Gator

Bayou Vermillion Steam Tank "Gator"

Too big to fit on a small monitor!

If you've read Derailed you know that the Steam Tank is the biggest, nastiest piece of rolling artillery on the battlefields of the Weird West. Armed with two light or steam weapons and a cannon, the Steam Tank's heavy armor allows it to ignore everything but cannons, dynamite and the witch's Ball o'Doom. I had to have one; since no model was ever made, I converted my own.
I did a few rough sketches for the tank, based on things I knew were lying around in my scrap boxes. Inspiration was provided by the illustrations from Derailed and from the Union warship "Monitor." The main hull is from a Games Workshop Chimera APC with sides constructed from sheet plastic. Balsa wood was used to form the skirts; this was then covered in plastic "armor plate" from a Gorkamorka sprue (I was getting out of GW games at the time, but I still have a lot of bits from previous armies). The tracks and bogies were more GW bits. The turret had to look like the Monitor - every idea I had as to the vehicle's design included this. An empty Scotch tape spool provided the the basic shape. A little sheet plastic and a bit of brass tubing later and I had a turret. Various bits and pieces (all courtesy my scrap box and things found lying about) finished the construction. Front view
Rear view I built the tank for my Bayou Vermillion force and it is the only model I refuse to loan out. (If you want to kill me with a steam tank you'll have to build your own!) Fitted with a 6-pounder in the turret and twin Gatling guns (I avoided the Steam Gatlings to cut down on possible malfunctions), "Gator" has gone through a number of battles and has yet to be destroyed. A battery of two 12-pounders from a rival Bayou Vermillion force nearly killed her in one game, but the driver managed to lurch the ailing vehicle out of the line of fire before the cannons could finish her. (The crew compartment was filled with steam, the rest of the crew had bailed out and I was half-convinced that he wasn't going to make it.) Usually, she just grinds her way through my terror-stricken foes. Ahhh .... the joys of science. :)
Fear the Steam Tank
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