Armoured cars in France '14

[ComradeP]

Are the Minerva SA values based on the Lewis MG used very early on or the Hotchkiss 09?

From what I can determine, the majority if not all of the British armoured cars used in the late scenarios were early ad-hoc models, not the Rolls-Royce armoured car 1914 pattern, which only arrived in December or so. The unit name of the Eastchurch squadron also mentions the ad-hoc nature, but the picture displays a 1914 pattern Rolls-Royce armoured car.

They were cars fitted with armoured plating, but not "genuine" armoured cars like the 1914 pattern.

http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/Rolls-Royce_...Action.php

Also: if they used the Maxim, shouldn't their SA value be 40 instead of 28 or would that make them too good and was it a design decision to limit their SA value?

[Volcano Man]

Yes, you are correct.

The Eastchurch cars were adhoc (it says that in the unit name already): "Mixed ACs (ad hoc)". Their ad-hoc nature is why they have lower defense values than the Minervas (2 vs. 3). I guess it is debatable whether they should actually just have a defense of 1 instead of 2, though, as in some cases they were armored very little.

As for the the SA value, yes, they are all intentionally reduced/limited based .66 of the actual MG's value and +1 for each additional MG. The idea being that the MGs should be effective, but not as much on an AC as a true MG unit.

As for the artwork, yes, this is known -- Jison made one image based on the Rolls-Royce which I was fine with. If we wants to make a true ad-hoc car image then I won't stop him, but otherwise I didn't (and don't) think it is a big deal. ;)

[ComradeP]

Thanks Volcano Man.

I've never fully understood how vehicles that exposed their crews so much could be such a success on the battlefield, I guess the fear of the vehicles being invincible played a large part. The earliest UK armoured cars were seemingly only capable of stopping rifle-calibre bullets from over 500 meters on their armoured parts.

These vehicles were "armoured cars" in the most literal sense: cars with some armour plating, the additional weight of which the Rolls-Royce happened to handle better than Mercedes and other chassis.

As an aside, I've always wondered how the Universal Carrier could be such a success, considering how exposed its passengers and crew were compared to German and American halftracks, but the doctrine of not using them like true battlefield taxi's or support weapons might be an explanation.

As another aside, the SA values of 1916> British infantry units equipped with Lewis MG's on roughly squad level could be quite nice compared to German units with a handful of Madsens, it might even be strange to play a wargame where the British have substantially better SA values, considering how weak the British are in WWII compared to German motorized/mechanized forces in WWII games.  

For those interested as to what it meant that car manufacturers only delivered the chassis, with the customer deciding on what coach/cab to fit at a specialized craftsman, some pictures of the earliest Minerva's show a decidedly "do it yourself" look compared to standardized armoured cars like the Rolls-Royce 1914 pattern.

Pictures of the ad-hoc UK armoured cars can be found on the page linked to in the first post.

[jonnymacbrown]

I've played F 14 quite a bit and my advice for the lone Belgian AC unit is: don't move it! It has 2 cars and one of them will break down very quickly, leaving you with 1 car. I never move it overland, stick to main roads only, and it will suffer a breakdown anyway. Just sayin'. jonny