New Brushes!

So after posting my thoughts on the citadel brushes, I thought it was probably a good idea to finally offer an alternative. My chosen alternative to Games Workshop's brushes, until recently, had always been cheap, reliable Taklon brushes from the art supplies shop. That is until I decided to invest in something better, something more refined, something superior, something commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1866 . Something that the snobbiest painting snobs would be proud of. Something that seems like way too much money for what it is :P

I hope the italics are enough for you guys to catch the sarcasm.

I am, of course, talking about the Winsor Newton Series 7 miniature brushes. I had read so many reviews of these brushes, and people have done nothing but rave about them, and they really live up to the hype. They are the perfect combination of spring and bristle length, and I have honestly noticed the difference in my painting...it sounds unlikely, but I think these brushes might have really started to improve my painting. Solely through the new confidence I have that when I put paint down, it's going to go where I want it, instead of being distributed randomly by dodgy bristles, painting is getting more enjoyable.

When I unveiled them to my friend that I game with, he said they were 'the Ferrari of paintbrushes', and he was right.

So, if you are going to invest in some fancy brushes, or if you need some good brushes to start out with, I would recommend the Winsor Newton Series 7 Miniature.

Distraction Bunker

One side of the bunker

I took a quick break from study today to finish off the groundwork for a piece of terrain I've been working on. I don't really feel like painting lately, so I thought this would be a good change of pace.

I found some old packaging foam from a LCD screen, and after a little bit of work (read: very minimal work) I had what I think is a pretty cool looking bunker. I originally wanted to do a bunker set into a hill, but well, It didn't exactly work out...at all. So now it's a bunker set into a rise in the ground. I'm planning on shaping the foam into a cliff face to make sure it looks like impassible terrain, and adding some bits to the top to make it look a little more used. I've put some sandbags up there that I sculpted, so now I just have to get some more greenstuff and work out what else I should put up there.

Any ideas?

The side

The Front

Thanks for reading!

Quick Update - Girlfriendhammer

My girlfriend got a bit bored a few weeks ago and decided she wanted to paint up one of my models. I had a ruffle through my bits box and found an old empire handgunner. After a little while and a few 'grrr's and 'why do they have to be so small's, Rachel had painted up a pretty impressive (and very flamboyant) hangunner, Hubert von Hugmeier! Now I just have to work out how to get her to try out playing...

I'm scared to let her paint anything else, just in case she starts to show me up ^_^ Compared to one of my first models....uugh.

My favourite part is the eyes, can you see what's missing?

I've been trying to get some painting done over the last week, but man, uni exams are the ultimate time suck. If I'm not studying I feel to guilty to pick up a paintbrush. I'm all done on the 14th, so it should be back to progress after that!

Gotta have it!

Ron over at FTW has got a collaborative post going on about your must have unit. For me my must have unit choice has very little to do with actual gaming effectiveness or points cost. I've pretty much always collected Guard, and from the very first time I opened up the codex, I've thought stormtroopers were sweet. I remember seeing them in the codex and thinking, wow, a save that's better than 5!

I used to field a squad of five against my friends chaos army, and they would always end up getting squished in close combat or slammed by bolter fire. I never was any good at winning games when I was younger...but they made it on to the table almost every time. I always liked the idea that they were the best of the best, even if I could never get them to play that way.

Since then I've pretty much always fielded them, and in 5th edition they make a sweet punchy unit when you put them in a chimera and outflank to the rear of a tau gunline. The new hotshot lasguns are sweet, so now more than ever the stormies have a place in my army not just for the fact that I've always used them.

Stormtroopers are my must have unit, because, well they're models that have always been in my army, and it would be kind of weird to play guard without them on the table.

As a side note - I was just reading through this thread on DakkaDakka, and I noticed that the ratling in the background of this picture looks almost too much like the new mini (you know the one, sniping around the post, with the apples) not to be some kind of homage. I thought it was interesting to see the sculptors drawing on stuff from 2nd ed for new sculpts!