Dragged into Turbolasers 133: Unboxing and discussing two 2026 Warhammer 40K models

Two models released in 2026.

Fate brought us together in the same location, so the three of us recorded a discussion about two models we purchased, an Aeldari Kharseth and Commissar Yarrick. We opened the models and passed the sprues around, talking about our impressions of the models.

Games with Brad: A new beginning

There is nothing that orcs like better than a good brawl (the two very nicely painted models are courtesy @wraithwisp).

Here at Between the Bolter and Me, my brothers and I spend most of our time building models and critiquing the scale of miniature firearms, such that we rarely play miniature games. In an effort to change that, I started to meet up with our longstanding friend and gaming buddy Brad to try out different games once a month. We have now been getting together for the past few months, playing games like Mike Hutchinson's dexterity-based orc brawling game Space Gits and @sovthofheaven’s mech combat game Flames of Orion. To inject a little randomness into what we play, we have taken to writing possibilities on a spin wheel and letting that decide what game we will play. Rather than discuss any particular game for this first post, I thought I would show a handful of images from our previous sessions.

Looking Back: Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition Gretchin

I've got a war inside my head.

Over the last few months, we have been thinking a lot about greenskins in various forms, from painting a longsnout, to playing Space Gits, to converting the Red Gobbo, to being hopeful for the upcoming edition of Warhammer 40,000, to finally be disappointed when the orks were revealed. With the devastating loss of John Blanche, we have been reflecting on how we got involved with the hobby, particularly with the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000. The legendary cover artwork for this edition features a group of Blood Angel Space Marines being assaulted from all sides by Space Orks. This piece of art pulled us into a hobby shop and led to us getting a copy of the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000, where we went on to paint every model in the box, including the 40 mono-pose gretchin. These charming gretchin and the more vicious-looking ork boyz were our introduction to Space Orks, and continue to hold a special place in our hearts. John’s passing prompted us to pull out some of the original models we assembled and painted. We were particularly happy to see the small legion of gretchin, and wanted to showcase them here, as a reminder of how we started this hobby, and hopefully also as a push to keep working on greenskin models in 2026!

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 132: An Ode to John Blanche, Games Workshop is using AI, and the state of hobby YouTube channels

John Blanche 1948 - 2026

We begin this episode expressing our sadness at the passing of John Blanche, a luminary that defined Games Workshop’s artstyle and vision for decades. We then touch on how just days later GW revealed Horus Heresy artwork that almost certainly used AI tools to give a Space Marine a sixth finger. Finally we discuss the state of miniature hobby YouTube channels and how the algorithm necessitates boring, but searchable content.