Australian Army Centurion Mk5

ANZAC Centurion Mk5

Battlefront have put up the details about their 15mm Australian Mk5 Centurion for Vietnam.

It’s a really nice looking model, very crisp with lots of detail.

I have already made the decision not to play games for Flames of War Vietnam, as the era isn’t one where there were lots of tank battles and to be honest that’s the main reason I play Flames of War. Secondly I already have way too many models to paint anyhow…

However looking at the recent releases and I will say I much prefer the castings from Battlefront compared to some other manufacturers I have been thinking if I could use the models for another era. For example I wonder if the NVRA T55 tanks could be used for Middle East battles or for Warsaw Pact for a Cold War era game getting hot!

My first thought when I saw the Centurion Mk5 was how close was it to the early versions, could I get away with using it for my Late War British forces in say a 1946 scenario? Only a handful of Mk1s were made when in November 1945 the Mk2 started coming off the production lines. The Mk3 did not enter production until 1948, so for a 1946 scenario, it would be the Mk2. The main difference between the Mk5 and the Mk2 would the main weapon, with the Mk5 having the L7 105mm gun, whilst the 1945 version had the QF 20 pdr. Though it would appear from the Battlefront site that the Australian Army Centurions were armed with the QF 20 pdr. So maybe not too much conversion work then?

I am going to try and find some photographs and see if any what are the differences.