(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best toys & games

5 points

• Find an item on your wishlist that is the same as something on my wishlist that you added BEFORE August 16th (the date of this contest). Link it.
  
  Do already-purchased items count? If so, I had the 2nd and 3rd CAH expansion on there, but I have them now. If that doesn't count, we both have a gift card on there :)
  
  
• Summon a mod and thank them for helping maintain this wonderful sub
  
  /u/rarelyserious - You do a fantastic job of keeping the awesome levels in the sub up high! Also, you're always looking dapper in those ties! You rock. :)
  
  
• Participate in another contest (post the link to your comment)
  
  Done.
  
  
• Check all of your Wish Lists on Amazon to make sure you have a shipping address, and that your items are still available. Post the phrase "GIVE ME SOME SUGAR!" after you have completed it.
  
  Done. GIVE ME SOME SUGAR! :)
  
  
• Post a selfie!
  
  Selfieeee!
  
  
• Post a picture of whatever is in front of you RIGHT NOW.
  
  Taken with the phone while walking dogs :)
  
  
• Post a picture of your purse/wallet/hand bag/backpack/etc
  
  Purse!
  
  
• Post a picture of your favorite VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray. Bonus points if you have it on HD-DVD.
  
  The Great Mouse Detective! I love Professor Ratigan! :D
  
  
• Tell everyone about your favorite movie
  
  Ok, so my favorite movie changes fairly frequently. There are just so many good movies. One of my reoccurring favorites is definitely The Great Mouse Detective though. I love Disney movies, and this one was a staple of my childhood. Plus, it has, IMO, one of the best Disney Villains of all time: Professor Ratigan. One of the VERY few Disney Villains that actually kills someone. I mean, yeah ok, it's a mouse not a human. But it is a movie about mice... so it's kinda like it was a person. But, I have fond nostalgia any time I watch the movie, paired with the fact that it's my favorite disney villain? It's definitely a winner. :)
  
  
• Tell a joke
  
  A piece of string walked into a bar and said "Gimme a beer!" but the bartender said "Get outta here! We don't serve your kind here!" So the string left, but he was thirsty, and he really wanted a beer, so he messed up his hair real badly and looped himself around until he had tied himself into a knot. When the string went back into the bar, the bartender looked at him suspiciously and said "Aren't you that worthless piece of string I just threw outta here?" No, the string replied, "I'm a frayed knot!" (ba-dum, chh.)
  
  
• Post a picture of you with your favorite accessory (hat, sunglasses, necklace, ring, bracelet, whatever)
  
  Engagement ring is definitely my favorite! :)
  
  
• Post a picture of your primary method of transportation (feet, bicycle, motorcycle, car, bus, helicopter, private jet, whatever)
  
  Augustus!
  
  
• Tell a story about your primary mode of transportation
  
  This is the story of how I got a big dent in my car less than a year after buying it. Ok, so his name is Augustus. He's a lovely blue Ford Focus (hatchback). He has less than 10k miles on him. I was meeting my brother and dad for lunch one Wednesday, like I do most Wednesdays, and I was driving through a parking lot. As I was driving, looking for a spot, a rather large truck started backing out of her spot. I didn't have time to react, and neither did the driver of the truck. About a second after the backing started, there was an audible "crunch". It was very sad. But luckily, the lady had fantastic insurance and Augustus got a new fender/bumper. :)
  
  
• A picture (or screen shot) of you participating in the RAoA Daily or Nightly Thread
  
  I do this one a lot!
  
  
• A picture of a domestic currency
  
  A US quarter. Better quality US quarter
  
  
• A picture of a foreign currency
  
  I collected coins as a kid.
  
  
• A picture of you with a domestic or foreign currency stuck to your forehead
  
  Forehead quarter! Sorry for bad quality, I was having some balance issues :P
  
  
• A picture of you and your pet OR someone else's (that you know, preferably) pet
  
  Demetri yaaaawn
  
  
• Tell everyone about your favorite pet
  
  Awh, do I have to pick? I have a little doggy named Pookie and a big doggy named Demetri. I love them both so much, for very different reasons. Demetri is a snuggle bug. He always wants to be close and love you and lay with you and sit with you and just relax with you. Pookie is the playful one. She loves her toys and always wan't to fetch or tug of war! They're both so very loving and so very loved. They're both my favorite pet :)
  ___
  
  1 point
  
  
• Summon any other person/team and wish them good luck!
  
  /u/szor - good luck! I love your pics :)
  
  
• Post the phrase "I had fun!" if you had fun participating in this contest!
  
  I had fun! :D
  
  
• Guess how many points you will receive! Bonus points if you get it exactly right (before I count this question).
  
  479, counting everything except this. 477 if I'm not supposed to count the things after this yet either.
  
  
• Smile in any one of your pictures!
  
  RE: Pet pic!
  
  

• Post a smiley face in your entry!
  

  
  

  D :) \^_^ \^.^ \^-\^ :3

oh this is perfect. An excellent exercise.

$100 to buy games on Amazon with a newbie who has specific needs.

Ok so we're looking to minimize card games, adult players, 2+

1. Alhambra - $30 - it's a fun game and it gets our requirements right out of the way. it's more than just a card game there's a board, there's tiles to play with, A nice amount of physicality. it's new player friendly and works with 2 players.
   
   
2. Last Night on Earth - $45 - Again going hard on the requirements here. It may be totally cheesy and it might not last a long time in your collection but if you're gonna get this game better to get it when you're young in the hobby so you'll have the most fun. It's team based but works with one player teams. It's a zombie game with a lot of mini zombie figurines to play with. It's a lot of fun to play with.
   
   

3. Blueprints - $30 - I want a dice game in your library and in my head the first game is King of Tokyo which is an excellent game but I don't know how useful it is for two players. Blueprints is easy to learn fun to play and performs well with two players.
   
   -------
   At this point I'm about $5 over maybe a little more because i think i rounded down a few. I might have been able to switch a few things to get more games in but I wanted quality games that minimized or compensated for cards. Plus all of these games play 2 or more pretty wel.
   
   -------
   
   Honorable Mentions:
   
   Jaipur - $35 - For a couple I think one of the best beginner games is Jaipur. It's a two player card game with a welcoming theme that's easy to learn and yet when you play it's as difficult as your opponent makes it. The games aren't long so even when you want to try and experiment with headgames you're not investing too much into it.
   
   Looney Pyramids aka IceDice - $9-15 - Now obviously the one to get is the Ice Dice. It's two "stashes" for $15 vs 1 for $10. Ideally you want three stashes and you can play the most excellent "Space Chess" like game Binary Homeworlds
   
   Bananagrams - $15 - Bananagrams is an excellent party game if you have the tablespace. Honestly this is the singular reason I haven't played my copy yet. It's light it's fluffy, it's fun.
   
   Splendor - $30 - Splendor is an excellent game. Nothing feels good as holding the poker chips in this game. It's a nice strategy game with a dash of tactical planning if you want. You could substitute it for Blueprints and still have excellent picks. Very fun quick game. But it is card heavy.
   
   Word ARound - $15 - Now most people probably haven't heard of this charmer. It's cheap, it's probably best as a party game. I happen to like the look of it but no doubt it'll burn out as you become familiar with the words a bit.
   
   -------
   Race for the Galaxy
   
   I happen to love that game. If you're ever stuck may I recommend this awesome video tutorial.
   
   Modern Table Gamer
   
   Also don't forget you can play online at BoardGameArena. Some people might be recommending Roll for the Galaxy the new spin off game. I haven't played it yet but I found the Miami Dice episode about it to be very enlightening. Both Tom and Sam speak highly of the game especially in comparison to the original game.
   
   -------
   Ticket to Ride
   
   Excellent game I hear for two players you want the Switzerland/India map
   
   -------
   Agricola
   
   I think this might be a bit heavy for new players
   
   
   -------
   Eldrich Horror/Castles of Burgundy
   
   While I have played CoB i don't know it well enough to judge it. I didn't have a great time with my play but it was just one time. I hear lovely things about Eldrich especially compared to Arkham.
   
   -------
   
   -------
   
   

You could go all in with an awesome collection of Cards Against Humanity!

It requires you to have a pretty twisted sense of humor but it's a ton of fun with friends.

You could check out Firefly the Game.

If you're a fan of the space opera, this is one of the more enjoyable games I've ever played.

If you really don't mind blowing 300 bucks, there's the Star Wars X-Wing miniatures game!

You take control of a spacecraft in the Star Wars universe and each game is like an episode of a Star Wars tv show, with a clear goal and twists and turns along the way as you try and accomplish that goal. The miniatures can get pricey but 300 bucks would get you started on a pretty sweet collection if you buy the smaller ships.

300 bucks would also get you started with the world's greatest trading card game: Magic the Gathering!

This classic card game has been around for over 20 years, features thousands upon thousands of cards to select from and, just like chess, takes 10 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. For 300 bucks you could both have a gaming mat, plenty of dice, a kick-ass card collection and more than enough to start building multiple decks. Heck, you can just go and buy pre-made decks from a plethora of websites. Check out Youtube for suggestions on what formats you might enjoy, but kitchen table Magic the Gathering is VERY satisfying for two people.

Of course, if you really want an epic adventure, you could check out the bigger, meaner, older cousin of Magic the Gathering, and maybe the most infamous table top game in the world: Dungeons and Dragons!

A little more effort than most, but hugely rewarding if you have a colorful imagination and don't mind some simple math (most games requre SOME math, just look at Monopoly), and you have decades of books to explore, and many are available for pretty cheap from both used book stores and your local library (hopefully). This is a hobby that lasts for the rest of your life.

Like Dungeons and Dragons but want a more easy and accessible game to start out? How about [Muchkin!] (http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jackson-Games-1483SJG-Munchkin/dp/B004U7JJWE/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1462113434&sr=1-1&keywords=munchkin)

We're talking dungeons...dragons...knights in shining armor and a LOT of fun. It's a good start for tabletop gaming.

Of course, Tabletop gaming is pretty extensive when it comes to choices. Here are a few more to check out:

The Game of the Century: Settlers of Catan

Spooky fun with Arkham Horror!

Big Adventures: Small Heroes... Mice and Mystics!

Survive the Zombie Apocalypse with Dead of Winter!

Of course, like Levar Burton says, you don't have to take my word for it. Here is the awesome Wil Wheaton's Youtube series, Tabletop! He plays with his friends so you don't have to! This series is amazing at helping to decide which tabletop game might be best for your playing needs.

Need a little help deciding if Magic the Gathering is right for you? How about Spellslingers on Youtube! Game Guru Day[9] plays Magic with his friends. Not only is this a super easy way to learn the game, it's a lot of fun to watch.

Need a little help understanding Dungeons and Dragons? Give Critical Role on Youtube a listen!

Luckily, you happened upon a time where tabletop games are going stronger than ever so...good luck!

This is extraordinarily thorough. So thorough in fact, that you should also consider board gaming. Reading this, it just makes a lot of sense for you. I think board gaming would fit you like a glove.

1. Video games have moved away from couch co-op. You've made a great list here with a lot of solid points, but I doubt you would have ever reached your conclusion, had you considered board games. Keep Talking is certainly a good entertaining game, nothing against it. It's just, that game feels plucked like a needle out of a haystack. Like you've biopsied out a very small node from inside a large mass.

You don't really have this problem with board games. Literally every single board game in existence is designed to be played with people immediately around you. I hesitate to use the phrase "played co-operatively" simply because most board games are NOT co-operative - though there are notable exceptions like Pandemic or Ghost Stories. Both great games.

Board games use human beings as the engine the game runs on. That's not to say board games pit intellects against each other in some sort of valid competition of "who's the most smartest", but to say: humans are social machines and will surprise you with their grasp of system thinking. If I have five or six people in the room with me, I'd prefer the game that we're playing to exist in the head-space between us rather than on some electronic device.

People have come over to my house in the real world. Why not play a game with them that also exists in the real world? I can play videogames over online multiplayer until I'm blue in the face. Just last night I reinstalled Bad Company 2 and played with a few old college roommates. If I had those old friends over to my house, we'd play a board game. It seems crazy to me that someone has taken the time to drive over to your place and you set them down in front of a computer.

2. Because boardgames have always been designed around a social experience taking place in the real world, they're just better at it. This is definitely subjective. You can feel free to disagree with me all you want, but there are mechanics that I just don't see in videogames. Sure, I could load up Gremlin's Inc and replicate what is probably the best roll n' move game I've ever played, but roll n' move is a Monopoly era game genre. Board games can move past this.

You can't play Two Room's and a Boom on a machine. You can't play Bid n' Bluff games like Liar's Dice, Sheriff of Nottingham, or social deduction games like Coup or Love Letter. You can't play physical dexterity games like Jenga (still great fun btw), Flick em' Up, or Catacombs.

There are just games that play better with groups of people because they exist in the real world and make use of humans as the operating system.

3. Board games are much more open to much more people. I don't know about you, but in my experience board games are just more accessible to a wider range of people. I'm maybe going to get a round of Mario Kart out of the adults in my life that love me, but I've sat down with people over 50 and had a great time with Ticket to Ride. At family reunions I've enjoyed Dominion with young children and grandparents alike. Settlers of Catan, Blockus, and Carcassonne are all genuinely fun games I played to death with my family.

How crazy is that? I would really look forward to playing one of those games with my whole family. I can't think of even one videogame that fits that criteria.

4. Perhaps most simply, there are incredible games that just don't exist in videogame form - even though they could. Is the total conversion mod for Crusader Kings II not giving you that full heady Game of Thrones experience? Why not just play Game of Thrones. This is probably my favorite game and it's just not on computers. I can imagine a version of Cosmic Encounter played over online multiplayer, but why? It already exists in perfect form. If I want to play El Grande, or Arctic Scavengers, or Lords of Vegas - well . . . those games just don't exist as videogames.

5. Just honorable mentions. Seven Wonders. Splendor. Blueprints.


TL;DR. There are a ton of great board games out there and if you actually are struggling to think of something that you and your friends can enjoy together in the same room - maybe give it a shot rather than lament the lack of couch co-op in videogames.

Welcome to the hobby, friend! Here's a few useful tidbits of info for you.

None of the Gundam kits from the last 20 or so years need glue. That's a standard feature across pretty much every Gundam model kit. So in that regard, feel free to pick any design you like. Not all kits are created equally, but a quick search across this subreddit will help you figure out if the kit you're looking at happens to be hot garbage (and there are a few that are).

To more directly answer your question, the starter set uses an older model of the classic RX-78-02 Gundam. The Revive version is a much, much better model. You can find it here on Amazon.

A panel lining pen (or pens) are not required, but certainly make for a better final product. They're pretty cheap on their own, and generally you'll want at least grey and black, and possibly also brown. Alternatively, you can get a pack of all 3. You'll also want so basic q-tips/cotton swabs to clean up your panel looking.

You're also going to need some nippers. Nippers come in a range of types, qualities, and styles. The best nippers are single sided (that is, one side is a blade and the other is flat). These, the infamous Godhands are hands down the best nippers on the market. They're expensive as shit, but worth every penny. If you're on a medium budget, Tamiya's nippers are the next best option. There are cheaper nippers out there, but they're gonna come with significantly inferior results. That said, a lot of that can be addressed with...

A good hobby knife. You'll be just fine with a simple, cheap X-Acto knife, but there is (in my opinion) a better option. My personal favorite, the Tamiya Design Knife. It's got a slightly smaller blade, which will let you get into tighter spaces with it. It also comes with a metric crapton of replacement blades. You'll want to replace the blade every couple kits, but there's a bunch of them in there. There same container that holds the replacement blades even has a second chamber to dispose of your old blades into.

Finally, you may want some fine pointed (possibly angled) tweezers for decal application. Finger oils can screw up the adhesive on the stickers. You can pass on this starting off most likely, but you'll want to get some eventually.

TL;DR, the starter pack isn't the best option. If you're after the granddaddy Gundam, get the Revive. Otherwise, pick your favorite design. The newer the kit, the better, generally speaking. Look at the copyright date on the box cover to see. Bottom left corner.

You're going to need nippers, which can get pricey, but the cost is worth it. Start with a mediocre pair, and upgrade to the Godhands once you're committed to the hobby. You'll need a knife, too. You can cheap out on this one, but there are better options IMO.

Optionally, get tweezers, panel lining pens, and cotton swabs.

Edit: other good starter kits

HG Barbatos is a great kit. The build process for IBO models is a bit different than other gunpla, though, as they have a quasi-inner frame.

HG 00 Gundam is another great starter. It's also the first kit I ever panel lined, and it was a great starter for that.

If you're wanting a Zaku, the HG The Origin Zaku II Type C is probably the best Zaku kit released to date in 1/144 scale.

Finally, I'd feel bad for not suggesting my all time favorite HG build. It was just a fun, fun kit to make and to pose. The HG 1.5 Gundam. It's got some really cool gimmicks and, unique colors, and an awesome design.

Welcome! Glad to hear you are interested in Malifaux and welcome to the hobby! As another user mentioned check out the "Pullmyfiger" wiki on tactics and how to play. Also take a look at r/minipainting on tips and tricks for painting and inspiration! So since you are brand spanking new and have a lot of questions I'll try to cover all I can. As for my background Malifaux is the only mini game I have ever played and when I first started I was new to the hobby as well.

Lets start with minis and gameplay. Glance over pullmyfinger to check out tactics and looks of models. See who you enjoy. When I first started I picked Resurrectionists because I really enjoyed the thought of having undead minions doing my bidding. Think about what type of tactics you want to play with. Do you want to shoot people from behind cover? Do you want to summon monsters? Do you want to be in an enemies face with melee? Do you enjoy trickery and movement based shenanigans? Each faction is balanced faction to faction and each one harbors a wide variety of gameplay. Some have their specialties, but each faction can do just about anything. For example say you like to summon. Ressurs are king of summons yet other masters can summon as well, like Ramos in the Arcanists (electrical creations and spiders), Leviticus in the Outcasts (undead techno horrors), and Somer Teeth Jones in the Gremlins. There are others but you get the idea. Pick a faction you think is cool or looks cool. Depending on what faction you go with depends on which master is good for beginners. Some of the beginner friendly masters for each faction are
{Faction}:{Masters};{Role in order of masters}

Guild: Lady Justice, Perdita, Sonnia; Melee, Ranged, Magic

Ressurs :Seamus, McMourning, Nicodem; Movement/range, Melee/poison, Summoning (expensive start up cost though)

Arcanists: Rasputina, Kaeris, Ramos; Ice Magic, Fire magic, Electric/summons

Neverborn (slightly more advanced): Lillith, Jacob Lynch; Melee, Card Manipulation

Outcasts: Victoria's, Von Schill; Melee, Ranged

Ten Thunders: Misaki, Jacob Lynch; Hit and run tactics, Card Manip.

Gremlins: not enough knowledge to comment :/ Sorry

To let you know I used to have two masters in each crew other than gremlins, until I sold off many of them to focus on three factions instead of all of them.
These masters listed themselves are pretty straightforward but may have advanced interactions with their crew that you will learn in time and with reading and lots of play and practice. This also just lists what the master does. Like Lady Justice herself is melee but the rest of the crew is versatile with melee or ranged attacks and interactions. The box sets always compliment the master well especially for the beginner crews. In all honesty though pick a faction and master you think is cool. The rest will come with time.

Next lets talk about construction and supplies
Each set of Minis comes in a padded cardboard box on a sprue like this.
This is a link to the instructions Wyrd has wonderfully provided. You can look up individual box sets instruction sheets to decide for yourself how complicated a project may be. Its hard to put a difficulty on construction of the minis because they all use small parts.

Each box set comes with the models on a sprue, simple round bases and character/upgrade cards for each model in the box.
The basic tools you will need are
Hobby Knife/Exacto Knife

Needle nose pliers

Miniature Plastic glue/welder

Gorilla Glue

Green Stuff

Table or work surface

These supplies are for construction only. The cement plastic glue stuff is very sensitive. Literally a drop is all you need to permanently fuse two parts together. It actually melts the plastic ever so slightly into each other. Do not get excess on fingers and use carefully. Do not smash the parts together. This is why I like the kind with a fine point applicator like the one I linked. Always do a dry test fit first when constructing even with instructions it can be difficult to see how they parts go together. The Gorilla glue and green stuff is what I use for basing. Needle nose pliers and knife to cut things out and help hold them. Basing can be as simple or as complicated as needed. Sometime I use a very thin layer of green stuff and paint to simulate earth. Sometime I go get tiny tiny pebble off the side of the road to make rock formations. I once bought clock parts off ebay and got scrap from a plumber friend and I glued them into some green stuff to make a techno junkyard. Get creative.

