Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 80: Reflections on 2020

Our favorite GW model of 2020!

In a special extended episode, we celebrate a turbulent, but productive 2020 with guests, Voxmorbus, Red Wet Skeleton, K0rdhal, and Modern Synthesist! First, each of us look back on our favorite personal hobby projects of the year. Then we transition into discussing Games Workshop’s releases during 2020 and pick out some of our favorites. We close out the episode by setting some hobby goals for 2021! Finally, we end by asking a question pertaining to Between the Bolter and Me, and encourage people to email/ message us via Instagram the answer for a chance to win one of two Guardian Spindle Drones from Blackstone Fortress.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Season's Greetings 2020!

 

Season's Greetings!

Between the Bolter and Me is about to finish its 8th year as a blog! 2020 has been quite a year, with the pandemic changing how we all interact with the hobby. It allowed us to focus more on our podcast Dragged into Turbolasers and develop a consistent, albeit small, streaming schedule! We want to extend our best wishes to all of our readers this holiday season, and are excited to see what 2021 brings!

Monday, December 14, 2020

Blitz Bowl: Halfling Linemen

The Bodimore Byakhees are getting ready to take the field!


Earlier this year we started playing Blitz Bowl, and I created a Halfling team called the Bodimore Byakhees. I finalized a paint scheme for the team by painting the team’s strongest player, the Hefty. Having worked out the scheme, I set about painting a few more of the team members, something that proved to be relatively quick (for me, at least), due to their small size. Having finished two of the team’s linemen, half the team is finished, so I thought it would be a good time to show off the models!

Monday, December 7, 2020

Left at the Bottom of the Garden: Toy Robin

The robin from Left at the Bottom of the Garden next to our Inq28 owl Bronwen.


We have long been fans of Andrew Rae and his creations on Statuesque Miniatures, initially due to his range of female heads for scale models. So when he began creating a series of miniatures representing an eclectic group of lost and abandoned toys with Left at the Bottom of the Garden, we couldn’t help but be excited. He has now had two successful Kickstarter campaigns expanding the line, both filled with many delightful models. In this post we wanted to showcase our favorite model from the second Kickstarter, a toy robin!

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 79: Blitz Bowl!

Season 2 is here!


In this episode we are joined by our friend Brad Smith and talk about Games Workshop’s new season of Blitz Bowl. We discuss how it differs from the classic Blood Bowl, of which it shares the same setting, and how it offers different tactical challenges. We spend a lot of time talking about the addition of Challenge cards, and how they define the game, giving teams multiple ways to approach victory. We also talk about how Season 2 added League rules and Ball cards, all adding more of the randomized charm inherent in Games Workshop’s games. We end the episode considering what is yet to come for the game, in light of the new addition of Blood Bowl that is soon to be released.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Conversion Corner: Nurgle Naval Officer

"I draw my strength through you"


It has been a few months since the last installment of Conversion Corner, when I converted another True Scale Space Marine using a Primaris model. Earlier this month, I created a tutorial for converting a smaller scale las pistol, and wanted to finish converting the model for Conversion Corner! I always really liked the naval officer model from Kill Team: Rogue Trader, aside from their gigantic las pistol and shotgun, and decided modifying those aspects would be a good opportunity to show how Games Workshop models can be strengthened by simply giving them appropriately scaled firearms. The model was converted to fit alongside Anvils of Konor’s Nurgle Militia, so I added a few subtle Nurgle elements to the final model.

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Odd Sided Dice Podcast: 28 magazine

 


Last week I was privileged to have the opportunity to be a guest on the Odd Sided Dice podcast, an excellent miniature wargaming podcast by Kieran Byrne and Ian Weighill. Being big fans of the 28 digital magazine, they asked if one of the 28 team would be willing to be a guest on their podcast. Being one of 28’s editors, and having listened to a few episodes of their podcast in the past, I jumped at the opportunity. We had a great discussion about the 28 magazine and where it is going in the future. I also had the opportunity to talk a little about how Between the Bolter and Me started.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Tutorial: Converting a laspistol

A converted naval officer with a better scaled laspistol.



