Another year means another slew of brand-spankin'-new kits. Today we're looking at the kits made by any company other than Games Workshop that our writers enjoyed the most, the ones that they actually got around to building and painting themselves. After all, is it really your favourite model if you spent your hobby time on other things and never got around to it? Probably not.

Jefferson Powers

Terror from Below squad pack for Shatterpoint

Terror from Below squad pack for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. Painting and photo by Jefferson Powers.

My Model of the Year pick is the Terror from Below squad pack for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. The gigantic Aqua Droids alone would be impressive enough, but they are easily upstaged by Riff Tamson, AKA Clone Wars Shark Guy. The fact that the character only appears underwater could have been a problem when including him in a skirmish game, but the dynamic model makes it work. This was easily one of the most fun kits Atomic Mass has put out for the game so far, and an absolute blast to paint.

Rockfish

Bane (Kraken). Credit: Rockfish

I've basically only been painting Battletech stuff outside of my adventures in GW models as of late so my choices are slightly more limited, but for that I am going to pick a somewhat goofy option out of the BattleTech Aces: Scouring Sands expansion box which is just starting to hit shelves. While there have been some other far more technically impressive and detail rich models like the Peacekeeper, Thanatos, Gunsmith, Malice or the Thunderbolt IIC from the same boxset, the Bane with all the missiles is just so silly I love it.

Musterkrux

I love the Marid Sahar from Conquest (the Last Argument of Kings). The challenge of trying to paint a water djinn riding on a magical seahorse (made of water, of course) was irresistable to me. Trying to build up both within-element contrast (ie. shading and highlighting) while also defining between-element contrast (ie. visually communicating the differences between the seahorse, the djinn, her clothes, jewellery and weapon) all while working with a very limited colour palette (blue, light blue, dark blue, slightly purplish blue and a hint of green) was a great way to stretch myself as a painter.

Marid Sahar (Photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

Keewa

Eldfall Chronicles Bladebretheren Elite - Credit: Keewa

It's a very late entry, I only finished painting it a week ago, but the Queen's Blades from Eldfall Chronicles by Freecompany have been a lot of fun to paint, there's lots of character in them, particularly the supremely confident Bladebretheren Elite, just look at that swagger! I love the anime-inspired design of the Eldfall miniatures, in the realm of skirmish games, they are quite unlike anything else out there.

Neon

Wasteland Raiders for Fallout Wasteland Warfare/Fallout Factions by Modiphius

Fallout Wasteland Raiders, by Neon Goblin

It's been a big Fallout year in the Goblin household, my shelves filling up with chemed up weirdos and mutant critters at a scary rate, but if I had to pick a winner it would be the Wasteland Raider kit released in the Spring, especially the Power Armoured leaders from that kit. Modiphius's power armour plastics are some damn fine kits, and it was a joy to work with them in this kit, the Brotherhood of Steel kit and the generic Power Armour boxes. The regular unarmoured jobbers are really fun too, nailing a variety of raider styles from the Mad Max leather and spikes to greaser bullies.

Bair

This was an incredibly difficult choice for me. There has been a shocking number of very cool new kits out this year across many different games and miniatures companies and I've painted a lot as well.

My pick here are the Warp Miniatures Arcworlde Gremlins; they're still technically on pre-order but they were funded back in August so I'm counting them. These were some of the most fun miniatures to paint that I worked on out of the total 464 I completed in 2025 and that's no surprise, they make excellent minis. I reviewed them back in August if you want to see each model front/back.

The resin casting is incredibly clean, the sculpting gives each model an incredible amount of character, and paint goes on them so easily. I cannot recommend this company and its minis enough. The best one of the bunch? Solid tie between the leader hefting a turkey(?) leg and the little guy burrowing out of the ground with a very surprised carved face mask.

Arcworlde Gremlin Warband

Lenoon

This has been a ludicrously prolific year for me, the majority of which has been with new kits. There’s been some (a shedload of!) big flashy releases in the historicals world with several manufacturers in plastic and metal branching out into new ranges. My initial thought was the Perry brothers’ new Ottoman Napoleonic range, where every model is a real treasure of a sculpt, but ultimately it has to be the guys I’ve painted most of - the Victrix Medieval Sergeants.

Credit: Lenoon

This is a kit of an exceptional quality, multipart plastics done exactly exactly right, and I think represented Victrix pushing what they’re capable of, again! The textures, joins, folds, mail, options, value for money, all of it together makes a fantastic package. The big thing though is the satisfaction of a kit done perfectly. It isn’t a flashy kit, it’s not big and crazy, it’s a set of men in accurate armour that’s well sculpted and has all the right options and poses. It’s straightforwardly well done, and you can’t get better than aiming for a target and hitting it right dead centre.

Another Year, Another Kit

That's 2025, folks. All wrapped up in a neat little bow! There has been an inordinate amount of new kits from various companies out this year that it can be virtually impossible to keep up with; though we do try our best. Obviously we haven't hit each, and not even close to each company that makes minis, so tell us what some of your favourites have been that you worked on this year, maybe there will be something we didn't even notice! Not that I need to know about even more models or ranges that exist.

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Tags: fallout | victrix | shatterpoint | arcworlde | best model of the year