And again, things from ages past....

More from the backlog of miniatures painted in years gone by this week, but these are the last which I am currently aware of, so I will get photographing and painting new stuff again!

First up I have a mixed gallery of figures from the French company, Fenryl. I first ran into them in 2004 when they produced a set of miniatures for the Boxing Day Tsunami appeal, and have picked up various pieces from them in the intervening years. Granted, many of them remain bare of paint, but those which have passed the workbench can be found here! Fenryl Fantasy Gallery (15 pictures)

Next up, it's back to the old favourites in the form of 6mm sci fi, and more importantly, the Dark Realm Miniatures / Seeds of War line. The Desert Pax Arcadian gallery (10 pictures) shows a small force, painted for sale in 2013. 

And finally, we stay with the 6mm sci if but go right back into the depths of the photo vaults, to bring you a mixed gallery of two Imperial Guard commissions (22 pictures), both completed back in the early stages of my Mercenary Brush ways, around 2003. Not the highest quality photos, but they're part of my history so I'm posting them anyway! 

Of more current gaming and painting....

Thought I'd better give a hint that it's not all old stuff going on around here! 

Having painted over 100 of the wonderful vehicles from warlord games in recent months, I'm having a break from 28mm WW2 and have been painting more random figures from The Reaper Bones range, and am looking back to the Anyaral: World of Twilight range for my next small collections to complete. They've got a promotional painting challenge running at the moment on their forums, and there's nothing like the temptation of some more wonderful models as a reward for painting wonderful models I already have! 

Pictures and updates soon. 

Happy hobbying! 

New galleries: 3

New galleries: 47

What once was hidden.....

Now is found....
I really can't believe I out together all these galleries and never posted them. I guess the site just got too big for me to notice they were missing! What's more, it's been a very busy week, so even just getting this little blog post written up has taken me the week, without having to take the photos. Thank heavens they were there for me to use!

6mm has always been a popular scale for me, and I think, thus by default, for my viewers so this should provide some interest, and with the embarrassing age of some of the pictures, some entertainment for you all - the Epic war machines gallery (44 pictures) is now live. Nothing new there, but a fair variety!

Returning to the historical side of things, but still from among the hidden vaults, there's a gallery for a flames of War German commission I completed a decade or so ago. To say my styles have changed is an understatement, but hey, I was proud at the time and the customer was happy! (20 pictures)

New galleries: 2

New pictures: 64

From the vaults....

Whilst doing my first proper gallery update in a year yesterday, I made a discovery.

There are a few galleries which I created years ago, which for some reason have never been linked in to the hobbybrush site, so have never been "live" and just hidden in the background!

It'll take a while to sort them out and make sure they're populated correctly, but a couple are pretty much ready to go - presenting the Exodus Wars 6mm sci-fi gallery (15 pictures), and the corresponding 6mm sci fi section. Nothing  recently painted in here, but it does mean it benefits from at least one piece when I was still being silly in the small scales...... Yes, those are eyes on a 6mm trooper.... :)

Other end of my personal painting scale is busts. So here's a more recent piece, but I still don't remember when I set up the gallery - guess it was just one of those years.... Anyway - here's bob, the evil one! Painted in 1hour 45 just to ensure I actually finished a bust for once! 

New galleries: 2

New pictures: 20

Hopefully More soon, but no promises! 

Some old, some new

As I start working on the Galleries once more, I'm finding odd pictures that I was SURE I'd uploaded ages ago.... but clearly hadn't!

I guess that makes this Housekeeping as well as extension work for the new year. Prepare for randomness...

First and Foremost, the Invite to Terminate Gallery is UP at last! Thank you to everyone who took part, and whilst they have been posted all over forums and Facebook, my Apologies it took so long to get them up here. Its 9 months on, but There are still Many more floating around with various painters out there so I'm hoping there will be more updates in the future. (64 pictures)

Apparently, despite having been painted in early 2012, and sold then too, I never finished the 28mm Roman Gallery. 4 new pictures including the Final Auxillary unit you never saw before can be found HERE (4 pictures).

