Author: Felix

Top Ten Blog Posts 2020

As with  the end of 2019, in 2020,  I went at writing and posting much more, and this year I published 436 blog posts. In 2019 I did 143 blog posts. Compare that to 2018 when I wrote just 21 blog posts.

I did a lot more modelling and painting in 2020 and was pleased with getting quite a few models finished or nearly finished.

Here are my top ten blog posts in reverse order. As is typical most posts are from previous years, however what was nice to see was that the top post (no spoilers) was from 2020.

The tenth most popular post was from 2009 and was about my disappointment with the Shrine of The Aquila scenery.

Shrine of The Aquila

Since then GW have released many more army specific scenery kits.

Ninth was an old post from 2007 about an Ork Army Box.

Ork Army Box, Deal or No Deal

A really old post from 2005 was in eighth place, it was about a new piece of scenery, a downed Valkyrie flyer from Forge World.

Downed Valkyrie

The first of a few posts from 2020 was the seventh most popular post. It was about the Land Rover Half=Track.

Laird Land Rover Centaur Half Track

Sixth was the post on Forge World’s 2010 Show Only model, an Ork Runt Bot and Grot.

Ork Runt Bot and Grot

I really quite liked the new Snotlings team for Bloodbowl which was revealed in April 2020. This was the fifth most popular post on the blog.

Bloodbowl Snotlings

The HUGE Tau Manta was the focus of the fourth post in this top ten,

Tau Manta

The third post was about the Ork Battlewagon Upgrade Pack

Ork Battlewagon Upgrade Pack

The top post in 2019 dropped to second.

Dwarf City under attack

Actually quite pleased that the post at number one for 2020 was from July 2020 and was a lengthy post about possible future models for Aeronautica Imperialis.

What next for Aeronautica Imperialis?

Overall I was pleased with the amount of blogging that I did in 2020, I liked the fact that two of the posts I enjoyed writing and liked were in the top ten. I did post a fair few photographs from a visit to Warhammer World that I made in January 2020 pre-lockdown, as well as photographs from a visit in 2018, as well as photographs from Duxford, RAF Cosford and Bovington. However due to the lockdown in 2020 I dind’t visit any musuems or go to any shows. So that will probably mean less posting in 2021.

Castellax Battle-Automata

Castellax Battle-Automata at Warhammer World.

The Thanatar-Calix class Siege-automata is a potent war machine and a wonder of the Mechanicum’s craft. Combining arcane and secret technologies, it carries a twin-linked mauler bolt cannon alongside a rare solex pattern heavy lascannon, whose beams of coherent light can reach far across a battlefield to lethal effect. The Thanatar-Calix’s most destructive armament though is the graviton ram, a weapon whose origins are lost in the Dark Age of Technology. The ram’s crushing waves of gravitational force can pulverise infantry and vehicles alike, and it can be utterly devastating at both range and close quarters. The Thanatar frame, designed as a heavy weapons platform, is well armoured and further protected by atomantic shield generators, making it nearly impervious to all but the heaviest of weapons fire. Whilst it is slow to advance, the Thanatar-Calix’s durability allows it to close steadily on its target, moving ever nearer until its formidable weaponry can be brought into range.

More photographs.

Mechanicum Knight Moirax with Lightning Locks

A Mechanicum Knight Moirax with Lightning Locks in Warhammer World.

Mechanicum Knight Moirax with Lightning Locks

Similar in size to the Imperial Armiger, the Mechanicum Moirax is a skirmisher, using its speed to hunt ahead of larger Knights. Standing around half the height of the most common Mechanicum Knights, they nevertheless share a lot of details with their larger cousins – the basic shape, with 2 weapon arms, hydraulically driven legs, tilting plate and a large carapace surrounding the central head of the suit. Another detail in common with those larger suits is their loadout – for their diminutive size they’re incredibly powerful, specialising in ranged combat. The Knight Moirax is armed with two lightning locks and a carapace-mounted heavy stubber, the latter of which can be replaced with a meltagun.

Space Marine Storm Eagle

This Storm Eagle was in one of the display cabinets at Warhammer World

A formidable gunship, the Storm Eagle mounts fearsome firepower for a vehicle of its size and is capable of transporting twenty Space Marines directly into the thick of an assault. The exact provenance of the Storm Eagle is unknown, but it bears clear similarities to the Stormravens employed by the Blood Angels and Grey Knights. Certain sources place the principal manufacture of the Storm Eagle upon Tigrus and Anvilus IX, both primary-grade Forge Worlds that suffered catastrophic damage during the Horus Heresy.

Storm Eagle

In recent decades the number of Storm Eagles in active service has begun to increase, especially amongst those Chapters known to have favourable relations with the Adeptus Mechanicus. This has lead some observers to believe that production has been restored at an as yet unknown location.

Storm Eagle

Imperial Guard Tallarn Stormlord

Imperial Guard Tallarn Stormlord at Warhammer World.

Stormlord

The Stormlord is a super-heavy main battle tank and variant of the Shadowsword tank-hunter and Titan-killer tank usually used by the forces of the Astra Militarum. The Stormlord replaces the Volcano Cannon of the Shadowsword with a Vulcan Mega Bolter. By removing the large capacitors and generators required for the Volcano Cannon to operate, extra space has been opened up near the rear of the vehicle which allows the Stormlord to carry up to 40 infantrymen as an open-topped armoured transport.

Canal Defence Light (CDL)

The Canal Defence Light (CDL) was a British “secret weapon” of the Second World War, based upon the use of a powerful carbon-arc searchlight mounted on a tank. It was intended to be used during night-time attacks, when the light would allow enemy positions to be targeted. A secondary use of the light would be to dazzle and disorient enemy troops, making it harder for them to return fire accurately. The name Canal Defence Light was used to conceal the device’s true purpose.

The only surviving CDL-equipped Matilda tank is in the collection of the Royal Armoured Corps at The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, in Britain.

Imperial Guard Hydra

The Hydra Flak Tank, also known simply as the Hydra, is the main mobile anti-air artillery piece of the Astra Militarum. It is produced on hundreds of Forge Worlds across the Imperium and is widely-used in nearly every regiment.

The Hydra, like many other Imperial military vehicles, is based on the Chimera armoured personnel carrier chassis, and is armed with a set of twin-linked Hydra Autocannons. Hydra Autocannons are a set of long-barrelled Autocannons mounted on a turret with highly sophisticated tracking and targeting equipment.