Advice for returning 40k players/hobbyists

As we count down the days to the official release of 8th edition, there might be a number of people who, like me, are returning to the hobby (or are intending to). I have a bunch of miniatures from previous editions and I suspect most returning players do too. This article aims to give some guidance to this group of hobbyists though the information can be useful for new collectors as well.

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Does your miniature collection look like this?

If a pile of unpainted plastic looks familiar to you and you have no idea where to begin, the very first piece of advice is:

1. DO NOT PANIC

Calm down and take some time to sort through what you have. Would be useful to have a table top with ample space (the floor works too but watch that back).

Grouping the models into units makes them a lot more manageable both for storage later on and for painting.

2. Choose which models/units you might like to use or do up for the new edition

Chances are, you might not get to use all your old models (or might not want to) this edition so take a look at the new Indexes come 17th June to see what interests you. If you REALLY have no preference, just choose a unit to get started with. The trick is NOT to work on everything at once as that is a sure way to overwhelm and burn yourself out before you get started. For those who cannot wait to get started, there have been leaks floating around the internet and those might help you with your decision before the books come out on the 17th.

For your reference, these are the various factions that the Indexes will cover:

a. Imperium 1 - All first founding space marine chapters, Deathwatch, Grey Knights, Legion of the Damned

b. Imperium 2 - Astra Militarum, Mechanicus, Knights, Imperial Agents (Inquisitors & friends), Talons

c. Chaos - well...kind of self-explanatory. CHaos Marines, Daemons & renegade Knights

d. Xenos 1 - Aeldari and Necrons. Aeldari includes Craftworld eldar, Dark Eldar (Drukhari), Harlequins

e. Xenos 2 - Orks, T'au, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults

Some of the models might have gotten damaged in storage (like 5 of my gargoyles) so be prepared to do some repair work as well.

3. Check your paints/brushes

Once you've identified which unit/s to start with, make sure you double check your paints as some of them may have dried out or gone powdery over the years (some Vallejo paints tend to go powdery rather than dry up). Otherwise you will set everything up only to realise you need new paints at the start of the your hobby session.

Brushes tend to keep fairly well if you've placed them in a safe location (not where your pet can gnaw on them or in your bag long term) and not in direct sunlight but you might want to pick up a large brush (for base coating or painting large surfaces) and a detail brush (for eyes or feathers) if you are in need of brushes but don't want to be too extravagant.

We will be uploading a video or two with regards to painting basics and/or paint choices in the weeks ahead so keep an eye out for those if you need to brush up (pun intended) your basic painting skills.

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4. Paint units at a time

What that means is, rather than work on models individually, it will generally be faster to paint up a whole unit (say a unit of 10 space marines) at the same time.

If you take out some brown paint for leather bits, paint up all the parts with leather before moving on to the next colour. This lets you work on a colour for a few minutes rather than waste time taking out a drop of this and a drop of that every few strokes of the brush. A larger amount of paint also dries slower and might help in preventing wastage.

While it helps to be neat, don't worry about being perfect with your painting and lines as you can always come back to cover up any mistakes later.

5. KEEP GOING

Last but not least, the most important part of getting anything done in the long run is to keep going. Try to set aside an hour or two everyday or every alternate day to work on the hobby. That helps to keep the momentum going and establishing a routine helped me finish my Brotherhood of the Brush 2016 pledge* last year within the last couple of months.

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Hope this article has been of some help in getting you organised and ready for the release of the 8th edition. Remember to KEEP GOING!

Cheers,

the BenCH

*Botb2016's link.

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