On Christmas Eve the Warhammer community were hit with the news that Duncan Rhodes, popular painter and presenter for the company, is leaving Games Workshop.

Who is Duncan Rhodes?

Originally a retail assistant at the Games Workshop store in Derby from 2003 to 2007, it was when he returned to the company in April 2009 that he was set upon the path to many hobbyists hearts.

An army painter for Warhammer publications, including White Dwarf, Duncan progressed through the company. In April 2013 he started to do more video content.

Games Workshop, under new management, were making a big push into community engagement, and Duncan played a massive part in this. With his Warhammer TV painting videos, Warhammer Live appearances and engagements in official podcasts he was quickly gaining almost a cult status.

Two Thin Coats

Duncan soon had his trademark comment. He is a keen advocate of using two thin coats when using Citadel Paint instead of one thick coat. He played on this much used phrase in a number of spoof videos, created to push hobby engagement and to advertise new ranges and armies.

Whilst playing games on the live stream, he very much enjoyed charging everything, in particular with his House Griffith’s Knights, and with the help of Sprues and Brews own Matt who was in the live chat at the time started to throw out the #ChargeEverything hashtag!

Personal Perspective

Long time listeners to our weekly podcast will know whilst I’ve always enjoyed the hobby, building miniatures and battling with them, I used to really dislike painting.

With the help of my friends and Duncan’s series of Warhammer TV videos I started to pick up the paint brush more and more, and now it’s something I really look forward to doing!

From the reaction of Duncan’s leaving tweets it’s plain to see what kind of impact he has had on the Warhammer Community. Like myself he provides tips and tricks when it came to painting, and in turn provided confidence for everyone to try different techniques.

Future of Warhammer TV

Whilst he has sadly left, the Warhammer TV painting tutorials are being left in very good hands. His close friend Chris Peach is continuing on the channel, as well as Nick Bayton, the newest presenter of painting tutorials.

At the turn of the year Duncan confirmed he’d now left the company by changing his Twitter handle to @Two_Thin_Coats and has promised to keep posting hobby updates via his timeline. He hasn’t yet revealed what he is up to next. May he go solo? Perhaps he’ll join a Games Workshop rival? We’ll find out soon I’m sure.

From everyone here at Sprues and Brews, we wish you all the luck for the future, and thank you once again for what you have done for the hobby community!

Do you have your Top 3 favourite Duncan moments? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook, and the best ones will be mentioned on during our next podcast recording!

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings