Dragged into Turbolasers 123: Chatting with the creators of Trench Crusade - James Sherriff

This is the second episode of a three-part series in which we interview the creators of Trench Crusade. In this episode, we chat with James Sherriff, the original miniature sculptor for Trench Crusade!

Dragged into Turbolasers 122: Chatting with the creators of Trench Crusade - Mike Franchina

This is the start of a three-part series in which we interview the creators of Trench Crusade. In this first episode, we chat with Mike Franchina, the artist and creator of the world of Trench Crusade!

NOVA Open 2025: Recap

Two Heretic Legionaries created by DOOMGIVER, as seen at NOVA Open 2025.

NOVA Open is a tabletop gaming convention held annually in Washington, D.C. Despite living within an hour of D.C., this year was the first time we attended the convention. We decided to go after realizing how many of our friends were attending, chief among them some friends who helped start 28 magazine (and now Trench Crusade). Ultimately, we did not sign up for any events or classes; instead, we wanted to talk with people and photograph anything that caught our eyes.

Trench Crusade: First Impressions

Cartography of Suffering.

Trench Crusade is a miniature wargame set in a horrifying alternative timeline set around World War I, in which the forces of Hell have been unleashed on Earth. Created by a fantastic team of talented individuals, including artist Mike Franchina (who created the setting), sculptor James Sherriff (who created some of the initial miniatures), and game designer Tuomas Pirinen (the designer of Mordheim), the game has attracted a lot of interest and held two successful Kickstarter campaigns. I have been following the game’s development for the past few years, but just recently played my first game of Trench Crusade! Dave Taylor provided all of the terrain and miniatures for my first game, which was fortunate, as I have yet to paint any models for the setting. I controlled a small New Antioch warband engaging in a skirmish against an Iron Sultanate warband for the game. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trench Crusade plays very similarly to other popular skirmish games like Necromunda and Mordheim. The game distinguishes itself by using a +/- DICE system that influences how easy or difficult it is to be successful with an action (like successfully hitting a target with a machine gun). Usually, you need to roll a 7+ on 2D6 for an action to be successful. If a + DICE is added to a roll, you roll 3D6 and choose the two highest to determine if the roll is successful. Conversely, if a - DICE is added to a roll, you roll three dice and pick the two lowest to assess the success of the action.

Dragged into Turbolasers 121: Talking about 3D printing

3D printing!

 

In this episode, we chat with our good friend Brad about his recent venture into 3D printing. We talked about why he took the leap to buy a printer and his experience with it. We also discuss some of the indie games the printer has pushed him to start playing!

Space Gits: First Impressions

'Ere we go!

I recently had the opportunity to play the miniature skirmish game Space Gits with a few longtime friends, and I had such a good time with it that I wanted to write about it. Space Gits is a game about drunken orks fighting one another and causing mischief. It was created by the game designer Mike Hutchinson, best known for Gaslands, a Mad Max-esque vehicular combat game. Space Gits is marketed as a “dexterity-based” miniatures skirmish game, which is liable to turn some heads as “dexterity” is not something you expect to employ while playing a miniatures game.

Photography: Nikon F5

Everything Falls Apart.

Over the last year and a half, I have become interested in 35mm film photography, starting with some cameras my late grandfather gifted me. In that time, I shot over 100 rolls of film, most using manual-focus lenses. I have come to enjoy the slower, more methodical pace of using manual-focus lenses and considering the best settings to get a good exposure without seeing a preview of the eventual image (unlike digital photography). Most of these rolls of film have been taken on a Nikon F2 (1971) and an F3 (1980), two of Nikon’s professional film cameras. I started to appreciate their excellent build quality, handling, and extensive line of lenses dating back to 1959. Having tried a few other cameras from Nikon’s professional line, I became interested in the Nikon F5, Nikon’s last widely used film camera before digital took over. Released in 1996 with the tagline of "Imported from the future," the camera was incredibly advanced, with a design that defined Nikon’s cameras to this day. The camera is even featured in the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The camera is easy to find on eBay for around $300, so I thought it would be fun to get one and try it out, knowing it could use all of my Nikkor manual focus lenses, alongside newer autofocus Nikon lenses. I found a mint copy of the camera from Japan and have been taking miniature photos with it, and wanted to share some!

