Obituary John Blanche
John Blanche passed away at the age of 77. The news was shared by Trish Carden, a long-time friend and former Games Workshop colleague, via social media. The family has asked for a private funeral and announced a later gathering for everyone who knew John and valued his work.
John Blanche’s wife Lin has asked me to let you all know that John passed away a couple of days ago.
John was an inspirational artist, devoted to his family and a good friend to many. Always generous with his time and knowledge, he was very well loved by all who knew and worked with him. He’ll be hugely missed.
The world of Warhammer was brought to life by his vision of the grimdark setting and I know his art meant a lot to so many of you. He leaves behind an enormous legacy that has enriched many people’s lives.
The family will say goodbye to John privately but there will be a get together in the future for everyone to celebrate John’s life.
Kosk yn kres old friend.
Anyone who got into Warhammer in the 1980s and 1990s really also encountered John Blanche. Not through the rules or the boxes, but through the artwork that shaped countless products in the Warhammer universe. Many remember the iconic cover of the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000, the Blood Angels Captain in the midst of battle, surrounded by Orks. That image, too, was created by John Blanche.
His style shaped not only the look of the products, but also the way many hobbyists approached their own projects and models. Blanchitsu, that distinctive mix of conversion work and painting, often using carefully chosen colors like the Zorn palette, helped define what many now understand as Grimdark, and it remains part of what makes that style so special today.
I never met John Blanche in person, but through mutual acquaintances and his many projects beyond the Warhammer universe, I was always able to sense the creative energy he brought to everything he did. In one of his quotes about his work, he once wrote:
„The first images of primeval man would concern themselves with hunting scenes, heroic action, mighty beasts, death masks, war paint, fetishes and trophies. Today we see the same sorts of themes represented in punk haircuts, studded leather and even in the imagery employed in films like Blade Runner and Aliens. This is the heritage of Western culture, and that is what I am trying to tap when I paint.“
He did exactly what he described. And traces of that can be found everywhere, including here. Thank you for your life’s work.
Rest in peace, John Blanche.
Warhammer 40,000 – Tank Wrecks Pt 1
In addition to the other items I've built for my terrain collection, I wanted to add some tank wrecks. In 40k 2nd edition, they actually served multiple purposes, as vehicles (and some other larger models like walkers/dreadnoughts) were not simply removed from the table, but were recommended to stay on the table as wrecks, to provide cover or an obstacle for the remaining units.
I have an "eBay rescue," if you will or rather, a former colleague of mine stopped playing Warhammer and sold off his remaining collection to me — that I wanted to turn into a terrain piece. As it was someone’s first kit of this size, some pieces were not properly cleaned beforehand or had issues with the glue. Therefore, it was a perfect fit for terrain, as it would be a bit too much work to put this to use in the retro army. Not impossible, but simply a good donor vehicle for my purposes.
But first, let us take a look at this Leman Russ kit.
For the Leman Russ Battle Tank, a few "marks" were released over time. The initial/original plastic kit was released in 1994, which got an upgrade in 2003 (for the release of the updated 3rd edition codex) with a newer Imperial Tank Accessories Sprue, and a bigger update in 2009.
What we have here is the 2003 model, which is the same as the 1994 one but with different tank accessories (the classic sprue of 1994, the "newer" sprue of 2003). All the bits marked in red come from the 2003 sprue and are, as such, not fitting for the 40k 2nd edition time frame of 1993 to 1998 and shall be removed.
Until I finish the reviews and build reports on the Leman Russ, you can look up the assembly instructions that I uploaded on the blog for orientation if you intend to do something similar.
CONflict Rhineland 2026
Last weekend, the latest installment of CONflict Rheinland took place in Langenfeld near Leverkusen. Just like in previous years, we had our own table, this time covering some retro gaming of Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition.
CONflict is a closed, invite-only event that runs from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, with some people, just like the three of us, only staying for Saturday. We covered things like the location, car park, and so on over the last few years, so I’ll skip that in this year’s coverage. If you’re interested, just check out the coverage since 2022:
As catering was expanded this year, we had more room in the car for miniatures and such, and I brought along two IKEA Samla boxes of sprues and kits for the bring & buy. Once we arrived around 10:30 am, a lot of gaming was already going on, and we did a quick browse before we set up our own table.
Right next to us, Lion Rampant was being played, covering a battle from the Italian Wars with lots of Landsknechts.
May 2026 review
Post-Chaosbunker Classics
Welcome to June! It’s almost the halfway point of 2026, and I’m still catching up on the things we did during that weekend. I started covering the individual army shots in separate posts, including the icons you might know from old White Dwarf battle reports.
I took a lot of pictures and screenshots from old magazines and recreated them. Unfortunately, due to a file error, all of the Ork icons I had already prepared were lost, and I have to redraw them. That is something I might tackle on the next long weekend.
Stargrave – The Last Prospector
With Quarantine 37 covered, we move on to the second full supplement for Stargrave: The Last Prospector, released in 2022. Where Quarantine 37 leaned into science-fiction horror, The Last Prospector takes the game somewhere different entirely – the space western.
What is it about?
The setup arrives as an intercepted message. An old contact, known only as the Prospector, has found something big in the Honereb System – a run-down cluster of asteroid mining operations near the edge of a forgotten galactic arm. He wants to cut you in. By the time your crew arrives, the Prospector is nowhere to be found.