Someone asked me for pictures of my Epic Mortar Teams. I have no idea who or when, but they're in the City Guard Gallery Now! (3 pictures)

Matt's Soviet BKC force is small but perfectly formed, and has been waiting to go online for a year now so its about time this Guest Gallery got an airing! (9 pictures)

Totals:
New Galleries: 2
New Pictures: 80

The Invite to terminate...

Most of you will be aware of this little "community project" from other various forums where I've been getting people involved or at least shouting about it.

If your not, the concept was simple:-
1 Hour
1 pre-primed, ready to go epic (6mm) terminator.
What can you do with it?

Painters from all over the world have had terminators from me, and they're sending them back so they can be photographed together, and under the exact same conditios as each other so we can compare the models, but also compare notes on how the pieces were completed, our painting habits and such, with an identicle reference point between all the participants.

So far I've had less than 20 returned to me, but there's more than 30 more lurking out there waiting for their current owners to have a spare hour. Hopefully we'll get to see most of those at some point.

In the mean time, facebook has taken priority for this project, and the gallery can be found here: 

Thanks to all who have taken part so far, personally I'm finding it really interesting to see all the different ways people have approached the challenge - I hope the photos convey similar!

FYI - Mines the green one in the back ;)

Continuing the Good intentions...

Of Gaming... 
Last week saw the GGC hold its AGM, so no gaming was had on monday. However, I did maage to shoe-horn in the concept of a painting / hobby night at the club once a month so hobby prospects generally up for the club's own scenery, club projects, guest galleries and of course my ow work too!

Of Painting...
Sadly little new from me this week. I've been prepping hordes of models but little actual painting. Aim is to get some done later today though, so next update should be more interesting!

Of Galleries and Updates... 
Its back into the vaults for the addition of an old classic to the HobbyBrush in this update. My Desert Ferrin Army will be remembered by a few of you old epic grognards (meant in the kidest possible way!) but it may be new and of interest to a few of you as well. Painted, rather scarily, 10 years ago, as it was.

Totals
New Galleries: 1
New Images: 32

Back to the workshop

Of Ebay.. Get the nasty bit out of the way first of all. I'm selling lots of stuff this week. Was meant to be a hell of a lot more, but time beat me! Mainly from my Forgeworld stores, there's Epic buildings, Epic Tau, Imperial and Ork vehicles, and most rarely of all, a huge Ork Bust which is long long OOP, gorgeous, but just too big for me to ever get around to painting myself! All my items can be found here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/tuffskull/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1





Of Gaming: 
I haven't rolled many dice of late. Some great weekends away, an anniversary and general paint throwing duties have kept me from the GGC, and when I have been there I've been wielding a camera instead of a tape measure! Nothing to report...

Of Painting:
I'm off from work for a couple of weeks (only partially planned unfortunately....) and whilst house hunting and sorting my current place out is taking up a lot of my time, I'm at the brushes with a vengeance. My Workshop's been reorganised, projects sorted, commissions (those things I dont take any more...) lined up and its back to a paint throwing pace I've rarely matched since the Mercenary Brush Days! This week I've finished off 20 skelies (ebay soon), a company of Soviets for Flames of War (ebay soon) , 33 Kraytonian Vehicles and 3 Bombers for Seeds of War (ebay later), Kraytonian infantry and cavalry 50% done (ebay later), Some Exodus Wars Tarragin (6mm aliens, for me, they fell under the brushes...) and prepped a whole heap of World of Twilight Goodies.

Here's the workbench show tour as it stood on Thursday:

Kraytonians with 2 of 5 shades of grey / white added. In the background you can see the completed Skelies and the FoW Soviets. On the left some Hasslefree Grymn that have been waiting about 3 years for paint... 

Kraytonian Infantry, Cavalry and vehicle bases. The Bases take as much making time as the vehicles do to paint! In the background you can see other projects - last of my Romans, some Mantic Dwarves, 6mm soviets and a random Hordes model, because every painting desk needs a giant, Bipedal rhinoceros... 

The World of Twilight stash, lurking on the edge of my painting area waiting for a moment I can let myself go at them with a brush! In the foreground, sculpting projects abandoned years ago..