Next once your model is constructed and based now it is time to paint! You will need

Brushes of varying size and type

Primer either spray primer or paint on primer

Paint and washes

Water containers

Pallet, Wet or dry. I prefer a wet pallet

Light

Start off by priming your minis by either spraying with a spray primer or a paint on primer. I like spray primer because it is fast BUT it is more finicky. It can ruin a mini if you are not careful. Don't spray too close, don't spray in high humidity. Use nice even coats. Two to three thin coats is much better than one very thick coat. Wait for each coat to dry before doing the next. It doesn't take long if you use thin even coats. Then go ahead and paint!

I am always trying to do miniatures and save money. I cannot break the bank right now BUT one thing I do not skimp on is quality brushes. As long as you keep them clean a great brush will last you ages. Invest in some decent ones and they will treat you well. Miniature paint is not always required and can get very expensive. I actually got most of my acrylic paint from Wal-Mart. The paint from there though is very thick! You want to water it down to be like skim milk. Again many thin layers are better than 1 thick one. If the paint slicks right off the model it is too thin. The other kind of specific paint to pick up is called a wash. It can be put on in large amounts and will dry dark in crevices but not on raised parts of the model. It gets great shadows and detail. Anyways I know it is a lot of information for just starting out but shoot me a reply or a Pm and I would be glad to answer more questions or concerns!

My list would include a variation of games

Code Names - $16

Sushi Go - $10

7 Wonders - $26

Tsuro - $19

Castles of Burgundy - $27

Total: $98

Explanations:

First, I want to preface these selections: our play group varies in size from week to week with anywhere from 4-10 players averaging 5-6. So, we often get caught "splitting the party." That's fine at times, but sometimes, we all want to jump in on one game together because splitting up feels bad man^TM since we're all there to socialize in addition to playing games.

As such, I wanted to include games that ran the gamut and for the most part games that scaled well from 2-X players.

First, Code Names. Now, we've played this game so many times, we actually purchased the expansion Code Names Deep Cover which is a fun variant which adds tons of more playability. This is the go-to "party" game as, for our group, Cards Against Humanity has grown a bit stale. At least it hits the table much less frequently than in years past. Code Names is easy to teach, easy to understand and difficult enough for some of your more entrenched board gamers. In general, I find this a great starter to transition from your Milton Bradley games everyone knows (and hates) into board games that offer sustenance.

Secondly, I offer Sushi Go (cheating a bit here as you'll probably have to buy a couple copies for larger groups or just get Sushi Go Party). Sushi Go is our groups go-to game to introduce games that use a drafting mechanic and to teach that board games can be cute, fun, and delightful while also requiring strategy, maths, and a bit of hope (our group tends to dislike dice-rolling games so for the most part, we stick to games where we can mostly "control" our own fates - YMMV). This game is super quick, so you don't get bogged down at the table for hours. I feel for new board gamers, quicker games are a MUST as many people may not be able to handle the length many of our Beloveds require.

7 Wonders comes next. We tend to introduce this game right after Sushi Go as the mechanics are super similar and the newer players feel like they already know what's going on for the most part. There will be questions, there will be some confusion and oversight, but this game follows easily and feels like a natural step up from Sushi Go and gets players right into the mix of heartier board games. Oh, and I could personally play 7 Wonders every week, especially with all the options offered through the expansions Cities, Leaders, and Tower. The interchangeability of these expansions has kept this game on our table long past many others and continues to bring it back. Again though, YMMV as we all have different tastes.

Tsuro, our board game palatte cleanser. This is another quick game which offers a lot of replayabiliity with minimal rules learning. Aside from those positives, the artwork is what sent this board game over the top for me. I am mesmerized by the board, the tiles, and the pieces each time we open this. This game offers a quick break between your heavier meeple-laiden board games so even after we've surpassed "newb" status, we often come back to this.

Castles of Burgundy I included as a final game because ultimately, we need a game with a strong theme and wonderful mechanics which offer replayability from a more traditional Euro point of view. This game really surprised me. I loved it the first time we played it, and though it may not hit the table but once every other month due to time constraints, it always feels like reuniting with an old friend. It offers a setup for further Euro games and sets the scene on what's really out there in weightier board games. I know there could be other games that fit this description, but at the price, this game is amazing for what it offers.

And that's the list. I know there are many criticisms of these games and I don't devalue those. All my favorites have points in them where they fall a little flat at times, or don't elicit the enjoyment I thought they might, but many times, it's usually my perception and frame of mind. I can often come back months later with renewed enjoyment for them, so trust me, I know there are imperfections; I just choose to ignore them for the post. These games, while some may take a bit longer to learn, offer a great springboard into board games and offer the new player a slow wade into the pool without feeling too slow or drab as one might feel with something like Settlers of Catan. Will I stand by this opinion in 5 or 10 years? We'll see.

~rings doorbell wearing a bright, over-enthusiastic smile~ Oh, hello friend. I hear you and your friends might be interested in getting started on the road towards board gaming! This is excellent news! There are many excellent resources to help guide you and yours towards many fun-filled experiences with friends and family. ^Please, ^don't ^be ^afraid!

~Whips out a bunch of pamphlets, waving them at you~ I would recommend checking out the /r/boardgames community here on reddit, especially this wiki post on what games you should try if you're new to modern board games. It's got a ton of great suggestions with descriptions to help you figure out if you might actually enjoy the game. That wiki and the subreddit itself also have tons of easily accessed info for you, if you need. They can even help you find your nearest FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store)!

Also you might check out some reviewers like Shut Up & Sit Down, who are my favourites and have a ton of articles and video reviews, or The Dice Tower, who have lots of videos of lists and reviews like the one I linked that can give you some ideas of what to get. (Sometimes way too many ideas... ~waggles her overly long games-to-buy list~) SUSD even has a great Intro to Board Games video for people who are hesitant or starting into the hobby and don't quite know what it's all about or where to start - it's a few years old, but still very relevant, and I recommend any of their videos. I find them hilarious.

And if you decide you're really getting into the hobby, you might start visiting the marvellous, dank morass that is BoardGameGeek, aka BGG or 'the Geek'...

As for recommendations straight from me... The hardest and best thing with board games is everyone likes something different? But I find one can't go wrong most of the time with these:

• Pandemic
  
• Survive! Escape from Atlantis
  
• Takenoko
  
• Forbidden Island
  
• Colt Express
  
• Jamaica
  
  Most of these are fairly simple and relatively short, but they're all fun starter games that are easy to pick up and play, and I've never known anyone to not enjoy themselves when I've brought out any of these. I often do game nights with different mixes of friends, to which I will usually bring an Ikea bag full of games, and there's almost always at least one or two of these particular games in that bag. I'm pretty sure they're all in print, too, so they shouldn't be too expensive!
  
  Also, if you guys are looking into tabletop RPGs but don't know where to start with that, and you don't have anyone who knows how to DM/GM handy, the newest edition of D&D has a Starter Set out - it's a pack that includes dice, pre-rolled characters, a starter rule book and a pre-written starting adventure. I will always recommend Red Boxes/Starter Sets, D&D does a great job with these and makes it really easy for you to get into it, even if no one in the group is familiar with rpgs to begin with.
  
  tl;dr - Board/card games are amazing, there's lots of resources out there for you, I hope I didn't scare you off with my enthusiasm. Welcome to tabletop gaming!
  
  ^Edit: ^Now ^with ^more ^links!!

Been painting a few years and lurking here forever, here's my advice:

> Mixing Brush: I am told that you should not mix paint with your primary brushes. Where can I buy a cheap brush for mixing, and anything special I need?

If I'm already using a "larger" brush (1 or higher) I'll mix with my good brushes and just be mindful of how far up the ferrule I am or use the back of the brush. If I'm using a detail brush I'll use a super cheap synthetic 2 or 3. Look on amazon or at a local art chain (Michaels) for cheap student grade packs of round brushes. You'll end up using these for terrain, PVA glue, and all sorts of other things.

> More Brushes: My kit came with a 2 flat and 0 round. What other brushes will I need, and what in your opinion is a good brand to buy? Any set that covers all the basics? Although I am new to painting, I'd like something that will last me and be quality. They sell SoHo brushes in my local store, which look like they are great quality. Any users here?

This topic can get pretty involved. Brushes have a lifespan so if you're new to the hobby I wouldn't recommend dropping money on higher end Kolinsky brushes like W&N Series 7 or daVinci Maestro. For a new painter I recommend Winsor & Newton's University series and Army Painter's Wargamer brushes. The W&N University brushes are higher than average student quality acrylic brushes that can be abused. They're great for basecoating with thicker mixes. The Wargamer brushes are a cheap intro into real sable hair so you can get started at layering with thinned paints.

> Primers: This is a big ? for me --- Spray primers, basic black white and grey? Which ones, what brand, etc... Really unsure what is recommended here, as in a store there are so many, but hoping /r/minipainting can help as we are all painting the same stuff. Would love some specific product recommendations here.

For the most part, you have three options: spray cans, brush-on, and airbrush. I can't really recommend spray primers - they require ventilation, have trouble with humidity, and can only be sprayed at one consistency. Many of the hobby spray cans advertised for basing your minis aren't actual primers. Brush-on primers are the most economical but run the risk of losing detail on the mini if applied heavily. Airbrushing is my preferred method using either Mr. Hobby's Mr. Surfacer 1500 thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner for highly detailed minis, or Vallejo Primer for tabletop quality minis. Vallejo Primer's are acrylic and polyurethane so they're more protective but can sometimes take away detail.

> Finish: I saw a few videos where they spray some 'protective' finish on a product, I believe there are matte finishes as well as gloss finishes? Can I get any 'matte/gloss finish' product, or are there certain ones for miniatures?

Same three options as priming. If your minis are going to be handled often, I recommend a glossy coat then a matte coat. Glossy varnishes are stronger than matte varnishes, so this combo will give you the most protection. You are more likely to lose some detail this way. If your minis are for display only you can skip the varnish and just be careful. Dried acrylics are basically thin plastic so they have some durability on their own. Brand-wise I airbrush using Liquitex Professional gloss and matte varnishes, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner and a drop or two of Vallejo flow-improver. Vallejo varnishes are also good but Liquitex offers the best bang for your buck.

> Mini Holders: I found this product which looks amazing, but is not available until late 2017 since the Kickstarter has ended. Are there any similar products that someone could recommend, or should I just go with something very simple? Would love to hear some ideas.

I use an old Citadel paint pot and white poster tack to stick to the bottom of the base. If you want to paint individual parts, heat the tip of a needle/pin with a lighter, press it gently into the glue joint of the mini (the hole will be hidden later), then press the other side of the needle into a wine cork or similar.

> Brush Care: I got a "masters" paste from a store that I was told to rinse and swirl my brushes in after painting. Any other tips or is this okay?

Master's is the best option, just make sure you follow the directions and use warm water for best results. You can also get a small bottle of W&N Brusher Cleaner and Restorer to have on reserve if you accidentally let paint dry on one of your better brushes. If it's a cheap or synthetic brush you can clean it with original Windex (WITHOUT Ammonia-D) or Vallejo airbrush cleaner, followed by a wash with Master's.

> Carving/Scraping tools: I know some minis need to be cut from a sheet and some have mold lines that need to be cleaned. How is this done and what tools are needed?

Get a decent pair of sprue cutters - I recommend these. You should be able to find these for $10 at a local hobby store. For plastic minis you should be fine with just an X-acto or similar knife for getting rid of mold lines - just run the blade mostly perpendicular to the line and "shave" it gently.

> Storage Box: For all the little things that come along with painting, what do you use/recommend to store everything in?

A coffee mug works fine as a brush holder. You can try a hardware store for all sorts of containers if you're traveling with paints. Otherwise desk space and some imagination (spice racks) or money (official paint stand) are all you need.

> Paint Agitators: I was told to get some steel balls and put them in every paint bottle I have. It's okay to leave them in there. Would these work, or any concerns?

Please do not use steel ball bearings. You can attempt to buy "marine grade" ball bearings but unless it's reputable and expensive they are still likely going to rust and ruin your paint. I use hematite beads for necklaces for my paints. 4mm for dropper bottles and 6mm for pots. You can get them cheaper at Michaels w/ a coupon and they're inert so they won't stain your paints.

> Flow Improver: Thoughts? I was told to mix this into my washes. How much should I add, one drop? Is this product okay, or is this only for airbrushing?

Flow improver is generally used for airbrushing to extend the drying time and prevent clogs. Fluid retarder in the form of actual art supply from W&N or Liquitex, Vallejo's Glaze Medium, or Games Workshop's Lahmian Medium are what you're looking for. These can all be used to turn a normal paint into a wash (heavy dilution), or can be used to extend drying time for wet blending (light dilution). I can't give you exact ratios as each paint company, each color, and the age of your paints will dictate that. Trial and error is the only method here.


One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is a wet palette. It will save you a lot of headache when learning to wet blend and will let you save mixed paints for many days. You can get one for cheap and use either the papers that come with it or kitchen parchment paper. Both will yield different results so play around with both. Be sure to use distilled water or you're likely to get some funk from mold after a couple days.

KD was my first time assembling minis. I definitely had some trepidation over the whole thing, but really it's not bad.

Now, I admit, I had some guidance from a coworker, but I'll pass all that guidance onto you right now. All you need are the following three items:

• Plastic cement. This stuff is great, and is the best thing to use for plastic models (even Adam recommends it--even this brand specifically, I believe). It actually melts the plastic together to create the bond. Now, this may sound scary, but the great thing about it is it doesn't act as fast as super glue, which means you have time to play with the join to get it just right (while it still dries fast enough to be convenient). Just be careful to not get it on your fingers while holding a join, or you may leave fingerprints (a little goes a long way, and this isn't hard to avoid).
  
• A flush cutter. That's the one I use and it works great. You'll use this to snip the individual pieces from the sprue (that's what the sheets of plastic that you get are called. A sprue represents what comes from a single mold, and has many pieces attached to it, which you will need to snip free to assemble). It's super easy--just take your time to make sure you don't cut off more than you need to. Many pieces come with extra plastic to assist with the join (kinda like puzzle pieces--they fit together, you just still need to glue them).
  
  
• A standard Xacto knife. I won't link this, cause honestly any will do. You'll use this to clean up your pieces. Primarily you'll probably use it to deal with the excess plastic left from where the two halves of the mold joined (also known as "flash"). I generally like gently scraping this away with the back side of the Xacto knife, almost like I'm sanding it. You can also use this to cut off any excess, if you don't get a joint snipped off quite clean with the flush cutters (better to cut off too little with those than too much!).
  
  Basically, the key once you have these tools is to take your time. Consult a guide like vibrantlantern.com, which another poster mentioned, and which was an invaluable resource to me.
  
  A mini takes me anywhere from an hour (really complex monster), to 20 minutes, generally. They can go much faster once you get the system down, but I like taking time to figure out exactly what the mini should look like (for the armor kits).
  
  Throw on some music, or Netflix (or whatever helps you pass the time without distracting you too much), maybe grab a beer, and make an evening of it.
  
  It's also worth noting that all you need to start playing is the White Lion, and the four Starting Survivors. These all come on a single sprue, and are really quite simple to assemble given the above directions and tools. That will get you through several hours of gameplay just by itself, and then from there you can move on to creating other monsters and survivors as you need or want them.
  
  Hope this helps!

A few games I like that would probably fit the bill:

Spot It. Super fun game, easy to learn and quick to play. Not the deepest game but it's lots of fun for all ages and a nice quick game to play when you want something short or as a break between longer games. Good for any number of players.

Dixit. A storytelling game. Each turn one of you is the "storyteller" and tells a short story (one word to a sentence) about it. Everyone else picks a card from their hand that they think fits the story. The cards are mixed up and everyone guesses which one the Storyteller had. The interesting scoring mechanic is the storyteller only gets points if some people don't guess right. If everyone or no one guesses right, the storyteller gets no points and everyone else gets points. Plus, if it's not your turn but someone votes for your card, you get points. The cards can be somewhat crazy and surreal but are definitely safe for a 9 year old. The game is a fun casual game.

Ticket to Ride. Fun game where you lay out train routes. You can block people's routes and you will be angry at whoever does that to you. Only takes 5 people though.

Tsuro. Another somewhat shorter game. You take turns laying tiles and moving your Dragon along the path they create trying to stay on the board. Near the end of the game it gets hectic and you might end up knocking each other off.

TransAmerica. A train game like Ticket to Ride but faster and a little less complex. Rounds go quickly and it has an interesting scoring mechanic. Each round you lose points if you don't connect to your cities and the game ends when someone is at zero. The winner is whoever lost the least points.

7 Wonders. A fun game that involves playing cards that you draw from a hand you pass around. Takes up to 7 people but might be slightly too complex for the 9 year old.

Shadow Hunters. A hidden roles game where you will be on teams but you won't know who's on your team. Throughout the game you try to figure that out and it can get very competitive. Again might be slightly too complex for the 9 year old but maybe not.

Castle Panic. This game is slightly different because it is a cooperative game. All of you play against the game itself to try and defend your castle and defeat all the monsters. It's a pretty fun game.

There are a ton of other good games but I'll stop for now since I've probably listed too many as it is. Two things I'd recommend to try to find new games that your family might like beyond these. First, see if there's a board game store near you. A lot of them will have board game libraries where you can go in and try out the games at no charge. Most (in my experience) are pretty friendly to newer players. Second, check out TableTop. It's a show hosted by Wil Wheaton where he explains games and then plays through them. My wife and I used it as a good way to see new games that we might be interested in without having to buy them sight unseen, since boardgames can be expensive. The demo part of the show has sold us on a bunch of games (several of which are listed above). Hope this helps and enjoy the family game nights.

For Dominion 1st Edition you'll want a ton of these - I can't say how many because I don't know which expansions you have:

https://sleevekings.com/products/sleeve-kings-euro-card-sleeves-59x92mm-110-pack-60-microns-6?_pos=1&_sid=f7fae0db0&_ss=r

^(I've found some possible size difference between 1st/2nd edition cards; I don't have them to compare but I expect that's a mistake.)

_

If you are unhappy with your current Harry Potter situation, try these for the core cards:

https://sleevekings.com/products/sleeve-kings-card-game-card-sleeves-63-5x88mm-110-pack-60-microns-5?_pos=2&_sid=de72b757f&_ss=r

or

https://smile.amazon.com/KMC-Barrier-PERFECT-packs-Total/dp/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=18JLRDDGCXMD7 ^(See note 1 below)

For the other two sets of cards ^(See note 2 below)

https://sleevekings.com/collections/preorder-catalog/products/sleeve-kings-blood-bowl-compatible-sleeves-78x113mm-110-pack-60-microns-5

https://sleevekings.com/collections/preorder-catalog/products/sleeve-kings-medium-square-card-sleeves-80x80mm-110-pack-60-microns-5

_

Note 1: These are known as Perfect Fit cards, they fit snugly and are intended to fit the exact specifications of "Standard" size cards like Magic, or Pokemon, and almost any modern board game -- especially those produced for the US market. They are designed to fit inside other sleeves to protect valuable TCG/CCG cards -- they are not superior protection on their own. Yet, for many years they were my go-to; they improve shuffling as well as any other, they add minimal bulk for those that like to keep the original boxes for games, and they are sufficient protection for a responsible gamer who doesn't need to worry about kids/pets/spills as a frequent occurrence. Also note, that there are two packages available for the KMC prouct -- the red on in the image and a new, blue, "USA" pack that is intended to cut down on counterfeit product.

