Maddie's Marauder

 Both of my kids have always been fascinated by my miniatures hobby to some extent. Especially the colors of all of my various paint pots and bottles. 

So on the eve of her 3rd birthday she approached me while I was sitting at my hobby table and asked me if she could "paint a guy purple". I thought about it and almost sacrificed an old 2nd edition marine for this unique learning opportunity. But I remembered I had about 40 loose Chaos Marauder Archers from the old Battlemasters game that I won in the late '90s via an auction that was on the old WH40K Mailing List. 

Corax White basecoat. 

I brushed Corax White onto the marauder to act as a basecoat. I figured the easiest way to teach a kid this young how to paint is to use Contrast Paints. So I let her pick what colors to use on what parts and we proceeded with the lesson. 

The Bow of Red Era. 

I held her brush hand while holding the model with my left hand. And I guided her application of paint over the whole miniature. And I gotta say, this turned out better than some of the 'Paint and Take' competitions that I have participated in. I particularly love that she wanted the bow painted red as it totally screams early '90s 'eavy Metal doesn't it? 

Who doesn't love a green mohawk?

Next she picked out a rok to put on the base. (you can see it in the top pic behind the guy's left leg).  Next I helped her apply the grit to the base.  She had a lot of fun shaking the model into the cup full of grit. 

Gritty. 

Next step was to paint the base which we did in two coats.  I gave her a choice in colors for the bases rim and she chose, much to nostalgic pride, Goblin Green! 

And finally, I let Maddie pick out a grass tufts and we glued it down together. 

And that's a wrap! I think she's game to do more and since I have another 39 of these things sitting in a zip lock,  I won't be running out of them too soon.