Top 5 tanks

[d_Guy]

WW1 Mk1 male or female

Several just arrived from your establisment for HOTT War of the Worlds. I got some females, some males, and a hermaphrodite.
I know nothing about tanks - but as with new born kitties - how do I tell which is which or what is what?

[T13A]

Hi

5. Leopard 1 - Just like the look of it
4. T34 - probably the best all round tank tank of WWII
3. German Pz MKIV - Good all round work horse of the Wehrmacht
2. Churchill - I'm not sure why I just like it!
1. Chieftain -


Go Figure!

Cheers Paul

[fsn]

Several just arrived from your establisment for HOTT War of the Worlds. I got some females, some males, and a hermaphrodite.
I know nothing about tanks - but as with new born kitties - how do I tell which is which or what is what?

Males had 6pdr cannon in the main sponsons, females had Lewis MGs. hermaphrodites had a 6pdr on one side, and a Lewis on t'other.

[d_Guy]

Thanks. Probably I can look all this up but I get more concise information here.

Not trying to be a smartaxx, I get the hermaphrodite -one of each- but male and female seems to run counter to normally accepted practices in sexing complementary inanimate objects - electrical connections, plumping connection, nuts and bolts, etc. it seems like "man" tank and "boy" tank might work. Maybe I'm watching too many "Mr Monk" reruns with my wife.

[Ithoriel]

Bear in mind the original British tanks were Mother and Little Willie.

[d_Guy]

Bear in mind the original British tanks were Mother and Little Willie.

Well no one said this couldn't be fun!

Have now been forced to do some reading - interesting - "Mother" became the male, "Little Willie" the female.
The male was bigger and heavier and the female smaller and lighter and considered the "consort" of the male.
They deployed in pairs (but were apparently closely chaperoned).

Also learned that the development was under the aegis of the "Landship Committee". Given the name I wonder why they didn't just go to rotating turrets first. Too many engineering problems to solve at once I suppose.

They are big - a male takes up half the frontage of one of my Musket & Pike regiments. Now need to figure out which end is the front (must study pictures).

For reasons surpassing all understanding I also just got three Pendraken T35's.

[DanJ]

I think mine where iconic - wait maybe they where doric

Those were Corinthian

Are we talking about the Greek armoured columns that defeated the Persians at Marathon?

[Wulf]

Not trying to be a smartaxx, I get the hermaphrodite -one of each- but male and female seems to run counter to normally accepted practices in sexing complementary inanimate objects

Big weapon sticking out = male.

Which, for WWI era ideas on morality, is actually rather unusual... I guess the military figures polite gentlefolks would never hear about it...

[d_Guy]

Are we talking about the Greek armoured columns that defeated the Persians at Marathon?

Thanks for introducing a second period I know nothing about. That said I think we are talking about one of the Peloponnesian Wars. Maybe.

[d_Guy]

Big weapon sticking out = male.

You have succinctly stated the essence of my confusion. This lead to:
Little weapon sticking out = female

Which, for WWI era ideas on morality, is actually rather unusual... I guess the military figures polite gentlefolks would never hear about it...

Good point! Although with music halls at their zenith the "under" culture probably not only got it but LOL'd about it.

[d_Guy]

Finally - if I may be permitted - I should like to present a new top five list based on Pendraken models actually now in my possession:

1. The Russian T35 - Not only because two of the crewmen were stationed outside but because it is highly reminiscent of one of my favorite dreadnaughts, the SMS Helgoland.
2. The British Mk V - male - it is much like the noseguard in American Football (weak in lateral movement but can stuff the middle run)
3. The British Mk IV - female - like a defensive back in in American Football (likely to get burned on the fly routes, however)
4. The British Mk V - hemaphodite - it is either like an inside or outside linebacker (more likely inside since I think it is probably weak in pass coverage)
5. The Pendraken SFH7 - vaguely like the Colonal Marine APC in "Aliens" (the best movie in the franchise)

Must run, Mrs. d_duy says it is "way past time" for Thorazine^tm

[DanJ]

Big weapon sticking out = male.

However, as I'm at pains to point out to my wife, size isn't everything; the British Mk male I was armed with 6ld naval guns, these were found to be too long and kept snagging on the ground or other obstacles.  The gun was redesigned with a reduced length and lower velocity which was fitted to the Mk IV and subsequent male versions. 

[fsn]

Which, for WWI era ideas on morality, is actually rather unusual... I guess the military figures polite gentlefolks would never hear about it...

They were probably all schooled in Classical Greek mythology and took it from there.

2. The British Mk V - male - it is much like the noseguard in American Football (weak in lateral movement but can stuff the middle run)
3. The British Mk IV - female - like a defensive back in in American Football (likely to get burned on the fly routes, however)
4. The British Mk V - hemaphodite - it is either like an inside or outside linebacker (more likely inside since I think it is probably weak in pass coverage)

I don't know what anything beyond the 2nd hyphen means. I'm guessing it's sporty.

Have now been forced to do some reading - interesting - "Mother" became the male, "Little Willie" the female.

Awfully sorry, but I think Little Willie was a test bed, looks more like a box on tracks. The only difference between males/females/herms was the armament. 

[d_Guy]

Yes "sporty"  but unbearably witty when familiar with defensive scouting reports issued for the following week's opponent 

My bad - in my initial sorting of my new models I confused the Mark IV chassis for the Mark V female so I put too much weight on "Little".
I know slightly less about mechanized armor than you do about American football, you simply have the good sense not to reveal it!

To your point on classicist influence, likely they had rather bawdy performances of Lysistrata and The Judgement of Paris through out the music halls of England.

[fsn]

Someone tried to get me to watch the Superbowl in about 1980. I lost interest ... when they started all that stuff with the ball. To be fair, I have the same feeling watching any  sport.

The officer class would have come largely from the public schools. There, they would have been taught classics. I used to have (until I let someone borrow it and it never returned) a copy of Sir Edward Creasey's 15 Decisive Battles of the World from about 1898. Quotes by Greeks were given in Greek (with no translation). Quotes in Latin were left in the original. Quotes in French were ... guess.

So why have you suddenly decided to get into land monsters? I suggest the Char 2C (Pendraken FRE11) as massive and useless.