Farewell to a Warhammer Legend: John Blanche Calls It Quits

By Rob Baer | June 5th, 2023 | Categories: 40k News & Articles, Age of Sigmar, News & Rumors

It is being reported that John Blanche, the father of the grimdark and a Warhammer legend, has called it quits, well, from something…

This all looks to be reported secondhand, as we could not find the “announcement” post pictured below on Facebook.

However, this looks more like a retirement from the miniatures side of the hobby, not art in general. So, if you love his artwork, there is still some hope! However, if you love his minis, you might not see many new ones going foward.

Legendary John Blanche Calls it Quits

This post was spotted online but has not been sourced back to Blanche.

Perhaps because of this post, the following info comes from the Tuomas Pirinen Facebook page; who knows Blanche as he was the art director for Tuomas’ run at GW for the Realms of Chaos, Mordheim, and more.

Today the legandary artist John Blanche has retired from Games Workshop. As many of you know, John was my art director on Realm of Chaos, Mordheim and Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th edition.

It is truly an end of an era, last of the titans who was there when Warhammer was born is now gone from GW.

John’s achievements are too numerous to list, and we all have that one piece from John that captured our imagination. For me it was his stunning double-page painting on Tolkien’s World “The Fall of Gondolin”. To others it was the cover of the UK D&D Basic Set. For some, Amazon Gothique (voted as the best White Dwarf cover of all time by the readers) or Knights Panther. And all this before we even get into his foundational work on Warhammer 40,000 and Fantasy Battle or Mordheim.

He is also the founder of Blanchitsu, the root of the modern miniature painting, as well as one of the first Games Day Master Painter competition winners.

Luckily for us, John’s “retirement” will consist of him working on art projects of his own. After all, the very first thing John did when he retired was to paint a new miniature.

I am off to see John later this year. It has been far too long.

It’s good to see that he will still be working on his own art, and with his recent Voodoo Forest book coming out, his art still looks amazing.

From all appearances, this could very well be due to the stated neuropathy issues. Either way, this is getting reposted all over the place, so it seems like he is retiring from the GW hobby side of things.

While it’s unfortunate to see such a pioneer and giant of the Warhammer hobby retiring, he left us with so many fantastic art and hobby projects that he won’t be forgotten!

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How do you feel about John Blanche retiring from… something?

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About the Author: Rob Baer

Rob Baer

Job Title: Managing Editor

Founded Spikey Bits in 2009

Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X

About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures. Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including the Adepticon Team Tournament and American Team Tournaments, and is on a first-name basis with almost every major company in the space.

He’s all gaming all the time. With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. He advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.

While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1908s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.