I'm sure there's more, but I've got to get back to the brushes & At any rate, its helping the Pledge somewhat - at a rough count that's added 88 to my painted count in a week - take that, Post-Salute-Guilt! :)


Of Updates and Galleries...
But of course, I always make you wade through waffle to get to the good bits, don't I?!
Its been a long while since an update and that normally means I try to make up for it with a slew of new galleries. This time however, just one gallery should please you all. Nick's (Elsmore's ) Epic Eldar Exodites are simply awesome. Every unit has had such attention to them.... just go and look..

Totals:
New Galleries: 1
New Pictures: 54

Return to usual stylings...

Its a return to usual stylings for me now, and hopefully if I can stay active, the 3 sections will all be regulars once again.

Of Gaming...

Finally put my dice back to good use last week, and had a great game of Blitzkreig Commander aganst Matt Arnold (aka "Rug"). We play so infrequently that every game is a learning experience, but its always good fun. (THat's a World of Twilight Fubarnii Jenta in the pic by the way - didn't get any pics of the game - he's on the workbench at the moment! )

A small game (1000 points), I started being plagued with bad command rolls. In the first 3 turns, I achieved just two successfull rolls between my Co AND HQ combined, and failed to make it to the positions I had hoped for by the time the German Iron tide washed upon my soviet shores.

However, I was saved by a couple of unlucky assaults in turn 3 on the part of my opponent and my infantry held out well. Turn 4 saw my tanks (6 T70's and an early T34)rumble into action at last, taking on the enemy assault guns in a forest to forest fire fight. T70's proved to be a fair old weapon at the given range and the enemy were wiped out in a couple of rounds of firing for the loss of a single tank to enemy reactive fire.

My infantry were feeling the brunt of the enemy force, being assailed by armoured mechanised infantry and the bulk of the enemy armour in the form of panzer II's and III's. As they started to pull back, they were saved by the soviet armour making their way back through the wood to front up to the enemy once again. Firing from the woods, against enemy armour clearly visible on the open face of a hill, they had the advantage. As the infantry faught a fighting withdrawl, the tanks took their toll on the enemy armour, pushing the Germans past their fragile break point.

In the end I won by numbers. I only had two formations which hindered me when bad command rolls struck, but when they came off, the sheer weight of fire and high break point meant even the fancy manouvres of the Germans didn't stand a chance.


Of Painting...
I've been on the Brushes every spare moment I can this week. Salute is presenting a good, rare, chance to play World of Twilight and it has spurred me to paint up the majority of my remaining collection.

I've got 6 hunters, an Engineer, 2 civilian youngsters, Commander Brenner, Captain Danomar and 2 knights of Relan on the workbench all at various stages. Fingers crossed, they'll all be ready for action on the 21st!

Of updates...
But, of course, the bit you really care about is the galleries and I've opened another classic today. My Epic "Agri-Guard" Imperial Guard forces became some of the first models I posted online which earned my painting a recognizable status. I collected three massive Imperial Guard armies at the time. I have sold most, but a valuable few will always remain in my collections. The pictures in this gallery vary from the antique to the relatively recent - please forgive the mass of varying quality!

Totals:
New Pics: 60
New Galleries: 1


remember to like us on facebook HERE!

flooding expected in 3 days...

And the first real shower is upon us.

I uploaded the first gallery on Monday evening, but other things overtook me and I didn't get to tell you all!

SO. Without further delay, Mark Shaw's back with a second Warhammer army - The Empire. (15 pictures)


But that was really Mondays update, and todays wednesday, so I'd best get my acto together... Time to roll out another old epic commission! The Green Guard gallery I think - Until next time! (18 pictures)

That picture? I dont know.... must be a preview of something different to come..... ;)

Totals:
New Galleries: 2
New Pictures: 33

Just to keep you on your toes...

A Regular style update post!

Of Gaming, or rather of owning-up to idiotitus:
There's been none in ages I'm afraid. I was meant to be running a Pit Fighter Night at the Guildford club before christmas, but I managed to turn up without the stat sheets. D'oH! Between the shame of this foolish act and all the recent bank holidays, I've not been to the Club in a while, so no dice rolled :(

As an aside, is this drednaught using cover wisely, or grinding against a pillar in an attempt to distract some enemy daemonettes with a saucy Drednaught pole-dance?? Answers on a postcard...

