28 Challenge: Female Space Marine WIP

Female Space Marine WIP

It seems that no matter how hard I try to work on non-Space Marine models, I am always drawn back to them. This time, however, I had a better reason than normal: to make a female Space Marine! I was motivated to try my hand at representing one due to the recently revealed challenge sponsored by Helge Wilhelm Dahl and the digital magazine 28. The challenge is incredibly simple, just create your own interpretation of a female Space Marine in Warhammer 40k, using any medium you like, and send pictures of your entries to submissions@28-mag.com by August 31st.

Remembering Kentaro Miura's Legacy: Berserk

Guts surrounded by evil spirits.

Earlier this month the world suffered the tragic loss of one of its most talented visual storytellers, Kentaro Miura. He passed away at the age of 54, having suffered acute aortic dissection. Miura is best known for the creation of the seminal dark fantasy Berserk. Originally a manga series, it has spawned a host of animated series and films, covering various arcs of the expansive manga that was still being created by Miura and his team up until his death. Taking place in a medieval fantasy world, Berserk follows a battered mercenary named Guts who suffers unimaginable tragedy and betrayal and goes on a quest for vengeance, as he struggles against destiny. The world in Berserk is often oppressively dark and violent, befitting of its title and the rage that consumes its main character. It is not completely defined by action and bloodletting, however. I would go as far to say that the series’ greatest strength is its human element. It deftly tells a tale of loss and suffering, showing how its main character deals with this strain. It speaks to the concepts of hope and peoples’ ability to heal, as well as finding the willpower to move forward even when destiny seems against you. The original animated series, and more particularly the manga, was a great influence on the three of us, with it occupying much of our free time, along with Warhammer 40k, during our high school years. In this post, we wanted to talk a little about that inspiration and how Berserk fits into our miniature hobby.

Oldhammer: Oldenhammer 2021

A Rogue Trader era Imperial Guard model next to an ork of the same era.

Although we are usually quite focused on converting models to improve their proportions and improve their weaponry, it is fun to put that aside sometimes and just paint an old Games Workshop model, celebrating a time before digital sculpting. In 2017, we found a small game store selling blister packs of Rogue Trader models and purchased a bunch of them and have been slowly painting them. Last year, I painted Slambo, and last month I painted an old Imperial Guard model to honor Commissar Molotov. Towards this end, we saw that chilvers_industries was holding a painting competition again this year called Olden Demon 2021, that asks you to paint an old metal model with a green base (as was prevalent in the 90s). Having not participated last year, we were eager to this year, painting another one of our collection of forgotten metal models!

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 84: Chatting with Ana Polanšćak about Gardens of Hecate and her new Kickstarter

Ana Polanšćak joined us on this episode to talk about Gardens of Hecate, her long term hobby project which has expanded into a painting studio. We discuss what the hobby community is like in Croatia and how she started in the hobby. We talk at length about how she found her distinctive macabre style of miniature creation and how she is unafraid to constantly try new things to achieve her visions. We also talk about her focus on creating immersive narratives with her games like Legen and Sunhold, and how she is using these games to create her own ruleset, Fabula. We move on to discuss her involvement in various community events like Tor Megiddo and Mordheim 2019, and their importance in expanding the community and pushing ourselves further creatively. Finally we talk about how she turned her blog Gardens of Hecate into a business and her Kickstarter with Dave Taylor.