(L) Girls und Panzer

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by skaianDestiny

An anon on /ak/ is translating the databook entries on the schools, so far they've done Gloriana and Maple.

About damn time someone tried to do a real translation!

I was starting to think my hackjob of a google translation would be left unchanged forever. The quicker the real thing comes out, the better.

[wavehawk]

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Darjeeling and Anchovy

[skaianDestiny]

Here's Viggen and Maginot.

Originally Posted by Viggen

Viggen High School

Based at the Port of Niigata, in Niigata Prefecture, the school’s name means Thunderbolt in Swedish.

In 1775 Swedish Botanist Carl Peter Thunberg arrived in Japan to study Japanese flora. The school first began as a botany-focused institution founded to organize and teach Thurnberg’s field research along with the flora of the world, but then gradually a woodworking and eventually an industrial class was introduced. Interest in home economics and interior design classes are very high. All students share a mentality of focusing on practicality, reliability, and simple appearances.

Though they are relatively competent, a lack of tanks and people make it very difficult for the Viggen team to even enter into the Senshado Tournaments. Their main force consists of Stridsvagn m/42 medium tanks and Stridsvagn m/40 light tanks as a supplement.

Originally Posted by Maginot

Maginot Girl’s Academy (Lycée privé de Jeunes Filles Maginot)

Based in Yamanashi Prefecture, Maginot Girl’s Academy was first established to preserve the knowledge of winemaking after its founder returned to France. The ability to make wine with the traditional the foot-crushing method was the only reason Maginot is a girl’s-only institution.

Maginot Girl’s Academy has a few unique aspects that set it apart from its counterparts. Though they are based in Yamanashi Prefecture, due to its landlocked nature their school submarine makes port in Shizuoka Prefecture. The decision to utilize a submarine instead of the more ubiquitous surface ship was, again, solely for the purpose of making wine. It is said that the storage and fermentation time was superior under the sea than it was at its surface.

Maginot, obviously, fields vehicles developed and used in and by France exclusively. The Renault FT (More popularly known as the FT-17.) and the R35 make up the light tanks of Maginot. The SOMUA S35 Cavalry Tank takes up the medium tank role and the Renault B1 takes up the heavy tank role. While it may seem that Maginot has a respectable lineup on paper, in reality technical issues and outdated engineering absolutely cripple the team in matches.

One such technical issue was the fact that the vast majority of tanks Maginot currently has active were not designed to carry radios, a feature deemed absolutely necessary by the Senshado Federation. But even with emergency radios on board, teamwork and communication seems to be another weak link in Maginot’s tank team.

There has been discussions to field the ARL-44 as Maginot’s wonder weapon, but due to a lack of funds, crews, and confidence in its capabilities, it seems it will not be making an appearance in the near future.

The standard Maginot tactics revolves around a defensive battle group with the SOMUA S35 at its center while surrounded by the light tanks with the B1 heavy tank in reserve for use against heavier targets. This tactic requires crew members who are disciplined enough not to panic when a potential break occurs.

However it seems Maginot is attempting to take a different approach this time, focusing on mobility, breaking enemy lines, and taking the initiative against more heavily armed and/or armored enemies. But due to this major shift in tactics, Maginot still requires many more hours of practice and experience before they are able to execute their planned maneuvers.

Students are expected to be extremely well-behaved, polite, and respectful, and are usually very eager to learn, but their individual creativity is somewhat lacking and this deficiency also translates over to Senshado, where individual initiative and flexible tactics are seen as less important than demonstrating traditional French tactics. Though group discipline is very good, individually it can vary wildly, making cooperation rather difficult especially in a maneuver-focused doctrine.

It has been said by the other schools that even though their tanks and tactics may be old and useless, their crews are well used to brute force, having been subjected to plenty of it during their time in tanks in a defensive position.

For a school with a history that involves a very bad loss record, the punishments for defeats are still very harsh.

As a school-wide policy creativity is not promoted, with the exception of the Art, Movie, and Theatre classes. However, this mentality does allow students to heavily focus on certain skills, resulting in students that, while not the most original or innovative, hone their talents to the point of mastery. This is most obvious in Maginot’s famous culinary classes. Such is their reputation that some enroll for that class only.

Their food is specifically made to demonstrate the simplicity of flour and buckwheat and the richness of wild vegetables, game fowl, and mushrooms.

SOMUA S35
It was formally adopted by French forces in 1936, featuring a cast turret and hull with a maximum armor thickness of 47mm, enough to resist the 3.7cm KwK 36 L/45 and the 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 of the early Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.

Unfortunately the S35 did have some deficiencies, including a hatch that, when opened, exposed an entire side of the turret, and a high center of gravity that makes rolling over very easy.

[LoweGear]

Yep, it still boggles my mind after all this time how Maginot's carrier is an actual operational submarine with submergence capability

[Ithekro]

All for wine, which legally the girls can't even drink until they are 20.

