Stop printing miniatures with your 3D printer

03/12/202420/10/2024 by jbarton11

By now pretty much every one has heard of 3D printing, and because you’re probably involved in this hobby even own your own or have used 3D printed models. So you probably don’t need me to tell you how they are so good at producing tiny little figures for us to play with. But I … Read more

King Leonidas of the Spartans

01/05/202417/09/2021 by jbarton11

Just one figure in this Mythic Battles Pantheon update. This time it is one of the hero figures: King Leonidas. You might recognise him as he’s gained a fair bit of notoriety as a bit of an arse-kicker. I don’t have a huge amount to say about him, so I won’t write much. The colours … Read more

5 Hoplites for Mythic Battles Pantheon

01/05/202403/09/2021 by jbarton11

A little continuation of the Mythic Battles Pantheon project. Another troop unit, but this time it’s time for some Hoplites. Now, historically the Spartans would have been called Hoplites (and also probably would have had a spear as their primary weapon) so the last post and this one are a little mixed up. However, this … Read more

3 Spartans for Mythic Battles Pantheon

01/05/202420/08/2021 by jbarton11

Mythic Battles: Pantheon (MBP) is a miniature boardgame produced by Monolith Board Games. MBP features characters from Greek Mythology in a 2-player boardgame; essentially collecting items from a board and controlling areas. Monolith are a French mob who Kickstart games with heaps of miniatures and end up with pledge totals in the millions. Not miles … Read more

Aeronautica Imperialis Tau Tiger sharks

01/05/202406/08/2021 by jbarton11

Not a long post today; a bit of a continuation of our last post. Along with the Barracudas from last week, I also painted a few of the larger Tiger Sharks. The colours are identical to the Barracudas from earlier. The larger surface area let me do a little more in terms of the camouflage, … Read more

Aeronautica Imperialis Tau Barracudas

01/05/202422/07/2021 by jbarton11

Our group has been playing a bit of Aeronautica Imperialis of late as we slowly start to come back to gaming. In previous posts we’ve featured some Ork and Imperial planes. This time it’s the turn of the Tau. An advanced race of Aliens with sleek looking aircraft that apparently highly value pragmatism and effectiveness. … Read more

Flames of War US Armour Tank Crews

01/05/202409/07/2021 by jbarton11

Another batch of vehicles for this commission. I spoke last post about the two different crews (or at least crew appearances) that were included. Today it is the turn of the ones wearing tanker uniforms. First up we have some M10 Wolverines; these are open top tank destroyers. So you actually get a look at … Read more

Flames of War US Armour – Infantry Crews

01/05/202414/05/2021 by jbarton11

The next part of the US Army tank project is done. This chunk contains the vehicles crewed by US Army infantry uniformed figures. I’m not enough an expert to know whether there was any difference in the organisation of said vehicles, but in Battlefront‘s kits they included crews come differently uniformed. First up are the … Read more

Flames of War US Armour – Tanks Alone

01/05/202407/05/2021 by jbarton11

Another fairly meaty project I’ve taken on. This one is 20 WW2 American armoured vehicles. A mix of Half-tracks, tanks (mostly Shermanns) and self-propelled guns. They’re all by Battlefront from their big starter box. I’ve finished most of the tanks, but not the crews. And with a number of open top vehicles in the mix … Read more

Custom Gaslands Cars

01/05/202430/04/2021 by jbarton11

Gaslands is Osprey Wargames‘s foray into post apocalyptic vehicle combat. Think Car Wars and Mad Max. We’ve covered it a few other times in the blog and we do play games every couple of weeks or so. The game gives grown men an opportunity to play with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars again. Scaled at … Read more

Aeronautica Imperialis Fighta Bombas

01/05/202423/04/2021 by jbarton11

We’re back, our short break was not so short and sort of became a little bit of a recharge session for all of us. The last year’s been crazy for everyone and we’re all no exception. But we’re back and ready for another year of tiny little things! First up for me is a bit … Read more

4 Clan Blood Scorpion mechs

01/05/202401/01/2021 by jbarton11

Mechs, Mechs and more Mechs. We’ve had quite a bit of Battletech content lately. But with the Kickstarter out, Tex doing his thing and a couple of decent computer games it is actually a really good time to be a Battletech fan. I did the Kickstarter and ended up with around 40 Inner Sphere and Clan mechs arriving at my door a few weeks back. And I though I should paint a few of them. So I started with some of the Clan, and I desire to do something bright, crazy looking and not that common. Yeah, I should have done some Fire Mandrill shouldn’t I, but I did’t and instead I did some Clan Blood Spirit.

Soviet BA-64B

01/05/202415/12/2020 by jbarton11

Another random project in what is the year of random projects. This time it’s a Soviet WW2 armoured car, I’m sure anyone following along had that in their top couple of guesses. This model is actually a scale plastic kit by Tamiya, as part of their 1:48 range of armoured vehicle kits. It’s a great … Read more

Industrial Area, in 2mm

01/05/202430/11/2020 by jbarton11

This is one of those side projects I’ve had going on for a long, long while. One of the games we play from time to time is Hind Commander: a modern era 3mm wargame focusing on helicopter operations. While another game I’d like to play is Modern Spearhead, again in 3mm. One thing that both … Read more

4 Viking Bezerkers

01/05/202420/11/2020 by jbarton11

Bezerkers are meant to be crazy and nothing says crazy like a half (or fully naked) north European with that look in their eye. Give them something sharp and point them in the general direction of shorter people, and well … it’s not really a surprise that they hit England like a Semi-Trailer and were … Read more

Four Dakkajets

01/05/202430/10/2020 by jbarton11

We don’t usually do much for Orktober (we’re not massive fantasy or GW players), but with not much gaming I figured I may as well try and get at least one random project with some Orks in this month. And I’m happy to say that I’ve just scraped in. These are some DakkaJets for Aeronautica … Read more

Six Incursion APEs

01/05/202412/10/2020 by jbarton11

APE stands for Armoured Personal Exoskeleton; which is the name for the USA’s battle armour in Incursion. Incursion is a Wierd World War 2 game, set it an imaginary universe where WW2 didn’t end and instead things got wierd. There are a number of such settings, both in pop culture and miniature gaming. For example … Read more

Templar Army wrapup

01/05/202402/10/2020 by jbarton11

This is just a short little post, mainly of some pictures to show the Templar and Crusader army in its full glory. Let’s start with some numbers: 248 miniatures: 51 Cavalry and 197 infantry 70 bases 47 ADLG units & 3 command tokens 1 camp Over 150 hours preparation, painting & basing. To put this … Read more

Templar Knights

01/05/202418/09/2020 by jbarton11

It’s time for the big show. French failed aristocracy pumped up on faith and the desire to kill heathens (or poor people). Templar Knights By now there’s not much more I can say, there aren’t any original colours on here. The miniatures are again Legio Heroica, but they’re not the Templars from that range. Instead … Read more

Templar Infantry

01/05/202421/08/2020 by jbarton11

Finally some Temmplars. I think I’ve done quite well. More than 5 posts into a Templar project and not a single white tunic or red cross on anything. But that’s all going to change over the next few posts as I finish off this project with wall to wall, hard core Templars. A sea of … Read more

Crusader Turcopoles

01/05/202414/08/2020 by jbarton11

Another feature of Crusader armies were the Turcopoles. The Crusaders had learnt the effectiveness of the mounted bow from the Saracens and so had started to include them in their own armies. Sourced from the Eastern Christian kingdoms, and I’m sure other relevantly skilled groups, they were still Christian by equipped and dressed more like … Read more

Crusader mounted knights

01/05/202410/08/2020 by jbarton11

I’ve finally added some Knights to the Crusader army. With over 130 troops painted it’s good to finally have something that we all associate strongly with the era. I’m not sure there’s anything more iconic to the Feudal/Medieval period than the Knight holding a lance atop a charging horse. Again, these miniatures are Legio Heroica. … Read more

Large Crusader spear block (56 figures)

01/05/202413/07/2020 by jbarton11

Crusader armies needs large block of spear men. After all, the humble spear was the primary infantry weapon for almost every organised army until the musket got good (pikes are just long spears). If you were to go and ressurrect someone who died in battle, chances are it was a ‘he’ used a spear. Hell … Read more

Crusader bow and crossbow

01/05/202429/06/2020 by jbarton11

Part of any good Crusader army are some missile troops. For this army there is a fair bit with decent numbers of both crossbow and bow infantry. As with the rest of this army, it is all Legio Heroica miniatures from their Feudal and Crusader ranges. While these two ranges are nominally for different portions … Read more

Homemade paint storage

01/05/202427/06/2020 by jbarton11

Sometimes I feel like, as well as miniatures, I collect small pots of paints. I’d reached the capacity of my existing storage (some acryllic racks by Back 2 Base-ix, an Australian manufacturer). Now, these are good little products that go together nicely with some nice ideas. However, they’re not cheap, will take a few weeks … Read more

Levy pike & farm tools – Huge new 250 figure project

01/05/202422/06/2020 by jbarton11

This is the first post of a new army project I’m in the middle of. This army is another Crusader army, but this time it is the Templars. However, there isn’t going to be any Templars for a little while as I’m starting with the generic crusader component of this project and even then at the bottom, levy heavy end. This is a big project, probably my biggest yet. There are about 200 foot troops and 50 mounted, as well as a pretty cool looking gate tower (serving as camp).

