Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

de Havilland Tiger Moth

This de Havilland Tiger Moth was on display at RAF Cosford.

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.

It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft.

In addition to the type’s principal use for initial training, the Second World War had RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.

It was in this capacity as a light bomber, I wrote a post about how the de Havilland Tiger Moth may have been used to fight German forces during Operation Sealion in what the British forces called Operation Banquet.

Operation Banquet was a British Second World War plan to use every available aircraft against the planned German invasion in 1940, the German code name was Operation Sealion.

More photographs of the de Havilland Tiger Moth at RAF Cosford.

Reinforcements have arrived

My latest model to hit the workbench is the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank.

Named for the ‘Great Beast’ of Ancient Terran myth, the immense Typhon Heavy Siege Tank was developed by the Mechanicum alongside the Spartan, with which it shares a basic chassis design. The Typhon’s primary armament is the massive Dreadhammer cannon, and was created in response to a request from the Primarch Peturabo, master of the Iron Warriors. He demanded a Legiones Astartes war engine that could rival the great batteries of the Imperial Crusade Army in firepower, but manoeuvre and deploy at the speed of a Space Marine force.

I’ve always liked the Forge World model and I took a photograph of this Imperial Fists painted model at Warhammer World on a visit a few years ago.

There are some great Horus Heresy models available and I am pleased to add this one to my collection.

I will be painting them the same way I painted my other Horus Hersey models.

Mark IX Tank

The Mark IX tank was a British armoured fighting vehicle from the First World War. It was the world’s first specialised armoured personnel carrier (APC).

During the first actions with tanks, it became clear that infantry often could not keep up with the tanks, It wasn’t that the soldiers were too slow, the early tanks themselves could only move at a walking pace, but because soldiers on foot remained vulnerable to enemy machine gun fire. In many actions, positions gained at great cost were immediately lost for lack of infantry to consolidate.

At the end of the Great War only three had been finished, out of a total ultimate production run of thirty-four, following an order for two hundred.

If there had been, as I discussed in an earlier blog post, an alternate timeline in which there was a revolution in Great Britain in 1919.

In Great Britain the government feared a bolshevik uprising and was quick to oppress any potential threat to the established order. One of the biggest areas for concern were the labour movements and trade unions. One strike in Glasgow in 1919 eventually resulted in a street battle between strikers and police, which was so bad, the army was called in. The “Battle of George Square”, also known as “Bloody Friday” and “Black Friday”, was one of the most intense riots in the history of Glasgow; it took place on Friday, 31 January 1919. Clashes between the City of Glasgow Police and protesters broke out, prompting the War Cabinet to make soldiers available to the civil power, to prevent the violence from escalating.

In another blog post I looked at other incidents that could have led to revolution.

On the August Bank Holiday that year, the government in London despatched warships to the northern city of Liverpool in an overwhelming show of force. Thousands of troops, backed by tanks, had been trying without success to suppress disorder on the streets.

If there has been such a conflict the Mark IX Tank, or APC I suspect would have been widely used to move troops around, and to protect them from attack

These metal monsters designed in an era when they didn’t really know what they were doing and there was a lot of trial and error. The Mark IX reminds us that the APC is as old as the tank.

More photographs of the Mark IX Tank.

Drybrushing the Deimos Pattern Rhino

The Rhino is the most widely used armoured personnel carrier in the Imperium. Based on ancient STC technology, the fundamental design is robust, reliable, and easy to maintain, with an adaptive power plant that can run off a wide variety of fuels.

I bought the plastic Deimos Pattern Rhino when it came out in the summer, you can see the workbench for that Rhino here. I was lucky enough to get a second Rhino for a Christmas present. The model has many more parts and is a more detailed kit than the original plastic Rhino kit that came out in the 1980s. I constructed the model to the instructions, though I left the tracks off to paint separately. I gave the model an undercoat of Citadel White Scar. I gave the model a couple of light coats of Daemonic Yellow. I also painted the bolter and exhausts with Leadbelcher. I then shaded the model. For the next stage I used some Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow. I took a large brush and gave the model, what I would call, a heavy drybrush.

I then added some more Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow to the model.

I then gave the model a lighter drybrush of Citadel Layer Dorn Yellow.

See the workbench feature on the Deimos Pattern Rhino II.

Bristol Blenheim IV

The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. It’s first flight was in 1935 and entered service with the RAF in 1937.

This Bristol Blenheim IV was on display at RAF Cosford.

As the Allied Ground and Air Forces faced defeat in May 1940 the RAF had to use its light bomber force in desperate daylight raids against German army bridgeheads in France and the Low Countries. The Blenheim Mk IVs and Fairey Battles used in these attacks suffered crippling losses. In fact no higher loss, in operations of a similar size, has ever been suffered by the Royal Air Force.

