his legs out of the aperture. The Cromwell's turret begins traversing slowly, having to be handcranked as the engine's stalled, but it's a futile gesture.

File: villers-bocage tacmap.png (3.23 MB, 1600x1137)

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>>733831
The Eighty-Eight booms again, the muzzle flash and smoke practically covering it's victim the range is so close, the shell punching in straight through the base of the turret. Patters' Cromwell detonates spectacularly, its turret being hurled a dozen feet in the air before crashing down next to the burning hull. Your crew sits, stunned or perhaps mesmerised as the German heavy begins traversing slowly towards you.

> FORWARDS!
> BACK! BACK! BACK!
> EAST!
> FIRE AGAIN! (Aim? Where? What round?)
> Other

> FIRE AGAIN! (Aim? Where? What round?)

Yes! The Engine! Whatever works best against the engine!

>>733772
80mm on the sides, which especially if struck at even a mild angle by 75mm MV rounds was enough to cause deflections or even in some cases stop rounds dead at these exact ranges. (in the irl battle of Villers-Bocage, a Cromwell engaged the Tiger from a range of less than 50 yards, from the rear and bounced off of its turret rear)

>>733846
>> FIRE AGAIN! (Aim? Where? What round?)
Use an HE shell, if we have it. Order the other Cromwell to retreat and hide around a corner

>>733867
The other Cromwell's dead. Really dead.

>>733846
>> FIRE AGAIN! (Aim? Where? What round?)
engine, AP round.

>>733875
I thought there were 2?

>>733885
There was you and one other Cromwell from 4 CLY you roped into following you.

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>> INFO POST 4: Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger
Probably the most famous and recognisable tank of World War 2 and quite possibly of all time, the Panzer VI Tiger was perhaps ironically the result of the rushed through its design phase using parts and ideas from myriad other heavy tank programs that preceded it. While these programs had been going on since 1937, the first serious efforts put towards what become the Tiger began in early May of 1941, the intent being to create a vehicle that would counter the British tanks and AT guns the German's had encountered in Europe and North Africa, and following Operation Barbarossa and encounters with the KV and T-34 series tanks the program was given utmost priority. The first Tigers saw combat just over a year later in August 1942, and quickly gained a fearsome reputation amongst Allied crews that had to face it. Incredibly heavily armoured and mounting the devastating 8.8cm KwK 36 gun, the Tiger was all but impenetrable to the new Sherman tank at anything but the closest ranges, while able to destroy one in return from nearly 2km distant. It was also surpisingly agile for its size, with its dual differential transmission letting it turn in place and manoeuvre well in tight confines. However it was not without its flaws, particularly Tigers were expensive and slow to produce and once in the field prone to mechanical issues thanks to its heavy weight and overworked drive train which were exacerbated by the vehicle's over-engineered design making minor problems like a thrown track or damaged road wheel day long repair jobs requiring dozens of men to fix.

That said, even 2 years after its introduction the Tiger was still a formidable foe for an allied tank crew to encounter, able to consistently resist fire from Shermans and Cromwells even at close range from the flanks and often crewed by highly trained, experienced and motivated tankers. 'Tiger fright' as it was known was perceived as a serious issue by British command staff, and it was not unheard of for crews, especially in inexperienced units to abandon their tanks without even being hit if a Tiger was thought to be engaging them. They were not however, invincible, and a lucky shot from a 75mm at close range or the Sherman Firefly and A30 Challenger with their lethal 17-pounder armament could both destroy Tigers with ease at even extreme ranges, though they were just as vulnerable to return fire as their less well armed siblings.

> Would you like to know more? (What?)

>>733959
I need to proofread better.

>>733959
So do you have any numbers on how long these monsters took to make? A few weeks?

>>733846
>> FIRE AGAIN! (Aim? Where? What round?)
>>733853
this.

File: villers-bocage tacmap.png (3.23 MB, 1600x1137)

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> FIRE AGAIN! (AP, Engine Block)

"Get another fucking AP round up the spout Andy!" Your shout seems to snap the crew out of their stupor and Lieutenant Cooper snatches up a second round to feed into the breech, simply leaving the spent brass to clatter about on the turret floor. "Dick, aim for the engine block, fire when ready!" The Tiger continues to turn towards you implacably, its turret swinging about to face you.

"Up!"

