Author: Felix

Flames of War Renault FT-17

The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history.

The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation.

France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle.

It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renault and the Char B1 when I was young. As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War. I was pleased with the amount of detail in the model.

These were not in my opinion the simplest of models to put together. The model is not as easy as it looks, I had some trouble putting the tracks into the resin hull.

I like the fact you get two turret variants, one with a 37 mm gun or one with the 7.92 mm machine gun.

New Forge World Deimos Predator Executioner

Forge World have released another retro Predator model, this time the Executioner.

Forge World Deimos Predator Executioner
Forge World Deimos Predator Executioner

One of the most prized, and almost lost, Predator tank patterns is the Deimos Pattern Predator Executioner, which mounts a rare Executioner-pattern Plasma Destroyer. This ancient and powerful weapon fires a series of sun-hot plasma blasts capable of incinerating flesh and blasting apart even power armour with contemptuous ease. Only the forge world of Ryza is still able to manufacture the advanced photo-plasmic cells needed for the Executioner weapon, so many chapters whose Techmarines have sufficient skill and knowledge replace the Plasma Cannon with a Heavy Conversion Beamer.

This turns the Predator Executioner into an extremely powerful siege unit and long-range tank destroyer, but this firepower is gained at the cost of manoeuvrability and increased vulnerability to short-ranged attacks. That such a modification carries a long-standing seal of remittance from the Adeptus Mechanicus speaks of cataclysmic battles in a forgotten age, in which such devastating firepower was more common, and more necessary.

I quite like the retro theme that Forge World are going through, certainly taking me back to when I started playing Warhammer 40K twenty five years ago when it was first released. Back then I didn’t really have the money to buy lots of models, whereas now I don’t really have the time to paint lots of models….

Quite hope that they start thinking about doing some retro Ork stuff, it would be really nice to see Forge World updated versions of the Ork Dreadnought, the War Buggy and the War bikes.

15mm Ruined Houses

I have the ruined row of three houses and the ruined row of four houses, from Total Battle Miniatures. Having cleaned the models, I gave the inside of the models a black undercoat and then masked the inside of the windows (with masking tape) before I give the model a white undercoat on the outer side of the model.

I then started on the basecoat of the various parts of the building starting with the stonework.

War Elephant

This War Elephant was inspired by an original article in White Dwarf from the 1980s on a Lord of the Rings which included a Mumakil which had been converted from a Britains Elephant, so I decided to do the same thing, originally with a Rhino… but did eventually buy an Elephant.

I used miliput for the saddle and frontal armour plate, and balsa wood for the howdah.