Over the last few months, I have made a few tutorials, showing how to convert smaller, better-scaled firearms, including a Sister of Battle Boltgun, and a Space Marine plasma rifle. This month, I wanted to create a weapon scaled for human-sized individuals, and decided to convert a laspistol.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Tools of the Trade: Essential Modeling Supplies

Many tools help make this hobby an even more enjoyable one!


This is a modified version of something we wrote for volume 3 of the digital magazine 28. 


The miniature hobby is continually defined by the release of new, exciting miniatures, and most of our budget goes towards purchasing new plastic models to fuel our obsession for converting tiny warriors. An often overlooked, but incredibly important, aspect of this hobby is the tools used to build, convert, and paint these models. Over the years, we have discovered that purposely investing in quality tools can dramatically aid in the creative process and remove a lot of frustration and headaches. In this post, we wanted to talk about some of the most helpful tools we use and why they are important. The article will be split into two sections, the first talking about the tools used to build and convert models, and the second part talking about painting.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Blitz Bowl: Chaos Blocker

Violence made manifest.


We continue to be excited about Blood Bowl’s streamlined counterpart, Blitz Bowl. After Eric finishing painting a Halfling model, I decided to try my hand at painting a model from the Chaos team. I wanted a simple paint scheme, based around the Cleveland Browns. Fortunately, the process was rather quick!

Monday, October 26, 2020

Blitz Bowl: Halfling Hefty

Halfling Hefty next to a Human Lineman.



We recently started to play Blitz Bowl, the streamlined cousin of Blood Bowl. Although the Blitz Bowl box contained a Human and Dwarf team, I wanted to play a Halfling team, having had the team since their release. Although diminutive in stature, the Halfling models abound with character, with really expressive faces. With a team of only 6 models, the Halfling team also presented a great opportunity to assemble and fully paint a Blitz Bowl team!

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 78: Chatting with Witchhammer Studio about converting and Inq28

Witchammer Studio!


In this episode we have the privilege of talking with Jonny Lashley, a fantastic tattoo artist who creates some of the most stunning and dark Warhammer miniatures under the name Witchhammer Studio. We talk with him at length about his creation process, and how his experience as a tattoo artist has influenced it. We discuss a wide array of different inspirations that he taps into when creating and painting models. Despite not playing Games Workshop games extensively and being more focused on the hobby elements, we talk about how his involvement in various Inq28 events at Adepticon has spurred him into new creative ventures, like building gaming boards for the postponed Relicta Stellas event. We also get to hear his thoughts about the importance of making strong and impactful bases for the models he creates. Finally, we discuss some of his favorite hobby tools, particularly a Dremel rotary tool, and some of the types of paints he enjoys working with.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Blitz Bowl: Unboxing

Blitz Bowl!


Multiple times In the past, we have tried to play Blood Bowl, both in the form of single games and in a league, but always struggled to continue after a few games. Despite this, every year we get the desire to get some tiny athlete models and roll some dice with friends. With the COVID pandemic keeping us home, coupled with the long playtime for a single game, we had resolved to put off Blood Bowl for another year. This changed when we saw that Games Workshop just released the second season of their Barnes and Noble exclusive game Blitz Bowl, set in the Blood Bowl universe. Designed by James M. Hewitt, known for writing the rules for the new version of Adeptus Titanicus and the Hellboy board game, Blitz Bowl streamlines and simplifies the mechanics of Blood Bowl, creating a game with a similar feeling that can be played in 30-45 minutes rather than two hours. Using half the number of models of Blood Bowl (6 rather than 12), Blitz Bowl seemed like an obvious place to get into the Blood Bowl universe. With a Dark Elf team largely assembled, we decided to get the second season of Blitz Bowl and give the game a try!

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Tutorial: Converting a Space Marine Plasma gun.

A converted plasma rifle, for a true-scale Space Marine.