"Firing!" The 75mm fires again, the breech recoiling into the turret and spitting out its empty casing with a distinctive 'clunk-chang!' The shell zips out towards the rear of the Tiger's side armour and ricochets away, this time skipping once off the road behind it in a spray of bitumen and dirt ending its journey in the front window of a house. Undaunted, your foe continues its turn, angling itself at 45 degrees from you and anything down the road to its left as its turret groans into position. Well two can play at that game.

"Bob! Hard right, 20 degrees!" Caesar slews right for a moment, just as the Tiger's gun fires with a giant gout of flame and smoke. The whole tank reverberates, and you'd swear it was actually shunted back a few feet, but nothing smells like its burning and no screams come rushing into your ears either, seems like that extra armour did its job.

"Everyone alright?" You ask, trying to shake the piercing ringing out of your ears.

"We're alright down here!" Comes Trooper Cartwright's voice, speaking the hull crew.

"Gunner, alright!" Says Dickie, traversing the turret back left onto the Tiger.

"Loader, alright!" Grunts Cooper, shoving another AP round into the breech.

"Okay, give her another then, fire!" You don't even bother telling Dick where to aim, it's more an act of defiance than anything. The 75 thumps again, and once the smoke clears you see the rear of an AP shell fused to the right hand side of the opponent's mantlet, but the behemoth is otherwise undamaged. You realise with some trepidation that you can't keep up a slugging match with this Kraut bastard, he'll get lucky long before you do.

> Pull back! You need to break contact and regroup, maybe organise some kind of concerted attack.
> Rush him, you can get around his flank while he's reloading.
> Fake him out, charge then cut left through the houses to your left, you can sneak off as he tries to make chase and stalk him until a better opportunity arises.
>> OPTIONAL CHOICES
> +Load a Smoke shell, blind the bastard!
> +Load a HE shell, maybe you'll stun him!
> +Load an AP shell, maybe you'll get lucky!
> +Hose him down with the MGs!

>>734025
I'm not sure on the exact manhours but I'll do some looking after the sessions over and get back to you. I've heard stuff thrown around like 'twice as long as a Panzer IV' in various historical publications though.

>>734118
Forgot to include an
> Other

>>734118
> +Load a Smoke shell, blind the bastard!
Fire the shell right at him. Maybe we could try to board him and toss a frag in, instead of this game of cat and cat

> Rush him, you can get around his flank while he's reloading.
> +Load a HE shell, maybe you'll stun him!

>>734118
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Tankies%20Quest
>>734188
supporting this

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>> INFO POST 5: Overmatching
Overmatching is a term used to describe the effects of the relationship between armour thickness and shell diameter on armour penetration. To be described in the absolute simplest terms, overmatching of armour occurs when a shell is wider than the thickness of armour plating that it is striking, and overmatching of a shell occurs when the thickness of the armour is greater than the diameter of the shell. It is worth noting that overmatching is only necessary to consider when looking at WW2 era AP, APBC and sub-calibre penetrators. HE rounds often do not benefit from overmatching effects, nor do modern sub-calibre penetrators which interact with armour as though both materials are in fluid states.

In the former case, armour that is overmatched will be effectively thinner for the purposes of penetration, e.g. a T-34's 45mm of armour should have an effective thickness of 112mm thanks to its sloped design, however thanks to the overmatching effect, a 75mm round striking a T-34 would only have to penetrate an effective thickness of 85.5mm, a far less daunting proposition. Additionally, massive overmatching occurs when a shell exceeds armour thickness by three or more times, and means that basically regardless of the angling or position of the armour struck, the shell will destroy the armour and likely severely damage or knock out the vehicle, even if it should otherwise ricochet.

In the latter case however, rounds that are overmatched by the armour they're striking may penetrate substantially less armour than they otherwise would, particularly when striking central parts of large armour plates. Towards the edge of armour plates or if armour plates are particularly small, this effect is greatly diminished. This relationship between thickness and penetrative ability is often overlooked and is the reasoning behind many of the otherwise confusing design choices involving unsloped armour on heavy tanks.

>>734188
>>734240
So you just want to fire the smoke shell and then remain stationary?

>>734267
We will fore and then back up, from our current position. Maybe about 10 feet

>>734273
Fire, not fore

Fake out + smoke

> Other
> +Load a Smoke shell, blind the bastard!