Dragged into Turbolasers 119 : Chatting with Nemessos Miniatures

The Cult of the Lantern - Created by Nemessos Miniatures.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of chatting with Brian of Nemessos Miniatures (Rojasnoirlac). We talked about his approach to the hobby, including how he creates realistic, scaled models. We also discussed some of the movies and books he has been consuming recently and why he decided to make a blog.

D.U.S.K. - 28 EP (Fist in the Eye Records)

D.U.S.K. is a collection of experimental music inspired by the grim darkness of the far future!

Warhammer 40,000’s tag line is “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.” That phrase, along with the game’s oppressive bleakness in concept and imagery, has led to the coining of the phrase “grimdark”. The game and its setting have inspired hobbyists worldwide to create miniatures exploring the nightmares of a war-torn future, each trying their best to embody the nihilistic horror of grimdark. This inspiration has also captured the imagination of musicians, though this receives less attention on hobby blogs and websites. The legendary British death metal band Bolt Thrower famously released a Warhammer 40,000-themed album called Realm of Chaos, which included Games Workshop artwork for the album cover (my teenage self thought Bolt Thrower was far too harsh for my tastes, though I eventually came to appreciate the band as I got older). While extreme metal might seem like the obvious choice to explore a desolate future, other genres have been doing the same with equal success. Dark ambient musicians like Lustmord have been trawling the depths of cosmic bleakness for decades (Lustmord’s album Dark Matter has a song called "Astronomicon", which was created using audio from cosmological recordings acquired during space missions from NASA and other sources). Simon Heath's dark ambient record label Cryochamber abounds with artists creating droney music to score any dystopian science fiction film/story/game effectively. Heath even created a Warhammer 40,000-inspired playlist. Beyond dark ambient music, other experimental music genres lend themselves well to grimdark settings, merging elements of noise, tape loops, field recordings, and dungeon synth. D.U.S.K., a compilation EP of experimental music created by miniature gaming hobbyists, is a new example of music inspired by war-torn futures.

Photography: Using an incident light meter for better film photos

Prepare the Ground. (Tri-X 400, Nikon F3).

Miniature photography (and photography in general) has become substantially easier with the advent of advanced integrated light meters and digital displays that preview what the photo will look like when you press the shutter. These features, common on modern mirrorless and phone cameras (and DSLRs to an extent), make achieving a desired outcome more intuitive, since you can adjust settings and see the effects in real time. When taking miniature photos using film, however, things are more difficult. With film, you do not have the luxury of previewing the picture before taking it. Most film cameras have relatively simple integrated light meters that measure reflected light and estimate the necessary setting required to obtain what it thinks is a proper exposure (often trying to achieve 18% neutral gray). These, however, can be easily fooled when lighting conditions are not ideal, resulting in meter predictions that lead to over- or underexposed images, if you do not know how the meter works. For example, when using my Nikon F3 and Minolta SrT 201, their internal meters often overexpose images of miniatures, since the scenes I try to capture are dark and moody, but the integrated meter attempts to increase the exposure to achieve neutral gray. In the past few months, I have been using an external incident light meter to get around this issue.

Collaboration: Mordheim Chaos Dwarf painted

Miles drowned rivers. Seek eyeless dwarf. Ridden headless horse. Arrive reverse echo. Deliver skinless prize.

Earlier this year, I started collecting Chaos Dwarf models to create a warband for Mordheim. Rather than extensively convert the warband, like I did with my Sister's of Sigmar warband, I wanted to create this one using old miniatures from the 80s, leaning into the Oldhammer theme. After scouring eBay, I collected a group of six of the ancient models. Rather than paint the first model in the warband, we got one of our favorite painters and friends, Koltti, to paint it! We think that you will agree that the model turned out wonderfully! Also, make sure to follow Koltti on Instagram and consider supporting him on Patreon so that he can continue to create miniature works of art.

