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Hello all,
I currently have my wife talked into letting me buy an airbrush and a booth. She has expressed some interest in painting miniatures with me. She has never painted miniatures before.

Any suggestions on an army she could collect and start painting with? 40k preferred, but open to AOS. We currently have the new command box and would need to get her to play some missions with me to solidify interest.

My current plans are to build a White Scars, or Harlequin tournament style list that I would mellow out so we can have fun when playing together.

All suggestions and feedback welcome.

Find the army that sparks her interest. Let her flip through the books/catalogs/web and find something that resonates with her.

If you want to get her to play, ask what kind of play style she enjoys. Tanky? Shooty? Choppy?

Everyone is different, it’s hard to make sweeping recommendations.

Start with just painting the miniatures first. She'll eventually find the ones that she wants to paint the most, and then start from there. Basic troop choice for each army. Pretty easy from there.

Don't ask us what models she might like to paint, ask her.

Take her to the online store and show her the models and armies. Don't worry about balance, army performance or any of that. Just let her see what she likes the look of. If you've white dwarf magazines/codex/battletomes etc... show her those and if it is safe in your area you could even head down to the store and show her some of the painted models on display if they have them (chances are if they have you can show her through the window so not even having to enter the store).


Basically let her imagination and interest in spire her to make her choices. Right now all she wants is some models to put together and paint up so just focus things in that direction.




If you happen to play 40K you might show her those forces first in the hope that she'll get tempted by those models before others; but if she winds up liking Stormcast or Skaven or whatever that's fine too. Let the interest in painting be her focus for now - you can worry about games later.

If you had to talk your wife into letting you buy an airbrush and painting station, then letting her see the price tags on Games Workshop's product line might not be the best idea. Her sticker-shock might be bad for your health.

Maybe reading a short novel or two from Black Library might spark more interest?

/blatant 'I've got a wife' brag

Seriously though don't do it man, she'll end up being better than you and taking all your gaming buddies as her own and then you won't have any friends or a hobby to call your own.

Don't even think about armies.

If she's interested in models, show her those.

Show the ranges (40k, aos, warcry, shadespire, necromunda bloidbowl etc) and then maybe give a high level overview of what the games are about if she still has an interest

My instinct is she would lean towards the 'simpler' games like shadespire and warcry. What grabbed my wife's attention (and her friends) was bloodbowl. She has no interest in tanks or guns, but orks playing football for nufl? Yeah, game on!

I'd say show her pictures of the different factions, tell her about their background and let her decide - just the way everyone starts the hobby, really.
There are of course factions that are easier to paint than others, Necrons, vanilla loyal Space Marines, Custodes, Tau are pretty easy I'd say, Chaos and Eldar are rather tough.

 Nevelon wrote:
Find the army that sparks her interest. Let her flip through the books/catalogs/web and find something that resonates with her.

If you want to get her to play, ask what kind of play style she enjoys. Tanky? Shooty? Choppy?

And if she makes something? Don't play whatever the hard counter to that is.

Checking out Duncan's videos on the basics of painting will help as well

Most of the first timers play orks case if ya mess up or make the colors strange whatever they’re orks!!!

Stalked21 wrote:
Most of the first timers play orks case if ya mess up or make the colors strange whatever they’re orks!!!

????

Don't do that. Orks may look fine messy but they're also tedious and expensive because you need so many models.

Miniatures are the place to start. If someone isn't already heavily invested in the rules, it's miniatures that sell a faction.

That said- I'd look to AoS first. Without the glut of stratagems and wargear, it's much more approachable for people without wargaming experience. I'm in a similar position with my wife; AoS has proven much more straightforward to learn than 40K.

If she decides she likes a 40K faction the best, though, then go with that.

Thank all!
Went through the GW website again. We didn't see it the first time but the "Sisters of the Thron" is something that she really digs. AOS it is. I was simply going to approach AOS as something we can do together and not pick a hard counter. Although now I have a ton of research to do on this faction she picked and what goes with it, per the wife.

Those are awesome models. A bit of a shame that the old Wood Elf line got butchered at the start of AoS and never fully recovered; the elf part is now in the Cities of Sigmar which is a bit of a catch all force.