You've got to stay the course, but you need to buy some room to think. "Load Smoke, aim directly at the damn thing, if we can't kill him we'll blind him!"

"Got it Dave!" Says you gunner, slipping back into familiar terms under the stress of combat. Lieutenant Cooper opens one of the turret floor bins and begins searching for a smoke round, as a another pop muffled by the steel skin of your vehicle preludes a 75 shot from another Cromwell further down the road to your East. The shot skips off the side of the Tiger's hull, angled as it is, just as Andy finds a smoke round and throws it into the breech.

"Up!"

"Fire!" The Tiger disappears in a puff of white smoke, temporarily obscuring the Tiger from any observation. "Alright, Bob, back us up a little bit, just 10 feet or so." You ignore the shocked look of Dickie as he turns in the gunner seat to face you, like you've just eaten one of your boots or something.

There's a pregnant pause before your driver responds. "Alright, Major, you better know what you're doing." Caesar begins reversing, painfully slowly. For the first few seconds, you think you've successfully bought some space, when an engine roars from within the smoke and the Tiger burst forth out of it, barrelling towards you. Its cannon crashes like Thunder and there's a tremendous BONG from the front of the hull. Everything shakes and the shock unfocusses your vision for a moment, before noise and sensation comes rushing back to you.

"Shit, Ethan's hit!" Bob's voice isn't scared, it's angry. "The fuck was that, sir! What'd you expect them to do?"

"Stow it, Lance Corporal, now how bad is he?"

"Just some spalling, Major, nicked my arm is all." Grunts Trooper Cartwright over the intercom, the pain clear in his voice. The Tiger is continuing to close with you, apparently intent on ending this confrontation now that you've proved difficult to engage frontally.

> Pull back! You need to break contact and regroup, maybe organise some kind of concerted attack.
> Charge, circle around the Tiger as it tries to rush you and try to find a point blank shot.
> Fake him out, charge then cut left through the houses to your left, you can sneak off as he tries to make chase and stalk him until a better opportunity arises.
> Hold your ground, maybe getting rammed by 57 tons of German steel won't be so bad.
> Other
>> OPTIONAL CHOICES
> +Load a Smoke shell, blind the bastard!
> +Load a HE shell, maybe you'll stun him!
> +Load an AP shell, maybe you'll get lucky!
> +Hose him down with the MGs!

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>>734488
Updated tacmap.

>>734488
Now that he is literally in front of us, we need to load that AP shell and fire right at the viewing port. See if we can knock out the crew

Fake him out, charge then cut left through the houses to your left, you can sneak off as he tries to make chase and stalk him until a better opportunity arises.

+Hose him down with the MGs!

It's one thing to squint and charge through smoke, its quite another to kep an eye on us while risking a stray shot through the eye.

Don't like the survival chances of tank hugs either.

>>734488
>>734532
sure this.

>>734551
I wouldn't mind doing both. Hose him down with the MG while firing the cannon. I don't like tank hugs either, but the Tiger is superior in almost every way

>>734488
>other

Blap an HE round into his tracks, immobilize it. 45mm HE rounds from Soviet AT guns could do it, our 75 should be able to as well.

Kick it in gear and circle around him. Hit him with an AP shell at an optimal angle (preferably the lower side, where its only 60mm thick).

>>734561
So long as we keep the hugging to a minimum
>>734576
That could do it.

>>734576
>>734597

Aye. With any luck, the shell should completely blow the track off the drive wheel as well, and he won't be able to pivot at any real speed. The turret won't be able to keep up this close either. Suppress his optics with MG fire as we make the dash.

Seems like we have a tie for now, any votes to break it?

>>734684
I don't know, this is a pretty important decision. What are the votes?

>>734799
Nevermind, I flubbed it and went for the option that wouldn't kill the MC. Just about finished writing now.

>>734841
kek.

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> Other

"Load HE, fast as you can!" You yell, watching the Tiger eat up the yards towards Caesar, gaining speed. "Aim low at the tracks, as soon as he fires, take us forward flank speed, around his left side and get in under his gun!" There are no words of response, just affirmative grunts. The turret twists right a few degrees and then back as the gun depresses, tracking the rapidly approaching Tiger. You reach above you and undo the latch on your hatch, when you move, it'll have to be fast and precise, more than what your cupola can afford you, risks be damned. You start counting down the yards to the German heavy bearing down on you, 30...25...20...15...10.

