warhammer world – Felix's Gaming Pages

Eldar Battlefleet Gothic

These Eldar starships on display at Warhammer World were for Battlefleet Gothic and were released in 1999.

Battlefleet Gothic is a miniature game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It deals with the space combat aspect of the universe, and particularly the events surrounding the Gothic War.

I never got into Battlefleet Gothic as I much preferred using the GZG Full Thrust rules for spaceship battles. I also used MicroMachines Star Trek ship models.

There were some nice models for Battlefleet Gothic and as with many games that Games Workshop have produced over the years it’s a pity that it got retired. It is nice that they do put these kinds of retired models on display.

Boomdakka Snazzwagon

The roar of overcharged engines and the crackle of blinding flames herald the chaotic arrival of the Boomdakka Snazzwagon, an iconic favourite among Ork Speed Freeks. Stripped down for maximum velocity and clad in little more than hastily welded scrap armour, these light-built speedsters fishtail, skid, and leap madly across the battlefield to evade incoming fire. While a single direct artillery hit will instantly vaporise the fragile vehicle, its blistering speed and unpredictable manoeuvres make targeting one a nightmare for enemy gunners. Clinging to the chassis is a gang of howling Burna Boyz who gleefully pelt the foe with volatile burna bottles and blast them with heavy mek-flamers. The resulting firestorms are just as likely to incinerate the Snazzwagon’s own crew as they are the enemy, but the cackling Orks are far too entranced by the noise, heat, and spectacle to care.

Blood Angels Legion Medusa

One of the heavy artillery units available to the Legiones Astartes is the Medusa, which carries a short ranged but extremely powerful siege mortar capable of breaching all but the thickest walls. When a breach has been secured, the Medusa will then rumble forwards to support the assault, levelling buildings with a single shell.

Blood Angels Legion Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank

This Blood Angels Legion Sicaran Arcus Strike Tank was on display at Warhammer World.

Once the Arcus strike tank was one of the most advanced support platforms available to the Space Marine Legions, but for reasons long since lost to the past, the Adeptus Mechanicus holds the pattern as a slight against the Omnissiah and refuses to produce or repair such vehicles. Without the specialised knowledge of the Machine God’s adepts, the advanced launchers of the Arcus have slowly failed and been replaced with more common rotary launchers and stocks of its rare warheads have dwindled. Now it is used by the Space Marine Chapters that retain examples of this rare pattern as a fast strike tank, racing it forwards to saturate a target area with incendiary devices of a more commonplace provenance and using its renowned speed to escape unscathed, enabling them to clear otherwise redoubtable bunkers and fortresses with brutal efficiency.

Megatrakk Scrapjet at Warhammer World

A beloved menace among Speed Freeks and grounded Ork Flyboyz alike, the Megatrakk Scrapjet is a roaring, rocket-propelled war-rig that brings the frantic thrill of aerial dogfighting directly to the battlefield floor.

Built around the salvaged fuselages of crashed Ork aircraft, these scrap-built monstrosities allow former pilots to relive the glory of low-altitude strafing runs, and the devastating point-blank collisions that grounded them in the first place.

Powered by a thunderous rocket engine, the Scrapjet hurtles toward enemy lines at terrifying speeds, using a massive, thrust-driven nose drill to grind through heavy armour and infantry.

As it charges into the fray, a fearsome array of welded, bolted, and lashed weaponry unleashes total carnage, unleashing a barrage of rokkits and missiles into enemy armour while a cackling Grot tail-gunner blazes away with a chatter of big shootas to keep pursuers at bay.

Ork Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy

Born from the greasy ingenuity of Snakebite Orks with a canny eye for battlefield economics, the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy wasn’t initially conceived as a weapon of war, but rather a mobile snack bar for the speed-addicted Speed Freeks. Imagine ramshackle, rattling pens on wheels, teeming with edible squigs, keeping pace with the thunderous advance of Warbikers, buggies, and Trukks. Above the din of engines, the Squigbuggy crews, all toothy grins and booming voices, would hawk their squirming wares.

For a hefty bag of teef exchanged mid-chase, a lucky (or perhaps unlucky) customer would have a choice squig launched directly into their waiting hands – or even their cavernous maw – courtesy of the vehicle’s ingenious Squig Launchas. However, legend, thick with the pungent aroma of squig and Orkoid mishap, whispers of a pivotal moment. It was when a particularly ferocious Attack Squig, mistaking the launcha for a new burrow, was accidentally fired into the face of an unsuspecting Ork. In that instant of unexpected carnage, the true, brutal potential of this mobile menagerie of mayhem was violently unleashed.

Now, the rumble of a Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy signals more than just lunchtime. These ruggedly built vehicles, instantly recognisable by their bellowing engines and the chaotic mass of squigs and Orks clinging to every surface, now muscle their way to the forefront of any Speed Freek advance. They unleash volleys of their living, close-range artillery, turning enemy ranks into a squirming, panicked mess. The Squigbuggy, once a purveyor of battlefield snacks, has evolved into a fearsome engine of destruction, proving that even the humblest beginnings can lead to gloriously violent ends.

Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy on my workbench.

Tempestus Scions Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier

These Tempestus Scions Valkyrie flyers were on display at Warhammer World.

The Tempestus Scions are elite special forces of the Imperial Guard. They have the best equipment and weapons. The Valkyrie are troop carrying gunships used by the Imperial Guard. They are used to take soldiers into the heart of the battle. Flying through the enemy gunfire, landing in the hotzone and dropping off their payload before flying up in support.

Sometimes the troops are jumping, using grave chutes, from high above the battlefield. The Valkyrie is armed with lascannons or a multi-laser, and under the wings are missiles or rocket pods. The Valkyrie, like most of the Imperium’s aircraft, is piloted and operated by the Imperial Navy, with a pilot, co-pilot and two door gunners. Though not a helicopter, the Valkyrie is used in a similar way.

I do have a Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier kit, but it currently remains unbuilt in its box. I did though paint some for Aeronautica Imperialis.

Gallery of Valkyrie models.

Flakk Wagon

The Flakkatrukk or Flakk Wagon is essentially a Truck or a Wartrakk equipped with varying number of Flakka-Dakka Gunz, the design was pioneered by the Mekboy Grimgutz, who was sick of local Ork aircraft constantly buzzing his workshop. He designed the weapon in the course of an afternoon to shoot down the pests.

Firing the same explosive ‘glowy bullitz’ used by Flash Gitz, Flakkatrakk’s weapons are often fired by Grot assistants and are capable of filling the skies with hundreds of rounds per minute, making them a grave threat to any aircraft that ventures into its line of sight. The design has become popular and copied by many other Mekboyz in light of its success, and wherever the Orks are beset by enemy aircraft a Flakkatrakk is likely to appear.

More photographs of the Flakk Wagon.

This model was part of the diorama showing an Imperial assault on an Ork Shanty Town to rescue a downed Valkyrie of the Militarum Tempestus.

More photographs of the diorama over the years, it started off as an Ork diorama at GamesDay 2009.

Converted Ork Battlefortress at Warhammer World

This Ork Battlefortress was part of the diorama showing an Imperial assault on an Ork Shanty Town to rescue a downed Valkyrie of the Militarum Tempestus.

This is a conversion of the Forge World resin model which was available for many years before being retired.

I do wonder if we will ever see a new version of this Ork heavy tank?

Photographs of Ork Battlefortresses.

Larger then a Battlewagon, Battlefortresses are used by richer and more powerful Ork Warbosses as super-heavy assault vehicles and mobile command centers. These enormous heavily-armed vehicles bristle with heavy cannons, energy weapons, and explosive launchers. As a rule any Ork vehicle of sufficient size will be called a Battlefortress by the Orks themselves and like most Ork vehicles there is very little standardization and they are highly customized, though several variants exist such as the “Dethrolla” and “Skullhamma”. Nonetheless, these vehicles are a match for any enemy counterpart on the battlefield short of a Titan. Ork Mek Boyz consider the construction of a Battlefortress to be one of their greatest achievements.

More photographs of the diorama over the years, it started off as an Ork diorama at GamesDay 2009.

Ork Battlefortress at Warhammer World

This Ork Battlefortress was part of the diorama showing an Imperial assault on an Ork Shanty Town to rescue a downed Valkyrie of the Militarum Tempestus.

Though I have taken photographs of this huge Ork tank (or battlefortress) over the years in the Ork diorama, it’s only when you start looking at it closely you realise that this isn’t something that was ever released, and is a mix of different models. The main frontal cannon appears to be from the Kill Bursta model. I initially thought it might be a Kill Krusha conversion, but comparing the two you realise that it isn’t, however the top turret certainly is from that model. The tracks though appear to be Imperial in style and look like they are from the BaneBlade super heavy tank. Certainly this is an interesting conversion.

I do wonder if we will ever see a new version of this Ork heavy tank?

Photographs of Ork Battlefortresses.

Larger then a Battlewagon, Battlefortresses are used by richer and more powerful Ork Warbosses as super-heavy assault vehicles and mobile command centres. These enormous heavily-armed vehicles bristle with heavy cannons, energy weapons, and explosive launchers. As a rule any Ork vehicle of sufficient size will be called a Battlefortress by the Orks themselves and like most Ork vehicles there is very little standardisation and they are highly customised, though several variants exist such as the “Dethrolla” and “Skullhamma”. Nonetheless, these vehicles are a match for any enemy counterpart on the battlefield short of a Titan. Ork Mek Boyz consider the construction of a Battlefortress to be one of their greatest achievements.

More photographs of the diorama over the years, it started off as an Ork diorama at GamesDay 2009.