Forge World Armoured Medusa

One of the nice things that I remember from attending GamesDay 2008 (was it really five years ago) were the wonderful Forge World display cabinets.

This model of the Armoured Medusa Armageddon Pattern was one of the many finely painted miniature armoured fighting vehicles on display.

Forge World Armoured Medusa Armageddon Pattern

One of the reasons I went around GamesDay 2008 taking photographs was to use the pictures as painting references and for ideas when painting my own models.

There are two key aspects of this model that have helped me paint, as it happens, my Ork models. Firstly the rust effect, in the main I think I would use a toned down method for rust. I also really like the cannon barrel, which I think would work really well on an Ork weapon.

It’s interesting to see that this model has no markings, one of the things you see on other Imperial Guard models is a range of markings, apart from the Imperial Aquila, there are no other markings.

Overall I do find the Forge World models quite inspiring and certainly help me to paint and model.

Reflections on the Ork Big Trakk

I have been thinking about going through my Ork models and getting them finished and painted. I seem to have stalled and got distracted by Flames of War and Dystopian Wars (and Doctor Who) and haven’t really painted any Orks for ages.

One model that has only got as far as an undercoat was my Forge World Big Trakk. Looking back at the last update on this model (in 2011) it was apparent I was having undercoating problems with a fair few of my Ork models.

Eventually I hope it might look similar to this finished model that I photographed at Games Day 2009.

Ork Big Trakk with Big Lobba.
Ork Big Trakk with Big Lobba

I would like to get a dusty dirty look and I have the Forge World weathering powders somewhere in my collection of paints and inks.

Legion Glaive

I do like these retro models. Very nostalgic reminds of those early days of Warhammer 40K, which shows how old I am, because I do remember those days. I bought Rogue Trader when it came out.

The Glaive Super-heavy Special Weapons Tank

The Glaive Super-heavy Special Weapons Tank is a variant of the Fellblade. Armed with a Volkite Carronade, it is designed to destroy xenos beasts and incinerate enemy light vehicles at a single sweep.

While the Glaive has been issued to all eighteen Legiones Astartes in limited quantities, the Salamanders and Dark Angels have long been noted to field Glaives as a matter of course; the XVIIIth Legion’s artifice is more than sufficient to maintain and replicate the arcane Volkite technology, while the provenance and honour of the Ist Legion means that their war matériel and weaponry are ancient indeed.

Ork Kil Krusha Tank

Ork Kil Krusha Tank

This model from Forge World is one of my favourite Ork models they have made. I realised recently that since I undercoated it, it has spent way too long on the workbench… well in storage and I really should start thinking about getting it painted and finished.

They key for me is to not only give it a paintjob worthy of the model, but also one that isn’t going to take all my time and forever to get done.

I don’t want to go down the “black” armour route, likewise I am not sure if I want it red either! I might consider doing something similar to the brown-orange look I have done with the Fighter Bommer.

As for the engines, my usual method with Ork vehicles is to paint them black and then drybrush with Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal. I might try a different method, one that I first tried on my Victorian Science Fiction Tunneller, where I gave the metal parts a basecoat of Boltgun Metal, then washing it with Citadel Shade: Nuln Oil. If I go down this road, then I will ensure that the Ork engines are a lot more dirty and rusty. As well as using shades, washes, I have a few of the Forge World weathering powders somewhere and this might be an ideal opportunity to use them. Of course if I use weathering powders then I will need a method for sealing them in. This is not one of my strongpoints, as I rarely varnish my models.

The next stage will be to remember which box I put it in…

See the full workbench feature on the Ork Kil Krusha.

MkIIb Land Raider

I seemed to have spent ages painting this model, so I had a look at it the other day to see what I need to do next.

Actually I have done a fair bit to get the basecoat finished now.

The next stage will be to give the model a thin wash to bring out the detail and darken the shadows. The tracks have been painted separately.

This Forge World MkIIb Land Raider is a Grey Knights vehicle, with a desert camouflage for use with my Daemonhunters force.

Felix’s Gaming Pages – Top Ten Posts of 2012

Another successful year for Felix’s Gaming Pages with around 360 blog posts put online. A fair few less hits this year, but that was in the main as I didn’t attend GamesDay 2012 or many other shows and therefore didn’t live blog as I have done in previous years. So what were the top ten posts (by visits) for 2012.

10. Forge World Diorama – Games Day 2012
Well the only post from 2012 which makes my top ten posts of 2012! This was a post of some lovely photographs from GamesDay 2012 of the fantastic looking Forge World display table.

9. Plastic Imperial Guard Valkyrie at Design Studio Open Day
This post from 2009 was confirmation of the plastic Valkyrie rumour that had been floated about for a while. It has got quite popular in recent weeks, not sure why though.

8. Chaos BaneBlade
This photograph of a Chaos Baneblade that won the Silver Golden Demon at GamesDay 2007 is my eighth most popular post, last year it was number two and the reason it is, is that if you put Baneblade into Google this image comes up! It use to be the number one image result on Google, but probably due to age of the photograph has dropped down. Still a splendid model though.

Chaos BaneBlade

7. Warhammer Fantasy Village
This post from 2009 was a series of photographs from a fantastic looking Warhammer Fantasy demonstration game at GamesDay 2008.

Warhammer Fantasy Village

6. Forge World Chaos Brass Scorpion
I’ve never liked Chaos, however Forge World’s Brass Scorpion is probably one of my favourite models of all time. This blog post from 2009 discussed the announcement of the model by Forge World. I suspect that the release of the most recent Masterclass Book by Forge World (which covers the Brass Scorpion) may have increased interest in this post.

5. US Army “Bolter”
This was a news item on a new weapon that was been tested by the US Army; it was originally posted two years ago in 2010.

4. Warhammer Siege Diorama
This post was a live blog post from GamesDay 2010. I was posting photographs from the show live to the blog via my phone. This was of a fantastic Warhammer Fantasy diorama, the Siege of Altdorf. I also took a fair few photographs of the siege using my DSLR. Some excellent scenery and very evocative of the Warhammer world.

3. Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines’ Land Raider
This post was all the photographs I had taken of Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines’ Land Raider from the ‘Eavy Metal display cabinets at both GamesDay 2005 and Warhammer World.

2. Flames of War – Battle of the Bulge
This was the fourth most popular post in 2011 so has climbed two to number two. The post was from 2011 and discussed the possibilities of a Flames of War Battle of the Bulge supplement that Battlefront mentioned in February. Within the post I discussed the tanks that I hoped we would see in any such release including the M24 Chaffee and the Comet. I also speculated how nice it would be to see some Late-War Monsters. We have now seen the Chaffee, but as yet no Comet (maybe we’ll see it in 2013). As for Late-War Monsters, well Forged In Battle have produced some really nice post 1945 models.

1. Death Korps of Krieg
So my most popular post of 2012 and was also the most popular post of 2011 was a posting from February 2009 about a link I had found in the community feed of some beautifully painted Death Korps of Krieg tanks.

Death Korps of Krieg

So will these same posts be just as popular in 2013, we will have to wait and see.