FT-17s? Aside from using French tactics and equipment, why are they using those World War One relics in Senshado. They can't move much faster than a man (8 km/h). I've seen one, I wouldn't want to take that into a tank battle against any World War Two tanks. That old 37mm gun can't penetrate much more than 12mm of armor at under 500 meters. Enough to take on Anzio's tankette forces.

Even the Renault R35 had that gun. At least the Romanians were able to convert that tank into a tank destroyer (Vânătorul de care R-35)

The SOMUA S35 has the same main gun as the Char B1bis' turret, but has a more reasonable speed. It is a good tank.

The Renault B1 (Char B1 due to not being an exclusive Renault design) is probably not as good as the Char B1bis used by Ōarai.

The ARL44 is iffy at best within the rules. Also iffy on it working as specified. Sort of like having a Char B1 with a 90mm main gun. Only wooden mockup had been finished before the war ended.



What does the other French based School use again? The one that has both Free French and Vichy French based groups sharing the city-ship?

[skaianDestiny]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

All for wine, which legally the girls can't even drink until they are 20.

FT-17s? Aside from using French tactics and equipment, why are they using those World War One relics in Senshado. They can't move much faster than a man (8 km/h). I've seen one, I wouldn't want to take that into a tank battle against any World War Two tanks. That old 37mm gun can't penetrate much more than 12mm of armor at under 500 meters. Enough to take on Anzio's tankette forces.

Presumably Senshado isn't a focus, so the team doesn't get much money. It seems most schools aren't able to afford running even mid-war tanks.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

The ARL44 is iffy at best within the rules. Also iffy on it working as specified. Sort of like having a Char B1 with a 90mm main gun. Only wooden mockup had been finished before the war ended.

It seems the Federation counts having a full-scale wooden mockup (there are two types, a scale model as a "give me money" to the brass and a full-scale one to see if building one is a good idea with cheaper materials).

However, the ARL 44 is a special case, as the full-scale wooden mockup that was completed before the war's end actually only mounted the American 76mm gun (same as the Sherman).

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So sadly no 90mm for Maginot, but even then the ARL 44 with the 76mm is still a substantial firepower improvement.

[Rokumonsen]

To bad France's best tanks never left the drawing board.

[MeisterBabylon]

Canada must field RAM IIs.

[Ithekro]

It seems that they do, with some others.

Originally Posted by Maple High School

Paragraph 1
Maple High School

From the Port of Tomakomai, Hokkaido.

The story of Maple High School begins in 1877, when Manzo Nagano, the first Japanese immigrant to Canada, arrived in British Colombia. A few short years later, over 10,000 Japanese had immigrated to Canada, and by 1889, the number of Japanese immigrants was so significant in a few cities that their local governments were forced to enact a bread ration. In an effort to ease tensions, the Canadian and Japanese governments began talks to begin a new international relationship. The Canadian ambassadors on a diplomatic mission soon arrived in Japan, and various schools began an international program to begin teaching western culture and values.

In 1929, the Canadian embassy in Tokyo opened and began cooperation with various economic and industrial districts. It was noted that the general climate of Hokkaido was very similar to Canada.

There was great cooperation and many advancements in the fields of Art and music, culture, and forestry, and through Canadian assistance Hokkaido’s fishing industry flourished and their mutual relationship eventually culminated in a joint Canadian-Japanese school. Hokkaido is split horizontally into two areas with different regional governments, and after an unfinished school ship was purchased from the United Kingdom, the school on the southern half was named Maple High School.

Due to the great number of trees, Maple High School is known as the ship with the most natural environment compared to the other school ships. They have a healthy Senshado program, which focuses on maneuver tactics rather than heavy firepower or armor.

Paragraph 2
Their main force consists of Ram Cruiser Tanks and Grizzly Cruiser Tanks. They also possess the Valentine Tank and other Infantry Tanks along with various light tanks, but they are rarely used.

[skaianDestiny]

Ithekro you might be interested in this.

Someone made a GuP tabletop game.
[TMP] "Pravda Vs. St. Gloriana's (15mm Girls Und Panzer match)" Topic

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[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

All for wine, which legally the girls can't even drink until they are 20.

GuP had been... Rather questionable on this matter. The fact is many of the European nations have very relaxed rules concerning alcohol, and Ribbon Warrior was downright blatant on the portrayal of underage drinking. Anzio and Black Forest when out of their way to SHOW them drinking.

(And who could forget the end scene of the Anzio OVA, when basically every girl was sleeping next to an empty wine bottle?)

The interesting thing is, under current German drinking laws, Black Forest is actually allowed to serve beer to their senior students. So it actually makes sense. While Anzio just use code words for wine to deny they are doing anything.

[arkhangelsk]

On the other hand, when Rumi made the mistake of getting some alcohol to Alice in the Drama CD, she was immediately rebuffed.

As a side note, Ribbon Warrior is officially parallel universe (which immediately made it less urgent for me to acquire materials).

To take another angle, however, the age of licencing has clearly been relaxed a bit in GuP, with parts of the 大型特殊免許 being obtainable at high school level and also the pilot licencing has been cranked down at least one or two years (PPL is 17 or above presently and Kay clearly did not start flying just now). So perhaps Maginot can get some kind of exemption for people who work in the wine industry.

