Miniatures painting has its roots in historical wargaming, and you’ll be happy to know that there is still a large contingent of fans out there fussing and fighting over the proper color of Prussian overcoats. Meanwhile, the more mainstream elements of the hobby, including those who collect miniatures from games like Infinity and Warhammer 40,000, are more into customization. Players of all ability levels want their armies to stand out from the competition, and that’s why so many players rely on kitbashing.
Kitbashing is taking miniatures from multiple model kits and mixing the pieces together to create something new. But it’s nothing like building with Legos, since those tiny little arms, legs, and heads must often be carefully cut and reshaped to look just right. It’s incredibly difficult work, with techniques and materials that are often obscured by the final paint job. So it’s actually pretty rare for those new to the hobby to find any decent tutorials on how to do it well.
One of my absolute favorite YouTube channels, Cult of Paint, recently posted a video that I found incredibly informative. In it, co-founder Henry Steele goes step-by-step through the process of recreating soldiers from the Harakoni Warhawks, an obscure group of Imperial Guardsmen first depicted in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War’s Winter Assault DLC.
I’ve been using Steele’s painting recipes for years now, and I really enjoy his slick blend of airbrush and traditional paintwork. In this video he actually uses the stippling method to great effect, which I have not seen him do before. But it’s the first third of the video that you should really pay the most attention to, with Steel carefully considering and sizing all the bits before he sets them together with cement.
The kits used in this video include Warhammer 40:000 Kill Team: Hivestorm, the latest in the small unit skirmish miniatures line from Games Workshop, and Warhammer 40:000 Kill Team: Shadowvaults. That set came out in 2023 and can be harder to find, but the necessary pieces can also be had inside the Kasrkin Kill Team unit set as well. Need more inspiration? Well then there’s a healthy aftermarket for “bits” — spare parts from older model kits — online at places like eBay.
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