How to clean brickwork of old paint

[Caladon]

We have bought a house which has 100 years worth of old thick paint on it. There seems to be some sort of bitumen underneath making it almost impossible to get off.
Any ideas how we can get it off, or at least smooth, so we can re-paint?
Thanks
Cal Media URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62056460@N07/5646226669/in/photostream
Description:

[The Builder]

I've done this myself Caladon. It's easy enough if you rent a sandblaster. You'll need a powerful one. Domestic power washers with sandblasting attachments might do it ............. eventually!
The one I'm thinking of is the kind of thing used to strip old oak beams in period houses. Be sure to mask any neighbouring timber, or anything else that might suffer.
The brickwork in your pic will be fairly soft. Be very careful that you don't damage it.
Also, you'll need to re-point afterwards.

[Caladon]

Many thanks, Builder.
Our house is 3 stories high, 24 metres on one side and 12 metres on the other (it's a Victorian summer house on the South coast). Won't we end up with a sand dune in the garden? Some areas the paint is 4mm and needs pliers to work it left and right until it snaps off.
Would we need to repoint it even if we are going to paint over it anyway?
Cheers for your help.