Little Tanks & Tiny People

I already teased in  my 2024 roundup that I was working on an Athenian hoplite army. I’m now a fair way into what will be my largest army to date. I’ve finished 48 hoplites, 12 archers, 12 slingers and 8 cavalry, for a total of 80 figures. I’ve still got another pack of 48 hoplites to go, but I think I may take a little breather and paint something else for a little bit. All figures are from Victrix. Assembly is rather complex, with each figure consisting of a separate body, head, arms, shield, spear and sword. Just assembling the hoplites took four or five hobby sessions. These hoplites are from the older Victrix kit. I really like the sculpts, but there could have been a bit more variety in the head sculpts. I would also have liked some more heads with Corinthian helmets. Both of these problems are solved in the new kit, however. I did pick up a spare sprue from the new kit on Ebay, just to add in some alternative head sculpts. Spikey phalanx! Shield transfers are from Little ...

I have been neglecting this blog for a little bit. Because I didnt't stop painting I now have a bit of a backlog. To start the new year with a clean slate I’ll quickly summarise what I’ve been up to the past months. Firstly, I’ve finished my Cyberpunk-themed Sisters of Battle army (pics of the full army to follow). I also made this silly F-16 Egg plane by Hasegawa. The kit happens to come with Dutch markings, but I thought the roundel was a bit too big and didn’t look right. I happened to have a set of RNLAF roundels in varying sizes, so I used those instead. I also scratchbuilt three wooden buildings for a Rohan-themed gaming board. They would also fit pretty well with an Early Medieval/Viking board. The walls of the buildings are made of packaging foam, covered in strips of card and coffee stirrers. I made the roofs out of some scrap bits of plywood and covered them in strips of towel to look like thatching. I’ve also been painting up an Athenian hoplite army. I’ve worked my wa...

I've painted up some more Cyberpunk Sisters of Battle. Most are duplicates of the ones I did before , so I'll just show the new ones. First up is Saint Celestine, or Saint Cyberine if you prefer. Saint Cyberine Canoness Sister Superior and Sister with Heavy Flamer Another 13 Cyber Sisters still to go...

From olive drab back to purple. I’ve finished the tanks for my growing cyberpunk Sisters of Battle army , who I have named the Sisters of Synth. Land Raider I thought the retro look of the Horus Heresy range would fit well with my cyberpunk theme, so I picked up a Land Raider as the transport for the Command unit. I thought about picking up two Rhinos from the range as well, but that would set me back another 70-80 Euros. I remembered, however, that I still had two old S.O.B. Rhinos laying around. So I opted for stripping them back to bare plastic and repainting them. I also removed some of the more gothic-looking details like purity seals and relics. Painting was really fun, but I think I’ll skip on edge highlighting for a little while… Rhino 1 Nearly identical Rhino 2 Base: Royal Purple 70.810 Lines: Light Turquoise 70.840 and Magenta Fluorescent 69.056 over Pink 70.958 Panel lining: Heavy Blue 72.143 Highlights: Pink 70.958 Bolter: Bright Orange 70.851 Metal: Gunmetal ...

Bit of a longer post this time, as I painted up an entire Cold War Dutch army for Team Yankee! The army consists of five Leopard 1Vs, five Leopard 2s, two PRTLs, two F-16s, two West-German Tornados and a set of Dutch mechanised infantry.  Leopard 2 Team Yankee is set in the mid 1980’s, at which time the Royal Netherlands Army was in the process of replacing its Leopard 1V’s for Leopard 2’s. Delays meant that this process took quite a long time. In fact, there had also been severe delays in procuring the Leopard 1, which meant that there were even some old 1950’s vintage Centurions left in service!   Leopard 1V For a bit of variety I picked up a set of Leopard 1Vs and Leopard 2s, but for gaming purposes I’ll run both as the more powerful Leopard 2’s. I also bought two Cheetah PRTLs (Pantser Rups Tegen Luchtdoelen = Armour Tracked Against Aerial Targets). This vehicle is derived from the German Gepard and is basically an anti-aircraft turret on top of a Leopard 1 chassis. Ch...

Back in 2022 I repainted the majority of my Space Marine army . I’ve now made a modest start on repainting my old metal Sisters of Battle army as well. Having completed Cyberpunk 2077 and its DLC earlier this year, I was heavily inspired by the synthwave colour palette of my character’s outfit. I’m aware that the bright clashing colour scheme may not be for everyone, but I think it looks pretty cool and unique. I’ve painted up my first squad and plan to add another squad and a Canoness. I might add some Sisters Repentia as well, although I’m not sure if the colour scheme will work very well on them. Painting was fairly straightforward, apart from the magenta on the fabric. On the whole I love Vallejo paints, but their Mecha Color Magenta Fluorescent does not cover at all! Even after five coats it still doesn’t cover properly. The colours I’ve used:  Base: Royal Purple 70.810 Fabric: Light Turquoise 70.840 + white for highlight, Magenta Fluorescent 69.056. Highlights, hai...