Little Tanks & Tiny People

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my latest project. Here's my full repainted WWII Dutch army, apart from the armoured car. Not much more to add, other than the recipe (below). Infantry Heavy weapon teams Marines Uniform: Blue grey 70.904. Marines: Heavy blue 72.143 Helmet and gas mask canister (marines): Refractive green 70.890 Leather: Leather brown 70.871 Bread bag, webbing, rifle sling: Medium Grey 70.987 Wood: Flat Earth 70.983 Metal: Natural steel 70.864 Boots: Black 70.950 Coat (marines): Heavy blue 72.143 Skin: Basic Skin Tone 70.815 Wash: Umber 73.203

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 ...

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...

It took a while, but I managed to finish my six knights, Elrond and Haldir. The varnish turned out a bit more glossy than I would have liked, which makes photographing a lot more difficult. In person they look much better, I think.

From Rohan straight to Rivendell. I already owned a group of 16 Last Alliance warrior that desperately needed a new coat of paint. To these I added (all second-hand) some additional warriors, six knights on horseback and Elrond.   I also bought a Haldir mini, so that my Rivendell Elves can double as Galadhrim at Helm’s Deep. For any purists out there, I know there were no Elves at Helm’s Deep in the book. But I think Peter Jackson made the right decision by adding them. It makes for a much more powerful scene this way.   In any case, I’ve finished painting the rank-and-file figures. The knights and characters will follow in part two.   I’ve used the following paints (all Vallejo):   Armour: Brass 70.801 Sword and armour details: Gunmetal Grey 70.863, highlighted with Silver 72.052 Skin: Basic Skin Tone 70.815 Robes: Dark Prussian Blue 70.899, highlighted with Medium Blue 70.963 Cloak: Russian Uniform WWII 70.924, highlighted with Dead Flesh 72.035 L...

My Rohan army is done! I’ve finished the last of the 48 Rohan infantry, as well as Théoden and Éowyn. I’d like to take a couple of nice group shots, but I’m not happy with my efforts so far. So for now, it’s just Théoden and Éowyn. I’ve used basically the exact same colours as for the rest of the army, but with some small red details to make them stand out among the rank and file. Up next is a small(ish) Rivendell army…

A little while back I picked up this cool Indiana Jones figure by Stronghold. It’s metal – which I like – and has a lot of character. While painting I realised that the two Lara Crofts that I painted back in 2020 could probably use an update too. So, here you go, three freshly painted archaeologists! I wonder, are there any other archaeologists that I could add to my collection? Indiana Jones (Stronghold) Classic Lara (Hasslefree) Second reboot Lara (Hasslefree)

Two posts in a day! I’ve also repainted this old Space Marine Dreadnought for my Blood Raven army. I painted straight over the original paint job, so it may not be as smooth as it could have been. There’s not a whole lot to say about it. It was a pretty quick job, just two painting sessions and a bit of basing. The colours I used can be found here .

Quick update: I bought and built another Sarissa Precision kit, a Dutch house to go with my Dutch farm . I also scratch-built some road sections: 9 straight sections and 1 t-junction. I kept it simple for now, but I can always add corners and other shapes later. I used 6 mm thick polystyrene, which should prevent the sections from warping. I bevelled the edges slightly and added banks using a full packet of Milliput. I then  gave the pieces a quick sanding and applied two coats of brown paint mixed with sand and coffee grounds. After letting that dry overnight, I gave the pieces a quick drybrush and then added flocking and some tufts.

I haven’t had much time for painting the last few weeks, but I did manage to build these cars for Gaslands. Gaslands is a set of rules published by Osprey Games for Mad Max/Death Race style vehicular combat.  Gaslands is completely miniature agnostic. You can use whatever cars you have lying around the house or that you can find in a dollar store, making the game very accessible. Most people tend to use Hot Wheels cars or similar, but I picked out some slightly larger vehicles. That way, I can also use them with 28 mm minis, for example my Street Violence figures.

I finally got around to taking pictures of the finished spectators. They are a mix of Steve Barber and Sally 4th. Both ranges have their pros and cons. The Steve Barber figures are more varied, but aren’t cast particularly well. The Sally 4th figures, on the other hand, are very clean but are all quite similar. Together, though, they add a lot of character to the amphitheatre.

I’ve finished painting up some gladiators and a lion to go with my amphitheatre ! All figures are by Foundry. The sculpting and casting of these metal figures are of a very high standard, but sadly my order was missing a spear. Fortunately I still had the plastic Fireforge Games weapon sprue from customising my Uruk-hai crossbowmen , so replacing it was simple enough. Slightly more annoying was that two of the figures didn’t come with rectangular scuta as shown on the Foundry website. Instead, they have these weird, stylised figure-of-eight type shields that I associate more with bronze age Greece than with Rome. I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t realise this when my order arrived. It’s been over six months now, so it feels a little late to contact Foundry about it. In any case, I’m still really pleased with the end result. Each figure has its own colour scheme and listing all colours feels a bit excessive. I'm not sure if it comes across, but I’ve used three different skin co...