Recently, I made a tutorial showing how I converted a smaller bolter for a Sister of Battle model, having not been satisfied by the scale of the newer official models. This was a fun process, and I decided it might be beneficial to create more firearm tutorials, so readers could more easily venture into the world of making better-scaled weapons for Warhammer 40k. Having finished converting two Iron Snake Space Marines, it seemed natural to try to convert a Space Marine special weapon, and decided to try to convert the iconic plasma gun/rifle.

Monday, September 21, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 77: Chatting with Anvils of Konor about True-scale Space Marines and the state of the Horus Heresy community

One of Anvils of Konor's true scale Space Marines.


In this episode we are joined by Anvils of Konor, best known for his 30k Space Marine conversions. We have an excellent chat about a host of topics, starting with how he got involved in the hobby. He talks about how he goes about his conversion process and what encouraged him to start doing it in the first place. We also discuss the current state of the Horus Heresy community and what he thinks about gatekeeping and keeping the hobby a positive place for everyone.

Monday, September 7, 2020

Inquisitorial Arvus Lighter: Finished

”We're in the pipe, five by five.”


A few months back, I found an old Forge World Arvus Lighter, forgotten and unassembled in a box, and decided to assemble it. With that hurdle surmounted, I decided to do the last step, and paint the model! I do not have much experience painting larger models, having only painted a scale T-26 for Iron Sleet’s Thorn Moon project. Like that model, I really wanted to experiment with using more scale modeling techniques, rather than the more traditional ‘Eavy Metal style. When planning the paint scheme, I watched a lot of YouTube videos by the scale modeler Night Shift, and would strongly encourage you to do the same if you are interested in pushing your painting skills.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 76: Chatting with Bigbossredskullz about blogging and narrative wargaming

The Nestorian Infestation intensifies!

In this episode, we had the great fortune to talk to a good friend and long time inspiration, Bigbossredskullz. We discussed how he got into the hobby and started blogging and writing articles for Bell of Lost Souls, as well as, how social media like Instagram has affected this. We also talk, at length, about how he approaches and creates models, and how he puts great emphasis on conveying emotion and agony. We delve into what Inq28 and Blanchitsu means to him, and what other sources of media inspire his creations. We also have a great discussion about his Nestorian Infestation collaborative project with Wilhelminiatures, before wrapping things up by talking about Blood Bowl!

Monday, August 31, 2020

Conversion Corner: True-scale Space Marine two

They underestimated the force behind the hatred.


When I was converting my recent Iron Snake True-scale Space Marine, I came across an old bolter I had started converting out of a Primaris Reiver heavy bolt pistol. The half-finished conversion seemed to be a great starting point for building a second True-scale Iron Snake. The process was quite straight-forward, following the same procedure as before, removing many of the more obvious Primaris elements. Most of the effort for the conversion was in creating the bolter.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Blood Bowl: Dark Elves

A new season is about to begin!


We have never been large sports fans, but that has not stopped us from playing some miniature-based sports games. Interestingly, our very first blog post was for Mantic Games’ Dreadball. Of all the sports-themed games we have played, we always come back to Blood Bowl. Back in 2006, I got Bronze in the Open category in Golden Daemon Baltimore for a Norse blitzer. In 2016, when Blood Bowl was released after many years being out of print, we got back into it again, and even started a small league which we never finished. Now that a second season was announced, we are preparing to get back into the game. With that in mind, I decided to start assembling a Dark Elf team that had been sitting unused in my collection!

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Bonus Episode: Warhammer Preview Online Shadow, Iron & Broken Realms

More Age of Sigmar is on the way!


In this episode we talk about the newest set of model previews on the Warhammer Community page with our friend Brad Smith. We go through each reveal, talking about the upcoming Horus Heresy black book, the new Orlock models for Necromunda, a new Necron model, a new boxed game expanding Warcry, Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm, and some Age of Sigmar releases, including a new Slaanesh champion. We conclude by discussing which of the new products we are most excited about.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 75: The evolution of Space Marines, from True-scale to Primaris

A true-scale Space Marine (converted from a Primaris model) between an Imperial Guard and a Inquisitorial agent.