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Day 3

Under the Dice Fest 2025 was an amazing time to see old friends!

In the past few years, the three of us at Between the Bolter and Me have made an effort to attend more gaming events and conventions, although, to be honest, we have primarily been attending events hosted by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew. May 16, 17, and 18 of this year was the 2nd Under the Dice Fest, and Adam and Greg made the trip to Connecticut to attend! The Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew have been tirelessly promoting the weirder and independent side of the miniature-based tabletop wargaming hobby. They have been shining a bright light on hobbyists interested in telling their own stories through miniature gaming and those willing to step outside the scope of the game rules as written, or even create their games and miniatures, to tell these stories. Every event they host is a gathering of amazing, like-minded people who are passionate about their interpretation of the miniature wargaming hobby, and something we do not want to miss. 

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Rusted Demon

The inaugural Rusted Demon competition was held at Under the Dice Fest 2025. Unlike other competitions like Games Workshop’s Golden Demon (of which Rusted Demon cheekily derives its name), Rusted Demon is primarily a converting and modelling competition, emphasizing creativity and kitbashing more than exquisite painting. The competition is very reminiscent of the annual SmashBash competition held by Matt (totally_not_panicking). We wanted to document the winning entries so that people not fortunate enough to attend Under the Dice Fest 2025 could see the exciting miniatures present.

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Day 2

"No one should ever be caged."

In the past few years, the three of us at Between the Bolter and Me have made an effort to attend more gaming events and conventions, although, to be honest, we have primarily been attending events hosted by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew. May 16, 17, and 18 of this year was the 2nd Under the Dice Fest, and Adam and Greg made the trip to Connecticut to attend! The Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew have been tirelessly promoting the weirder and independent side of the miniature-based tabletop wargaming hobby. They have been shining a bright light on hobbyists who are interested in telling their own stories through miniature gaming, as well as those who are willing to step outside the scope of the game rules as written, or even create their games and miniatures, to do so. Every event they host is a gathering of amazing, like-minded people who are passionate about their interpretation of the miniature wargaming hobby, and something we do not want to miss.

The 2nd day of Under the Dice Fest 2025 featured this year’s New England Mordheim Open event, a competitive event for Games Workshop’s classic fantasy skirmish game, Mordheim. The event had an impressive 109 players battling over 54 lovingly crafted tables. Participants played three games throughout the event.

Gundam Artifact: Zaku III

Uncertain, Unwilling, And Empty.

Over the last year or two, we have been experimenting with Flames of Orion, a mech combat game designed by Steve (sovthofheaven). Last month, we finally converted and painted a model for the game, Dark Spirit, a mech that Greg has used in various forms for most of his time playing the game. The game recently completed a successful Kickstarter, prompting me to consider creating a small group of mechs to play in future games. Years back, I assembled a Gundam Artifact Rick Dias model, which is at a scale suitable for Flames of Orion, and I decided I could assemble a few more to make a Combat Unit for the game. This led me to assemble a Zaku III from their Phase 2 line of models!

Dragged into Turbolasers 119 - Part 2: Under the Dice Fest 2025.

Under the Dice Fest 2025.

In part two of a special two-part episode, we interview people who attended Under the Dice Fest 2025, a small festival in Massachusetts celebrating miniature-based tabletop wargaming. The festival was designed to appeal to those who shy away from the mainstream iterations of the miniature wargaming hobby, focusing on those who want to play the games on their terms, sometimes outside of the scope of the game rules as written, or those who want to play old games which their publishers no longer support. It is highlighting those who are more concerned with telling a story with the miniatures they build than with creating something that would be optimal in terms of a game’s rule system. A punk rock approach to the miniature wargaming hobby, if you will. 

