Brush Wielders Union

My guest this month is my old friend, former co-worker, and former podcast co-host, William Hungerford. You may know him from his time at Privateer Press where he was Press Gang Quartermaster and then a leading game dev for many years on WARMACHINE, HORDES, Riot Quest, Monsterpocalypse, and other games! We spoke about his time at Privateer, his philosophy of game development, and about what he's up to now, working at Broken Anvil Miniatures on their upcoming game, Rivenstone!

Follow Hungerford on Twitter at @wnhungerford 

Learn more about Broken Anvil Miniatures on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to brushwieldersunion.com members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

This month I spoke with my old friend and fellow Union member, Ross Thompson! Over the course of his career Ross has become one of the pillars of the miniatures wargaming hobby and community. We talked about his time at companies like Privateer Press, CMoN, and the Op Games, before talking about community building, running conventions (like he did with KingdomCon) and generally swapped old war stories.

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to brushwieldersunion.com members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

And don't forget, Full Brush Wielders Union members receive a 10% discount code at the Turbodork webstore!

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

This month I spoke with my old friend and fellow BWU Member, Andrew Bailey. You might know Andrew from his days as Mod_Faultie on the Privateer Press forums but these days he's best known for his incredible kitbashing creations, focused on the Kroot of Warhammer 40,000 and one of the pillars of the #siegeofpech and #krootvasion communities on Instagram. We chatted about kitbashing, world building, and carving out a niche for yourself in an existing setting as he's done in 40k.

Be sure to follow Andrew on Instagram at @ironbeak_mercenaries and on Twitter @ironbeakmercs

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

This month I was excited to speak with professional miniatures painter, Elizabeth Beckley! You may know her work as part of the Miniature Monthly team or as a sometime studio painter for Kingdom Death (link NSFW) and formerly, Cool Mini or Not. Elizabeth is one of the featured painters in "The Art of..." the new series of art books now on Kickstarter from fellow Union Member, Dave Taylor. Elizabeth had lots to share about her journey as a hobbyist from an amateur gamer to a pro-painter for multiple studios and even the hobby megabrand, Plaid!

Give a listen and check out Elizabeth's work online and be sure to back "The Art of..." book series on Kickstarter before May 20th!

You can follow Elizabeth online!

Twitter: @minimistres

Instagram: miniature_mistress

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

For this month's podcast I spoke with my friend and fellow Union Member, Dan Vander Kooy, operator of Iron Buffalo, a game store with a coffee problem! While we didn't talk too much about minis this month, we did get into the nitty gritty of what it's like to run a game shop. These pillars of our community are notoriously fickle creatures and Dan was kind enough to share his thoughts on their care and maintenance. We talked about the importance of game stores to the community and what we as community members can do to make them the kind of places we want to be. We also got into what it's been like to weather a global pandemic as a retailer and events space! Finally, we maybe got a little distracted talking about the very cool dice available from the Cozy Gamer...

Be sure to check out Iron Buffalo everywhere on the web, and definitely swing by (when you're fully vaccinated) while you're in the Amherst, NY area!

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

This month I finally spoke with my old time friend and fellow Union Member, Gregoire Boisbelaud, co-owner of Dust USA! Gregoire chatted with me about his long history in the miniatures industry going all the way back to his time at Rackham and to the present as one of the main people behind Dust 1947. We talked about the French miniatures scene, what it was like inside the legendary Rackham, and the trials and travails of producing a miniatures wargaming in these turbulent times.

If you're interested in Dust, don't forget that all Full Union Members get an exclusive discount code at the Dust USA webstore! Learn more here.

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

I've been looking forward to speaking with The Terrain Tutor for a long time, and what better excuse than with the release of his first book, Terrain Essentials: A Book About Making Wargaming Terrain! It's a truly comprehensive resource that covers the fundamentals of terrain making from planning, to materials, to execution, all accompanied by beautiful and helpful photography. Terrain Essentials is a real achievement, and I believe it will be the definitive book on terrain building for many years to come. If you have even the slightest interest in the subject you will want a copy.

Mel is a familiar face in wargaming circles as his Youtube channel has become a foundation of the hobby over the past 7 years. Mel was kind enough to chat with me about the tremendous work that went into his first book, shared some tips and tricks for planning a terrain set, and even a little about the evolutionary psychology behind making your terrain appear "real."

You can order your own copy of Terrain Essentials through your FLGS and I hope that you will!If your local shop can't get a copy you can order it direct.

In North America, order from Iron Heart Artisans.

In the rest of the world, from Warlord Games.

You can also join Mel's fantastic community on Facebook, The Terrain Tutor's Terraniacs.

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong, and in the words of the Terrain Tutor, "Crack on!"

For the first podcast of 2021 I spoke to "Mocha", competitive painter and professional instructor! "Mocha" of Mocha Minis is an overly-caffeinated, multi-award winning miniature painter, instructor, video game enthusiast and karaoke queen. After being introduced to tabletop gaming in 2010, she fell in love with painting miniature figures and currently teaches at national conventions, friendly local game stores, and online through her new Patreon! You can find her painting live on Twitch and sharing positive painting vibes on her family-friendly channel.

We talked about the ups and downs of competitive and commission painting, what excites her about sculpts, her tips and tricks for getting people (especially kids) painting for the first time in lockdown, and the anxiety of mastering a new technique.

Check out more of Mocha's work and take part in her streams and her very own Patreon where you can take classes!

mochaminis.com <-- website/portfolio/commission info

patreon.com/mochaminis <-- Mocha's new Patreon!

twitter.com/mocha_minis <-- Twitter

instagram.com/mocha_minis <-- Instagram

facebook.com/mochaminis <-- Facebook

twitch.tv_mocha_minis <-- Twitch (live paint streams 2x per week)

As usual, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public.

Union Strong!

For this month's podcast I interviewed the creator behind the upcoming Wyrd Science Magazine, John Power Jr. This project came to my attention after being shared by Gav Thorpe, and I immediately saw it as the kind of thing I love; a deep dive into the deepest corners of the RPG and miniatures gaming hobbies. John has lined up a stunning array of interviews for the first issue, including Simon Stålenhag (Tales from the Loop, The Labyrinth), Chris Spivey (Haunted West), John Nohr (MÖRK BORG) and many others, as well as the first instalments of what will become recurring features. John kindly shared his time to talk with tremendous enthusiasm about Wyrd Science and his own thoughts on the state of the hobby in this tremendously weird year.

As always, this episode will be exclusive to BWU members for a few days before being released to the general public. The Brush Wielders Union is a community of like-minded miniatures gamers dedicated to playing their games fully painted and supporting one another in their craft.

Learn more at brushwieldersunion.com