I would have recommended KMC first if not for my recent experience with Sleeve Kings. KMC Perfects are only a good value when bought in that bulk pack, and I cannot recommend you purchase them any other way because they are 40-60% cheaper in bulk. I am worried that at some point the bulk distribution will dry up due to manufacturer obligations or counterfeiting problems, and I'll be stuck re-sleeving games to match expansions. At this current time, King Sleeves represents my best value proposition for the general collector, especially if you don't find yourself needing thousands of sleeves at a time like we do (with my games and my spouse' Pokemon collection). They represent a product that is the same rough price-per-sleeve as KMC, without the need to buy 10 packs at a time. They also better protection, and other sizes, so your collection can be sleeved with uniformity. I cannot comment on overall pack-to-pack consistency -- some nerds will be able to tell you that you'll absolutely want to buy all the sleeves you'll need from the same run or the sizes will be off by a smidge regardless of the manufacturer (I'll spare you why this causes problems, but it does), but King Sleeves claims to have largely addressed this issue.

If you have other games that you want to get into sleeving, you might consider that bulk pack of KMC. Nothing in the world like a Perfect Fit sleeve. But, if I had the option to do so years ago, I'd probably go with King Sleeves for all my games; alas, King Sleeves was not around when I joined the hobby. What's important is that you consider that some day you might have to integrate a new expansion or promo, and you'll need to make sure you have the same sleeves as the rest are in. For that reason it's too late for me, I'm years in and thousands of sleeves deep. I can't say that the thin, snug nature of the sleeve hasn't been a benefit because some games are j u s t able to fit in the original box, and anything thicker would have changed that. But, the King Sleeves feel much nicer. At any rate, our current process is any Standard sleeve goes in KMC Perfect, and other size gets King Sleeves.

Note 2: The odd-shaped sizes in this game are PARTICULARLY odd. I was only able to find one manufacturer (NSKN/PALADIN) that ever offered the exact sizes, and they no longer offer them for sale. So, in effort to give you at least something, I found the next-nearest-size that King offers. These will be TOO LARGE in both cases. You may wish to use your best judgement on if that will be a problem for you, versus leaving them unsleeved entirely. Some madmen will tell you to take the taller sleeves and cut them, but that's ridiculous. I'd probably consider leaving them unsleeved and encourage poeple, politely, to leave them on the table unless touching necessary.

___

Between sleeving and /r/foamcore game storage and protection is a hobby within the hobby. Please feel free to message me in the future if you need an enthusiast's opinion :D

I can understand why you would come here, but to Monopoly is to board game nerds what Call of Duty is to video game nerds. Many a time have we here on /r/boardgames told people "I like to play board games" only to get the painful, cringe worthy response, "Oh, like Monopoly?"

I in no way mean to criticize you for enjoying Monopoly. Board games are awesome, and anyone can like any game they so choose, however, you may find that many people here very much dislike Monopoly and don't want much to do with it.

I would suggest instead, you get your hands on a "designer" board game (they can be quite cheap!) and join us in the wonderful hobby that is board games. Generally regarded as "the" starter game, [Catan] (http://www.amazon.com/Mayfair-Games-MFG-3071-Edition/dp/B00U26V4VQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1462063793&sr=1-2&keywords=settlers+of+catan) is loads of fun, provided you have 2-3 friends to play it with and a little under 40$ to spare.

As a personal recommendation, my first board game that got me into the hobby was [Betrayal at House on the Hill] (http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-At-House-Hill-2nd/dp/B003HC9734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462063949&sr=8-1&keywords=betrayal+at+house+on+the+hill). Again, all it takes is a few friends and a little under 40 bones. I personally like this game due the board game being totally unique every time you play it and with 50 different stories to play, I'd gladly play a game right now, and I've easily had 30+ playthroughs.

Of course, you could go with an even easier "start-up" cost and go with another favorite of mine, [Love Letters] (http://www.amazon.com/Alderac-Entertainment-Group-5104AEG-Letter/dp/B00AGJ4HC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462064185&sr=8-1&keywords=love+letters). This one is exceedingly simple to learn and very quick to play and only requires one friend (though I find it a lot more fun with three or four friends (preferably drunk ones ;))). To top it all off, it isn't even ten dollars, I'd bloody send you a copy if it got you into board games, lol.

Anyway, I kind of started to ramble a bit, but it's a mega fun hobby and you should definitely get into it.

Just spitballing some ideas for you here from what we've loved!

Board games - we've found a lot of fun playing board games together. In our early days of marriage, we would play some fun and lengthy games together. You can set it up on a table and even with all the distractions of kids come back and take turns every few hours. Some fun games we've played together:

• Pandemic - it's you two against the bad guys. It's a great team game and no one gets competitively aggressive because you're on the same team.
  
• Settlers of Catan - a fun game but it it can be competitive. Basically you build villages and stuff - slightly complex but plenty of YouTube videos explaining how it works!
  
• Ticket to Ride - A simpler game, but fun none-the-less. Easy to pick up!
  
• Agricola - The wife and I played this like crazy our first two years of marriage. We would set a board up and play for hours. You can pick it up in 15 minutes or so from YouTube videos. Lots of fun!
  
  Reading books - something we have fun doing is reading a book together. You could get an exciting best-seller top read and massage her back the entire time she reads it out loud to the two of you. We've bonded a lot through this. Find something exciting and you've got it made!
  
  Computer games - I enticed my wife into my world to play computer games with me. And now she LOVES it. How we got there was I massaged her back while instructing her how to play a game. It took a few days, but she became hooked. And now we have two computers setup in the same room and we play Team Fortress 2 together quite frequently. We've had quite a few Friday nights of pizza + wine + Team Fortress 2 until the AM hours. There's many games you can experience together. Seriously one of the best things that ever happened to our marriage in recent months.
  
  App games - For a season we played Words with Friends together. You can each download the app and play against each other in the same room. We would go to a coffee shop and just sit there playing against each other. There are a lot of multiplayer games out there you can casually play together.
  
  Anyway, there's some ideas! What we've found is that we're always changing - just keep trying new things and the fun and excitement will stay alive!

First of all anything I say here are not absolutes and do have substitutes. Each painter has their own way of doing things. This is just my take.

Prepare Your Mini for Painting

Before you do any paint first you need to sand/trim, assemble, fill gaps, and prime your miniature. When you sand/trim your mini you are removing mold lines and areas that don't mesh well with the minis surface, your trying to get everything even. You can use an exacto-knife and files for this. Once you have all the pieces so that they fit together well next you need to assemble your mini. Take the time to dry fit everything before gluing to make sure it all fits together. The type of glue you use depends on what the mini is made of and preference. For plastic, I tend to use super glue 90% of the time since plasti-weld (a chemical that melts the plastic together) doesnt seem to make the joint any stronger, though I could be using the wrong type. You can also pin the mini joints together for added strength. After your mini is assemble now we need to fill those gaps that can ruin a great paint job, I see it all the time and it makes me sad. There are many different types of putty that you can use but I go for green stuff. I mix 1:1, yellow to blue, and using a damp toothpick I wet my hands and smoosh it into gaps until it seems filled. This can be hard to tell sometimes since you cant get a sense of depth. If you want to make sure I will usually brush on some Gesso and check to see if it even. Finally we can prime our miniature. This is required or acrylic paint wont stick to the plastic. Application can be done via airbrush, rattle can, or brush. Since I haven't done much with a brush, but FYI you can use the Gesso above also for priming, and I cant assume everybody has an airbrush I will talk about the cheaper option, rattle can or spray paint. There are many available like those made for miniatures (though I don't think they have a real difference), and brands like Rustoleum and Krylon. Make sure you get a can that is for just priming and not the "prime and paint" type and is for indoor/outdoor use, sometimes the outdoor only stuff can be a bit thick. The brand doesn't matter as much as when and how you apply it. Humidity and temperature are Very important when priming a miniature, if it is to hot and dry the paint will crack and to humid you can get dripping and that terrible fuzzy look. Make sure you read and FOLLOW the directions on the can. When applying the paint do wide sweeps across the miniature with a constant spray. Keep the sprays short and the motion consistent.

Painting

Now you are at the fun part. Again, there are different mediums to paint in, oil, acrylic, pigment. Acrylic is a good place to start. The brand of paint you use is really up to you. You can go to a hobby or art store to get these paints. Don't get the paints that are to cheap the results are not good. Blick is a good store to visit because mini painting is an art that uses artistic mediums. That is what Blick is all about and you will get a wide range of brands there, you don't have to use the mini makers brands. Brushes are very important and if you get the cheapest kind you'll find that they tend to fray and leave little bits of bristles on your mini. For starters stick with the mid range synthetic ones and take care of them, theyll last awhile if you do. Make sure you wash them in your water pot (just a jar of water) often so that the paint doesn't dry on them and clean them every so often. So when you sit done with your brush and begin make sure you thin your paints or they will end up thick and goopy. You can thin with distilled water or you can use an acrylic medium. There are many special mediums but the most useful ones are matte and glaze medium and are used for different painting techniques. Always give your paint time to dry before applying more or youll mess up the prior coat and things will look rough.

Sealing

After you are done painting and have let your mini dry for a few days its now time to seal and protect it by giving it a few coats of finish. This will keep scratches away from your wonderful paint job. Application and selecting is similar to picking a primer but there are 2 options, gloss and matte. Think about what type of finish you want. Most go for matte and some use a mix but few do only a gloss finish.

Stripping

So you messed up. What now? Well you can strip the paint off and try again but you got to be careful here because this process can make the mini brittle. A common used item is Simple Green. Though it does a good job on the acrylic paint it will not remove the primer very easily. To do that I have found Super Clean to work best. But do note, only soak a mini 10 minutes at a time sink Super Clean works by sucking the moisture out of the paint, and the mini. So do a 10 minutes soak, then take a toothbrush and try to brush off the paint, then return to the solution and repeat.

-EDIT- HUGE data dump here, sorry about that! I like Gundam stuff, what can I say?

In my experience, Tamiya makes good stuff in general.

I'm a big fan of markers for use in touch-up work and for panel lining.

The "Gundam" branded panel liner markers can make a huge difference on some kits, but honestly it depends on the surface detail on the kit. Basically, panel lining helps emphasize surface detail and make it stand out more when the model is viewed from a distance. IMO panel lined models are usually way nicer looking than straight OOB.

IMO this is a good starter pack, as the "Real Touch" markers are all double sided, giving you more options for application.

Sharpie and other brands have fine tipped metallic markers, and those can make a HUGE difference. I'm a big fan of covering any exposed frame parts with a metallic color, like gunmetal or silver, and then do highlights / color separation in gold.

The other immediate purchase you will want to make is a good side cutter tool (if you do not already have one). Using an Xacto / hobby knife works, and using wire cutters or other tools that aren't made for modeling work will get the job done, but will leave you with jacked up plastic anyplace you make cuts. This usually gives you crappy looking nub marks that can really make the model look cheap. You can fix that with sanding, but it's MUCH easier to clean up a nub if you barely make any marks to begin with. A "side-cutter" is the tool you want. They look a lot like other kinds of scissor-style cutter tools, but only one of the two sides is sharp. The idea with a side-cutter is the dull side reinforces the piece you're cutting through, holding it in place and giving you a smoother cut with less stretching. The plastic turning white is actually it being stretched as it's cut.
Once I heard about side-cutters I got myself some GodHand ones. Those are like $60 so not what I'd recommend a beginner buy unless you're made of money. I think these Tamiya side-cutters are OK? Others on this sub will probably have better suggestions on this topic ;)

I've become a fan of sanding sponges recently. I definitely would recommend checking your hobby shop's selection of sanding implements to see what they have in the way of sanding sticks, sponges, and other abrasives. IMO you'll want like 500 grit, 1000 grit, and 2000 grit versions of whatever you get, and you'll want to use each of those in ascending order. Higher number = finer sanding surface. The rough bits are smaller and closer together, so you will get a smoother surface. I do 500 to get rid of the big remnants of a nub, then up it to 1000 once it's pretty smooth, and then 2000 when I'm just about done and just want to get a good finish. I use the coarser stuff first because it's way faster at removing plastic. You could JUST use 2000, but it would take forever...

The fundamentals of getting the parts off the runners as nicely as possible, and then getting them as clean as you can before assembly are IMO the key to doing good models. I'd recommend getting solid at this stuff with a few kits you don't need to paint before you graduate to also doing painting, it's a whole other set of stuff to learn ;)

I wanted to do mostly wooden and open ended toys, but my son adores the plastic ones. We buy things he likes. One favorite was this musical walker my parents got him for Christmas. https://www.amazon.com/VTech-Stand-Learning-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B0053X62GK

It was the only thing that made our last 20 our road trip bearable as the activity center detaches and can be played with in the car. 3 or 4 hours of different melodies as my kid experimented between stops for food and gas.

His current favorite plastic toy is a step 2 toolbench and a plastic drill that turns when he presses a button. His favorite non plastic toy is literally any doll.

With most toys my son either wants to be doing whatever I'm doing or he wants a toy that interacts with him or resembles something he knows. He loves cats and dogs and usually has good manners with them. He isn't interested in stuffed animals. He likes using his tools to mimic me with mine. He likes to pretend to cook and help clean. He loves to drive his cozy coupe around. He likes wooden puzzles, and his wooden duck push toy, but he adores his fire truck that lights up and makes siren noises. That one came about because we met a firefighter at the fair and got to see the truck up close. The next day my son saw several pass us on the highway with sirens blaring. Since then, he's been fascinated. My husband loves to encourage curiosity, so the loud firetruck came home. It's the new favorite car toy.

Personally, the noise doesn't bother me. My son rarely makes noise for the sake of noise.l, so we let him play with whatever he seems to enjoy most. TV and tablets are largely ignored where other kids love them. I think this is one of those things that depends on your kid.

Wow, we have a similar taste in games, Awesome. I can't believe you actually expect me to suggest just one game with soo many great games that I have played... and so many more I have yet to play.

1st off some games you don't own but are on your wishlist and you should definitely get asap, since they are the go to games my friends and I play when we get together. Given they are on your wishlist I assume I don't have to describe them to you. Lords of waterdeep, a fun easy to play D&D game, Star trek Catan if you want something a bit different from regular Catan, and Dominion.

Ok. Now games you don't know about... How about a couple categories and 1 game per cat. so I don't ramble on too much.

Fast and Easy: King of Tokyo You and your friends are monsters trying to take over Tokyo. Roll some dice, attack your friends, but mostly just try to survive till the end. It's easy to set up, learn, and get going not so easy to win.

Slow, Complicated, strategic, with lots of pieces, and fun, but may make you want to stab a friend by the end: Twilight Imperium This game take a long time to play... seriously like a whole day. So maybe not the best for a board game night. If you can get a day with friends to play it, I would say it's worth the time. Basically you build a universe, pick a race to play as, and then proceed to form alliances or start wars with everyone else. With a healthy dose of backstabbing those alliances so you can win :p Use resources to build a fleet of ships and an army of troops then try to take over all of space while defending all your new territory. Moves are turn based so your plot to take over a planet can be ruined by a friend blocking your path or crippling your fleet.

The only real downside is the time it takes to play the game. We usually have to set aside a saturday to play. Getting started around 11-noonish and finishing up around 6-7. That said nothing is quite as satisfying as moving an entire fleet of ships to take over everything owned by your neighbor.

oh I forgot to add SPPrincesa is the goddess of all things board games.

My lil bro is the shit. He graduated law school this year & is getting his masters in Vancouver, BC right now. Throughout the whole time he's put himself through school as a sushi chef (and a damn good one too!). Although he wants to practice law in Canada, his dream is to have a small sushi resturant and serve excellent food. This guy always achieves. I know he struggles with depression, health issues, etc, but he NEVER lets it get him down. & he knows about my struggles & is ALWAYS there to support me. He always knows the right thing to say, and he's fun to ague with. (he's a good lawyer) I love him. I'm so proud of him. He amazes me for his accomplishments. He's awesome!

Every year for Christmas I give him a Sushi themed gift. I wish I could afford an amazing knife, but those cost hundreds. Last year I gave him an Andrew Bell Sushi Oh-No print for his collection. This year I would like to give him Sushi Go! game, cos he loves games, or Midori Sushi Magnets, cos his fridge is covered in cool magnets.

He deserves it because he loves so much and works so hard & is such a great guy.

Thanks for the contest!

$15 - Codenames is a great party game where you have to use one-word clues to communicate to your teammates which words you must guess in order to win. It's a race against time because both teams are trying to find all of their words first, but one word is an assassin, and by choosing it, your team loses immediately. It's creative and stressful. Really fun, for $15.

$33 - Ticket to Ride is a classic that lots of people love. It's relatively simple, and has up to five friends placing trains on tracks, trying to complete their routes around the US. It teaches quickly, has some opportunities to mess over other players, and is pretty and plays fast.

$30 - Splendor is a fast, strategic, card-buying game. Players take turns grabbing gems to eventually purchase cards, that act both as points and gems. It's great and hilarious in hindsight, because you realize everyone sat in utter silence for a half hour, because for some reason, Splendor makes people quietly brood and think and be silent. Occasionally, you might take the last gem someone else needed, and they burn inside, sometimes letting out a long, long sigh. It's a wonderful, pretty, well-produced game.

$22 - Sheriff of Nottingham is a 3-5 player, bluffing, negotiation game. Players try to get chickens and apples into town, while smuggling extra goods and contraband. Player rotate as the sheriff, and must be bribed with goods or coins, because if the sheriff decides to check their bag, and they lied about the contents, that player loses what they lied about. It's sweat-inducing, and makes for lots of riotous laughter and shouting. Also beautiful and easy to learn. Great game.

Join us over on /r/boardgames because that's where I learned a lot about modern board gaming. It's an amazing hobby that's growing quickly.

Let's start with the big picture. You're going to want somewhere to keep your cards.

For the ones at home, something like this should do just fine. It keeps things mostly organized, is rather inexpensive, and will last. You can make inserts to help subdivide more if needed.

Next, you're going to want something to carry your cards in for the go. Many people just use backpacks or messenger bags, but there are [specialty bags] (http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Zippered-Gaming-Corrugated/dp/B0009F3DQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419647218&sr=8-2&keywords=card+carrying+case) that you can purchase as well.

To keep you decks organized and protected while in the bag, [deck boxes] (http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Boxes-Magic-Pokemon-YuGiOh/dp/B00EA9REK6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1419647294&sr=8-3&keywords=deck+box) are the way to go. They make things nice and modular and will protect your cards even if you just have a normal backpack.

For your trades, if you go that route, a [binder] (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Universal-Round-Ring-Economy-Vinyl-View-Binder/24966030) and some [sleeve pages] (http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Pocket-Page-Protectors/dp/B005HIOVOG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419647392&sr=8-1&keywords=card+pages) should do fine.

Finally, your decks. Sleeves! Sleeves! Sleeves! and Sleeves! The cards in your decks are going to see the most use so you're going to want to protect them the best. I've found that [Dragon Shield] (http://www.dragonshield.com/) and [Ultra Pro] (http://www.ultrapro.com/division.php?d=g) sleeves are excellent for their value and use them on several of my decks. Cards in your deck are often your most powerful and you're going to want to keep them in the best shape possible.

Many people, myself included, will argue for getting a [Play Mat] (http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-84314-Grumpy-Play/dp/B00IT5GPZ2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1419647676&sr=8-3&keywords=card+playmat) so that you sleeves won't get torn up as much and will last longer, but it's not absolutely essential.

Oh! I forgot dice! My group have found that dice are the easiest way to keep track of things like life totals, counters, and about everything else you need a number for. Having your own are absolutely essential, there's always someone you can borrow from, but they're a great thing to have around.

edit One thing I want to point out is that everything there can be customized to fit your particular style, so have fun! The way you carry and present your cards says as much about you as the cards themselves!

Space Cadets - really fun co-op game, much lighter but very long.

Agricola - Farm themed worker placement, Longer game as well, very component heavy and very fun (If you happen to go anywhere near this, be sure to tell your giftee hes going to hate this game with a passion until he understands the rules)

Android Netrunner - Very in depth game from my understanding. I havent played it But my boyfriend and his circle of friends love it and say it's a very good game. (They're all D&D players)

CitOW Expansion: the horned rat - I don't know much about this game, but from what I've read ill be checking it out, this is the first expansion I believe.