Under the Dice Fest 2025: Day 1

While darkness and ill-tidings are certainly the theme of many of the games played at Under the Dice Fest 2025, the camaraderie and friendship on display at the event was just the opposite.

In the past few years, the three of us at Between the Bolter and Me have made an effort to attend more gaming events and conventions, though if we are being honest, it has largely just been attending events hosted by the Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew. May 16, 17, and 18 of this year was the 2nd Under the Dice Fest, and Adam and Greg made the trip to Connecticut to attend! The Under the Dice/Hive Scum crew have been tirelessly promoting the weirder and independent side of the miniature-based tabletop wargaming hobby. They have been shining a bright light on those hobbyists that are interested in telling their own stories through miniature gaming, and those who are willing to step outside of the scope of the game rules as written, or even create their own games and miniatures, to do it. Every event that they host is a gathering of amazing, like-minded people passionate about their interpretation of the miniature wargaming hobby, and something we do not want to miss.

Dragged into Turbolasers 118 - Part 1: Under the Dice Fest 2025.

Under the Dice Fest 2025.

In part one of a special two-part episode, we interview people who attended Under the Dice Fest 2025, a small festival in Massachusetts celebrating miniature-based tabletop wargaming. The festival was designed to appeal to those who shy away from the mainstream iterations of the miniature wargaming hobby, focusing on those who want to play the games on their terms, sometimes outside of the scope of the game rules as written, or those who want to play old games which their publishers no longer support. It highlights those who are more concerned with telling a story with the miniatures they build than with creating something optimal in terms of a game’s rule system. A punk rock approach to the miniature wargaming hobby, if you will.

Flames of Orion: Dark Spirit painted

Echoes Through the Empty Chambers of Heaven.

Earlier this month, we converted a model for Flames of Orion, a mech combat game that Steve (sovthofheaven) designed. It was an ideal time, as a Kickstarter is currently running to create a physical print of the book (which is available to download for free). It was also just in time for Under the Dice Fest, where we used the model in the Flames of Orion event, Beneath a Dying Sun!

Photography: Developing Black and White Film

A History of Bad Men (Tmax 100; developed in Ilfosol 3 [1:9]).

For the past year, I have been fascinated by film photography, having been introduced to it from my late grandfather. Shortly after starting to shoot 35mm film, I began to scan my negatives using my Nikon Zf with a 105mm f2.8 MC lens and a Valoi Easy35. This allowed me to pay a lab to develop the film for me, but digitize and edit the negatives myself, rather than paying for the lab to scan them (and often give low quality jpegs unless you pay over $20 per roll). This reduced cost while also affording me more control over the process. Despite this, I could not escape the feeling that I should also be doing the development myself too. My grandfather would often talk about how he used to develop his own black and white film and even had a darkroom for a short while. After doing some research, I discovered that the process is relatively straightforward, only requiring a single developer that can be used at room temperature (20oC/68oF) and a fixer. To my delight, I was given a Paterson Film Processing Starter Kit as an early birthday gift, and wanted to share some of my initial results!

Flames of Orion: Dark Spirit

Violence Dimension.

Over the last few years, we had the opportunity to playtest Flames of Orion, Steve’s (sovthofheaven) mech combat game. The game’s rules were recently finalized, with copies getting sold at Adepticon this year, but also available to download for free! The game is soon going to be launched on Kickstarter too! Each time we played the game, we used one of Steve’s mechs (sculpted by Ana Polanšćak of Gardens of Hecate), Dark Spirit. Over time, they developed quite a legacy and are even featured in a narrative piece in the rulebook. With Under the Dice Fest rapidly approaching this year, we thought it would be fun to create our own version of Dark Spirit so we can use them during the event!

Captured in film: In memory of Donald Wier

In loving memory of Donald Wier (Beep): February 21, 1930- April 28, 2025.

