Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

Liche Priest on Necrolith Bone Dragon

This Liche Priest on Necrolith Bone Dragon was in the display cabinets at Warhammer World.

Only the most prestigious priests can harness the undying will of a fearsome Necrolith Bone Dragon, much less ride such a behemoth into battle. These reanimated wyrms descend upon the living, given unnatural flight by skeletal wings, before lashing out with wicked claws and jagged fangs. Those who survive must contend with clouds of seething dust and desiccating smog, for a dragon’s breath is lethal even in death.

Carden Loyd Carrier Mark VI MT9909 E61

This Carden Loyd Carrier Mark VI MT9909 E61 was on display at the Tank Museum at Bovington.

The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of British tankettes of the period between the World Wars, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers.

It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was licence-built by several countries and became the basis of several designs produced in various countries.

A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting. Colloquially it may also simply mean a small tank. Several countries built tankettes between the 1920s and 1940s, and some saw limited combat in the early phases of World War II. The vulnerability of their light armour, however, eventually led armies to abandon the concept

Italy bought a number of Carden Loyd Mark VIs, built a few licence copies designated CV-29, and then developed this design further into the L3/35 tankette.

Imperial Fists Mastodon Heavy Assault Transport

This Imperial Fists Mastodon Heavy Assault Transport was in the displays at Warhammer World.

The Mastodon was one of the heaviest assault transports in the arsenal of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade, and is still found in the armouries of the Space Marine Chapters of the 41st Millenium. Its cavernous assault bay, capable of housing almost half a Company, is protected both by thick layers of ceramite armour as well as crackling void shields. It also mounts a fearsome siege melta array, allowing it to breach even the most formidable defences with ease, as well as an array of secondary weaponry intended to defend the vehicle as it approaches its target. Unleashed only against the most fearsome of enemy redoubts, there are few obstacles that can stay the wrath of this relic of the Imperium’s bloody birth.

Imperialis Militia Carnodon Battle Tank

This Imperialis Militia Carnodon Battle Tank was on display at Warhammer World.

The Carnodon is a versatile medium battle tank which acted as the lynchpin for many of the storied successes of the Imperial Army during the Great Crusade. As a premier mobile fire platform, it was regularly adapted to combat a wide variety of foes and respond to any number of battlefield conditions. During the early years of the Great Crusade, it rapidly became a byword for conquest amongst the Expeditionary fleets, a legacy which led to the production of the dedicated Imperial battle tanks of latter-days. As the Great Crusade moved ever outwards and supply of the Aurox chassis peaked, it is thought that many Carnodon tanks entered a strategic reserve and were distributed to Crusade muster worlds behind the front lines; with over two hundred thousand examples thought to have been stored pending secondary mobilisation in the warrens under the world of Tallarn.

Lanchester Armoured Car

The Lanchester armoured car was a British armoured car built on the chassis of the Lanchester “Sporting Forty”, it saw wide service with the Royal Naval Air Service and British Army during the First World War. The Lanchester was the second most numerous World War I armoured car in British service after the Rolls-Royce armoured car.

Thirty-nine armoured Lanchesters were built, starting in 1928, and they were issued to the newly mechanised cavalry regiments. They spent most of their time in Britain although in 1935 the 12th Lancers took some cars out to the Saarland and a few were tested in the Middle East. The cars were used for training in the early years of the war and one was converted into a secure VIP transport for use in London. A few were still operating in Malaya in 1941 with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders; these ultimately fell into Japanese hands.

This got me thinking about possible uses for the Lanchester armoured car in A Very British Civil War scenarios, but also in an Operation Sealion scenario where German paratroopers attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill who is being moved in a convoy including the Lanchester armoured car which was converted into a secure VIP transport for use in London.

More photographs of the Lanchester Armoured Car.

The Battle for Ceres City

This was the Legions Imperialis Diorama at Warhammer World. One of the reasons I wanted to visit Warhammer World was to see what Legions Imperialis models they had on display. I was not to be disappointed.

Ceres City changed hands nine times during the campaign for control of the Delta-Garmon system, and the diorama captures the Blood Angels and the Titans of Legio Solaria waging war against the Iron Warriors and Legio Fureans.

Iron Warriors’ Deimos Pattern Predator tanks move forward down the street.

Overhead view of the Deimos Pattern Predator tanks supporting the advancing Titans.

Overhead view of the Warbringer Nemesis Titan.

Reaver Titans advance past the destroyed remains of fallen titans.

Warhound Scout Titans advance.

There was a lovely display of a ruined Imperial city with vehicles and titans fighting through the ruins.

Mark IIb Land Raider

This Forge World Mark IIb Land Raider was on display at Warhammer World.

It was looking a little dusty.

The Land Raider MkIIb is probably my favourite Land Raider variant. I do have one of them in my collection.

Grey Knights can use Land Raiders! When I first started putting my Grey Knights force together I knew that if I was going to get a Land Raider it would have to be the Forgeworld MkIIB Land Raider. I did get one in the end at GamesDay 2006. Sadly it was recently retired from the range.

I wrote up some reflections on my MkIIB Land Raider, on the current state of the painting and what I needed to do next. In the end I went down a different route.

The standard Land Raider, also known as the Land Raider Phobos, is an Imperial main battle tank and troop transport which serves as the “armoured fist of the Space Marines.” Available to the Space Marines, the Traitor Legions of the Chaos Space Marines and the forces of the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus, it is one of the most resilient and iconic armoured vehicles in the galaxy.

The Land Raider’s heritage predates even the founding of the Imperium of Man, yet it remains the single most destructive weapon in the Adeptus Astartes’ arsenal. Protected by bonded Ceramite and Adamantium armour, the Land Raider is nearly impervious to all save the most destructive weaponry.

