Shiny Lads - Mark's Little Soldiers

For a good while I have wanted to do something with 'traditional' toy soldiers - spiffy uniforms and plenty of gloss varnish - but I've always found that world a little opaque, a little expensive and I knew I would struggle to convince any pals to get involved. 

A more accessible approach appeared in the form of Mark's Little Soldiers, which I saw initially in the article in Wargames Illustrated magazine. The models represent the armies of fictional eastern Europen states that emerged from the wreckage of theGreat War. Seeing the models and Mark Copplestone's fantastic board at Partizan a few weeks back pushed me over the edge and happily my pal Matthew was also keen, so we bought a few packs and got painting. 

My first batch is done (minus some markings on the vehicles) and consists of an infanty unit with officer and LMG, a mortar team, a transport truck and an armoured car. The vehicles are MDF kits from Warbases, and their toy town aesthetic suit the style of the miniature perfectly. I replaced the turret on the car with half a polystyrene ball and a length of old paintbrush, pinching the idea from Mark Copplestone's Instagram.  

Initially I thought the pale blue uniforms made the soldiers look like they were from some tropical republic rather than a Balkan micro-state, but its grown on me and I could always transplant them to Bermuda if I wanted to later.

I've got plenty more to do, loads more infantry, cavalry, a field gun, some generals, more vehicles and so on and so on. They're really lovely figures to paint so I'm keen to crack on with them. I've got a draft of some rules for a game to play with them too, so I'm looking forward to having enough models for that.

Cheerio for now!