A new Warhammer hobbyist

As previously mentioned I inadvertently introduced Bratus Minor to Games Workshop, in particular the painting side, with the result of him purchasing a starter set of Warhammer 40k marines and paints. From a phone call last night this has gone down very well with him spending around 4 hours (of being quiet) on them so far and all from a 10 minute lesson at the store. It's so engrossed him that he's shut up about Lego Star Wars which has knocked his upcoming birthday gift list a little askew.

Bratus Pater's initial reaction of thinking of his wallet has subsided since he's been able to compare the prices of this previous interest with this current one. It's cheaper quite a bit cheaper. It's amusing as the two are quite alike - they're both kit pieces that you assemble and then never take apart (yes you can use the themed Lego pieces in other things, but they're designed for one set build). Warhammer models require more work; but they have the advantage that they are far smaller; and you're less likely to lose the bits up the Hoover. Ironically I consider them to be more customisable then the Lego themed kits too.

As I mentioned in the other entry there are some initial costs that can be incurred - a set of 10 paintbrushes or a base set of paints etc. will cost around £35, but brushes last a while and paints need only be topped up when required at  the pocket-money friendly price of around £3 a pot. It is really one of those hobbies where the requirements can stack up as high or as low as you want. Sure you can buy the Citadel Paint Station, but you can just use some newspaper and a jam jar of water. You can buy the Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard; or just drop an old blanket over odd piles of books and use that as terrain with a shoe box as the fortress just like I used to do.Heck you don't even have to paint the models if you don't want to.

So now the question is what do I get him? My parents and I are able to pool monies so we can get something a little meatier, but what would be best? A paint brush set is no use unless he has the paints and vice versa; the black spray is handy but seems miserly despite the £9 price tag. Given what I know he's getting a particular set of paints would be worthwhile perhaps with a couple of brushes.

Hmm a Basecoat Brush for £3.60; a Wash Brush for £4.10; a Medium Dry Brush for £3.10. Some Goblin Green and some Thraka Green at £2.30 each as he'll need those. The Chaos Black Spray for £9.10 would save his proper black paint. Hmm some PVA Glue at £5.10 and some Static Grass at £5.10 for the bases. Possibly some Plastic Glue at £4.10 I'm not sure what he's using at the moment to fix the models.

Possibly drop the base's for some additional and duplicated paints... I'll have a word with his father to see how much he has left of the starter set. Maybe the How to Paint book instead or perhaps for Christmas