Blood Bowl: Team manager - This is probably my favorite game to date, plays up to 4. Fantasy themed fantasy football basically. It sounds really silly, but the game play and the actual idea is amazing. It's really easy to pick up and a pretty fun quick game.

Hope that helps, if you come across any games you have questions about, let me know :) and if I think of anything else I'll let you know!

It's Friday, I'm happy about that. I'm looking forward to things settling down a bit this weekend. I slept in until 7 am this morning which is nearly unheard of. I still feel like I am getting sick <insert grr face here> but I feel better than I did yesterday. So hopefully I'm on the mend. The funeral yesterday was beautiful, it felt like a really splendid farewell to a much loved person. Really beautiful, but it is time to wipe the tears. Because there are hungry goats and chickens outside that are getting antsy. I better get on with it.

Randomness for Friday!

Simon's Cat and a squirrel. [Video less than 2 minutes]

A short lesson on Chemistry, starring silicon. [Video less than 10 minutes]

This week in the American Civil War

Here are some DIY ideas from Pintrest using recycled materials.

Learn how to make scrambled eggs

A game to add to your wish list Forbidden Island Here's Will Wheaton and his friends playing it on Table Top [Video 30 min]

That is all folks, have a fantastic Friday and enjoy your weekends!

As others have mentioned, Magic can be very expensive. I know how to play, it's quite fun, but never spent any money on it.

However, board games and card games are very cool! And offer great opportunities to hang out and get along with other people. I would recommend also giving your son another game to try and tangentially redirect his interests a bit. There are some quite nice two-player games that you could play against him at, providing a great opportunity to spend time with him.

Netrunner is a quite good 2-player game, where both players play completely differently from one another (I forget the phrase for this). Tash-Kalar, while sounding quite strange, is a rather enjoyable game in which you have to position minor units in order to spawn larger units. Galaxy Trucker (another Vlaada Chvatil game) makes you build your own spaceship then recklessly pilot them into asteroid fields and lasers to make a cargo delivery.

But no matter what you do, there's one thing to keep in mind. If your son is interested in the game and wants to play it, then get HIM to learn about the game and teach it to YOU. Otherwise, make sure that YOU learn about it first and teach HIM about it (and be excited about it!). If you're both apathetic about it, it probably won't go anywhere.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

Well, how serious are you? Cause if you're serious... here ya go

Otherwise, without knowing what you're into, it's a bit tough. Sushi Go! is an absolutely awesome card game - super easy to teach, pretty quick to play, but really fun for anyone. It's... "THE BOMB" at parties.

I would also extremely recommend Dominion, it's probably my favorite table-top game. However, I can't say it's for everyone.

I would absolutely love KTANE... wish I could buy it, but I've already spent way too much on games, and college is eating into my pockets. Thanks much! Sir Soaring Spud

Things I've learned starting out:

Wash the miniatures. I found the easiest way was those little ziploc plastic containers. Warm dishsoapy water in them, throw a few minis in, scrub them with an old toothbrush, rinse them off and toss them into a second ziploc container filled with plain water. Then drain and refill that a few times to get all the soap out. Be careful you don't dump them down a drain.

Take them out of the warm fresh water and put em onto a plate with a paper towel or something to dry. I like to organize them into which model belongs to what at this point.

I invested on a sprue cutter and it has been WONDERFUL for me to remove pesky mold lines and the bigger tags sticking out of models. Also an xacto knife helps.

I got some cheap needle files from Harbor Freight and they've helped get the flash lines flush without any weirdness.

After your stuffs all pretty and moldline free I tend to toss it into a sonic cleaner because I work at a lab. It might be placebo but the industrial strength badass one at work seems to get clean and I mean... why not? But you can do the water and rinse again. Or even just do it once, after the mold line removal. (Side note: sonic cleaners are PRETTY RADICAL for removing paint from miniatures with some simple green. I love it. Saves me a lot of scrubbing.)

Anyway once its dry I personally use this glue and some stuff called green stuff to fill in gaps. Heres a tut showing the basic idea

Once they're assembled I use some good ol elmer's white glue on the bases and dip em in sand and shake them off. Tutorial that shows that

Then prime your stuff. Tons of tutorials about it and tons of everyone saying which is their favorite primer, spray or brush on, different types of primer, different brands. Some stand by Army Painter or Citadel. I've had good results with Rustoleum Ultra Cover 2x White primer. I've recently picked up some TAMIYA WHITE which I hear good things about. Trying them on some Morats tomorrow.

Lots of other good info has been posted too! I also just started probably, shit, 6 months ago, so this is stuff I've had to pick up and learn as I go.

Cutthroat Caverns is a fun semi co-op dungeon crawling card game and supports 5 players. - It says 14 and up, but I've played it with 10yr olds before. The 8yr old may need a little help with it.

Forbidden Island only goes up to 4 players, but Forbidden Dessert goes up to 5. - Box says 10+ but it's fully co-op and an 8yr old could totally do it.

King of Tokyo plays up to 6 and is a lot of fun. There's a slightly more advanced King of New York as well, but I actually prefer KoT and it's super accessible to kids and adults.

You could try a dexterity game like Flick 'm Up which plays up to 10 people. It's a fun game and the kids would probably really like it. It's a bit on the pricey side, but the component quality is great.

Also, check out /r/boardgames if you need more suggestions.

• Diapers Sensitive skin runs in our family and the regular brands made her break out something awful but cloth, babyganics and [up & ups] (http://www.target.com/p/diapers-bulk-plus-pack-select-size-up/-/A-15121671 ) worked great. Pull Ups for older ones.
  
  
• Potty Training We have [This one] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C431NRE/ref=twister_B01E930B16?_encoding=UTF8&th=1) and [This one] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F667QS2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1)
  
  
• High Chair like this
  
  
• [Stroller] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8MQBFQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1) its well padded and is comfy for even the older kids.
  
  
• Carrier We have [This one] (https://www.amazon.com/Carrying-Positions-Carrier-Detachable-Included/dp/B01IUS08FK/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1478452855&sr=8-4&keywords=mei+tai) and a ring sling that I still use but I wish we had bought one like [This] (https://www.amazon.com/Infantino-Cuddle-Ergonomic-Hoodie-Carrier/dp/B01B45KW0C/ref=sr_1_6_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1478453079&sr=1-6&keywords=carrier) It would be easier to put on.
  
  
• [Nursing pillows] (https://www.amazon.com/Boppy-Nursing-Pillow-Positioner-Peaceful/dp/B00HMGBJCS/ref=sr_1_4_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1478458541&sr=1-4&keywords=nursing+pillow) my husband used it all the time and this is her favorite spot to cuddle up still
  
  
• Pack n Play
  
  
  
• Bouncer chair I believe ours was the previous model.
  
  
• [Swing] (https://www.amazon.com/4moms-rockaRoo-Baby-Swing-Classic/dp/B00I0BVQFO/ref=sr_1_27_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1478452147&sr=1-27&keywords=swing&th=1) We have one similar to it the other ones tend to be a pain to move around.
  
  
• Some sort of walker This or [This] (https://www.amazon.com/Bright-Starts-Around-Activity-Zippity/dp/B00OC8B1IQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1478454444&sr=1-6&keywords=activity+jumper) or [This] (https://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-ExerSaucer-Learn-Jumper-Jungle/dp/B006PB2H4A/ref=sr_1_7?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1478454444&sr=1-7&keywords=activity%2Bjumper&th=1)
  
  
• Some sort of activity toys like This, This,
  
  Comfy rocking chair
  
  When it comes to cribs, pack n plays, rock n plays, bouncers and swings its upto the childs taste. Out of my nieces and nephews 1 always napped in a rock n play, 1 in the swing, 1 would sleeps anywhere, 1 would sleep on mommy or a boppy, 1 in the crib and my daughter would only sleep in the carrier or being held. She never used the rock n play, crib or pack n play but loved the bouncer and occasionally accepted sitting in the boppy or swing. They are all so different. With our little girl her reflux was so bad that if she was laid flat she would immediately throw up.
  
  
  (I will edit to add more when I get a minute)

Oh my goodness. I am sorry for being an ass to you, seriously. And to be honest, the EMS carts suck barrels of dicks at a time. Your best bets for the EMS carts is to buy a Mega Memory card to transfer your saves to http://www.amazon.com/GBC-MEGA-MEMORY-CARD/dp/B00002R108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323025182&sr=8-1 and for sake of all things good I restore my LSDJ save to a spare Gameboy Camera cart. It won't function of course, but the save is redundant in case I misplace/lose my Mega Memory card. Another thing it is good for is transferring saves from my USB-hating EMS cart to my functional one for computer backup.

There are 3 main alternatives I am considering for replacing my EMS carts:

1. Hoping that the Drag'n Derp cart is finished, or maybe some new cart will magically appear. If you can, try to buy/trade for a used Bleepbloop, they are really solid.
   
2. Currently looking into making my spare copy of Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages into a LSDJ-flashed cart, and I can back it up using my EMS cart as I see fit.
   
3. Also looking at what it would take to incorporate a batteryless flashcart PCB that supports some sort of memory card. Slowly making progress on designs for it with a friend who is designing a BRAM cart for the Sega CD as well as a SMPS tracker cartridge with new hardware ports (MIDI out, etc). This is the most beneficial option to myself and the community, but it is still in a very early state.
   
   The Famitsu pocket was $20, sniped it on ebay. I never pay more than $15 for a DMG or pocket, aside from my one exception. I prefer the DMG for recording but the Pocket does fine when I am going around University for classes or sitting in the library. I have a phone with a 5 inch screen, which is already plenty to carry in my pocket.
   
   If you are on SoundCloud or something, send me a link. Sorry for sounding like a pretentious douchebag, but I really know what I am talking about when it comes to nearly anything Gameboy. I can actually give a friend who is a German exchange student a spare EMS cart to mail to you in Germany. She goes home in two weeks, and I can give you a discounted price via Paypal. Shipping withing the country should be cheap. ;) Don't want hardware to hold you back from making music.

Soooo over the past few years, my husband has bought a lot of two player games. Since I think most games are designed for more players than that, I wanted to put in some suggestions because we have found some really great ones!

1. Codenames: Duet - this was a gift from my cousin to my husband last year for Christmas. Wasn't sure about it when she asked me about it...but we play it ALL THE TIME. It's a cooperative game (I'm not super competitive), challenging but not mindnumbingly so, and there are so many different combinations of words being used that I doubt it will ever get stale.
   
   
2. Roll For It! - another hit! You roll your dice and try to match them to the patterns on the cards. Different points values are allotted to each card and your goal is to get to 40 points. Fairly easy to pick up. It actually pretty fun with two people but can be played with up to four (and if you buy two sets, up to 8). It's also very portable for vacations!
   
   A few others we like but don't play as often
   
   
3. Sushi Go - a little complicated to learn but there's a demo on youtube that is helpful. The cards are super cute!
   
   
4. Jaipur - we've only played this once or twice because it takes a little longer/requires a little more strategy but I really enjoyed it. I think this one is exclusively for two players
   
   
5. Quiddler - We just broke this one open a few weeks ago so only played once. This is more of a word game combined with a strategy game. Again, takes a little bit to get the hang of it....but I think we will be playing this one a lot too.

The cool thing about RGs and a lot of newer MGs is that the armor parts are specifically designed to hide the seams, so you don't have to worry so much about it. If you want an easier way to do your kits, invest a little money in a really good pair of side cutters, a good blade (I like to use 30 degree-angled blades, for better control). The old #11 X-Acto is too easy to slip and take off more plastic than you want (or part of your finger). Some fine-to-ultra-fine grit sandpaper is useful, too, but not necessary if your cutter and knife do a clean enough job, and you're careful about what you cut. I get my sandpaper at auto supply stores. You can get up to 2000-grit paper and it's a lot cheaper than buying specialty hobby sandpaper. Some fine point tweezers for decals and markings, a cutting pad, and maybe a panel liner or two, and you're good to go. An investment of less than the price of a good Master Grade should get you set up. If you invest a little in good tools, you'll find that the "work" part of the hobby goes a lot more smoothly.

Also: keep those old kits that you think you've messed up. Use them as paint hulks, practice cutting and panel lining on them, use them as victims in dioramas and battle displays; get inspiration from them! They're not mistakes, they're lessons. Oh, and remember that the pictures you see on the blogs and in the magazines are made by artists. Not everyone can draw, or play music, or write poetry, and not everyone can build $2000 garage kits and make them look like museum pieces. That's not the point. The point is that you enjoy it. If you aren't enjoying it, don't do it. But if you like it, practice, and you will get better and better, even if you don't become a Gunpla god(dess).

edit: splelgin

• "Bones" line miniatures look great and are rather cheap compared to metal but need painting.
  
• Toy stores - there are usually tubs of various animals and fantasy creatures/people that work well and come painted. Example from amazon
  
• Meeples - Buddy of mine started using them and really likes it. Despite the lack of exact replication of a critter you do have easily distinguishable characters
  
• Pathfinder Paws - lots of colored cardboard tokens with stands. Look decent, easy to carry, good price and though they may be for pathfinder they are just slightly different named/interpreted D&D monsters.
  
• bottle tops or cardboard tokens work fine. Lots of things online that let you print tokens and you can glue them to bits of cardboard or coins.
  
  I have crap tons of minis. TOO MANY to be honest, a couple hundred easily from the kickstarters I've backed. I also DM and really...they aren't helpful for anything other than tracking locations. When I'm really excited about one I just finished painting the biggest reaction I get is "ooo, nice job. Do I get to kill it?" so don't think that well made and painted minis are necessary. I paint them for my own enjoyment and to relax, not to make my games "better" because that doesn't happen.

If you like this game, I recommend Tsuro. It's a board game that is almost identical to this flash game. It has won a handful of awards and is short, easy to teach, and awesome. I can even play it with in-laws who are pretty board game averse. It can handle up to eight players though the most I've ever played with was six. More players can be an absolute blast.

It's even pretty inexpensive so it might make a good wish list item as the holidays are approaching, etc.

I don't mean to hawk stuff. I'm completely unaffiliated with the game and I'm not linking an Amazon resale or anything like that. I just was surprised that nobody had pointed this out for people yet and thought that I might try to help you all find a nice little ~$20 gift idea. Come to think of it...

Oooh, I looooove board games. From what you're describing I feel like Ticket to Ride could work really well; there are a good amount of instructions but they're pretty easy to follow along with (it's mostly for scoring purposes).

For something way more light/fun, there's also Sushi Go! or Love Letter -- they're both card-based games that look deceptively simple but are never played the same way twice. My wildcard choice would be Carcassonne, which is definitely more of a hard sell -- you build a Medieval French town with picture tiles -- but I promise is really, really fun. Again, the scoring is where it gets slightly more complicated, and it can be intimidating-looking, but the game is really fantastic. Lots of strategy and luck needed, and it's a really unique experience.

Whatever this is for sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!

He said good price guys lol. If you're coming from nail clippers and just want a cheap, but legit set of nippers look on Amazon for xuron like these. They are the ones I have. But if you really want cheap ones xuron make cheaper ones as low as like $10 but they might not have a spring open or cut perfect.

I use the xuron ones for initial removal from the sprue, then some Gundam planet nippers for the close cut. But if you're just getting started don't worry about them. I will say though that for the price, the Gundam planet nippers are amazing. But don't feel like you have to save up and skip out on an HG or 2 to get these amazing nippers. But if you're flush and want the best, they're what I'd recommend.

I know this is probably not the thing you want to hear, but maybe considering something other than Magic.

Magic is really good when

• you have effort money to keep up with a meta
  
  
• you have enough money to not get stomped by your local meta
  
  
• you have the time and energy to keep up with how devoted your local players are
  
  These things make the game incredibly fun; but they also make it not really great for two players to play against each other on a low budget. It's unlikely with the amount that you drop that you will be able to ever compete with your local playgroup as they have inevitably spent much, much more. Not to mention you lose out on many aspects that make mtg fun at such a low budget - you're not playing competitively in pickup games with other mtg players, you're stuck playing the small amount of cards you have against each other.
  
  I would recommend something like Android: Netrunner (https://www.amazon.com/Android-Netrunner-The-Card-Game/dp/1616614609). For $30 you're getting a complete card pool as it's a CCG - there isn't the booster pack aspect of spending money on random cards, you just get every card in the set and can buy expanding sets if you'd like. You can play with each other and aren't limited by cards you don't have, and you can incorporate other players as well.
  
  If you really wanna stick to mtg, two intro decks or deckbuilders toolkits will give you a pretty deep pool to entertain yourself for a while. I have to say though that going this route, you're going to chafe the edges of your cage pretty quickly - mtg isn't really a game designed for what you're looking for.
  
  

It costs money to play ongoingly? You can't just buy a board or set or play or whatever?

Wow. No wonder it tends to be reserved to hardcore fanatics.

I know some German games can be expensive, initially, but even Settlers of Catan is just $35 on Amazon

And they do have expansion packs, but you absolutely don't need them to play a full, fun game.

I can't imagine playing a game that you had to keep buying new stuff for in order to really participate at a decent level.

I play guitar, and people might say these card games are a hobby like that, and that spending money on new cards is no different from continuously spending money on new guitar gear and pedals.

But even there, you don't actually need anything beyond an acoustic guitar or an electric and a basic amp if you want to learn. You absolutely could play just those things for 5 years before buying a single pedal while teaching yourself how to play. Apart from maintenance like new strings and the odd setup (if needed at all), you can just pay once and play - forever.

But it sounds like people have to keep buying better cards in order to keep playing the game, because everyone else is also trying to get an edge by buying better cards?

That sounds like a way for a hobby to make you broke, rather than enrich your life.

Malifaux minis are pretty darn close to KD in terms of complexity. I really don't think you are going to find anything cheap, but you could probably buy, assemble, and ebay the minis you build (and anything is cheaper than fucking up a KD model). You'll lose a few bucks, but a well assembled mini is worth almost as much as one on the sprue.

I am new to assembly as well, but after about 20 models I don't even sweat it. Everyone on this sub swears by Tamiya liquid cement -- but I think this applicator is 100x better than the brush for most cases:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006N6ODS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Basically... take your time, clean up every little piece as it comes off the sprue, dry fit a few times to make sure. It's not that hard, it just takes patience. Sometimes I will sand+dry fit a piece a dozen times before it finally fits perfectly. One thing that I didn't realize for a long time is these things aren't perfect -- sometimes a piece just doesn't fit and its up to you to fix it. A couple of the hands on the Phoenix, for example, were real bastards for me. A really great trick I learned randomly on youtube -- you can use the plastic cement as a kind of seam filler by putting slightly more glue than necessary, so it just barely squeezes out the side. Then cut/sand any excess.

I also recommend grabbing a cheap seam scraper and a very nice sprue cutter (the clippers at home depot are not made for plastic). Also maybe some tools for pinning -- for example, I had a resin base that I wanted to put my antelope on, so he had to be pinned to it rather than glued.

If you are going to paint your models, there's a few more things you should get -- a putty you like, some clay shapers, and some way to do some light sanding.

I did not need to pin him. In fact I've not found the need to pin any of the models because of the glue I use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006N6ODS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That stuff emulsifies the plastic a little to create a nice bond, of course be careful with it, but it works great. The harder you press and hold the parts together until it starts to set up the better it fills in seems too. The applicator tip is very helpful for these tiny miniatures as well.

For the SA use masking tape to hold the disk in place if need be, but if you hold him in place for about 5 min it starts to set up enough to hold the base in place then you can turn him upside down so all his weight is off the leg and let him set up for for a day. Usually this stuff sets really fast, the only things that require more time to set are real "load-bearing" spots like the leg here or the left hand of the Dragon God.

Reminder: this glue essentially melts plastic, but as long as you don't bath your minis in it will not harm your model. It only emulsifies the surface it is applied to. It will not eat your model like acid or something.

I have the following set, it should suit your needs:

• https://i.imgur.com/sOSE4Zj.jpg
  
  Here is price information from Amazon, for what is included:
  
  Item | Amazon Price
  --- | ---
  The Bigger Blacker Box | $15
  Cards Against Humanity | $25
  Cards Against Humanity: First Expansion | $10
  Cards Against Humanity: Second Expansion | $10
  Cards Against Humanity: Third Expansion | $10
  Cards Against Humanity: Fourth Expansion | $10
  
  You can "complete" the set by ordering expansions Five and Six on Amazon.
  
