Review: Games and Gears Pro Series 7

Image property of Games and Gears

 

Two reviews in a row, this is madness! Or maybe just convenient timing. This time I will be reviewing the Pro Series 7S set of brushes from Games and Gears, for those of you unfamiliar with this company they are the same people behind the recent and highly successful studio ichiban line of brushes that launched on kick starter a few months back. I’ll provide a link at the end of the article so you can check out their full range of products if you’re interested (they make other stuff as well) Please keep in mind I have only had these brushes for a week, so I am writing the article on a daily basis and recording my impressions as I go along to try to provide a more accurate review.

Unboxing:

This experience was not optimal, now this is not to say I had any issues with the quality of the product, but when I opened the shipping bag and unwrapped the bubble sheet that the brushes came in I noticed that a number of the protective plastic tubes that cap the ends of the brushes had been bent. Again I will state that this is not a reflection on G&G’s product, I am well aware the horrors of shipping things and sometimes even the most carefully packed items suffer battle damage in transit, but I did find it a little surprising that they did not pack the brushes in a small box to prevent this sort of thing from happening. As you can see below, the tubing bent a little and forced the brush tip at an angle during its long trip across the pond, my heart almost stopped when I saw this but after a little TLC I managed to coax the bristles back into line, but there is still a little slant. After the initial shock passed everything set up nicely, and assembling the stand (yes you will need a screw driver) was a snap, and I didn’t find any cracks or blemishes on any of the brushes, so no complaints there.

 

 

Quality:

The most obvious thing to note about these brushes is that they are sable air (read Chinese mink) awesome mustelidae hairs aside, there were some quirks. Right off the bat I had a kinked hair in one of the larger brushes, sadly I think this was related to the bending in the plastic tubing that occurred during shipping, after a rather tense moment with a pair of surgical shears the problem was resolved, I did not see any other brushes in the set with this defect thankfully, now back to the brush heads. As I mentioned above these are sable hair brushes, they performed exactly as one would expect a good sable brush to preform, I was able to consistently draw a nice fine point each time I loaded the brush and there is a good “snap" to the bristles and no foxing in any of the tips. Time will be the real test here though and I am no slouch when it comes to brush maintenance, so I do plan on a follow up review after a few months of use. No complaints about quality at this point though

 

The feel of these brushes in hand cannot be understated. That being said the weight and balance on the brushes (even the larger ones) feels just right, they have a nice light core, probably cedar or maybe pine or another non hardwood that provides a light center. The focus of the weight of each brush is split pretty evenly at both ends and doesn't feel like either side is setting the other off balance. The subtle bulge that runs through the middle of each handle has been tooled evenly between each ferule and even on the smallest brush the PSST1 it does not feel stunted or off center. However, if there were one concern I had about the design it would have to be those dual brush ends, I have to admit I have yet to try to do the dual blending technique, or for that matter taken the plastic cap off of the other end for fear of accidentally smacking, stabbing, fwapping or otherwise damaging the opposite tip in some absent minded manner, this may not be a major concern for everyone, my painting method tends to combine the best elements of flair bartending and miniature painting, my brushes tend to find themselves partially airborne now and then (or just get away from me after a long painting binge) For now the back ends stay capped unless I am doing any blending work. For normal people though I don’t see this being an issue so 10/10 on build quality and feel.

Flow & Control:

 Flow control is something I rarely see talked about in brush reviews when it comes to miniature painting, which is a little odd, but hey, I figure I might as well include it in mine. Ok so what is flow control, easy, it’s the way a brush absorbs and distributes paint, some brushes are over absorbent and some are less so or not very good at wicking paint at all. My experience has been above average to excellent so far. The larger brushes (I used the 3XL in this case) held a decent amount of paint per load and I found myself going to the pallet a lot less than I do with my other generic brushes of similar size. The smaller brushes were a little trickier, I had to clear and thin a couple of times with the GW paints to keep them from getting over saturated, the Vallejo’s were a little more forgiving though. Moral of the story if you’re not already thinning down your paints you might want to hold off investing in high end brushes. Over all they performed quite well, nice even coats and keeping a nice fine tip in between clearing and loading, I actually got a bit adventurous with the 3XL brush and tried some highlighting with my Ork boy which you can see above, the results were pretty promising, almost no run overs on the edges and it didn’t take much pressure to get the paint where it needed to be in some of the tighter areas on the arms, this is in contrast to using the GW or generic brushes that I have used that tend to have a rather below average endurance when it comes to holding a point, I have also noticed that the cheaper brushes tend to be a little to absorbent and you have to pay more attention when loading and clearing them. This is not the case with G&G’s pro series, the bristles are tightly bound and they wick at a nice even rate and I never felt like I was fighting with the brush to get the paint where it needed to go, easily a 10/10 experience.  

starting on the first highlight layer on a irk boy.