Yesterday, our beloved grandfather Donald Wier, affectionately known as “Beep,” passed away in his bed surrounded by family. Beep often encouraged us to keep up with our art, and was always eager to see our latest creations and offer his unwavering support. While we will miss him greatly, he will live on with us in spirit as we continue to follow our passions. We are so grateful for the gift of last year to connect with him over film photography, as we learned how to shoot 35mm film on his beloved cameras, an Exakta VX and a Minolta SR-T 201. During his 95th birthday, I had the privilege to shoot a roll of Kodak Porta 800 and Tri-X 400 through his Exakta, capturing not only his portrait, but also some photos of miniatures. I wanted to share some of these photos here in memory and celebration of the wonderful person he was and the creativity he will continue to inspire us with.

Mordheim: Chaos Dwarf reinforcements

Desolation Hexx.

I recently started to create a Chaos Dwarf warband for Mordheim. Rather than extensively convert the warband, like I did with my Sister's of Sigmar warband, I wanted to create this one using old miniatures from the 80s, leaning into the Oldhammer theme. Last month I trimmed and assembled the first three models for the warband. This month I continued the process and added three more dwarves to the warband!

Dragged into Turbolasers 117: Reflecting on Adepticon 2025 with Redwetskeleton.

Frustration.

We chat with Eli (Redwetskeleton) about his new hobby YouTube channel and his time at Adepticon 2025!

Vastarian: Church Raid

The Cult of the Lantern (created by rojasnoirlac) has made its way to Ravachol, Vastarian.

Recently, when Bill Ford was in Maryland for a work trip, we had the good fortune of meeting up with him and Dave Taylor! Not wanting to miss the opportunity to roll some dice, we were able to set up Bill’s Chapel board and play a game within our Vastarian setting! Below are some photos from the game with a loose narrative conveyed in the captions.

Mordheim: Chaos Dwarves

Cartography of Suffering.

Mordheim has always been a game that is easy to come back to. For some time now, I have been interested in trying my hand at building a new warband with a slightly different focus from my normal realistic approach. Instead of heavily converting models I want to focus on using Oldhammer models. The warband I am interested in is the Chaos Dwarves, though not necessarily the big hatted ones. I set my sights on the old Marauder Chaos Dwarf line sculpted by Aly Morrison. Through some eBay searching I was able to acquire three. Each one wears armor with a more sinister and brutalist look than the big hats popularized by the Games Workshop Chaos dwarves.

Dragged into Turbolasers 116: Reflecting on the new Eldar Aspect Warrior models.

We chat with our friend Chad about Games Workshop’s newest Eldar releases, including the new Phoenix Lords and Aspect Warriors!

Using old DSLR's for Miniature Photography: Nikon D7000

Hess Poison Breath.

In this hobby, we tend to focus on building and painting models and spend considerably less time photographing our creations, aside from taking some quick photos with our cell phones. Over the last few years I have been trying to change this and have been making a concerted effort to improve as a photographer. I started this journey with a mirrorless camera (Fujifilm XT4), but last year, after being gifted some single-lens reflex (SLR) film cameras from my grandfather, I was inspired to learn more about the process and leverage it to better document my hobby journey. This pushed me to explore the analog world of film photography and recently to print some of my photography. 

Dragged into Turbolasers 115: Talking to Redwetskeleton about daemons and the Vastarian Inq28 event.

Herald of the Child Inverted: The Paramour

We chat with Eli about our Vastarian Inq28 and the incredible daemons he created for the climax of the event. All hail the Child Inverted.

Vastarian: A suffocating darkness

Eli standing next to his horrifying creation, the Child Inverted.

