(L) Girls und Panzer

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

Though realistically these high school girls would have either started out quite fit... or become that way by now. Possibly disturbingly so.

I am surprised the girls at Saunders could operate those Shermans at all. Those puppies were a problem for the JSDF when they were first introduced, because the crew members couldn't reach the clutch pedal... and subsequent modifications proved to be too costly.

- Tak

[gral]

Originally Posted by Marina2

In fact, no tank after M3 Lee in WW2 uses 6 crews. (or there was???). If they want to change their tank, one of them must go. However, there are alternate ways....

The American M6 heavy tank(never left the continental US) had 6-men crew, as had the T29 prototype and its derivatives. KV-2 has a crew of 6, so does the T-28. The T-28 is useless, though(it was a very good tank... in 1933). I think the Neubaufahrzeug heavy tank prototypes had 6 crew as well.

... and those are the ones I can remember. All of these fall, except for the M6, fall into one of two categories: multi-turret tanks(T-28, NbFz), or big-gun tanks(KV-2, T29) The M6 has one turret, but it has two guns(one 76mm - same gun as the M10, I think - and one 37mm).

Best firepower for that team would be the T29, but I'd say the M6 would be quite close to what they are used to.

EDIT: Ah, yes, Hiryuu has released GuP episode 12

[Endless Soul]

A small detail I noticed. In Episode 12 around the 3:45 mark, you can see the periscopes on top of the Maus rotating to spot team Oarai down the street. Nice!

Endless "Attention to detail" Soul

[LoweGear]

Huh. Supposedly, BD/DVD volume 2 also has a booklet continuing the history of Senshado, and apparently mentions that Senshado rules are slightly different in other parts of the world. While the UK and France use "Standard" Senshado rules for instance, the USA doesn't. (The translators word it as "no rules", though I'm more inclined to believe that they mean "less strict rules" or something. So, Cold War tanks?). And there's apparently the "Monte Carlo Tank Rally" as a sporting event.

(Translations came from a Chinese translation though, so still waiting from a first-hand source)

[Myssa Rei]

... a Tank rally? What tanks could even join such a race? T-50s? VK-2801s? Or, I dare hope, ELC AMXs?!?

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Hellcats. Wheeeeeeee!

[LoweGear]

And the translator who did the Yukari Tank Corners and OVA 3 is going through that history file:

Originally Posted by History of Senshado translation

Tankette (with a crew of 1-2) races were the norm before Panzerfahren became a competition event. The tankettes were highly popular in Europe due to their agility and the sense of thrill from crisscrossing almost any region.

A craze among European ladies to become drivers started from the fact that the wife of Karl Frredrich Benz, the founder of Mercedes-Benz made history by being the first female driver in cross-country movement. These ladies used the easy to drive, highly compact yet fully capable tankettes as their personal car.

Rallying, originally reserved for Feudal knights going from their realm to a predetermined waypoint, came to be its modern form as a competition where one jostle for position from the starting point, goes through checkpoints until finally reaching the endpoint, at Monte Carlo in 1911.

Although The Monte Carlo Rally came to a stop due to the onset of the Great War, rally came back by 1924; a pair of noblewomen participating in a Renault FT-17 and performed in spades had managed to captivate the world press and earn accolade for the sport.

In an attempt to raise the speed and dampen the noise on the obsolete French FTs, the Renaults were equipped with all new suspension and rubber tracks, while receiving the upgraded M24/25 experimental engines, which gave it a speed of 16km/h. The FT was crewed by Belgium noblewomen, who received French Army support.


Most participants to such rally events came from Europe. The rally had participants from Paris, Berliin, Wien, Brussels, Geneve, and Roma, and even from Tunisia, some 3900km away from the starting point.

In order to address the differences in range for the different waypoints, checkpoints, with a speed cap of 25km/h during crossing, that awarded points were established along the competition route, so as to ensure that the rally was not a competition in speed.

As gala were usually hosted after the tournament, and that the participants bear the name of noble houses across Europe, the rally came to be seen a a social event for the elite and the nobility.

Even though that tanks were slower to race cars, and were prone to breakdowns, adventurous female drivers kept competing, being comforted by operating armor-clad vehicles. As as the number of participants rise, the armored vehicle division moved its own competition from January to June, then change the name of the event to that of the "Monte Carlo Tank Rally".

During the time, tankette development continued on its own across the Dover Strait. In 1925, British Army Major Giffard Le Quesne Martel had created the Morris-Martel Tankette for his daughter, out of spare automobile parts in his own garage.

As Martel's tankette crewed only one, and it was cumbersome for the sole driver to operate the hull machine-gun, a two-manned version was developed in the following year of 1926, since Martel had intended to ride with his daughter.

Having heard of this development, the owners of Carden-Loyd Tractors Ltd followed suit and came to create a miniature tankette also his own daughter. Several variants were made, including a double-seater, made for the same rationale as that of the Martel Tankette.

Martel and Carden-Loyd would eventually create the Carden-Loyd Mark VI 1928, which were licensed worldwide, yielding derivatives such as the Italian CV.33, the Russian T-27, the Polish TK3 and French UE Chenillette and so forth.

These tankettes were not sold only to the military, but also to some member of the nobility, just as the number of female tank racers increase in number.

Due to the increase in the number of vehicles participating in the sport, other events outside Monte Carlo took shape, and various forms of competition, such as speed races and gunnery skill competitions.

