Warhammer 40,000 is a war game reinvented through the media of books, animation, video games, and radio plays. But all of these works come from the tabletop miniatures that recreate endless iterations of epic battles. To play Warhammer 40Kyou need to assemble a collection of plastic miniatures. A YouTuber named Maverick Nicolson is a Content creator demonstrating custom builds, liveries and tiny dioramas. But his healthiest project is giving battered old Minis a new, freshly painted life.
Painting each individual member of your army is an important part of the hobby, and players love creating their own versions of 40K’s factions. There are plenty of canon armies and book characters to admire, but an important part of the hobby is the idea of ”your guys” – this isn’t just any Space Marine or Ork Warboss, it is your Space Marines.
“I started painting two years ago because I had a bad back injury,” Nicolson says in an interview with Polygon. “In the end I had to give up my job as a firefighter. And basically you sit around at home. I lost all my hobbies. Because of my back injury, I couldn’t do anything physically anymore. And with that, I had to find something to spend my time with, and that was Warhammer.”
Nicolson credits Warhammer with giving it a new community, a new hobby, and a new passion. He started out painting models, and when other people asked him about his techniques, he responded with tutorials. “I felt like I was helping someone again, which was a really nice feeling,” says Nicolson. “I was obsessed with it, and the Warhammer community is so special, you can’t find anything like it anywhere else.”
Nicolson met other people in the hobby with their own struggles, using the community and the game as a social outlet, therapeutic relief, and a way to express themselves. These players’ character models were their old friends, and some of them were slowly deteriorating or in dire need of a coat of paint and a little elbow grease. Nicolson started taking these beloved models with touching backstories and fixing them up for free in a cleverly named YouTube short series called Plastic surgery.
Nicolson strips the paints, carefully removing them with a toothbrush and using a toothpick to remove excess paint in the cracks. He then paints from scratch, applying layers of paint, watering down layers for added texture, and expertly applying small decals. Watching on a second monitor is relaxing and the personal stories make it very touching.
Nicolson accepts plastic surgery requests via social media, but he’s not just looking for commissioned work. The series focuses on characters a player cares about and who need a touch-up as a thank you for their long hours of service against space elves, evil bugs, and all the horrors that the distant future of 40K has to offer. Nicolson also publishes painting guides, tutorials, tips, and other useful content for those looking to create their own distinctive figures with distinctive colors and cool details.
