Author: Joe B

Showcase of Deathskull Morkanaut

Showcase: Deathskull Morkanaut

Published by Joe B

In my continued quest to complete an Ork Dreadmob, I finished my Deathskull Morkanaut and not only have the showcase but also how I painted it. The Gorkanaut/Morkanaut kit is an amazing kit to build and paint and I look forward to building and painting the second one. I already showed a bit of my progress in another post where I talked about painting on the couch while watching tv/movies with the family. I not only finished this Morkanaut but also a squad of Killa Kans in a very short time – short for me at least! Morkanaut Showcase As I said already, the Morkanaut kit has so many fun bits to build and paint that it was super quick to knock it out. I had originally planned on keeping the arms and doors unglued to they could move but decided to secure them in place since they kept dropping and/or knocking into the other bits. As I was painting this model up as a Deathskull Morkanaut, I added tons of blue but also kept …

Reviewing 2016 and Looking Ahead to 2017

Broken Paintbrush 2016 Review and Looking Ahead

Published by Joe B

Ah, the time of annual hobby reviews and thoughts on 2017. Not a popular post for many to read, but, as with many others who write one, this post is mostly a reflection for myself and introspection on what I want to do next year. If you believe the internets, 2016 was a shit of a year in many ways, and as one put it, much of the low points will setting us up for an even tougher 2017. Call me an optimist, but I think 2016 was a remarkable year, and 2017 is going to be unbelievably awesome. For Broken Paintbrush, I know this is true as this was my best year yet regarding painting quality, blogging consistency, and community growth. And yet, I have some plans for 2017 that have me giddy with excitement. So let’s get started, shall we? Looking Back on 2016 Hobby Accomplishments While 2016 wasn’t my most prolific year regarding painting, I am happy with what I did get done as I spent more time focusing on improving techniques, …

40k Humor and Short Stories

Good Reads 2016 – Humor and Stories

Published by Joe B

Be it the Grim Dark Future or the Chaotic Realms of Age of Sigmar, they all need a bit of extra humor dashed in there to tone down the madness right? Or perhaps it’s a great short story that adds a bit of depth to a new force. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Building Articles Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Surviving a Death World Games Workshop is coming out in a big way on social media and non-standard marketing such as The Regimental Standard. Adding some fluff around the Catachan’s fighting style, a Captain helps a new set of recruits with the rules of the jungle. Actually, I could post up nearly every one of …

Best Inspirational Hobby Articles of 2016

Good Reads 2016 – Inspirational Articles

Published by Joe B

Sometimes you just need fantastic looking models to look at. Be it to spur a new level of creativity, break the boredom of work, or inspire a brand new idea for an army. The Inspirational collection is by far the biggest, so take your time and come back for more! These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Building Articles Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles  Exalted Vermin Lord The Skaven are an incredible army in a talented painter’s hand and Mihalis’ Exalted Vermin Lord is proof of this. Between the raw scars, sickly bruises, and glowing Warpstone, it is incredible to look at. They Pilgryms of Iron Sleet The team at Iron Sleet are constantly putting some …

Best Painting Articles of 2016

Good Reads 2016 – Painting Articles

Published by Joe B

It’s no secret that I love painting miniatures and love tutorials, so it should be no surprise that I have so many Good Reads in the painting category! Some of the tutorials are great for beginners getting started, others will find some awesome tips from expert painters. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Building Articles Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles Painting Bases Wilhel is back this week with a great step-by-step on how he paints his bases. They are a great mix of jungle, marble tile, and 40k morbid gothic. And he makes it look so simple too! If you want to see the monster he put on this beautiful base, check out his Tyranid mutant …

Best Gaming Articles of 2016

Good Reads 2016 – Gaming Articles

Published by Joe B

While I often focus on the art side of our hobby, I don’t completely neglect the gaming side. Be it a well crafted battle report, a look at other game systems, or some thoughts on winning competitions, many have written great articles on the subject. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Building Articles Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles Prepping for Competition While I have yet to travel for any painting competition, I can appreciate the massive amount of work that it would take to pack everything up and keep it all organized. The guys at Massive Voodoo are no strangers to traveling with amazing models, and thankfully they put together a checklist …