You might show her the Kurnothi Underworld Warband

They are part of the Beastgrave starter set (now technically discontinued but there's still a lot of stock around)
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-Underworlds-Beastgrave-2019

They fit into Sylvaneth (the tree force) rather than the Cities of Sigmar and there is hope/desire that they might be a possible development vector for them, but we've never seen any evidence and it should never be taken as fact. But it might be a neat fast to get into side game.

If that's the sort of wood wraith elf army from AOS that is an EXCELLENT one for a beginning painter.

Wood has a ridiculously low skill floor - literally throw Cygor Brown contrast paint over a white prime and bam its done and it looks good - and an amazing artistic skill ceiling.

After the holidays and I am allowed to order airbrush stuff. I was told to order her figures. I think I might order some of the magic mushroom eating goblins for me just because I could have fun with painting them after painting marines forever.

TheAngryDad wrote:
After the holidays and I am allowed to order airbrush stuff. I was told to order her figures. I think I might order some of the magic mushroom eating goblins for me just because I could have fun with painting them after painting marines forever.

Allowed? If this is an actual serious post don’t do it, have your own hobby.

TheAngryDad wrote:
Hello all,
I currently have my wife talked into letting me buy an airbrush and a booth. She has expressed some interest in painting miniatures with me. She has never painted miniatures before.

Any suggestions on an army she could collect and start painting with? 40k preferred, but open to AOS. We currently have the new command box and would need to get her to play some missions with me to solidify interest.

My current plans are to build a White Scars, or Harlequin tournament style list that I would mellow out so we can have fun when playing together.

All suggestions and feedback welcome.

I would defiantly see what intreasts her first, if she's happy to let you pick, I'd hoenstly suggest space marines, they're reasonably easy for a beginner to paint, you've some experiance with painting them so will know and be able to anticipate any little issues she might run into, their reasonably good surfaces would lead to easy customization, and lastly if she tries one mini and "nopes out" the money isn't completely wasted as you can strip and add to your WS army.

 Kommisar wrote:

TheAngryDad wrote:
After the holidays and I am allowed to order airbrush stuff. I was told to order her figures. I think I might order some of the magic mushroom eating goblins for me just because I could have fun with painting them after painting marines forever.

Allowed? If this is an actual serious post don’t do it, have your own hobby.

Well it IS the Holiday season. Perhaps those funds are dedicated to getting gifts for others.
And some of us have families who put moratoriums on our hobby purchases during the Holiday period as we can be difficult to buy for.

Kommisar,
I have been with my wife for 10 years, married for 8. We have 4 kids, 17y/o girl, 15y/o boy, and twin 5y/o boys. One thing we never argue about is finances. I have a Dillon XL650 with multiple tool heads mounted up that I use maybe twice a month. So if we discuss buying something and she says yes on a purchase but wait x amount of time. That's fine with me, and the same works the other way. It's a hobby and hobbies can wait.

Can't really recommend anything outside of what has been said painting-wise, but gaming wise this is how I start off newcomers:

First off don't introduce points or power level, or anything like that.

If she picks a faction, then pick a single model or upto 5 of the basic infantry of those models depending on what they are.

Play on a 1 X1ft table but pack it up with terrain.

Ignore squad coherency for this first game.

On your side pick a single model (or upto three) that are obviously weaker.

Your aim is to get her immersed with the visuals of the game using the rules. Not to beat her at the game, not to shove down a ton of rules down her throat, that only alienates folks. Rules are important but not as important on getting a feel for the universe of the game.

Then just play for annihilation! These games will usually take 15-30mins but I swear it's the best way to get your S.O. hooked.

I'll give you an example on what I did with a female friend of mine to get her into the hobby.

When she showed interest I went total bare bones. She showed interest in the Primaris stuff, so I had a single Primaris intercessor against 5 Cultists, for lore and explaining what she was seeing on the battlefield I incorporated some of that tounge-in-cheek 2nd ed. vibes for the visuals of what she was fighting (Like, the local Anarchists had just decided " the system" and have a little trouble in the neighbourhood. "Derek the Cultist" head just been blown apart by the grenade launcher assault rile, that is the Bolt Rifle. When she got shot and I explained why she was T:4 as opposed to my T:3 I said it was because she was playing a literal demi-god of war!") Keep it fluid and fresh and the game flows a lot better with a good laugh thrown in. Shye won the first game and was looking forward to the second.

