Summary
RetiredWarhammerart director (and legend among the community) John Blanche launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday to raise funds for several miniatures based on his artwork. In just over a day, he’s already raised over 900 percent of his goal.
There’s one pledge level at £30 which gets you all four Mörderin miniatures - Jägerin, Apolonia, Osterhilt and Salomia - as well as any free stretch goals (such as a teddy bear miniature and alternative Witch Hunter hat). The miniatures are produced by Zealot, using Siocast thermoplastic, and will be supplied unpainted.
Warhammer 40K recently released a story about a Custodian Calladayce called Taurovalia Kesh, but because she’s a woman,fans threw their Bolters out of the Rhino.
Blanche hoped to raise £2,000 by June 12, but he smashed that goal, raising £18,768 at the time of writing with six days still to go. He aims to deliver them in March and April of next year, butthe Kickstarter pageclarifies that, if the goal is exceeded, it may take longer. Exceeded is an understatement.
Blanche Is Converting And Painting Female Marines In His Retirement
This Kickstarter project isn’t the only new work that Blanche has undertaken since he retired last year.He’s also converting and painting female Space Marines from the Trench Crusade, which, like with Custodian Calladayce Taurovalia Kesh, caused quite a stir among the community.
Many right-wing Warhammer ‘purists’ claimed that all Space Marines are male, even though the lore tells us that every Marine undergoes a major biological change that renders them genderless. Ergo… not male. But Blanche’s conversions aren’t affiliated with Games Workshop and, importantly, aren’t even Space Marines.
Regardless, the backlash to his post-retirement work clearly stems from a vocal minority, as the community were incredibly quick to support his new Kickstarter project. As I’m writing, more and more backers are still pouring in, adding to the pot despite it having already cleared its goal almost ten times over. With nearly a week left to go, we’ll no doubt see that impressive pot fill even more.
