Jon Webb Doom Pig Miniatures Interview

Doom Pig miniatures is a brand new endeavor from Jon Webb, a hobby veteran and professional painter who's worked across the wargaming industry. Doom Pig recently launched with a line of 28mm pirates and 6mm floating castles that are suitable for use in any system of matching scale. We got hold of Jon for a chat across some rum.

This article forms part of our Nautical Tabletop Month that's running across all of November. We're going to look at different nautical wargames and board games, as well as interview developers about capturing the sea feel on the tabletop. We'll also look at nautical factions in popular wargames along with tabletop accessories that are available to keep your hobby ship-shape. You can see all the articles here on the hub. So come aboard as we set sail and celebrate all games nautical in nature.

TechRaptor: You’ve just started your own miniatures business. Tell us a little about your wargaming history? When did you start playing and what with, where have you worked and what do you play now?

Jon Webb: 27 years ago, 10-year old me was handed a bag of Goblins and Skaven and left to read a library of White Dwarves while visiting family. That day set in motion a new and all-consuming passion for tiny fantastic sculpts that has resulted in me working in the industry and now even trying to carve my own little piece out of it. 

My early armies were Elves, mostly Dark (I started just as the Dark Elves arrived in 4th edition Warhammer) though I continued to dabble in Goblins too. I was more on the fantasy side of things throughout my school days, only really jumping into Warhammer 40K as I started working for Games Workshop at university in the local store. I did always love Epic though (more on that in a bit). 

After uni, I moved on to exploring other non-GW games (endless weeks of running intro days of 40K and Warhammer had left me a little burned out), getting into both Confrontation and Warmachine in a big way. Through that I started running tournaments and gaming weekends, culminating in the sadly departed Smog/Bones Con, a 3-day gaming event with 24-hour play, painting competitions, seminars, and anything else I could persuade people to get involved in. 

That led to me getting a foot in the door with Warcradle, where I helped develop the reboot of Wild West Exodus, before getting an offer I couldn’t refuse to manage the fledgling wargaming department with Modiphius. 

In terms of play, these days I tend to dabble in skirmish scale GW games (Warcry being a big thing right now) as well as the smaller scale Age of Sigmar and 40K points scales. I’ve also spent the best part of the last year building up a near-complete collection of 2nd edition Epic armies and recently dusted off some 5th edition books to play some middle era Warhammer games. 

TR: What inspired you to start Doom Pig Miniatures?

JW: As part of running SmogCon, I had some one-off miniatures sculpted and manufactured. It was one of the highlights of the event in some respects, seeing my ideas coming to life in the hands of talented artists and sculptors. 

As part of my role with Modiphius, I’ve concepted and briefed a pretty big chunk of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls ranges, as well as expanding the Achtung Cthulhu line. As such I’ve built up my knowledge of how minis are made and picked up some helpful contacts among the sculpting talent pool. 

Doom Pig is essentially a chance to tinker with some ideas I have that are not really suitable for Modiphius, as well as help the ongoing fan-supported scene fill gaps in the 3rd party Epic ranges. Mostly it’s just a creative output for me to make fun models that I want to paint. 

As to why Doom Pig? Well, that’s a story about a screaming ghost pig for another time.

TR: What inspired this first wave of Doom Pig Miniatures? Tell us about each miniature.

JW: The first 2 miniatures that are exclusive to the line are my 6mm floating castles. There is a larger more impressive fortress and a pair of smaller ones that fit well in several forces in the fantasy and science fiction small-scale games. I can see them being useful for fantasy fleet battles or mass combat sci-fi, but hopefully, people like them and are inspired to make use of them how they see fit. I know one customer intends to make them into a space dock/defense network for some space ship battles. 

The other miniatures (my pirates) are the last few copies of the convention models from Smog/Bones. I really really like pirates (SmogCon always had a piratical theme and I was known to appear on the tournament scene in pirate gear, offering golden (chocolate) coins to my opponents and playing pirate-themed forces. They mostly have a fantasy/steampunk vibe though there is one sci-fi pirate that I haven’t revealed yet. 

They have all been sculpted by industry stars like Brian Dugas, Steve Saunders, and Russ Charles whose work you might recognize in lines like Warmachine and Guildball. They are all characterful little pieces and would make nice painting projects or fun proxies if you like a bit of the fantastic in your pirate-themed games. 

TR: What are the future plans for Doom Pig Miniatures? What’s the current project you’re working on and where do you see Doom Pig Miniatures in a few years’ time?

JW: For now, it’s just a chance to let off steam and make things for fun, while also serving the fan communities keeping the smaller games alive. Epic was the first game I ever visually glommed on to (even before I knew what a Warhammer was, I’d seen a poster of a Titan and it just spoke to something in me. I needed to know what the hell this castle with legs and guns was), and being able to still play long after the game has been canceled with a passionate community is really one of the best ways to engage with the hobby. Dead games don’t die!

I’m hoping the line goes well and I can continue to expand with more weird tanks and vehicles at 6mm scale and I’m currently tinkering with some ideas about 28mm dwarves. Ultimately, if there is a set of minis I wished I’d bought for a game I’m currently playing, I’d like to make some modern versions with my own flair to bring them back to life. 

So, no plans for a planet-wide empire of stores or anything like that, but if you like pirates or 6mm sci-fi vehicles, then please do pop over to Doom Pig Miniatures and I’d love to send some of our models your way. 

TR: Thank you very much for talking to us Jon. It's been a pleasure.

 

---

You can check out Jon's work over at Doom Pig Miniatures. Doom Pig Miniatures produce miniatures in both 6mm and 28mm scale.