In this episode we are joined by our friend Brad Smith and talk about how there has long been a disconnect between the caricatured Space Marine models and the towering warriors portrayed in the artwork and lore, and how this led hobbyists to create true-scale Space Marines. We discuss some of the early efforts in this space, like Migsula’s Alpha Legion, and how everything changed with the release of the better-proportioned Primaris Space Marines. Finally, we talk about some of the different approaches hobbyists are currently using to create true-scale Space Marines, including the traditional method of adding spacers to the legs to older Space Marine models, and sculpting them from the ground up.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 74: The grimdarkfilmclub and our hobby inspirations

Follow the grimdarkfilmclub on Instagram!


Recently, the three of us were asked by ban__hus to take part in his grimdarkfilmclub project, where people select a film, book, record, and artwork that has inspired them. Our selections are up on the grimdarkfilmclub Instagram account, but we wanted to use this episode to talk more about them and why they are important to us. Many of them speak to our interest in realism, which is reflected in our hobby projects where we modify the scale of miniatures to reduce heroic scale. We talk about the following films: Jin-Roh - the Wolf Brigade, Unforgiven, and Blue Ruin. We talk about the following books: Roadside Picnic, The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun), and the Crystal World. We talk about the following albums: Liar - The Jesus Lizard, Bivouac - Jawbreaker, and Songs about Fucking - Big Black. Finally, we talk about the artists: Yoji Shinkawa, Alberto Giacometti, and Joe Keinberger.

Monday, July 27, 2020

Building a RG Eva 01

“God's in his heaven. All's right with the world!”

Over the last few months, I have started to build various Bandai Gundam kits. Not needing to paint the models and their impressive level of articulation makes them a nice change of pace from Games Workshop models. Although I have always loved Gundam, particularly the Universal Century, due to its exploration of how war affects people, my favorite animated series growing up was Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the series has its share of mecha battles, its look at depression and mental illness is was what gave it its most lasting impact. Therefore, I was excited to see that Bandai started to make Real Grade versions of the different Evangelion Units, the first of which being Shinji Ikari’s Eva 01. Having assembled two RG models so far, a Zaku II and Char’s Sazabi, I decided it would be fun to see how the Eva Units compared, and got Eva 01.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Adeptus Astartes: Iron Snakes Space Marine

Never break the chain.

To commemorate the release of the new edition of Warhammer 40,000, I converted a Primaris Space Marine into a regular true-scale Space Marine. With the new edition coming to stores this weekend, I wanted to get the model painted in time. Being a fan of the Black Library author Dan Abnett, I decided to paint the model as an Iron Snake, one of the Chapters he created. This also gave me the opportunity to experiment with Vallejo Metal Color acrylic paints. I had heard a lot of very positive things about the paint range, particularly their smooth application straight from the bottle via brush and airbrush. I was surprised to learn that they have a staggering 17 different metallic paints in the range, most being different silvers.

Monday, July 6, 2020

Miniatures Without Borders

The battle for the Emperor’s Soul.

This year has been a challenging one for many people, from the ongoing protests to reduce police violence and tackle systemic racism, to SARS‑CoV‑2 causing a global pandemic that has no signs of ending any time soon. With this in mind, Alexander Winberg, from the Echoes of Imperium blog, got some of our hobby’s greatest talents to donate some of their creations to create a raffle to support global public health. Specifically, 27 hobbyists donated models to this raffle which will raise money for Doctors Without Borders. All of the money raised via ticket sales will go directly to Doctors Without Borders. The raffle is ending on July 31st, where each of the 27 donated models will be randomly awarded to people who have entered. We donated a trio of Inq28 models that we created for the first Iron Sleet Invitational. If possible, we would really encourage you to buy a few tickets to support a good cause, and possibly win some cool models!

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Sisters of Battle squad painted

Darkness shields not sin nor schism. By our fires your will be done.