British Napoleonic Infantry

01/05/202420/04/2020 by jbarton11

These have been painted for a while (since January), just waiting to be photographed. These were for an event in January (i.e. before COVID-19 stopped all such shenanigans), where we played a Blucher campaign of the 100 days. I was assigned the British/Allied Reserve Corps, which was 7 bases of British and Brunswicker infantry. This … Read more

Random 28mm Fantasy Miniatures

01/05/202410/04/2020 by jbarton11

These are quite an eclectic bunch of 28mm fantasy miniatures I recently finished painting for a commission (so I’m not sure of the manufacturer for most). A mixiture of old GW metals and more recent resins by garage and small manufacturers. Nothing particularly special, but this has been the bulk of my painting for a … Read more

Mountain Gut Busters

01/05/202422/01/2020 by jbarton11

This post is from one of our members who is not a regular contributor. Big thanks to Shadow for putting this article together and taking the pictures. It has been a little quiet on the blog; Christmas is a big period down under and it’s not until after the 26th of January that things get … Read more

Vanguard Terrain

01/05/202431/10/2019 by jbarton11

One of the things that came from Mantic was a few of their terrain packs. These feature special terrain pieces that are used for most of the scenarios in the rulebook. I think this is really cleaver, aligning the random objectivy sort of things you get with the rule book is not hard to do, … Read more

Northern Alliance Dwarves and more

01/05/202428/10/2019 by jbarton11

I’ve done a few odds and ends for my Northern Alliance warband. First I finished my 5 dwarves. These are very basic, very weak grunts (decidedly un-dwarven characters). Still they’ve proved useful taking objects, sacrificing into things, finishing off downed figures, supplying an out number and adding to the size of the warband. This last … Read more

Thunderbirds

01/05/202425/10/2019 by jbarton11

A couple of us have picked up some of Games Workshop’s new dog fighting game Aeronautica Imperialis. We’ve played a handful of games and some of us are further along in our painting than others. Our early impressions are the game is pretty good. The miniatures are great: they look good, have nice detail, go … Read more

Snow Trolls

01/05/202407/09/2019 by jbarton11

As part of our Kings of War: Vanguard experience I picked the Northern Alliance. The Alliance likes the big boys and like POTUS said in our previous post that’s almost invariably where painting a faction starts. Not one to disagree with our fearless leader lest I be the subject of a barrage of abusive tweets. … Read more

Vanguard: our club, our story

01/05/202419/07/2019 by jbarton11

A few weeks back Mantic Games asked for some volunteers to put together some warbands for their Fantasy skirmish game Kings of War: Vanguard. With some free toys on offer the Monday Knights were only to happy to put our name forward, and lo and behold our little antipodean club was selected to participate. A … Read more

Unseen Battlemechs

01/05/202427/06/2019 by jbarton11

Some Battletech

01/05/202420/05/2019 by jbarton11

In the lead up to our recent tournament there was a lot of ADLG played. Since the tournament we’ve been playing a few lighter games. One of which is Battletech; the arrival of the new box set lead to someone looking for a few games and we all have a few mechs to run. However … Read more

Hospitaller Commanders & Mounted Sergeants

01/05/202419/05/2019 by jbarton11

I didn’t get time to take photos of these earlier (things have been a little crazy). But they were ready for the tournament a few weeks back so that is the most important thing. These are commanders, which are essentially just tokens in ADLG so they can be on almost any sized bases. I use … Read more

Crusader Heavy Spear

01/05/202423/04/2019 by jbarton11

Some more miniatures for my Crusader army. This time they’re not Hospitallers, but rather general Heavy Spear from the period. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the shield patterns. There’s only about 6 colours (white, black, yellow, blue, green and red), but the random mising makes it look quite colourful. Particular when you compare … Read more

Hospitaller Sergeants with Crossbow

01/05/202420/04/2019 by jbarton11

Many of the colours (armour, coats, straps, skin, etc) are the same as for the Brother Knights. However, there are a couple of new bits: Crossbow: Wood – Base: Sandalwood (SC-26) Wood – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200) Metal – Base: Gunmetal Grey (VMC 70.863) Wash: Black Wash (VGC 73.201) Quiver: Same as the Brother … Read more

Knight Hospitaller – Brother Knights

01/05/202401/04/2019 by jbarton11

This is the start of a Medieval army for Art de la Guerre. Rather than go something nice and generic that’s brightly coloured and could do any of a dozen lists I’ve gone for something different. I’m painting a Knights Hospitaller army in black: which is none of those things. However, it’s a project I … Read more

Soviet Navy Fleet

01/05/202431/03/2019 by jbarton11

I’ve been a bit slack posting, but still fairly productive in my painting. This Cruel Seas fleet is another paid job for a friend. I’ve mixed the colours up a little this time, and made them very, very dirty. I’m pretty happy with the result, I think some of the chipping could be a little … Read more

Cruel Seas Torpedoes & Val Bomber

01/05/202414/03/2019 by jbarton11

I’ve painted three sets of torpedoes for myself and a couple of commissions and bright old me decided to do them all together in a batch. Sure it was efficient, but doing the same thing 24 times tests my patience. I’ve done a couple of different colour schemes to help game play; each torpedo belongs … Read more

Saviours II

01/05/202409/03/2019 by jbarton11

This is the last batch of miniatures from here’s Neegan. They’ve been done for a while, but I haven’t taken many pictures for a little while. First up is Laura. I’ve gone with a theme of Army Surplus Raider for her: uniform green pants and shirt, green pack and desert tan boots. Skin: Base: Sandalwood … Read more

German U-Boat

01/05/202415/02/2019 by jbarton11

Just a quick post of a one off model I painted as part of the IJN commission. It’s not IJN, but rather a German U-Boat that was the bonus model. Super simple scheme, but I’m pretty happy with how it looks.

Saviours I

01/05/202407/02/2019 by jbarton11

Mantic Games‘ Here’s Neegan was one of my gaming Christmas presents. I haven’t played it yet, but the current plan is to play the scenarios at the club with a few clubmates. We’re aiming for 4-Feb, so that means I need to get painting them. The good thing is I don’t have a heap to … Read more

Japanese Coastal Boat Fleet – Part 1

01/05/202405/02/2019 by jbarton11

It really is Feboatary. I’m painting an IJN fleet for a friend and this is the progress thus far: the Sampans and the Kamikaze boats. This first post is the crazy stuff from the fleet box. Sampans: I think this will be the only sailboats I’ll be painting for Cruel Seas. I’m not sure if … Read more

German Schnellboots

01/05/202403/02/2019 by jbarton11

Cruel Seas is a new 1:300 scale Naval game created by Warlord Games. I’ve got a soft spot for Naval miniatures and on an impulse I picked up a box of the Schnellboots, because they’re just so damn pretty. I’ve since picked up a full German fleet and I’m also in the middle of painting … Read more

Balaeric Slingers

01/05/202408/01/2019 by jbarton11

These are the last miniatures I’ll be painting for my Carthaginians for a while. As a force they’re pretty much finished; I’ve got well over 200 points in LADLG terms and I don’t think there’s much more useful I can add. The last little unit for this force is 4 bases of Balearic Slingers (LI … Read more

Ligurian Javelinmen

01/05/202407/01/2019 by jbarton11

Another mercenary unit for my Carthaginian army: Ligurian Javelinmen. Nothing particularly special with these guys. As poor mountain men I didn’t want the colours to be quite as vivid as the Celts so I made them a bit of a muted hodgepodge. I also tried a different vibe to the shields, based on what Little … Read more

Kudra

01/05/202420/11/2018 by jbarton11

After quite some time away from my Malifaux miniatures I got very keen over a couple of days and started on a new crew. I’ve had Sandeep’s crew sitting round assembled for a little while and I really wanted to get started. I saw the box art for Kudra and wanted to have a shot … Read more

Ancient Greek/Carthaginian Camp

01/05/202415/11/2018 by jbarton11

The last ingredient for my Carthaginian army this weekend. I need a camp and the rules are pretty liberal on what it can be (even the base size is a ide range). I chose the smallest base possible 40mmx80mm and started filling it with stuff. I started with a Greek style tent from Baueda Wargames, … Read more

Anglo-Danish Hearthguard – Dane’s Axes

01/05/202415/11/2018 by jbarton11

Again, these have been sitting around waiting for me to base with static grass, but now they’re done and there weren’t any shields. Yeah! Most of the colours are the same as for the Anglo/Viking Warriors. However, I made the following tweaks to the common elements Chainmail, Helmet & Axe Blade: Base: Oily Steel (VMC … Read more

Anglo/Viking Warriors

01/05/202413/11/2018 by jbarton11

My Saga (Viking Age) army is Anglo-Dane and their warriors . However, there is not a lot of difference between some of the figures for the different factions so I can also use these as Anglo-Saxon or Viking (and probably others too). I haven’t given them a consistent colour scheme as it doesn’t really fit … Read more

Carthaginian Army

20/07/201910/11/2018 by jbarton11

The elephants I just posted represent the last major piece of this army! It’s been months in the making, much of it procrastination, but I’ve got a full ADLG army with a few options. You actually might notice something missing: my camp. I had finished it, but I experienced my first bout of frosting with … Read more

Elephants

20/07/201908/11/2018 by jbarton11

I’ve got a pretty simple rule for list building Ancient Armies: take the maximum number of elephants. I don’t think this method is the best, but I like elephants and if a list can taken them then it really should. The ADLG Carthaginians can take 3, so I painted 3 elephants. Body: Base: NATO grey … Read more

Carthaginian Heavy Spear

20/07/201907/11/2018 by jbarton11

Some actual Carthaginians for my Cathaginian army! These have been a bit tedious: 48 miniatures all exactly the same. I didn’t do any fancy shields as the surface has significant curvature and I’m not comfortable enough in my free-hand on such a tricky surface. To get these done quickly I mass-painted them on sticks (you … Read more

Spanish Scutarii

20/07/201925/10/2018 by jbarton11

More non-Carthaginians for my Carthagenian ADLG army. I’m keeping to mainly reds for this army, but I’ve used a slightly different red to most of the others (a slightly deeper red). That coupled with the shields helps them stand out from the others. Body: Flesh – Base: Medium Fleshtone (VMC 70.860) Flesh – Wash: Sepia … Read more

Carthaginian Command

20/07/201922/10/2018 by jbarton11

These were painted in the last couple of days with some of the other miniatures and had just been waiting on photographs. I didn’t record the colours, as they’re pretty much just bits and pieces from the other figures. But I did take lots of pictures. I’ve painted them with different coloured, matching capes to … Read more