For this these brushes worked fantastically.

Cost:

Wait that’s not on the list, but I know you probably want to know how this stacks up to the Newton’s and Raphael’s on the market. The pro series set that I got would set you back $85 USD (not counting shipping) You get 16 brushes in the set (two for each brush) which breaks down to about $5.50 per brush which is about $2 cheaper than the cheapest GW brush if you are talking msrp. How does that compare to the big dogs? Well your most basic set of Windsor Newton’s will set you back roughly $100 for six brushes that would offer you the same range as the G&G’s, that’s an average cost of $16 per brush for one third the amount of brush’s, now the tradeoff here is that those series 7’s are practically guaranteed to last you for life if you treat them right, I can’t say yet weather that is true of G&G’s, but I don’t see why these wouldn’t last me a good while with proper care. Bottom line you are getting plenty of bang for your buck with G&G.

 

Final Thoughts:

What's good:

-Affordable.

-High quality.

-Double the amount of brushes for the price.

-Good feel in hand and in use.

-Unique design.

-Comes with awesome stand (seriously I love the sword rack style)

The less good:

-Not that portable out of the box

I didn't touch on this in the article, but that dual end design and a slight tendency for the plastic caps to slip off some of the smaller brushes makes it a tad nerve wracking to put in my hobby kit, this set of brushes really begs for a nice custom clip in hard case to transport them safely.

-Shipping packaging.

Not totally their fault, but worth noting.

 

My final impression after a week or so with these brushes is a positive one, I can see myself using these brushes well into the future and would recommend them to anyone who is looking to upgrade to Kolinsky on a budget, they have some minor but ultimately forgivable quirks, but over all they performed solidly. Over all score 9.5/10.

Go Check out Games and Gears full line up.

http://www.gamesandgears.co.uk/index.aspx

Wait, there's more! How about some finished pics of those Orks I kept showing up top, naturally painted using G&G brushes :)



 

Cheers

-Scott

BH Senior WaaaaGGGHH

 

Quick Review: Ahriman Exile

 

As you may have gleaned from the title, this novel follows the story of the Chaos sorcerer supreme Ahriman. The story setting takes place in the 41^st millennium and primarily focuses on Ahriman’s rise or descent to power as a renegade sorcerer. The book itself is not super weighty, its about  416 pages that are not densely packed with text (it’s not a Dan Abnett tome to be sure) which makes it a fairly easy book to pick up and read when you have a spare moment I actually stopped and started reading it about three times over the course of two months, but the story is written well enough that I didn’t find myself helplessly lost or having to go back to certain parts to refresh myself. So in that way it makes a great summer reader or travel/vacation book.

The story itself is well written and is a good reflection on the author John French who is a rather recent addition to BL’s stable. While I have not read any of his other works, French does a great job of keeping the reader interested in the plot, weaving long and detailed combat scenes with subtle plots that feed into the main story and reveal more about who Ahriman really is or was. Over all I felt more like I was reading someone's personal Journal rather than watching a story unfold from some imaginary corner of the room, French’s style of describing battle scenes is also quite refreshing, there were multiple times where I would read a couple paragraphs that described a fight that in reality only lasted a couple seconds, but the action flows very well in these scenes and it never felt repetitive or gratuitous. There is also a decent supporting cast of characters that provide a decent B story to help the main plot move along, again not a lot of dense details, just a good light background on the supporting cast to help break up some of the longer bits.