"Up!" Cooper yells, and before you can even open your mouth to give the order the 75 bucks and Tiger slews right as its left-hand drive wheel and the nearby links of its tracks disappear in a flash of fire and dust, temporarily obscuring it, while the shrapnel making a noise like rain on tin against Caesar's armour. In the same split second the Tiger fires, its shot flying well wide of you thanks to its sudden skid.

"Go! Go! Forward, get us in close, aim for the gap between the upper hull and tracks." You turn out, throwing open the cupola hatch and peering into the dust and smoke ahead of you as the Cromwell leaps forward with a roar of its V12 engine. The Tiger's turret already begins traversing back towards you, but it's facing wholly the wrong direction and now that you're just yards away it can never hope to catch your fast moving vehicle, "Left! Now hook right and full brake!" Bob follows your prompts exactly, fish tailing left then reversing the momentum to spin the Cromwell back towards its target, sliding sideways for a moment with a great shower of sparks and groaning of steel into a stationary position with its front at a dead right angle to the side of the Tiger tank, with the gun almost touching its plate. "Cooper, load AP! Right between the tracks and the upper hull Dickie, make it count!"

"Oh bother, ready rack's out!"

"Oh bother? Grab another round you wanker!" Below you in the turret you can hear Cooper working frantically to get a shell loaded as the Tiger's turret swings around slowly, then stops for a moment before resuming its tracking. You can't believe your luck, they must have lost you in the dust and smoke!

>>734869
You duck down, hugging the top of your turret to stay below the angle of the Tiger's cupola and a few moments later clunk and clatter of metal precedes the opening of the larger tank's own commanders hatch, from which emerges a handsome, brown haired man who looks to be in his 30s attired in the uniform of the SS Panzer units, with an annoyed expression on his face and an Iron Cross displayed perhaps too prominently in the open collar of his tanker suit. You straighten back up as he turns to scans around, and your eyes lock for a moment as you stand in your hatches, just feet away, the whole world seemingly frozen in time.

> Just turn in and fire the damn gun!
> Pull your trophy PPK and shoot him.
> Demand his surrender.
> Other

>>734874
>other open the hatch ask him how is day is going.
in German. he knows the language right?

>>734874
>other

Throw your hat at him, and AP the wanker.

He just wasted one of your tanks, surrender is not acceptable.

>>734874
>> Demand his surrender.
We aren't Russian

>>734889
Yeah, at least a workable amount, Major Stanley's been in the RTR since before the war and after 4 years of fighting the buggers, picked up enough German to get by, particularly basic parlance and stuff related to telling them to surrender.

>>734903
In this situation, its fair to give no quarters.

>>734889
Actually, I switch to this

>>734918
thats good. now if only anons will vote for it.

>>734874
> Pull your trophy PPK and shoot him.
Best case scenario he dies, the krauts explode from shame gg.ssss.
Next best case, he screams like a little girlie kraut and hides back in the tank (so they're still blind)

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>> INFO POST 6: Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann was one of the most prominent 'Panzer Aces' of World War 2, along with men such as Rudolf von Ribbentrop, Franz Bäke and Otto Carius. Over the course of the war prior to Villers-Bocage, Wittmann was credited with 137 tank kills, mostly on the Eastern Front and had been given command of a Company of the Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101 (101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion). He is widely regarded as one of the finest tank commanders of the war, and was undeniably brilliant as an individual commander, but he frequently failed to make full use of other units under his command and many accuse him of glory hounding or inflating his achievements as well as letting his own arrogance blind him to the more intelligent tactical approaches available.

However, on the 13th of June his characteristic rashness would prove to be devastating thanks to the poor march discipline of 4 CLY, allowing his attack on their units at Villers to become perhaps the most exceptional single-handed action in armoured warfare.

As an aside, this thread has rekindled my tank autism, which was in the process of slowly transitioning into ship autism.

Time to break out the drawing stuff I guess.

>>735006
wait. are we facing him right now?
>>735008
same.

>>735015
I need to clarify. not him commanding you implied that in the post, but the tiger we are facing right now. is that him?

>>735023
Yes, this is Tiger 205, which SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittman commanded during the actions of 13th June, 1944. Of course, things went a bit better for him in real life, though he was later killed in August during Operation Totalize when either a Canadian or British Firefly penetrated his tank and detonated the ammunition, killing him and his crew instantly.