[Ithekro]

Ah someone updated the rules. I have a much older version from just after episode 12.

Still not clear what the rules are for "Blast"

[MeisterBabylon]

Originally Posted by skaianDestiny

Ithekro you might be interested in this.

Someone made a GuP tabletop game.
[TMP] "Pravda Vs. St. Gloriana's (15mm Girls Und Panzer match)" Topic

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Just like the good ol days.

[Ithekro]

We still haven't tried it out, but we've threatened to do so. I run Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) table top games at conventions from time to time, so I have anime based stuff going on already.

[skaianDestiny]

BC Freedom time, courtesy of an anon on /ak/.

Originally Posted by BC Freedom

BC-Freedom High School

The story of BC-Freedom High School begins with Maginot High School and their insatiable lust for wine.

Due to problems acquiring any steady supply of wine grapes, it was considered to be more economical to build not one, but two schools for the sole purpose of supplying Maginot. And thus begins the story of BC High School and Freedom High School.

Freedom High School hailed from the city of Okayama, the capitol city of Okayama Prefecture. Their vineyards flourished and expanded, eventually dominating their school ship.

BC High School originally hailed from the landlocked city of Tsuyama, in Okayama Prefecture. Their ventures into growing wine grapes ended in failure, forcing them to look elsewhere. They found moderate successes by focusing on general education, home economics, commercial, and manufacturing classes.

However, it didn’t last.

Due to administration blunders and funding cuts, both schools deteriorated to a point to where it was no longer considered economical for both schools to be kept afloat. It was then decided by the Administration to take advantage of the situation by promoting inter-school relationships with a union of two different, but similar schools.

And thus, the story of BC-Freedom High School begins.

The union backfired in a colossal failure, with distrust and mutual hatred between the former two schools who where now forced to occupy a single ship. Their distrust for each other eventually led to the school ship being split in half, with the port side occupied by the former Freedom High School and the starboard side occupied by the former BC High School. This division also extended to living quarters and commercial buildings.

With nonexistent teamwork and a constant power struggle, this union only managed to waste even more funds and brought down the Administration’s reputation even further. However as time went by, the number of students that do not identify with either the original schools has increased, and they live their lives mostly free from the rivalry.

Due to their sudden union, BC-Freedom High School operates a mishmash of tanks that are very different from each other. Their main force in Senshado consists of early-war French tanks such as the Hotchkiss H-39 and SOMUA S-35 along with the heavier M4A2 and Model G Panther tanks.

They are also known to possess an FCM F1 multi-turreted superheavy tank, but it has not seen combat. It is suspected to be either non-operational or is thought to lack combat ability. BC-Freedom High School has also acquired a Valentine Mk.V, but it is currently non-operational.

With different origins and different tanks comes different tactics. The former BC High School preferred to break the enemy with maneuver warfare, drawing inspiration from Napoleonic Cavalry.
Considered to be too risky, the former Freedom High School adopted a doctrine very similar to Maginot’s, where an extremely strong defense would stop the enemy from completing their objective. This was the main reason for the relatively slow FCM F1 and the Valentine infantry tank to be acquired.

Regardless of the quality of their vehicles, a lack of teamwork between the two sides cripples them in matches.

They have attempted to request additional support from Saunders, Kuromorimine, and St. Gloriana, but aren’t taken seriously due to the sheer number of other requests from other schools.

Overall, the students of BC-Freedom High School are very similar to Maginot High School’s students. They heavily emphasize the importance of education, especially lessons that will create a good wife and a loving mother for a healthy family. Thus, Senshado is heavily promoted at BC-Freedom.

The H-39 Tank
Requesting a new infantry tank, Hotchkiss received orders for three prototypes but was beaten by Renault’s tank which would later be known as the R35. For political reasons, the Hotchkiss tank would continue to be produced, first tested and then rejected by the Infantry, the Cavalry reluctantly accepted their use, as the Cavalry would not have been granted the budget to buy tanks if they hadn’t already been avalible.

The H-39 was an improvement over the earlier H-35 and the H-38. It was fitted with a more powerful engine and a longer 37mm L/35 SA38 gun, among others.

[Ithekro]

They heavily emphasize the importance of education, especially lessons that will create a good wife and a loving mother for a healthy family. Thus, Senshado is heavily promoted at BC-Freedom.

I still have to wrap my head around that.

[Top Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

I still have to wrap my head around that.

Tanks can be very stubborn machines, especially when you have to break track and replace pads. Little kids can be stubborn beasts too.

[Ithekro]

The FCM F1 was suppose to have a crew of nine. Though I suppose some of those were to operate the machine guns or maybe engineers to keep the two engines going. The FCM F1 was designed to break lines, not defend them. Slow and not armored enough against late war tanks, but should have two relatively good guns (the 47mm isn't that good, but its more in line with the Char B1bis than the FT-17) and a 90 mm gun would be enough against at least the more common mid-war medium tanks, and probably some of the heavy tanks, if its performance is anything close to that of the German 88 mm guns.