  The Bigger Blacker Box case has enough room to fit both additional expansions, if you take out the foam spacers. It also comes with black dividers, for helping organize.
  
  I have not done this, btw, but apparently if you cut open a specific place inside the lid of the Bigger Blacker Box, there is a special card inside. Something about big black cocks, naturally.
  
  Purchase price on Amazon for all of these items is $80 total. I will offer my set at $70. It is in excellent condition. We've only used it on two occasions.
  
  Also, I know people are probably wondering why I don't offer a larger discount. $70 for a used CAH set might seem "not generous enough". Here's my perspective though. a) This is a pretty comprehensive collection in excellent condition (most of the cards have never been used) and well organized, b) I don't care if I sell it or not, c) I suspect you might be interested in completing the collection anyway, and this collection gets you 80% of the way there, and d) you have a tight timetable.
  
  I live downtown. I work from home. PM me if you're interested, my schedule is flexible.

Uhhhh. Pandemic is a good game if you want to lose horribly. I'd recommend Forbidden Desert instead. Many similar mechanics. A lot faster. Fewer "Welp, we lose in 5 turns and there is nothing we can do to stop it" issues. And it doesn't suffer as badly from the "Table Captain" problems. It still HAS them but not as badly.

My personal recommendation for a fun competitive game that's relatively easy to learn and doesn't suffer "You fucked me over!" annoyances? 7 Wonders. Another good choice in this theme would be Ticket to Ride. This also has the benefit of actually being available at Target or Walmart, so you don't have to try and find a hobbyist store or order it online. King of Tokyo and Tsuro are both fun, easy-to-learn games as well. I've seen all of these at Barnes and Noble, so depending on what you have locally, they can be easily found.

1. Reaper Bones ($3-$40) Good detail, relatively cheap price, always unpainted. Softer plastic that can have problems with deformation. Some classic D&D monsters (like beholders) cannot be found.
   
2. Wiz Kids painted minis ($15+). Whether in blind boxes or sets, you can find Wiz Kids stuff branded for D&D, Pathfinder, and D&D Attack Wing. The painting job is usually better than a novice painter, but not as good as someone with about 12+ hrs of practice at mini painting. They are rarely in single figure sets when you want to get just the right one for your wizard or whatever, and if they are then they're grossly overpriced.
   
3. Pathfinder Pawns ($20-$40). A super cheap and easy alternative to regular minis. They take up way less space, but are much less flashy than plastic minis. I've found about a 60-80% crossover between the pathfinder and D&D bestiaries represented in these boxes, therefore about 20 to 40% of the pawns from any given box will not be useful because there is not visually similar D&D monster for which they can stand-in. Similarly there are a number of D&D monsters that have no visually analogous representations in Pathfinder, so you will have to find different miniature options to represent them.
   
4. Wiz Kids Unpainted Minis ($5-$30). A relatively new addition to your miniatures options (previous unpainted minis were all rare limited edition ones). These have good detail (similar to Bones) but are stiffer and more durable than Bones minis (inconsistent reports indicate they may also be pre-primed). There are official designs that match the creatures and even poses of the monster manual beasties. In some cases there are figures with integrated transparent and opaque elements making it much more easy to paint that flaming hellhound or a readied fireball.
   
5. Pathfinder Arena of the Planeswalkers ($15-$30) This series of board games has between 20 and 40 minis per box, usually with 3-5 of them pre-painted. Sometimes the boxes can even be found on sale shelves for really cheap ($5-10) making them the cheapest price per plastic mini you can get. The quality is lacking compared to the other plastic minis, however. They are certainly passable, but they just don't have the same minute details as other minis, even gaudily pre-painted ones. Also the bases for these are made for a 1.25" hex, so they don't fit well on a 1" grid or hex that is common in D&D tactical play.
   
6. D&D Adventure System Board Games ($40-$60) These cooperative board games are great resources for DMs to pillage -- in addition to unpainted (but highly detailed) minis, each has a trove of useful dungeon tiles and various tokens that can be reused at the game table. Though some of the minis will deform in the packaging (bent outstretched swords, etc), the mold and plastic are all high quality. There are 5 sets released so far, each one containing 30-35 minis.
   
7. Other Miniature board games like Descent (~$70) have minitatures that can be raided fro use with D&D.
   
8. Miniatures not designed with gaming in mind... there's a lot of these out there with similarly varying quality and price.

Here's what I'd do if I had to rebuild a collection from scratch for $1k trying to have a wide variety of play styles:

7 Wonders $32.99
Agricola $45.79
Battlestar Galactica $39.97
Carcassonne $30.02
Carcassonne Inns & Cathedrals$15.71
Dixit $22.65
Dominion Big Box $69.18 Prosperity is one of the best expansions; Alchemy is not, but you're pretty much getting it for free in this set.
Eclipse $61.49 It wouldn't be a board game library without a 4X game, and I think Eclipse is the best currently.
Eldritch Horror $40.47 - I love Arkham Horror, but Eldritch streamlines a lot of the fiddly rules of the original.
Formula D [$41.96] (http://www.amazon.com/Asmodee-FDUSASM-Formula-D/dp/2914849648/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1395757676&sr=1-1&keywords=formula+d)
Gloom $17.98
Guillotine $13.52
King of Tokyo $30.19
Love Letter $9.34
Memoir 44 $47.43
No Thanks! $9.98
Pandemic $31.65
Power Grid $32.27
Puerto Rico [$31.20] (http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Grande-Games-195RGG-Puerto/dp/B00008URUT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395756360&sr=8-1&keywords=puerto+rico)
Race for the Galaxy $24.11
Resistance, The $17.99
Roborally $37.49
Settlers of Catan $37.99
Telestrations $19.99 Awesome and funny party game. My friends and I eventually tire of Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, but seldom do so with this.
Ticket to Ride $37.24
Ticket to Ride 1910 Expansion $18.21
Tsuro $24.22
Twilight Struggle $49.98
Village $35.47
Wits & Wagers $19.99

That comes up to $946.47; room for a couple more expansions or another game.

Didn't know you were talking about free-energy videos. Anyway, those are a complete hoax. Sorry, but there's no way to create free energy. As for your son, here's a list of electronics and magnetism science kits I would recommend:

I highly recommend this one, I had one as a kid and loved it!:

$34.99 Elenco 130-in-1 Electronic Playground and Learning Center (ages 12+)

$26.49 Thames & Kosmos Magnetic Science (ages 8+)

$24.00 Thames & Kosmos Motors and Generators (ages 8+)

$18.85 4M Magnet Science Kit (ages 8+)

And here's some nice assortments of fun magnets to play with:

$19.95 46 small-medium magnets

$34.95 100 small-medium magnets

$69.95 26 medium-large magnets

I bet he will find several thousand more dollars worth of cards in there. He should invest in some sleeves and card holders in order to protect his cards. I prefer to double sleeve, then put it in a magic card binder (NOT a regular 3 ring binder) or in a top loaders.

KMC Perfect Fit sleeves

https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Barrier-PERFECT-packs-Total/dp/B00T3Z72Q8

KMC Hyper Matte Playing Sleeves

https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Hyper-Matte-Sleeves-Sheets/dp/B00VCQXQAW

Rigid Top Loaders

https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Regular-TOPLOADERS-Standard/dp/B01G1GRLSA

​

You take the card and (carefully) put the card upside down into the Perfect Fit sleeves. The card should fit snugly in there. Then you put the card into the Playing Sleeve with the opening of the Perfect Fit sleeve at the bottom. Then put the whole thing into a top loader.

So Card -> Perfect Fit sleeve -> Playing Sleeve -> Top Loader

​

Good luck!.. And no more bend testing for all that is holy, lol.

​

Edit to add: if they are in extremely good condition (like they look perfect straight out of the pack), it may be best to avoid the Perfect Fit because you can cause very small nicks in the corners if you're not careful putting them in which can affect their grade, but if they look like the Black Lotus you have there, then it's probably not a huge concern.

Pretty big entrance.

----

• PG Banshee only comes with sticker decals, therefore no decal binding solution is required.
  
  
• As your first kit, I would recommend against painting. Without any planning, painting can cause several problems such as joints being too tight (can break off), pegs become too thick, paint pooling, etc. A straight assemble with basic detailing techniques is recommended (clean nub, panel line, decals and top coat).
  
  
• Fine point Gundam Markers are great for panel lining. No fuzz, easy clean up and fairly cheap. Pretty beginner friendly. I recommend mixing your own solution when you become more familiar with the hobby.
  
  --------------------
  
  As for top coat, below are the two most popular choices:
  
  
• Gloss - shiny, thicker and will darken the overall tone.
  
  
• Matte - remove a lot of shine and will slightly brighten the tone of your kit.
  

I would really like to play a game that you can play with only two players. Right now all of the games my husband and I have are for 3 or more players, but sometimes it is hard to find a third player, and we would like to have some games to play ourselves. I played Dominion once with a few people but I would like to get it myself so I can try playing with just two people. I also would like to try Forbidden Island since you can play that with two players as well. An interesting thing is that I decided to get a PhD at 30, so I am older than most people in my grad program. Elephant Barber!

Hey Paul,

Happy early birthday! I'm a Capricorn too, and this feels very Capricorn to plan ahead like you're doing.

I wouldn't worry about the B:G ratio, as long as you have some fun and friendly people in the mix you guys will have a great time. Be sure to have little snack/food or drink stations for people to mingle and mix.

Have you considered playing games? My friends and I are obsessed with this game One Night Ultimate Werewolf: https://www.amazon.com/Bezier-Games-ONUWBEZ-Ultimate-Werewolf/dp/B00HS7GG5G. It's kind of like mafia where you have to find and kill the werewolf in the mix - essentially it's a game where you lie to your friends.

Also if you have an xbox or Apple TV, the Jackbox Game set: http://jackboxgames.com/ is awesome. There's a mix of different games where people use their phones/ipad/whatever to submit answers so nobody has to be the point person to organize the game. I've started crying from laughing so hard at this game because people's personalities can really show through.

The goal of a party is for people to have fun / get to know each other so encourage (but don't force) fun interactions.

Asking about the "best" filament for minis is kinda like asking people about the religion they prefer - people get all excited :) My own preference is AIO Robotics which has been always consistent in quality and thickness (doing four measurements on their PLA will always average out very, very close to 1.75 mm) Remember that there is cheap filament and good filament but I've yet to find filament that is cheap AND good.

I haven't used acetone like some other posters. My one "must have" finishing tool is really good sprue cutter like this one I got from Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TMZ7QA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It will allow you to snip off junk very close to the model without breaking off delicate parts like swords and spears. I then finish up with sanding and filing with jewelers' files.

​

Good luck!

I believe I have finally decided on my first Gunpla, the HG Age II Magnum and want to make sure the items I have added to my Amazon cart are ideal or not for a beginner/future use for HG and MG kits. The list is as follows:

• Gundam Model Builder's Cutting Mat 12"x9"
  
• Findfly 9Pcs Gundam Model Tool Kit
  
• Gundam Marker Value Set
  
• Mr. Super Clear Flat Spray
  
• Bamboo Skewers
  
• Alligator Clips
  
• ScotchBlue Painter's Tape
  
• Styrofoam Blocks
  
  I know that this sub has a list of tools and tutorials, but because I'm trying to budget, I was thinking no more than $100 would be ideal for me to start with. Since I'm beginning with HG models, I don't think I need a full set of Gundam markers, but if it's needed/required/highly suggested, I might pick them up as well.
  
  So I have read and seen that top coating and panel lining are essential for MG models to make them pop. Are they just as essential for HG model kits? Looking at pictures of the Age II Magnum I'm planning on getting from Amazon, it doesn't seem to have a lot of indents for panel lining. Of course, I could be wrong and be blind as a bat. If I don't do any sort of panel lining, is it still a good idea to add a top coat regardless?
  
  Also, how soon can one get into MG kits? I was originally going to jump straight into either the MG GM Sniper II or the RX-78-2 Ver 3.0 but after doing some research over the past few days, I've decided I'll be doing a few HG's to begin with as I haven't built model kits since I was like 7 or 8 with my dad. I'm thinking after the Age II Magnum, I was thinking about getting either the HG Double O Diver or the HG 00 Shia Qan[T]. Maybe after I complete the 3 HG's I've listed, is it possible to jump to the the GM Sniper II?
  
  TL;DR:
  
  

• Are the items I have listed a good starting point?
  
  
• Is a full set of Gundam Markers a necessity for HG/beginners?
  
  
• Are panel lining and top coatings important for HG model kits?
  
  
• Is it okay to use top coat on an HG model if no panel lining is used?
  
  
• Edit Do people usually top coat the accessories? I can't seem to find any info on that.
  
  
• What color panel lining pens do people normally use based on different parts of Gunpla's?
  
  
• What level of skill should one be at before getting into MG model kits?
  
  

There are a lot of versions of Werewolf, but one of those versions is One Night Ultimate Werewolf.

I guess I'm only a fan of certain Euros (and I REALLY like those, like Le Havre), and I just wasn't a big fan of TM. BUT I have still only played it with 2 players, which is not supposed to be a good idea.

Anyway, I hope you like the games you get!

Sushi Go!

Sushi Go! is a quick to teach, quick to play light drafting game. I love it as an intro to the drafting mechanic and as a filler.

No Thanks

Probably my favorite "light" card game. Very easy to teach.

For Sale

Great filler auctioning game. Every time I teach it we end up playing 2-3 games in a row.

Love Letter

A must own IMO. Quick and easy.

Zombie Dice

Under rated push your luck dice game. Plus zombies.

You should be able to pick 2-3 from this list and be happy with it :).

So, here's all the details on how people store Magic cards meant to be played, with links.

The gold standard for the number of Magic cards to store is 75 or 100 double sleeved cards. As long as your container can store this many cards in one section it will be at least useful to the owner. Additionally, no one really likes storing their cards flat like your current box. Cards are much, much easier to retrieve from the container if stored edge on (top or sides exposed as opposed to your front or back, look at the pictures below).

The Boulder deck box by Ultimate guard holds exactly the preferred number of cards, down to sub millimeter tolerance. 100 cards and 75 cards

Ultra pro makes a pretty ubiquitous soft plastic box for 75 cards and 100 cards which does offer a little more wiggle room.

Ultimate guard makes nearly identical boxes. 75 cards, 100 cards.

They call their 75 card boxes 80 card boxes but that's referring to single sleeving and even single sleevers tend to appreciate the extra space for a few ancillary cards like tokens.

Also, we do not double sleeve with penny sleeves but inverted(open end at bottom of card) perfect^1 fit^2 sleeves and with regular^1 sleeves^2 over that.

https://www.tolariancommunitycollege.com/how-to-double-sleeve-your-magic-the-gathering-cards-and-why-mtg/

Being able to hold cards is great but there is also some benefit to being able to hold a whole deck box. The Arkhive is a popular example. It holds snugly 5 x 75 card boulders and 4 x 100 card boulders. It also holds soft plastic boxes but less precisely.

When storing dice they are stored separately from cards. Ultra Pro, Ultimate Guard

Most non-gamers prefer cooperative games.

Here are a couple of my favorites:
Pandemic - https://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-7021ZMG-Pandemic/dp/B0013OBXG2
Forbidden Island - https://www.amazon.com/Gamewright-317-Forbidden-Island/dp/B003D7F4YY

Alternatively:
Descent is great for taking a step into rpgs/hack & slash - http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2013/01/descent-journeys-in-the-dark-second-edition-board-game-review/
Or you my check out the other games reviewed here:
http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/all-game-reviews/cooperative-games/

Settlers of Catan is fantastic for people who like dice games and is a fun competitive game. Another great crowd game is SuperFight.

If you like more racy fun & games: Cards Against Humanity or Joking Hazard are awesome.

Edit: Formatting

By Zaku Revive, did you mean one of the Origin kits or the Gouf Revive? Because I don't believe they have released a Zaku Revive yet. As for what to build next, pretty much any modern HG kit is going to be easy to assemble, but the Revive kits are some of the best out there. Unfortunately, there is no Guntank Revive, but the Guncannon Revive is a great kit, and the Zeon side has the Gouf Revive and Gyan Revive so far.

As for panel lining, you just need some lining markers or pens (I suggest these). All you need to do is use them to fill in the panel lines on the kit and maybe some of the other recesses (you can look at photos of the kit with panel lines in the instruction manual for guidance) and then use some Q-tips to wipe off the excess.

http://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-74016-Basic-Tool-Set/dp/B000BMYWXI/

This is the only basic tool set I know of.

That said, I would recommend getting a nice spruce cutter:
http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-2175ET-Professional-Sprue-Cutter/dp/B001TMZ7QA/

X-acto knifes are essential, such as the #2 large blade which is probably the most essential tool you will need.
http://www.amazon.com/X-ACTO-Knife-Cap-Silver-X3602/dp/B000V1QV7O/

Other miscellaneous tools you should get: Q-tips, fine and regular for cleaning tools, weathering with pigments, etc. Fine-tipped tweezers are also very useful. I recommend using Tamiya's extra thin cement, as well as regular cyanoadhesives for painted parts on your model. You will also definitely want some sanding tools, I recommend going to the Dollar Tree or w/e and getting a bunch of medium and fine nail filing sticks. They are cheap and work excellent on models. Tamiya also makes a line of very fine grit sandpaper (1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2500, etc.) that can make a nice polished surface, as well as sand down thick paint.

Just to play devil's advocate, you could justify the cost of the new tools if they are very well designed. The tools you've recommended are definitely good tools and I think any hobbyist would be happy with them, but that doesn't mean there isn't a reason to pay more. As an example, the side cutters you've linked are good cutters. But Tamiya does make a set of really nice side cutters that gunpla builders really like and recommend if you have the money that costs about $30:
Tamiya 74035 Sharp Pointed Side Cutter

I'm not as familiar with the other tools so I don't have any links for them, but if they have to quality to back them up there is a reason for the cost.

That being said, unless you to take the modelling side of this hobby super seriously, there is no reason to spend that much on tools unless cost really isn't an issue. And to add to that I'm skeptical that these tools are going to be any better that offerings that are already out there. Xuron makes a set of side cutters with similar features except that it has a plastic handle (which since I own a pair can say it's a really good handle) which is cheaper:
Xuron 2175ET Professional Sprue Cutter

TLDR: GW tools may be worth if the quality is there and you can afford them, but I doubt that this will be true.

you don't really need sandpaper if you have good tools to begin with

bare minimum

1. Xacto blade (recommend any of the ones that have rubber like the x2000 plus at least 2 new blades for each kit you build
   
   
2. Side cutters: Get the Tamiya Sharp sided cutters They are expensive but worth ever penny, especially if you plan on building more than one kit
   
   
3. Gundam Markers: Get a fine tipped black and a fine tipped grey. These will work for most colors
   
   After that its whatever you think you might need
   
   If you are going to get the RG Freedom (absolutely awesome kit) you should also consider
   
   1)Any clear blue paint ( you'll need it for the sensors)
   
   
4. Action base 2 (highly recommend since this kit was made to be airborne)
   
   http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hp7g-XsLx_I/UE84fXE7K0I/AAAAAAAAk0s/RIFvF9yJ9tM/s1600/0.jpg

Citadels, Tsuro, and 7 Wonders might be good for you guys to try.

Citadels is a game that can handle 2-8 players, and the structure of the game is rather different, making for more replayability, for differing numbers of players. http://amzn.com/158994030X

Tsuro is a simple but fun game (and the guys that make it are good people). http://amzn.com/B002SQBB3O

7 Wonders is a nice balance between strategy, complexity, and ease of play. It can seem complex at first play, but it doesn't take long to figure out and is a lot of fun. http://amzn.com/B0043KJW5M

Assuming you want to spend half of your money:

Star Realms: http://www.amazon.com/White-Wizard-Games-Realms-Deckbuilding/dp/B00HRGMPIU

Sushi Go: http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-Pass-Card/dp/B00J57VU44

One is a deck builder like dominion, the other is drafting like 7Wonders. (If you want 4 player star realms pick up two copies). That is a grand total of $24/$36. If you add Coup OR/and Resistance/ Resistance Avalon:

http://www.amazon.com/Coup-Card-Game-Resistance-Universe/dp/B00GDI4HX4/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1417653537&sr=1-1&keywords=coup

http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Boards-Cards-AVA1IBC-Resistance/dp/B009SAAV0C/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1417653562&sr=1-1&keywords=resistance+avalon

Which are similar (made by the same people), you could be three games in for 40 bucks.