French Renault FT variant would show exceptional reliability in the 1925 and 1926 24 Heures du Mans (Le Mans, started in 1923). Having seen this development, other countries aside from Great Britain and France would enter into all sorts of racing competitions so as to showcase their tanks.

A British noblewoman did enter the Monte Carlos with a Mark I, but the tank fell below the 10km/h minimum average speed requirements, so it had to be withdrawn. However, the same lady had managed to qualify and complete the course in a Mark A Whippet by the following year.

If this blurb is accurate, then it does appear that tanks had been modded to be much faster before: the historical Renault FT only had a top speed of 7kph, while these FT's had been modded to attain over twice that speed. We may have an explanation for why tanks in Senshado seem much faster than their historical counterparts actually were.

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Huh. Supposedly, BD/DVD volume 2 also has a booklet continuing the history of Senshado, and apparently mentions that Senshado rules are slightly different in other parts of the world. While the UK and France use "Standard" Senshado rules for instance, the USA doesn't. (The translators word it as "no rules", though I'm more inclined to believe that they mean "less strict rules" or something. So, Cold War tanks?). And there's apparently the "Monte Carlo Tank Rally" as a sporting event.

(Translations came from a Chinese translation though, so still waiting from a first-hand source)

The actual word, printed in katakana for everyone's convenience is "Unlimited", involves whether or not you should be allowed to modify your tank. The Authorities want to ban it (the modifications were getting quite absurd, to include taking off all the armor and cramming in 12-cylinder engines - so the modified tankettes stopped representing their original), the participants (and a faction within the authorities), and ultimately it split off to become the "Unlimited" class.

Originally Posted by gral

Best firepower for that team would be the T29, but I'd say the M6 would be quite close to what they are used to.

Good idea, but did it at least squeeze a prototype out in time?

Originally Posted by The Real World section of WoTWiki

The first T29 arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground in October 1947. By this time, there was no longer any requirement for production of these heavy tanks and the test program was limited to evaluating the various power train components for application to new tank designs. Two additional T29s arrived at Aberdeen in April and May 1948 and they also were used in the endurance and engineering test programs.

http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/T29

[Gravitas Free Zone]

"On 1 March 1945, an order for 1200 T29 tanks was recommended by the U.S. Army."

...still in time!

[arkhangelsk]

Yeah, an order was recommended but:

After the end of the war in the Pacific, the production contract with the Pressed Steel Car Company, Inc. was terminated with one T29 completed and a second partially finished.

OK, so exactly when is the datestamp of this "after"?

Don't get me wrong. I'm quite happy for our bunnies to get a heavy tank and stay together. I just don't want them to become the Butt Monkey again by bringing the new tank into the tournament only to get disqualified (like Erika in a certain 4koma).

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Still, blueprints were up and something had been built by V-J Day.

[Wild Goose]

SO looks like there may in fact be a boys league for US senshado. That would mean that the college senshado finals must obviously take place at Ft. Irwin, under the watchful eyes of the OPFOR vets acting as referees.

Heh, maybe in this verse, H.R. McMaster's loader did senshado in high school. Would explain his fast load rate. (Average time for a skilled Abrams loader is 4 seconds for one round. According to McMaster, during the Battle of 73 Easting, his loader was doing 3 seconds for one round.)

[sa547]

I have a short admission to make: I'll buy and keep this show and 0048 on my shelf.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Heh, maybe in this verse, H.R. McMaster's loader did senshado in high school. Would explain his fast load rate. (Average time for a skilled Abrams loader is 4 seconds for one round. According to McMaster, during the Battle of 73 Easting, his loader was doing 3 seconds for one round.)

This guy seems to be taking his time and it's only 5 seconds... But the M1 has great ergonomics in terms of opening the loading door, grabbing a round, and just turning around to load it.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

The actual word, printed in katakana for everyone's convenience is "Unlimited", involves whether or not you should be allowed to modify your tank. The Authorities want to ban it (the modifications were getting quite absurd, to include taking off all the armor and cramming in 12-cylinder engines - so the modified tankettes stopped representing their original), the participants (and a faction within the authorities), and ultimately it split off to become the "Unlimited" class.

So this "Unlimited" class is a special category of Senshado in the US that allows for an endless amount of customization to the tanks?

Sounds like the WoT dev's dream come true

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

As Martel's tankette crewed only one, and it was cumbersome for the sole driver to operate the hull machine-gun,

Why do I suddenly have a feeling this is not just racing, but also part-supermaro kart?

Why have a machine gun unless you get to shoot at fellow racers?

[garbage]

^ well it might not be shooting other contestants, but rather something akin to Modern Day / Olympic Pentathlon where it's not just a race, but you also have targets to shoot at certain stations along the race course.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Why do I suddenly have a feeling this is not just racing, but also part-supermaro kart?

Why have a machine gun unless you get to shoot at fellow racers?

I get the feeling that they just modified the original reason the Morris-Martel tankettes were made to fit into all-female Senshado.

Though the Monte Carlo Races being Super Mario Kart Extreme would truly be an exciting race to watch

[arkhangelsk]

I am reading OVA3's booklet now, and even now, no one would explain this to me - when did they invent the infamous "Carbon"?

Senshado must have been quite a lethal sport before this

[Tak]

Everyone's favorite character!



- Tak