So how exactly do you kitbash miniatures?

Miniature paintings have their roots in historical wargaming, and you’ll be happy to know that there is still a large contingent of fans who fuss and fight over the correct color of Prussian overcoats. Meanwhile, the more mainstream elements of the hobby, including those that collect miniatures from games such as Infinity And Warhammer 40,000prefer customization. Players of all levels want their armies to stand out from the competition, which is why so many players rely on kitbashing.

Kitbashing is taking miniatures from multiple model kits and putting the parts together to create something new. But it’s nothing like building with Lego, because those little arms, legs and heads often have to be carefully cut and reshaped to look just right. It’s incredibly difficult work, with techniques and materials often overlooked in the final paint job. So it’s actually quite rare for people new to the hobby to find decent tutorials on how to do it properly.

One of my absolute favorite YouTube channels, Cult of paintrecently 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 attack DLC.

I’ve been using Steele’s painting recipes for years and really enjoy his slick mix of airbrush and traditional painting. In this video he uses the stippling method to great effect, which I haven’t seen him do before. But it’s the first third of the video that you really need to pay the most attention to, with Steel carefully considering and sizing all the parts before joining them together with cement.

The kits used in this video include: Warhammer 40:000 Killteam: Hivestormthe latest in Games Workshop’s line of small unit skirmish miniatures, and Warhammer 40:000 Kill Team: Shadow Vaults. That set came out in 2023 and may be harder to find, but the necessary parts are also available in the set Kasrkin Dead team unit also set. Need more inspiration? Well, there’s a healthy aftermarket for ‘bits’ (spare parts for older models) online at places like eBay.