Then add a heavier game or two medium sized games-- check out TableTop, or our "What did you play this week" threads for some ideas-- and you come out with a nice collection of games (5 or six of them) for about 100 bucks.


I'm not saying you have to get these exact games, but think about a few smaller card games with a bigger game for the most bang for the buck.

The resistance (avalon preferably) is 100% worth it since it plays 5-10... but what about days when you only have 4, etc. Catan can't do all the work forever.


I can give better recs if you edit to add more info; even if it's just things like "I like space. The people I play with like space... and Pirates!"

Take it slow, then. Spend a lot of time looking at it really closely and absorbing the detail. Listen to sad music while you build (I usually do). Consider how nice it is that there are actually things in the world that fit together and make sense (and since this is a kit from Revell Germany it's probably quite good, and the directions should be easy to follow and sensibly written). Get some liquid model cement like this: http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Cement-For-Plastics-1-15oz/dp/B0006N6ODS ...and some acrylic model paints from a hobby shop or online (Vallejo paints are quite nice, and acrylics clean up with water and won't stink out your room) and maybe a spraycan of some kind of gloss coat-- Testor's makes a decent glosscoat lacquer, and there are others out there too. Test fit before gluing. Use tiny amounts of glue, applied with a toothpick or something similar. Don't use model cement on the clear parts, though-- use good ol' Elmer's Glue (I think-- check our wiki to be sure) and if the clear parts are a little iffy, dip them in Future floor polish ("Pledge with Future Shine"-- it's like a magical model-building liquid). If you mess this one up, there are other kits out there, and you can learn from this one so the next one will be better.

We have a wiki with a lot of general info that may answer other questions, or just ask: http://www.reddit.com/r/modelmakers/wiki/index

Paints: Most GW paints are fantastic, there are a few exceptions here and there, but you can easily supplement your GW paints with alternatives from Vallejo, Army Painter and P3. This usually comes down to personal taste for most people.

http://www.thewarstore.com/vallejo-game-color-paint.html

http://privateerpress.com/formula-p3/paints

https://www.thearmypainter.com/

Brushes: GW brushes are a joke, they're the same price as really nice brushes like the Windsor Newton series. If you're going to spend $15-$20(US) on a single brush, get something nice not the GW crap.

Hobby Tools: GW's hobby tools are fine. It's hard to mess up simple metal tools. That being said, they're also 3-4x what they should cost. A trip to your local hardware store should net you the same or better products for about 1/4 of what GW wants to charge!

Glue: I hate GW glues personally. I've never had a good experience with them. For plastic assembly I prefer Model Masters and for Super glue I prefer the Bob Smith Industries gap filler medium.

http://www.bsi-inc.com/hobby/insta_cure_plus.html. I would be shocked if you can't find this in any number of hobby/craft stores. Worst case scenario, you can get it from Amazon with a couple of days wait time.

https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Cement-Plastics-1-oz/dp/B0006N6ODS. Best plastic glue around, the metal applicator tip allows for extremely precise application of glue.

Primer: Everyone has different opinions on primer. If you're just getting back into the game I suggest going with GW primer. It rarely has issues and although extremely pricy, it gives an excellent base coat. That being said, any dollar store matte primer will do the trick.

**Once you're back into things, I highly suggest you look at an airbrush. The miniatures world has changed a LOT in the last 20 years, and now airbrushes are cheap and many paints are already formulated for use with them!

I’m broke, but I am a mom. They friggin love measuring spoons, Tupperware, boxes. Throw some plastic beads in a plastic bottle and super glue the lid on to make your own rattle.

You probably have more stuff laying around the house that can be a ‘toy’ than you realize.

Most actual toys are played with for a minute, then just lay around. But... this is definitely a worthy investment:

https://www.amazon.com/VTech-Stand-Learning-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B0053X62GK

(Not sure if it’s on your wish list, but it should be.)

I have the same bootleg and you might need something extra to fix those seams in his head. The cement might work, but what it actually does is melt two pieces of plastic together, so it doesn't really fill anything, it can actually melt plastic away if you use too much.

You might need an epoxy like Green Stuff or Apoxy Sculpt to fill them, which when mixed dries into a plastic like material.

You can try the cement, just don't use to much and you might be able to sand the seam line away.

Testors will probably work, I've never actually used it. Just make sure to thin your paints with water or acrylic thinner. It will take a few extra coats of paint, but it'll look smoother and nicer.

As for shiny vs matte it will come down to what finish/sealer you use. The clear gloss you ordered will be great for the shoes and nose, but you'll still want to seal the rest just to avoid paint rub/damage. I'd recommend getting a brush on Matte finish. Paint the whole figure, Seal the whole thing in matte, then brush on the gloss finish anywhere you want it to shine.

My picks because they are 1) easy to learn for all skill levels and can be played in less than 1 hr. Whoever is running the tournament should have game master who is VERY familiar with the games and has actually played multiple games themselves.

• Munchkin Deluxe -- It actually has tournament rules you can print out
  
• Sushi Go Party! - Bracket system works best
  
• Zombie Dice - This is a push your luck game
  
• [Santorini] (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/roxley/santorini-learn-it-in-30-seconds-play-it-for-life?ref=rxly) You can teach someone in 2min but there is a lot strategy to win
  
• [Splendor] (https://www.amazon.com/Asmodee-SCSPL01-Splendor-Board-Game/dp/B00IZEUFIA) -- A game last 30min max
  
• Love Letter or Coup
  
• Qwirkle Board Game
  
• 7 Wonders
  
• Quadropolis - Easy rules, it is a puzzle game but can finish in 30 to 45min

Welcome welcome! How exciting that you are able to join in the fun after lurking in wait! We are happy to have you here.


What do you do for fun? Favorite board game or video game?

This would be what I wanted. Because you can never have too much C.A.H.

I have found that the easiest (and cheapest) way to up your model kit game is to panel line them. It makes the color separation pop way more, and helps define the proportions of a kit much better. A three pack of the panel linking markers are on Amazon for 5-7$ usa (link below). I recommend using the gray marker for white parts, brown for red orange gold and yellow parts, and black for blue gray and silver parts. The markers last a very long tine as well.

Another way is to buy some sanding sticks (10$ roughly for a 4 pack) and work on carefully removing nub marks. It will really improve the final presentation on the finished model. Start with a lower grit stick to remove the nub, and then increase the grit to polish away the scratches. If done correctly (I'm still working on this too) it will look like the nub was never there.

I Hope this helps, from one modeler to another.

Panel lining markers:

GSI Creos Gundam Marker Value Set -GM01&02&03- (Black, Gray, Brown) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HY93GHY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xt-2DbKF7CZZR



Sanding sticks:

Squadron Products Value Pack Sanding Stick https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CDR5K8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AC-2Db3ZFSJ3K



Edit: also the panel lining will help the paint job pop. In addition I'd saw use multiple coats from the gundam makers if possible.

We use dot us these Training Swords in my medieval combat class!

They also make a Shield

This steampunk flavored Cryptex Flash Drive might be appreciated! Useful and stylish in a similar vein to this Steampunk Watch
As for board games, I recommend Shadow Hunters, Splendor, and Coup

For tabletop games, you could get him A Nice Set of Color Coded Diece

When it comes to video games, this Retro Arcade Console Desk Toy could be a great work passtime with 200 games! Alternatively if you have a fridge or a metal workspace, Magnetic Tetris! for idle hands


Hope any of these help haha

Wow.. this is very generous of you. :)

I'd give you my lucky pickle as a token of my admiration, but I ate it just now. :x PICKLE SURPRISE!

If possible, I'd love to have the Cards Against Humanity card game. It's only $25, so to reach the price range you could include the first, second and maybe even third expansion set for a total of $55? :)

Or just the main card set and spend the remaining $25-35 on someone else here? :) Either way... you're incredible for it! <3

Hey bud, I have an innistrad plane cube for drafting thats pretty sweet. I can go over what I did if it helps at all.

I started with only Innistrad, great Draft environment to use as a base. Then I replaced all of the vanilla creatures or unplayables with another card from DKA, AVR, or SOI that fit the same role but had a relevent ability or stats. (Ex. a 2/2 zombie for 1b that had no abilities was replaced by a 2 mana zombie in the same rarity with more relevent abilities)

Right now the cube is about:
50% INN
20% DKA
10% AVR
20% SOI

Im trying to recreate a draft environment so I manueally create packs and put them in team bags (https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Poly-Team-Bags/dp/B00095NR1K) to have them ready for each draft.

The slits for common, uncommon and rares is (5/3/1)
I keep flip cards seperate, the are split (3/2/1)

When I make packs I shuffle all the commons together, then repeat for uncommons, rares, and Flip cards.
Each pack is 9 Commons,3 uncommon, 1 rare, 1 flip card, and 1 land. The land could be any nonbasic land from any Innistrad set, put in for fixing and utility.

Right now my rares can be from any set and are pretty balanced, nothings unbeatable.

I also keep the flip cards in clear hypermattes while drafting and playing, but I have a checklist for each in a black sleave for proxying in the deck.

It is alot of sleaves and the cube fits a normal 2 row. But if you buy bulk, its not too bad. Heres where I got mine (https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Barrier-PERFECT-packs-Total/dp/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1465811659&sr=1-2&keywords=perfect+fits, https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Hyper-Matte-Sleeves-Sheets/dp/B0177K3VU6/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1465811692&sr=1-1&keywords=kmc+hyper+matte+10)

If you have any questions or I wasnt clear just let me know.

Sorry about the formatting in advance!

I have been having the same issue trying to figure out how I want to store all my dials and tiles. I have noticed that if you want to do binders that the small base tiles fit into the old 1.0 Mini upgrade card sized pages, the medium fit into the Normal card sized pages and the large bases fit into the 4 Slot sheets. In terms of dials I have been reading that people have been using These sheets. I have been on the fence about using binders for these, but I already have a box of 100 mini upgrade sheets from 1.0 that I still have like 80% of because I bought it before 2.0 was announced thinking I would need them. I was considering doing card and coin boxes for them. I know Coin boxes are popular as well for dials and small bases, but for the medium and large I don't really have a solution to those right now. I know I can fit the large into Card boxes, but I don't know if there is a better solution for medium bases.

Here's a quick list of goodies to consider:

Testor's Model Master Glue - works on all of the kit's plastics except clear glass (use Elmer's glue for that). Be sure he scrapes any paint or chrome plating off the parts before gluing.

Tamiya Fine Surface Primer - painting is much easier with a primer coat. It gives the paint something to bite into. This can be used on the body and really any other parts that get paint. Makes it much easier to brush paint on smaller parts, too.

Model Master Black Lacquer - this will give him the base for a great matte black finish.

Model Master Flat Clear - this is a clear, non-shiny protective top coat that will take the shine off the black paint and give him a nice, matte finish.

Here is a build guide - much more than he needs, but the painting process is the same, except he'll be using a flat clear instead of gloss.

Feel free to ask any questions or send him over to /r/modelcars when he gets the kit. Have fun!

HAPPY CAKE DAY!!!! I hope that it has been faboo and awesome for you!

Here is my item or this one if you wish, it's purple!!

Thanks for the contest!

Edit: I just saw that today is my cake day too! Yay for us!

If I were to go back in time I would just not have bought it and bought a nicer version of each tool separately since I like to invest in the long run.

In my opinion, the xacto knife that comes with the kit isn't secure enough, ie it may wobble during precise cutting. I'd recommend just getting a hobby knife off Amazon or wherever.

The sidecutters do the job but they aren't great. If you don't cut close to the piece, it won't bruise the plastic, but I would still recommend in investing in a good sidecutter if you're really interested in modeling. I personally use the Tamiya Sidecutters. They're expensive but they cut through the runners like butter.

All in all, the Tamiya basic tool set isn't bad- it's a decent toolkit and you can still use it on any model and still achieve a great finish, but you'll just have to work a bit harder.

Ok. So very early on my daughter insisted on standing as much as possible. By 3 months she always wanted to be standing, with me holding her arms or by her waist. And, I indulged her.

To get her to sit up I would lay her on the bed(in the middle) and reach down and take both her hands and pull her into a sitting position. Slightly more forward. I would let go and stand in front of and make a big deal about her balancing, and she fell over to the side or backwards. I would clap and jump up and down. She loved. We played this game every day for 25 minutes or so. And every day, she got a little better and a little better at it.

And then I discovered This Vtech Sit to Stand Walker....Holy shit...She plays with this damn all friggin day!

I put the back wheels against the wall, so it doesnt move and i sit in front of it with my legs extended on both sides. Then she sits in front of me between me and the walker. Thats all it took. She was reaching and touching it like crazy. and when she discovered the removable phone I would stand her up and she would lean forward and hold onto it for support.

The front panel of the walker comes off and can be layed flat on the floor as well.

As far getting my daughter to sit and stand, this thing cant be beat. Its under $30 I would easily pay twice that. We have two, one in our house and one in grandma's house. If you want to motivate your son to sit up and reach try this toy. Its what really got my daughter reaching and pulling.

I have some pics kicking around. When I get to work ill send you some.

"Welcome to our learning farm!"

My daughter (10 months) loves this thing: https://www.amazon.com/VTech-Stand-Learning-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B0053X62GK

... and I love that she loves it. But my heavens, is it annoying. If I hear the cow moo in the barn once more I may lose it. As called out elsewhere here, it lacks a dedicated volume control. It has a little switch that toggles between loud and STFU.

It also has a little slide-whistle sound effect that goes off N times depending on what you hit. Press "3" and it happily screams, "THREE! Whoop ... whoop ... whoop." That sounds seems pitched perfectly to slice through any other audio coming from elsewhere in the house.

Well, a love for Dr Stone is a love for science. I don't know how old your brother is, but when I was a kid in the 90's science kits were way more common. I've seen some in Walmart and there's this $5 store called 5 below that has some but I'll look on Amazon and see what relevant kits I can find.

here's a telescope for $33. Senku's thing is space. Space is awesome. You may also consider seeing if your local college has a telescope, I was surprised to find out that mine does and it's open to the public!

Here's a crystal growing kit. Chrome loves rocks.

Here's a microscope and here's the one I lusted after after I saw one on TechTV Screensavers $18 so cheap now! Tempting...

Electronics kit!! I had one of these! My parents threw it away because they said I was obsessive about it.. now I watch Big Clive tear apart garden lights... Senku make a radio too, which I think you can make a crystal AM radio with this kit if I remember correctly.

I bought myself a "Mega Memory" cart from BigBen. Got it sealed for about 8 bucks. It is basically just something you can put multiple savegames on and organize them. I don´t know if you are able to get that exact thing, but any other savegame transferrer should work just fine.
I then "restored" the savegame on a USB Flash Cart like this one and used the cart´s software to read the .sav out and save it on the computer.

I believe there is an easier and less expensive way, but as I am into making chip music, I just had the necessary hardware laying around.
I hope that helped :)

E: I didn´t find the BigBen Mega Memory in the US. adhdkiki recommended this one to me. It looks exactly the same, except for the label and the color, so it should probably work just fine.

If he is into gaming you can't go too wrong with a steam gift card.

Just techy in general an amazon echo dot is an great for a techy and is ideal for your price

An amazon fire tv stick or Chromecast might be a good idea

If he is into Electronics and/or emulating he may like a Raspberry Pi (basically a tiny computer that you can do DIY electronics on or setup to play old nintendo games on). You could even setup the emulator for him and load him some games if you wanted to link here (pm me if you want to do this and need help with the install etc)

Board games could be a good idea if he is a gamer but it would depend on what kind of board games he likes. Some good ones of the top of my head though. Ticket to Ride, Coup or Catan

This discussion comes up a lot, and is very repetitive. I'm sorry for assuming that you were already familiar with the arguments on the other side of it. The short version:

• Cards are cheap, but they're not free. None of FFG's LCG core sets have more than about 250 cards. Presumably there's a breakpoint there where they would actually have to raise the price if they put in more.
  
• Presumably, FFG knows enough about pricing board games to have determined that raising the price would reduce sales. And, for that matter, that most people won't be too upset with $40 for the contents of one core set.
  
• They've said several times that most core set buyers play it as a self-contained board game and never buy any expansions. From discussions here, we know that many of them never do any deckbuilding either. Such kitchen table players actually seem pretty happy with the core set as it is.
  
• Less casual players don't usually start with three core sets. They start with one, buy some expansions, buy a second core, buy some more expansions, then buy a third core. So they don't seem to see one core as "a third of a game," and they don't actually start with an incredibly expensive 120 euro purchase. This may have been a problem when the game was new and there were no expansions, but it isn't now.
  
• There are actually fewer full playsets and more one-ofs in the new core. Weirdly, this is actually an improvement for competitive players; if you do buy three core sets, the number of different cards it will give you full playsets of is substantially larger. I bought my third original core set basically just for Desparado. New players buying a third revised core will get a lot more value out of it.
  
  Incidentally, the MSRP is $40 US, which Google says is about 34 euro. Amazon France has the original core for EUR 35,50. So your costs are a bit high.

Android Netrunner is a Living Card Game. It's packaged more like a board game.

The core set comes in a big box... but once you learn how to play it, you can easily put 1 or 2 decks in deck boxes and and the extra bits in another one, and leave everything you won't use inside the box.

• This game right now is very popular
  
• Each side plays differently, so you have two things to master learning
  
• Core set comes with 7 decks basically to get you started (3 for one side, 4 for the other)
  
• You CAN deck build by pulling cards from one deck to the other to a point, which can keep the game very fresh
  
• There are expansions should you enjoy it enough to explore more
  

If you are looking for PC minis, you'll be hard pressed to stick to that budget, but there are also great sets of cheap monsters if you look around. These guys as a good general set that I have. You can also check out Pathfinder Pawns that are real great and get a lot of use at my table.

Also, if the go the pawns route, start with a bigger box like the bestiary. Some of the smaller sets don't come with bases.

I had the opposite problem, where my players would sit and talk and strategize and talk about every move together like it was a co-op game and every turn would take 2+ minutes.

So I came down strict with the actual rules of the game which is that your character is allowed to speak for 6 seconds during your turn and only during your turn.

This made the game move a lot more quickly, and it still allowed them to communicate together as they'd shout out things to each other during battle.

Questions out of game like "would I know player X was just stabbed?" would not count, as this is out of character and is a general out of character question about the game world... asking what their character would know. Stuff like that is always fair, IMO.

I think if you see this as a problem that needs fixing, you should sit your players down and talk about it. I'd look into picking up a cheap/easy co-op game like Forbidden Island (https://smile.amazon.com/Gamewright-317-Forbidden-Island/dp/B003D7F4YY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506451508&sr=8-2&keywords=forbidden+island), (which is like the easy version of Pandemic, a pretty popular board game), and have them play that together to get used to working together and communicating a bit more.

However, if it's not actually a problem... meaning their fun is not being diminished by it... then I wouldn't worry too much about it and just think about folks like me who have the opposite problem and how the grass is always greener.

I got a question for you.
How much do you want to spend on cutters?

Some notable brands for cutters are (listed from price ascending) Xuron($10-$20), Tamiya($25-$30), Gundam Planet($35), and then Godhand($55-$??). (There might be others, but I have found these to be the most popular.)

Right now I have Gundam Planet nippers. They are the best nippers I have had so far, but I have only owned one other pair so dont take my word to heart. What ever you do don't go for a $5 pair not worth it at all. I did that and I spent more time fixing the mistakes those clippers did to my model.