Of painting:
Now this I have been doing! I've finished off the initial Roman challenge. There's 24more auxilleries which I won on ebay (by mistake....honest... ) and 3 mounted Aux's too to add at some stage, but all the infantry I got from HobbyBox's closing are complete and in the cabinet.

I've made a start on the Kraytonian Reinforcements, with the first 36 stands (thats 180 troops) of infantry complete.

I've also done a fair bit of damage to my World of Twilight lead pile, having completed 12 militia and 4 knights in recent weeks. Blow by blow progress of this can be found on the World of Twilight Forums. These have taken a lot longer than I was planning, and combined with a lot more festive fun than I had bargained on, I didn't hit all my goals, but have had a great time none the less!

These updates will be spread out a little, as I simply have too much to post!

Of Updates & Pledges:
A Guest Galleries First, as my Good Friends have been waiting too long to see them! James Jackson is a man after my own heart, and when he does a project, he does it BIG. Check out his immense 40K Marine Army NOW! (21 pictures)

Following this, I feel I need something of equal size, so I delve into my back catalogue to bring you yet more Marines, but this time in the proper scale of 6mm - an Epic Commission covering 4 different chapters. (53 pictures)

That's all for now. I'm not around next week - heading off to the mountains to strap wood to my feet and try to pass it off as skiing (I'm 8 years rusty...) so I'll be back in a fortnight with plenty more pics, and another great round of guest galleries!



Totals:
New Galleries: 2
New Pictures: 74

The Pledge:
Models Bought: 37 (+0 -nothing model related at all for Christmas!)
Models Painted: 221 (+ 40 legionaires+24 Auxilleries+36 stands of Krayt+ 12 Fubarnii foot + 8 for Fubarnii knights)
Months into the Pledge: 8

A tale of old and new

Of Gaming...
Monday night was another good one at the Guildford Games Club. Having watched a number of encounters, and bought my own squad, I finally played my first two games of Infinity Last Monday.

I do like the rules set. The way you have to think ahead to cover all angles and possibilities (such as enemy Paras ona first "intro" game! Grrr... ) really appeals to me. I really think it could be fun with two teams of Ariadna with basic rifles duking it out, but for the while I'll enjoy my plethora of special weapons none the less!!

First game I lost, to aforementioned Para. Though I would like it noted that that only occurred after my opponent stated where he was dropping, and wanting to learn the intricacies a little better, I asked "So Why didn't you choose to drop him here and do this?". To which my opponent replied "...ohh.. that's not a bad idea..." and proceeded to kill 4 ofmy team in a single turn.

Second game I was more ready for it and new more what my troops were capable of. I set up a good defensive position and waited for the right moment. When the time was right, and the passage of travel clear, my Rocket launcher exposed her position and took down the enemy medic. Now the game was on - my Ant-Tank trooper dashed from cover, got a good shot off on the enemy ORC suit with his Adhesive launcher and followed it up with a Demo charge to knock him out. His final action moved him back around a large pile of pipes, to a rather exposed position, but one which was well covered by fire from the rest of my squad. The enemy were walking into a hailstorm if they went for retribution.
The following turn the AT trooper worked back around the pipes and took out the enemy medic, and had a good try on the enemy lieutenant too. unfortunately his luck had run out, and he was subsequently taken out by the nefarious enemy para, who this time had to drop behind his own lines to shore them up. That didn't last long however as he in turn left himself open to a shot from my Kazak Veteran, and the game was called as he hit the floor.

Thanks James - Great Games!

Of Painting...

This week I've finished off another unit which has been on the workbench for an obsene amount of time. Literally years! So, FINALLY, 10 sad little classic empire handgunners are dust-free, fully painted and in the cabinet - photos next week!

In the mean time I have two galleries of the very old, and one of the very new for you in this update!


