My 6 year old son has shown an interest in wanting to model and paint his own minis, and while I love the idea of it, I loath the idea of how much it would cost to aquire supplies and models, along with the very obvious issue that he's simply not going to be good at it, so continued purchase is going to be needed to help him improve.Frankly, Warhammer is too fucking expansive, flat out; I simply cannot afford it. So what alternatives are there that is cheaper, while still having some semblance of a game associated to it? I was looking g at generic TTRPG minis (which honestly might be my best best), but a lot of them come pre-built, and he seems interested in both the building AND painting aspect of the hobby.
>>93404520Maybe consider smaller warband scale games. Theyre a lot cheaper and the smaller model count also makes painting up your stuff more manageable.
Northstar's plastic ranges (Frostgrave, Stargrave, Oathmark) are cheap and really good.Lots of people make cheaper, decent paints. Vallejo and Army Painter spring to mind. Get a set of basic colours and tell him to learn about mixing them to get more.You need a reasonable brush to have any hope, but a six year old will not look after them.There are lots of cheap or free games.Craft paints and cardboard can get you basic terrain cheaply.
>>93404520Customizing gundams is a significantly cheaper hobby per gram of plastic than warhammer. If thats not their thing then look into either third party models or a 3d printer, or contact uncle chang
quaar
Tell him he's too young. Wait until he's older.
OP here, all great suggestions I'm looking into. Thanks for the recommendations.
>>93404520Maybe not the answer you are looking for, but a "cheap" 100$ printer might be something to consider. Tons of files on the net and you just need to buy the material. FDM could suffice for what you want.
>>93404689Just bought two boxes of these guys. They rule, can't recommend them enough. 24 models for 40 is amazing.
>>93404520Gaslands, all you need is: Hot wheels, dice and movement templates, if you wish to glue some weapons on just use some guns from other toys or buy some guns and equipment in hot wheels scale from the myriad of websites out there.There is a free kids version of the game somewhere if you don’t wish to spend the money on the rulebook.
>>93405291Also forgot to mention but you can print the movement templates for free and cut them out from the paper, to go a step further is to glue the paper pieces to thin cardboard (cereal box for example) and you’re good to go.
Victrix miniatures is pretty affordable and they look cool, just got 30 guys for 27$. They are historical though.
>>93404520Send him to the pits or workhouse to earn money for war gaming
>>93404520>used models off ebay>bulk cheap syntethic brushes from amazon>plastic disposable plate + paper towel + baking paper = wet pallet. >Apple barrel paints. Teach him to mix his own colors, make an art class of it? Gotta lean in and encourage your kids when they show interest in something that isnt just consoomption. metal models can be stripped with acetone and repainted over and over again, making them great for practice.
>>93404520My parents didnt let me start collecting warhammer till I was 11, they got me the codex for my birthday. And my childhood warhammer all looks like complete and utter dogshit. 6 is really young. Basic legos are rated for 5+. I would be hesitent to trust a 6 year old with adhesives, definetly not super glue. Maybe look for some push to fit models?
>>93404572>Northstar's plastic ranges (Frostgrave, Stargrave, Oathmark) are cheap and really good.He's six you fucking moron.Anon buy him some Schleich knights, some army men, some craft paints and go ham. When he's 7 or 8, he can upgrade to some 1/72 or some board game pieces. When he's 9 or 10 he will have a killer hand and eye and can take on some of the more crazy fiddly hobby bits. Do it cheap.
>>93405291An actual good suggestion but the game is too complex. Just get the lad painting cars
>>93404520A bag of plastic soldiers will run you $5 bucks at Wal-Mart and maybe $15 bucks online. They have AWI, ACW, WW2, Modern, Cops/SWAT, Zombies, Cowboys & Indians, Knights, Fantasy figures Ninjas, Aliens, Robots and Zombies and probably a bunch of other stuff.Write up some basic wargame rukes and do a test game with him. At 6 years old I wouldn't have had the patience for tabletop wargaming or RPGs but my nephews did. If he doesn't than worst case scenario you bought him some new toys (Or parts for yourself to kitbash)If he remains interested than pick up a rattle can of flat black spray primer thats safe for plastic, some cheap acrylic hobby paints and thinner and a rattle can of flat clear coat and you can make some pretty decent figures for fairly cheap.Don't bother with actual miniatures until he's at least 12 and until then make sure you supervise any painting activities until you'd trust him to be home alone.
Look into Reaper Bones. They are prebuilt but theres thousands of options and alot of LGS will carry SOME.Theyre inexpensive, chunky, and expressive. Plus IIRC theyre easy to strip.I think most of the plastic ones run like... 3-5 dollars and some of the sculpts are REALLY nice for what you pay for.
You can buy a sack of 100 fantasy dudes for $3 on Temu
>>93405314Where did you find them, anon? I'm only able to find them shipped from Europe, and the shipping costs are a killer.
>>93404520Get a cheap 3d printer.
>>93405571Hence why I referred to the kids versionhttps://planetsmashergames.com/sdm_downloads/gaslands-kids-mode/It’s a simplified version of the game aimed at younger kids.
>>93404689Seconding Quar if you want to buy a cheaper skirmish game that has models you'll enjoy as well as your son, its like bolt action but whimsical.
>>93405497>craft paintsthe lack of pigment density w cheap craft paints frustrates me when slapping the shit on homemade terrain, let alone modelskid won't know any better and probably wouldn't treat hobby paints with the respect their expense demands but it's not an ideal solution
>>93404520You can buy used minis second handed through ebay or The Gamer’s Haven. You will have to strip the paint off but if they’re not resin minis then a few hours in some rubbing alcohol (I’d recommend something like 90% isopropyl alcohol) will strip the paint off. For tools you can always check out places like hobby lobby or michaels, they sell great tools for a fraction of the price that places like Games Workshop sell them for. Paints are always a hassle but Games Workshop sells paint packs which have a good selection for beginners. Your local game store or hobby lobby will also have variety of good paints from brands like Vallejo or Army painter.
>>93405497>he's six you fucking moronWhat's that gotta do with anything anon? The kid wants to get into painting/putting models together with his old man. What dad anon should really do is find something his kid wants to paint whatever the scale or model is (leaning towards largers scales for ease of painting/assembly) and help him along as best he can all the while encouraging him. I know when I was getting into models at a young age I wouldn't have been too enthusiastic about painting green army men or some toy, I wanted to mess around with the cool monsters, tanks or wizards I saw in the glass case at the hobby store. >>93404520You should really take alot of the suggestions ITT, show your kid some of them and see what he thinks would be fun to paint. Also your going to need to join in with him, at least a little, to help him learn how to do this kind of stuff.As for painting supplies all you really need is a pack of cheap brushes, a basic color set of model paints, and a rattle can of white primer. All in all it should only put you back 100$ in total.
>>93405755OP. do this>but buildingstill works, though swapping parts between figures.
>>93404520For game system try Warcry, rules are free online and it's one of the most simple rulesets I've ever played. I reckon a 6 year old could get the basics down after a game or two. Forces are quite small too, average warband size is about 8-10 models. Plenty of factions should be easily to proxy with cheaper generic fantasy miniatures as well.
>>93404520Just get him onto Tamiya minis and vehicles. Bigger so therefore easier to paint, plus the coolness factor of historical stuff.
>>93409724Yeah, a 6yo kid will certainly know about history.
Just make models from trash or beads. Pic related is one someone made over at DakkaDakka. Bill Making Stuff has a bunch of tutorials on YouTube.
>>93410346Like literally just go get sticks from outside lmao
>>93410355Tank made out of an old computer mouse.
>>93404744Tell him he can't have new models until he finished painting his current models.He'll either become a prodigy, or you'll never have to buy more than one set of models.>>93409724Tamiya might be a good idea, especially for a 6 year old. Bigger scale but not gigantic overall, has more forgiving details for learning and control. The dollar per stuff to paint ratio is pretty good too compared to smaller scale minis.>>93404572>tell him to learn about mixing them to get more.That is an important skill to learn regardless. Bigger paint sets are more convenient.>>93404520>Warhammer is too fucking expansive>some semblance of a game associated to it>>93404572>cheaper, decentMantic is an option. Their entire catalog is mirroring Games Workshop's games, it was started by exGW dudes. Their versions are better streamlined, easier to learn and easier to play. The models get shit on here for being a mixed bag, but they're proper minis no worse than older GW. Kings of War is rank-and-flank classic Warhammer Fantasy (caught a lot of WHFB refugees when that was killed), and the army bundles can hit 1.00-1.50 USD per model. Got me through my wargaming phase in college on a budget, and I thought they turned out decent enough.
>>93410443To be clear, those aren't mine. I'm not sure the effort of digging up mine to photograph is worth the effort, there's plenty of examples online.>>93406677>>93405497>>93404572>Craft PaintsOh yeah don't fucking do that. The entire behavior of the paints are different with lower density pigment, and you can't polish a turd by painting it with literal shit (we have high density metallic pigment miniatures paints for that). There's plenty of cheaper proper miniatures paints options out there, and the difference between them is pretty minimal compared to the difference of miniatures paints vs craft paints as categories.
