It is my pleasure to introduce a new feature here on the site, one that we hope will showcase customers who truly take our hobbies to a higher level. These customers are the sort of gamers who create spectacle rather than mere gaming. We are proud that they chose to frequent our stores and game rooms. From time to time we will introduce you to some of these customers and the great works they do in furtherance of the hobby. These special customers, for bearing with me through the arduous interview process, receive a Game Preserve gift card for their trouble.
Recently, I sat down with the first of the soon-to-be many of the Game Preserve’s Featured Customers – John Brothers of the Fashion Mall Commons store, avid painter and Warhammer 40k gamer.
John’s Ork collection is an impressive feat of conversion and painting. It has only been about 2 years since he began work on his Ork Speed Freak army and now it is an awesome specimen of an utterly Orky army. While the Orks are not John’s first army (he has collected Dwarves, Orcs, and Tau before this) they are certainly his most impressive.
John has a unique dedication to painting his army, emphatically stating “It doesn’t get played if it isn’t painted.” John’s painting is undoubtedly of a very high standard, with lots of bright, eye-catching colors and bold color blends. John says his background as an art teacher greatly helped him get a leg up when it came to painting miniatures. Perhaps the most impressive part of John’s army is the extensive conversion work that has gone in to nearly every miniature.
John's trukks are an impressive pile of Orky scrap.
Each vehicle is festooned with sheets of scrap metal and extra spikey bits, as befits an Ork army. John says that the decision to heavily convert nearly his entire army was a natural one, “You just don’t do things the normal way.” John’s primary tool when it comes to these conversions is plasticard, also known as sheet styrene. John uses this material to fashion additions to his vehicles ranging from extra Ork Teef to armor plating and extended Deff Kopta propellers. Plasticard is basically nothing more tha
n sheets or plastic of varying thickness and the material is perfect for conversion work. Working with plasticard can be difficult at times and John practiced for weeks before beginning his boldest conversions. “The Key is to take advice,” John says, “I’ve received help from twelve year olds to fifty year olds.” John advises starting small with tiny modifications before trying to tackle that monster project.
John's Double Decker Battlewagon
John has had a successful career competitively, placing highly in painting competitions at Games Days and at Gen Con. John is currently ranked 150th out of 7500 painters on coolminiornot.com. He was even honored by being a featured painter at this year’s Gen Con at the coolminiornot.com booth. You can check out John’s work on coolminiornot here.
Wazdakka Gutsmek, one of John's favorite models.
When I asked John what plans he has for the future he confessed that he would probably continue growing his Ork horde. He told me, “I thought it was done but I found myself just buying more Orks.” Rather than simply adding to his bright red Speed Freakz army, John has decided to create a Bad Moon Ork force, full of garish yellow and fancy special weapons. He even hinted at the possibility of a massive Stompa created from two Stompa kits. If John’s previous conversions are any indication then any Stompa conversion he attempts will doubtless be an amazing creation.
John is also available for commission work, just shoot him an email at uberdark@yahoo.com. If you’re interested in checking out the full photo shot from the day’s interview you can see it in our gallery. Thanks for taking the time to check out John’s work and congratulations to Mr. John Brothers himself! Keep up the good work!
–Interested in becoming our next Featured Customers? Its simple: just create great works of hobby awesomeness and frequent any of our Game Preserve stores. Your hobby can be anything that we carry in our stores: miniature wargames, board games or role playing games – It doesn’t matter as long as it is suitably impressive. There is no application process, so the only way to get noticed is to do cool stuff and visit out stores. Good luck!
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