This month I got to speak with award winning painter, Erik Swinson. Erik's won numerous awards, including the coveted Lock & Load Grandmaster and was kind enough to spend some time talking to me about his approach to painting, particularly about non-metallic metals, painting shadows, and his thoughts on how every painter needs to define their own "tabletop standard."

Follow Erik on Instagram and if you're going to Adepticon consider signing up for his intensive day-long non-metallic metals class!

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

This month's episode features an old friend I've been wanting to interview on the BWU podcast since the very beginning, professional miniatures painter, Matt DiPietro! Matt is a Golden Demon award winner who worked as Privateer Press' studio painter for many years before pursuing his career independently at Contrast Miniatures and as part of the team at Miniature Monthly. Matt took the time out of his busy schedule to talk about his journey from amateur to world-class competitive painter, shared some thoughts on the history of art as it relates to minis painting, and shared some super valuable tips and tricks sure to be of interest to all painters whether newly started on their journey or seasoned pros.

These days Matt is one of the most talented hired guns in miniatures painting. You can hire his services at Contrast Miniatures as a commission painter or as an instructor for painters of every skill level.

You can also see more of his work on Instagram.

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

Episode 6 of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

This month my friend Andy Hobday, co-owner of Footsore Miniatures joined me all the way from Nottingham, England to talk about his imminent project, The Barons' War, coming to Kickstarter, September 15th. Andy has become a real force of nature in skirmish gaming over the past few years and was kind enough to talk about his new line of beautiful 13th century English and French knights and the turbulent history of the Barons' War.

Andy also shared his thoughts on game design in his work on Test of Honour, Mortal Gods, Gangs of Rome, and even lets slip a few things coming from Footsore Miniatures in the near future, including a new Dark Ages ruleset and the highly anticipated Mythic supplement for Mortal Gods, full of Ray Harryhausen inspired Greco-Roman monsters!

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

Episode 5 of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

I'm very excited to share this month's podcast, an interview with fellow Union member, Greg De Stefano, one of the main people behind Turbodork, the color-shift and metallic paints taking the hobby by storm!

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

Episode 4 of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

This month Simon spoke with the hardest working man in miniatures wargaming, Sean Sutter, creator (and writer, and illustrator, and artist, and sculptor) of Relicblade! Sean kindly shared his time to talk about how Relicblade came about, his own journey as a sculptor and illustrator, the inspirations behind the game, the wonderful community around his game, and even shared a few teasers about the future of Relicblade.

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

Episode 3 of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

In the second of two interviews with the staff of Battlefront Miniatures, creators of Flames of War, the 15mm WWII game of platoon and tank combat, Simon speaks with studio painter Aaron Te Hira-Mathie. Aaron is kind enough to speak with us at length about what it's like to paint miniatures professionally, shares tips and techniques for painting 15mm figures, and happily digresses to discuss his love of Team Yankee, the WWIII miniatures game!

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

Episode 2 of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

In our first of two interviews with the staff of Battlefront Miniatures, creators of Flames of War, the 15mm WWII game of platoon and tank combat, Simon speaks with game designer, Andrew Haught. Andrew kindly shares some thoughts on game design, the future of Flames of War with the upcoming Late War products, and some tips and tricks for painters dabbling in 15mm modeling and historical accuracy for the first time.

Our June episode will follow up with Battlefront studio painter, Aaron Mathie.

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

The very first episode of the Brush Wielders Union podcast! Each month, BWU General President, Simon Berman, interviews a Union member or other minis wargaming luminary.

Our first guest is hobby legend, Dave Taylor! Dave's been working in miniatures wargaming for over two decades and after painting over 10,000 miniatures, has (literally) written the book on painting whole armies. We chatted about his career, his own tips and tricks for painting and staying motivated, and of course, his current project publishing Terrain Essentials, the first book by Mel Bose, the Terrain Tutor.

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