Author: Felix

Forge World Newsletter #145

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It’s been a little while since our last newsletter, over a month to tell the truth. April was a very busy month for Forge World and May is looking pretty much the same. We’ve got another two Games Days and a Conflict event to attend as well as send out all the hundreds of orders we are getting from all you lovely people.

In today’s issue of the Forge World Newsletter we have several new 40K models to show you that will be released in the next few weeks.

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Solomon Lok


Solomon Lok is a veteran Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, the alien hunters. Lok leads the Imperium’s mission to investigate the reason behind the loss of astropathic communications from Beta Anphelion IV and the horrific battles that followed. See the new ‘Imperial Armour Volume 4 – The Anphelion Project’ book for more details. These two models are supremely detailed, even by our standards! Simon Egan, Mark Bedford and Will Hayes designed the models and have done a really great job to create an intensely characterful pair of figures that just beg to be added to everyone’s collection. Solomon Lok and his attendant servo-skull stenographer are available to pre-order right now and will start being shipped out in the order that we receive them from Tuesday May 30th onwards.

Tyranid Winged Rippers

With the imminent release of these little horrors, Tyranid commanders will soon have all the models they need available to them to make their entire armies horrendously fast moving. Now they can have ‘living shields’ of Winged Rippers fast enough to be able to stay in front of the rest of the army, dying to protect and preserve the bigger, nastier Tyranids. Modified from his original Rippers, designer Daniel Cockersell has made these into flying monsters much larger than an eagle and with a heck of a lot more teeth and claws too! The packs of three Winged Rippers are available to pre-order right now and will start being shipped out in the order that we receive them from Tuesday May 30th onwards.

Containment Field Generator and Pylons


Containment fields were used on Beta Anphelion IV to surround the Imperial installations and certain large expanses of the surrounding area. More commonly found behind the Imperial lines of combat, Containment Fields are used throughout the Imperium as high security enclosures and can be encountered almost anywhere there has been an Imperial presence in the last few millennia. Each pack contains one Containment Field Generator and four Pylons. Each Pylon is a little over three inches in height and so a line across a battlefield looks really cool. We have a set of rules that you can get from our ‘Downloads’ section of the Forge World website that will let you introduce the Containment Field Generator and Pylons into your games of Warhammer 40,000. This pack is available to pre-order right now and will start being shipped out in the order that we receive them from Tuesday May 30th onwards.

Tech Servitor

Mark Bedford designed this Tech Servitor with part of the story and one of the playable scenarios from ‘Imperial Armour Volume 4 – The Anphelion Project’ book in mind. Early in the conflict, a Tech Servitor had to jump-start a generator to re-start a containment field in the midst of a fire-fight, otherwise the Imperial forces were in grave danger of being completely overrun. I like how Mark has made this Servitor quite thin and wasted, obviously quite different from the slightly more commonly seen Combat Servitors. Very nice. The Tech Servitor is also available to pre-order right now and will start being shipped out in the order that we receive them from Tuesday May 30th onwards.

Forge World
Games Workshop
Willow Road, Lenton
Nottingham, NG7 2WS

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New Forgeworld Epic Thunderhawk and Arvus Lighter

At GamesDay France, amongst a whole lot of new models from Forgeworld, one person managed to capture some new Epic models from Forgeworld.

They are an Epic Thunderhawk and an Epic Aruvs Lighter.

I know I have been one of a few wondering if Forgeworld were giving up on Epic, but these splended new models show that Forgeworld still have Epic models for us.

I am not a fan of the Thunderhawk, so I am hoping that they do an Epic Thunderhawk Transporter which is a model I really do like.

Sharpe’s Cut

This book presents a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Sharpe’s Challenge”, a major film for television starring Sean Bean. The Sharpe television series is a high point of British television drama. Led by the charismatic Sean Bean playing the redoubtable hero Richard Sharpe, the films brilliantly echo and enhance the remarkable strengths of the bestselling novels by Bernard Cornwell…

"Sharpe" Cut: The Inside Story of the Creation of a Major Television Series

Fourteen films have already aired and now two new films are being released. The series has achieved 14 million viewing figures, with additional and ongoing sales in video and DVD. “Sharpe Cut” is a unique book. It is the book of the creation of a television drama from start to finish; the first of its kind. Linda Blandford spent the entire six months of the filming of “Sharpe’s Challenge” with the cast, crew and producers. She has created a brilliant, vivid account, full of scene and story, high drama, near disaster and comedy.

“Sharpe Cut” gives the reader all the inside touches of what life on a film set is really like. From the producers to the stuntmen, from the chefs to the martial organisers, from the production designers to the costume designers and the make-up artists; they are all here. And so of course are the actors, famous and unknown, bringing all the work to life. Living together for months on end, they become a family of a sort and yet are torn apart at the completion of each film.

“Sharpe Cut” is a brilliant evocation of the life and work of creating a major television drama, with a narrative as compelling as a thriller. It is an intimate and compelling peak behind the director’s chair, into a world the audience can normally only guess at.

Get Sharpe’s Cut at Amazon.

Grey Knights Dreadnought

Another excellent birthday present, was a Grey Knights Dreadnought from Forgeworld.

This is a fantastically detailed model, with lots of engravings, purity seals.

The only thing missing are the arms?

Not sure whether to go for the Grey Knights arms, or make as Mortis version… Yes I know the fluff doesn’t support Grey Knights Mortis pattern dreadnoughts, but when have I ever been one for following fluff to the letter… oh me the heretic!

I am thinking about Lascannons for range and Autocannons for firepower. Any thoughts or suggestions, please add a comment.

The Mk IV from Forgeworld is a really nice model, and when you look at the new Venerable Dreadnought from the main Games Workshop, you wonder why they didn’t just copy the Forgeworld model. The GW model looks clunky and as though the venerable components were just stuck on, whereas with the Forgeworld model the detailing is part of the model.

There is also the matter of the “helmet” which on the Forgeworld model looks fine, but just looks “plain weird” on the new GW model.

If you have a choice, get the Forgeworld model everytime.

Before I think about painting I have taken a look at how others have painted their Grey Knights Dreadnoughts and there are some fantastic examples.

Forgeworld have a nice painted example on their website.

Beautifully painted as are most of the FW models and certainly very inspirational.

Agis Neugebauer has some beautfully painted Grey Knights on his website including this fantastic Dreadnought. Next to his (on the left) is the Games Workshop conversion as shown on the main GW site.

This is a winning Golden Demon entry with some nice pictures here.

This is a refreshing change from the silver of most Grey Knights.

As you can see there are some fantastic painters out there and some very inspirational models, hopefully I can achieve a result which is similar.

 

Sharpe’s Challenge

Though not related to a specific book (it took elements from Tiger and Fortress) I did find Sharpe’s Challenge an enjoyable romp and very much in the tradition of Sharpe on TV.

Sean Bean gave his usual portrayal of gutter rat raised from the ranks and was a classic Sharpe.

It was nice to see a little homage to the books showing Sharpe in India in 1803.

If you didn’t see it, you can now order the DVD which was released today (1st May 2006).