Royal International Air Tattoo 2014 Video Report Featuring the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

Well it took two evenings, a potter around Windows Movie Maker, and a pint or two of Weston's Cider but at long last my videos from the Royal International Air Tattoo 2014 are finally ready for viewing!

I've started with the Second World War era planes (as that's what most of my visitors are interested in) but stick around for the jets further down the page. The Polish Su-22s and the Typhoon are absolute corkers!

Royal International Air Tattoo 2014 Photo Report

At the weekend I was lucky to visit the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. We had an absolutely cracking day out of sitting in a field in the sun and watching the displays. We had the perfect spot to watch the flying from, with a good view of almost everything flying.

This is the first part of a two-part report. This will concentrate solely on photographs, while the second will consist of all the videos taken during the day. I've got some cracking footage of the jets and Lancaster flying over us which I think you'll all enjoy!

Flames of War Late War German HMG Platoon

It's been far too long since I posted some Flames of War miniatures, so here's a sMG Zug (Heavy Machinegun Platoon) from my late war German Panzergrenadier army for Flames of War.

I've not played any FoW in quite a while but I'm having a bit of a WW2 resurgence at the mo so with any luck there might even be some new battle reports coming up soon.

Heresy-Era Iron Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought

The stand-out star of my 500 point list I'm using for the Zone Mortalis Horus Heresy list is the Contemptor Dreadnought. When we first started playing test 500 point games, it soon became clear that Dreadnoughts could be absolutely devastating. For our first game someone even managed to squeeze two regular Dreads into their 500 point list!

When composing my own list for the campaign, I really wanted to squeeze a Contemptor in, their front armour of 13 and 5+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks would ensure they were hard to destroy at range, and their wide range of weapon options would ensure that it was able to take on just about anything.

Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis Campaign Army List

Towards the end of last year, a friend of mine finished building his own Zone Mortalis board, since then we've been playing small multiplayer games using the Great Crusade lists from Forge World's Horus Heresy book series.

These games have proven to be very entertaining indeed, and have spawned a narrative-driven Horus Heresy campaign. Personally, I've been interested in getting in to 30k-era gaming for a long time, but I've always been put off by the cost. For this campaign each player would be building a 500 point army that would won't grow massively over the course of the campaign, so it's the perfect opportunity to build a force using some tasty Forge World kits without breaking the bank.

Flames of War AAR - FHH Panzergrenadiers vs Soviet Peredovoye Otryad - Dust Up

For the second stage of the round robin league at Battlefront Europe HQ we played the Dust Up mission. This week my opponent was +Ian Mann, fielding a Soviet Peredovoye Otryad. As usual, I'll be using my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadier list.

Note: This game was played about six months ago, though I'm pleased to have finally finished the after action report!

Anyway, on with the lists!

Wayward Sons of Olympia

For some time now, I've been neglecting the Flames of War scene, for I fear I have been bitten by Horus Heresy bug. I've not played Warhammer 40k in a number of years, but the combination of the Black Library's Horus Heresy novels and Forgeworld's excellent miniatures and gaming supplements have thoroughly engaged me. 40k as a ruleset can be a bit messy (especially compared with Flames of War), but I love the narrative aspect of the game.

After much deliberation I've opted to collect elements of the IV Legion Astartes, the Iron Warriors. They are engineers at war, lacking the flashiness of other Legions and relying on cold, hard logic to win their fights. What really drew me to them was reading the excellent Tallarn Executioner by John French. It depicts an armoured invasion of Tallarn by the Iron Warriors, viewed from the perspective of an Imperial tank crew. The book features plenty of WW2-style tank-on-tank action and accurately depicts the claustrophobia of being inside an armoured vehicle while all hell is breaking loose around you. Perfect for a WW2 armour nut!

Photos from the Forge World Open Day - 30th March 2014

Today I attended the Forge World Open Day at Games Workshop Headquarters in Nottingham. While I was there I picked up a copy of Horus Heresy Book III - Extermination. I've not had a proper chance to sit down with it so far but I can confirm that lugging it around all day will give your arms a very good workout!
While I was there I took a number of photos of upcoming models that weren't revealed until this weekend, visible after the jump...