Although Adam just finished converting a Sister of Battle to have a better-sized bolter, I have spent the last month or two painting a small squad of Sisters of Battle that I started back in March. The effort was focused on trying to mix Contrast paints with traditional acrylics, achieving a nice table-top standard, without laboring over any model too much. All of the models followed the red scheme I developed with the first model. After finishing the final member, wielding an over-sized flamethrower, I decided to go one step further and also paint an Arco-flagellant. Painting the model went really quickly, almost like a single-piece metal model, as it is not inundated with details or and doesn’t have weapons to paint behind. It was fun using various Citadel shades to add variation to the model’s skin tones, like using Carroburg Crimson to make the flesh around his amputations look inflamed.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Tutorial: Converting a Sister of Battle Bolter

How to convert this bolter!

I recently converted a plastic Sister of Battle, with the main focus on creating a more reasonably scaled bolter. To help others do a similar conversion, I wanted to create a tutorial showing how I converted the bolter! While the conversion is relatively straight-foward, it is fairly extensive. Not all of the steps are absolutely necessary, however, so feel free to modify any of these steps as you see fit to create better looking bolters!

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Conversion Corner: Sister of Battle

#New40k


When Games Workshop finally redesigned the Sisters of Battle range of models in plastic, we were generally impressed with their ability to update the classic look while adding some variety to the models, in terms of corsets and different head options. Most of these options were not present in the initial Sister of Battle army boxed set, which we were fortunate enough to get a copy of. Eric has already painted a few of the models directly from the set, and after recently converting a Primaris Space Marine into a regular, true-scale Space Marine, it seemed a good time to convert one of the Sisters of Battle models to better fit our aesthetic of scale.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 73: Black Lives Matter and building a more inclusive hobby community

We talk about the Black Lives Matter movement and how it relates to the miniature wargaming community.

In light of the killing of George Floyd, we talk about the Black Lives Matter movement and how people can support it. We also talk about how it relates to our hobby community and how we can all work towards making the community a more welcoming and inclusive place for all.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Conversion Corner: True-scale Space Marine

"I, for one, was bloody glad to see the Snakes power in. Beautiful bastards, they are. I owe them my life and my soul." – after the battle of Ambold Eleven


It has been quite a while since our last conversion corner article, but with the recent announcement that a new edition of Warhammer 40k is on the horizon, complete with new Primaris Space Marines, I thought it would be fun to revisit my first primaris model. The model was actually gifted to me by Mr_Pink (from the excellent Modern Synthesist blog), and at the time, I just converted the bolter to be a little smaller and used the model to examine how it fit alongside other 40k models. To honor the new edition, I felt it was a good time to revisit the model and do some simple conversion work to make the model read as a normal, albeit better proportioned, Space Marine.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Bonus Episode: #New40k, or talking about the new edition of Warhammer 40k

#New40K


In this bonus episode of the podcast, we discuss the newly revealed edition of Warhammer 40k. We talk about a variety of topics, ranging from the new cinematic trailer, to the updated logo, and new models. We consider how Games Workshop’s stance on Primaris Space Marines has changed over the years, shifting from creating truly new unit types to essentially updating all the old traditional Space Marine models. We laugh about the new Primaris bike designs, postulate on how the new Judiciar is a 40k equivalent of Severian from the Book of the New Sun, and appreciate that the Necrons are actually getting some new models. 

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Oldhammer: Slambo

Procession of Ancestral Brutalism

Although I love plastic miniatures, periodically, I get the urge to revisit old metal models. There is just something so charming about Citadel’s old range of single piece metal models, from the awkward poses to the sometimes odd merger of fantasy and sci-fi. Years back I painted an old Ork Tinboy and a Imperial Guardsmen from the Rogue Trader era, and Eric painted Hess Poison Breath just last year. I recently came across my copy of the original Slambo model, one I had modified slightly with greenstuff to improve his boots, which had been set aside after I had experimented with making silicone molds with him. Seeing him again, still without paint, and after I had finally painted an old Imperial Guard model from years back, made me come to the conclusion that now was Slambo’s time to be finished.