Personal opinion get a pair of Tamiya Sharp Pointed Side Cutters or Gundam Planet Nippers. Here is a [comparison] (https://panzercraft.com/articles/2016-01-31-tamiya-side-cutters-vs-gundam-planet-nippers/) between the two. In all honesty though I have no been able to replicate that slow cut with my GP nippers. Another point is I have been able to get pretty close if you scratch the white part with your finger nail it almost looks like the slow cut photo.

P.S. Really though all of your clean up with the nubs is going to be with sand paper and a razor blade of some sort. I just ordered myself a OLFA Rubber Grip Utility Knife, but you can also get a OLFA Cushion Grip Knife if you want one of them.

7 Wonders is a great game too. My group just recently started playing this one, and we are really enjoying it. Still haven't picked up any of the expansions yet, but looking forward to them. Another game that might be good to start out with is King of Tokyo, or if you don't mind waiting until October you could get the next installment King of New York. We also like Smash Up as of late, and it is easy to learn as well.

Golden Frieza looks as good as mine, IMO.


Check out Apoxie Fixit Sculpt for modding, it's a two compound formula that dries 4 hours after being mixed, which gives you plenty of time to work with it. It's what I use, I love it. Fun fact: it smells like cooked shrimp before it hardens. Strangely pleasant aroma :P.


There's also this green stuff called... Green Stuff (clever name), haven't used it myself but it looks pretty good from what I've seen. I'd ditch the baking clay.


My Golden Frieza Mewtwo was almost completely scrapped cuz the Montana Gold spray paint I originally used was garbage. If I could salvage that abortion (seriously, I wish I took pictures to show how F'd it was), you can totally save yours, not to say it even looks bad, just the base. Everything else looks salvageable, even the Yoshi, dunk him in acetone & go to town with a million q-tips.

I'm glad you posted, as you bring a valuable perspective to the conversation. You may be getting downvotes because you're not addressing the whole "hate" issue. You believe MtG is not as good as other games - Netrunner for example - and you have your reasons, but it doesn't sound like you'd ridicule or "nerd-shame" someone for playing Magic. In fact, OP mentions friends who play Catan all night will laugh at him/her for playing Magic. Catan is even worse than Magic for resource-screwing you out of productive gameplay! So poor game mechanics is not the reason for the Magic-hate in the original post.

That's all I got. As an aside, I bought Netrunner (base game? I dunno. it's this product) this past year, have yet to play it. It looks fun, and as soon as I find someone willing to sit down and learn it with me, I will play!

Great job first time out! I remember this kit fondly and can’t believe you found one. Everything u/levrin said is correct. If you are looking to continue, at the very least I recommend going out and purchasing an exacting knife/side cutters/ a set of paneling markers/and tweezers for decals.
Again. Great first outing and welcome to the hobby!
side cutters
paneling markers
tweezers
knife

Hope this helps

Sushi Go - Amazon US - $12

Sushi Go Party - Amazon - $20

As I mentioned above, I far prefer the party version and think it's worth the $8 extra; it's more than twice the "content" whereas the original is always the same. I'd only recommend the original over "Party" if a super portable game (about the size of two standard decks of cards) is useful to you.

I don't have any "methods," since I've never tried to sculpt individual feathers (just a feature "texture" on wings). But I'd suggest using green stuff or a similar two-part epoxy putty, if you weren't already. It holds detail amazingly well and dries almost as hard as plastic, while being much less brittle than modeling clay. Something that protrudes off the edge of a model (like, I'm guessing, your feathers) could still get snapped off, but during normal play, or even if you drop the model from a reasonable height like a game table, it should be totally fine. I'm not a sculptor by any means, but that's the best material I know to recommend.

But as for a "way to sculpt or apply feathers" once you have the green stuff, I'm not sure, and it would depend on how big you want the feathers to be. I can attach some pictures of a project I'm working on to give you ideas, if you want, but I haven't yet added any free-standing feathers. They're molded directly onto the wings of the model, so I don't have to worry about them breaking off.

Everyone's talking about ways to keep the voltage on the volatile memory, but when I was a kid I had one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Mega-Memory-Card/dp/B00002R108


You would just plug in your game, backup the save, change the battery, and restore the save. Worked great.

Pick up the red and purple editions of Roll for It! It's a nicely portable dice game that is accessible for all ages and gaming-experience levels. They each play 4 players, there are rules for combining them for 8-player games. Alternatively, the Deluxe Edition has everything you need for 8 players.

I also highly recommend One Night: Ultimate Werewolf, which can play up to 10 players. You can play the whole game in 5 minutes and there is a companion app that guides you through the whole thing. High replay value, as well.

We Didn't Playtest This is a silly party-style game that goes very quickly. Players get knocked out based on the rules of the cards, and many of the rules stack throughout the game. Can play any number of players.

Oh sure! It's a good gateway drug type of game, and there's a wealth of fun little social games that are objectively better that I encourage people to explore.

Edit:

For example and for consideration:

codenames

werewolf

love letter

For beginners the HG RX 78-2 Revive is a great kit for starting. Few stickers, and nice part color separation. It's 1/144 scale, so just take your time to avoid breaking any parts.

$10 USD - amzn.com/B00WW4F8YA

You can also get some panel lining Gundam Markers to help highlight vents, details, parts of interests, etc. The RX 78-2 is a good kit to also practice panel lining.

$9 USD - amzn.com/B00HY93GHY

As for tools, something like this should get you by for now since you're just starting the hobby. Has everything you need to get building.

$17 USD - amzn.com/B01GHA6C7G

FYI: You will want to use Plastic Cement for these hard plastic models. It will give superior results when compared to super glue.

I recommend looking for something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Cement-Plastics-1-oz/dp/B0006N6ODS

The Model Masters (an offshoot of Testors, so a well-known brand) has a very nice this applique needle to apply very small amounts to precise locations. It'll keep you from ruining your new expensive figures! The game can be played without them. Take your time assembling, fixing, sanding, etc.

Citadel paint is good, but expensive. If you're starting out and just learning, I would suggest going to a craft and art supplies store rather than a hobby shop.


Personally, I use a mismatch of Liquitex Professional for bright colors, flow aid, and matte medium, Vallejo for darker colors for details and mixing, and Citadel washes.


I'd also recommend grabbing something like this bucket of monsters to experiment on while you're learning the basics. That way, you can get a lot of reps in without breaking the bank. Green army men are a pretty solid choice, too.

SPPrincesa is the goddess of all things board games.

Have you ever played Tsuro? It's a quick, fun game for 2-8 players. You lay down tiles and follow a path while trying to lead others off the board. It's simple, but it can get pretty competitive. You can accidentally run yourself off or run into someone else, which is an automatic loss. You can also run players into each other and knock two out at once.

There is another version called Tsuro of the Seas, which is an expanded, more complex version of the original. I hear it is quite fun, although I can't vouch for that as I've never played it myself.

Tsuro is so much fun. I especially like that it is quick. We can play several rounds in a short amount of time and there's no pressure if someone needs to step out for a round or two. My husband gets fiercely competitive with this game, which makes it hilarious if he ends up with a tile that will send himself off the board or into someone else.

Thanks!

Sure thing!

I started by mashing some aluminum foil into the general shape that I wanted it to be, and then hot glued that to a 40mm base. I then reinforced the foil with more hot glue with lengthwise bands of hot glue.

Once cooled, I covered the structure in a layer of Apoxie Sculpt, (AS) which essentially resulted in a smooth "tentacle" upon which I could add details.

My next step was sculpting the chitin plates along the back of the structure with AS. I started with the smallest one near the tip, and working one plate at a time, giving each one adequate time to set, worked my way to the largest one at the base. After each plate had set, I used heavy grit sandpaper to touch up the final shape and add some texture to them (think fingernail ridges), and these scraper tools to add the deeper cracks. This is an area where AS is superior to Green Stuff(GS); it cures rock-hard, so it can be filed, tapped, sanded, and drilled with very good results.

From this point on in the project, I used (roughly) 50/50 mix of GS and AS.

I then used a dremel tool with a tiny carving head to carve out space under the edge of each plate and sculpted in the connective tissue there. Looking back, I wish I'd left more of a "ledge" on the plates, so that that connective tissue was more recessed. Live and learn.

Next step was planning out the rest of the structure. I knew I wanted the inside of the tower to be 1) composed of different sections, 2) complex in texture, 3) "Squishier" than the outside, and 4) functional in appearance. I used pencil to draw sections on the model until it was broken up in a way that I liked, and then I planned a few of the details. (I settled on the vertebrae-like structures as a way to separate the sections, the defiler-like texture near the tip, and decided that I wanted structures at the base that looked like they were "rooted" into the ground--I didn't want it to look like it just sat on the surface.

I sculpted the vertebrae next, using this wonderful tutorial by Mr. Pink, one of my sculpting heroes. The defiler texture was added next, using a "Hydra tool"--a rounded off nail set into a handle. Just poke the tool in at an angle where you want a hole to be--I wish I'd done a better job of organizing the holes into a pattern of some sort.

the long lateral sections came next. I put putty down, and then used a large ball burnisher to make the large depression, a smaller ball burnisher to make a smaller depression in the middle of the large one, and a tiny ball burnisher to make the ring of tiny depressions around that second, medium sized depression. Once I had all of those in place, I went back to the medium burnisher for the depressions on the surface, between the large depressions. I can't think of a better way to describe this right now, but I can attempt to clarify if you like.

the tubes at the base were next. Fat cylinders of putty were rolled out and the ribs were sculpted with the back of the narrow scraper I used on the chitin plates. After they'd set, I blended them into the rest of the structure with the putty around it. the tiny spine structure was made similarly to the larger ones, and the concentric circles were made by making a hole, putting a ball of putty into it, and then turning the hole into a doughnut with a hydra tool, and then repeating.

The tiny spikes were shaped, and allowed to cure, and then glued to the model and blended in with texture and stuff.

If you want more general advice, I'll cut/paste an old comment below, or if you want further clarification or whatnot, let me know!

Happy sculpting!

Well, the only things you really need to build a kit are a pair of hobby clippers and motivation. Everything else is optional, depending on how much effort you wanna put into making your model look as best as possible(hell, I used nail clippers of all things with my first gunpla because I didn't want to invest in tools before actually building one for myself and knowing if this was a hobby I wanted to pursue or not).

For this one I actually got a modeling toolkit, some Gundam markers for panel lining and a small cutting mat through amazon(although you might be able to find them at local hobby stores as well). I can't really speak for other tools, but these ones worked pretty well for me. If you're worried about costs you can always start with just some basic tools and slowly build your toolbox up from there as you build more models. Hopefully you have as much fun with your first gunpla as I had with mine!

P.S. Remember I'm also a newbie so take all of this with a grain of salt

I haven't dug through the bag they bring yet because I was mostly interested in meeting people and trying new things, but I saw people playing the following.

Boss Monster http://www.amazon.com/Boss-Monster-Dungeon-Building-Card/dp/B00DK3P856

Love Letter http://www.amazon.com/Alderac-Entertainment-Group-5104AEG-Letter/dp/B00AGJ4HC2

Cards Against Humanity http://www.amazon.com/Cards-Against-Humanity-LLC-CAHUS/dp/B004S8F7QM

DC Deck Building Game http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Deck-Building-Game/dp/1617681709

Splendor http://www.amazon.com/Asmodee-SCSPL01-Splendor-Board-Game/dp/B00IZEUFIA

Kittens in a Blender http://www.amazon.com/Sandstorm-55010NRD-Kittens-in-Blender/dp/B004U5R9J6

and Samurai Spirit http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Game-Studio-FNFSAMUS01PGS-Samurai/dp/B00QD78KZG

There is also an N64 with Goldeneye and Smash and an Emulation Station with many nes / snes / ps / gb / sega games.

Buy perfect sleeves and a size larger of sleeves, dragon shield or the like, and then place them into binder sleeves in cool dry places.

Edit: And by perfect, I mean the perfect fit sleeves, these ones:

https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Barrier-PERFECT-packs-Total/dp/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=perfect+card+sleeves&qid=1551300997&s=gateway&sr=8-5

Shows a comparison, using the same piece, of the cheap Amazon Platos and the God Hand. I have the Tamiya's that are clearly inspired by the God Hand, wondering if its worth the upgrade.

My nippers:https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Sharp-Pointed-Side-Cutter/dp/B000J47Z4G


Anyone seen or used the one sided nippers?

I use KMC perfect size and standard size hyper matte. But if you’re going with the kmc standard size, make sure you get the new ones (link below), cause I read their previous ones weren’t the best but they’re fixed now.

Edit:
Perfect size
KMC 100 Card Barrier PERFECT SIZE (10 packs/Total 1000) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QpeNDbKKBZRJF

Standard size
KMC Full Size Hyper Matte Sleeves (80-Pack), Black, Standard Size, Fits MtG, Weiss, Pokemon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJ7415M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lqeNDbTBPBFG3

Before I start can you clarify which version of Werewolf that you bought? It sounds like you possibly bought Ultimate Werewolf and One Night Ultimate Werewolf: Daybreak which (as confusing as it is) are two completely separate games. If so you may want to change that purchase to One Night Ultimate Werewolf and One Night Ultimate Werewolf: Daybreak because those are compatible with each other.

But onto answering your question, I'd also suggest:

• Some Social Deduction Games - Before you pull out Werewolf (unless if these people are gamers and willing to have a few awkward rounds), I'd suggest A Fake Artist Goes To New York and Spyfall would be even better if you want to play a game while driving (literally the driver can even participate).
  
• Some 2 player games - Onitama has been a consistent hit with my non-gamer friends because it feels like chess but so much quicker. I'd also suggest Lost Cities because it's a nice little card game that has a ton of replayability and it's super easy to teach.
  
• I'd also suggest Hanabi because it doesn't seem like you have any co-op games in there. Hanabi has basically become the co-op game I pull out for people that hate co-op games. It's also probably one of my favorite card games.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Netrunner-Card-Game-Core/dp/1616614609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417704403&sr=8-1&keywords=netrunner

25 pounds! You should be okay.

And as far as needing the data packs go, you do not need them. I play with a friend who is pretty skilled and there is a TON of game here. In this box alone, there are 3 Runners and 4 Corporations, meaning 12 matchups alone. Each matchup is very different and interesting as well. There are also 2 different sides to play in this game. You can either play as the aggressive and nimble runner or the slow and brooding corporation.

It is a very intense game and one of my favorites.

For my game I use lego people for players and paper minis for other baddies. But I've seen lots of other options. I had bought an old copy of Hero Quest at goodwill and that came with some good minis and some furniture. I had also found a large bucket of monsters on amazon, which was pretty handy.

There's lots of tutorials on how to make your paper minis look cool and professional. Photoshop's your friend there, and a nice printer. The paper minis are nice because now the players can easily see what the creature looks like, rather than me try to describe without using its race, thus giving away info.

The lego minifigures are easily customizable and I can make them hold books and swords, etc. They're slightly larger than 1 inch squares though, which can get a bit annoying in smaller spaces when they're all together. I'm considering just making the players in hero forge and getting them printed. It's a bit expensive, but considering they're the minis you see the most and I'm running a longer campaign, it's probably worth it if you can swing that.

I'm using these Xurons for thicker sprue connections and then following up with the usual God Hand work, or if the connectors are small enough, just going straight in with the God Hand. If necessary I'll do further trimming with an Xacto blade afterward.

Those Xurons are actually pretty good on their own, but the God Hand is smaller and thus easier to use for work in confined spaces.

Though you could just use a blade and sandpaper if you have some practice at it. Some people even use nail clippers.

There's actually a good amount of fun games for under $40 on Amazon that I would suggest looking at.

• Pandemic | $28
  
• Catan | $30
  
• Dominion | $30
  
• 7 Wonders | $31
  
• Love Letter | $8
  
• Coup | $8
  
• Sushi Go | $10
  
• Lord of Waterdeep | $37
  
• Betrayal at House on the Hill | $34
  
• Ticket to Ride | $31
  
  These are all pretty popular games and I think they give you a good start into the different genre's of modern board games.

https://www.amazon.com/KMC-Barrier-PERFECT-packs-Total/dp/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527696059&sr=8-2&keywords=perfect+fit


This is likely the best price you are going to get on Perfect fits. Its about what you are going to pay for 4 packs of perfect fits at a store.

As for sleeves, i would be using dragonshield matte sleeves or kmc hypermatte sleeves.

The best price on dragonshield sleeves is going to be at starcity games open events at about 8$ per box of 100. But you can get them for 10-11 at local game stores in the likely situation that you aren't particularly close to an open.

I have bought a ton of these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T3Z72Q8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are not great quality sleeves, but I like them because they're clear which is nice to differentiate card types for certain games and allows you to actually see the art. I also use a ton of these sleeves so this is a lot more cost efficient.

I wonder which sleeves you're using? I mean, you probably are truly out of space given the extra big boxes you have there, but i use these for all my card games no double sleeving, just a simple bit of protection and of course makes the cards easier to shuffle. If you're using thicker sleeves, resleeving them to these KMCs would probably save you a significant portion of space in there.

I completely agree, Upperdeck should release a collectors box. I heard they were going to, it was even confirmed in a youtube video where a developer mentions they were working on that, but... where is it?

CMON UPPER DECK WE WANT AN ORGANIZED GAME!

It's not too expensive ($30 on amazon), but a really fun 2 player card game is Android: Netrunner. I've only had a chance to play it a couple of times but I've found it to be quite a lot of fun.

I highly recommend King of Tokyo! Not only is it easy to learn and quick to pick up, its a ton of fun and can get highly competitive. Typical rounds last 30-45 minutes and you can play with 2-6 people (although its most fun with 3+).

The 3-pack of markers for bold lines:

https://www.amazon.com/GSI-Creos-Gundam-Marker-Value/dp/B00HY93GHY/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia?crid=3GTR0RXGUXX4H&keywords=gundam+marker+set&pd_rd_i=B00HY93GHY&pd_rd_r=3b3b062e-d90d-495a-8e52-176ed31b8ba1&pd_rd_w=RRUZa&pd_rd_wg=sdCxW&pf_rd_p=a5491838-6a74-484e-8787-eb44c8f3b7ff&pf_rd_r=9A24ZX8C18EJZBXABCXP&psc=1&qid=1571687311&sprefix=gundam+marker%2Caps%2C152

Tamiya ink works differently, it will spread down the lines: (Comes in a variety of colors)
https://www.amazon.com/TAMIYA-87131-Panel-Accent-Plastic/dp/B01HDJ7BR0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=tamiya+ink&qid=1571687349&s=toys-and-games&sr=1-1

​

And I like to use this for fine details, it is thinner than the Gundam markers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UCSNQY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

These I use for cleaning, the middle grit will take off ink, then the fine will buff the marks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R34AE66/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

Hope this is helpful, good luck!

I would love this It's always up to us to bring the games to our parties.

Christmas in April is great. My family normally celebrates all the holidays in July. We exchange presents, shoot of fireworks, dress up in our halloween costumes and hunt easter eggs. While pigging out on chocolates and deep fried turkey and drinking green beer.

Did you know the Xurons are Made in the USA? thats actually pretty cool, and in my book another excellent reason to buy.

I just got mine in today, and i noticed it has a lifetime warranty? Might be interesting to check out what that covers... never buy cutters again?

Edit: Found these also, which may be good for small parts on busy tree's http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-2175ET-Professional-Sprue-Cutter/dp/B001TMZ7QA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372196644&sr=8-1&keywords=2175ET

My seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son both love these games. They’re both quite affordable and well-rated.

Sleeping Queens

This is a nice little card game targeted at kids. I find it interesting enough to not be completely mind numbing for adults, too — though it’s definitely a kids game.

Splendor

This is an adult strategy that was given to me as a gift, but is quite playable for both of my kids — despite saying it’s for 10 years and up. One nice thing about this game is that there is no hidden info, so it’s easy to advise and assist others without having to see something that is normally private. It’s a fun game with somewhat simple strategy, but that can actually be a bit more deep or advanced than it initially might seem.

I just watched 00 a few weeks ago and Virtue/Nadleeh is my favorite design from that series. Kit looks great, I've been tempted to get one myself but I have 3 MGs on the slow boat from Japan that will take me a bit to build. To take your kit to another level, look into panel lining. I bought this set and it's suuuuper easy and makes kits look incredible, especially on a kit that's mostly one color like this (the legs of Nadleeh especially).