In the second game we slightly increased the model count. I let her use 3 Primaris and I used 1 Chaos Marine Champion, with a chainaxe and bolt pistol with those 5 cultists. She won again but loved playing with every turn. After that she was hooked and bought herself a small T'au force.

So yeah, just keep it real small, explain the visuals with a dose of humour and she'll probs get more invested into the game that she wants to play

Hope this helps

@OP:

Did your wife display any interest in your hobby before you have met? If not it's a red flag.

 Strg Alt wrote:
@OP:

Did your wife display any interest in your hobby before you have met? If not it's a red flag.

They've been married for 10 years, dude. A year ago or so, my wife also became interested in trying painting and maybe playing, and has painted a bunch of nids since then. Being interested and trying your partner's hobbies is a perfectly normal part of a healthy relationship.

It's just painting right? And no interest in playing for the time being?

I know it's probably pretty common for women to paint but I can probably count on one hand (or lets just say three fingers) the number of times I have seen the fairer sex playing 40k in the past 25 years.

There has never been a game or setting so specifically targetted at men, and I include Napoleonics historicals at small scale in that !
So be careful before you burn that bridge while it is still getting built!

Painting wise - have a look through a FLGS store website page and see what she likes the look of? I wouldn't even restrict to 40k/AoS etc, there is so much out there.
A friend of mine's GF came a couple of times to conventions with us just to look at the painted miniatures and would come back with an absolutely random collection of things (everything from fantasy Japanese samurai to a demonic teddy-bear..)

Would probably go for single miniatures rather than squads, there is nothing more certain to dampen enthusiasm than having to paint 12 of the same thing (which can crush even dedicated hobbyists sometimes)

In the end show her and let her choose. Debates on infantry troops vs characters and such is really just us projecting our ideas.
If she wants to paint a box of skaven warriors that's fine; if she wants to paint a greater demon that's fine too (though perhaps then you'd encourage her to paint a few fiends first to practice before painting a big model). The key is doing just the same as you'd do for any other game regardless of sex or relationship. Show them, introduce them and let them make the choice for their own criteria. Let them ask the questions and you provide the answers.

If painting is all then its a nice vector in; some people (men and women) never go beyond painting and have a huge collection painted to whatever standard they aspire too. Others might start with paints and get into the game; some might game now and then etc....

Strg Alt wrote:@OP:

Did your wife display any interest in your hobby before you have met? If not it's a red flag.

A red flag for what? A partner showing interest in the others hobby is typically a healthy sign in a relationship. Even if they only dip their toes in and try it out and never go further its great that they want to try and engage that way.
It's healthy to have your own hobbies and interests, but its just as healthy to share them too.

My wife tried warhammer three times total, it just isn't for her. She doesn't like the amount of rules i general, that single models have different gear and thus rules fro the rest of their unit and so on. BUT she does like to paint with me every now and then. That's where i don't recommend looking into armies, but into single models. My girl likes to paint terrain and animal stuff (like AoS gryphhounds). Nothing wrong with getting a few cheap leftovers from ebay if it allows your s.o. to take part in your hobby.

Definitely agree on the single models front.

The only wargame I have ever managed to get a girl to play was Mordheim. I GM'd a campaign so it had a really strong narrative element with a lot of background material, only 7-8 miniatures to paint and was playing in a group where we were playing just for the laugh - probably as far from a 'standard' tournament-style wargame of massed armies lined up 24" apart as you can get.

Other than this it's boardgames all the way I think as far as playing is concerned, at least in terms of having something you can both enjoy and where it isn't just a case of her playing to humour you. Choose something simple to learn, fun to play and with maximum return for time investment. If that's enjoyable then keep increasing in complexity and there is a possibility a wargame could come out of that at the end, but I sure as hell wouldn't start with 40k as an opening gambit.

Sisters of Battle. GW made a big deal about them to claim they aren’t a sexist company so it’s expected women buy the, to save GW’s reputation.

On a serious note, Chaos Daemons. They are easy to paint for a newbie and therefore less likely to put someone off. Can be painted quickly, easily revisited later to improve the paint scheme and if she doesn’t take to 40k she can use them for AOS instead. They are also pretty decent these days.