I’ve been diving headfirst into the world of independent miniature games recently. As someone who loves the creativity of kitbashing and converting hisWarhammermodels, there’s a wealth of talented designers, independent manufacturers, and keen hobbyists doing similar things away fromGames Workshop’sgames.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Blanchian designs ofTrench Crusade, and the even weirderTurnip28, which exists in an alternate history where people and root vegetables have become one. Obviously, there are no mainstream miniatures that can represent the post-apocalyptic Napoleonic turnip-people, so hobbyists put their hands to conversions, raiding bits boxes and supermarket aisles to create the strangest creatures ever plonked on a base.
As someone who can’t look at a box of plastic pieces without thinking of how to combine them with other plastic pieces from different boxes, this kind of thing appeals to me greatly. And, freed from the constraints of Games Workshop kits and IP, I can’t wait to get stuck in with reckless abandon.
The problem with games like Trench Crusade and Turnip28 is that they’re niche. I like small communities, but I don’t know anyone locally who plays. Sharing is such an important part of any hobby, whether that’s showing off a miniature you’re proud of or battling against someone until you’ve thoroughly roasted their parsnips, and doing so online only gives you so much serotonin. Getting together with others is a core part of the hobby, and encouraging my hobby group to try out some esoteric alternate history game about vegetables proved difficult. Maybe I need new friends.
But everyone likes Pokemon, right? Surely I can get my friends involved in an unofficial Pokemon wargame where they only have to convert one monster into a mechanical wardolly? We all grew up with the games, cards, and anime, so a one-off conversion couldn’t be that difficult, right?
If you’re wondering what the h*ck I’m talking about, this is PokeMek28. Basically, one group of friends got together at Adepticon to convert Pokemon into mechs then smashed them against each other until one was declared the victor. And it looks fantastic.
The rules are based on a ruleset created by Bill ‘Berserkerworks’, calledMek28. Mek28 is fun, chaotic, and very homemade, which is exactly how I like my tabletop games. It encourages creativity in your conversions, Berserkerworks actively tells people to change or adapt the rules if you don’t think they work, and it places fun first.
If you were curious why so many of these games have ‘28’ in the name, it’s because the base of a regular, bog-standard Warhammer Fantasy figure is 28mm.
He and his friendship group decided to adapt the ruleset – or, more accurately, adapt the mechs they used – to include Pokemon. And the conversions are simply brilliant. A few players documented the process and the battle itself, and I’d recommend checking them out for some beautiful, chaotic hobby inspiration.
“I think the tone is that it’s not just about having a Pokemon, but it’s also about making it your own,” explainsYouTuber Miscast, before he makes a cast of his own tongue to replace Gengar’s. Miscast takes the conversion to the extreme. As well as making moulds of his own and his partner’s tongues, he made a mould of his messed-up ‘mon before casting it in translucent resin.
Not everyone went this far, though. Most players just did normal conversions, like giving Mew two faces or Jigglypuff an assault rifle. You know, the normal stuff.
The conversions were so fun, socreative, that I found my hobby mojo, something I’d admittedly lost in all the ‘build lots of Games Workshop miniatures straight out of the box for preview articles on TheGamer dot com’ I’ve been doing this year. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad way to make a living, but at some point, you want to let your creativity shine, and strict deadlines aren’t the best way to do that.
Inspired by PokeMek28, I’m going to set to work on my own mechanical Pokemon conversion. I started by scouring my local charity shop and, as luck would have it, I found a small plastic Palkia for 50p. The perfect starting point. While I think those at Adepticon used bigger scale models, I’m never going to play against them, so it doesn’t matter.
There’s one problem: I hate Palkia. I have a general disdain for Gen 4 overall – it’s when I fell off the games as an early teenager – but the legendaries have never done it for me. So it’s going to be a real challenge to turn this monstrosity into a mech I’m proud of and actually like. I think the wings need to come off for starters, as do the silly tiny hands. Its arms have large holes in them for some reason (this is a McDonald’s toy, so presumably Ronald wanted to save some cash on the plastic) and its head spins around 360 degrees, so there’s room for something properly horrific here.
PokeMek28 has given me ample inspiration and helped me to find my hobby mojo again. I’m at the point where I don’t care whether or not my friends pick up the game, I just want to make something cool. And if that’s not the point of making plastic figures, then what is?