>>735032
In this case, I'm pushing hard for the "kill" option.

Guy was a cocky asshole with no regard for the men under his command.

>>735032
Cool. I would like to modify my post to say
>how is your day going? mine is has not been that great.
then shoot.

>>735042
So 2 for Hello and 2 for kill?
>>735047
Well make that 3 for kill

>>735052
what about hello and kill. we fishiness the fight like men.

>>735087
Killing German prisoners kinda goes against my morals, but I am outnumbered, so sure.

>>735094
He's still in command of a mostly functional tank. Unless HE moves to surrender, you should have no qualms about killing him.

>>735094
when would he be a prisoner?

>>735106
I mean at this point. If he moves to surrender OR we tell him to surrender. If he continues to disobey, then sure, shoot him

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> Other

You break the silence first "Wie wird Ihr Tag? Mine war nicht so toll gewesen." you keep your voice as steady as you can, letting your right hand rest on the butt of the PPK in its chest holster. The German looks at you with an arrogant expression for a few moments before responding.

"Ja, it has been quite well, Tommy." He says, holding your gaze with steely eyes, until a shout from Lieutenant Cooper breaks the standoff.

"Up!" You involuntarily glance down into the turret in response, before realising your mistake and looking up to see the German commander going for his sidearm. You pull the PPK out of its holster and rack the slide in one motion just as your opposite produces his own pistol and raises it towards you. Your smaller number is quicker on the draw though and you squeeze the trigger first, pumping a trio of shots into him a point blank range. He fires a single shot in return before slumping back down into the hatch, but his wounds spoil his aim and the bullet pings off the turret roof next to you harmlessly. You turn back in, slamming the hatch behind you and lean forward to pat your gunner on the shoulder.

"Dickie, she's all yours, brew up the buggers."

"Aye, Dave, firing!." You seat yourself back into the commander's position just as the 75 bucks once more and the tank rocks backwards. At this close range, you hear not so much see the round penetrate and through the vision port you can see smoke being to pour from the engine deck and from between the turret ring.

"Back us up Bob, bastards might be rude enough to explode on us."

"Yes, Major." The Cromwell begins slowly reversing away from the stricken Tiger as its turret hatches blast open and begin spewing jets of fire skywards. Noone bails from the vehicle and it simply sits there, burning as you pull back to a safe distance. With the adrenaline finally starting to ebb, you become aware again of the radio chatter from 4 CLY.

"My god, I think the devil got another one of us!"

"No, look, it's the Tiger that's burning. Someone brewed the bastard up proper!" You pick up the handset and key it to transmit.

"All 4 CLY vehicles, this is Major David Stanley, OC A Squadron, 5 RTR, I have eliminated the Tiger in Villers-Bocage, pass it up to Brigade." You check your watch again; Barely past 10, this is going to be a long day.

>>735110
i was saying more like saying hello then AP the fuck out of the tank. at point blank. all the talking is really doing is buy our loader time to fish out a AP shell.

>>735126
nice. that went just as I thought it would.

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That's it for today's Tankies Quest, not sure if I'll be able to run again next week, probably not as I'll be away on the Saturday, but I'll try and run sometime during the week to make up for it, I'll keep you appraised of such developments on my Twitter, which you can find below. Feel free to ask any questions or whatnot, as I'll be around for a good while.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Danontg
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Tankies%20Quest

>>735126
Scratch one cat.

>>735145
well. thanks for running.
I really like the realism. just one question. why not start in Africa? we would be able to have him grow from being completely green to the man he is now. just wondering.

>>735160
If we wanted to start from completely green with the Major we'd have to go all the way back to France in 1940 as 5 RTR was with the BEF.

The reason for not doing so is that Tankies Quest isn't going to be a long running thing (probably) I plan to end it by the end of the now alternate history battle of Villers-Bocage/Point 213. I might run more quests in this same alternate WW2 but they'll probably be similarly focused on a single battle/operation and use entirely or mostly new casts. For instance I'd like to run a Milne Bay Kittyhawk quest where you're an RAAF pilot during the high of that battle or one that puts you in a Panther or Sherman during the battle of Arracourt etc.

