by Peter Atkinson

You never forget your first time.  You’re about 14 years old, and suddenly sharp pricks of sweat appear on your palms and fingertips.  You’re trembling, and you can’t stop it; you’ve got all the permission you need, but you still feel like you’re being naughty somehow, and you can’t believe it’s actually happening.  Is it really OK for me to take this hobby saw to an expensive plastic model and cut chunks out of it? 

I still love a good kitbash.  From the good old days of crudely smooshing together Hero Quest models with Milliput, to where I am today, which is crudely smooshing together GW bits with Milliput, it’s a way to express yourself that comes with you right through the hobby journey.

For me it’s a bit of fun and a way to save a few bucks, but it’s also something I admire greatly in people who take it to the next level.  We threw it over to our Patrons to get working on their conversions in February, and we’re here today to celebrate the winners and showcase their work.

As a reminder, these were the parameters for the contest:

• The conversion must represent a current matched play warscroll
• It must be on the correct base size for the unit it represents
• Any unit size is allowed: Monster, hero, unit of 10 models, whatever you like as long as it has a current AOS warscroll
• The judging criteria are simple
  • Rule of Cool
  • Cleanliness of execution
• There must be an element of new work here
• Painting is optional, but will help your entry look sweet

We put two prizes on offer, for the Winner and the Runner-up (Winner picks first):

Option 1: 10x Sentinels, new in box and sealed

Option 2: What’s in the box?

So let’s see what you all came up with. Ready?  Let’s go.

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The Winners

Overall Winner: Nagash by Tim Barklay, The Aussie Wargamer

Fresh from taking out Coolest Army at Cancon 2024, Tim Barklay has gone back to back and scooped another award here in the Plastic Craic Patrons Kitbash Challenge. Over to you, Tim!

Alright, here’s my official entry. The idea came about when I was sorting out some sprues one day and saw I had Nagash’s cloak left over from a previous conversion (I did a seated Nagash before it was cool). I had a Treelord I was sitting on and after a quick scale check, I thought it would not only work, but be a stack of fun to make.

I started by posing the Treelord to replicate Nagash’s classic one-knee-up pose. I had to cut and sculpt both hip joints, both shoulder joints and the right knee joint to make it work. I think the pose is the main thing that makes it readable as Nagash, so I really wanted to get it right. I gave him Nagash’s sword and layered three of the thorny branchy bits to replicate his hat (which is the greatest hat in all of Warhammer. I will fight you*).

I cut up one of the spirits and threw on a spare Dryad head to create the conjured spirit in his right hand. I then added the cloak – this was by far the most difficult part of the conversion. I softened the top of the cloak with boiling water so it would bend around the Treelord’s waist, and chose the anchor points and where I wanted to resculpt.

I attached some wire for the Dryad spirits to emerge from and sculpted that all out. I was left with something fairly messy. In that situation there are two options – try co clean everything up by sanding, scuplting etc, or just cover it! For the gaps around the cloak I used leaves from the old Citadel woods kit and again bent them to shape using boiling water. I actually think the effect enhances the model as it looks like fur lining. I then used Citadel vines to wrap around the spirity bits.

I had a blast making this model and I hope everyone likes it!

Runner-Up: Megaboss on Maw Krusha by Tim Brumpton

Would you take a look at that flame! 🔥

Tim has been sharing a few photos of his WIP Ironjawz in the Hobby thread over in the PC Discord, and that flame effect is a recurring motif right throughout the army. It’s going to look really, really special when it’s all complete, but today we can enjoy the crowning achievement of the army, Tim’s Megaboss on Maw Krusha:

Who could stay angry at that face! Smiling like a quokka.

Love the high-contrast blue basing.

Subplot: What prize went first?

Aussie Wargamer Tim had first dibs and went with the only honourable choice, which is the Mystery Box. Tim knows two things: it’s not Warhammer-related, and it went in the mail today.

Is it a wad of $50 notes? A vial of unicorn tears? A pair of underpants with a crusty stain? The only thing standing between Tim and that knowledge is the competence and efficiency of Australia Post.

I don’t know much about the Posties in Queensland, but hopefully the question marks don’t freak them out and cause them to perform a controlled explosion of the package.

If they blew up those Aelves on the other hand – now that, I could live with.

Honourable Mentions

Neferata by Tavendale, No Rerolls

My entry… my converted Neferata for my Cities-themed Soulblight:

Remounted on a Phoenix.  The dress was broken and repositioned/resculpted in places to fit on.  Mounted on some Warcry terrain, with a Milliput textured base:

With her homies:

Tavendale runs an excellent blog of their own covering AOS as well as other aspects of the tabletop hobby, including some excellent RPG coverage. Check it out.

Slaangor Chariot by Nate Sudek (Taco)

Nate put together this Slaangor Chariot for the competition:

Nate used Slaangor parts for the heads and arms, a Daemonette banner instead of the human headpike, and a Seeker Chariot brace to hold the pigs:

Rounded off with the always accursed spike-wheels.

Legz McGee, Hobgrot on Gnashtoof by Woehammer Pete

Meet Legz McGee, a Hobgrot who once bounded onto the back of a Gnashtoof and who got too terrified of it to jump off. As a result, every day has been leg day for Legz:

Hobgrot body swap, two Hobgrot banners for the back. Plus a Hobgrot arm swap for the sword arm and Shield swap:

Long-term readers will know that I’m a long-term fan of Woehammer, and a recurring guest writer for them, where I analyse Destro lists in their signature Top Three Articles series. It’s a great way of keeping up with what’s winning, so check it out.

Screaming Bell by Josh Clark

Gentlemen I present to you, Neon Ratisis Bellvangelion: You Cannot Flee-Flee

Would you take a look at that!

Clarkzium is a champion converter and I always look forward to seeing his contrabulous fabtraptions.

When inspiration strikes. pic.twitter.com/I1J3KDCuxD

— clarkzium (@clarkzium) August 28, 2023

Truly, the work of a worthy Skryre engineer.

Thanks to everyone who got involved – we had a blast – and if you want to get involved in the next contest we run, you know what to do.

If you’d like to help us continue with our work, we’d love to have your support. We’re the Age of Sigmar specialists, publishing regular AOS articles, including Patron-only posts on that platform. Please click here to join us on Patreon.

*Does Kaptin Badrukk come into the conversation? ~Pete