Numidian Light Cavalry

20/07/201910/10/2018 by jbarton11

A quick update with some more 15mm Ancients miniatures. This time it’s some Numidian Light Cavalry. I’ve reused the colours from the Numidian Light Infantry (the riders) and the Iberian Cavalry (the horses). I’m planning on doing another 2 bases of these as that maxes out the Carthaginian list and I think I’d like to … Read more

Celt/Gaul Warband

20/07/201907/10/2018 by jbarton11

One of the options for a Carthaginian ADLG army is Gallic Warriors. I’ve painted quite a few of these as I think they’ll be useful for a number of forces. I think these could be run as Gauls, Celts, Britons or even Germans. Some of the colours I’ve used are below. However, I didn’t record … Read more

Another Chaos Dwarves Team

20/07/201911/09/2018 by jbarton11

If you’ve been following this blog for a little while then you’ll have seen this team before. A little while ago I painted a Chaos Dwarf team in black and green. Well someone else liked them so much they also asked me to paint their team which was the same. The customer didn’t have a … Read more

Iberian Cavalry

20/07/201918/08/2018 by jbarton11

These figures are a continuation of my Carthaginian forces. This time it is 5 and one third bases of Medium (or maybe Heavy) Iberian Cavalry. Another group of miniatures I’m very happy with. I find 15mm very time consuming, but also very rewarding when they’re done. I think they look pretty good, especially the shields … Read more

Jabba the Orcs

20/07/201916/08/2018 by jbarton11

Another Bloodbowl team completed as part of a commission. This set is from Impact Miniatures. They’ve been a bit of a battle to be honest. They’re cast from “Trollcast”, which I’d never heard before checking out the website. I’m not a fan of the material, it sort of accepts primer (they came to me with … Read more

Walkers I

20/07/201929/06/2018 by jbarton11

My first batch of 10 walkers. I’m sure I will need more, and in fact I have another 8 I will paint up before too long. I’ve made these much darker and simpler than the heroes. Simpler because there are so many, they’re not the heroes and they’re dirty and grimy any way. I didn’t … Read more

Rick, Carl & The Governor

20/07/201928/06/2018 by jbarton11

These three don’t really belong together (OK, the first two do…). However, I put them together when doing pictures so they’re staying together. First the Governor (Brian Blake), he’s the origial scary bad guy from the comics. I wanted a prepper vibe for him, so it was a couple of muted colours with a bright … Read more

Scavengers

20/07/201928/06/2018 by jbarton11

A couple of weeks back I had my first games of Mantic Games’ The Walking Dead: All Out War. I must say I quite enjoyed it. The game is set in the universe of The Walking Dead Comics (on which the TV show was based), so it’s not quite what you might recognise from TV. … Read more

Beastmen

20/07/201906/06/2018 by jbarton11

The last few miniatures from this team. Again, I wasn’t very excited by these guys. I think they’re a bit too similar to each other. Plus they look a little chubby. It’s unfortunate too, as they’re dynamic looking sculpts. Just too much similarity between the models, and it’s not like they can be assembled in … Read more

Chaos Blockers

20/07/201906/06/2018 by jbarton11

This post contains another few miniatures from the commission I recently finished and delivered to the customer. The scheme is the same as for the Chaos Dwarves. However, these miniatures are Games Workshop’s plastics. I must admit I’m not terribly in love with them. They’re a bit same-ish; I used as much variety as possible, … Read more

Bloodweiser Babe

20/07/201904/06/2018 by jbarton11

Willy seem to throw this miniature in with almost every Kickstarter. I know I’ve got one lying around somewhere. I’m not 100% happy with the face, but as it is, I’ve already put a huge amount of time into her. As such, it’s going to stay as is. I’m very happy with everything else. Skin: … Read more

Minotaur (Chaos Dwarf)

20/07/201904/06/2018 by jbarton11

The colours on this guy are just a grab bag from the other miniatures in this team. The only two original components are the red face and the black beard. I’m pretty happy with how he’s ended up, another great mini by Willy. Face: Base: Cavalry Brown (VMC 70.982) Wash: Brown Shade (VGC 73.200) Drybrush: … Read more

Bull Centaurs (Chaos Dwarf)

20/07/201928/05/2018 by jbarton11

I’m pretty happy with my progress on this team. I’m also quite happy with how they’ve come out. I think these two are the best of all so far. In particular the skin formula has come out great. Skin (Human): Base: Medium Fleshtone (VMC 70.860) Wash: Red Shade (VGC 73.206) & Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200) … Read more

Hobgoblins (Chaos Dwarf)

20/07/201927/05/2018 by jbarton11

I’ve made some more progress on the Chaos Dwarf team. This time it is the other filler unit for Chaos Dwarves: 6 Hobgoblins. The owner asked me to try and replicate the studio art colours. I never quite got the green yellow enough (my first try actually landed way too yellow, and trying again gave … Read more

28mm Middle Eastern Archers

20/07/201924/05/2018 by jbarton11

These have been sitting around for a while; I’ve got 8 of them, and only 4 are finished. I’d planned on putting up all of them in a single post, but I had just finished these when I heard that Saga version 2 was coming out and only the Dark Ages book was going to … Read more

Numidian Light Infantry

20/07/201919/05/2018 by jbarton11

Another quick post of some new miniatures. These are a handful of Numidian Light Infantry for my Carthaginian Art de la Guere army. Because of the small scale I don’t make any real attempt to blend or do much in the way of transitions. These are much quicker to paint: plenty of washes, drybrushing and … Read more

Chaos Dwarves

20/07/201915/05/2018 by jbarton11

Someone has asked me to do another commission. The request is for 27 Chaos & Chaos Dwarf players to a basic table top standard. So I’ll be going with some speed painting techniques to get these done nice and quick, but looking good. The first step is a basecoat in black and then an azimuth … Read more

Human Lineman I

20/07/201909/05/2018 by jbarton11

I’m mainly painting these miniatures to learn how to paint Non-metallic Metal (NMM). I figured I would start with the linemen and work my way forward to the positionals. The idea being that I would improve as I go, so the players I care about will look better than the players I don’t. I figure … Read more

Saga Heroes

20/07/201902/05/2018 by jbarton11

It’s been a long while since I last posted; Christmas, a surprise house move and a couple of other life events have meant I haven’t posted for quite a while. However, I have been fairly productive, so I’ll be putting up a few posts in fairly quick succession as I clear some of the backlog … Read more

Flesh Golems

20/07/201916/10/2017 by jbarton11

I’ve finished the last two miniatures for my Necromantic team. Very happy with how these turned out. I went back to the Werewolf flesh for these guys and I thing it works great. I also think it looks great next to the USC colours I’ve had for these guys.

Wights & Ghouls

20/07/201915/10/2017 by jbarton11

These two guys are almost entirely made of armour, so their colours are pretty much the uniform colours from the Zombies. However, there is one new part: the skeleton which I wanted to paint blue.

M1 Abrams Tanks

20/07/201930/09/2017 by jbarton11

These have taken me an age to paint, they’re quite large with quite good detail. It’s also not super exciting painting and they’ve been sitting around in various states of half finished.

AH-1F Cobras

20/07/201931/07/2017 by jbarton11

Some more work on my US Team Yankee force. I’ve painted a full flight of AH-1 Cobras. These are another great plastic model by Battlefront, one of their good ones and they were a pleasure to assemble.

Infantry in Woodland BDU

20/07/201921/07/2017 by jbarton11

I’ve not particularly enjoyed these figures. It’s a long tedious process. God knows how I would go with a second platoon, or a Russian swarm.

Zombie Linemen

20/07/201916/07/2017 by jbarton11

I painted the flesh for these gentlemen differently to the Werewolves. I went for a sickly green.

M113s, M163s and M901s

20/07/201907/05/2017 by jbarton11

After the 3 test models featured back a couple of months ago, I got going and produced another 13 AFVs in 3 different variants.

Coryphee Duet

20/07/201910/03/2017 by jbarton11

After a little break to finish off the Russian vehicle commission, I have come back to my Malifaux crews.

M113s in MERDC

20/07/201908/03/2017 by jbarton11

I think this last project is probably one of my most excessive. I’ve decided that I want to paint my US cold war force in one of the MERDC schemes.

Johanna

20/07/201905/03/2017 by jbarton11

It’s taken me an age and several attempts to paint this miniature. My main challenge was the face; I had tried the techniques I’d used to great success with Ramos, Howard and Joss.

Arcane Effigy

20/07/201925/01/2017 by jbarton11

Another product of the Cancon surge, this guy was pretty simple. He’s based for the Ramos crew, but gets a workout with Colette as well.

Performers

20/07/201924/01/2017 by jbarton11

With the main act complete, I’ve moved on to the supporting act. This time it’s two showgirls.

Cassandra

20/07/201911/01/2017 by jbarton11

Cassandra is Colette’s henchmen (second tier character in Malifaux). Previously a rival, Cassandra now works with Colette.

Colette

20/07/201908/01/2017 by jbarton11

Work on my new Malifaux crew has been awfully slow. Part of it has been my unfamiliarity with the colours. I’m not particularly comfortable painting skin, particularly on females.

1/100 Zvezda M109A2 Review

20/07/201923/12/2016 by jbarton11

Zvezda produce a number of 1/100 model kits for Modern and Cold War vehicles.

Russian Vehicle Commission V

20/07/201905/12/2016 by jbarton11

I’ve finished 8 of the 12 Hinds, the other 4 are going to sit for a little bit while I recover from painting soooo many vehicles.

Russian Vehicle Commission IV

20/07/201901/12/2016 by jbarton11

Some progress at long last. No WIP pictures this time, just vehicles. Sooooooo many vehicles. The colours and techniques are the same as the T-72s so the WIP pictures and colours wouldn’t reveal much.

Russian Vehicle Commission III

20/07/201917/11/2016 by jbarton11

The last steps to complete were some weathering. Although you could probably argue this started with applying the paint chipping in the previous step.

Russian Vehicle Commission II

20/07/201913/11/2016 by jbarton11

Some more progress on the T-72s.

Russian Vehicle Commission

20/07/201909/11/2016 by jbarton11

I’ve started a pretty epic painting commission for Team Yankee which is Battlefront’s new Cold War gone hot game.

