I have pretty much completed my 'Land Dreadnoughts' board game and I would like you all to critique my alternative 20th Century history based around his 1903 short story 'The Land Ironclads'. The game itself is a 2 player tactical game based on my history. If any of you are interested, I will be happy to send you a copy of the rules to look at. Here is the first part of my history:
1.Early Days
Britain had been embroiled in the grinding war of attrition against the Boer Republics since the last years of the nineteenth century. Increased tensions with Imperial Germany and possible unrest in India caused issues with sending reinforcements to finish the Boer rebellion in South Africa. By the end of 1901 there was a push in Parliament to finish the war so that preparations could be made to directly confront Germany over their ship-building and obvious designs of French conquest along with reports of diplomatic overtures to both Mexico and Turkey. Due to the panic beginning to affect many politicians, previously ignored technical advances were once again considered.
The almost forgotten ‘wheeled foot’ ideas of a certain Mr. Dunbridge caught the eye of one military consultant. While his rather odd idea for transportation was dismissed years earlier, when teamed with the road steamer designs of Robert Thomson and the addition of a powerful steam turbine as demonstrated in 1897 by Charles Parsons’ ‘Turbina’, it had all seemed to ‘come together’. Due to the fortuitous timing of all these elements, it was deemed of sufficient interest for several prototype ‘Land Dreadnoughts’ to be tested in the field against the Boer lines outside Ladysmith. In the early summer of 1903 these 9 prototypes advanced along with bicycle troops from Canada and supported by some Yeomanry cavalry, completely defeated the troops holding the line and caused panic and dismay amongst other enemy troops. Within the next two years, British forces finally broke the back of Boer resistance and a peace treaty was signed.
2.Development
Although the success of the Dreadnoughts was complete, there were worries about their deployment outside of South Africa. The wheeled foot design was certainly of benefit in dry and fairly gentle country, but suffered greatly in unstable or rough ground and in wet or poor weather conditions. It was the development of the ‘continuous track’ allied with the drive mechanism of Mr. Dunbridges’ idea that proved the saviour of the Land Dreadnought program. It was also found that better weapons would be needed, especially as other countries began their own developments and anti-dreadnought guns were developed. When the use of tracks became more prevalent, smaller ‘carrier’ vehicles were developed to give accompanying infantry and artillery the mobility to keep up with the dreadnoughts. By 1910, internal combustion engines replaced the unreliable, heavy and inefficient steam turbines and made the dreadnoughts a more mobile force.