For starters, we have "Epic, The Early days" - a gallery of some of my earliest forrays into converting epic miniatures and some not-so-hot paintjobs to keep you entertained. (22 pictures)

Secondly, we go up to 10mm scale, with the eventual arrival of the inevitable Warmaster Miscellaneous Gallery. Most of these figures were painted as random painting fun when the models were new, but there's a fair variety in there from many different races! (29 pictures)

And last but not least, we jump further up the scale chart and to something brand new. It may only be a tiny one, but I open the 28mm Roman Gallery with my first completed regiment - Warlord Games Slingers. Soon to be followed by many more I hope :) (3 pictures)

As ever - thanks for looking!

Totals:
New Galleries - 3
New images - 54

A 6mm special...

Of Gaming:
Had a great game of BKC last week. We played a mid-war Breakout with my soviets battling to escape from the surrounding Germans of Matt Arnold. Neither of us Have played in ages & it was like starting from scratch, but a re-match is booked for 10days time with the same forces, so hopefully a better grip will be achieved on the rules and a fuller game completed for once! Matt suffered terribly from a lack of command roles and a large portion of his forces failing to make it to the tray until well into the game. I suffered from my own command decisions - trying to use my own armour to see off the germhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifan Stugs, when I should have up-tailed and run away from them to escape the board. Lessons learned - may the re-match see the real winners!


Of painting & Updates:
The Slingers I mentioned last week will be photographed sometime this weekend, but not in time for this update I'm afraid. So, tts more of the old-skool today, as I continue to update my photo collection and add some more of the older models to the galleries.

With regards painting this week, nothing yet, but give me a chance - the weekend lies ahead of this update!

First up we have my original Epic Tau units and display base from 200... 2000 and ... umm - a way back! It was before the epic Tau's general release by Forgeworld, at any rate! More were later painted to match on commission, but these were the originals :) (23 Pictures)
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Secondly, we move up the scales to 28mm, and classic Necromunda figures - my Orlock Gang has been added to the 40K section. Usual story with these I'm afraid - painted, rarely used, and eventually sold, but much enjoyed none-the-less! (20 pictures)

And finally, a small but perfectly formed gallery featuring some 6mm Franco-Prussian War miniatures I painted up for Baccus Figures has been added to the recently re-named Horse & Musket section (was the napolionics section...) . Superb 6mm sculpts, even if you're not a fan of the era - maybe worth taking a look! (8 pictures)

Totals:
New Galleries Added: 3
New Pictures Added: 51

And then it went quiet....

No sooner had I passed 100 galleries, than my BlogFeed decided to go Belly up and I could no longer post (readable) updates on my News Blog!

Big Thanks to Rich Mayhew who's fixed it all for me - Beers are on the way!

In the mean time, what have I been doing?

Pledge Updates:

Selling stuff! I've certainly kept up that end of the pledge, having sold a couple of thousand (!) Pounds worth of painted toy soldiers int he past couple of months. All my Warmachine, Hordes, 3 15mm armies, half my 6mm soviets and loads more besides have now made their way all over the world - I hope they're enjoyed in their new homes!

The good side to this is that My funds are looking slightly more healthy. The slightly bad side is that most of the time I've had for hobby has been spent wrapping models up and my painting's not been too fast.

Buying Stuff! I've been talked into (didn't take much) taking up Infinity. I needed to start a game which is played by more people at my club, as I tend to skirt around the edges playing 6mm games now & then, but nothingn regular. Infinity is now that game and I've bought an Ariadna force, for about £60 spend so far - first painted miniature is now up!

Painting!
Damn, I already mentioned that my first Ariadna miniature is done... that's gone and taken the wind out my own sails. Oh well - find him in the brand new Ariadna section here of 28mm sci-fi mics! (4 pictures)

The EA Necron Gallery has gone Live once more. It was one of the first to be put on the new site, but was taken down again after many delays from obtaining the miniatures to ailing funds. However, the commission is finally complete & the gallery online! (37 Pictures)

I've also painted 16 28mm Roman Auxillery Slingers, but I'm yet to get them in front of the camera - another update soon! :oS

Overall:
Gallery count: 2
Picture count: 41
The Pledge:
Models Bought: 37
Models Painted: 51
Months into the Pledge: 5

Well, that slipped by quietly....