Werewolves

20/07/201926/10/2016 by jbarton11

It’s been a very unproductive few months here at Nanotanks with illness, and then a bit of a painting funk taking over for a while.

Orc Star Player

20/07/201923/10/2016 by jbarton11

I’ve finished the last miniature for my Orcs. I think the chainsaw star players are some of the most iconic Bloodbowl miniatures.

Magnetising Scourge Cruisers

20/07/201922/10/2016 by jbarton11

It’s been really slow around here. I’ve been sick, in a bit of a painting procrastination phase and just generally being way to quiet. However, things have finally started moving again. I’ve got a couple of painted miniatures to varnish and photograph, but before that I’m going to do a quick post on some assembly and magnetisation I’ve done for Dropfleet Commander.

Mannequins

20/07/201905/08/2016 by jbarton11

I’ve been excited to paint Colette’s Showgirls for a little while, but also somewhat intimidated. Most of my painting is fairly earthy in tone. It’s mainly military camouflage which is usually pretty drab and green/brown (for obvious reasons). However, I’ve got a real chance with the Showgirls to step things out to brighter and more vibrant colours. So while the Orc State bloodbowl guys were a bit brighter, I’m now going to pretty it up a little and get a fair bit brighter.

Mechanical Doves

20/07/201929/07/2016 by jbarton11

A few simple models, and the start of my Colette crew. I haven’t finished every model I’ll use with Ramos (I haven’t even finished my core crew to be honest), but I’m keen to do some more interesting colours and the showgirls will give me plenty of chances to use some pretty bright and vibrant colours.

Before that though I wanted to just get some things painted – to whit I’ve quickly done up the three Mechanical Doves that come in Colette’s box. I didn’t go wild with these; they’re pretty cool little miniatures and I think adding to much more will just make them distracting. One thing I did do with these was to paint the base colour on with an airbrush.

First the colours for the dove themselves.

Goblins

20/07/201916/07/2016 by jbarton11

Very few original colours on these guys. The only thing I haven’t used on other figures is their flesh colours. Inspired by the success with my Troll I’ve put together another mix of colours that’s distinct from the other 3 combinations I’ve used (Orc, Black Orc and Troll). This combination is much more yellow with only a slight greenish tinge to the colours. Fortunately, my paint collection was initiated with a Vallejo Model Colour military set and so I have plenty of greens, browns, browny-greens and greeny-browns.

Orc State Logo

20/07/201917/05/2016 by jbarton11

Not in the mood for painting or modelling this evening, but I was feeling a little creative. So I spend a couple of hours creating a logo for my Bloodbowl team. Seeing as the colours are based on Penn State; I also based my logo on Penn State. The original: Orc State: I used Libre … Read more

Troll

20/07/201906/05/2016 by jbarton11

Another miniature I really like from Meiko Miniatures. While not the Troll they sell with their Orc team, I prefer this troll. He does, however, look to have some issues regenerating (hopefully that doesn’t foreshadow his in-game performance). I didn’t want to paint the flesh blue as when combined with my blue uniforms it would make everything look pretty monochromatic. Instead I picked a greenish-yellow scheme that I’m pretty happy with. I might use the same colours for my goblins.

Ramos’ Crew

20/07/201905/05/2016 by jbarton11

Another class photo. This time it’s my Ramos crew thus far.

More Steam Arachnids

20/07/201902/05/2016 by jbarton11

I painted another 3 steam arachnids and that now means I’ve got 6 fully painted up. I have another 3 I will paint soon, although I think 6 should suffice for most games. Still, maybe I just go crazy one time and throw spiders out for the sheer joy of it. As I was painting these I noticed 2 of them were missing their funnels. I have no idea when or where they fell off, so I think I’ve got to deal with them never being there. Funnily enough, none of the ones I am yet to paint are missing theirs. I’ve put all 6 completed spiders together for their class photo.

Howard Langston

20/07/201930/04/2016 by jbarton11

Howard is my favourite Malifaux miniature at the moment. In the game he’s amazing; expensive and fragile, but amazing. He’s pretty easy to get in position, works really well with Ramos, can do 3 attacks in a turn and has a instant-kill trigger. I suspect most of you who have played Malifaux will have either run or met him, so don’t need me to tell you what he’s capable of.

Plastcraft Game Station Review

20/07/201914/04/2016 by jbarton11

As a present the better half picked up a Plastcraft Games Train Station. This piece is part of their ColorED range and is designed for Malifaux. The kit consists of a number of PVC sheets that have had one side printed with the patterns you see on the box. There is also some texture on the printed sides that gives some nice 3D texture to what is otherwise flat sides.

Orc Starting Team

20/07/201911/04/2016 by jbarton11

With the recently completed Blitzers I’ve now finished with my starting Orc team. I’ve got a few more things to paint (a couple of Goblins, a Troll and a Star Player (w/ Chainsaw), but I’m going to take a little break from BloodBowl and paint some other stuff. I’ll end this little series with a … Read more

Orc Blitzers

20/07/201909/04/2016 by jbarton11

Blitzers done. The colours are exactly the same as used on the linemen I painted earlier. These and the Black Orcs are my favourites, although that could soon change when I paint my Troll.

More Armada fighters

20/07/201929/03/2016 by jbarton11

Just a quick little post with a few more pictures of my Armada fighters. The first thing I’ve done is added a wash to the X-Wings. I think this is a significant improvement.

My Twatifaux – Day 2

20/07/201915/03/2016 by jbarton11

Where will our illustrious hero Ramos end up. Will he be recalled for the ages as a freedom fighter who fought oppression, or as a terrorist who tried to bring down the beautiful society crafted by the guild. Read on for more disorganized Malifaux experience ramblings.

My Twatifaux – Day 1

20/07/201913/03/2016 by jbarton11

I’m playing in Twatifaux this weekend. It’s my first Malifaux tournament and it will end up doubling the number of Malifaux games I’ve played from 5 to 11. Before starting I’m going to note a couple of things.

Brass Arachnid

20/07/201929/02/2016 by jbarton11

There’s not a huge number of colours on this model. It’s mainly about modulating the colours. Again blue is a feature of the flame to tie it together with the other models (in particular the Electric Creation). The filters applied to the body were dilute and applied unevenly; the intent is to give some colour variation. The brown makes the pale yellow metallic richer. The brown blue wash hints at oxidized brass and adds some more depth and interest (in particular in some of the recesses).

Electrical Creation

20/07/201927/02/2016 by jbarton11

I’ve shifted from Bloodbowl to Malifaux for a little bit. I’ve got a bye in Bloodbowl so it will be a few weeks until I play again. While, in just 3 short weeks I am playing in a Malifaux tournament (Twatifaux). As a result I want to get as much painted as possible so as to give me variety in what I run. This little guy doesn’t spend long on the board to be frank. I tend to be killing him in order to create a scrap marker that then starts my Steam Arachnid engine. Still, one day I might keep him round past turn 1.

Steam Arachnid Swarm

20/07/201925/02/2016 by jbarton11

I put 3 individual Steam Arachnids up earlier, and when I was looking for colours I noticed a couple of things missing. I’ve now painted a swarm and a little trial and error cleared up the rest of the recipe.

Orc Throwers

20/07/201913/02/2016 by jbarton11

Again most of the colours match with the linemen I painted earlier. One difference you might note is that the numbers are there. I finally found some numbers I was happy with, and after patiently waiting I’ve got them. I’ve gone back and added the numbers to the other finished guys, but I don’t think it’s worth pictures.

Black Orc Blockers

20/07/201902/02/2016 by jbarton11

Some more progress with my Orcs, the Black Orc Blockers are now done. Again, I’m happy with how these are turning out; I’ve got some momentum going on with these guys.

The colours are, in large, the same as the linemen. The main difference is I used a darker skin tone on the blockers. Firstly to add a little visual interest and also to help when playing (it makes it easy for me and my opponent to identify the different player types).

Orc Linemen

20/07/201928/12/2015 by jbarton11

Another new system? No, this system has been round for years…

My scheme is based on the Penn State University uniform: dark blue and white. Penn State was where I did my post graduate education and it seemed a good enough colour scheme to try on my orcs. The green of their skin offsets nicely and I felt like the challenge of white, but not too much white. For those who don’t follow US college football, this is what I’m going for:

Ramos

20/07/201922/12/2015 by jbarton11

Another Malifaux figure done. This scheme is more like the box art, but I wanted to make the coat a little more of a sea blue colour to it. I’m going with a blue theme for this crew. It’s the Arcanist colour and I think it suits Ramos. I’ve used the same colour on the baby arachnid he’s holding that I used on the larger Arachnids that I posted earlier. Again blue to tie it all together.

Joss

20/07/201921/11/2015 by jbarton11

Continuing my journey into Malifaux I spent a heap of time painting a bunch of bases using the same colours as the Arachnids, and now it’s on to actually painting some figures. I’ve started with Joss as he’s got a nice large area of easy to access muscular skin and I wanted to try a couple of skin techniques I’ve had bouncing around in my head for a while.

Gotham City Telephone Booth

01/05/202428/10/2015 by jbarton11

Batman week continues with another scenery item. Our simplest piece yet – the Gotham Phone Booth. Sure it’s not much to look at, but it was a fair bit of work to put together. I had a couple of issues with this model. The main one being that it hadn’t been cut through all the way; it wasn’t too bad, but it took a fair bit of work to get the pieces out and clean up. The other issue is that there is an acrylic box that goes on the inside. This is made up of 4 sheets of 3mm thick acrylic and it’s just a little too big. As a result it had to be filed down to get it to fit. Neither of these was a big deal, but it did mean it took about as long to put together as the SWAT van and it’s a fraction the size.

SWAT Van

01/05/202427/10/2015 by jbarton11

The good people at Knight Models were generous enough to send a few terrain pieces for use at PAX Australia. While most of these are being assembled by Mind Games Melbourne (who are helping me out). One of the items I am assembling is Knight Model’s SWAT Van. This model is laser cut from 3mm MDF and went together really easy. I smoothed out the edges with some Squadron Green putty and added clear plastic sheet windows (old blister packaging). Aside from that it’s pretty much just been assembled and painted straight from the kit.

