Goatboy here and I have been playing Warhammer 40k for a long time. Let’s talk a bit about the hobby side of the Grimdark, and conversions have waned and waxed over the decades.
I started 40K in the late 90’s and only took a small break in-between 3rd and 4th. There are a lot of fun memories I have with the game that goes beyond the competitive nature of it. Here’s my hobby story down through the decades.
My Early 40K days – 1990s
My initial Warhammer 40k purchase was the old Battleforce like box of Chaos Space Marines. The box was awesome as it came with a ton of old metal figures and I added Abaddon to lead them. I was an amazing box and I was happy to grab it with my employee discount to start my hobby off. It was a wild time as we super glued our minis, put them in tiny slotted bases, and painting the rims of the model green. I remember trying my hardest to paint the trim right but those old models were always caked in paint without any of the fun shading and other new things we have now. There was something amazing about playing with these models especially since that time frame saw the rise of Warcraft and other RTS games.
3rd Edition Boxed Set Amazed – and Converted!
From there the 3rd Edition boxed set came out with amazing multi part plastic kits. You could put whatever army you wanted on your Marine and it becomes your own unique little warrior on the battlefield. I remember stabbing myself in the finger with the Dark Eldar figurines and how it was a really mismatch in boxed set due to the Marines having a Land Speeder. It was a wild game then as I still played with my old Metal Chaos figures, the mono pose Khorne Zerkers, Metal Daemons, and gribbly Death Guard figurines. It wasn’t until the Orks came out that I got really excited because it was a whole new multi part plastic kit I could kit bash and build. I was living in a happy world of conversions, and it seemed everyone had some cool converted minis in their armies.
I remember the old fantasy Orks that were designed to mix and match with the 40k counterparts. It was a cool time then too as Gorka Morka came out with tiny little trucks and the old Warbikers showed up. I painted a ton of those guys and still find them from time to time in my boxes. The never ending pile of Orks was a crazy thing especially when a boxed had 20 of the jerks in there.
I Returned for Nidzilla & Plastic Berzerkers!
I took a pause from 40K for a couple years and when I came back my friends told me to play Nidzilla with the plastic Carnifex kit out and a bunch of converted “Hive Tyrants” to play with. That Nidzilla list helped bring me a ton of tournament wins and models to build up for the new Chaos Space Marine book that came out. It was a crazy time as my old Zerkers got moved over to new multi-part Zerkers. I still loved the flat shoulder Chaos Space Marines and how you could just smash a bunch of pieces together to get your Chaos Lord or Sorcerer ready for the battle top. I think the still used Chaos Spawn kit had come out and they were so very cheap. They became the kit to use to convert your army up.
I played Chaos stuff for a while and then was reborn as the Goatboy with a push to make my Space Wolves goat headed. Back in the day when you bought Beastman for Warhammer Fantasy you got a whole pile of extra heads. A friend of mine’s dad had a bunch of them and he gave me a huge pile that kept me going for a long time. It wasn’t until at least five more years before I had to start buying Beastman kits to keep the Space Goat machine moving along.
After 6th Edition – Conversions Began to Wane…
After a while the push to convert started to die down a bit especially as models became better but less customizable. This became pretty evident with 6th Edition. Warhammer was starting to grow up, kits were becoming more complex, and more expensive. It became an investment to cut, shave, and rebuild these expensive little figures. The game shifted even more to a competitive zone which had people move away from pure hobby creatity and instead shifting to whatever meta they wanted to follow. This isn’t a bad thing as I think it made the game better but it still has me sad to think of all the hobby awesomeness that fell to the wayside of 40K.
Fast Forward to Today – Converting for Clients
And now after 30 years in the Grimdark, I’ve come full circle. Now my days are either spent building models for clients or figuring out how to magnetize some big robot. There are times I get to flex a bit of my creativity but those days of opening a box, clipping out all the parts, and seeing what you can come up with are long gone. It isn’t as bad as it used to be when trying to convert and build metal models but it just doesn’t work as well. I did do some Daemon Princes for myself earlier this year but most of my conversions are weapon swaps and head shifts.
How long have you been playing? Do you have a pile of old models that are sitting there sad as you build something new? Do you see a lot of conversions these day, compared to the past?
Don’t Miss:
Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
