Finished: 3mm Terminator Detachment

Hi folks,

Another quick post - looking back I can see I've fallen a bit behind on my posts recently, focusing more on getting stuff done for the AHPC entries.

This recent entry consisted of some lovely Vanguard 3mm Novan Elite Siege Breakers and Striker Heavy Assault Transports. These have been painted up as 40k Ultramarines for my Calth project.

Three stands of Terminators along with Spartan transports. I can switch out the Spartans for other options as well, hopefully.

A nice little addition to the collection which also ticked off a challenge island location for the competition.

Finished!: Vanguard Miniatures 3mm Sci Fi

Hi folks,

Slight delay since my last blog post due to working on a new project and having a small break up in (very) rainy Scotland.

Before I headed up north, I managed to 'complete' (some small finishing touches to do) some more 3mm sci fi units that have been sitting on my desk since the start of the year.

These are for 'Dominion - The Wars of Tusculum Nova', from Vanguard Miniatures. I've continued with painting mine in a '30k' theme, with the Ultramarines being my legion of choice.

This batch of painting saw me finish a 'Mechanised Infantry Century' with three stands of infantry transported by three stands of 'Trojans'. These take a little while due to my painting of shoulder pads...

I've also painted a could of bases of 'Gladiator' robots:

And three 'Hammer' support tanks - the gun barrels on these needs a bit more definitions to make them stand out:

As well as some more 'Scorpion' tanks, seen at the back, and a command base:

Highlighting on these is quite heavy close up, due to the size of the models and the need to make them pop on the table.

Some of my collection so far:

I've still a lot to paint for this project, and thankfully it's relatively quick to do. My main issue is getting a new type of vehicle painted to use as a template for the others. I've one more infantry unit of three bases to do, as well as 'siege' troopers which I'll be using as Terminators and close combat troops both on foot and with jump packs. I've a lot of armour to paint as well and recently got some of the new 'Novan Regular' tanks, which I will be painting up as IG/PDF.

Slow progress, but progress none the less!

Finished!: 3mm Vanguard Stalkers and Super Heavy Tanks

Hi folks,

A slight change in direction for me this last week. I was (and am) supposed to be painting my German 88's but following the big game the other week I had a bit of a break from 15's!

Instead I focused on getting some of the 3mm Vanguard Miniatures 'Defeat in Detail' models that have been sitting on my desk for the whole painting challenge. Specifically two 'Dreadnought' class Stalkers and one 'Jaeger' class hunter/ambush Stalker. These will be proxying for different 'marks' of Reaver Titans for my Legio Presagios force. The Dreadnought's are pretty close to a 'Reaver Type' look, while the Jaeger is close but different - an older type from the Dark Age of Technology who's origins have been lost.

3mm Vanguard Jaeger Stalker

3mm Vanguard Dreadnought Stalker

3mm Vanguard Dreadnought Stalker

These models were entered into the AHPC8 themed round last weekend, and are now available to be voted for here! All votes in my favour would be very much appreciated (the voting panel is on the right of that link, but if your on a mobile or tablet you'll have to go to the bottom of the page and click 'view web version' to make it appear)!

I also finished off 3 super heavy tanks for my Novan Elites. Specifically 'Challenger' Super Heavy Tanks from Vanguards 3mm range. These will be proxying as Ultramarine Legion Fellblades. Shown below with an infantry base for scale! I think I said on the AHPC blog post that the Novan Elites are 7 meters tall, but they are not - more like 7 feet tall!

3mm Vanguard Challenger Super Heavy Tanks and Stalkers, with infantry for showing the true scale nature of the 3mm range!

A 'standard' sized D10 for scale!

The Stalkers with some infantry on the base along with a Gladiator armoured support walker. 

As above, but with a Trojan APC added. 

The force I've collected as a whole is growing, with the majority of the models from Vanguard but with a few 3D printed from elsewhere.

