Unboxing: Bolt Action Valentine II Infantry Tank
March 17, 2015 by dignity
Justin and John get romanced by the Valentine II Infantry Tank from Warlord Games for their Bolt Action games.
The Valentine Mk II appeared in 1941 and was used by the British forces extensively in the North African Campaign. Soviet Army players are in for a treat too because it was also used by your troops! Various marks of the Valentine were sent to Russia under the lend-lease agreement.
Which army best utilises the Valentine II?
My Ares’ RX-Railguns will make short work of that- oh wait, wrong game =p
The valentine was an experiment that became a stop gap, and they tried to make the best of it, one variant was given thicker armour and a 6 pound gun. The school of Design decided to keep it as an example. Of how not to build a tank, and the sole valiant now lives in Bovington tank museum. Other experiments included removing the turret and literally bolting field guns on in its place. Another Variant of these things that actually saw service was the Bishop, were Basically someone built a shed on top for a 25 pounder… Later versions of… Read more »
One has to bear in mind that the British armed forces fought tooth and nail with one another for funding between the wars, with the Royal Navy winning the lion’s share as it was perceived as the senior service and always the first line of defence. The Air Force and Army were very much the poor relations, and also bear in mind that Britain’s economy was not in the best of shape in the 1930’s. Another aspect to remember was that Army strategy and tactics were governed very much by people whose views on how the next war would be… Read more »
My uncle Sid had not one but two of these things blown out from under him and escaped from Dunkirk. My uncle Peter the other side of my family hid behind one of them blown up on the road to Dunkirk from a Stuka that just would not leave them alone. And then my uncle Geoff used a tank that had been abandoned with his artillery piece by first setting it alight as the smoke covered a large section for the retreating British forces. All three of these escaped at Dunkirk. All my family including other uncles etc who were… Read more »
Real war stories are always the best. D.x
really interesting @chrisg, cheers for sharing!
like the tank are they bringing out the archer.
Great unboxing as usual guys. Liking the Sabaton jumper John
David Fletcher is indeed the man. His participation in the series “Tanks: Evolution of a Legend” is a big part of what makes that show great (lord knows its not the computer graphics). His dry sense of humor makes the series fun as well as informative. The Ordnance QF 2-pounder indeed had only AP ammunition, which made them more or less useless against soft targets like infantry and antitank gun crews in the desert (I’ve never run across any history of them being used in the “Case Yellow / Red” invasion of the :Low Countries and France – are we… Read more »
I knew I got something wrong, saying 37mm sounded off to me since the Brits liked oddly measured guns
Hey, I owe someone I used to play “Arab-Israeli Wars” with an six-years-late apology for insisting Archers were based on Comets instead of Valentines. 🙁
To my knowledge the 2-pounders were 40mm, the 6-pounders were 57mm, of course the 17-pounders were 76mm, and the 20-pounders (some of the early Centurions) were 84mm. I think after that the British went to the L7 105mm rifle, along with the rest of NATO for the first half of the Cold War. 🙂
Another great unboxing guys.
The Bishop would be an interesting conversion to make. It’s a simple shape and typically towed the linber from the 25pdr. Combine this, Warlord’s 25pdr set and a bit of plastic-card and jobs a good-un.
Suggestion – can someone just get Justin and John a crate of Lucozade and a pile of kits to review please? The more of these videos the better.
@Justin. He is taking us all to school. I really enjoy the unboxing videos guys. Always a pleasure, always entertaining. Thank you
Great unboxing guys, like to mention that the Germans used vast numbers of Panzer 38t and 35t which were also of riveted construction and would be a contemporary of the Valentine. I think all of the Italian tanks and self propelled guns were riveted as well.
That’s true, @ozzie. In fact, according to the aforementioned David Fletcher, some of the the Italian AFVs weren’t even riveted . . . but BOLTED together, which is even worse.
Hilarious David Fletcher moment about this in this YouTube video, at 15:48. 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLcs0d2wgC4
I just realized that what interests me most about historical wargames compared to fantasy games is that many of the units are subpar or accidental contraptions. Armies had to make do with what they could get. This makes for a very different way of building your force compared to the theory crafting and metagaming that goes on with imaginary games.
Also give a shout out to Warren as I believe that the Soviets got a bunch of these as lend lease as well. 🙂