Theres a market for a book or at least a primer written on miniature painting that takes all the big art shit like color theory and values and lights and shadows and condenses it specifically for warhammer/miniature painting that Im surprised GW hasnt tapped their artists to write already. It could potentially solve every "how do I begin" question that exists. What would you inspiring kiwis want in such a book/primer?
They exist for Gunpla. Problem is, when looking at them, the guy with me immediately scoffed, claiming you can get the same information for free online. I've seen gunpla people call them "mooks". They also tend to have a magazine like format. A4 soft covers.
Kitbashing/proxy question(s)
EC get sorcerers. They look gay. How does a shardspeaker (from AoS) go as a proxy do you reckon?
What kits out there are good for bits? Ive got a maulerfiend and heldrake crying out for some Slaanesh goodness. The EC kits have a lot of bits but them working is a different issue...and dont even ask about freehand, i dont have it.
Only idea i have so far is attach chains (where do people even get them from?) or 3d print a ball gag for the forgefiend head and slap that on the maulerfiend.
I can't comment on those models specifically (they look like space marine with stick and arbian bloke with stick).
The frostgrave wizards kits are well liked by converters because they have lots of arms doing spellcasting things. Holding books, waving hands, that kind of thing. It is guys (or gals) in robes though so might not match the power armour look.
As for chains. A common one for scenery chains is to use cheapo kids jewelry. I feel there's another I'm forgetting.
As for general kitbashing purposes, there's a few kits to look in to. Frostgrave cultists (there are 3 sets) Stargrave crew (2 sets) Stargrave scavengers (2 sets) and WGA villagers are praised as bits collections because they're so universal. Look up the sprues before you drop the money. Supposedly there are services that sell individual sprues.
- Scavengers is great so far (only got it recently) as it's got lots of sci-fi ak-like rifles, each unique and cobbled together, the bodies are guys in long coats, and the heads are either humans in beanies, guys with hoods and gasmasks, or aliens. There are even some zombie hands and heads, though not sure the use of those. I've seen people kitbase these to be admech. I gave the guns to some gnolls to have sci-fi furries. The
oversized heroic scale ammo pouches, backpacks, and general tatt is nice to have as well.
- Cultists are guys in rags and robes, with knives, cleavers, and even a chainsaw bit on the upcoming kit. Those are fantasy themed scavengers in a way. Cultist 2 seems to be the way to go for improvised weapon bits.
- Crew I wasn't impressed by, but these are prized for the amount of non-combat arms. But really there's only 3. Arm holding a spanner, arm holding a brief cases, and arm holding a weird sci-fi tool or scanner.
- Villagers. Different company, but is a kit of random medieval people milling about, supposedly has things like guys chatting, holding a fish, or carrying a bag.
And some more to mention. WGA had an often delayed kickstarter for a traitor guard proxy range called The Damned. Might be a great source of chaos bits if it ever comes out. Frostgrave demons might be worth looking at as well. They're demons, but people kitbash them into abhumans (since cloven hooves and goat heads are an option).
Metallic paint, how good is it actually for marines? I have my dark purple paint in mind but vallejo premium metallic purple and their new tmm range (purple, obv) have got me distracted. Is the metallic effect really worth it?
I don't know. I painted a test space marine in stormcast colours, and a few minis in silver, and they look good.
I assume you're asking because of those "real metalic" shilling videos that have been all over YouTube model channels recently? I haven't looked into those.
I guess even people who only want to be represented don't want to be represented by the evilest faction? Granted, for some reason, a lot of women want to be represented by genocidal, brainwashed child soldiers.
There's a meme that they like tyrannids.
One reason women don't like wargames I've heard thrown around is they're directly adversarial. As in, they don't like games where you shoot guys off the board. In board games, that seems to be the case. They don't war or resource games, but games that are passively competitive (you compete for points, not directly causing someone else to lose things) or even co-operative they like.