It is 1940, and I am a representative from the little-known North African country of Mostlydesertia. Our Army is small and outdated, being mostly used to police the country and protect against the raiding of our various desert nomad tribes. Our most effective AFV is the armoured car, and we have a collection of Rolls Royce armoured cars that we purchased from Britain after the Great War. These have proved adequate for the job so far, although their narrow tyres do provide some mobility issues over soft sand. (Two Mostlydesertian armoured cars returning from a patrol) However, one of our neighbouring states, Evilopia, has begun to act aggressively, with armed patrols crossing our border. At first this was not a problem, as our regular armoured car patrols were capable of forcing lorry-borne infantry to retreat by a show of force. However, Evilopia is currently taking delivery of some Carro Armato M.11/39 tanks from Italy, which are much better armed than our Rolls Royce armoured cars, and invulnerable to machine-gun fire. We urgently need a vehicle capable of matching these tanks, while at the same time being able to carry out regular ‘policing’ actions. A wheeled vehicle is preferred, as this would mean it could be in active service sooner.