Joker

01/05/202426/10/2015 by jbarton11

Probably the last miniature I’ll get done for PAX. I’m quite happy with how he turned out. He is bright.

SWAT

20/07/201922/10/2015 by jbarton11

Told you it’s been productive: I’ve finished 2 out of the 3 SWAT miniatures. Unfortunately I didn’t note the colours down so they’re lost to history.

Commissioner Gordon

20/07/201921/10/2015 by jbarton11

There’s been a little Batman progress over the last few days. The impending PAX deadline (end of October) has brought these guys to the front of the queue. Where better to start than a BFF for Batman?

I went for a fairly standard look for Commissioner Gordon: charcoal suit, light blue shirt, blue tie and a brown overcoat.

ADF Helicopters

20/07/201930/08/2015 by jbarton11

I’ve made some progress with my Australian Helos: a couple of MRH Taipans (NH-90 transport helos) and ARH Tigers (Eurocopter Tigers). The ADF use a 3 colour camouflage scheme and painting it has been a welcome change from the modern US schemes which are just one or two colours. The only painful part is the colour patterns are consistent between helicopters. I’ve tried to reproduce this, but obviously at 3mm it’s almost impossible to be precise.

First the Tigers – I did 7 of these (I broke the tail off one, and I don’t think I’d ever run all of them).

Steam Arachnids

20/07/201909/08/2015 by jbarton11

Another voyage into a completely different system. This week it’s Malifaux by Wyrd Games. First off I want to say I’ve never really given plastics much thought; I guess I was a little old school and hadn’t really moved on from metals. The quality of Dust’s figures hadn’t really sold me either: great vehicles, but soft detailed infantry. However, I’m in love with the Malifaux plastics. They’re on a par with the Knight Models Batman miniatures, but because they’re plastic they’re able to be much thinner without bending or breaking.

Painted Catwoman

20/07/201912/07/2015 by jbarton11

My progress with Batman miniatures has been painfully slow. Which is really a little sad, as they are spectacular miniatures and do paint up very nicely. Maybe that’s why – I do tend to paint them pretty carefully and slowly.

However, I have finished another one. I’m sure you’ll recognize Catwoman, and while there aren’t a thousand colours on there, she did take a fair bit of effort. It was well worth all of it, and I’m stoked with how she’s turned out. I think I’m happier with her than Batman.

X-Wings

01/05/202427/06/2015 by jbarton11

I’ve been a bit negligent of the blog for a little while. I’ve been doing hobby stuff, just not posting. Anyway, this is just a quick post of the X-Wings from the Star Wars Armada core set. I don’t plan on playing much of the Rebels, but I thought I’d paint these up. And, although not as good as Rule37 painted X-Wings, I’m happy with how they turned out. I’m not sure what the next blog post will be, I’ve got a worse than usual case of gamer A.D.D. at the moment.

Star Wars Armada Fleet Tool

20/07/201909/05/2015 by jbarton11

It’s been a productive time in Nanotank labs over the last couple of weeks. Almost no miniatures have been painted, but a couple of other miniature related projects have progressed nicely. The first one is a fleet builder for Star Wars Armada that I’ve called swaft. I’m a fan of minimalist interfaces so it’s fairly … Read more

Tie Fighters

20/07/201928/04/2015 by jbarton11

Star Wars Armada is the latest high buzz miniatures game to come from Fantasy Flight Games. I’ve avoided getting into the other Star Wars title, but I’ve been looking for a playable capital ship game and I’ve got a lot of time for FFG’s writers and editors. As a result I’ve given this game a go, and I’ve got to say I’m very impressed. However, this post is not a review of the game, rather a short post about how I painted my Tie Fighters.

US Army Apache Helicopters

20/07/201926/04/2015 by jbarton11

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. I guess with ANZAC day having just passed it should be something more Australian, but US Army count as an ally. Moving on, I’ve painted a couple of Apache gunships. Overall I’m quite happy with these. I’ve moved away from the black windows as I think this would turn the whole model into one very dark blob. The window adds a bit of visual interest and I’ve added it to a couple of other 3mm models that will be added over the next couple of weeks.

10mm Monorail

01/05/202421/03/2015 by jbarton11

I’ve been working on a few terrain pieces the last couple of weeks in preparation for Conquest 2015 where I’m running a tournament. One of the scenarios I’m planning on running is Moving Target which require a monorail/train to act as the moving target. Hawk Wargames sell a Monorail that fits in perfectly with the Art Deco vibe of the buildings. I wanted something fairly modern looking and not too bright – public transport is usually fairly subtly coloured. I spent a bit of time browsing various real world liveries and eventually settled on a two-tone grey scheme with red accents. A bit of time with the airbrush, masking tape and brush provided me with the following.

Dropzone Commander Tournament

01/05/202410/03/2015 by jbarton11

I’m running a Dropzone Commander tournament on the 5-APR-2015. If you’re in Melbourne (Australia) and interested in a game of Dropzone Commander then head on down to Melbourne High School and participate in Melbourne’s inaugural Dropzone Commander tournament. More details can are on a dedicated Reconquest 2015 page. Signup is available at the Conquest website. … Read more

ADF F/A-18F Super Hornets

01/05/202409/03/2015 by jbarton11

I’ve made a little progress on my Australian Hind Commander strike force. No actual Helos yet, but I started with something simple. Australian F/A-18s are painted in a very similar scheme to the U.S. versions. The colours I used were: Top-side: USAF Medium Grey (VMA 71.120) Under-side: USAF Light Grey (VMA 71.121) Canopy: Dark Sea … Read more

3mm Egyptian T-55 Armoured Brigade

20/07/201903/03/2015 by jbarton11

Another chunk of 3mm progress. And while not quite a full Brigade, there are 3 battalions of T-55s. First a couple of pictures of individual bases.

3mm Israeli Isherman Battalion

20/07/201917/02/2015 by jbarton11

It’s been quite the productive week, the last of the models I’ve recently finished is an Israeli Isherman M51 Battalion for Modern Spearhead. One thing I like about the Israelis is that you don’t need to paint huge numbers; I’ve got a huge number of Egyptian T-55s that will take a fair while to finish.

First I’ve got the commander: the rules just have him on the same base as the others. However, I’ve decided to base them very differently on 20mm discs. It makes them nice and distinct, without requiring a heap of work on a little diorama.

28mm Camel Cavalry

20/07/201917/02/2015 by jbarton11

Another random project I’ve been working on. These were a Christmas present from my better half. These are 28mm Camel Cavalry for Gripping Beast’s Saga Crescent & Cross. Crescent & Cross takes Saga from the Dark Ages to the Crusades. Given my enjoyment of factions that have a certain self destructive capacity to them, who better than the Mutatawwi’a; the Mutatawwi’a have a mechanic where they can martyr their own figures to gain special abilities.

My progress with these has been pretty slow, but I did start with the biggest miniatures. Who doesn’t love camels?

6mm Sho’ts

01/05/202415/02/2015 by jbarton11

I’ve been a bit inattentive here of late; the reason has been a bit of progress on a number of other projects taking up my hobby time. First project completed is the 6mm Israeli tanks that first featured a little while back. I’d been putting off putting on the decals because it was a fiddly P.I.T.A. task, but I liked how they looked. I finally got around to putting them on and I’m really happy with how they look.

First a picture of three of them, the hardest decals are on the turret: these are a Hebrew character and a numeral that are really small.

4Ground 10mm Terrain Review

01/05/202429/01/2015 by jbarton11

One of my Cancon acquisitions was a couple of 4Ground’s new buildings for Dropzone Commander. These were a prize supplied by War & Peace Games. These kits come flat packed in a zip-lock bag and are made up from pre-painted MDF and thick card. 4Ground have used a number of different thicknesses and colours to provide some texture and depth to these buildings. Something that is noticeably lacking from most MDF kits, which have a habit of looking very flat.

Cancon Pictures

20/07/201928/01/2015 by jbarton11

I didn’t take many pictures this year, mainly as I was playing. While the playing didn’t go too well I had a blast – mainly destroying buildings which won me a couple of 4Grounds 10mm Art-Deco buildings as a prize. These will feature in a later blog, as they’re pretty sweet. Now, however it’s just a handful of pictures.

Test Israeli Sho’t

01/05/202406/01/2015 by jbarton11

A little something different and larger than normal. I think I’ve previously mentioned that I was going to do some 6mm AIW. The first component of this is a number of Israeli Sho’t (Improved Centurion Tanks). I’ve finished one as a test model, and I’m quite happy with the result. The colour is a little … Read more

E-7A Wedgetail – Complete

20/07/201921/12/2014 by jbarton11

The final step in this build was to print up some custom decals. I used Bare-Metal Foil‘s decal film. This product is a clear film that can be printed on with a laser printer. They’ve a number of variations with different colours and laser printing options all available. It was simply a matter of creating some images and then finding a high enough quality printer to print them out. At this scale even the huge markings on these planes are still only 2-3mm across so you need a good printer. I printed the following image, note the three different copies. I ended up using one and a half.

ADF Air Units – O8 Miniature Review

20/07/201920/12/2014 by jbarton11

A large number of 3mm tanks, trucks and Helos arrived the other day: the core of my ADF strike group. Rather than just showing some finished models I’m going to show some pictures of how they arrive and provide some thoughts on Odzial Osmy’s (O8) miniatures. The numbers in brackets are the O8 product codes.

E-7A Wedgetail – Painted

01/05/202417/12/2014 by jbarton11

Another bit of progress with the Wedgetail this evening. It’s now fully painted – all it’s waiting for is for me to print and apply the decals and then give it a good seal with dull coat.

Not much to say really. The main colour is White Grey (VMA 71.119). The details are either Medium Sea Grey (VMC 70.870) or my standard black mix (50-50 mix of black and a dark grey). Lastly I used NATO Camouflage Wash (MIG-1008) to give it some depth and pick out the flap lines.

