Land ships: from this seed many pulp stories may grow...

[Andy in Germany]

This came up in my YouTube feed, and it was too good not to share:



Unfortunately, I can't find an excuse for it on Ascension (it probably couldn't turn around without falling into the sea), but a model like this could form the basis of a whole series of games...

[has.been]

Thanks for posting, now I wonder which LAFer will be the first to build a model of it.

[FifteensAway]

Was that a verbal slip by the narrator stating 18,000 miles while the graphic showed 1,800 miles north to south of Sahara? 

Andy, no need to build the 'monster', just whip out a Caterpillar Motorbus as seen in one of the plan views nearer the end of the video.  All you need is to explain why it exists on Ascension Island, perhaps in transit to the desert for some nefarious mission and certain locals want to either make sure it succeeds or others who are dedicated to destroying the contraption altogether.

Perhaps there is a test run being planned somewhere on the island to make sure it works before shipping it out?

Staying tuned...

[Andy in Germany]

Andy, no need to build the 'monster', just whip out a Caterpillar Motorbus as seen in one of the plan views nearer the end of the video.  All you need is to explain why it exists on Ascension Island, perhaps in transit to the desert for some nefarious mission and certain locals want to either make sure it succeeds or others who are dedicated to destroying the contraption altogether.

Perhaps there is a test run being planned somewhere on the island to make sure it works before shipping it out?

Staying tuned...

To be fair I already have something like that, although I have to admit I didn't really have a plan for what to do with it. I just built it because who doesn't want a steam powered tank?



...However, that is a great idea for making it part of a story.

[Andy in Germany]

Andy, no need to build the 'monster',

Awwwwwww...

Not even a monsterette?

I was thinking... because my imagination does like following these strange pathways, that a slightly smaller "vehicle", maybe a scientific expeditionary vehicle, still too big for normal roads, but a bit more manageable. The story would be an expedition to find something or make a route across an untracked wilderness, and the adventures the team(s) on board encounter.

Heck, if it's big enough there could be conflict between the teams, or the "scientists" and the crew, or a spy and the rest of the crew, or locals who, not unreasonably, object to this great monster travelling through their territory and taking sacred relics.

I've long wondered about a series of stories on somewhere like Spitsbergen, if I ever exhaust the possibilities on Ascension, and this could be the basis to build something from...

[Will Bailie]

Unfortunately, I can't find an excuse for it on Ascension (it probably couldn't turn around without falling into the sea), but a model like this could form the basis of a whole series of games...

Fun video, lots of ideas for the next 'build something' contest!  And in the voiceover near the end, the narrator mentions that the inventor had ideas for amphibious and/or submarine versions...

[has.been]

lots of ideas for the next 'build something' contest

Please, NO !!!! Nothing that big.
Many years ago a friend said he wanted a VSF flying ship for Wargaming with.
My wife's vacuum cleaner packed up, I collared it & build him a three foot long magnificent ship.
All through the building my wife said, 'It's awfully BIG'  'That is what he wants' I told her.
Come the day of hand over, he said...'It's awfully big, I was thinking of something about 10" long'

It was YEARS before I could get someone to take it. 

[Moriarty]

I see your ‘river-boat-crawler’, and raise you the ‘Panzerlandsciff’.

[Moriarty]

Of course, we must not go to extremes.

[FifteensAway]

Yes, you have a tank on treads but a motorbus on treads?  Altogether different. 

A monsterette?  Well, it is your world and you get to put anything in it you want and can access or create.  And create you can!  As we've seen in abundance over the years.

Spitzbergen?  (Or whatever island you mentioned).  Maybe a location for a Very Early Cold War encounter or three?  Middle of the 1930s and think of all the possible participatory countries.  Perhaps some sort of bizarre anomalous radio signal is emanating from the island and 'major powers' send teams to investigate.  Armed teams.  A sort of mini-Northern Spanish Civil War? 

The scope is large.  And if you want to go mega-monstrous big, instead of some of the 'sillies' others have shown, perhaps the actual conceptual iceberg aircraft carrier.  No, not the Habbakuk, more of an ice flow island than an actual iceberg.  There was an article in WI magazine many, many years ago - no idea which issue but someone will know. 

[Freddy]

Keith Thompson (my favourite illustrator) has this on walker legs:

[mikedemana]

You mean like this VSF Leonarda da Vince inspired flying machine...?





Those ARE 15mm figures, by the way (to give you a better idea of the scale).

My one and only "Build Something Contest" entry... 

Mike Demana

[Andy in Germany]

Yes, you have a tank on treads but a motorbus on treads?  Altogether different. 

True, although both qualify as potential "top secret vehicles to be investigated, stolen, sabotaged, et c".

Spitzbergen?  (Or whatever island you mentioned).  Maybe a location for a Very Early Cold War encounter or three?  Middle of the 1930s and think of all the possible participatory countries.  Perhaps some sort of bizarre anomalous radio signal is emanating from the island and 'major powers' send teams to investigate.  Armed teams.  A sort of mini-Northern Spanish Civil War? 

I haven't thought much about the "Spitzbergen" story, but what you describe is close to my idea. In my version of history, the Great War ended in 1916, so the Russian Revolution wouldn't have happened, but the old empire may just as belligerent.

As to monstrous machines, perhaps something between the great Land Ship and a tracked bus to race across the island and establish a presence in a mineral wealthy area?

[anevilgiraffe]

I like how that thumbnail points out that one bit of it is Soviet, so presumably the rest isn't?

[Freddy]

I like how that thumbnail points out that one bit of it is Soviet, so presumably the rest isn't?

"Soviet" means "council", so the council in the front, the nuclear reactor in the back- kinda makes sense