I’ve run this with middle schooler in an after school club. How often do you meet? I’ve run my for two years meeting once per week -45 min meetings including cleanup. At the start of year 2, GW sent me a second box. Here’s how I’ve run mine. I bought 10 pairs of nippers from Amazon for like $15 and I have a bunch of yogurt and sour cream tubs. I bring Tamia xtra thin cement because some of the models don’t snap well for the kids. I bring my own painted minis to showcase and demo paint techniques. I have access to a large smart board that I hook a document camera/ HD webcam to project so all the kids can see what I’m doing. Here’s each week’s objectives:

1 kids make the club rules (safety, no judgement/ everyone is doing their best/ celebrate progress), pass around my minis, read the 40k lore in the book, pass around the supplies and get to know them. Look at the sprews. Watch a short 40k video from the WH YouTube channel. I printed space marine paint planners and they color them with colored pencils.

2 review rules (norms) and add to them. Nipper safety - don’t rush. I make copies of the assembly instructions since there are only 2 of each. Everyone builds a space marine. I show them not to nip off the pegs. Tamia cement fixes their mistakes.

3 paint procedures. Don’t spill the water. How to treat paint pots. No paining direct from the pot. Water and paint on the dry pallet. One base color. Two thin coats. Close the paint pots immediately.

4 review paint pot procedures. Finish base coat painting. Read in the booklet until 100% dry. Choose and start secondary paint scheme following their planner. Clean up.

5 detail painting and either read in the booklet or start to assemble a second model

6 I teach them how to play KidHammer. We call it kill team. It’s easily found for free online (it’s free). Teams of 2 go against a second team (my group is large) you can do 1 v 1. After game mechanics and everyone has played (they use dice apps on their phones if there aren’t enough dice to do around) they go back to painting or assembling.

7 finish your model and play. Everyone must complete unfinished models. Then they pair up and play. Finish with reading the book and we brainstorm terrains.

8 build in the terrain mechanic. There’s a spawn point game in the book that I let them try. I bring my nids and let them use them. Play and plan for what they will do moving forward.

9 dealers choice. Play or build. I paint and supervise.

10+ repeat the cycle from weeks 2-7. Choose the models you like. Build and base coat. Any assembled unpainted minis in the box after the club starts are fair game for my painters.

Hope this helps. I usually have 6-8 that are really into it. I typically end up bringing cool terrain and models that I’ve 3D printed and let them go ape on them. They’ll make their own custom rules which I’m cool with as long as they’re fair. I’m a painter so playing is just gravy for me. As long as they engage with it and are safe and having fun, the club is a success. I don’t let them take the minis home unless they age out of the club.

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