Tankette Tuesday came about by chance in our comments on Alan (Duchy of Tradgardland) Gruber’s occasional Flat Friday slot (of flat figures).
Everybody loves a Tankette – what’s not to love?
So occasionally on a Tuesday, I shall post the odd picture of real or model, old or new Tankettes.
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Today’s Tankette #1. US Army Tank MS262
Some of you might describe this as a ‘light tank’ when used with OOHO figures rather than a Tankette, depending on the size of figures you use.
It’s all a scale thing anyway, tankettes.
These tiny modern tin clockwork little tanks or tank-ettes came from Jesters.com (originally made by blechfabrik.com) a few months ago:
https://www.jesters.com/us-army-tank-tin-toy-retro-clockwork-vehicle-toy.html
These lightly armoured light tank / tankettes will be appearing on my games table at some point.
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Anything else on Jesters.com, a Kent based company, while we are about it?
Yes! There is a much larger, more expensive 16.5cm length version of a tinplate M4A1 “Sherman” tank. (The accompanying text says this tinplate tank is not a toy). Difficult to get a scale idea of the Sherman without a figure alongside.
https://www.jesters.com/sherman-tank-tin-toy-retro-clockwork-toy-military-vehicle.html
Jesters also stock traditional board games including Asalto or Sepoys and Officers, an old board game with an attractive Brimtoy board with 19th Century prints.
Asalto or “Officers and Sepoys” boardgame, a “Nineteenth Century siege game”.
You can read more about this abstract tactics game and its rules, similar to Fox and Geese, and its strange move of huffing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asalto
I’m sure if you want to try the game out, using the Asalto rules on Wikipedia, you could rough out your own Asalto game board and suitable figure playing pieces.
So there you are, Tactics and Tankettes, all in one Tuesday post.
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, Tuesday 6 July 2021
Pound Store Plastic Warriors 
Have to break open the toy cupboard again 🙂
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Jesters was new to me, most interesting. I really like the tankette. As a boy I had a small clockwork tank with a rotating stone disc near the Turret . There was the gun
which was loosely attached . As the tank moved it rotated the stone disc and combined with the gun trailing onto the stone disc , produced lots of sparks and noise. It was terrific!
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I think I had a space ray gun or robot that was much the same mechanism.
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Hmm, nice little tin tanks but I am also suitably intrigued by Asalto. You can’t beat lovely illustrations of soldiers on the edge of game boards. I have a tactical military game called Campaign with something similar around the edge and Stratego I think had likewise.
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I think there may be enough in the rules online to mock up a copy.
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In the 1970s, while on holiday, I bought a clockwork metal/plastic jeep which had a sparking gun in the front as it moved. Wish I had it now! Have seen some lovely retro tinplate toys, all too easy to start a collection. Not least because the originals often go for high prices.
Michael
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Sounds very much like Alan’s mechanism (and 1960s 70s robots and ray guns).
Tin plate retro is by far the cheapest option for the games table.
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You have finally found a use for the “politely waving” US Marine – winding clockwork tankettes. Excellent! He doesn’t have to spend the whole battle pretending to be dead any longer 🙂
Regards, Chris.
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Well spotted. Somebody had to get out and wind the thing up … 🙂
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