2025 has almost swept past us and with that we’ve been thinking about all the bits we’ve been getting up to in and out of the studio! This post is part of a series reflecting on some of the best games we’ve had, bits we’ve painted and things we’ve designed that we enjoyed the most.
With all the hustle and bustle of releases and that next big game launch, we don’t get to share as much of ourselves as we’d like, so we hope you enjoy sharing a look back at 2025 with some of the team.
2025 has been the year of the tabletop skirmish game, from Trench Crusade to Battletech: Alpha Strike and Greathelm rearing its’ noble visage on the horizon, we’ve been getting ready to roll plenty of d6s across any era.
Ed - Hobby Highlight: Trench Crusade, New Antioch Order of Saint Margaret
I’ve been far too impatient for the official warbands to drop and have been spending the last few months chasing various sculpts and scenery across Ebay and the convention circuit. Part of the fun of skirmish games has always been tracking down minis from all sorts of places that naturally cohere. I want to specifically shout out the sculpts of JK Remo and Bite The Bullet, who’s sallet-clad soldiers really feel like they belong together.
2025 has been the year I finally abandoned metallic paints. I’ve never felt like I could get a nice enough level highlight texture onto them and experimenting with non-metallic metals has been a great way to explore the dingy atmosphere of the trenches. It’s also emboldened me to experiment with freehand, which in turn has me considering returning to 2D painting. Maybe some fresco-clad scenery in the near future?
Chris - Hobby Highlight: Greathelm, Victix Medieval Footknights
Certainly not the most challenging work, but historically I have always gravitated towards that period of history (11th/12th century) and was really looking forward to making a customisable and personalised ‘warband’ of 6 miniatures for a game that looks awesome to play. As the black and white colour scheme I opted for is quite neutral, I decided to go to town on the bases to try and introduce some colour and realism. The end result has been a group that really fits the small team-based combat theme of Greathelm.
Nick - Hobby Highlight: Jontech Speedy 300 Laser
Working alongside a piece of machinery for multiple years often results in it receiving some personification and perhaps even a pet-name, and our laser cutters Ramon and Fraser are no different. - And what better gift to give their operators than a miniature, more portable version of the thing they work with every day.
Using photo reference and a few dimensions I constructed a model of one of our laser cutters from a styrene sheet, at a scale of 1:10. I used a piece of steel mesh for the honeycomb-cutting bed and 1mm thick acrylic sheet for the lid. I'm especially proud of the red laser head details and the miniature acrylic sheet set to be cut, including the painted red laser dot. Securely delivered in its own miniature wooden crate, it was well received and a refreshing traditional modelmaking project alongside our exciting 3D printing endeavours, watch this space.
That’s all for now! Next time we’ll take a look at what hit the table the most in 2025 and our favourites among them.
Written by Ed Cardall