3mm vs 6mm

20/07/201916/12/2014 by jbarton11

Another member of my gaming club and I are planning on doing a bit of 1:1 AIW fighting in 6mm. As a starting point we ordered a few tanks, including some T-55s. Seeing as I’ve got some T-55s that also just arrived for my 3mm AIW it seemed like a great opportunity to compare these two scales.

Egyptian BMP Battalion (1973)

20/07/201910/12/2014 by jbarton11

I’ve finished my first Modern Spearhead unit. It’s the core of a Egyptain Infantry Battalion for the Yom Kippur war. I’ve still got to add the organic mortar company, but I’m waiting on an order from PicoArmor that includes those miniatures and a heap of T-62s.

The structure of this Battalion is 3 companies of infantry each mounted in BMP-1s. They’re not big companies so each has only 2 stands. With my basing of 2 vehicles per stand that means 12 tiny little BMP-1s plus one for the Battalion HQ.

Dropzone Commander vs 3mm

20/07/201906/12/2014 by jbarton11

Just a quick couple of pictures that give an idea of the scale of a couple of the smaller Dropzone Commander units next to a few different 3mm miniatures. The two DzC miniatures are the Prowler (orange/green coloured) and a stand of 3 Destroyers (Grey coloured).

Completed Terrace House Hex

20/07/201903/12/2014 by jbarton11

I’ve finished this relatively small little project to build a 2mm terrain hex for use in various games from Hind Commander to Modern Spearhead. The buildings are from Brigade Models, while the greenery is made up of various Woodland Scenics foliage products.

E-7A Wedgetail – Radar Dome, Antennas & Winglets

20/07/201902/12/2014 by jbarton11

Today I finished the scratch building of the Wedgetail. The details that separate this from a normal 737 are the numerous antenna, bulges, radar domes and winglets that protrude from the fuselage. There are literally dozens of these, but at this scale they would be barely noticeable, continually break off and turn it into a little porcupine. None of which lend me towards adding them. However there are a few bits that need to be included:

Modern Spearhead Plans

20/07/201925/11/2014 by jbarton11

As well as Hind Commander I’ve been looking at a few of the other rule sets out there that can be used with 3mm. One that’s interested me is Modern Spearhead. While its intended as a 6mm rule set it works on bases that are 1 1/4″ square (30mm). This size base will work for 3mm as I can put 2-3 miniatures on the base to give more of a group feel. Each base in Spearhead represents roughly a platoon, so it should have around 5 tanks in it, but that will look like a car park. Before committing to anything I experimented with a few different configurations.

Painted Destroyers

01/05/202425/11/2014 by jbarton11

Not a huge amount of progress at the moment. It’s coming to a pretty busy period with a lot of work and also a lot of social activities. Both of these combine to mean not a lot of miniature progress. However I have some Dropzone Commander minis that I’m quite happy with.

The Destroyers are a race of cuddly teddy bears that the Scourge took over at one point and turned into massive, cuddly, weapons of destruction. I personally think they’re just misunderstood – not all 10′ tall creatures with guns in both hands, big teeth and scary eyes are dangerous. Anyway I’m quite happy with how they’ve come out: the bright colours of the weapons help to make them a bit more interesting than just grey and brown.

E-7A Wedgetail – Body work

01/05/202418/11/2014 by jbarton11

A sick day meant no traveling out to game tonight, but that did let me get a bit of progress on the Wedgetail. First up I removed all the bits I didn’t want on there: wingtips, landing gear and print. After a half hour playing with the Dremel and some needle files I ended up with the following.

Developed Terrain Hexes – Progress

20/07/201909/11/2014 by jbarton11

It’s been a little while since I posted anything much here. It’s been a case of too many projects on the go and I’ve not knuckled down and actually done much with any single one. That and I was demoing games at PAX Australia last weekend, which pretty much knocked me out.

E-7A Wedgetail – The start

01/05/202426/10/2014 by jbarton11

Mentioned elsewhere in this blog was my the start of my latest Hind Commander strike group. I’ve found my E-8C JSTARS enormously useful in my USMC task force and so I’d like to include another AEW&C asset in this force. They are also not typically available as retail models so provide a nice little conversion opportunity. My next task force is going to be an ultra-modern Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike group based on the Recon doctrine. The current AEW&C used by the ADF (operated by the Royal Australian Airforce – RAAF) is the E-7A Wedgetail which is based on a 737-700.

5mm Dice Frames Review

01/05/202416/09/2014 by jbarton11

Much to my surprise my 90mm hexes arrived after less than a week from ordering them. Maybe I’ve got low expectations provided by a life time of Australian retail, but I wasn’t expecting them for another week or two. Any way, I’m not going to talk about the hexes, because I threw something else random in with the order: 5mm dice frames.

Developed Terrain Hexes – Layouts

20/07/201909/09/2014 by jbarton11

My plan is to build some developed sectors using Brigade Models’ 2mm buildings. These will be perfect for any Hind Commander games and also any other 2/3/6mm Microarmour I end up playing with. One of the games I’m thinking of trying is Modern Spearhead, which uses 3″ square urban sectors. Now, in my last post I discussed my distaste with squares so it’s going to be hexagons. After some playing around I also found 3″ (75mm) to be a little small for what I wanted to do. So I ended up going with 90mm hexagons. I think 3″ squares to 90mm hexes is a perfectly reasonable progression.

Street grids on hexagons

20/07/201907/09/2014 by jbarton11

Hexagons are awesome: there one of only 3 regular polygons that tessellate (the others are triangle and squares). What makes them unique and awesome is that there are no diagonal neighbours. For example, each square has 8 neighbours: the 4 that share an edge and the 4 that share a corner. What makes the diagonals difficult is that there not the same distance away as the edge neighbours. If you’re trying to move around a square grid then you need to have rules that deal with diagonal movement and that’s messy. However for hexagons there’s no such issue: each hexagon is adjacent to 6 others and there are no diagonals.

Dropzone Commander – AA Unit Analysis I

20/07/201916/08/2014 by jbarton11

Unfortunately I’ve been sick all week so there’s been no painting. Next week is also going to be lousy for painting as works sending me to NZ. However, I’ve been doing some more playing with Dropzone Commander unit statistics. This time, I’ve compared the core AA units for each faction: the UCM Rapier, the PHR Phobos, the Scourge Reaper and the Shaltari Kukri.

Dropzone Commander – Sabre vs Katana Analysis

01/05/202410/08/2014 by jbarton11

In a previous life I did a lot of mathematics, and sometimes I turn this to productive use. Other times I turn it towards miniature gaming. Now, when a lot of people try to analyse games they typically calculate the expectation for an outcome and compare that. Expectation is one way of looking at probability, particularly if you run a casino or lottery. However, if your experience of the probability is going to be a couple of hundred events (like in a game of something) then it’s awful. As guess what – the expectation is unlikely to come true. Some examples of the failure of expectation: a dice roll gives you 3.5, your pay-off from the lottery is about 50c for every $ you put in and everyone has 1 testicle. What we’re going to look at is the probability of what you want happening, which is harder to calculate, but much more useful.

Sohei – 3x Warrior Monks

01/05/202406/08/2014 by jbarton11

Finished these a couple of days ago. It’s 3 Naginata armed Sohei warriors for Ronin. I’m happy with the painting on these. Nothing too flash, but a decent table-top job. The figures are by North Star Military Figures, and are decent, but a little out of proportion in places. The hands and feet are huge, … Read more

USMC Transport Helos

20/07/201929/07/2014 by jbarton11

Just a quick update with another batch of USMC helos. There won’t be many more after this, I think the final piece of this force I’ll put together will be a few more AH-1Zs to round out a full strike group. However, with these 5 freshly painted helos I’ve got a fair amount of transport capacity.

First a trio of medium lift helos. The old CH-46 is still flown by the USMC, but is being replaced by the V-22 Osprey. I’ve not found a model of the Osprey I like yet, so this will remain my medium lift for the time being.

More USMC Vehicles

20/07/201909/07/2014 by jbarton11

This is the last batch of USMC vehicles and completes enough for an entire strike-force (rather than the half strike-forces we typically play with). The new additions are some HEMMTs and M-ATVs. The colours are the same as I’ve used previously.

First are 3 unarmed trucks (HEMMTs). Completely unprotected and pretty easy to kill, these are essentially just targets. However I quite like their look and they are big. The last picture has a AA battery to give some idea of the scale of things (the bases are 20mm wide).

Sohei – Warrior Monk

01/05/202419/06/2014 by jbarton11

I don’t do a lot of work in progress pictures. However, I felt in the mood while doing this guy a little while back so I took a couple of pictures of him as I gradually made progress. This is a 28mm figure from North Start Military Figures that they’ve released in companion with Osprey’s Ronin game. Ronin is described as a cinematic Samurai skirmish game. It’s a pretty cool, fast little game. The theme also invites bright, stylised miniatures.

Painted Prowlers and Intruder

20/07/201910/06/2014 by jbarton11

The last week has seen quite a bit of painting progress, with a couple of partially completed pieces put aside until after the Dust had settled. One of these projects was a chunk of Dropzone Commander stuff. The unit I’ll feature today is some Prowlers. These lovely little fellas are a small close combat walker that’s supposed to get nice and close to a target tank and inject hot plasma through a proboscis that it spikes through the armour. Really, they just want to get nice and close and cuddle with tanks – they’re just misunderstood.

Russian Armour

20/07/201907/06/2014 by jbarton11

I’ve actually painted some 3mm stuff. In spite of the name and purported purpose of this site is seems I do more of everything else, other than that. This is not everything, just a few samples of some modern Russian armour I’ve been painting for no particular game or game system.

First, some BMP-2s. I’ve got a full company in 1:1 (that’s 12 – 3 platoons each with 3 vehicles, a company commander and 2 vehicles for the MGs). However, here’s just a few pictures of a sample:

Littlewars Photos

01/05/202405/06/2014 by jbarton11

Just a quick post with some photos of our Littlewars event. It was a great day. Thanks to Nic @ Eureka for doing all the hard work getting it going, JB my partner in crime, Lord T for the Axis and all the other players for coming along and making it a great day.