Monday, May 18, 2020

Building a Bandai RG MS-06F Zaku II

"Victory is the greatest tribute we can pay those who sacrifice their lives for us! Rise, our people, Rise! Take your sorrow, and turn it into anger!" - Gihren Zabi

Last month, I rediscovered the world of Gunpla when I built a MS-07B Gouf model created by Bandai. It was a fun learning process, one that resulted in a nice looking model with relatively little time investment. The Gouf was one of Bandai’s cheaper models, a High Grade (HG, 1:144 scale) kit with relatively few parts. Taking what I learned, I wanted to try to build one of their more complex kits, seeing what sort of articulation and color differeationation the kits could have. This led me to their Real Grade (RG) line of models. RG models maintain the 1:144 scale of their HG counterparts, but have an increased part count and many have an internal skeleton underneath the armor plates, reminiscent of the larger Master Grade kits (1:100). I found one of the original RG models (circa 2010), a Zaku II, and wanted to let you know what I think of it.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 72: Chatting with therealbrokenfingers

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - Robert Oppenheimer

In this episode, we were joined with the talented hobbyist and YouTube creator therealbrokenfingers! The episode begins with us talking with him about his focus on realism and atmosphere when building models and creating dioramas. We discuss his priority to convert his models to be properly scaled, particularly when creating space marines. This leads us to talk about his venture into creating tutorials on YouTube, showcasing his unique take on the miniature hobby. We also have an interesting discussion about art and how it intersects with the hobby, talking at length about Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Painting a Jungle themed Imperial Guard

By endurance we conquer.

Two years back, I went through a lengthy process of converting more realistic Imperial Guard from Elysian Drop Troops and making molds for them. I was really fortunate to have the talented Polysmith create some female heads to go with the models, due to a relative lack of good options from Games Workshop at the time. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to properly paint one of these completed Imperial Guard models. With the increased hobby time I have had due to the current pandemic, I decided to rectify this!

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Building a MS-07B Gouf (1/144 scale)

Zeon!

A few years after the three of us started playing Warhammer 40,000, the Japanese animated series Gundam Wing started airing on television in the USA. This was our first exposure to an animated show with a mature storyline, one with a long-form narrative that evolved over nearly 50 episodes. It was also our first real exposure to giant mechs (outside of a precursory knowledge of them in Warhammer 40,000 in the form of Titans). Gundam Wing is a science fiction war drama that sought to humanize the horrors of war, which is something that Games Workshop often misses with its focus on grimdark spectacle. Despite being very involved in building plastic models from Games Workshop, we never really got deep into assembling Gundam models (Gunpla), partially because the kits were not readily available where we lived. Our recent interview with the Polysmith, a master of creating cool mechs, got me to start thinking about trying my hand at building one of the Gundam kits, along with discovering a Gunpla-themed podcast called the Cutting Mat. A few years back I experimented with integrating scale model tanks into Warhammer 40k. These model kits are a lot different from Games Workshop kits, containing substantially more pieces, all rendered in very thin plastic, a feature that Gundam kits share. I ended up building a HG 1/144 scale MS-07B Gouf, a mobile suit I always liked from its appearance in the 08th MS Team.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Assembling an Inquisitorial Arvus Lighter

“We're in the pipe, 5 by 5”

It is not secret that we at Between the Bolter and Me are not overly fond of resin miniatures. Unless all the stars align perfectly, resin models tend to be defined by mold shifts and bubbles. This is certainly the case when talking about Forge World models. And while this has gotten better over the years, assembling any large resin model from Forge World can be a frustrating experience, particularly if it was designed before the advent of digital sculpting. We have purchased quite a few Forge World models over the years, but have assembled very few of them due to the aforementioned challenges. When searching through my backlog of models, I found one such Forge World model, an Imperial Arvus Lighter that I purchased during the excitement of the Pilgrym and Curse of the Alabaster collaborative games. Pulling out the partially assembled model, seeing many of the pieces were warped, I remembered why it was never finished. I have grown a lot as a hobbyist since that time, and thought now was a good opportunity to finish assembling the diminutive craft, and then paint it!