>>735198
All this said, I might return Stanley's exploits at a later date to examine the potential effects of the battle of Villers (if you guys manage to change it significantly enough). For instance a Market Garden where instead of being relegated to a background role the 7th took the lead, or even a Battle of the Bulge where a more confident UK command structure was more willing to commit reserves/reinforcements to the AO, stuff like that.

>>735198
that would be cool. it would help you build up a fan base too. if you have a longer quest say 50 or more threads people dont necessarily want to read all that. personally I love the quests that go for two or three hundred threads.
thats just me though.
your writing is great and i would like to see you run a longer quest, similar to this, maybe start as a french, maybe we could do some things that would give France a fighting chance. . that would be really interesting. the french did have some great tanks at the start of the war.

>>735240
Or a Operation Plunder where a non-disgraced 7th AD got Comets first instead of the 11th etc.

>>735244
One for the Battle of Dompaire would be nice.

>>735243
I am actually working on a pair of long running quest ideas, but they're both a bit more out there. Here are the very basic pitches

> Scions of Thunder: War of the Worlds, except the Martians waited until September 1939 so they could develop anti-virals or whatnot. Humanity got its shit pushed in on land hard, but after the heroic sacrifice of the woefully outdated Torpedo Ram HMS Thunderchild showed the world that there was still one place where mankind ruled supreme: The waves. A couple of years later mankind is eking out a living on the coastlines of various parts of the world, protected by the guns of the mighty warships of the united fleets. Tl;dr fight martian warmachines with Battleships as the extraterrestrial foe tries to adapt to the new theater of maritime warfare.

> Girls and Aufklarungs/Reccecrafts Quest: Kind of a spinoff of the Girls und Panzer LGA quests run by GermanSchteel, the idea is basically that of a niche sport in a similar vein to tankery but focusing on combined arms, company scale engagements of recce in force or raid style operations. This is the one I want to run the most but simultaneously think will require the most work and pushing myself beyond my comfort zones in terms for writing so I might leave it until I a more confident in my abilities.

>>735252
That was the one where the Free French Armoured Division obliterated a German Panzer Brigade right?

>>735299
>That was the one where the Free French Armoured Division obliterated a German Panzer Brigade right?


Yeah, some Free French Shermans/M10'/M5's of Leclercs 2nd AD wrecked the 112th Panzer Brigade rather handily.

The French lost 2 Stuarts and 6 Shermans.

The Germans lost 26 Panzer IV's and 34 Panthers. That's not even counting the SPG's.

>>735299
I really like the first one. I feel that Girls und Panzer is just played out at this point. I never really liked it so thats just my opinion.

>catpta was literally one huge ass road sign- still got it wrong. fuck me.

>>735299
That Scions of Thunder seems cool. Would it be naval battles?

>>735328
That could be an interesting one to do then, I'd need to read up more on it though, as far as I know there isn't as much written about it as you'd expect, at least in English, and I base a lot of my stuff for this and other quests that will follow it off written sources, pictures and whatnot. Still, I'll look into it in the future.

>>735332
Yeah, starting out with the Martians just trying to figure out things that float which they can put tripods on before becoming increasingly sophisticated and funnily enough, similar to the human navies they're fighting. Would start the player off in a Destroyer in late 1940 (probably choose between an IJN, USN or RN one because Tribal is bae) before moving on to a CL when they prove themselves, keeping their previous ship and the other two they could've chosen now as their escorts, so on so forth building up a fleet as they progress through the ranks.

>>735355
That has the aspects of becoming a Well Known quest, as long as you don't go too nerdy with it

>>735374
what do you mean by nerdy.

>>735377
Well if you want a popular quest, I think you usually have to start out simple and casual. This quest has a learning curve, and isn't an easy quest

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230 KB JPG

>>735374
I'll probably go a tad too nerdy with it, I always do. Which is fine by me.

>>735198

>Part accurate, part alt-history quest
>Don't need to read 200 previous threads to catch up
>TANKS

It's everything I ever wanted

>>735627
Glad you liked it anon, hope to see you around for future installments and/or spinoffs.

>>735627
Agreed. Shame it's running in the middle of the night for me, I'll have to catch up afterwards.

>>735924
Yeah, sorry about that, but you can't please everyone. I actually run from what is early morning for me until after lunch, trying to tap into the US audience that seems to make up most of /qst/'s posters.