Between the Bolter and Me: 2020, a year in review

A selection of models painted in 2020.

Although 2020 was a chaotic and traumatic year, it marked the 8th year of Between the Bolter and Me as a blog. Like with many others, the pandemic changed 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! With this post, we wanted to recap the year as a whole, starting by examining the 3 most popular posts on each of our various platforms (blogger, podcast, instagram, etc.).

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.

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.

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!

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.

Conversion Corner: Arco-flagellant

Never worth your name.

Ever since the introduction of arco-flagellants into Warhammer 40,000 with the release of the 54mm game Inquisitor, we have been fascinated with them. Their concept is something that represents 40k so well: taking Imperial citizens condemned to capital punishment and converting them into specialized servitors that are pumped full of combat drugs and stims to send them into a bloody frenzy upon the vocalization of a trigger word. The original 54mm Damien 1427 model expertly captured the drug-addled madness of the concept, but the 28mm 40k models always fell far short. Fortunately, better versions are being released with the new Sisters of Battle release. In celebration of this, we decided it would be fun to convert one ourselves for our Conversion Corner series!

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 44: Nova Open Previews

More Sisters of Battle 3d renders!

Right on the heels of Warhammer Fest 2018, Games Workshop visited Nova Open 2018 and revealed a host of new models and other announcements. First, we talk about more details on the Speed Freeks game and a new Ork warboss model. We also discuss new 3d renders of the upcoming Sisters of Battle release. Additional details were also given for the second Warhammer Underworlds game, Nightvault, and we discuss some of the new models. Finally, we speculate on what the newest Warhammer Quest game will be like, called Blackstone Fortress.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 43: Warhammer Fest 2018, Adeptus Titanicus, Rogue Trader, Speed Freeks, and Sisters of Battle

The Age of Knowledge is Dead.

After a long hiatus, we are back to talk about the many announcements that occurred during Warhammer Fest 2018. We start by talking about the newly-released Adeptus Titanicus, and admire the upcoming warhound models. We then discuss the recently released Kill Teams game, and muse on what the upcoming Rogue Trader release means for the game. Next we talk about the upcoming redesigned Ork warbuggy model that will be released in the Speed Freeks boxed game. Finally, we wrap up the episode by analysing the 3D renders of many of the bolter designs for the redesigned Sisters of Battle.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 40: Warhammer Fest and Adeptus Titanicus

The God-machines go to war.

In this episode, we discuss the recent Warhammer Fest and the various announcements made during the event. While we mention the new Nighthaunt army and the upcoming version 2 of Age of Sigmar, our primary focus is on the first Sister of Battle model shown, and the new Adeptus Titanicus game.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 15: 2017 begins!

Let the Galaxy Burn!

It is hard to believe, but 2016 is over, and that means this podcast is already a year old! We talk a little about our thoughts about reaching this milestone and what the future holds. We also speak briefly about 2016 in terms of our blog Between the Bolter and me, and how we got more involved in the community than ever before. We end the episode talking about the new Fall of Cadia event and what it could mean for Warhammer 40k as a whole. We also talk at length about the new special character models that are being released with the book.