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Did some final tweaking of the summoning alter for the demon player. Painted rivets & studs, most importantly added a summoning book. Had some fun with the pages. The stand isn't much, just a roughly shaped blob of green stuff, but given the time constraints it'll work out just fine.



Since this will be my only record of these objects, I think I'll update a couple of the older images, you'll be able to tell by the change in background.

Very nice, on the daemons objective, as well as the csm objective. I like the reference to arthurian legend. Nice work!

The party was a smashing success!!

I got comments like...

"This is the best 40k party EVER!"
"These objectives are EPIC!"
"If I gave you the stuff would you build my army for me?"
"These look like figures I've seen on Dakka."
"Would you paint my army for me?"
"I had a great time... this was soooo cool!"

Even the folks who run the store and the boys I hired to help run the games were really surprised at how well it all went, and the other parents seemed pleased at their smiling, excited boys as well. Turns out everyone showed up... even though one didn't RSVP, so I need to make a necron objective after all... but, as he didn't have an army (I think his attendance was a last-minute thing) I just lent him my army (I'd brought a little MW army to play against Thing 2) and he and Thing 2 played their brains out!

We did DOW deployment, kill points to determine game victor. Each victory (no matter by how much) was worth 1 victory point towards the overall (global) battle. If you owned your own objective at games end, it was worth another point towards the overall battle. I did tell eveyone the tale of Taurus VI to get them fired up.. but really, these kids didn't need any further firing up... they were battle ready! I also had a story to explain each objective, and as T1 and I handed them out, I'd take a minute to explain why each objective was an objective for their army. The kids ate it up.

Well, that's enough talk... the pics will say it better than I can...

The battle ensues...


Proof that Dakka dice really work.


Epic conflict between the Doom Eagles terminators and (traitor for the day) Blood Angles Death Company.


Nids close in on their objective.


Original predator b-day cake, made with love by Mrs. Gitsplitta from a photo of T1's predator.

Cool! I'm glad they had so much fun!

that looks magnificent

Looks like they had fun, glad it went well.

Must have earned you like a thousand "Best Dad" points!

Well, at least some "coolest dad" points. The objectives were a big hit.... when I was giving the kids their pre-game pep talk and let them know that not only would they be playing with objectives that my friends and I had made specifically for their armies, but that they'd get to take them home... the boys lit up like so many Christmas trees! It was fun to see that. Made all the late nights worth while.

Oh WM: When I let Thing 1 know that you said that he could keep the Tech Marine objective as a birthday present, he let out a whoop, jumped up in the air and gave me a huge hug! So... I guess you did good!

Much props on the cake Mrs. Gitsplitta! Happy b-day Thing 1, I'm glad it was a blast! Which side won the day??

I'm so happy it went well for you Git.

So whats on for next years big event? Apoc? lol.

Ah, forgot to mention that.... the Xenos were triumphant 7 vp's to 4. Unfortunately Thing 1 took a pretty serious whoopin' from the BA player (turned chaos for the day)... apparently the Death Company just ate 3 units of his before finally being dispatched by the remnants of a tactical squad... which at 1000 point level was pretty devastating. But, he seemed pretty unphased, mainly I think because he got enough $$ in gift cards that he doubled the effective size of his budding Necron army in one go (Monolith, Hvy Destroyer, Tomb Spider, 2 pariah's & 2 wraiths). He basically bought out their stock of anything useful.

He's got another gift credit for GW and enough money that he earns by working around the house that I think he can fill out any one of the new squads.

I actually think the smaller battles are much more fun for the kids than Apoc. They do Apoc at the store every Friday and while there's a lot of shooting there isn't much strategy (the kids just bring what they have, they don't really write up an army list). I think putting them in a more formal setting made it more fun for them.

Next year I might introduce a painting competition or something like that. Best figure and best unit perhaps... something to encourage the kids to start painting their figures. As you can see from the pics it was a sea of bare plastic. I also might offer to spend some time with the kids teaching how to paint over this year. Teaching them the basics wouldn't take long and would give them a solid foundation for later years.

Sounds like you might end up being the cool 40k dad for more kids then your own! Glad the kids had fun and everything went smooth. T1 is quite welcome, it should fit his fluff pretty well also. With the DE getting the short end of the new equipment stick, a find like that would be substantial.

Who took a Land Raider at 1000 points? Looks like the BA player is using some older stuff as well.

Cake looks great, but I bet it got a 6 on the damage chart and exploded (into everyones stomaches). Super realistic fire battle damage too

That was the joke as I was adding the candles.... "battle damage". T1 insisted that I put one at the end of the barrel.

Actually it was T1 that took the LR to ferry his termies around. I imagine that worked fine until they came out & got jumped by the Death Company. I did challenge him on it when he was building his list as the point sink for LR & termies was so steep that it left the rest of his army very thin... but he insisted. I need to fix the front ramp... not sure how (or when) that got broken.

My little MW army did pretty well for itself... 4 dreadnoughts w/ MoTF to repair them in 1000 pts is nothing to sneeze at. Your sternguard finally got to run with his brothers in a real game... they did very well. Ran them as a screen in front of the rifleman dread and the combined group really laid out some serious damage.