>>93404520>Warhammer is too fucking expansiveGet a single killteam box for 40€ or a 3D printer for 120€
>>93407021You don't have kids. Schleich make monsters. Thin your paints.
>>93410479I know commission painters who are like 50% Apple Barrel.
>>93409927Boys like cool army men actually.
>>93411061well if Apple Barrel and any others don't suck maybe it pays to mention them by name because the vast majority of "craft paints" I've encountered suck even for slapping on terrain like I said upthread
>>93404520>6younironicaly cardboardeven for warhammer, there are very nice cardboards model on /po/ if you want to keep scale; or you could use chits and hexesor do yourself a favor and go /his/ already
>>93409927A lot of kids love learning about history
>>93404520Get him one of these bad boys from Reaper for 40 bucks. Best starter kit there is. Then if he likes it go from there.
>>93405989Noble Knight has a decent selection, I believe they ship from Wisconsin
>>93409927Anon did not grow up with a cool ass grandpa who watches westerns all day and then tell stories of the cool shit they did in the war
>>93418385Hey, I still store my paints in these damn cases. This is some good stuff.
>>93404520>My 6 year old son has shown an interest in wanting to model and paint his own minis, and while I love the idea of it, I loath the idea of how much it would cost to aquire supplies and models,It doesn't have to be very expensive.>along with the very obvious issue that he's simply not going to be good at it, so continued purchase is going to be needed to help him improve.6 is pretty young for scale models; I'd say give him at least year or two before getting anything that involves cutting and/or gluing.>Frankly, Warhammer is too fucking expansive, flat out; I simply cannot afford it.Many such cases.>So what alternatives are there that is cheaper, while still having some semblance of a game associated to it? I was looking g at generic TTRPG minis (which honestly might be my best best), but a lot of them come pre-built, and he seems interested in both the building AND painting aspect of the hobby.If you really want a game attached to it, Gaslands. You literally just give matchbox cars a mad max paintjob and there are even simplified rules for kids. However, I would recommend starting out by avoiding anything related to games and avoiding painting or building anything that small. Go to your local hobby/craft store and find a cheap and simple snap-together and pre-painted kit - a dinosaur, a car, a plane, something from Star Wars, whatever. At his age all he wants and can handle is to go from bits in a box to a thing that he can play with and if you go with an un-painted, un-assembled kit you WILL have to build it for him and the first time it gets dropped on the floor it will grenade.tl;dr get one of those Revell SnapTite Build and Play kits; they're literally just un-assembled toys that don't require any sort of glue (hell, half of them don't even require a screwdriver) and are durable enough to repeatedly smack into other toys. Dinosaur skeletons are also a safe bet; one company makes one that's more than two feet long for $35.
>>93404520If you have one near you can start him out with a free mini and painting session in a Warhammer store before dropping any money to see if he likes it, then go with the many good suggestions in the thread.
>>93404520models: little green army men. Perfect for practicing. Look for them at a dollar storehobby knife/exacto blade: for trimming the flak from the figureprimer: you can pick up spray primer on the cheap at any hardware store. K recommend white primer for beginners, it's easier to see the lines and the colors will stand out. You'll want to be the one priming the minispaints: pick him up a decent set of acrylic craft paints at a hobby store, enough colors he usually won't need to mixaltogether these shouldn't run you more than $40paint your own models with him, perfect bonding activity and it'll help you mitigate any mess
>>93404744Check out Em4 miniatures, can get super cheap models of orcs and dwarves, also some scifi stuff too but I just horse Dwarves from them
>>93404520>Frankly, Warhammer is too fucking expansive, flat out; I simply cannot afford itMost 40k players have very bad spending habits and accumulate a pile of plastic crap they don't need and hang on to it for years before finally turning around and selling it. You can get a ton of 40k stuff cheap second hand, especially locally. You'll have to figure out which discord or facebook group your local community uses though. I know in my local community you'd likely get offered a bunch of free stuff if you said you were leaking for cheap extra models so your kid could paint.Official games workshop brand Warhammer stores also give out a free space marine to new players and a monthly free model of a random variety.
>>93404520You could either do historical soldier/armies stuff for the assembling and paint part, or look for models for ttrpg (kingdom death, dnd frameworks, etc) but they can be expensive. If your son wants to model things you might also buy clay/green stuff to let him work in making his own pieces, not everything needs to be a game component, not everything needs to be good.
