The Iron Fist Challenge - Results.

Of the Iron Fist 2012... 

Last weekend I witnessed the closing stages of one of the most impressive feats of painting I've ever seen.

A group of Hobbyists got together at The Games Shop (link Pending) in aldershot to spend 48 hours STRAIGHT each attempting to paint a full 1750point warhammer 40K army.

I was pleased to be there for the final few hours, to get the chance to photograph some of the entrants and also to help Rhys (the Shop owner, and himself a Gallery holder on the HobbyBrush!) Judge the finished entries.

I was so impressed by the results I had pondered spreading out the galleries into multiple updates and multiple galleries, but I have instead squashed them all into one location.

This gives me the perfect excuse to visit aldershot again soon with my camera and expand upon the event gallery into individual Guest Galleries at a later date. For the moment, I present the Iron Fist Event Gallery (87 Pictures)

First Place went to a superb Iron Warriors Force from Andy Brown
Second Went to another Chaos Marin Army, from the brush of James Taylor
Third Place went to Lex Head for his Themed Demon Hunters army
Special Mentions go to James French, Brian Best, Kris Marland and Stephen Barney for completing their entire quota of Forces.
Extra Special Mentions go to James French and Stephen Barney for not sleeping at all in the process...... Words fail me other than well done!!

Of My own Painting...

Whilst I was at the event, I did a little paiting of my own. I painted a Belt Buckle. On a Model. Oh, and half a piece of shoulder armour! There were just too many other painters to talk to and models to look at!!

At home however I have been slightly more productive, finishing of a number of projects lately and now the editing of the Iron Fist Photos is taken care of, I'll start proving my own work once again!

Iron Fist Painting Challenge

There's insanity impeding in Aldershot and it goes by the name of the iron fist Painting Challenge.

From the facebook event page: 

"So what's this all about then ?

The"Iron Fist" Painting Challenge is a 48 hour "paintathon" open to anybody over the age of 18.

Each participant will have 48 hours straight to paint a 1750 point Warhammer 40,000 army.

At the end of the challenge, the winner will be decided by a panel of judges, comprised of 'Golden Demon' winners and GW Army painters."

Yes, that's right. Nearly 20 guys have signed up to paint for 48 hours straight and The Games Shop, Aldershot!! Sleep is optional. Showers haven't even been mentioned. This is Hobby hardcore at its limits!

Unfortunately I cant make it for the whole event but I have been asked along on the Sunday to help Judge and I will, of course, be taking my lighting and photo gear to make sure I can document the results for all to enjoy.

edit: Oh, and they're all getting sponsored too - its charitable hobby insanity! 

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

Where did all the months go????

Of where I've Been...

My Computer network card / modem / something I cant fix went wrong - I've been using a borrowed laptop of 8 months now ad the "N" key doesnt work very well - get used to typos!

I Bought my first house.
It fell apart.
I put it back together.
I Costructed an awesome hobby room.
I'm back to painting at full speed and the HobbyBrush will be updated regularly once more.
I could go into more details, but you dont care do you? You just want new galleries, right? OK, OK... here goes...

Of Gaming...
Bwah ha ha... No galleries yet! But I will keep it short. I'm back playing Flames of War again and Loving it. Game I played Monday before last was one of the most enjoyable games of anything I've played in a long time.
I'm also playing Firestorm Invasion quite regularly.

All in all, you can expect American, German and F:I Terran galleries to be popping up here soon!

Of Painting...
Yes, more waffle. Deal with it.
I am ashamed to say that a combination of factors coverged upon me to mean I didn't get anything completed in time for the Dropzone Commander Launch. Its the first commitment to paint that I've ever failed upon entirely and it sucks, but was unavoidable. David hadn't paid me anything for painting the units he sent me, but I still feel bad about it - Sorry Dude!

That aside, I have taken up the Mercenary ways again since getting my new workshop sorted out and I'll be covering galleries of most of that soon.

For Myself, I'm paintig Flames of War Americans, Firestorm Invasion Terrans, a few Kraytonians for SoW and a couple of practice miniatures.

The Practice miniatures Come into two categories -
1. Airbrush work. I've finally taken the plunge and dropped a load of cash into a decent airbrush setup and am learning the ropes with that. Its great!
2. Back in June (on my Birthday as it happened!) I attended the Golem Studios Masterclass day and had the opportunity to learn from Tommie Soule, Mike McVey (yes, that one!) and Alison McVey in a full days painting. I've not learned so much in years of brushwork and whilst I'm still happy painting my huge collections and PROPER armies, I have a few practice / warm-up pieces floating about with the intentio of pushing myself to a proper display piece sometime this year.

So lots from my own benches soon :)

Of galleries and updates....
I'm guessing most of you igored all of the above and are straight here, and fair enough at that!

As a starting point back to updates, I present a Guest Gallery which has been waiting faaaar too long for publication.

Tom's Ogre army is an awesome sight all assembled together and this gallery does little to do it justice, but is well worth a look.( 48 Pictures)

Totals this update: 
New Galleries: 1
New images: 48

Its a start...