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Morning all, I have a 13 year old son that wants to start painting but doesn't want to paint warhammer goodies as they are to expensive for him to buy from his own money. I've offered to buy them for him but he wants to be independent. Can any of you guys think of a company that sells cool cheap minis?

look at reaper.. there about to open a whole pile of figs for their bones line in a month or two to the public..

Is there anything he's interested in particular?

I thought about reaper, just compiling a list for him to look through.

He has painted a couple of chaos marines an ork or 2 and few eldar but not said he preferred any of them.

Ebay can offer lots of good deals on 2nd hand models, Mantic figures seem a bit cheaper than gw.. thought not a huge amount on a box by box basis.. they just want to give you more figures (i suspect less bonus bits than gw though) in one box it seems to me.
Also lots of websites offer 20% discount on GW stuff, and many of these stock other lines too

couple to look through might be;
http://www.thetrolltrader.com/ (find their ebay store to browse 2nd hand GW things though... i found it odd that its seperate, although ebay auctions do suit the 2nd hand market well)
http://www.darksphere.co.uk/ these offer a discount on GW and carry loads of lines of wargames.
http://www.warlord-workshop.co.uk/ discounted GW stock only by the looks of it

Reaper. Lots to choose from, many of which are under $5 and, being metal, can easily be stripped if he chooses to revisit old models as his skills progress. The new(ish) Bones line is much more limited, in terms of selection, but they're dirt cheap and made of a very newb-friendly plastic, requiring next to no prep. There are a few clunky old sculpts in the line, but the newer stuff is pretty spiffy. I dropped $30 and got myself half a shoebox full of nice fantasy hero/monster minis.

Also, is there a particular game system he plays or is working towards playing? Any particular genres he likes? If he wanted to paint up units, instead of singles, something from Mantic might be a better choice. If fantasy isn't his thing, Reaper's catalog becomes significantly less impressive. There are a number of companies putting out generic (meaning "no game system," not "bland") 28mm minis, so a narrower focus might help others make better suggestions.

GW may be expensive but in my experience the models are superior in quality and detail. It may be worth checking out ebay for 2nd hand stuff. Assault on black reach orks and marines are still cheap, as well as the newer Dark Vengeance chaos and Dark angels.

Infact, the Dark Angels are a pretty good buy as they give you a solid start to an army which is very easy to get into in terms of rules.

Seconded that the Dark Angels from Dark Vengeance are a great Dark Buy. They come to about 500pts and are highly useable after the initial skirmish vs the Chaos Marines. It would be the most versatile buy, as the Dark Angels would provide for a good experiment in painting a standard army of standard figures with a decent enough amount of variation and two Independent Characters to practice on.

From there, the Chaos Marines would give a good idea as to playing with greenstuff, painting darker and/or nastier looking models, etc. Not a very good base in Chaos comparatively (unless you make the Angels fallen marines, probably. I haven't been responded to on my question elsewhere).

Anyhow, it's a great box, and the rulebook and Dark Angels make it worth the cost. The big, hardcover rulebook=$75. Entire Dark Vengeance box=$100. And no, you're not missing anything by not getting the bigger rulebook. The small one has all of the rules you need to play.

EDIT: Also, at 48 decent-quality snap-together models with a huge Helbrute, that puts it at roughly $2.02/model if you don't count the other stuff in the box and he just wants to paint. Best value GW has available. Even the bones archer I bought was like $4 or something. Sure, you have to pay it all at once, but it will save you money in the long run.

HairySticks wrote:
Ebay can offer lots of good deals on 2nd hand models, Mantic figures seem a bit cheaper than gw.. thought not a huge amount on a box by box basis.. they just want to give you more figures (i suspect less bonus bits than gw though) in one box it seems to me.
Also lots of websites offer 20% discount on GW stuff, and many of these stock other lines to

http://www.darksphere.co.uk/ these offer a discount on GW and carry loads of lines of wargame

Have you used dark sphere before? Im contemplating buying him the DV box but would like to know what they are like.

If he's into painting single miniatures then the world is his oyster.
I'm sure that there's a compiled list somewhere here on dakka full of other companies? Most are cheaper than GW. Anyone?
If he buys and strips second hand metal models he could add a bit of value or at least break even on them.
If he's learning then he can strip til his hearts content until he get's it right.

If he wants to paint armies then i'd suggest GW miniatures for fantasy/scifi or Victrix/Flames of War for historicals.
As long as the paint isn't too awfully thick he should be able to recoup most of his expenditure reselling these as finished armies.

There are heaps of historical figures in metal and plastic.

If he wants SF or Fantasy there is also a good selection.

Do you know what he might prefer? Is he aiming to build an army, or just to paint a selection of figures for fun.

Since you are in the UK I would consider EM4 miniatures.

http://www.em4miniatures.com/

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Sci_Fi.html

They have very reasonably priced metal and plastic minis, and are a great company to deal with. I'm sure your son can find some figures in their web store he is interested in and can afford.

Jake

I second the em4 miniatures suggestion, very reasonably priced minis.
also, take a look at Ramshackle: http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/
most of them are resin, so be careful to let the kid wear some kind of mask while sanding them.

Cakie wrote:


Have you used dark sphere before? Im contemplating buying him the DV box but would like to know what they are like.

Yeah I've used Darkshere before, and warlord workshop, and troll trader, and one that seems to have vanished called rocket hobbies.
Troll trader seems really fast and efficient, great service.
The others, really good value compared to GW directly, but theyre slow. Youl have to wait for your order and pay postage; I find the postage make it not worth the saving unless you buy a few bits atleast.
Theyre slow because theyre popular and arent as big a companies as they perhaps need to be for handling the volume. Fine cast stuff takes ages to get through them usually. (I've onyl got 1 finecast figure; Belial, and including him delayed my order by 3 weeks)
Besides the delay, rather happy customer.

edit; i've heard of Darkshere having their stock order so large that it doesnt fit in the shop and theyve had it spilling out into the street being boxed up...just an example of how they perhaps ought to be larger companies to deal with the kind of volume they get. Also its no secret that GW arent keen on their 3rd party sellers and only still sell to them as it does make money for GW just not as much as if you go direct.

 Gabbi wrote:
I second the em4 miniatures suggestion, very reasonably priced minis.
also, take a look at Ramshackle: http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/
most of them are resin, so be careful to let the kid wear some kind of mask while sanding them.

Thirded!

EM4 are great, I bought my plastic space rangers from there. definitely good value for someone who wants to try their hand at painting.

Cheers all, went and got him the DV box this morning. We are both currently working on some cultists. But after looking on the sites I'm concidering buying a few lol.