Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

FV4201 Chieftain MBT

The FV4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the three decades of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. This is one on display at the Tank Museum at Bovington. A development of the Centurion, the Chieftain introduced the supine (reclining) driver position to British design allowing a heavily sloped hull with reduced height. A new powerpack and improved transmission gave it higher speed than the Centurion despite being heavier due to major upgrades to armour protection and the armament.

Still in service in the Middle East, the British Army stopped using it in 1995.

I did consider buying some for Team Yankee, but was put off by apparent issues with the smoke dischargers on the side of the turret. Certainly for a 1970s version of Team Yankee you couldn’t use the new Challenger, and would need to use the Chieftain.

More photographs of the FV4201 Chieftain at Bovington.

There was also a Chieftain on display at Duxford.

Ork Battlewagon

These Ork Battlewagons were from the displays at Warhammer World.

A Battlewagon is a catch-all term used for any type of Ork assault tank and heavy armoured troop transport. The term Battlewagon seems to refer overall to a category of large Ork armoured vehicles. A Battlewagon can be wheeled, tracked or a combination of the two and is used in many battlefield roles. It always carries a large complement of weapons.

Sometimes these armaments are just Big Shootas, while on other vehicles they are large Killkannons. Battlewagons possess thick armour plating, multiple turrets and death rollers or rams. They also carry mobs of Ork Boyz, either internally or clinging onto its many handholds.

See more photographs in the Ork Battlewagon Miniatures Gallery.

I have two Battlewagons on my workbench.

Battlewagon -This plastic battlewagon kit was released by Games Workshop on the 3rd January 2009 and I picked mine up on the 4th January.

Battlewagon with Supa Kannon -I got this model as a Christmas present, it combines the plastic Battlewagon kit with a resin Supa Kannon.

Ork Megatrakk Scrapjet

Various Ork Megatrakk Scrapjet models were on display at Warhammer World.

A favourite amongst Speed Freeks and grounded Flyboyz alike, Megatrakk Scrapjets provide rocket-propelled acceleration, impressive firepower and the hilarity of ramming into enemy lines at the helm of what is effectively a gigantic, thrust-driven drill.

They look like an Ork aircraft fused with wheels and tracks. I’ve always liked the model and the idea behind it. It is such a typical Ork concept.

These vehicles allow former Ork pilots to revel in the dimly-remembered joy of mowing down enemies at point-blank range – a joy which, of course, often caused the Flyboy to crash in the first place.

Explosions blossom amidst the enemy as rokkits and missiles collide with their targets, while Grot tail-gunners blaze away with chattering big shootas – the array of weaponry welded, bolted, riveted and lashed onto a Megatrakk Scrapjet is fearsome.

This Megatrakk Scrapjet was part of the Ork Shanty Town display.

I have a Megatrakk Scrapjet on my workbench. I have struggled to finish it, as it put it altogether before painting it. I think I needed to part-build it and paint it in stages.

Imperial Guard Banehammer

These Imperial Guard Banehammers were on display at Warhammer World.

It is unknown when the Banehammer was first created but it has had much use, especially during the recent Tyrannic Wars.

The vehicle is primarily used by Imperial Guard commanders to halt massed enemy advances.

The Banehammer replaces the Baneblade’s Battle Cannon with a Tremor Cannon, which launches projectiles which bury themselves and detonate only after traveling some distance. On detonation, the shell releases a huge shock wave, liquefying the nearby ground and forcing enemy infantry and vehicles to literally crawl their way through or risk the consequences.

Emperor’s Children Legion Land Raider Proteus

This Emperor’s Children Legion Land Raider Proteus was on display at Warhammer World.

The Land Raider is regarded by many as the finest armoured fighting vehicle of its class in the Imperium’s arsenal, and is the mainstay battle tank of the Space Marine Legions. It is a phenomenally powerful war machine, its multi-layered composite armour and reinforced hull all but impervious to even heavy weapons, being a sealed unit designed to resist enemy attack from any approach. Intended to serve in almost any environment as both war machine and exploration vehicle, it can operate freely in war zones ranging from acid swamps to rad-deserts without any noticeable impediment to its performance, and can even operate in hard vacuum, ensuring there is no open battlefield on which its armoured wrath cannot be unleashed.