The over all narrative of the story is mostly focused on the power of choice, and you definitely see the results of the ones that each character makes as the book progresses, again this is an area that French does a fantastic job in. Over all it felt like I was reading several mini-sodes out of the larger story, I don’t want to get to into the plot but I will say that there is the usual amount of grimdark splashed over everything, but it doesn't feel as overbearing as it does in some of the other BL series. I would say even if your not a fan of Chaos this book is still a solid read, on the other side of the coin if your really into thousand sons this is almost a required read.

I feel I am starting to ramble on a bit so I'll wrap it up. This book basically follows Ahriman around the universe whilst he solves groovy mysteries with his gang of scrappy renegades and outcasts as they track down the mysterious source of the hunters that have been sent to kill him, things get dicey when Ahriman realizes the truth has been with him all along and has to go on a  journey of rediscovery and personal development that will allow him the face down the demons that pursue him and unlock his true potential. The story was good but it definitely feels like its meant to be part of a series rather than a standalone novel, but its pretty easy to get into the plot and it’s a fairly quick read for anyone who enjoys BL novels. So if you like Thousand suns, or you just want to learn a bit more about Ahriman I can definitely recommend this book, same goes if your looking for a quick 40k fluff fix in your down time.

Check it out here

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/ahriman-exile.html

Cheers

-Scott

The Stuff of Legends: Episode 17

Episode 17 of "The Stuff of Legends" is out now on iTunes and direct download. This week Chuck, Ian and I talk about our first impressions on 7th edition and the psychic phase and the upcoming Valedor campaign at the shop. There's also a bit of hobby progress and the boys dish a bit on the new Orkanought kit coming out this week. You can grab the episode off iTunes, or direct download from the links below.

iTunes
Direct download



Cheers

-Scott

Warhammer Wednesday/More dakka

Not sure if everyone was aware, but we are all stilt basking in the radiant heat of a new edition release of 40k, you know for the three of you who don't have internet connections or eyeballs that may still be un aware. To be honest I have not been diving head first into the rules and I have yet to get a game in, I have been letting the internet handle picking out the minutiae rules wise and use the time I save doing that by reading up on the fluff and painting. That being said its been a busy week, both hobby wise and at work, so I don't really have much to offer in the way of an in death look at 7th other than the book set is quite well done and doesn't feel flimsy and I love the fact that I only have to carry two books in my bag now (rules, codex) There's a lot of crunch in this new edition, so I don't expect to be seeing any substantial reports for at least a month or two when everyone has had time to really play it out.

Hobby stuff:
Like I said, this week was a busy week for me hobby wise and a slightly expensive on, s you can see below I decided to round out my armor and throw an extra Baneblade into my collection (I have two now plus a shadow sword) being a guard player you can never have enough tanks, this was especially true when I played an apocalypse game with Chuck (also pictured below) and fellow commander Bill (not pictured) That game made me realize two things, one; I didn't have all my armor painted to match my over all theme and two; I needed more tanks on the table. So I went over to Legends and picked up the Hammer.

Last Wednesday was also the first official Warhammer Wednesday over at Legends, which I initially thought I would have to head up myself to drum up some interest but as it turned out I didn't have to do much, by the time I showed up, there were already several people getting ready to play, unfortunately one group didn't get their rule book order in in time to get a copy before they all sold out, but two fine gents Rick and Mike stopped by to get an unbound game they both looked like they were enjoying the new rule set and getting a chance to play unbound.

 



Unfortunately I didn't get to spend much time next door, but we had some 40k action going on in the overflow space as well, next time I will try to have some more tables set up in the main store for Warhammer Wednesday (which will be on the 11th) Feel free to come and play anytime, the table in the main shop is usually open and if need be the overflow/table top room can be opened if there is a large group that wants to play.

Ok confession time, this article was supposed to come out/be written last Thursday, that obviously didn't happen, but it did give me a chance to finish up assembling and priming most of the Russ's and the bane blade I have been stripping, sniping and assembling and priming since Wednesday night, the end result was totally worth it though, I am also going to try to batch these guys with my airbrush  and give my new spray booth a whirl sometime next week.

That's all I have for now, going to be at Legends today/tonight. The escalation league has re-set to 500pts now that 7th ed is out. We will be recording the podcast tonight as well, so keep an eye out for the episode to drop tonight or tomorrow.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-stuff-of-legends/id832274658?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Cheers

-Scott
BH Senior Batter Fluffer