Tamiya 1/35 German WW2 Panzer Kampfwaagen II Ausf. F/G

A couple of months ago when I was off work for a week I popped into my new local Hobbycraft store to see if it had anything worth keeping an eye on for a hobbyist like me.  Most of the store is full of stuff that was no good, but tucked at the back they did have a model kit section.  It was dominated by Airfix, but had a few kits from other brands as well and I came away with this kit of an early WW2 German tank made by Tamiya. 

This was my first kit from Tamiya and was at a much larger scale than my normal 1/72 or 1/76 vehicles, so I didn't know exactly what I'd be getting until I opened up the box when I got home.  The kit was your standard hard plastic, but very well produced with sharp hard details, it was pretty easy to put together, with mostly large parts with detail already moulded on, rather than the adding of fiddly details as separate parts, like on most Airfix kits.  I'm not sure which approach I prefer.  This is also the first kit that I've ever managed to make where the tracks can actually rotate after construction.  Weather that says more about my abilities or various kits I'm not sure.

It also came with five figures which surprised me (although if I'd have read the box properly it shouldn't have!) a tank commander and a few Germans in desert gear.  These are the first 1/35 scale figures I've ever had and they're huge.  I've only stuck one together so far and have yet to paint him, not sure that I ever will.

The main reason I'm not fussed about painting these figs is that I decided to paint up my tank not in the desert scheme, but in one more suitable for northern Europe.  It was a bit odd painting a tank in this scale as well and I tried a slightly different approach, with more shaded areas, you can see the results below.

Mantic Crazy Xmas Box 2014

Another year and another 'crazy xmas box' from Mantic games, you never know exactly what you're going to get, but I've always been pleased with what I've received in the past.  Mantic went and confused the issues this year though by releasing two varieties, a 'normal' one and a pure sci-fi one.  I was tempted to get one of each but in the end I restrained myself and ordered just the normal one.  I did this as I've just pledged on the Kings of War kickstarter and was hoping for a few bits to add to my currently small Kings of War collection.

 After a lot of work this became....

This

Like last year I'll break it down by system;

Kings of War

- 10 x Basilean Panther Riders
- 10 x Elf archers with command
- 1st ed mini rulebook and poster

Pretty pleased with this overall, the panther riders are especially welcome as they will make excellent allies for the forces of nature army that I've got coming next year.  Even the old elves are surprisingly welcome as I currently have the 10 elf archers from last years box (without command) on the painting table also for inclusion in my forces of nature army.  The 1st ed rulebook is also welcome, we played our first game of Kings of War last weekend, a 4 player game using the beta rules from the Mantic journal, this will allow us to use a slightly updated version until the kickstarter rulebook arrives.  As a quick aside on first playing we liked Kings of War a lot, I can see a lot more of this being played than Warhammer in the future.

A lonely, but useful Dreadball mini

Dreadball

- Void Sirens Keeper

I have avoid Sirens team, but I didn't have a keeper so a useful mini for me.

Some more stuff for mt Deadzone collection

Deadzone

- 2 x rebs humans
- rebs yindi
- 2 x marauder mawbeast bombers
- marauder captain
- Chovar pyshic merc
- 2 x battlezone accessory sprue

I have a lot of deadzone stuff, but, excepting only the captain, I'm glad to get more of the rest.

Any ideas on possibilities for the giant flea rider?

Mars Attacks

- General Jaret
- Henry on Giant Flea

I have both of these from my kickstarter package, so it will be conversion time, the general will I think find his way into my Imperial Guard army, but I don't have any ideas yet for the giant flea.

For the first time, nothing from warpath, not that I'm fussed, I suppose it would replace the kings of war stuff in the sci-fi version of the box. but that's just a guess.

This is available at £25, although I got it cheaper on the Black Friday sale.  I'm pleased with this years box, the value on it really does ride on weather you want the panther riders or not.  Of course not all boxes may include the panther riders, but that's the gamble you take...

Mars Attacks - More Martians & Heroes

Just a quickie today as I've finished painting all the minis now from the main Mars Attacks boxed set and a few of the bonus minis from my Kickstarter package.

Starting with the kickstarter bonus minis the Gorilla Tunga and his handler Craig, I think these are pretty cool, Tunga is a mean fighter in game as well.

The last three human heroes from the boxed set; Phil, Joe & Deke.

The second squad of martian Grunts

A kickstarter bonus martian Flag waver and the Master of Science heavy (with a minimalist paint job) and in the middle General Zar from the 'Attack from space' set.