Author: Felix

Forgeworld Newsletter #114 more Elysian DropTroops…

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Hi everyone. In today’s issue of the Forge World newsletter we have our third batch of new Elysian Drop Troop releases, some landmines and minefield markers for you to take a look at.

Before I dive into the new models, the Forge World Events page now has a few links to some of the shows and events Forge World will be at in some capacity over the next month or so. Each page will be kept right up to date with news of what you can expect to see at the Forge World stand at that show such as new releases and if one or more of our designers will be there too. Details of when and how to place a reservation order can be found on these pages too.

Time for a little firepower methinks. I personally really like missile launchers in 40K. I enjoy having the flexibility that you get from being able to switch from anti-tank to anti-personnel fire each turn. This new Elysian Drop Troop Heavy Weapons squad scores even more points with me by allowing the option of each Trooper carrying spare missile tubes. As with all the Elysian Drop Troop squads Forge World has made, these guys can be made in an almost limitless variety of poses thanks to the large choice of different parts that go to make up the set. If you don’t like the way we have stuck this squad together then just make yours another way!

If you prefer to get a little closer to your enemy then the next unit might be one to consider. This Elysian Special Weapons Squad is primarily armed with two flamers and a Trooper carrying a demo’ charge in case something juicy comes their way. The Elysian flamer is a big favourite of mine because it is just a couple of canisters of fuel connected to a flexible hose with a pipe to point at the target. I think it looks brutally simple and I love it!

Probably about five minutes after we showed the first Elysian Drop Troop squads people started asking if they could buy the Elysian lasguns separately. Well, as of today you will be able to order a large pack of weapons that does include some of those very popular lasguns. The pack includes 4 regular lasguns, 2 equipped with under-barrel grenade launchers, 2 laspistols and empty holsters, 2 grenade launchers, 2 melta-guns, 2 plasma guns and 2 of those beautiful sniper rifles. These weapons could be used for all manner of different things including changing the load-out of some of your Elysian squads, dioramas, kill-teams, the list could go on and on.

Finally! Something to mark out minefields in games of 40K so we don’t have to use spare dice or bits of paper!  And if you prefer to make your own markers we also have a pack of individual Imperial landmines too. In both of these packs there are anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, so I reckon pretty much everyone will want to avoid the area you booby-trap.

The Imperial Landmines, Minefield, both new Elysian squads and the Elysian weapons pack are all available to pre-order now over the phone and online at We will start shipping these pre-orders out from Monday the 4th of April.

A small new thing to finish off today’s newsletter. More often than not, when we show a new model in a newsletter the photos are of an unpainted or, at best, undercoated example. Forge World does get at least one of each of our new models painted up to use for taking to shows and in our ‘Imperial Armour’ range of books. We do put these painted pictures onto our website too but you might not notice as we do have quite a range these days! This is why we thought we might start putting a few links into our newsletters so you can see the great work our painters are doing and perhaps even give you some inspiration.

That’s it for this newsletter I’m afraid, but we’ll be back with another one very soon.
Thx,

Ewen Little.
Forge World.

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Update: dead links removed

Space Marine Dreadnoughts

Space Marine Dreadnoughts, original plastic ones from the Stomper boxed set…

These are some of my Space Marine Dreadnoughts.

Space Marine Dreadnoughts

I usually use them as robots, but as they now have a marked resemblance to Mk IV venerable dreadnoughts from Forgeworld I may now paint up some of the others I have lying around as Grey Knights Mk IVs.

Latest Game

One of the disadvantages of playing a 1500pt game on a small table…

Game of Warhammer 40K

…is that it gets rather crowded.

Played Take and Hold and it was very close, but in the end my Orks just managed to win.

Highlights of the game: a Medusa taking out a unit of Burnaboyz in just one shot; the battery of Big Gunz actually hitting something (they have been practicing).

Why do the Klingons look so different now then they did in the 1960’s?

Why do the Klingons look so different now then they did in the 1960’s?

look they just did…. or is there now a reason…

People often point out that the Klingons from the original series look different to the ones seen in the movies, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and now Enterprise.