The Blenheim Mk IV, with its redesigned and longer nose, superseded the Blenheim I on the production lines in 1938.

The original short nose Blenheim Mk I had been developed from a civil aircraft and was one of the first new high performance monoplanes ordered under RAF Expansion Plans.

After the fighting in France was over Coastal and Bomber Command Blenheim Ivs began day and night attacks against German occupied ports and installations in frantic attempts to disrupt their invasion plans.

Blenheim IVs also served in North Africa and the Far East.

Legion Reinforcements

Next week you will be able to pre-order some Legion reinforcements for The Horus Heresy.

There is the Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer.

The massive Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer is an armoured beast, mounting a triple-barrelled neutron laser battery onto a rugged Spartan hull to create a devastatingly focused anti-tank weapon. It can detonate tanks in a single blast while shrugging off return fire like it’s nothing – everything you want in a Lord of War.

I prefer the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank. Given the choice between the Cerberus and the Typhon, I would choose the Typhon. I just think it is a better looking tank.

There is also the Sicaran Venator Tank Hunter.

If you prefer your anti-tank options a little more discrete, the Sicaran Venator trades mass for speed and can wind its way around enemy flanks before lancing neutron beam laser blasts right through the sides of opposing tanks.

I am not a fan of this tank, so it won’t be added to my (long and) never-ending wish list.

Drybrushing the Predator

The Predator is perhaps the best known and most widespread variant of the basic Rhino chassis. Augmented with superior armour and firepower, it entirely sacrifices the Rhino’s troop transport capacity in favour of ammunition and generators for its formidable weapon systems.

Having got this kit for Christmas, I started putting the model together. For painting I kept the sponsons separate and I can easily remove the turret as well. I gave the model an undercoat of Citadel White Scar. I gave the model a couple of light coats of Daemonic Yellow. I painted the main weapon, and the exhausts, with Leadbelcher. It was then onto shading the model. For the next stage I used some Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow. I took a large brush and gave the model, what I would call, a heavy drybrush.

I then added some more Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow to the model.

I then gave the model a lighter drybrush of Citadel Layer Dorn Yellow.

See the workbench feature on the Deimos Pattern Predator Battle Tank.

Mark IV Tank

The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. I visited the Tank Museum before in 1984, 1997, and 2016, but recently made a return visit.

At the Bovington Tank Museum you can get close up and personal with the first tanks that were built and used in combat, such as the Mark IV Tank.

First World War tanks, namely the British Mark IV, started the practice of carrying fascines on the roof, to be deployed to fill trenches that would otherwise be an obstacle to the tank.

The Mark IV was a British tank of the First World War. Introduced in 1917, it benefited from significant developments of the Mark I tank (the intervening designs being small batches used for training). The main improvements were in armour, the re-siting of the fuel tank and ease of transport. A total of 1,220 Mk IV were built: 420 “Males”, 595 “Females” and 205 Tank Tenders (unarmed vehicles used to carry supplies), which made it the most numerous British tank of the war.

The “Male” tanks were armed with three machine guns and two 6-pdrs. Whilst the “Female” tanks had Five .303 Lewis machine guns.

The Mark IV was first used in mid 1917 at the Battle of Messines Ridge. It remained in British service until the end of the war, and a small number served briefly with other combatants afterwards.

I have been working on a metal 15mm Mark IV Tank for use with the Home Guard. Though I do really like the Flames of War Great War models, which have a lot more detail.

I also have a Bolt Action 28mm Mark IV Tank on the workbench.

I also have a gallery of Mark IV tanks from a wonderful 28mm demonstration game at GamesDay 2007.

Drybrushing more of the Dreadnought

This Space Marine Dreadnought was one of the models included the Assault on Black Reach boxed set. The Warhammer 40,000 Assault on Black Reach was 5th edition’s “boxed game” or “starter set”. Having constructed the model I then put it away for a while… I got the model out of storage and decided I would paint this up as an Imperial Fists Dreadnought to accompany my new Deimos-pattern Rhino. I gave it a white undercoatusing White Scar spray. The next stage was the base coat and I did consider to either use a yellow spray, or to use the new Imperial Fist contrast paint. In the end I went with the new Imperial Fist contrast paint and I was quite pleased with the end result. I knew that though this looked quite good, it wasn’t quite the effect I wanted, so I shaded most of the model with Reikland Fleshshade Shade. I painted the weaponry and the exhausts on the Dreadnought with Leadbelcher. For the next stage I used some Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow and undertook a heavy drybrush.

I then gave the model a light drybrush of Citadel Layer Dorn Yellow.

See the workbench feature on the Space Marine Dreadnought.

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc

This Hawker Hurricane was on display at RAF Cosford.

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire’s role during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 per cent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.