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 71: Chatting with the Polysmith

Shaman - the Polysmith

In this episode, we had the good fortune of chatting with the incredibly talented Polysmith! We begin by talking about how he got involved in the hobby, before talking about his design process and how he is able to utilize his digital sculpting experience from the video game industry when he creates miniatures. We discuss digital sculpting and how to get started with it, as well as his experience with 3D printing. Finally, we talk about his current projects, including an imaginative cosmic horror for the upcoming 28 magazine challenge.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Painting a plastic Sister Superior

By the manner of their death we shall know them.

Earlier this month, I painted the first plastic Sister of Battle in crimson of the Order of the Bloody Rose. I was able to paint the model quite quickly, having used Contrast paints to do most of the base paintwork. This, coupled with the fact that there is a pandemic afflicting the globe, I had the extra time to paint the second sister, this one the Sister Superior for the squad! The painting followed the same template as the first, so I will not go into detail here, and just wanted to show some pictures of the completed model!

Monday, March 23, 2020

Ossiarch Bonereaper Challenge: WIP entries

Rogue Trader Era Eldar - Tony Hough

We started a Ossiarch Bonereaper Challenge at the beginning of February, encouraging anyone interested to try to convert an Eldar model using pieces from the Age of Sigmar Ossiarch Bonereaper model line. We recently finished converting our entry into the challenge, and have begun the painting process. Excitingly, there has been a lot of interest in the challenge, and we have gotten quite a number of entries! In this post, we wanted to feature all of the current work-in-progress entries, broken down into Eldar and non-Eldar conversions!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 70: Chatting with Unsupervised_darkness

Darkness rides black wings.

In this episode, we were fortunate to be joined by artist, toymaker, and miniature enthusiast Unsupervised_darkness. We begin the episode talking about his experience in the toy industry, working with Mattel, and how this influenced his art. We also talk about how miniature board games like Hellboy (Mantic) and Hate (CMoN) served as an introduction to the world of miniature wargaming and painting. We discuss miniature painting at length, talking about our preference for matte paints, and the strength of oils.

Follow Unsupervised_darkness!

And follow his art account davexdave!

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Painting a plastic Sisters of Battle

Blood is the beginning.

Plastic Sisters of Battle were released late last year to much fanfare and excitement. We were fortunate enough to get one of the army boxed sets, but aside from assembling a few for scale comparisons, have not had the chance to do much with them yet. Rather than start with a lengthy conversion, we decided to try painting one quickly, primarily with contrast paints. We have always been fond of the deep red of the Order of the Bloody Rose, and decide to paint one of the sisters in that scheme.

Friday, February 28, 2020

Ossiarch Bonereaper Challenge: Eldar Conversion Finished

The crime is life, the sentence is death. 

Late last month, we began our Ossiarch Bonereaper Challenge, encouraging anyone interested to try to convert an Eldar model using pieces from the Age of Sigmar Ossiarch Bonereaper model line. There has already been a great response to the challenge, with a bevy of atmospheric models. We will be featuring pictures of these on our blog shortly, but in the meantime, you can follow peoples’ work with #bonereaperchallenge on Instagram. In this post, we wanted to show the completed conversion for our entry in the challenge, a macabre fusion of many different aspects of Eldar imagery.

Monday, February 24, 2020

An Introduction to Sculpting

Sculpting can really elevate your conversions, giving you incredible control.


This article first appeared in Volume 2 of the digital magazine 28.

