Artist John Blanche of Warhammer Raises £18,000 to Fund New Female Miniatures

Yesterday, John Blanche, a legendary figure in the Warhammer community and retired art director, started a Kickstarter campaign to collect money for a number of miniatures that are based on his artwork. He’s already raised more than nine hundred percent of his target in less than a day.

All four Mörderin miniatures—Jägerin, Apolonia, Osterhilt, and Salomia—as well as any free stretch goals—like a teddy bear miniature and an alternate Witch Hunter hat—are included in the £30 pledge level. Zealot creates the figurines using Siocast thermoplastic, and they come unpainted.


With six days remaining, Blanche exceeded his goal of raising £2,000, which he had set for himself. As of this writing, he had raised £18,768. Although the Kickstarter page states that it may take longer if the goal is exceeded, he intends to deliver them in March and April of the following year. “Exceeded” is a strong word.

In his retirement, Blanche is painting and converting female marines.
Since his retirement last year, Blanche has worked on several new projects in addition to this Kickstarter campaign. Similar to Custodian Calladayce Taurovalia Kesh, he is also converting and painting female Space Marines from the Trench Crusade, which has created quite a stir in the community.


Right-wing Warhammer ‘purists’ asserted that Space Marines are exclusively male, despite the mythology stating that each Marine experiences a significant biological transformation that makes them genderless. Thus… not a man. Nevertheless, Blanche’s conversions are not connected to Games Workshop and, most significantly, are not Space Marines either.

Nevertheless, the community reacted quite quickly to his latest Kickstarter effort, indicating that the criticism of his post-retirement activities is clearly the result of a vociferous minority. Even though the project has over 10 times overshot its goal, funders are still adding to the pot as I write this. We’ll definitely see that amazing pot fill even more with almost a week to go.