Looking for advice, new to the miniature hobby

So basically I've never put together or painted a miniature before. My father has modeled scale aircraft for years, but he is just as new to Warhammer. I've got a Lizardmen Saurus Warrior Regiment set, I'm excited to get started but I'm not sure where to start, I have a few questions:

Should the miniatures follow a certain colour scheme?
If not, can you give me advice on which scheme to follow and paints to buy?

Also, if you Could give me a brief overview on the steps taken to paint the miniatures for the best results and the different products used, like primers etc.

Any and all advice is appreciated, like I said I'm new to the hobby, I plan to pop into my local hobby store this weekend to have a chat with some more people. I've had a good look around online and there is so much different opinions my head is a bit boggled.

Oh and I randomly picked out this set in a clearance sale because I didn't know where to start and thought the Lizardmen were cool!

Thanks for reading!

 

What colours do you find would look cool?

That's the limitation really, anything could do.

look around the forum, the interwebz, real world lizards for inspiration, you're sure to find something exciting, then go from there!.

 

Based on reading the post, I am going to assume your father has the tools needed to put everything together? I will also assume he has paint brushes and such.

My recommendation for painting? If you want quick and efficient, drybrushing. I did that to my lizardmen army, with great results. I posted my technique in my PLOG, I will link it for you for convenience.

http://www.lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9927

In regards to basics? Get a primer, I used GW black primer, worked fine for me. If you find something else that works better for you. My advice, prime 2-3 think coats as opposed to one thick coat.

In terms of colors, pick a color you like. There is no set way to paint your minis, they are yours. The main thing is arming them appropriately. Most people are fine with as long as most of the models in the unit are similar, they understand they all have the same rules. Just make sure to pick what equipment you want them to have.

First unit of Saurus? I suggest hand weapon and shield. I also suggest snagging a box of skinks as your next purchase for the following reasons:

Take that box of Saurus and make 15 of them into Saurus with hand weapon and shields(make a full command too). Use of the Saurus to create a scar-vet to be your general in small games.

Take the box of skinks you bought, make a unit of 12 skinks with javelins and shields. Take 10 more of the skinks and make them chameleon skinks (arm them with blowpipes) for now, you don't have to convert them. You can field them as two units of 5. Take the last two skinks, and using bits from the Saurus box and Skink box, convert one skink into a Priest and another into a Chief(unless you want him to be another priest).

So then you will have:

1 x Scar Vet
1 x Priest
1 x Chief/Priest

15 x Saurus
-Full Command
-H/W and Shield

12 x Skink Skirmishers
-Javelins/Shields

5 x Chameleon Skinks

5 x Chameleon Skinks

Should be able to field around 500-600 points with the above. Good luck!

Oh, final advice, buy the Army Book!

 

Thank you for the replies,
Yes, my dad has lots of tools I'll be able to use to assemble the minis.
Thanks for your link, I will certainly check it out. I think I will paint them similar to the box for now, and experiment more with my own schemes when I understand how to use the materials more.
This was exactly the kind of advice I was looking for Hopefully, I'll get to stock up on paint and snag the book this weekend

 

For the time being I would recommend getting the main army book to help you along the way.

When you do get around to painting remember to base coat your models first with a good matt finish spray paint. Black will not show up as easily, but I do find it makes your models dull, and quite gloomy. White makes for the brightest but if you miss any spots you will sure see it. I find a light grey works best for me, most general stores will do a decent grey primer relatively cheap!

 

Specifically with Lizardmen, I reccomend you do a little research on colour schemes. Have a look around the forums (not just this one) for themes you might like (or a few that you could blend together). I also reccomend googling some different (real life) lizards to see what sorts of markings they might have.

I kind of regret paintint my saurus blue (I also collect high elves and blue/yello wis my theme for them - I have lots of blue paint), because I might have liked to do something a little different. So I suggest having a liik around before you begin painting.

As far as what paints you should go for... As soon as you've picked the colour scheme you like, I'd start with base coats which are the darker colours that you paint the main colours on.

For example, If you want your saurus' skin to be THIS, then you'd do a base colour like THIS and paint the lighter colours on top.

I won't go into details, but there should be heaps of tutorials and tips/tricks all around the place!

Welcome