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  • So...Warhammer 40k....

    ....I've always been interested in it, but have heard what a moneysink it is, and that quite frankly worries me. However, hubby has been pressuring me for months now about really trying to get back into gaming. And has been "casually" bringing up Warhammer stuff. Constantly.

    So it wasn't really a surprise when this weekend he brought up a 40K start kit and made the Bambi Eyes at me.

    So yeah, we're going to be starting Warhammer. Hubby's all for Space Marines, and I think I'll be focusing on an Eldar army with an Ork one on the side. (Yes, I know, elfies, but the wraith armor things look freaking AWESOME)


    Any tips/advice for people just starting out? I'm such a nerd for admitting this, but I can't wait to learn how to paint these things.
    By popular request....I am now officially the Enemy of Normalcy.

    "What is unobtainium? To Seraph, it's a normal client. :P" -- Observant Friend

  • #2
    There are dozens of sites out there to help you learn how to paint: Bolter And Chainsword, Dakka Dakka, Warseer, MiniWarGaming.com, etc, not to mention the official GW site. Look around, see what you like, and go for it.

    As for it being a money sink... Well, pretty much any miniatures based game is a money sink. (I know. I play about a dozen...) GW does tend to charge more for their miniatures, but the variety and quality (IMHO) can be worth it. It all depends on how serious you want to get. If all you're playing is friendly games with the hubby, discuss using proxies with him. I've played 40K using dice for troops. Not as cool looking, but it works.
    "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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    • #3
      Not gonna try to sound like a downer here, but Games Workshop has been at least a little, what's the word I'm going for here, elitist in there endeavors lately, such as changing to a cheaper material for their figures (pewter to resin) and charging more for it.

      A favorite alternative to people looking to walk away from the WH40k games is to go to Warmachine. I'm not sure if they're cheaper, but it's an alternative.
      I AM the evil bastard!
      A+ Certified IT Technician

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      • #4
        Quoth Crossbow View Post
        If all you're playing is friendly games with the hubby, discuss using proxies with him.
        This is what we do. It also has the advantage that we can play any army we can torrent the book for. We have a crapton of toy soldiers and we painted their helmets in four different colours so that they're easy to tell apart.
        The High Priest is an Illusion!

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        • #5
          I like the starter kits (i have the 40k one primed just not painted). Hubby and I want to start playing. And yes it can be pricey. You will need tiny brushes. I have used regular old primer for the base coat. I am going to try different paints from what they sell. Getting that army finished is my winter project. I have a deal with the hubby is I get the 40k army done then I can get the Warhammer army I want.

          And thanks for the websites! I think that is what holds me back is I don't know how to paint these little guys ( i do big ceramics) and I don't want to screw these up.
          Coffee should be strong, black and chewy! It should strip paint and frighten small children.

          My blog Darkwynd's Musings

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          • #6
            Quoth Seraph View Post
            Any tips/advice for people just starting out? I'm such a nerd for admitting this, but I can't wait to learn how to paint these things.
            Quoth Crossbow View Post
            If all you're playing is friendly games with the hubby, discuss using proxies with him.
            Just starting out? Play lots, don't worry about winning or messing up. You'll soon get a feel for what works good against space marines. Or, you'll get lucky with a howling banshee and take out a terminator librarian with a laspistol.


            Have fun painting what you have. Use proxies for what you don't have, especially if you want to play two different armies or just want to try something new out.

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            • #7
              I'm tempted to get a kit one day. They all look freaking awesome.
              I was drawn into Warhammer 40K via the video games(avoid Space Marine 40K... its crap!

              I love the orks
              "Dis iz my wartrukk... pretty nice huh?"
              "Orks orks orks orks orks orks orks orks!
              "WAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!"

              And the Tau are awesome.
              YAY! Geeky fanboy time!
              Sucky Employees = The result of sucky customers getting a job...

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              • #8
                I ran an Imperial Guard, Armored Company variant with an attachment of marines. All I can say is that when you play, analyze your army's strength and weaknesses and make a plan on that. If you try to slug it out with an Eldar army against Space Marines....yea, no.
                I have a...thing. Wanna see it?

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                • #9
                  Quoth Nurian View Post
                  I ran an Imperial Guard, Armored Company variant with an attachment of marines. All I can say is that when you play, analyze your army's strength and weaknesses and make a plan on that. If you try to slug it out with an Eldar army against Space Marines....yea, no.
                  Oh, kind of like closing with a batch of 'nids when you play Tau. Got it.
                  "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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                  • #10
                    Hey now. Space Marine is good. For Campaign. Multiplayer is shite

                    Tabletop wise -

                    Yeah, GW company wise is going bass-ackwards about keeping players. Focusing on little kids who bug their parents, and the material/price differences.

                    Lore wise I will always like 40K. Black library have put out some good novels (although I think Bookbint needs to visit and train their editors sopmetimes) Brothers of the Snake. Wolfs Honour, Ragnars Claw, Lone Wolves (graphic novel). Yes I'm a Space Wolf through and through

                    Model wise - I think you mean the Wraith Guard or Wraith Lord? I'll admit, I often buy other armie's models, purely cos they look fun to assemble and paint. Then I'll give them to a friend who actually uses that army. And because I know I'm giving it away I'm OCD about the painting.

