From JamesM: A Bridge(ing tank) too far! (Historical Dramas)(28 points)

Hi Folks,

Following on from my visit to the 'High Adventure' studio, a brief stroll over to the 'Historical Dramas' studio was blocked by a river of tears caused by my stretching of studio themes. Tankfully(!) I have just the thing to get across...  

My entry for the Historical Drama studio is another painting desk lurker. Which now makes the slow journey to join its comrades in the retirement home for miniatures that is my model storage boxes. Slow being the operative word, when combined with a Valentine II tank hull carrying a 9 ton folding bridge. 

These vehicles, which came about following developments as far back as WW1, were part of a fleet of specialist armour developed by the British in order to undertake engineering tasks while under fire. These particular vehicles carried a bridge capable of supporting Sherman or Cromwell tanks and were undoubtedly used during Market Garden - but were more likely used for crossing cratered roads, blown culverts or larger ditches/anti-tank trenches than for crossing rivers. However, the main theme for the vehicle comes from my obsession with adding unusual oddities to my collection - especially engineering related ones!  

This model is a resin 3d print from Battlefield3d of a 'Valentine Bridgelayer' tank, and came with a rather nifty folding bridge due to a hinge point which came pre-setup for me. These vehicles were assigned as support elements to armoured brigade HQs, carried a bridge capable of crossing a 10 meter gap and carrying a 30 ton vehicle.  

As per many items in my collection for Flames of War, these vehicles are not represented in the rules (although there are rules of the Churchill bridgelayer). This is also the second bridging tank in my collection - hence it being a bridging tank too far. Or A Bridge Too Far, for short! 

However, we do play big scenario driver games, and this type of model is just too cool not to have! 

The model was lovely to paint up after all those Chaos Cultists. Decals have been applied to my usual standard - with markings for 33 Armoured Brigade command being applied ('170' in a red square, with the black and green hourglass motif of the brigade). I've also added some War Department serial numbers, and a bridging weight disk (which took some research). I was unable to add allied recognition stars, due to a lack of any suitable surface. However, looking at the vehicles on display in museums, I could see no stars present on them anyway. 

This 15mm vehicle would be 8 points. Plus 20 points for the studio. 

 Minion Miles: Ok 4 submissions in a single day, no matter how lovely the miniature and this is a very nice engineering tank, is definitely a violation of the Minions Collective Bargaining Agreement.  You, Sir, should expect a labor action from Minions local 402. You have brought this dire fate upon yourself.  As per the agreement, the painting of picketing signs DOES count as terrain for Challenge scoring.