On the Boil: New Oldhammer Blogs and Miniature Swapping!

Back so soon you are asking? Well, that is because in recent days we have seen a explosion in the amount of good and potentially good blogs out there and as ever, I am keen to support them and encourage as much as my readership to join them as possible. 

Painted Lead Miniatures

First up the new personal painting blog of our good Oldhammer friend, Marcus Ansell. His blog has not been up for long but it already has plenty of interesting stuff worth exploring, most notably this excellent rendition of the classic Talisman Minstrel. 

Painting with the Foundry System (alongside a few W&S inks his dad gave him) Marcus produces bright, sharp models which 'pop' with detail. Obviously, working at the Foundry and living on top of the most exciting collection of toy soldiers in the world means that this blog is certainly one to watch. After all, who knows what might be posted up next?

Hopefully, some more Talisman figures. 

http://paintedleadminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/

Oldhammer Melbourne

Nathan Firth has been a regular contributor to the Facebook Group for some time now and he has recently started up a blog. He has even gone as far as accepting my challenge of coming up with his Ultimate Oldhammer Moment. He is clearly grappling with the system, though his photography is rapidly improving and I can share with you some of his chaos miniatures below! 

Check out Nathan's blog here http://oldhammermelbourne.blogspot.co.uk/

As with all of the blogs I try and promote, please do visit and if possible click the Followers link (either the old one or the newer, Google+ thing) as traffic, comments and page views really do inspire our colleagues to paint, play and collect more. Its in our own interest, as then the Oldhammer blogosphere is permanently full of exciting reading for us all to enjoy! 

Miniature Swapping

What do you think of this beauty, eh? Its a Elf wardancer and looks like it was painted by me doesn't it? But you would be wrong, its a gift from a Spanish Oldhammer friend of my, Luife Lopez. We have carried out a 'miniature swap' and its something that I would like to do again with as many people as possible really. 

The premise is simple. You paint a model for a Oldhammer friend, putting all of your skill into it, and post it off while at their end they are doing the same. The result, a new miniature in the collections of two Oldhammerers. Talking to Andy Craig over the years has shown that this was once common practice within the famous Design Studio and among the elite '80s painting circles - Fraser Gray etc. 

As a bonus he also sent a few extras. Namely a modern plastic Plaguebearer and a Psychostyrene Dwarf. The dwarf has a rather expertly shaded shield which has inspired me to try out a simple technique on one of my own. That is the beauty of swapping models with other painters, you get to really study their ideas and techniques, which in turn inform your own. 

If anyone else fancies doing a miniature swap please get in touch and we can arrange something. they really are great fun and worthy of your time! Email me at realmofchaos80s@yahoo.co.uk. 

As a final bonus, Luife also included a sculpted Tzeentch disc for me! It was something that I was not expecting and was a real surprise when I opened up the packet this yesterday!