Warhammer 40K, How to run a club: Brush care



This is something that a lot of neophytes get wrong, and you will be tearing your hair out over the termly brush budget. I was fortunate in that I got a good number of brushes donated from Games Workshop itself, but at £4-10 a pop, you're going to want to make sure your students can maintain equipment properly.

First thing is this: Educate yourself. Watch the below video.



 If you're not subscribed to Warhammer TV yet, fix that.

There's not a lot more to add to this advice apart from the following:


  • Have a set place for brushes.
  • Make sure students show you they've cleaned their brush.
  • Monitor students painting to avoid them dunking into paint pots.
  • Have a LOT of paper towels ready to hand.
  • Consider enlisting a student to become Master Artificer.


The Master Artificer is a role in the club where a student takes responsibility for maintenance of the equipment. This should be voluntary, but it's very important you pick a popular student for this role. They will often be put in situations where they need to confront other members about the state of the brushes, and that's a lot easier for them to do if they have good relationships already.

Be wary of the busy-body student that wants to do this. It only ends in hurt feelings as calls to parents.

The paper towels advice is to keep brushes dry. In a classroom space is at a premium, and odds are you're having to store club supplies in cupboards and out of sight. These places are great for drying out brushes, and I have seen some larger brushes go mouldy over time.

I'm somewhat fortunate in being a Science teacher, and because of that I have access to all sorts of DIY junk and bits and pieces in my classroom for last minute repairs to Van de Graaf generators. Blue paper towels come as standard for the inevitable acid spill, but if you're not so well furnished, it's definitely something to consider.

Oh, and one more thing... keep your own stuff separate from the club equipment. Nothing worse than seeing that Year 7 boy dunk your Artificer detail brush into the Stormhost silver, and then drop the whole mess into your Coelia Greenshade.

He said he wanted silvery green-ish blue...

 Thanks for reading.

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