Königstiger

Königstiger

The Tiger II (or as was informally known to the Germans who fought in it, Königstiger), was a 70 tonne heavy tank.

Königstiger

It was first used in combat with s.H.Pz.Abt. 503 during the Normandy campaign on 11 July 1944.

Königstiger

This Tiger II was at Bovington.

Königstiger

The Museum’s Tiger II was built in July 1944 by Henschel and given Fahrgestell Nummer (chassis number) 280093. It was abandoned on the 29th or 30th August, most likely at Aux Marais, a community on the outskirts of Beauvais around 15 miles further North-East. It has also long been believed that this tank was fired on, possibly after it was abandoned, by the Sherman commanded by Sergeant Roberts of 4 Troop, A Squadron, 23rd Hussars. It came to The Tank Museum from the Royal Military College at Shrivenham in 2006.

Königstiger

I have an old 15mm SDD King Tiger on my workbench.

The view of the Königstiger next to the Luchs light tank.

Königstiger

Photographs of the pre-production Tiger II at Bovington.

Legions Imperialis: Rhino Transport

I have been thinking about getting some miniatures for Legions Imperialis since it was released. So was pleased to get the Legions Imperialis: Rhino Transport boxed set for Christmas.

The Rhino is the most widely used armoured personnel carrier in the Imperium. Based upon 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. Within the Space Marine Legions, the Deimos pattern was the most widespread, serving as the basic armoured transport available to the Legiones Astartes and the foundation on which a number of other war machines were based.

In the box you get two sprues that can be used to construct ten models.

This was the first time I had seen these models in the flesh. They are smaller than I thought they were going to be, but are (obviously) bigger than the older original Epic miniatures. However I thought they would be larger than they are.

I like how the box has come with transfers covering the many legions of Legions Imperialis.

When it comes to painting models, I do like to see how others have been painted. These are the images from Games Workshop.

I am thinking I will paint these as Imperial Fists.

The first stage will be constructing the models. Unlike the older Epic models, which were a single casting, these are multi-part kits.

 

Sons of Horus Typhon Heavy Siege Tank

This Sons of Horus Typhon Heavy Siege Tank was on display at Warhammer World.

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.

I have the plastic kit version of the Typhon Heavy Siege Tank on my workbench.

Typhon Heavy Siege Tank Miniatures Gallery.

Scotch on the Rocks

The BBC News has an article on a 1970s drama series, about an armed revolt in Scotland.

It sounds like the most dramatic news story imaginable.

The battle for Scottish independence has taken a violent turn after paramilitary “soldiers” of the Scottish Liberation Army (SLA) took over the town of Fort William.

Troops from English regiments of the British army are massing north of Glasgow to turn back an expected assault on the nation’s largest city.

The prime minister is meeting his cabinet in London. And the leadership of the SNP, the party which recently narrowly missed out on winning a majority in the Westminster parliament, has yet to condemn the actions in the Highlands.

I wasn’t aware of this series, but I am intrigued by the similarity to the article I wrote thirty years ago about a possible modern era English Civil War that was published in Wargames Illustrated.

” … its six o’clock, on Tuesday the 27th October 1998. This is the Royal Somerset Broadcasting Service, and now the news from Wessex and around the world. The headlines: Scotland has seceded from the British Republic, fighting has broken out along the border. Royalist army and volunteer militia units have pushed back across the border an armed incursion by Democratic Guards into south-west Dorset last night. Bristol Docks were once again the target of bombing over the night, but damage has been minimal. The United States has once again confirmed its commitment to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Wessex and Duchy of Cornwall.”

Sadly the Scotch on the Rocks series was never repeated, the real SNP complained about their fictional portrayal in the drama. Also not all the episodes are available. You can get the book on Amazon though.

I wonder if they would remake the series (still have it set in the 1970s) or reboot the series to a modern day setting.

There are lots of gaming ideas in this concept. Something I hope to explore in a later blog post.

Luchs

The Panzer II Ausf L (Luchs) is a German light tank from the Second World War, developed between 1940 and 1942 by Daimler-Benz and MAN. The Luchs was the only Panzer II design with the Schachtellaufwerk overlapping/interleaved road wheels and “slack track” configuration to enter series production, with 100 being built from September 1943 to January 1944.

Of the original 100 Panzer II Luchs, there are only 2 surviving today, one of which was at Bovington.

Here is the Panzer II Ausf L next to the huge Tiger II.

Einherjar

This sprue of plastic space dwarves from Wargames Atlantic was a freebie on the cover of the January 2024 issues of Miniature Wargames.

You get three models on the sprue with lots of options.

The Einherjar are from Wargames Atlantic’s Death Fields range.

For thousands of years, advanced alien civilizations have visited the Earth for one purpose: to steal their bravest warriors. For centuries, the cream of Earth’s soldiers have been taken against their will to fight, die, and be reborn in arenas throughout the galaxy. The Game Guilds provide some of the most watched sport in the known universe with matches broadcast in thousands of systems. A perennial favourite of sports fans everywhere are the humans – a primitive race from the far edge of the galaxy. Over the millennia, the finest warriors of that backwater planet have been brought to the arenas to fight each other and a host of other sentient species and deadly creatures. Even now, thousands of years since abductions began, Recruiters still acquire the best of Human space’s warriors for the games. The humans go on in their tiny light-years bubble of space attacking each others colony worlds, believing themselves the most advanced race in the universe while the rest of the galaxy watches their immortal ancestors fight and die in the Death Fields…

The Einherjar were descended from Norsemen.

Abducted from their longship on the return voyage from a raid on Wessex, these Norsemen’s new owner settled them on a high gravity world and began their training for the Death Fields circuit. After each battle as wounds miraculously healed and even the dead were brought back to life, the warriors thought of themselves as the fabled Einherjar – the ghostly warriors of Valhalla who fight and die each day and are reborn to feast each night. Over the centuries, their ongoing regeneration while living primarily on their high-gravity homeworld has resulted in stunted growth for themselves and their offspring. Their diminished stature in no way effects their prowess on the fields of battle as they win contest after contest against other teams human and otherwise.

These are no squats, but they do bear a resemblance to the Leagues of Votann ranges.

 

Napoleonic British Line Infantry – South Essex

On the cover of the most recent issue of Wargames Illustrated was a free sprue of Napoleonic British Line Infantry from Warlord Games.

You get five models on the sprue.

I think these will supplement my 95th Rifles models as soldiers of the South Essex.

I have a few free sprues on the workbench now, and I must try and get then made, undercoated and painted.

My first experience of wargaming was Napoleonics with plastic Airfix soldiers and metal Minifigs.

I really enjoyed both watching the Sharpe TV series and then reading the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell.

Napoleonic Workbench.

Deimos Pattern 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. 

This Deimos Pattern Predator was on display at Warhammer World.

See the Deimos Pattern Predator Miniatures Gallery.

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