Conversions are a hallmark of almost all models created in the 28 style. Rather than building a model directly as shown on the box, the creator changes it, sometimes beyond recognition, to suit their vision and narrative. This endeavour has been made easier over the years, due to the vast range of model kits that Games Workshop produces, most of which are roughly the same scale, allowing one to mix together kits, or "kitbash." However, after building enough models, even kitbashing can feel limiting. At this point, the next logical step in the creative process is to try sculpting with modeling putty. While this comes with a learning curve and can be time consuming, it provides an unparalleled level of flexibility and freedom when creating models. In this article, I want to talk about how I approach sculpting, provide some tips for news sculptors, and talk about the strengths and weaknesses of different types of modeling putty.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 69: MÖRK BORG

The seventh seal is broken for the seventh and final time.


In an unusual turn of events, we talk about the Swedish pen-and-paper Role-Playing Game (RPG) MÖRK BORG, with our friend Eli Parsons. It is a rules-lite game that is heavy on atmosphere, putting the players into one of the bleakest fantasy settings we have ever come across. The imagery and setting were inspired by doom metal and black metal bands, many of which are specifically listed at the front of the book! We talk about how the ideas presented in the game book could easily be transferred to your games of Age of Sigmar if you have no desire to run an RPG session.

Follow MÖRK BORG!

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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

28 Volume 2 is Out!

Volume 2!

I am excited to say that the second volume of the Inq28/AoS28 magazine 28 is out and free for download! It has been almost a full year in the making, but I think it was worth it, as this issue is almost 50 pages longer than the inaugural issue! Like the first issue, it is filled with all sorts of exciting articles covering topics like terrain building, painting, and narrative events like Mordheim 2019. I feel really honored to have been a part of the magazine, writing an article about sculpting, and helping with the editing process! If you haven't go download the new volume!

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 68: Chatting with K03rnl

The many faces of K03rnl.

In this episode, we talk with Christof Keil, K03rnl on Instagram, a fantastic hobbyist that has made a name for himself by creating many fantastic and elaborative kitbashes. We talk about how he got into the hobby and how his interests shifted towards converting models with a Blanchitsu theme. We discuss his conversion process, talking about the tools he uses and how his profession as a blacksmith has influenced his work. We also converse about his experiences with live streaming and YouTube, as well his plans for Adepticon 2020, which include teaching a few classes!
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Friday, January 31, 2020

Ossiarch Bonereaper Challenge: Eldar

Rogue Trader Era Eldar - Tony Hough

The Polysmith built an Eldar Gladiator a little while back that captures some of the alien weirdness of the Eldar that was present in the old Rogue Trader imagery. Its elongated limbs really help to illustrate that it is not just a human with an oversized helmet, but a truly alien creature. Ever since seeing that model, we have wanted to try our hands at creating a model in the same spirit, but were not sure where to start. When the Ossiarch Bonereapers were released for Age of Sigmar, it occurred to us that they would be a great, albeit unconventional, basis for such an Eldar conversion. The bone warriors would allow for us to create armor that looked organic and ossified, as if made from wraithbone.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

A look back: Notable Hobbyists of 2019


Earlier this month, we looked back at all of the models that we worked on over the course of 2019. And while this is always fun to consider how we evolved as hobbyists over the year, our favorite thing to reflect on is the hobbyists that inspired us during the year. We say it each time, but the quality of work being produced by the community keeps getting better and better. The sheer volume of impressive hobbyists makes it impossible for us to acknowledge everyone, but we wanted to focus on a few that really stood out to us during 2019. We intentionally did not choose hobbyists that we have featured in previous years, so we would encourage you to look back on our selections from years past (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014), as many of them are still actively producing incredible work!

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 67: Chatting with Dark_Tech_

Dark_Tech_ helped bring Chaos to Gelida!

In this episode, we talk with Dark_Tech_, a purveyor of the dour and grim, and one of the most prominent voices in the Inq28 movement. We talk about his return to the hobby with the release of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and how that range’s versatility led him to pursue more and more adventurous conversions. His work with numerous Inq28 events at Adepticon is discussed, along with what people can do to get involved themselves. We also talk about his involvement in the Gelida: the Frozen Expanse, discussing how he followed up Magos_Buer's (Episode 63) initial event with his own.

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