Little Wars Objective II

01/05/202430/05/2014 by jbarton11

With Littlewars this weekend there has been a lot more modelling than posting. It’s been a little frantic with trying to do all the usual life stuff and also squeeze in getting as much as possible ready. However, I did take one quick picture this evening of the work on the objective so far. If you’ll recall from an earlier post this is meant to be a statue that will be what everyone’s trying to get close to in our King of The Hill style game. I’ll post some information after the event when I have more time, but it promises to be pretty cool so anyone in the Melbourne area should get on down this weekend.

Dust Walker Madness

01/05/202418/05/2014 by jbarton11

Progress – happy progress. I’ve finally finished 5 KV walkers to finish the bulk of the painting. I’ve also shuffled the platoons around to introduce Winter Child and reduce my painting requirements. Any way I’ll detail the new platoons later this week and do shots of each platoon together. Progress is also being made on the scenery, so that will feature soon. Lastly I’ll preview how we’re going to run the day and describe a couple of rule alterations to make things flow for newbies.

Any way, that’s enough waffle – on to the walkers.

First the KV-3. This variant is not so good. The gattling cannons maul infantry and light walkers, but so do most SSU units so there’s no real need for this walker. Unfortunately it’s not much good against aircraft (apparently due to the arms not being able to elevate far enough – that’s one Soviet engineer who is Gulag bound). However it is sexy and so perfect for a demo game

Little Wars Objective

01/05/202411/05/2014 by jbarton11

The Littlewars event we are running is a King of the Hill style event where the aim is to be the only side close to an objective at the end of each turn. As such we need an objective that’s worth fighting for. With the plan to have the fight occurring in a city it seemed natural to have a square with a statue or fountain in the middle and that would form the objective.

A fountain seems a bit dull, and while a group of children playing ring-a-rosie a la the centre of Stalingrad might be poignant I’m not sure how I’d pull it off.

Dust Warfare Mi-47 Helo & Heroes

01/05/202425/04/2014 by jbarton11

I made some progress this week with a couple of Dust Warfare units for Little Wars. I finished the Mi-47 transport walker that’s been the subject of an earlier post about Anarchy Models’s stencils. I’m pretty stoked with how this has come out. The stencils are great and I’m happy with the heavily weathered look I’ve gotten. The storey behind this helo is that it’s survived the winter’s skirmishing after a busy autumn and now as spring is arriving and the grass is starting to reclaim the battlefield it is off to collect a new walker.

Ruined WWWII Buildings – Complete

01/05/202411/04/2014 by jbarton11

I posted a picture of one of these buildings about a week ago. These are being painted for a Dust Warfare event at Little Wars that I’m running with a couple of others. The plan is to have an urban fight over the ruins of Zverograd (an imagined Russian city from Dust) and so we need ruins.

These are good little buildings coming as laser cut MDF. The one you see here is in 6 parts and all together are 22cm by 38cm. They’re the result of Commission Figurines KickStarter. They don’t yet have them up for sale on their website, but I’m sure they will soon. Any way on to some pictures.

E8C – New Photo

01/05/202406/04/2014 by jbarton11

This is the first project that really hit this blog and so it seemed like a good spot to do some experimenting. One of the biggest challenges with photographing miniatures is dealing with the depth of field. Miniatures have a certain look when photographed. Namely a small part will be in focus and most of the image is slightly out. This really characterises photographs of small things. In fact there’s a technique called miniaturisation where people take a picture of real life scenes and “miniaturise” them to make them look like they’re actually pictures of small scale models. Here’s an example I found on the web (sorry the owner doesn’t allow direct linking.)

Ruined WWWII Buildings

01/05/202403/04/2014 by jbarton11

I received some laser cut MDF buildings a couple of weeks back. These are from a Kick-starter done by Commission Figurines. They’re 28mm scale which is ever so slightly on the small side for Dust, but really it’s not very noticeable and without the height boost provided by the figure base would probably be perfect. These buildings are really just WWII, but I’ll be using them for Weird WWII, as I don’t play WWII.

New Dust Warfare Project

01/05/202429/03/2014 by jbarton11

In the interest of continuing to jump around projects like a mad man I’ve got a new project lined up. Myself and a couple of others will be running some demo games at Little Wars, which is a convention that runs down here in Melbourne (Australia). Now, where still working out the details of what we will be doing, but basically I’m going to need to paint some Dust minis and build some terrain. Fortunately I’ve been wanting to do these two things regardless. So Little Wars gives me a clear motivation and a deadline; two things that greatly improve my productivity.

Painted Batman

20/07/201911/03/2014 by jbarton11

It seems I am jumping around a fair bit at the moment, so let’s continue the pattern and introduce another line of minis. This one is by Knight Models who have the rights to produce Batman miniatures. Now, they’re not cheap, but Knight have done a spectacular job of sculpting these and the game around them is pretty good with a definite Batman feel to the combat. However, this is one of those ones that is almost completely about the miniatures.

Painted Dropzone Commander

01/05/202406/03/2014 by jbarton11

Another post and another change of topic. This time its Dropzone Commander (a 10mm Science Fiction game I’ve mentioned a couple of times previously). These minis had been sitting on my desk until I though of a scheme I liked and after a fair bit of back and forward I went with a Tan/Green striped … Read more

Anarchy Stencils and Dust Mi46 Helo Part I

01/05/202428/02/2014 by jbarton11

This is a bit of a double post. First I want to talk about a recent KickStarter I got in on. Late last year Anarchy Models ran a quick starter to get some stencils produced. Their campaign was successful and ended up unlocking 38 stencils. Their stencils are designed to be used as masks on … Read more

USMC Infantry Painting

01/05/202421/02/2014 by jbarton11

Note: this is a draft I had put up and delayed posting while I took some pictures. I just happened upon it and so figured I may as well publish. It’s taken me twice to publish it correctly too; now I have pictures. Quick little update vis-a-vis the USMC force that I wrapped up a … Read more

Pirate Commission – Part V

01/05/202411/02/2014 by jbarton11

Despite the lack of posts this project has actually moved a fair way along. Very hot weather has made spraying difficult so I have been putting off varnishing and instead just painting more miniatures. First, I’ve finished painting the Red Coats; there are 24 of them all together (20 regulars and 4 leaders) and I’m … Read more

Ke-Ho Washes

01/05/202402/02/2014 by jbarton11

After a long hiatus on this project I’ve finally made some progress. Not a heap of progress mind you, but still a decent amount. The next step after the base colours is adding a wash to bring out the panel lines, rivets and other details. I use oil paints as they have a long working … Read more

Cancon 2014 Pictures

01/05/202431/01/2014 by jbarton11

Not much going on this site, but I did go to Cancon and pump out a few pictures. These pictures are mainly of the Flames of War and Epic games going on, but there’s a few other things too.

Dropzone Commander Skimmers

20/07/201922/01/2014 by jbarton11

My chosen Dropzone Commander faction, The Scourge, use skimmers. According to the fluff these sit about 2-3 feet above the ground levitated by some advanced alien technology that no one really understands (Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”). As Dropzone Commander vehicles are not based I have, like most others, … Read more

Pirate Commission – Part IV

01/05/202404/01/2014 by jbarton11

After a busy Christmas I’m finally back at the painting desk. The first priority is to finish off this pirate commission. This instalment features a couple of strips of generic, boring pirates. I’ve tried to keep the colours varied with a mix of browns and greys with muted brighter colours. I’ve also thrown in the … Read more

Happy Seppuku Base Stamps

20/07/201919/12/2013 by jbarton11

Happy Seppuku manufacture textured stamps for creating you own textured bases. If you’ve ever dreamed of having something more exciting than sand on your bases, but are put off by the expense of cast bases then these might be of interest to you. They are pretty simple to use, in fact there are just three … Read more

Pirate Commission – Part III

01/05/202416/12/2013 by jbarton11

A little progress, not heaps, but a little. 2 more stands done: one of pirates and one of Red Coats. These are coming out well and are actually quite fun to paint. These are not quite finished, I didn’t put down a final layer of Dull-cote. It’s just the gloss varnish. They will look a … Read more

Pirate Commission – Part II

01/05/202410/12/2013 by jbarton11

Quick little update on the latest commission. Just a handful of these completed. The Redcoats got a little boring so I threw in a quick pirate for some variety. Great little models these from Rebel Mins and are quite nice little sculpts. I’m not at all happy with how the pictures came out. I will have to get some better lights as the exposure is just too long and there are too many vibrations in the room.

Pirate Commission – Part I

01/05/202405/12/2013 by jbarton11

Another commission has come my way. It’s 15mm again, but this time it’s pirates. This is just base coating again. I’ll start with a test model to see how it looks and I’m pretty stoked with this bad boy (OK – good boy). Colours used are the following (as much for my reference as anyone … Read more

Ke-Ho Base Colours II

20/07/201902/12/2013 by jbarton11

I finally decided how to go with the Ke-Ho and added the yellow lines. And, all in all I’m quite glad I did. I’m really happy with how the base colours have come out and now I’m going to give it a quick spray of gloss varnish to protect the model and make the washes … Read more

Ke-Ho Base Colours

01/05/202427/11/2013 by jbarton11

A little time with the airbrush has put the base colours on the Ke-Ho. It all started with a dirty green base coat (Green Brown VMC 70879). The Model Colours don’t work straight through an airbrush so you have to thin them. I’ve found another Vallejo product – their Airbush Thinner (VMC 71361) to be … Read more

Hind Commander Battle Report

20/07/201924/11/2013 by jbarton11

Ultra-Modern USMC vs Soviet Hind hoard For those new to Hind Commander I’ve previously posted a quick synopsis on the game. The battlefield was fairly unremarkable, a few ridges and small stands of trees surrounding a large town that was just on the Russian side of the front line to the north. A small helicopter … Read more

Ke-Ho Undercoated

01/05/202421/11/2013 by jbarton11

A quick little update (mainly pics). I’m undercoated the Ke-Ho in grey and then done some shading. I’m using a technique called colour modulation. This technique involves creating exaggerating highlights and darks in the early stages. At the early stage it can look a little goofy, as it over-emphasises natural lighting and makes it look … Read more

