Conversion Corner - Darby "Gladiator" Lorensia

"That one’s more than an occasional hazard, a fulminating hiver of calculated malice." - Artur speaking about Darby "Gladiator" Lorensia.

I have always been a big fan of the creations of Requiem_82, particularly his Inq28 character Artur Cobain and his ragtag group of mercenaries. So you can imagine my excitement when he created a new version of the character and started an open invitational for people to create mercenaries for his growing warband. Always looking for an excuse to convert eccentric Inq28 models, I jumped at the opportunity to create someone who might have come to work alongside Artur. One of my favorite aspects of the original Artur model is that he is wearing a t-shirt for the 90’s grunge band Nirvana. This little detail adds so much character to the model, and makes me wonder what music is like in the 41st millennium. Following this theme, I decided that I wanted to create a character that looked as though they were a punk rocker, perhaps listening to the likes of Hüsker Dü, the Germs, and Black Flag.

Zone Secundus: Church of the Red Athenæum - Petr Danev

Geometry of Murder.

With October coming to an end, I wanted to paint a creepy model, in the spirit of Halloween. Back in July, I converted Petr Danev, a halfling for the Church of the Red Athenæum, a radical splinter of the Imperial Cult that believes suffering is the highest form of veneration of the God-Emperor. The model is laced with scars and has their cheeks sliced open creating a wide, sickly grin of a killer, perfect for Halloween!

Zone Secundus: Bibliognost of the Church of the Red Athenæum

Greater Invocation of Disgust

When Games Workshop released the Sister of Battle Special Character Aestred Thurga, Reliquant at Arms, I knew the kit would be perfect to create another model for our growing Church if the Red Athenæum (mutant, heavy, gunfighter) for the Zone Secundus setting. Instead of using Aestred, the power armored Sister of Battle in the kit, I had my eyes set on the older, less armored companion: Agathae Dolan, Hagiolater. Dolan’s non-combatant design and older age seemed ideal for the Red Church, an organization that is populated primarily by down-trodden Imperial citizenry. The look largely mirrors that of Ehret Filipovic, Chief Bibliognost from our first Church of the Red Athenæum warband for the Pilgrym event. With this in mind, I decided to convert a bibliognost for the Secundus warband, and thus Klaasje Akhmatova was born!

Zone Secundus: Church of the Red Athenæum halfling

We are so very worthless, and everything we do is meaningless.

Throughout the year, I have been converting new members for the Church of the Red Athenæum, a radical splinter of the Imperial Cult that believes suffering is the highest form of veneration of the God-Emperor. Although we originally created the Church for Iron Sleet’s the Pilgrym event, we wanted to start exploring the organization again, and realized K0rdhal’s community event/setting Zone Secundus was a great opportunity for it. Since creating the Church, we always imagined their organization had a favorable view towards mutants in their congregation, recognizing their devotion, even though they are often persecuted throughout most of the Imperium. And while we created one mutant for our original warband, we always wanted to create more, to make it a recognizable element of the group. The Hedonites of Slaanesh Blissbarb Archers set contains a wonderful halfling model holding a banner, which caught my eye and seemed like a great model to create a mutant for my new Church if the Red Athenæum!

Zone Secundus: The Church of the Red Athenæum - Marcelo Lythgoe

By Endurance We Conquer.

After finishing converting two members for a new Church of the Red Athenæum warband for the Zone Secundus setting, it was time to paint one. I decided to start with the heavy weapon specialist, Marcelo Lythgoe, finally putting some paint on the BAR conversion I did years ago!

Zone Secundus: The Church of the Red Athenæum - Heavy Weapons Specialist

Army of Two

Last month we had the opportunity to talk to K0rdhal about his community event/setting Zone Secundus, which expands the lore on the radioactive waste of Hive Secundus, on the planet of Necromunda. Rather than creating an entirely new concept for a gang, we decided to use it to develop the Church of the Red Athenæum, a fanatical Imperial Cult we designed for Iron Sleet’s Pilgrym event back in 2016. Our first model for the new warband was a gunfigher with a score of autopistols. We wanted to create a second church member, this one a heavy weapons specialist, also using a model from the Scions of Flame Warcry warbands.

Zone Secundus: The Church of the Red Athenæum - Gunfighter

A Genestealer Cultist next to a member of the Church of the Red Athenæum.

 

We recently had the pleasure of chatting with the prolific miniature artist K0rdhal about his community event/setting Zone Secundus. Building on Necromunda lore, it takes place in the radioactive waste of Hive Secundus, after the nuclear bombardment to rid the city of the Cult of the Second Son Genestealer Cult. The setting takes influence from books like Roadside Picnic and Metro 2033, as well as post apocalyptic video games like Stalker and Fallout. It is a claustrophobic, desolate setting, defined by radiation sickness and failing equipment. With such an evocative narrative setting, we could not help but get involved, and after some brainstorming, we realized it would be a great opportunity to revisit one of our favorite creations, the Church of the Red Athenæum. Designed for Iron Sleet’s Pilgrym event, the Church is a radical splinter of the Imperial Cult that believes suffering is the highest form of veneration of the God-Emperor. Wanting to share their enlightenment with the wider Imperium, they sent missionaries out to populated hive worlds, where their ideology took root. Being so close to Terra, Necromunda was one of the first worlds to be reached by the Red Church, where they built a bastion to their faith in the ill-fated Hive Secundus, which is now an irradiated sump of twisted metal. But their faith is strong. Vivere est Pati.

