Helping some youngbloods get into the game.

[Bahir]

Hi Guys,

Last weekend our teen group had a retreat and I introduced about seven guys into the wonderful world of wargaming. We played several games and the guys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and want to play again soon.

I have an idea to buy them each a squad of 5-10 miniatures and then host a painting workshop to expose them to other aspects of the hobby. I would like to prevail upon the collective wisdom of the LAF and pick your brains about the following:

1. Other than EM4, is there a source for inexpensive Scifi miniatures? I know that Warzone had a bag of about 80 miniatures for about 20€, but they don't seem to exist anymore.
2. If you have hosted "paint parties" what brushes did you let the new guys use (I don't really want them using my Windsor & Newton brushes ).
3. Any general advice for what aspect of painting to teach (base coat, thin paints, specific techniques for beginners, etc)?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Here is a shot of some of the happy gamers in question about to assault the base with Space Rangers:

[has.been]

1) Use whatever equivalent you have to our 'Poundland'  They are a great source of:-
    Acrylic paint sets; possible sci-fi vehicles & figures. (e.g. replace the head of a WW2 figure with a mapping pin
    for a quick & cheap sci-fi figure) also possible scenery (e.g. beads are great glued to a base as containers. Water
    pistols with triggers  removed & with a few 'bits' glued on, make great sci-fi machinery)
2) For beginners I have found that they get reasonable results with dry brushing.
    Stage one = Undercoat (I use 'match-pots' as they are cheap.) For most historical figures I start with a dark brown,
    though for sci-fi it could be just about any colour. Leave it to dry (overnight if possible).
    Stage two = Dry brush a medium tone, again I use match-pots (over a dark brown undercoat I use a 'coffee' brown)
    Stage three = Dry brush a 'highlight' (to continue with the above example, I use a light sand colour)
    Stage four = Paint a little, a VERY little detail e.g. weapons, visors, backpacks or flesh (for sci-fi flesh can be just about
                        any colour. For the next stage to be most effective, stage four is best done with light colours.
    Stage five = When all the above have dried, a wash of ink (Peat brown for me, but great results for sci-fi with any colour)
    Stage six = When the ink has dried, give them some gel pens (there are some lovely colours, including various metallic
                      ones) Sets of the pens can be picked up cheaply (e.g. Poundland) Use these to put a bit of detail.
    Stage seven = (optional) spray varnish, to protect the figures from lots of handling.

It seems a lot of work, but in reality it isn't. For a group night I would do any conversion & undercoating the session before
the 'painting' , or do that bit beforehand, for them.

When they get a bit more confidence they can try more detail, but the above will get THEIR figures onto the table.

[JollyBob]

Reaper's Bones line would be a good starting point.
The Chronoscope line has loads of cool sci fi minis, often in packs of three for troops.

Not everyone likes the material but I've never had an issue with it and since you can get a character figure for about a euro and a half, and some decent monsters for around four euro it's worth a punt to let youngsters practice on.

They even have some scenery bits now...

[tin shed gamer]

It may be worth looking at the Games workshop Schools Alliance scheme.
It's been a while since I've done anything for them ,I understand its still on the go.
I do the scheme has been offered overseas (Japan for one) no sure if its available in your part of the World.
But an email couldn't hurt.

Mark.

[shandy]

Hi,

great project you have there! I see you are from Vienna - I organised a painting workshop for beginners there a couple of months ago. I got the brushes for the participants from Boesner (https://www.boesner.at). Not the cheapest ones, because it's not much fun to paint with very cheap brushes and it could be unnecessarily difficult especially for beginners if the brushes lose their points immediately, but you get very decent ones for 3 euros or so per piece.

We had Sigur from Battlebrush Studios as a teacher and he showed how to prepare & prime, basecoat, thin paints - all the things you mention. He also showed us how to shade and highlight. It was a great evening - you can find some images here: http://nerd.institute/?p=114

For cheap miniatures, you could also check the local club's second hand market.