Experiment: Introducing new blood #2

Welcome to the follow-up of my previous post where my boys where able to select their own version of coolness. It took a while to find the miniatures, but once they did arrive all was ready to start painting.

The deal was as follows They would paint their own miniature completely in base colors first and afterwards apply various whashes. In between the fases I would correct various parts and finish the highlights.

You might wonder why I helped and I realize it is not an easy question to answer.

I wanted to achieve two things with this little experiment. The first one - getting them to experience what is needed to completely paint up a miniature. The second one - own your own cool miniature to play games with.

I thought if I didn't correct their work they would possibly complain about how their miniature looked in comparison to the other miniatures. That and I must honestly say that my own tendencies for perfection might had to do something with the decision.

We've played some games and had fun, but I later realized they are still far too young to be seriously painting anything. As a dad you kinda want to share this love for miniatures, but you also know you cannot force it. In a way this little experiment confronted me more with my own expectations and whishes than it had any effect on the boys.

For example: a week or two after we painted them they didn't even remember they had miniatures at all. No matter how you look at it, that kinda hurts.

I decided to drop the effort on the kids department and let them make some effort themselves. If they're really interested they will come someday and when they do I'll remind them of the miniatures they have painted.

Experiment: Introducing new blood #1

Once in a while I try to play a game with the boys. I usually let them play a game of Heroquest or let them fight it out against a couple of monsters on a 1' x 1' table. Nothing fancy, fighting it out against big monsters is what they seem to like most.

Contemplating on how to exploit this interest of theirs I've setup a little experiment to see where it might lead.

The experiment requires heroes and monsters. The kind of which stand out and makes you say "cool". Upon investigating my painted collection I realized a real shortage on the "cool" monster department and heroes far that matter.

Something needed to be done, my fatherhood was at stake. First priority was the "cool" monster shortage. Diego and his Phanteon of Chaos kickstarter fixed that dilemma real quick. I probably might have spend a tiny bit too much on this, but better safe than sorry, right?

Someone needs to paint all that new lead arriving once in a while. You might resort to drastic methods suggested by others or you might want to invest in the future and train your personal eavy metal team.

So, to give them a head start I gave the boys the tools and full responsibility of their own workbench. They can paint whenever and with whatever they like. Some might need to go through some fases before they're able to make this step, but I think it's for the better. If I needed to be with them every time they want to paint they hardly get to paint anything.

While they're on their own practising the arts of the hobby I've let them pick one hero from the various Citadel Combat Card decks. The task was simpel, take one card you think is cool. I then searched and bought the selected heroes. I will help where needed to paint their hero using the combat card as a painting reference. Once we each have painted our hero we will roam the world and battle monsters where no monsters have been battled before!

The hero I selected

The hero selected by oldest son

The hero selected by youngest son

The boy cave

Marauder - MM73 - Witch Elves

It's like falling in love with someone you think is beautiful, but actually isn't and it takes years to realise it. I'm talking about Dark Elves from the 90's.

My inspiration came from the 80's, but my financial strength became sufficient in the 90's. So I ended up buying a Dark Elf army deal. Big box, purple border, and the picture contained a skull tower I believe. It was the latest craze at the moment.

Years have past, and finally I'm able to rectify the error of my doings. I proudly present the first painted regiment of my 80's Dark Elf army.

The original front of the Dark Elf army deal