I've still got a lot to paint, including more Stalkers, infantry and tanks from Vanguard. The plan is to have a decent sized Ultramarine proxy force for the Battle of Calth. At some point, I'll have the Word Bearers to do (in their... white and blue... scheme!)

Finished: 3mm Dreadnought Stalker and AHPC 8 Prep

Hi folks,

Apologies for the lack of content of late, I've been focusing on prepping for the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as well as trying to finish off my first Dreadnought Stalker for my 3mm Sci Fi army.

First up, the prep. I'd already done some prep on my 15mm German arty, but needed to finish off the rest. I've not got quite a bundle of this stuff to do - which will be my Gunuary project as well. I'm hoping that the guns themselves will be quick to paint, but am not looking forward to all those gun crew!

I've also been prepping some more 3mm Sci Fi stuff as well as my 6mm Team Yankee British force. We're hoping to get some games of this (myself, Dave and Martin) in the new year. Dave has a load of Russkie stuff done, so I want to get some of my Brits painted up.

Linked to the 6mm stuff, I won a competition for a £20 voucher from Butlers Printed Models this week. Just a random draw for completing some wargames magazine quiz, but that has gone towards getting some of the BPM 1/285th printed British models.

The model I've finished is my first Dreadnought Stalker for my 3mm army. In the DiD universe these machines are operated by the Cybershadows, who are a breakaway faction of the Novans.

I've painted mine up to be a Reaver Titan proxy for my Ultramarine proxy infantry. I've not gotten a name for it yet, but the model is roughly painted up in Legio Praesagius colours.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. I used decals I had from the 40k Primus Marine decal packs I had bought online. I'm waiting for some other bits from Vanguard to see if I can add some banners and stuff, as well as some other decals which might help add some Ad Mech elements. This is one of the early prototype Dreadnought Stalkers, so has a fixed head. I understand the newer ones have variations in leg pose and head options. The models also come with a huge range of weapon loadouts. I've kept mine in keeping with the Legio - lots of precision weapons and anti titan loadouts.

Looking forward to getting some of Vanguards scout stalkers, and hopefully one of their newer style stalkers - a variation on the Dreadnought Stalker seen here.

3mm Vanguard Sci-Fi figures

Hi folks,

Something a bit different has been the focus of attention for me over the last few weeks. Having got a little sick of painting Germans... I moved on to getting some test painting done on a bit of a side project I've taken up. Specifically some 3mm Sci Fi stuff from Vanguard Miniatures, part of their new 3mm 'Defeat in Detail' range for a free rules set they have released (Dominion; The Wars of Tusculum Nova).

I've always been a huge fan of the 40k Ultramarines chapter/legion. These nice little sci fi figures proved to be excellent proxies for 40k vehicles, so I decided to paint up my force as Horus Heresy Ultramarines (although it doesn't fit with the game background... but they are my figures!).

So far, I've managed to get a few different types of vehicle done, and one unit of infantry. Just to figure out how I want to paint them and what the units look like.

The Trojans (rhino proxies) are based on the British 432 APC. At the back I've got Scorpions (432 hulls with sponsons and turrets) and Hailstorm Rocket Tanks. The infantry are backed up by some Gladiator robots.

The models are super detailed - I'd go as far as to say they are on par with GHQ. My Scorpions (the tanks) are the older style sculpts with fixed turrets. The newer style ones have loose turrets. The infantry are stunning!

I need to tidy a few bits up on them and sort the edging on the bases. But other than that I'm pretty happy. I've tried to keep a very Ultramarine feel to the force. The large bases are 60mm by 40mm, while the smaller ones will be 40mm by 40mm. The idea is to play really big massed battles, with lots of units on each side. As an example of scale of force, these models are worth 39 points... with the concept being that most games being 150 to 300... I've more in the painting queue, including more infantry, APC's and Heavy Tanks.

I've got lots more planned for these, and will hopefully be doing some during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which I've entered again this year. More details on that as we get closer to the start date!