Last November we held an Inq28 event with Bill Ford: Vastarian - Dreams of the Pious. The setting revolves around the cathedral world of Vastarian, which is home to hundreds of disparate Imperial religious sects, each venerating the God-Emperor of Mankind in their own unique way. The opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, a great tear in the fabric of the Milky Way Galaxy, has resulted in a psychic awakening across the populace of Vastarian. Each religious sect on the planet now believes that they alone were blessed with a psychic emissary touched by the Emperor himself. The tenuous peace on Vastarian has now devolved to bloodshed and persecution. During this psychic turmoil, the Astronomican, the purifying radiance of the Emperor, plummeted as if it were a tallow candle guttering in a tumultuous wind. It was in dreams that panic spread, a euphoric terror spawned from an encroaching darkness–a presence that seeping in from the margins, dripping from the stars as if they were untethering from reality. This darkness was later attributed to the manifestation of a daemonic presence on Vastarian, the Child Inverted. These daemons were made in secret by Eli (redwetskeleton) and only revealed on the final day of the event, when the lighthouse was activated!

Printing my miniature photography

A print of one of my Vastarian photos on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Matt Baryta paper.

Over the last few years, I have become increasingly more interested in photography. Last year, after being gifted some film cameras from my grandfather, I was really energized to try to push myself to become better at the craft. Learning to work with the limitations of film excited and encouraged me to focus more closely on my photography, which I tried to put to good use for the Vastarian Inq28 event last November. Working with an analog medium like film got me thinking more about how photography is so often viewed digitally, on phone screens and monitors, rather than in prints like I remember from my youth. This led me to consider getting a photo printer, to take some of the digital and film images I have taken and translate them into physical media, something larger than the tiny phone screen that I use to mindlessly scroll through Instagram. After doing some research, I quickly realized, like so many things, photo/art printing is a complex affair, one that could be a hobby in of itself. Despite this, after watching some videos by Keith Cooper, I decided on starting my printing journey with an Epson EcoTank ET-8550 printer. 

28 Collected Kickstarter: Trench Crusade Combat Biologist

Variants Of Concern.

28, in conjunction with Dave Taylor Miniatures, is running a Kickstater campaign to publish a physical version of 28 magazine, collecting many excellent articles from the past 6 issues of the digital magazine! The Kickstarter is only running for a few more days, but has exceeded its funding goal and unlocked a host of fun stretch goals. One of the unlocked stretch goals is providing every backer with an STL file to 3D print a miniature for Trench Crusade! The miniature, a Combat Biologist, was sculpted by 28’s very own James Sherriff! We were fortunate to get a copy of the model and did some minor conversion work on it. We hope to paint it soon. We encourage everyone to look at the Kickstarter and consider getting a copy before the campaign ends next week!

28 Collected Kickstarter!

We are excited to say that 28, in conjunction with Dave Taylor Miniatures, just started a Kickstater campaign to publish a physical version of 28 magazine, collecting many excellent articles from the past 6 issues of the digital magazine! Since the first issue was released in 2018, people have been asking for a printed version of the magazine, so we are happy that this is finally becoming a reality. The three of us have been involved with 28 since its inception, where we have been editors and writers. The printed volume will be a 320-page, hardback book, with almost 50 different articles. One of these articles was written by the three of us, talking about our Vastarian: Dreams of the Pious open invitational! We encourage everyone to look at the Kickstarter and consider getting a copy!

2024, a year in review!

With 2025 upon us, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2024 and what we accomplished on the blog, before moving ahead with new projects. The blog has now completed twelve full years! Throughout 2024, we were able to maintain regular blog posts while also continuing our podcast, and weekly Twitch streaming. With this post we wanted to look at our most popular posts of the year, while also highlighting our favorite episodes of the podcast.

Dragged into Turbolasers 114: Chatting with Dave Taylor about the hobby and the Vastarian Inq28 event.

The Cult of the Lightbringer arrive in Ravachol.

We chat with Dave Taylor, of Dave Taylor Miniatures, about his time with Games Workshop and how that led him starting his production studio. We also talk with him about his experience at the Vastarian Inq28 event in Houston Texas.

32 - Episode 23: 28 Collected

28 is finally going to have a physical form!

The team discusses 28, how the magazine was started, the ups and downs it has experienced and its future. We also talk about the upcoming book, 28 Collected, and why we are finally making a physical product.