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In 2025 I published 269 blog posts.
In 2024 there was 378 blog posts. In 2023 I published 271, I did 319 in 2022. In 2021, I posted 162 times. In 2020 I posted 436 blog posts, in 2019 I did 143 blog posts. Compare that to 2018 when I wrote just 21 blog posts.
There is no top ten individual blog posts, as WordPress broke the stats as I have ads on the site. So this means I don’t know the stats for individual blog posts.
While the heavy tanks were designed for direct attacks against enemy trenches the Tank Corps also wanted a lighter, faster tank to work with the cavalry over open country. Designed by Sir William Tritton and built by Fosters of Lincoln the Medium A, or Whippet, was the only such tank to see service with the Tank Corps, starting in 1918. Though originally envisioned with a rotating turret, the production model had an armoured housing for three to four 303 Hotchkiss machine guns, which could be relocated between four gun ports. Approved in June 1917, roughly 200 vehicles were produced starting in October 1917. This was the only type of medium tank to see action in World War I.
These Whippet Medium Tanks were on display at Bovington Tank Museum and the Musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire or Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.
The Whippet was a difficult tank to drive; it had two engines, two clutches and two gearboxes but it was fast, by 1918 standards and very manoeuvrable in skilled hands. Even so experience soon showed that it was incapable of working with the cavalry and, in truth, should have been seen as an alternative. The Whippet was powered by a pair of Tylor four-cylinder engines, the same type that would be found in London buses of that period.
I do think that this tank would make for a great base for vehicles for an alternative Great War. It could be converted into a turreted tank, or a self propelled gun. One other idea is to use the tanks for A Very British Civil War background, those in storage are taken out of retirement and used by both sides.
Back in 2007 I was given the Masters of the Chapter box. This was four metal Space Marine models with a variety of weapons and armour, including a shield, an axe, a hammer, a broadsword and lots of ornate armour. They were, like most models, retired, but at one point they did make a return in resin. finished constructing my metal models.
I gave the four models a white undercoat.
I thought these would be perfect alternate models for Grey Knights. Then there is the decision I have been thinking on, do I continue with the Grey Knight concept, or maybe go down another route, Imperial Fists perhaps.
In 2007 I purchased the new Space Marine Librarian in Terminator armour as I really did like the model and for me would certainly fit into my Grey Knights army with all the books and purity seals.
I had given the model a black undercoat. I decided I would then give the model a basecoat of Leadbelcher.
I has forgotten how dark Leadbelcher can be, probably exacerbated by the black undercoat as well. Wondering if I should get a lighter metallic spray for the Grey Knights armour. Really not too pleased with this, thinking I might strip the paint and start again.
The Renault FT-17 was for its time a real innovation in tank design. These surviving tanks were at Bovington Tank Museum and the Musée royal de l’armée et de l’histoire militaire or Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.
The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation. Copies and derivative designs were manufactured in the United States (M1917 light tank), in Italy (Fiat 3000), and in the Soviet Union (T-18 tank).
France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle. Unlike the French Army, the Belgian Army had withdrawn all FT tanks from front line service before World War II.
It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renaultand the Char B1 when I was young.
As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War.
I had both a Grey Knights Terminator with Psycannon and a regular Grey Knights Terminator. These were metal models, which went together very easily.
I had given them both a black undercoat. I decided I would then give them a basecoat of Leadbelcher.
I has forgotten how dark Leadbelcher can be, probably exacerbated by the black undercoat as well. Wondering if I should get a lighter metallic spray for the Grey Knights armour.
Happy Christmas
May your stocking be full of presents.
The Guild of Coin rules the roads of Necromunda. They transport material between hives and, for a hefty price, they’ll even smuggle weapons and people. Crossing the arid, violent, and irradiated ash wastes is a risky business, so the guild employs convoys of Cargo-8 Ridgehaulers. These hulking vehicles are perfect for traversing the dunes thanks to their massive wheels and sturdy engines, hauling trailers of armoured containers and transport carriages across the Great Equatorial Wastes, but their true appeal comes from their modularity – it takes little effort to outfit one with enough guns to make it a mobile fortress, ready to repel gang ambushes and raids.
Back in 2007 I was given the Masters of the Chapter box. This was four metal Space Marine models with a variety of weapons and armour, including a shield, an axe, a hammer, a broadsword and lots of ornate armour. I thought these would be perfect alternate models for Grey Knights.
They were, like most models, retired, but at one point they did make a return in resin.
These metal models of mine though consisted of a variety of parts, as well as some plastic rear packs. I started putting them together and basing them, then I got distracted by other things.
I finished constructing them.
Here is a montage of the individual models.
The next stage will be a white undercoat.
Still haven’t decided if I will paint them as Grey Knights as originally planned, or to paint them as Imperial Fists.
One of the left field announcements from the recent Battlefront update was on Volley & Charge, a Flames of War style ruleset for the American Civil War, but also mentioned was also released for the Samurai Wars, the American Indian Wars, the Franco-Prussian War; the final option which interested me the most was the Crimean War.
Will be interesting to see what that looks like.