Tutorial: Autopistol

A standard Sister of Battle bolt pistol (top) and a converted autopistol (bottom).

Last year I started a series of tutorials for creating smaller firearms for Warhammer 40k models, including a Sister of Battle Boltgun, a Space Marine plasma rifle, and a laspistol. This month, I wanted to create another human-scaled firearm to complement the laspistol, this time the ubiquitous autopistol! This tutorial is a little more advanced than some of the previous weapon conversion tutorials posted on this blog. Unlike previous tutorials, this one uses very few of the original weapon designs and contours to guide the initial cuts and to inform the final design.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Mordheim 2019: Additional sisters painted

By the manner of their death we shall know them.

I am still furiously painting models for my Sisters of Sigmar warband for Mordheim 2019, which is happening in just a few weeks! I am pleased to show the next two finished sisters. They were actually the first two I built for the project and it is awesome to finally see them finished!

Mordheim 2019: Sister Superior one painted

Sigmar's Fury.

After finishing painting the first sister in my Sisters of Sigmar warband for Mordheim 2019, I quickly jumped into painting the next, this time one of the heroes, a Sister Superior. This sister was converted from one of the original Sisters of Sigmar models from 20 years ago. In homage to the original warband from all those years ago, I decided to paint the model in a scheme that was reminiscent to those models, with cream colored robes accented with red. Despite largely being a single piece metal model, the Sister Superior took much longer to paint than I had expected.

Mordheim 2019: Choir member painted

“It was a promise unasked for and it was a wall of sound, unbroken.”

With Mordheim 2019 rapidly approaching, I have finally begun painting the Sisters of Sigmar warband in earnest. I decided to paint the last model I converted for the warband first, a member of the Choir, who guards the inner sanctum oubliette of the Rock. As something of an outsider in the group of traditional Sisters of Sigmar, she was a good opportunity to try out some things and get accustomed to painting again. Having come up with the concept behind the Choir, Alex Winberg had already come up with a somber looking paint scheme of black leather and white masks (the flavor text from the first image was penned by him too!). I was excited to try my hand at the monochromatic scheme, knowing it would add a sinister element to the warband.

Mordheim 2019: Painting begins - Bases

The painting has begun!

When spending so much effort converting models and making cool characters, it can be easy to forget about the bases for the models. Anyone who has been painting models for awhile knows that a nice base can really tie a model together and make it look complete. It is important to not get too carried away with a base, lest it distract from the model as a whole. With this in mind, to ensure that the bases were cohesive and tied all of the models together, I opted for a relatively simple stone-tile theme. To do this, I used a combination of GW scenic bases from the Eyes of the Nine warband and ones I sculpted by hand. To ease into the painting process for the Sisters of Sigmar warband, I decided to paint a few of the bases, and wanted to showcase them here!

Mordheim 2019: Choir member

"In My Heart The Answer Is Yes, But I Said No."

After months of work, I was able to build 6 members for my Sisters of Sigmar warband, which is a small feat based on the speed at which I build and convert models. Despite this accomplishment, 6 members is pretty small when it comes to an effective warband in Mordheim. With the Mordheim 2019 event close at hand, I knew that I would not have much in the way of time to convert any more and still have time to paint them. “Maybe I could try to convert one more model, and do it quickly, as an entry into my Conversion Corner posts?” I thought. After seeing Alexander Winberg’s own sisters of Sigmar, with their sinister masks and overcoats, I thought that I could make a Sister heralding from his clan to assist my warband. Alexander’s warband are guards to the deepest dungeon of the Sisters of Sigmar’s Fortress-Monastery, the Rock.

Mordheim 2019: Matriarch

Pimeys Yllä Jumalan Maan

With the Mordheim 2019 event less than two months away, I have been busy finishing the last members for my Sister of Sigmar warband. The last major character required is the warband’s leader, the Matriarch.

Conversion Corner - Space Marine Operative

The Happenin' Habber stands next to her newest Space Marine friend.

For the second installment of Conversion Corner, I decided to focus my attention on converting a Space Marine operative. I have been exploring the design for Space Marine weapons, namely the bolter (True-Scale Marine, Elder One Othalanga; Primaris Marine) for a while now. For this marine I wanted to delve even further into creating a sub-machine gun (SMG) variant of the bolter (and challenge the commonly perceived size of such a weapon). Additionally, I wanted to experiment with equipping a marine with one of the Genestealer cultist shotguns. Since their release, I always thought they would work perfectly on Space Marines, particularly the Primaris-scaled Marines.

Conversion Corner: Creating the Happenin' Habber

The Happenin’ Habber stands tall next to a Cadian Shock Trooper.

Converting models is one of our favorite aspects of this hobby; it offers an unprecedented ability to explore Games Workshop’s settings, unfettered by rules or the imagination of the original sculptor. Within the last few years, Games Workshop has made converting models much easier, due to their rapid release schedule and releasing virtually all of their models in plastic. This has also made it possible to make many convincing conversions by splicing together various kits with minimal need for modeling putty. Over the years, however, we have started spend more and more time sculpting things and using green stuff to make minor changes to models to get them exactly to our liking. While this is fun, it is also incredibly time consuming (our infiltration expert took weeks to create, for example), reducing the amount of models we create. With this in mind, we wanted to start a regular feature on the blog (hopefully once a month or every other month), that we push ourselves to convert a model within a few sittings, without extensive green stuff work. We hope it will allow us to attempt new things, gets some use out of models that have sat unused on our shelves, and ultimately convert more models!