                    Painting wise - Don't buy the supplies/tools from GW, they are overpriced and often better quality/cheaper are available from hobby stores/craft stores. Although their washes are nice to use (infact depending on the quality you want... Base coat one white or black depending on your scheme, build up to the medium colour of your army, then a few washes for tones/depth.)

                    Costs. Well LordLundar is on a valid point, my friends and I, after disagreeing with 5th ed and the pricing chances moved to Warmachine. For a scale in NZD - Basic Starting army in 40K - Two troops and HQ, your looking around 110 to 150 dollars (two packs of grey Hunters, a wolf lord) - Warmachine - 60/70 dollars (Warcaster and two Jacks)

                    Play style - Being I play Space Wolves, there a one or two similarities between Eldar and me (As in I don't go for straight rush balls to the wall. Animal cunning my friends). Eldar do not like a standup fight. I guess you could say Guerilla tactics. Specialists squads are amazing at one ability, average at others (eg, Banshees are vicious in Close combat, but don't get into a shooting match).
                    "On a scale of 1 to banana, whats your favourite colour of the alphabet?"
                    Regards, Lord Baron Darth von Vaderham, esq. Middle brother to mharbourgirl & Squeaksmyalias

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                    • #11
                      As people have said, for casual games with friends you can use coins, matchsticks, dice, M&Ms (if you don't eat them) or cheap coloured circles of plastic with numbers or letters textad on them. You don't NEED the figurines.

                      OTOH, figurine painting can be fun.

                      DON'T buy supplies from GW until you've done a price comparison with art stores. Take a couple of figurines, including their boxes, to an art store and find out what they'd charge for a paint that would take well.

                      Go for acrylic based paints rather than oil based, as well. Drying time is MUCH faster, and you can wash your brushes with water.

                      Art stores, craft stores and fabric stores all provide the magnifying glass/claw grip combo thing that makes painting figurines easier. Some have a strong light built in as well. You'll want a strong light.

                      Store your fine brushes carefully. Always wash as much paint as possible from them, and reshape the points before you dry them. Once dry, put their little plastic covers back on to protect the points.

                      Tools you'll want:
                      A scalpel.
                      Tiny files.
                      Tiny brushes.
                      Slightly larger brushes.
                      Primer. (start with white)
                      Several colours of paint.
                      Mixing palette.
                      Tissues or clean cloths.
                      (Also, a smock, a water container, newspapers or something to protect the work area...)

                      Colours:
                      Come up with a colour scheme for your army, a colour scheme for his army, and buy only the paint colours you'll need for those schemes. Not buying paints you don't need will make it cheaper.
                      Use 'colour scheme idea cards' from hardware stores to come up with the colour scheme. Take the card to your chosen art supply shop, and explain what you're doing. On a quiet day, a good sales assistant will be able to help you come close to the card's colours.
                      You'll also want skin colour/s, hair colour/s, possibly eye colour/s, white, black, and 'dirty'. You'll be using 'dirty' to represent mud, blood, dust, and other such grot, so a brown or a reddish brown - or both - is good.


                      Right. Now for painting techniques.

                      Study the figurine. Before priming, you want to make sure the figurine is right. Use the scalpel and the file to remove any 'flash' (leftover excess resin/plastic/lead/whatever), deepen any too-shallow bits of detail, reshape anything that looks wrong, and otherwise make the basic figurine look great.
                      Essentially, you're correcting any sculpting errors.

                      Use one of your larger brushes to put a thin coat of primer over the figurine. You want to cover everything, but not have enough primer to lose detail. Remember you'll be putting more paint over the figurine yet, and you want even the shallowest sculpting detail to not be filled in.

                      Do your first miniatures with white primer. Later you can put a bit of primer onto the palette and mix with a little bit of black, try out the results, see if you like it. For now, stick with white.


                      Easy Shadows:
                      Get a bit of black paint, or 'dirty' paint. your choice. Put it in the palette, mix with a very little bit of water. Using a large brush, paint this over the figurine. Lightly wipe the figurine with a tissue or a clean cloth. You'll notice that the grooved parts of the figurine now have dark paint in them. This is a great technique for easily making shadows.
                      A variant is wiping down only the 'upper' or 'sunlit' surfaces.
                      Another variant is doing multiple layers of this, with different shades of 'dark' or 'dirty'.

                      Easy Highlights:
                      Put some white or light coloured paint in the palette, mix with a little water to make it less opaque.
                      Put some on a large brush. Wipe most of the paint off the brush, either on the edge of the palette or on a lint-free cloth or tissue.
                      Brush very lightly over the parts of the figurine where you want highlights. This will leave a light coat of semi-opaque pale paint where you've brushed, and is called 'dry-brushing'.

                      Painting Dirt:
                      Use dry-brushing, but on places that get dirty. Like knees, elbows, boot tops. Use a smaller brush, and dry-brush some dirt onto faces, hands, and weapons.