What follows is a ten-scenario campaign built around tracking down your missing contact while navigating the politics of a system that nobody with options would choose to visit. The Honereb System is populated by five factions, each with their own agenda: Pa, the mysterious authority running the decaying Penthalia Station – nobody is sure if Pa is a person, a council, or a computer; the Honera Collective, a semi-socialist operation on a jungle planet with strict border controls; The Gliders, a pirate gang operating out of a scuttled ore hauler called Saint Mollia; United Minerals Incorporated, a pre-war corporation that is now functionally a dictatorship; the Freeholders League, independent asteroid miners who pool resources for mutual survival; and the Darksiders, a secretive, robe-clad group in the third asteroid belt that nobody quite understands but most people leave alone.
Joseph A. McCullough is upfront about his inspirations. The space western as a genre has a long history. George Lucas built the Mos Eisley cantina on it, Joss Whedon ran with it for a single glorious television season, and the British film Outland put Sean Connery in a mining colony and filmed a remake of High Noon. For tabletop hobbyists, the reference points extend further: Marshal BraveStarr, The Mandalorian, the whole visual grammar of the frontier in space. The Honereb System is built from these materials, and the supplement wears its influences without apology.
Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Fists Call to Arms Pt 9
This article covers the very last days before the event. Every evening, I painted for at least three to four hours, once the kids were in bed.
Tension was high, and there was no room for errors. I was trying to lock in the finishing line, but of course all the things you do not need suddenly come into play. For example, the Sergeant falling off the little pot from a height of only three or four centimetres, with everything breaking off instantly. That is something that would happen with some of the other multi-part miniatures as well, especially the Devastators.
To get the weapons done quickly, I glued the bolters and bolt pistols onto a coffee stirrer and gave them a black primer. Then I touched up the metal parts with AP Gun Metal and True Copper, followed by a quick wash of Nuln Oil.
Dead Man’s Hand – Mounted US Cavalry
The second part of the US Cavalry range for Dead Man’s Hand by Great Escape Games is a box of mounted soldiers: the Mounted U.S. Cavalry. It continues the line of cowboys (and cowgirls) on horseback and makes perfect sense for the US Cavalry. The mounted US Cavalry was crowdfunded through Kickstarter in March 2026 and delivered in April and May this year.
If you missed it, we already covered the US Cavalry on foot earlier on the blog.
The Mounted US Cavalry (DMHP007) boxed set contains 10 multi-part plastic miniatures for an RRP of 28 GBP. Just like the infantry set, it gives you the parts you need to build US Cavalry on horseback, as well as options for the 9th and 10th Buffalo Soldiers. We received a sample covering half a box, with three different sprues.
Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Fists Call to Arms Pt 8
We need to catch up on how I got my Imperial Fists ready for the Chaosbunker Classics. This article picks up where we left off in part 6 of the Call to Arms, with more progress on the core of the regular Space Marines.
I finished the base colours on all the infantry and added a first coat of wash, Casandora Yellow, on the marines. For both the backpacks and the shoulder pads, it was easier to paint them before attaching them to the miniatures. I finished the base colours on the backpacks and kept them on the small sub-assembly holders. That was incredibly practical for priming and further painting. I prepared everything that would get a metallic colour with a black primer.
Dead Man’s Hand – US Cavalry on Foot
Great Escape Games added the US Cavalry to their range of plastic sets for Dead Man's Hand. These were financed through a Kickstarter campaign in November of last year. If you missed them as part of the Kickstarter campaign, don't worry: you can pick them up now from their online store or through various retailers all over the world.
The DMHP006 boxed set "US Cavalry" contains 10 multi-part plastic miniatures for an RRP of 18 GBP, and gives you the opportunity to build US Cavalry on foot, as well as units from the 9th and 10th Buffalo Soldiers. We received a sample sprue each from both kits — the foot and mounted versions — in Q1 of 2026, and we are catching up with them now in separate reviews.
Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Fists Call to Arms Pt 7
The next thing I painted for my Imperial Fists was the Dreadnought, the heavy armour in my small force that supports the Space Marine units.
The old Dreadnoughts were chunky blocks of pewter and certainly a challenge for any hobbyist. You get a full metal kit, and quite often some of the smaller bits are missing, like the auto-launcher or the banner top. Sometimes the banner itself did not survive the 20+ years of service, especially once it was dropped from later edition boxed sets of the metal kit.
I managed to sub-assemble mine and left off the banner for now. I want to replace it with a brass rod, as the original metal banner pole is too soft for its size and tends to bend or break.
I assembled the pieces, cleaned up what I could, and unfortunately noticed some damage in the cast that I will have to turn into battle damage. I primed it white first and then added another coat of Imperial Yellow by Titan Hobby. Spoiler alert: do not do it that way. Unless you own an airbrush, prime that hulk of metal black, give it a heavy drybrush of metallic paint afterwards, tape off what you want to keep dark, and then go for the main colour of your Chapter.
Painting all the dark parts in the recesses without spoiling the yellow was certainly time-consuming. And after blocking in the base colours, I ran into my usual problem with this project: how to adapt the contrast colours for the 3rd Company of the Imperial Fists. As you can see, I made a collage from the Angels of Death and Ultramarines codices. I think there is a picture of an Imperial Fists Dreadnought somewhere in the 3rd edition, but I could not find it in the later codex. Most likely it was in a battle report. (Update in White Dwarf #226 from October 1998 includes an Imperial Fists Dreadnought, but I could not find proper pictures.)
We had a lengthy discussion about the Dreadnought’s base (not just mine, but the Chaos Dreadnought as well and so on). In later editions this is not an issue, as you get the 80 mm round base, but in 2nd edition there was a mixture of DIY solutions: some people crammed those models onto 50 mm squares, used the old flat Titan bases, or simply did not use a base at all.
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