Those of us who have been playing Warhammer 40K since it was first released will recognise this model. It is of course a new version of the original Land Raider that was released back in 1987 following the release of the 1st edition of Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader. Forge World released a resin version a fair few years ago, and since then, a plastic version of the kit has been released as part of The Horus Heresy range.

Legions Astartes Land Raider Proteus Miniatures Gallery

Space Marine Land Raider Proteus in Warhammer 40K Miniatures Gallery.

East German T-72M Main Battle Tank

After World War 2 Soviet tanks developed along logical traditional lines. In 1960 work began on a new design, the T-64, which incorporated many revolutionary and untried features but it was not a great success and in 1970 the prototype of T-72 appeared, which could be described as a simplified version of T-64. The T-72 is a family of Soviet main battle tanks that first entered production in 1971.

This T72 was on display at Bovington Tank Museum.

The Tank Museum’s vehicle is a T72M1 that was used by the former East German Army, (NVA, Nationale Volks Armee).

About 20,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refurbishment has enabled many to remain in service for decades.

I have published an article that I wrote, which originally appeared in the January 1994 edition of Miniature Wargames. The article, entitled, It fell off the back of a lorry…. is a skirmish scenario involving gangsters, market traders as well as police and security forces in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Oh it involves a T-90 tank which is an up-armoured version of the T-72.

Ork Kustom Boosta-Blasta

This lovely Speed Freeks Ork Kustom Boosta-Blasta was on display at Warhammer World.

Armed to the grille with guns, blades and greenskins, the Kustom Boosta-blasta is one of the deadliest Ork vehicles around.

Ferociously fast, absurdly heavily armed, and boasting the capacity to set things on fire by simply overtaking them, it exemplifies everything the Speed Freeks look for in a vehicle.

Another Ork Kustom Boosta-Blasta.

They’re coming back…

Next week you will be able to preorder some fantastic classic Warhammer Fantasy plastic buildings that are making a return as part of Warhammer: The Old World.

If you’re looking to spruce up your tabletop, there’s a treat in store next week. Several classic plastic terrain kits are making a triumphant return, including the Fortified Manor of the Empire – which combines a Sigmarite Chapel, an Empire Watchtower, and the Walls & Fences with a bespoke upgrade frame to create a massive centrepiece emblazoned with Empire heraldry.

One of the most popular posts on the blog is about this terrain when it was released back in 2007.

There was a chapel and a watchtower. Combined they were released as a fortified Manor House.

I did have the chapel, but never got around to finishing it.

I never bought the watchtower, but I am quite tempted to get it this time.

Another thing to add to my wants list.

Death Guard Spartan Assault Tank

This Death Guard Spartan Assault Tank was on display at Warhammer World.

The Spartan Assault Tank also known as the Land Raider Spartan, this armoured carrier was designed to punch through the most overwhelming enemy defences and deliver a knock-out blow of massed Astartes infantry.

It became a common assault vehicle during the Great Crusade, where its nigh-impervious chassis could shrug off regular anti-tank weapons as it ferried up to 26 Legionaries – or 13 Terminators – into the fray, with a surprising turn of speed for its size.

More photographs of the Spartan Assault Tank.

Blood Angels Legion Sicaran Battle Tanks

The Sicaran battle tank is one of the most advanced armoured units in the arsenal of the Legiones Astartes, with a number of variants that spread quickly throughout the Legions.

These Forge World variants were on display at Warhammer World. I was totally impressed with the painting of these models and the intricate insignia across both vehicles.

The Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer is a formidable tank hunter, utilising the speed provided by the Sicaran’s engines to apply overwhelming short range firepower.

It races forwards to ambush and obliterate the lumbering siege tanks of enemy columns, unleashing the brutal energies of its oversized plasma array – a crude, retrofitted imitation of the Mechanicum’s plasma technology that is nevertheless entirely capable of reducing hostile vehicles to smouldering wrecks.

The Sicaran Punisher came into general use amongst the various Space Marine Legions in the final days of the Great Crusade, named for the punisher rotary cannon mounted on its turret.

This weapon already had a reputation for eradicating massed conscript infantry or hordes of swarming xenos creatures, limited only by its relatively short range and prodigious appetite for munitions – the impressive speed of the Sicaran hull effectively negated these range issues, resulting in a truly deadly war machine.