Ke-Ho Colours

20/07/201920/11/2013 by jbarton11

Some colour thoughts: The following colours are inspired by Battlefront’s hobby article on painting 15mm WW2 Japanese armour. I’ve no idea how accurate this is and frankly don’t really care: they’re just inspiration for me as the Empire of the Blazing Sun never existed and ball tanks aren’t a real thing either. Base: Green Brown … Read more

Ke-Ho Ironclad Assembly

01/05/202416/11/2013 by jbarton11

Didn’t feel like painting this evening so I busted out the Ke-Ho and started doing some assembly. I had already done a fair bit of trimming and smoothing the parts and a close examination had revealed a couple of things: I had a few air bubbles, but these were very minor and only one part … Read more

Hind Commander Quick Review

01/05/202412/11/2013 by jbarton11

Before putting up some game reports and other Hind Command stuff, I’m going to give a bit of an introduction. Hind Commander is a pretty small game that most won’t have heard of from a small Polish publisher Assault Publishing. This will be a very short review, in the next couple of weeks I intend … Read more

USMC Wrap-up

01/05/202431/10/2013 by jbarton11

I’ve finished and even played a game with the USMC forces that have been built up throughout the life of this blog. I’d neglected posting about these of late, the last minis painted for it (some OH-58Ds in olive green) I hadn’t even posted about. So I’ve just taken some pictures and thrown up a … Read more

Russian Su-27 Flanker – Base Colours

01/05/202429/10/2013 by jbarton11

I’ve had these on my desk for a while and I’ve been itching to paint one in a bright blue camouflage scheme I spotted a while back. For some reason the pictures of these are always done in some crazy camouflage scheme. I’m not sure if it would work, but maybe the point is to … Read more

Dropzone Commander Plastics

20/07/201920/10/2013 by jbarton11

Dropzone Commander, produced by Hawk Wargames, has been around for a while. The game is in an odd little scale – 10mm – that’s not particularly popular (6mm and 15mm on either side are quite popular). This game has created quite a bit of debate: it’s not cheap, it looks spectacular and is not the … Read more

Ke-Ho Ironclad Unboxing

01/05/202416/10/2013 by jbarton11

I’m back after a bit of a hiatus spent travelling: both for work and fun. One thing that did arrive before my departure was a Ke-Ho tank for Dystopian Legions. I haven’t seen much in the way of online information about this little kit so I figured I might document my experience with it. This … Read more

Police Precinct Commission – Complete

20/07/201926/09/2013 by jbarton11

Just a final few shots showing each of the units/types together. I’ve also put in a proper background and set the camera up a little better to give some slightly better shots. These disappear tomorrow, and have been a fun little project. They’re not 100% complete as the client wants to add the wash.

Police Precinct Commission – Part V

01/05/202426/09/2013 by jbarton11

The last few models are finished. It’s now just time for a quick spray of varnish, pack them up and deliver them tomorrow. I might, if keen, take some pictures of them all together with their varnish on. A couple of my favourites are here. The hostages/arrestees have one of my favourites. With the charcoal … Read more

Police Precinct Commission – Part IV

20/07/201922/09/2013 by jbarton11

Back in the painting swing of things now, 3 more strips completed over the weekend and only 3 more to go. That means I should be finished with these sometime next week. After that it’s 2 weeks on the road with the family and work, so things will be a bit quiet and any regular … Read more

Police Precinct Commission – Part III

20/07/201919/09/2013 by jbarton11

After more illness than I’ve had in the past 5 years (damn kids and pre-school) I’ve finally made a decent bit of progress on the 15mm painting. Not many words save to say this is now over half complete and I’m now slicing through them pretty quick so this should be done really soon.

Police Precinct Commission – Part II

20/07/201908/09/2013 by jbarton11

Not a lot of progress, a very bad bout of gastro laid me out for pretty much the entire week. However, I got back to things over the weekend and I started with some 15mm Police. As this is just a base-coating job: washes, etc to be done by the customer they are pretty plain, … Read more

Police Precinct Commission – Part I

20/07/201901/09/2013 by jbarton11

Just started work on a commission of 15mm miniatures. These are for use with Police Precinct which is a cooperative board game that was the subject of a successful KickStarter a little while back. While it doesn’t require any miniatures, the client is making a custom 3D board with 3D buildings, cars and of course … Read more

Dust Mil Mi-47 Helicopter

01/05/202423/08/2013 by jbarton11

Another Dust miniature, this is one of my favourites. The look of the miniature has grown on me; initially I thought it was a bit bulbish and rounded, but now I’m all for it. This look also fits in with the feel of Dust: there’s a 50s Pulp feel to the art and the Mi-47 … Read more

Dust IS-5 Heavy Tank

01/05/202421/08/2013 by jbarton11

I’ve got another Dust piece completed. For those waiting for 3mm, soon I’ll have another couple of helos up and then it will be a couple of group shots ahead of some Hind Commander game. However, for the moment it’s about the big stuff: 32mm. The Dust vehicles are pretty cool as they come with … Read more

Dust Winterchild II

01/05/202430/07/2013 by jbarton11

Winterchild is complete. I’m pretty happy with how he came up. The metallic effect has worked pretty well. I used an ink instead of the washes I’ve experimented with previously and it made things quite a bit easier. I needed fewer coats to get a nice colouration and the coverage is much easier to manage. … Read more

Dystopian Wars Aristotle class Battleship

01/05/202430/07/2013 by jbarton11

I’ve had a little bit of ADD of late: jumping round from project to project to project. An ongoing project I’ve had is my Antarctican Dystopian Wars fleet. This is one of those projects I come back to every so often to break out a couple more models, get them painted and (all to infrequently) … Read more

Dust Winter Child

01/05/202410/07/2013 by jbarton11

I’m going to step away from the 3mm stuff for a little while and continue to make a mockery of my title. Like many a wargamer I play a number of systems (too many if I’m honest). So we’re going to use this as an excuse to take a bit of a diversion (apologies if … Read more

3mm Middle Eastern Town

01/05/202407/07/2013 by jbarton11

I’ve been doing some other projects for a little while, including working on my photography. However, I have done one little 3mm project: a small Middle Eastern town to act as both a strategic objective and small piece of obstructing terrain for Hind Commander. After all, what else would you do with a USMC force? … Read more

USMC UH-1Y Venom

01/05/202426/06/2013 by jbarton11

Another batch of helicopters. The other light helicopter used by the USMC is the U-1Y Venom. Based on the venerable Huey, the Venom is a utility helicopter that’s primarily used for transport. This one is pretty simple, the colours are essentially the same as the Viper. The only difference is there are no missle pods … Read more

USMC AH-1Z Viper

01/05/202412/06/2013 by jbarton11

Finally it’s time for some helicopters. We’re going to start with the attack helicopters. The most modern attack helicopter the USMC use is the AH-1Z Viper. The Viper traces its heritage all the way back to the AH-1 Cobra used during the Vietnam War and shares a lot of components (but not its looks) with … Read more

USMC F/A-18

01/05/202404/06/2013 by jbarton11

Some more pictures of the USMC strike group progress. This time it’s the fixed wing assets. The USMC operates a large number of F/A-18s in both ground and air-strike roles. Hind Commander doesn’t require many airplanes so I will just be doing 2. The scheme is pretty simple and has been pretty consistent throughtout the … Read more

USMC Vehicle Painting

20/07/201930/05/2013 by jbarton11

Given the name of this journal is “NanoTanks” it is probably time for some tanks. My current build is an ultra-modern force for Hind Commander. Hind Commander is a miniature game focusing on helicopters. The particular force im building is mainly made up of USMC units with some attached USAF ELEMENTS. The E-8C build from … Read more

E-8 Build – Decals & Finishing Up

01/05/202422/05/2013 by jbarton11

Before applying the decals I did a pin wash into the joins on the wings and tail. I used AK-Interactive’s Grey Wash for Kriegsmarine Ships (AK 303) for this step. While not the intended subject for this range, I find this wash is good for light grey models and so perfect for the E-8C. Because … Read more

Brigade Models Buildings

20/07/201916/05/2013 by jbarton11

Just a quick little post to show how Brigade Model’s terrain looks next to some Odzial Osmy 3mm vehicles. Note that the buildings are meant to be in 2mm scale, while the vehicles are in 3mm. As such the buildings are a little small. However, if you put them in little built up areas then … Read more

Soviet Rocket Artillery Battery

20/07/201915/05/2013 by jbarton11

My E-8C project is on hold for a bit while I wait on some more decals arriving. This pause has given me some time to focus on another piece for my Soviet Hind Commander force. Namely, I’ve put together a Rocket Artillery Battery. In Hind Commander these forces are off-table so there are no rules … Read more

E-8 Build – Base Colours

01/05/202401/05/2013 by jbarton11

A bit more progress on the E-8 tonight: I’ve put on all the base colours. I used a grey primer as that’s what looked best when I did some test sprays on a piece of cardboard. Then came a layer of Deck Tan (VMC 70986). I use an airbrush for this type of painting and … Read more

E-8 Build – Colour Research

01/05/202430/04/2013 by jbarton11

The E-8’s paint scheme is pretty simple: they’re grey. There’s some markings and a couple of other bits and pieces, but grey is the definite theme going on with this one. Now I have some grey primer lying around that I could use, but that just seemed too easy. It also doesn’t feel like the … Read more

E-8 Build – Body work update

01/05/202426/04/2013 by jbarton11

The model’s been sitting on my desk for a couple of days and I just noticed a casting defect. The front engine mount is not like the others. I’ve highlighted one of the original pictures below. Not a difficult fix, a couple of minutes with some small side cutting pliers removes the offending metal and … Read more

E-8 Build – Body work

01/05/202425/04/2013 by jbarton11

As a first project we are creating an E-8 JSTARS plane in 3mm (1:600). The E-8 is a modern AWACS plane that’s currently used by the US military. There aren’t any miniatures of the E-8 available at the moment so we will have to get a little creative. Fortunately the E-8 is based on the … Read more