                      Extreme Detail:
                      Attach a cat's whisker or a man's beard hair to some sort of handle. Use this for extreme details, such as buttons and pupils.
                      If you're really daring, use the fine end of the cat's whisker and put a dot of white on a painted pupil to be the highlight of the sun on the eye.

                      Don't forget:
                      The inside of a sleeve, the inside of a pair of slacks, that sort of space is dark, but not black. Use your 'dirty' paint to paint it, or mix black with the colour you've used to paint the exterior of the space.

                      When you're painting a massive army, give every fifth man a moustache, every seventh man a beard. Make every ninth man a redhead, every third man blonde... use off-centre numbers like that, and your massive army won't look like everyone's absolutely identical.

                      Pretty much everything else is paint-by-numbers. Here's the shirt. Well, let's paint the shirt green. And the pants are hunter green. And the shoes are mission brown. Hey look, a forester!
                      Last edited by Seshat; 10-03-2011, 10:41 PM. Reason: Added "Painting dirt"
                      Seshat's self-help guide:
                      1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                      2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                      3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                      4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                      "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                      • #12
                        Seshat, i just have to say you are a fountain of knowledge and I believe I am in love. Must copy this wonderful post.

                        Also if you have a Harbor Freight like store you can get a lot of the tools there cheap.
                        Coffee should be strong, black and chewy! It should strip paint and frighten small children.

                        My blog Darkwynd's Musings

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Crossbow View Post
                          If all you're playing is friendly games with the hubby, discuss using proxies with him. I've played 40K using dice for troops. Not as cool looking, but it works.
                          Originally I thought we were just going to duel each other...but pretty much EVERY one of his friends has been all OH MY GOD I CANT WAIT TO PLAY AGAINST YOU. Worries me, because several of these guys do tournaments. Constantly. (I'm screwed! LOL)

                          Quoth Nurian View Post
                          If you try to slug it out with an Eldar army against Space Marines....yea, no.
                          Oh lord no, I'm not a slugfest player anyways. I like tactical victories. I placed in a Mechwarrior tourney years ago with just a starter deck due to sheer wiliness.

                          Quoth ApolloSZ View Post
                          Model wise - I think you mean the Wraith Guard or Wraith Lord? I'll admit, I often buy other armie's models, purely cos they look fun to assemble and paint. Then I'll give them to a friend who actually uses that army. And because I know I'm giving it away I'm OCD about the painting.

                          Painting wise - Don't buy the supplies/tools from GW, they are overpriced and often better quality/cheaper are available from hobby stores/craft stores. Although their washes are nice to use (infact depending on the quality you want... Base coat one white or black depending on your scheme, build up to the medium colour of your army, then a few washes for tones/depth.)

                          Play style - Being I play Space Wolves, there a one or two similarities between Eldar and me (As in I don't go for straight rush balls to the wall. Animal cunning my friends). Eldar do not like a standup fight. I guess you could say Guerilla tactics. Specialists squads are amazing at one ability, average at others (eg, Banshees are vicious in Close combat, but don't get into a shooting match).
                          They were like these big....robot....suit...things. That looked kinda like bugs. This thing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26167572@N02/4009823228/ MUST PAIIIINT.

                          Yeah, one of the good perks about starting this hobby is that a friend of ours runs several hobby/gaming stores in the area. He's already excited, because he also plays Eldar, and I just happened to pick out a squad I want...that he uses primarily in his playstyle. Which....just happen to be Banshees.





                          And finally, oh my god Seshat I am printing out that and saving it. <HUGS> Thank you!

                          We did go pick up exacto knives and some minor supplies last night. Hubby already sliced the fudge out of his finger on it too. -.-
                          By popular request....I am now officially the Enemy of Normalcy.

                          "What is unobtainium? To Seraph, it's a normal client. :P" -- Observant Friend

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            You can pick up hobby knives at some hardware stores. I have one from Bunnings which I used to carve leather since I could get a smoother cut and I had better control than using a Stanley Knife.

                            As for Warhammer games, not sure if it's 40k or not, but my boyfriend is also into Warhammer and whatnot. One of his figurines is a "Lahmian Vampire Chick". Basically, a naked girl with blood around her mouth.
                            The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                            Now queen of USSR-Land...

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Elspeth View Post
                              Seshat, i just have to say you are a fountain of knowledge and I believe I am in love. Must copy this wonderful post.
                              *blush*

                              You're welcome.

                              Quoth Seraph View Post
                              Originally I thought we were just going to duel each other...but pretty much EVERY one of his friends has been all OH MY GOD I CANT WAIT TO PLAY AGAINST YOU. Worries me, because several of these guys do tournaments. Constantly. (I'm screwed! LOL)

                              And finally, oh my god Seshat I am printing out that and saving it. <HUGS> Thank you!
                              You, also, are welcome.

                              As for people 'can't wait to play against you': I believe the only people who REQUIRE figurines are official tournaments. Certainly your friends should have no objection to you using coloured plastic circles or whatever.

                              Keep the painting as a fun hobby, or something you do IF (and only if) you decide to go in for official tournaments. If it's not fun collecting and painting them, play without the miniatures.
                              Seshat's self-help guide:
                              1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                              2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                              3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                              4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                              "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

                              Comment

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