The Mark IIb Land Raider Phobos is one of the earliest marks of the standard pattern of Land Raider, and it still bears similarities to both the Land Raider Proteus and the Spartan Assault Tank that served as the models for the design.

The Mark IIb Land Raider Phobos is the only pattern of the standard Land Raider Phobos that uses the older armoured sponsons, as they do not allow the weapons they hold to fully rotate. This pattern of Land Raider is mostly extinct within Space Marine Armouries, having been replaced with newer marks and patterns of the standard Land Raider Phobos. However, some Chapters may still possess one or two as treasured relics of their ancient past.

Of course the Mark IIb reflects the Epic 40000 version of the Land Raider from the late 1990s.

Vickers Crossley Armoured Car Chevrolet

This Vickers Crossley Armoured Car Chevrolet (Indian Pattern) was on display at Bovington.

In 1915 the British Army started to use armoured cars in India, particularly on the North West Frontier, to relieve troops needed elsewhere. They proved so successful that this soon became standard policy. Shortly after the war the Indian Government purchased 16 Rolls-Royce cars to a new design but these proved so expensive that subsequent orders were placed with Crossley Motors in Manchester who made a tough but cheap 50hp IAG1 chassis. Substantial numbers of these cars were supplied between 1923 and 1925.

The body design, which was very similar to the Rolls-Royce version and built by Vickers at Crayford, had a number of interesting features. These included a dome-shaped turret, with four machine-gun mounts, which was designed to deflect rifle shots from snipers in ambush positions in the high passes. A clamshell cupola surmounted the turret for the commander, while side doors opened opposite ways on either side so that a crew member could dismount safely under fire. The crew area was lined with asbestos to keep the temperature down and the entire body could be electrified to keep large crowds at bay.

By 1939, when the Royal Tank Corps in India had handed most of its equipment over to the Indian Army, the Crossleys were worn out. The bodies were then transferred to imported Canadian Chevrolet chassis, with pneumatic tyres, and in this form served with Indian forces in the Middle East in the early years of the war.

More photographs of the Vickers Crossley Armoured Car Chevrolet (Indian Pattern).

You can imagine in an early Very British Civil War scenario in the early 1920s, the Vickers factory making these armoured cars available to one of the armies for fighting the civil war. You would have to think about some rules for allowing the entire body could be electrified and the impact that this would have in games.

The Vickers Crossley Armoured Car was also exported to Japan who made use of them in China.

Company B make a 1/56th scale metal and resin version which is available.

Whilst you can get a 3D printed version in 15mm from Shapeways.

Cargo-8 Ridgehauler

The Necromunda Cargo-8 Ridgehauler was on display at Warhammer World.

The Guild of Coin rules the roads of Necromunda. They transport material between hives and, for a hefty price, they’ll even smuggle weapons and people. Crossing the arid, violent, and irradiated ash wastes is a risky business, so the guild employs convoys of Cargo-8 Ridgehaulers. These hulking vehicles are perfect for traversing the dunes thanks to their massive wheels and sturdy engines, hauling trailers of armoured containers and transport carriages across the Great Equatorial Wastes, but their true appeal comes from their modularity – it takes little effort to outfit one with enough guns to make it a mobile fortress, ready to repel gang ambushes and raids.

Back in January 2022 we were given a glimpse of a vehicle used in the Ash Wastes of Necromunda, though we had no idea what it was. It looked interesting though, I did like the concept of a land train running though the ash wastes and getting attacked by raiders.

There were echoes of Mad Max and Car Wars in all this. However at this stage this was a concept, and we got some idea about the vehicle from the drawings in the animation.

Then we found out that the land train was the Cargo-8 Ridgehauler.

Goods from the hive manufactories are ferried across the poisoned wastes on great land trains. There’s money to be made from protecting the Guild of Coin’s Cargo-8 Ridgehaulers, which are juicy targets both for the nomadic denizens of the Ash Wastes and for gangs of underhive bandits.

My reaction was a little muted to the reveal. It wasn’t quite what I was thinking it might be. It seems to have been built around the Munitorum Armoured Container and I am not sure if this works. Well I get that the background is about moving goods across the ash wastes, so need containers to move it.

We did get some additional trailers, but I really felt that this wasn’t the concept we saw in the original animation. I decided that this wasn’t a model I would buy. However, I still like the concept of an armoured land train.

Master of the Ravenwing

The Master of the Ravenwing on display at Warhammer World.

Master Sammael of the Ravenwing is a true Angel of Death. From the saddle of his jetbike he cuts down any foolish enough to stand in his path with the infamous Raven Sword, its blade cut from the same meteorite as the Sword of Secrets. A highly accomplished hunter of The Fallen, Sammael is rightly honoured by his brethren and he is feared by his foes as few other holders of his rank have ever been.

The technology used in the production of these jetbikes has long since been lost to the Imperium. The only jetbike known to survive into the 41st Millennium is Corvex, used by the Grand Master of the Ravenwing company of the Dark Angels chapter, currently Sammael.

Imperial jetbikes were common among the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade and the Heresy, typically operated by Sky Hunter Squadrons.

The Sky Hunter models have been recently released as a plastic kit for The Horus Heresy. Previously there were resin models from Forge World.

When Warhammer 40000 was originally released their was a jetbike available for both Space Marines and (interestingly) the Imperial Guard. The Mk14 Bullock original miniature first appeared in White Dwarf 96 in December 1987. It was designed to be used with the RTB01 plastic space marines.

I did buy a pack, but not sure where they are now, or even if I sold them on eBay twenty years ago.

When the Dark Angels were released I really liked the Master of the Ravenwing on the “last” remaining Imperial Jetbike, so much so I knew I had to get one for my Grey Knights army.

At the time I thought possibly maybe more than one!