I made it beyond 100 galleries.... that's one HUNDRED galleries of images!!!

And apparently I didn't shout about it enough.

So here it is - WOOHOO! YIPPEE! YEAH!.

Ahem. Joking aside, it is quite a milestone for the HobbyBrush, and I had been holding back a couple of my favourite galleries from years gone by to mark the occasion, but time did not allow with the last update.

TO make things right once more, may I present to you....

Painting Death Korps of Kreig - Epic (6mm) painting article.
Warmaster Brettonnians 2 - one of my "Signature" commissions from my time as the mercenary Brush, a super-detailed Bretonnian army in 10mm scale for Warmaster. (41 pictures)
The Epic Misc Gallery - Maybe not one defined theme, but a lot of the models which got my name out there in the 6mm world are in this gallery, from titans to Inquisitors :) (52 Pictures)
And a smaller, less iconic gallery to round us out with some 28mm stuff - my third Old west gallery ( 10 pictures)

FOR SALE:
Finally, a Quick reminder that I have loads of stuff listed on Ebay right now, ending in the next day or so - check out all my items here

Thanks for looking!

Gallery count: 3
Picture count: 103 (Plus an articles!)

Day 1 - Epic Rhino Project Gallery

I've decided to try and upload a gallery or an article every day for the coming 10 days because... well.. I want to!

Whats more, I want each gallery to be showing a notably different genre / scale etc to the others. Not sure how well that part will go, but lets see!

First up is a Gallery of Epic 40K / Epic: Armageddon Space marine Rhinos. All painted in different colour schemes - more details in THE GALLERY.

Cheers!

Gallery Count: 1
Picture count: 11

New Galleries - Big & Small

In todays update, we have a selection of large galleries of small miniatures, and small galleries of Large Miniatures - Enjoy!:

Epic Logan Grimnar MkII Gallery - 32 Pictures
Lord of the Rings, Aragorn Gallery - 16 Pictures
Lord of the Rings, Gandalf Gallery - 5 Pictures
Ancient Gladiators - 32 pictures

Gallery Count: 4
Picture Count: 85

Currently on the workbench - 28mm Imperial Romans, 6mm WWII soviets and some epic Necrons - coming soon!

Continuing Clearout

More stuff being photographed for sale means more pictures up here again today!

Total picture count for today - 79
New Galleries - 6


Soviets for Sale - 10 Photos
Epic Scenery Gallery - 13 pictures
Warhammer Misc Gallery - 4 pictures (a classic Ogre)
15mm medieval / Fantasy Human army 1 - 6 new photos
15mm Fantasy Human army 3 - 11 new photos
28mm BTD WW2 Soviet tank riders - 13 pictures
18mm BTD WW2 German DAK - 26 pictures

Galleries and Articles - Old & New

Hi all,

I was asked a few weeks ago for some information regarding my Epic Logan Grimnar conversions. This prompted me to dig out the old articles along with a load of other painting guides I wrote way back & I've now edited the first of them for addition tot he HobbyBrush archives.

I've also added a couple of new galleries whilst I was here :)

Whats New:
Epic Logan Grimnar Mk1 gallery - 13 pictures
Making Epic Logan Grimnar Mk1 - article
15mm Fantasy Human Gallery 1 - 17 pictures
28mm Cave Men Gallery - 13 Pictures

Picture count - 43!

Warmaster Galleries Expand Greatly!

New Galleries: 7
Picture Count: 139

Nordvolk 28mm civillians
Warmaster Ostland Empire Army
Warmaster Bretonnians 1
Warmaster Lizardmen
Warmaster Lizardmen army 2
Warmaster Lizardmen army 3
EpiC Armageddon Tau Army

More galleries...

Yet more additions, all 6mm Sci-Fi tonight!

Seeds of War Studio Kraytonians
Seeds of War Studio Andrayada
Seeds of War Studio Scenery
Epic Imperial FIsts Space marines
Epic Iyanden Eldar
Epic Ork Kult of Speed.

Todays picture count:
294!

I hope you enjoy them - More soon :)