One explanation was ascribed to varying ‘races’ within the Klingon culture. The raised cranial ridges finally winning control of the empire and taking a prominent role in the public face of Klingon.

Originally there was no “explanation” in terms of Star Trek, it was just that budgets and technology of the 1960s couldn’t do anything more dramatic than a Mongol look. It was the first Star Trek movie which changed the way Klingons looked…

…but now there is!

In the latest episode of Enterprises the reasons why the Klingons of the Kirk era Star Trek look different to the Klingons of the movies, the new Star Trek is finally explained.

Affliction Episode Guide

***SPOILER***

It would seem that the Klingon have been playing with Human DNA and as a result and accidently created a virus which “dissolves” the cranial ridges and makes the Klingons look like the ones see in classic episodes such as The Trouble with Tribbles. You can now understand why Worf indicated that Klingons don’t like to talk about it….

Secret Army

Secret Army, just as good as I remembered…

Secret Army

Back in 1977, the BBC broadcast a series, called Secret Army about a group of Belgians who helped downed aircrew escape from occupied Europe. At the time I thought it was excellent and extremely well made.

Today I often think I won’t watch that old programme as the memory of it will be ruined by seeing it again. Having said that I borrowed the first season of Secret Army from my father-in-law who had purchased it on DVD.

I did wonder if it would be as good as I remembered and thinking nearly thirty years has passed since this was first on, and time can play tricks on you. I knew that it would be a combination of film and video (as was virtually any drama made in the 1970s) and that maybe the plots and acting would be a disappointment.

Boy was I wrong.

It was excellent and though I having only watched the first two episodes it was certainly as good as I remember (if not a little better). It was very powerful stuff and well made.

I have now seen a few more episodes and it certainly is gripping stuff and well made television which has stood the test of time.

Certainly recommended.

The Da Vinci Code

I have just started to read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

Having seen the Tony Robinson debunk of some of the *facts* on Channel 4 recently and as my wife thought highly of it, I decided that I would give it a go and see what it’s like.

I have quite enjoyed it so far, but some way to go…

Robert Langdon, Harvard Professor of symbology, receives an urgent late-night call while in Paris: the curator of the Louvre has been murdered. Alongside the body is a series of baffling ciphers. Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Da Vinci – and further. The curator, part of a secret society named the Priory of Sion, may have sacrificed his life to keep secret the location of a vastly important religious relic hidden for centuries. It appears that the clandestine Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect Opus Dei has now made its move. Unless Landon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, the Priory’s secret – and a stunning historical truth – will be lost forever.

Amazon.co.uk Review

With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoterica culled from 2,000 years of Western history. A murder in the silent after-hours halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle.

The duo become both suspects and detectives searching not only for Neveu’s grandfather’s murderer, but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England and history itself. Brown has created a page-turning thriller that also provides an amazing interpretation of Western history. Brown’s hero and heroine embark on a lofty and intriguing exploration of some of Western culture’s greatest mysteries–from the nature of the Mona Lisa’s smile to the secret of the Holy Grail. Though some will quibble with the veracity of Brown’s conjectures, therein lies the fun. The Da Vinci Code is an enthralling read that provides rich food for thought.

Buy the book from Amazon.

Finished Homeward Bound

I have now finished Homeward Bound.

I really enjoyed it, a very good read. One reason I think I enjoyed it, was that Turtledove focussed on much fewer characters than he does in his other books. One characteristic of most Turtledove novels is the preponderance of characters, this was more like Guns of the South, in that there are few characters. My only thought was that in order to use characters from previous novels and the fact it is set in 2031 means that Harry has had to use a plot device of cold sleep to keep the characters young enough to be in the new book.

It certainly has its twists and turns and it is well worth reading, though to appreciate it you do need to have really read the rest of the series.

Review from Amazon:

Alternate-history maestro Turtledove’s conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race’s culture and society.

While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they’re amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens’ probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they’d be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race’s planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included—until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed.

The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn’t have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old “nature versus nurture” argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.

Order the book from Amazon.