Author: Felix

15mm Home Guard MkIV Male Tank

I have had this tank for sometime. Don’t remember the manufacturer, though it may be Minifigs! When I was planning some Operation Sealion games back in the 1990s I intended that the Home Guard would make use of a museum Mark IV Male tank. I mentioned this also in an article I wrote on a French themed Operation Sealion, Otaire de Vigneur.

To add a bit of diversity to my games, I also have one of Minifigs’ World War One British tanks, for use by a Home Guard unit (stolen from a local museum no doubt).

Now  when I wrote that article and bought the miniature it was only an assumption and what I thought would be a nice idea, and probably had no basis in truth….

Well just shows a little historical research never hurt anyone, as the Bovington Tank Museum has on display a Mark IV Male tank that was used just in this way. It was used in World War One and then presented to the Navy. When war broke out in September 1939, the  Tank Mark IV (Male) number 2324 was refurbished for Home Guard duties; according to the Bovington Tank Museum website.

Our exhibit, a male tank, was presented to the Royal Navy’s Gunnery School, HMS Excellent after the war to commemorate their help training Tank Corps gunners and it was temporarily refurbished for Home Guard duties in 1940. (Believed to have been achieved by removed parts from another tank possibly on Southsea Common.)

This photograph is from HMS Excellent in 1940.

Another view of the Mark IV at speed.

So though I thought my idea was probably if Operation Sealion had happened, I didn’t think and didn’t realise that it had in fatc happened despite the fact that the Germans hadn’t invaded.

So if you are playing Flames of War Operation Sealion games using the Blitzkreig sourcebook than you can use a Mark IV Male tank as part of your Home Guard forces.Not sure how long though it would last against German Panzers though…

Now who has the stats for a Mark IV tank for Flames of War?

Outcasts

Outcasts is a new SF drama from the BBC which premieres on the 7th February.

The story follows a group of individuals who, after the destruction of the earth, try to live a new life on an alien planet. The new planet Carpathia has had human colonists creating a new colony for ten years. The series starts as they await the final ship from earth.

Settled in the town of Forthaven on Carpathia, the Outcasts are passionate about their jobs, confident of their ideals and optimistic about the future. They work hard to preserve what they’ve built on this planet they now call home, having embraced all the challenges that come with forging a new beginning.

They are led by President Tate and his core team of Stella, Cass and Fleur – they took charge and settled here first alongside Expeditionaries Mitchell and Jack.

They are a diverse group of individuals who left their old lives behind in extraordinary circumstances; promised a second chance at life they created a society, far away from their home, friends, family… and their pasts.

The planet offers the possibility for both corruption and redemption; while they try to avoid the mistakes made on Earth, inevitably our heroes cannot escape the human pitfalls of love, greed, lust, loss, and a longing for those they’ve left behind.

As they continue to work and live together they come to realise this is no ordinary planet… is there a bigger purpose at work? Mystery lurks around them and threatens to risk the fragile peace of Forthaven.

Set in 2040 this is a series that won’t have lots of tech and technobabble.
This is more of a drama set on an alien world, rather than a sci-fi series with dramatic scenes. It’s about human relationships rather than dealing with aliens, alien technology or invasive species.

It sounds an interesting premise and I will certainly be watching the first episode.

Find out more on Outcasts.

Steampunk Old West

I have been painting up some Foundry Old West figures for use with the Legends of the Old West Warhammer Historical rules.

My original plan (and still is) is to play some games using these rules in a traditional old west style environment. The sort of place that you see in old cowboy films. I do need to get some buildings and there are quite a few suppliers out there that do these.

However the recent trailer for Cowboys and Aliens got me thinking about “different” old west backgrounds. Obviously adding aliens into the mix is pretty simple, though I might wait until I have seen the film before venturing down that road (and yes I know I need to paint the figures too….).

I also remembered Wild Wild West, the steampunk action comedy. Now to be honest I loved the idea behind the film, steampunk in a cowboy setting, however the film itself was a bit of a disappointment. Forgetting the film it still is a really fun background. One day I wouldn’t mind seeing the original television series, however it looks like it is only available on DVD in the USA.

Whilst looking for scenery for Flames of War I did come across some really nice looking Victorian SF tanks from Ironclad Miniatures.

Okay so we can’t really use the name “tank” as that was merely a cover name used by the British in World War One to describe their new armoured fighting vehicles. However we now know what a tank is, and these look like tanks, just in the old west they wouldn’t have called them tanks. I am going to call them tanks even if the inhabitants of the old west wouldn’t have!
Two of the range strike me as ideal models for a Steampunk Old West setting.

The first model is the Medium Tank is tracked steam tank with a single large turret.

The second is the Armoured Steam Carriage, it can be built with either a Nordenfelt or Gatling machine gun.

Both of these look very steampunk and painted in desert colours would fit nicely into an old west setting.

There are other models in the range that would probably also work just as well, but these two are the ones I like.

So what about rules?

Well The Old West rules are from Warhammer Historical and are based around Warhammer, to me it would probably work to use the tank rules from Warhammer Historical’s World War One rules, The Great War.

The weapons though in The Old West wouldn’t hurt these tanks (well except the nitro) so if these tanks were to be used then we would need some extra weapons added. Again the rules from The Great War allow for the use of artillery and gatling guns.

The Old West is circa 1882 and the Gatling Gun was patented in 1862. Of course in a steampunk setting you can allow for the rapid advance of weapons as well as the introduction of tanks. For example the French 75mm field gun was in our world adopted in 1898, well we could bring that forward, couldn’t we? Anyhow a variety of artillery was used in the American Civil War and that could be used for a steampunk old west game for fighting against steam tanks.

So before going down this road, I think I need to paint up some more of my Old West miniatures, however I do have a couple of the Dixon’s cowboys that are painted up that I could use.

Lots to think about…

Ork Big Trakk with Supa Kannon

This Ork Big Trakk with Supa Kannon was part of the Ork Shanty Town display at GamesDay 2010.

I have been making my own Big Trakk and it’s a nice if somewhat complicated kit to put together. I am not going to arm it though with the Supa Kannon and will probably use a “normal” Kannon. According to Tony Cottrell at the Forge World seminar at GamesDay 2010, it would appear that Forge World have “finished” with the Orks for a while and will be doing lots of other stuff before they return to the Orks (it at all).

Of course what we still have to see from either Forge World or Games Workshop is a new buggy or wartrakk. There are images in the Forge World Imperial Armour book of a new design of a buggy, but so far no real concrete evidence that any new model is going to be released.

Flames of War – German StuG G Assault Guns

These miniatures come in the Open Fire Flames of War starter set.

The StuGs come all in resin with separate metal main weapons. If you buy the StuGs individually they come with metal tracks.

Side view.

The gun barrels were fixed by superglue.

See the full workbench feature on these StuG G Assault Guns.