Borgward Wanze LG401 Scratch Build
10.5cm LG auf Gepanzerte Munitionsschlepper
By Jakob Lotz
As early as September of 1937, orders were made to develop fully-tracked armoured ammunition carrier. Prototype of VK302 armoured ammunition carrier (Sonderschlepper BIII) was produced in 1940. Production was handled by Borgward.
In July of 1940, based on the armoured ammunition carrier, a self-propelled gun armed with a 50mm Pak 38 was developed (Leichte Panzerjaeger). The gun was mounted over the engine compartment. In 1940, one prototype was constructed and troop tested.
In September of 1941, similar design but armed with recoiless Rheinmetall-Borsig 105mm LG gun was developed. The gun itself was to be mounted as in 50mm variant, Krupp also proposed a turret mounted gun of its own design. It seems that only scale models were ever built of this vehicle.
REGARDING THIS BUILD
At first, all I could find about this particular vehicle was one or two pictures and it was only later on that I stumbled upon the information that can be found above. Now the veracity of the information is hard for me to verify and as such, it should be taken with a grain of salt. All the same, it does seem likely that this vehicle was never actually constructed and as such this build is very much a ”what if” or perhaps a ”paper panzer” project. In any event, I find that it makes for a cool and unique little vehicle for a German Bolt Action or perhaps Konflikt 47 army. If nothing else the process of building the pak 38 armed vehicle, of which there seems to have at least been a field-tested prototype, should be quite similar.
WHAT YOU NEED
- One Borgward Wanze
- One Fallschirmjager 10.5cm LG40/1
- Plasticard
- Piercing saw, craft knife, wire cutters, drills, glue etc.
THE BUILD
First of all, I completed the front of the vehicle as well as built the armoured drivers compartment.
Next, I began the construction of the rear part of the ”hull”. Now I tried to be as true to the reference photos that I had as I could, but if you don’t have the time or perhaps the patience you could probably ”cheat” quite a bit here. I’ve also included some images to show how I usually do to ”cover” different areas after cutting new angles etc. I generally glue a bigger piece of plasticard in place and the using the wire cutters I cut away the excess pieces.
I then completed the rear portion of the vehicle.
After the main hull of the vehicle was constructed I then set to work making the gun shield and housing for the recoilless artillery piece.
I finished off the build by adding vision slits, a slightly thincker and longer barrel, a travel lock as well as some utility boxes.
Then all that was left to do was to paint the vehicle and add some crew.
HOW TO USE IT
Not surprisingly there are no rules for this one. In Bolt action terms the vehicle would probably be classified as a fully tracked, open topped armoured carrier (7+) with a hull mounted front facing medium howitzer. As such we can use the same points value as for the american M3 105mm HMC (which incidently can be found in the Armies of the united states army book). The fact that the M3 105mm HMC is half tracked can be ignored and simply replaced with the rules for a fully tracked vehicle since this does not change the costing of the vehicle.
Another option is to pay the points listed for a LG 40/1 medium howitzer and appropriate tow and then clearly explain to any opponent that the tow and howitzer simply happens to occupy the exaxt same spot at all times. This might be a slightly more convoluted way of doing things, but should be well acceptable among friends and good natured hobbyists. 
As for the ingame use treat it the same way you would any other medium artillery piece. It’s not well protected or armoured and as such won’t stand up to much of a beating. On the other hand the medium howitzer means it packs a rather nasty bite and is ideal at handeling enemy infantry and can take on lighter armour in a pinch.
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