I'm about to become a father to my first son in the next 2 weeks sometime, and reading (trolling rather) through this has been a source of inspiration for me somewhat! I keep joking with my wife that my expensive hobby is about to get twice as expensive =P haha. But it looks like i'll have to wait another 10 years before my son can really really get in on the action!

Speaking of nostalgia, my first army was the DE from the 40k battleforce way back in 99' or 00'? My dad bought it for me and my little brother. I fell in love with it but fell out cause there was noone to play with. And the DE models were butt ugly. Sad that even as a kid i thought that....

I'm looking forward to some father-son time at the FLGS painting and fighting. *Sigh* can't wait!

My youngest started at 6, so you won't have to wait as long as you think. He still can't play by himself as he can't quite read yet... but aside from reading, he knows the game's general rules, his units, how to move etc. In other words I can play a real game with him, I just have to be there to remind him what numbers he needs to roll & about any special rules.

And yes... your expensive hobby *will* get twice as expensive! *grin* Start them off with your models, then help them build and army of their own with the extras you have lying about. Once the get the basics of the game, modeling and painting down... then you can let them expand into something all their own. That's what I've done with my eldest and it's worked out pretty well. He's built a respectable marine army out of my hand-me-downs & donated figures. When he's done painting the bulk of it (he's got 1 unit and 3 vehicles left), he will be moving on to Necrons. Then hopefully I can sit back and relax a bit and let him do his thing on his own.

Then I can start working on painting and modeling with my younger son a bit more than I have. Or perhaps even work on my own models....

Work on your own models? Outrageous Gitsplitta. With guiding Thing 1 and 2, objectives for parties, and the marine swap are there any hours left in the day for that? lol.

Seriously though I've said it before and I'll say it again kudos on this project, I think its brilliant that your youngsters are being brought up in the true spirit of the hobby, through your hard work and that of others. A++ indeed.

Markers look awesome! Some great inspiration there. I'm so envious of Thing1, having so many people to play with. Wish I had that many friends that play WH40k -.- tierd of losing to my buddys orks

Gitsplitta wrote:
Nids close in on their objective.

Huzzah! Nids close in on their krazy straws, to drink the lifeblood of the planet! Mmmmm.

I'm glad the markers made it, and it looks like a good time was had by all.

Huzzah!

--Brian

Yeah, they young man loved his objective. I will "quietly" see that he gets the other as well, I just didn't want to cause a ruckus by giving one boy two objectives while the rest got only one.

I'm happy that you used some of the background suggestion. Your kids seem to have had fun. Also, i think that painting lessons are a great idea. I personally hate "seas of grey". One or two units is okay, but a whole army is just bad. That's why i almost never field unpainted units. granted, my work could use some improvement, but at least i paint it...

We have a rule when we game at home... "no unpainted figures". This rule is occasionally bent as long as painting is in process, but I've never fielded an unpainted figure at our FLGS. I think Thing 1's land raider is the first one he's fielded that wasn't painted... but he's been working dillagently on his army, so I figure it's OK (and the LR is on the "to be painted soon" list).

I did use your idea... not quite verbatim but I did use the concept to set up the battle. Once the kids got going though, they weren't interested in stories... they wanted blood! *grin* I did have the two older boys who were helping write down particularly heroic moments from the battles & at the end of the games I read them off, remembering to mention everyone. That, they appreciated.

It's good that thing 1 had a brilliant birthday. I'm guessing that he will want the same kind of party next year.

I wish I could have had something like that a few years ago...

I also abhor sea's of plastic (which is why my 'nids don't get much use right now).

My bro's rule for when I'm playing at home is that you have to have at least started painting the minature, cause of this I have a rhino with a fully painted interior (but no paint on the outside) several 'half-painted' CSM and two half finished DP's.

For me, playing with and against nicely painted miniatures is just more fun. Takes some of the sting out of losing if you know deep inside that your army is better looking than your opponent's. *grin*

I don't mind young kids having a sea of plastic, but I get a chuckle out of 'ard boyz where the majority of players are seasoned adults, many of whom have been playing for many years... with seas of plastic.

To each his own... that's the beauty of the hobby, you can do with it what you will.

I have to play painted simply by the nature of how I paint them. They dont get attached to their bases untill Im basically done painting. I have played with some vehicles that are not finished in the paint catigory, and I really need to go back and highlight all the DA I have. Most of that is simply because I've become a much better painted then when I started.

Looks like it was awesome fun

I didn't have it up long for "security" reasons, but I have a GREAT photo of all the boys smiling and holding out their objective markers (we did a "thank you" group shot at the end). The looks on their faces says it all... they had a really good time!

Great job with the event! Things like this make it so that I can't wait until I have kids of my own .

Wow talk about an inspiring log!

I'm still trying to explain to myself why my painting is worse than a 10 year olds...I guess that's why I like painting black so much.

@Thing 1: Happy Belated Birthday!

Iron Corsair wrote:

@Thing 1: Happy Belated Birthday!

seconded

Happy belated birthday!

He says... "Thanks!!"

:-)

nice to be able to start with building a army in a less peice meal fashion Now lets see some painting!