Good Reads 2016

Good Reads 2016 Some of My Favorite Posts of the Year

Published by Joe B

This week’s Good Reads is going to be epic. Rather than just adding in the last few week’s worth of posts, I have gone over all my previous Good Reads, articles sent me by others, and even a few of my own thrown in to bring you some of my favorite articles from 2016. So I bring you: Good Reads 2016 Edition! Before we get to far along, if I missed your posts or a blog altogether, please forgive me. There are so many amazing articles published every day that I can only see so many! So if you think I made a mistake in skipping an article, submit it to the comments below, send me an email: joe@brokenpaintbrush.com or hit me up on social media! I’m not kidding about this: have zero shame in sending me your links! I had originally set this up to be one massive article featuring all the posts, but quickly realized it would not only be too long to read, but was becoming painful to edit! So instead I broke …

Best Articles for Building Miniatures

Good Reads 2016 – Building Articles

Published by Joe B

Step 1: Build an Awesome Model. Not everyone likes to convert their model, but this collection focuses on those who go all out to make unique or brand new models from spare bits, lots of putty, and pure imagination. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Building Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles Dark Eldar Incubi Conversions The clever and amazing NafNaf has put together yet another crazy cool unit for his Dark Eldar, a carnival themed army of creepy clowns and circus monsters. The new unit is a fantastic conversion of Incubi with top hats. In fact, NafNaf is making such creating stuff, that Thor from Creative Twilight also featured his Incubi in a Blogger Showcase. Thousand …

Good Reads 42 by Broken Paintbrush

Good Reads 42 – Hobby Posts You Need to Read

Published by Joe B

A whole crate load of awesome posts from some of the amazing hobby bloggers out there, this week’s Good Reads 42 brings you some articles that you just don’t want to miss! Remember to support you fellow hobby-blogger and check out there work. Also, remember to check out the brand new Blogroll to keep up to date on the latests posts and find new blogs to read – you can even add your blog to the list as well! A Vengeful Gun At some point I need to get more terrain built and painted as I figure it will make easier to start playing again. Here Siph shows off a nicely done Vengeance Weapon platform with a neat trick to switch it from battle cannon to the Punisher Cannon. DIY Candles for Scenery In the gothic world of 40k or craziness of AoS, candles add a nice touch. Nazroth put together a nice tutorial on how he adds tiny candles to his bases – with and without flames. Other than trying to drill a teeny …

Broken Paintbrush Blogroll is Live!

Published by Joe B

This is something I’ve been putting off doing for a while, but I have finally got it done: The Broken Paintbrush Blogroll! One of the common themes I saw in last week’s discussion on commenting was that many people have lost contact with blog updates since Feiet’s blogroll went down. I know I used to get a good deal of traffic from it that has disapeared. So, following Thor’s advice, I’ve installed WP RSS Aggregator and added all the blogs I follow (over 150!). You can check it out at: https://www.brokenpaintbrush.com/blogroll. That is where you can also find how to add your own blog to the feed (if I haven’t already added it!). I am still working on the formatting and sync issues, but I’m hoping that the Blogroll will soon help everyone find new hobby bloggers and connect. If you see funny business, let me know so I can fix it. Request for a Logo Also, I am putting a request out for anyone with digital art skills. I need a blogroll badge, and …

A collection of my favorite family board games

My Favorite Board Games

Published by Joe B

While I haven’t been able to play a game of 40k in many years, I have built up a good collection of board games that I love playing with my family. Some are fun and quick games, others are epic times when family visits for the holidays. While some of these are more common than others, I’ve added all the games we have played multiple times and really enjoy. A few others have been dudes, or just way too much setup time. What’s great about most of these games is that they are fairly easy to learn and get playing. This is an important factor with two little boys in the house who want to “help.” 🙂 Note: The links below are affiliate links to Amazon. There is no price difference to you, but I do earn a small commission if you buy it. This is how I pay for hosting services and keep this site alive, so if you want an awesome game and support Broken Paintbrush, I would appreciate the clicks! These games …

Importance of the Hobby Community

Importance of Community

Published by Joe B

I had originally titled this post “Why I Comment” but decided there was more to it than just leaving a note on other blogs. Instead, I want to speak of the importance of the community, in particular, the importance of the online hobby community. As this blog is nearing its 10th birthday, I’ve had a lot of up and downs with both the hobby as well as the blog. The thing that has sustained me through so many low times is the fantastic community of online hobbyists. Shortly after starting the blog (named 14th Grand Company at the time) I joined an online group doing the Tale of Even More Painters. We had a monthly challenge to paint a particular type of unit for our armies. It was a productive time, but more importantly, it was a chance to build roots into the community. What got me thinking about all of this, and finally write this post, was one of the responses to a survey I sent to all the Dreadtober participants. “People not helping other …