Kitbashing. Most of us have probably done this at some time in our hobby lives. The basic premise is that you take a bunch of different kits, be they plastic, resin or metal and then use them to make something new and most often than not, unique.

So why am I talking about it now? Well, over the past year or so I think we've started to see a resurgence in games where kitbashing and the crafting of your own unique miniatures has become more prevalent. I think, therefore, that it's worth revisiting this practice now and unlocking the potential that it offers when it comes to your collections and your games.

Easy Kitbashing

In my mind, there are two degrees of kitbashing. The first of these is more of a mash-up than a kitbash I would say. Basically, you take two kits that use more-or-less the same components (so the kits from Frostgrave and Oathmark) and use them to stick bits together to create new miniatures.

Maybe you stick an alternative arm on here or there and swap out heads to make characters feel interesting and unique. The idea is that this method of kitbashing doesn't require much in the way of tools and simply has you snipping bits and pieces out of sprues and sticking them together with a liberal application of glue.

This is the method I used when working on my MORK BORG miniatures. I used a selection of the miniatures from the North Star Military Figures Frostgrave range and glued them together. With a bonus of some other bits and pieces, I was able to create some pretty awesome characters that I could use in my roleplaying games.

Even if you don't mix and match to a massive degree, just changing and tweaking kits a little bit here and there can lead to a really awesome collection. You might just change a few weapons here and there and suddenly your collection is going to look totally different from your friends.

Bringing A Knife To A Kitbash!

The next level of kitbashing takes things a little bit further. You are still going to be taking a couple of different kits and smashing them together but here you won't just be using the clippers and some glue. Here, you're going to be getting a reasonably sharp knife and all sorts of things like greenstuff in order to get the desired result.

This is where you can make miniatures feel properly unique. An example of this, at least in my interpretation of it, is the set of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers that I worked on. Yes, I was using a couple of different kits but I was also cutting and shaping bits so that they would fit with a different kit. Here, you're going to be hacking and twisting, snapping and breaking in order to get the look that you want.

There are even more wild examples of this that I've seen. One of my friends collects Orks and they are the perfect army to do this kind of thing with. He has been taking lots of different Ork kits alongside a bunch of others in order to make his army feel that little bit different. He has crafted miniatures like his Wyrdboy and Warboss using a variety of things and even his Deffdread has been pretty nicely upgraded! You can check out his Instagram for more images of his painting and kitbashing.

The main thing to take away from this next level of kitbashing is to embrace the chaos. Don't be too afraid of the damage you're doing to miniatures as things can always be fixed with a lot of paint and some patience. Chop things up, break things and generally have a good time with the process. If nothing else, you might end up doing something that you never really considered before but it now looks amazing!

Aiding Your Kitbashing

Whilst the core of a good kitbash comes in the form of a knife, some glue and a lot of patience, there are also some other bits and pieces that you might want to pick up. The first of these is a bitzbox. Any good hobbyist shouldn't throw away anything that comes on a sprue. Snip all of that off and drop it into a big box of plastic, metal and resin and use this to put together an interesting selection of options for the next time you do some kitbashing.

You might not realise it, but all those old shields, swords, plasma guns and such could be used five or ten years down the line to make something absolutely amazing! There are always new games coming out and miniatures that are needed to play said games. A bitzbox can make that process all the easier.

Additionally, you might want to invest in a bunch of random things. Terrain and basing products might seem like something you don't need but you never know when that flock might be fun to use in the process of adding fur to a model. You might also want to snap up a bunch of plasticard and the like which can be used to make armour panels and such. Greenstuff or one of its equivalents could also be very handy when it comes to fixing the mistakes you make in the process and sculpting something new that you're missing.

I'm sure others out there will have some tips on what else you might want to pick up. In which case, drop your thoughts down below and help us all out!

Kitbash-Worthy Games

I mentioned at the start of this piece that there are a bunch of games out there that are really interested in the potential of kitbashing. This has, for the most part, come out of the 28 community and their magazine looking at ways you can create interesting miniatures for your old-school games like Inquisitor and Mordheim. They have also been working with some creators and produced games like The Weald (below) and Lobsterpot (below).

Download The Weald

Download Lobsterpot

Learn More About Verrotwood

Beyond that, you've got the game of Verrotwood (above) that was mentioned last week on OnTableTop, a game that comes from the mind of Michael Crutchett. In a similar style, you've also got Turnip28 (below) which properly embraces the idea of sticking odd stuff to miniatures!

Download Turnip28

What's nice about the games mentioned here and the likes of Sludge (below) is that they embrace both Fantasy and Historical miniature ranges. You could crush together plastic kits from the Medieval or Napoleonic period with Fantasy warriors and monsters in order to create something truly awesome.

Learn More About Sludge

There are also games that aren't quite so kitbash-focused but would certainly allow you to have fun with the idea of merging the bitz from different kits. Frostgrave is a perfect game to have a go at this with as there are so many plastic kits that are compatible with each other.

Will You Be Giving It A Go?

If nothing else, kitbashing is quite a freeing exercise. I have found it to be exceedingly good fun to sit there and basically throw away the assembly guide for my miniatures. Instead, I just got to work with a knife and some clippers and decided to make whatever came to mind.

Another element to having a go at kitbashing is that it almost reverses the clock a little. Rather than feeling like you have to build something so that it matches everything else, you pretty much throw caution to the wind. I really liked kitbashing back when I was younger and I would spend ages putting together one regiment of soldiers, never mind an army! It was good to return to that way of thinking and put together a range of miniatures that are so different from everyone else's...even if the results don't look amazing!

Are you an ardent kitbasher? Have you never tried it before?