What’s in a model?

‘We have been asked to produce a new tank, with the minimum amount of design and development that will carry the new OQF 17 pounder gun’ – Department of Tank Design

A common complaint that pops up whenever a new book is released is; ‘Where is… X?’. Usually, this is an exclusion from the book or release in order to reduce the number of SKU codes, or not having to re-box older models, perhaps keeping them back for future releases.

In this article, I propose some ideas to model represent (hereafter shortened to ‘model rep’), some of the most common omission from the current D-Day British Book. 
 Note that I will be focusing on missing models in their entirety, and not missing lists or unit types that may be easily represented by a currently available list with a Command Card tweak (i.e. the Czech Brigade using the Cromwell Armoured Squadron).

Challenger (A30; Cruiser Mk VIII)

A common complaint was the lack of Challengers in the new book (despite only featuring in up to half the Troops in one specific list from Overlord [Desert Rats Armoured Squadron]).

 The obvious inclusion of the Challenger would be to replace the Firefly from the new Desert Rats Armoured Squadron. The only discrepancy would be the Movement values, as the Challenger followed the Cromwell’s Movement values in V3. No doubt we’ll see them fully implemented when they appear in the British Bulge/Low Countries book.

Humber Armoured Car / LRC

The Humber IV was used by the Infantry Divisions for their reconnaissance duties, rather than the Daimler I. The newer Humber featured a US 37mm gun, rather than the British 2pdr, and were supplemented by Humber Light Recce Cars (armed with a Boys anti-tank rifle), rather than Daimler Dingos, which only sported AA MGs

 Armour and weapon wise in V3, the Humber IV and Daimler I were identical, the 2pdr and 37mm being comparable, so direct replacements could be made there. However, there’s no comparable replacement for the LRC, so here I would have to suggest the slightly beefier Humber Scout Car which only featured an AA MG in V3.

Staghound I

Conspicuous by its absence is the Staghound, and the very popular Manitoba 12th Dragoon list.

This one is difficult, as the original list featured Daimler Dingos within the troops and command of up to four Staghounds. The closest thing I could find to reflect the Staghound is the Stuart; however, this comes with a massive problem. The Stuart is better armoured, and its movement values are not reflective of the heavy, wheeled Staghound; and of course, there’s no individual list that offers the Stuart as the core, they were very much a support troop within the British Army.

The only advice here would be to agree with your opponent to let you field Stuarts as Staghounds and use the models, representing attached out patrols.

Tetrarch

The Tetrarch was a strange beast. Historically, it was a complete failure in the eyes of British Command. They landed with the Paras, and not long after landing several were disabled in accidents, and the few that did see action were woefully under-gunned and under-armoured, being relegated to a fire support role. They were side-lined not long after in favour of the Cromwell, and then the M22 Locust in the air assault role by the time of Operation Varsity in 1945.

Statistically, the Tetrarch was similar to the Daimler I, with the notable difference of being tracked rather than wheeled. However, the advantage of swapping Daimlers directly in is that some Tetrarch was fitted with the squeeze bore Littlejohn Adapter, an upgrade the Daimlers in the British D-Day book can have. I would suggest perhaps taking the Daimler Armoured Car Troop, the Daimlers become Tetrarchs, and then adding in the extra Dingo, and replacing the two Dingos for a Tetrarch.

All suggested model reps and replacements contained in this article are simply the thoughts of myself, the author, and should no way be considered as a suitable, official, or workable resolution to the missing kit from the British D-Day book. This article was written as a bit of fun, and hopefully, it is received as such.