On a side note, I don't remember Nadleeh having this shield/rifle combo in the anime, any idea if this was from the one mission where they sent it out as Nadleeh instead of Virtue?

What do you do for a last-minute, good present for a friend?

I had an Amazon gift card, so I looked up some cute notebooks and cards, socks and two, tote, umbrella and two, books, and board games. I went with the notebook and cards, for her, but it might be fun to brainstorm good possibilities. Summer is the season of birthdays around here.

Frosting - any white marks on models after post-curing are usually due to residual IPA or water left on the print. If you make sure they are completely dry before putting them under the UV lights you will get rid of most of this (I use an airbrush or compressed air can to help speed things along.

For fixing divots etc you can try to remove most supports before post curing as the resin will be softer and less likely to fracture (leading to divots). Otherwise you have to look to tips from plastic modellers and use putty and glue to fill and then sand. The tools you use are also important - proper modelling sprue cutters (side cutter and tweezer types) put less stresses on the resin and lead to cleaner cuts. Final clean up can be done carefully with a sharp new blade in an xacto knife (a magnifier of some sort helps). 99% of the time I remove supports after the IPA washes and before post-curing (use gloves!). Tamiya Sprue Cutter & Sprue tweezers

The shininess when you do not wash in IPA is the extra resin on the model hardening to a smooth finish. When you wash it off the layers and 'pixels' in the model are more apparent and your get the matt finish. I have not experimented much with this but you can try adding a clear coat over your model at the end of the process to restore some clarity.

This afternoon: Torchlight II with Synergies Mod, farming those two final legendary set pieces in Derinkuyu.

Shortly after dinner, introducing a friend to Archer with the Archer drinking game. (I mean, it's a game, right?)

Finally, after dying from exactly one episode, we'll be having board game night with friends. I'm guessing we'll be playing Shadow Hunters with cards we made ourselves, but I'm hoping that we play something different, like Splendor or City of Thieves with draft picking.

Well my two favorite cards are from the second expansion of the game.

Those are "A bigger blacker dick" which is a classic and "The mere concept of Applebees." This is just because one of our friends LOVES to go to Applebees and we never understood why. Every time we want to go eat, he would always propose it. So when this card was played while he was being card czar we lost it.

Here is one of my blank cards, I don't like writing on them so I put little pieces of paper. It's between that one, "The gap between Rose Tyler's teeth" for my whovian friends and "Before taking a piss, yelling: "Squirtle! Use Water Gun!"

Awesome that you were able to go to PAX. It's too far from me but I'm really excited they just announced PAX South (which will be where I live.) Hopefully the CAH guys attend along with the Game Grumps.

If you can find a local game store, I'd go and ask what their policy is on returns. You could just go with a gift card to the place, though I know that can be impersonal, but if they allow it on unopened games, I'd get him something small like Zombie Dice, Hive, Codenames, Forbidden Island, or Sushi Go (all between $5 and $20 generally). If he has the game he can return it for some dice, or something else he needs, but I think the thought of going out and researching what good games are out there is nice.

But you are literally saying the exact same thing xTheOOBx was saying other than "I don't agree".

If the game is well stocked, it is significantly cheaper than local stores. If it isn't well stocked, it is only a little bit cheaper than your local stores. The only exception is MayFair games, where they have a cap on their retail discount.

And for what it is worth:

BGG Top 10

1. 26% Off
   
   
2. OOP/BPR
   
   
3. 35% Off
   
   
4. 31% Off
   
   
5. 27% Off
   
   
6. 25% Off
   
   
7. 37% Off
   
   
8. 28% Off
   
   
9. 32% Off
   
   
10. 23% Off
    
    
    Some other games I just stumbled across.
    
    24% Off,
    31% Off, 34% Off
    
    It looks like when I said "frequently between 30% and 40%, I was pretty damn close. It's okay to want to support the local game stores, as we all have said, they provide something more than just the game. I visit the same exact stores you do, and I know "not that much cheaper" is down right false. Buying games online is almost a buy 2-3 get 1 free - and that's not considering any significant sale.

I wanted to mention the figure is from the Monster Action Figure Bucket I purchase on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W5WSN5A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for the sole purpose of having figures I could practice on cheaply. They are extremely cheap with mold lines all over but perfect for getting back into painting. If anyone has any tips on inexpensive minis which are perfect for practice, please let me know.

This was the best thing my parents ever got me when I was playing Gen 1 & 2 non-stop. All of my favorite pokemon still survive thanks to Mega Memory Card and its superior saving mechanism.

Alternatively sushi go! (Sushi Go! - The Pick and Pass Card Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J57VU44/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.zVCybJR74EKP)

And love letter (Love Letter Boxed Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J1JLT8I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HBVCybD3TR08K)

Are two of my favorite under thirty minutes games... if the boys cringe at the idea of love letter you can also get a Batman, Adventure Time, or Hobbit version to make it "manly"

Almost all of these are $15 and under (plus shipping):

Best value:

• Love Letter Factory Edition - recommend over aeg edition for the minister card
  
• Set and/or Swish - i might give swish the edge due to the ability to dial in the difficulty
  
• Coup
  
• Make your own Skull set with blank coasters and day of the dead temporary tattoos
  
• Forbidden Island - recommending over forbidden desert because scuffed tiles can spoil forbidden desert
  
  2 only:
  
  
• Cribbage
  
• What's My Word - you only need the refill pads, the rules can be read online
  
• Star Realms
  
  The 2-3 player weird spot (it's harder to find games good at this player count):
  
  
• Wurfel Bohnanza - dice! but no one will accuse you of gambling with bean dice
  
• Haggis
  
  Great with 4:
  
  
• Hanabi
  
• Sushi Go!
  
• No Thanks!
  
• Tichu - can be played with a standard deck plus four marked-up jokers
  
  Great for 5+:
  
  
• Bohnanza
  
• 6 nimmt!
  

All good advice you've received so far.

I'd also get some sprue cutters (also called flush cutters) - they are like wire cutters except one side of the blades is flat so you can cut near to the part and leave little or no attachment point. If there is one, file it off as /u/warlock27 suggests.

You can usually find cheap ones online or in a hobby shop, here's some on Amazon so you know what I'm referring to:

https://www.amazon.com/Xuron-2175ET-Professional-Sprue-Cutter/dp/B001TMZ7QA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478566221&sr=8-1&keywords=sprue+cutter

(sorry for the long link)

Otherwise a hobby knife is good for part removal too, and cleaning up any parts.

It will snap together fine, I've built a couple of similar models and am surprised how well they fit and click together. But can't hurt to get some plastic cement - Tamiya Extra Thin is usually the top recommendation.

Plus may be an idea to get some small needle-nosed pliers and tweezers for handling small parts - again either from a hobby shop or most electronics, craft or hardware stores will have something (or chemist/drugstore for tweezers).

Flush Cutters: https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=pa_sp_atf_aps_sr_pg1_1?ie=UTF8&adId=A07771002JJJMUPKY9LNZ&url=%2FIGAN-330-Electronic-Clippers-Powerful-Precision%2Fdp%2FB07RW8VTSX%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1_sspa%3Fkeywords%3DFlush%2Bcutters%26qid%3D1568614943%26s%3Dgateway%26sr%3D8-1-spons%26psc%3D1&qualifier=1568614943&id=3287567174581193&widgetName=sp_atf

Hobby Knife:

https://www.amazon.com/Hobby-Excel-Blades-Safety-American/dp/B0006O5JHE/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Excel+hobby+knife&qid=1568614967&s=gateway&sr=8-5

Testor's Model Glue:

https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Cement-Plastics-1-oz/dp/B0006N6ODS/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=PLastic+glue&qid=1568615017&s=gateway&sr=8-9

​

As for paint, I usually buy off of Games Workshop's website. Any order over $60 gets free shipping in the US. Models depend on if I can get them at my local store, or Amazon first. Anything not available at those two I go to the GW website for. Have fun, and good luck.

Settlers of Catan is pretty fun!

You have a trading/strategy element, there are different ways you can win so everyone may have different goals, there are ways to harm opponents and form alliances. Depending on with whom you play, it's quite a great game!

In 2013, US dollars were exchanged to canadian dollars almost 1 to 1 (0.94). Today, a canadian dollar is worth 70 cents. So Troyes went up from 35 dollars to 45?

It was also highly anticipated reprint in the middle of a boom of interest in boardgaming we are having right now, so the first wave was sold at a high price. Looking at a UK pricetracker you can see both how anticipated it was before the reprint and how the price right now is far from stable, being 35 pounds in february and 60 right now.
Android netrunner, if anything, seems to have gone down in prices for the UK at least, and the UK and american amazon usually track each other pretty well. Castles from Burgundy is stable for the last five years, Jamaica is falling.

It seems like it's either a canadian problem or maybe you were really good at picking prices when they were low back in 2013 and now you are comparing them to randomly chosen prices now?

This.

It's essentially a peripheral cartridge (similar in that aspect and only that aspect to an action replay or gameshark) that you plug your game into. It allows you to save multiple files onto its hard drive, similar to if you were to save on an emulator. I must confess I don't know if time based events work well doing this, but it's a wonderful way to at the very least ensure that your game doesn't disappear.

I wouldn't get a baby swing unless it's free or really cheap. Once the baby can start crawling or use a jumper, it's utterly useless.


Our son is almost 8 months old, and here are the toys he enjoys the most:

Luv U Zoo

Kick and Play Piano Gym

Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker

The Kick and Play they can enjoy from birth. The Sit to Stand works once they have some arm and hand control (3 to 4 months and above).

We put our son in the jumper once he was able to hold his head up and stand on a pillow (3 months). This is a little earlier than recommended, and you must not let a baby hang in a jumper or seat due to the risk of hanging baby syndrome (thrombosis/clots).

Just my thoughts on gluing these models. I have built 4 of these HMM models (Shield Liger, Blade Liger Bang Ver. [Pic](https://i.imgur.com/VU5go5C.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/VU5go5C.jpg), Raven's Geno Saurer, and the PK Iron Kong.) I glue all, non-moving pieces, and the reason is because, when you don't do that, the models are VERY fragile. I built the first one (the Shield Liger) without glue, and kept having issues where parts would fall off while trying to pose. I eventually stripped it all down and rebuilt it with glue because of that. I like to pose these models because there is so much articulation to them, that posing them is a joy. Using glue basically makes them an action figure.

​

This is the "glue" I use: Model Master - Liquid Cement for Plastic Models. This stuff basically fuses the plastic to plastic, so that's why glue is in parenthesis, so be VERY careful. I like that it has a needle like tube that allows you to use a very minimal amount, and 1 bottle lasts for many builds. Just my 2 cents from a guy who actively builds with glue.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf. An outstanding party game. Minimum number of players is 3, but it's best played with 6-10. It takes a few minutes to teach everyone the rules, then each game takes about 15 minutes.

Big fan of Takaido and Pandemic. Don't know any others, but do you know of Splendor?

It's a ton of fun, love it personally.

With a 4x4 base you're probably looking for something that's 12"+ tall. I think you'll have more luck modeling that yourself than purchasing anything available. I think you'll have better luck buying this and this and testing your artistic ability.

Edit: These might make a nice touch: Melissa & Doug Rainbow Crystals Bead Set

I've used about 20 different sleeves and by far the best bang/buck are KMC Perfect Fits. They are also not as thick making them easier to fit in the box.

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00T3Z72Q8?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

If you're interested in getting your wife to try games, try something you can both play together cooperatively. I've had good luck with Forbidden Island which is an amazing game for its price. Basically, you're all (or both) running around an island that is gradually sinking into the sea, trying to recover the four legendary treasures and meet up back at the helicopter before the entire island sinks. Maybe move on to Forbidden Desert after a while, which is a little more complicated, or its even more complicated older brother, Pandemic.

Hey welcome back! What sports and teams do you enjoy following?

On my "Games" list is Splendor, which just dipped below $25 for Prime Day. We played it once at a friend's house and we'd love to add it to our little game collection.

a few good games you could start with are, King of Toyko , or Pandemic, or Catan, or Betrayal at House ont he hill.

There is also a great youtube channel called Tabletop run by Wil Wheaton that showcases a ton of games where you can watch them play and get a feel ahead of time if its a game you think you would be interested in. http://geekandsundry.com/shows/tabletop/

Do you own everything?

I use the Plano tackle box, DVD case, and Card binder storage solution and it works really well.

so another user posted this except for he linked the wrong storage box. Ill link the storage box that would work for it all. If you paint minis then i would suggest possibly felt/foam lining the plano storage boxes. This really is a great way to store the game.
Pie in the sky way to store everything: For map tiles: AmazonBasics Nylon CD/DVD Wallet (128 Capacity) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIHVM36/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_xF79DSJicfLBu
For command cards/character and imperial decks: BCW PRO 16-POCKET PAGE - TOPLOAD - (20 CT. PACK) FOR X-WING AND ARMADA UPGRADES https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018OM5MGC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_jcKHoZQcRucSk
For agenda cards and mission cards: Ultra Pro 25/9 Pocket Page Protectors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HIOVOG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_UjgMybSN3F7RS
Putting them in a binder lets you more easily find a specific card they fit in these sheets even with card sleeves. I bought a nice binder that has slip sleeves in it so that I can store all the rules and skirmish/mission pamphlets along with the sleeved card sheets.The CD case holds any tile 4 spaces wide I keep the larger tiles separate and was able to fit every expansion in the CD case.
For the minis and everything else: Plano Angled Tackle System 732 https://www.amazon.com/Plano-732-Extreme-Tackle-System/dp/B009JG53S0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1490804922&sr=8-2&keywords=plano+732

Quirkle has roots in Scrabble and Sequence. Is both easy and engaging for all ages, and has a surprising amount of depth and strategy.

Sushi Go is a card game where you collect points, but you pass your hand to the next player. Fun for all ages.

Thanks!

We'll probably have 3-6 people usually. On big nights we'll have 8-10 but at that point we'll just rotate people who will play while the others hang out.

Is this the base game?

I guess Catan on does 4 players at a time. So I saw this and I guess I have to pick it up for more people?

But apparently there are versions as well. The expansion says it only supports the 4th edition? lol. Getting confused at this point.

I would say to pick up a few things. Just starting out, and if you've got the money I would recommend this stuff if you want to do a full homebrew story:

[Minis](
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W5WSN5A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1B7M9EQGNCLQA&psc=1) - You need creatures for your game, and while minis can be expensive I see these as being a good start.


Of course the rulebook.


Monster Manuel. Just flipping through it will give you ideas for encounters.


Erasable Grid Tileset - great for anything, from dungeons to wilderness. I would predraw before your session.


[Dice!](
https://www.amazon.com/Kuuqa-Polyhedral-Complete-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/B01MF5G9DY/ref=sr_1_7?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1517791222&sr=1-7&keywords=D%26D+dice) Enough for all your adventurers and yourself.


The books can be expensive, so if you're looking for a PDF version of anything really check here.

This is really excellent advice! Sometimes just staring at a book is not going to make it stick. Another fun way to get some hands on electronics experience is with those project kits built to teach kids. Doing all of the projects in something like this or this shows you a lot of the theory in a way that will stick better because you have actually seen it work. And they cost less than a text book.

Sounds like a bittersweet week...here's hoping the ups outweigh the downs!

The 2nd CAH Expansion on my Main List would be awesome! Thanks!

I've bought a number of cheap non-D&D mini sets, like these. They're certainly not great, but sometimes you need quantity, rather than quality. They're about $0.18 USD apiece.

Get some collection like that, and go to town painting them. Make mistakes. Try stuff. It almost certainly won't be the same as painting a good plastic miniature, but you'll probably still learn from it. You may feel better approaching that fetching young lady with a brush when you're done.

(I do not work for the Big Bucket of Monsters people, and was not compensated for this post!) ;-)

Amazon has a few bulk cheap options, like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Action-Figure-Bucket-Frankenstein/dp/B00W5WSN5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523683422&sr=8-1&keywords=miniatures

It isn't great and doesnt have NPCs, characters, or stranger enemies, but they make decent enough proxies for standard baddies. IMO if you have one of these, pick up a couple decent minis from Reaper for bosses, and have PCs buy and use their own figs for their characters, you can definitely scrape by.

You also might want to look out for reaper bones kickstarters. It's a really good way to get a ton of bulk by getting their base sets. It's still pricey, but you shell out a couple hundred and get enough variety in models to handle most encounters and plenty of characters for PCs to pick for playing. Totally worth it if you are trying to get a decent collection of 3d minis.

These tubes of minis are probably the best value: 90-100 minis for ~$20. They can give you a good base, and then you can purchase specific minis for more important characters (PCs, important NPCs, BBEGs, etc.)

Dwarves, Elves, Wizards, Orcs, Dragons, Unicorns, Skeletons, Fairies and Centaurs

Fiends, Flesh Golems (Frankenstein), Lizardfolk/Dragonborn (Godzilla), Mummies, Cyclops, Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, Giant Spider, Giant Moths, Sahaugin (Creature from the Black Lagoon), gravestones

Change the battery. It's super easy to do :) Promise. I've done it to all my Gen II and Gen III games. Then get the Mega Memory Card!!

http://www.amazon.com/MEGA-MEMORY-CARD-Game-Boy-Color/dp/B00002R108

I use this for dice storage. Also good for a complete deck and dice.
http://www.joann.com/iris-photo-keeper/9531211.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAt9vEBRDQmPSow-q5gs8BEiQAaWSEDh6je926P1IPPuw04m8EGfpflyiVmFucm7dcLvzFYNwaAjx18P8HAQ

As for binder, a normal 2" binder with sleeve pages does the trick nicely. Sleeved cards fit great in these.
https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Pocket-Page-Protectors/dp/B005HIOVOG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1486362889&sr=8-3&keywords=sleeve+pages

• Dead Last is a recent game with a traitor mechanic. On Amazon now for exactly 20 bucks. But it requires a minimum of 6 players.
  
  
• Coup scales well from 2 to 6. It is a good game of hidden identities.
  
  
• One Night Ultimate Werewolf / Vampire are good games that work from 3 - 10 players. Good amount of bluffing and hidden identities.
  
  
• And then there's always the classic Resistance: Avalon.
  
  Edit1: Few other suggestions: Bang: The Dice Game, Citadels, Mascarade
  
  Edit2: Formatting

Happy bday!

I predict that you'll come out positive by $417

Here is an [item from my list] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J47Z4G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=37P03X5GM5QWW&coliid=I1PV451LGGZM7P) that you can use your winnings to get!

You'll need the Base Game which allows for 2-4 people to play the game. If you want to play with 5-6, you'll need this expansion.

Beyond that there are many, many expansions such as Seafarers or Cities & Knights. I don't recommend buying any of them until you've played at least 5-10 games of the base version. See if you like the game first.

As for edition, just get 5th, it'll make buying expansions easier in the future.

Buy this: http://www.amazon.com/MEGA-MEMORY-CARD-Game-Boy-Color/dp/B00002R108
Save your save, change the battery, load save. Childhood friends saved.

There is a list of recommended tools in the wiki section. I used tamiya sharp pointed side cutter this one: https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Sharp-Pointed-Side-Cutter/dp/B000J47Z4G until i switched to Godhands last month.

If you really wanted to learn the ins and outs of modeling gunpla, or any model really, something like the tamiya nippers are great. They're good enough to get clean cuts, but you'd still need to sand and cut off that last bit of the nub with a hobby knife to get really good and clean results, which can take time and if you're not careful with sanding you could get soften edges. This is all part of learning modelling, it can be tedious but this is all part of the hobby.

Getting a pair of godhands, I don't have to sand or use my hobby knife as often as I used to. When I do have to sand it's usually just to smooth out a very tiny nub, probably because the nipper blade wasn't flat enough on the piece. The nippers just cut so smooth and well (at least for now while the blades are still sharp), it's basically cut the time I need to get my pieces out of the runners by half and I make less mistakes (no cutting too deep with the hobby knife, no over-sanding). But godhands when just starting out, you do miss out on learning and mastering certain techniques, if that's not something you think is important I'd say go with the godhands if you have the budget for it.

Hope this helps!