Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

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.

Ferret MkII Scout Car

This Ferret MkII Scout Car in a white UN paint scheme was on display at the Bovington Tank Museum.

This is a British post-WW2 4×4 armoured reconnaissance vehicle, crew of 2, powered by Rolls-Royce B60 6-cylinder petrol engine, armed with one machine gun.

The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company Daimler.

It was widely adopted by regiments in the British Army, as well as the RAF Regiment and Commonwealth countries.

There was a similarly painted Ferret MkII Scout Car on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Ork Fighter Bommerz on display at Warhammer World

These Ork Fighter Bommerz were on display at Warhammer World in Nottingham.

The Fighta-Bommer is the Orks’ primary tactical and strategic bombing aircraft. The Fighta-Bommer is capable of both void and atmospheric flight. It is used to bomb enemy bases and to assault enemy starships, or even in some cases to dogfight with enemy aircraft.

Constructed with typical Orkish crudeness, these rickety, gravity-defying contraptions are often surprisingly effective and dangerous to friend and foe alike, as is common with most Ork technology.

Fighta-Bommerz are often deployed as air support during large Ork planetary invasions, or to serve as point defence for Ork starships.

Fighta-Bommerz are created by the few Meks who are interested in aircraft. As with all Ork vehicles, Fighta-Bommerz are kit-bashed affairs that usually defy the laws of aerodynamics, and fly despite their ungainly, brutish construction.

This Ork Fighter was part of the Shanty Town diorama.

Workbench feature on my plastic Ork Bommer.

Workbench feature on my Forge World Ork Bommer.

More photographs of Ork Bommerz.

Imperial Fists Leviathan Siege Dreadnought

This Imperial Fists Leviathan Siege Dreadnought was part of The Fall Of Outpost Sigma-12 diorama at Warhammer World.

Heavily-armed and impressively armoured, the Leviathan Siege Dreadnought is an alternative development of the highly successful Contemptor design. These rare and mighty engines are prized by Astartes commanders, recognised as savagely powerful siege and hunter-killer units that can crush any opposition with an unstoppable wrecking charge.

Yet such overwhelming strength comes at a cost – a Leviathan’s systems place an onerous and ultimately lethal strain upon its occupant, the entombed incumbent burning brightly but only briefly in their second life

Imperial Fists Leviathan Siege Dreadnought

The ranged weapons of the Leviathan pattern Siege Dreadnought were designed to be used at closer range than those carried by most classes of dreadnought. The Leviathan Grav-flux Bombard creates a spiralling vortex of gravitation-torsion force. It is a fortress-breaching weapon which can reduce the toughest armour to twisted scrap and crush anything living beyond recognition.

Alvis Saladin

The FV601 Saladin is a six-wheeled armoured car developed by Crossley Motors and later manufactured by Alvis. Designed in 1954, it replaced the AEC Armoured Car in service with the British Army from 1958 onward. The vehicle weighed 11 tonnes, offered a top speed of 72 km/h, and had a crew of three.

Saladins were noted for their excellent performance in desert conditions, and found favour with a number of Middle Eastern armies accordingly. They were armed with a 76 mm low-pressure rifled (spin-stabilised) gun which fired the same ammunition as that mounted on the FV101 Scorpion.

Despite the vehicle’s age and dated design, it is still in use in a number of countries in secondary roles.

I wrote an article about a modern English Civil War set in the 1990s. You can easily imagine how these armoured cars would have been used for reconnaissance, keeping down unrest, and defending key installations against attack.