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I've been playing against a lot of people who don't paint their models recently. I don't really mind it, but I know some people do. I'm talking about unprimed too. Honestly, a primed army is more annoying than an unpainted one, IMO.

Anyway, how do you feel about playing against unpainted armies? Do you look down on the player?

I'm asking because I'm starting a Guard army and plan on leaving them unpainted.

I hate using unpainted miniatures almost as much as I hate painting them.
I do not look down on people who do not paint theirs, but I will always choose to play the guy with painted models over the guy who doesn't.

Playing against people with unpainted army's doesnt bother me but playing against people who i know WONT paint there army annoys me

Xylthian wrote:Playing against people with unpainted army's doesnt bother me but playing against people who i know WONT paint there army annoys me

Ah, that's a good point. I just don't want to paint them because I've got another army that needs to be done.

I also have respect for people who admit they have gak painting skills, so they don't paint their army. I'd rather look at grey than a piece of crap

Im pretty terrible at painting myself but i still make an attempt at it always.

Painted models win more often.

On a serious note, they look MUCH better on a table.

I always pretend they are colored grey.

Kurgash wrote:I always pretend they are colored grey.

Amen brother..

"I swear that is the latest in Tau grey urban camoflage!"

There is an Ork Horde playing at my shop that calls his "Da Grey 'Orde".

I don't mind playing against unpainted minis, but only for a limited time.

If the person never makes ANY progress on them, I have to wonder how much they really care. I mean, I hate painting (hatehatehate it) but I do it anyway. I would rather play against a TERRIBLY painted army than one that has no paint (and hasn't for months). Just get a little work done, a little progress. Something. I mean, I balance two jobs, obligations to my family, and planning a wedding, and I still have time to get a LITTLE work done on my minis.

Jimsolo wrote:I don't mind playing against unpainted minis, but only for a limited time.

If the person never makes ANY progress on them, I have to wonder how much they really care. I mean, I hate painting (hatehatehate it) but I do it anyway. I would rather play against a TERRIBLY painted army than one that has no paint (and hasn't for months). Just get a little work done, a little progress. Something. I mean, I balance two jobs, obligations to my family, and planning a wedding, and I still have time to get a LITTLE work done on my minis.

I swear I've heard you say this at least 5 times Like, exactly this. You're not using this a crutch are you?

I dont mind playing against unpainted minis as much as i hate using them in my own army but it does suck some fun out of the game.

PAINT EM!!!! J/K

I don't mind that much, but the painting is why I started playing the game in the first place so I am bias. I do however believe that the minis look much better painted and the idea of not wanting to make gray plastic men look MUCH COOLER boggles my mind!!

I am too much of a craftsman to come out with unpainted minis. I even hate that I was running around partially painted or assembled minis... they just looked like crap.

if you can't paint, it doesn't matter, just make some attempt to do something other than glue some toys together, even if it is spray-painting squads...

I am only going to say it bothers my cause normally its ALWAYS the same people who have unpainted armies and normally its the same people who are also TFG or WAAC players or power gamers.


Its also normally the people who jump from one new codex to the next.

I don't mind unpainted armies, but partially assembled armies get to me. Missing arms, sponsons, etc. bother me and armies with magnetized bits bug the crap out of me. I've never seen magnatized armies done well. They always seem to pop apart when the player moves them and eventually the player seems to give up on getting the model back together and just leave the arm, weapon or whatever laying on the base or next to the model.

I suppose if an army was magnatized well I wouldn't even notice, but until I see one done right I'm gonna hate all over them.

A Matter of Pride wrote:I am only going to say it bothers my cause normally its ALWAYS the same people who have unpainted armies and normally its the same people who are also TFG or WAAC players or power gamers.


Its also normally the people who jump from one new codex to the next.

This. At least make a progressive effort to get it basic tabletop quality. Otherwise personally I hate using an army unless all the models at least have their main colour on/no fine detail yet.

I think I'll paint my tanks and command squads, but my infantry squads will go grey. Sooo much work. Tanks take a long time too, but I've got a spray gun for them
I've gotta buy like 9 more paints just to get these cadians done. That's like 35$.....Sigh

I'm one of the three people in my club with a fully painted army.

In fact I have 2 armies painted and one unit of khorne bezerkers to paint before a third.

Games look so much better with two painted armies. They have to be good mind you.

I have no problem playing against an army that isn't painted. My problem kicks in when I see the same person with the same nonpainted army, week after week. I am OCD about having my armies painted, and based. I understand that that is just me but, really, you can't get at least a little bit done. Try Armypainter products. Pick a base color, spray them with that, then dip them and POOF you are halfway there! Paint the bases while you are sitting around watching TV, then put a light drybrush on them. You would be amazed at how fast and easy you can get an army painted this way. It's not how I do it, but IMO it's WAY better than nothing...

I find it to be pretty irritating, but I let it slide. However, I must say that I am aware of certain peoples' resentment of my fully painted 5,000 point Ork army that they keep bottled up. Especially when I beat them. (Teehee!!!)

I have 6000 points of blood angels and I'm only 15 models off having the whole lot finished.

If you are going to field an army at least paint it, it helps to mark out different squads and individual men. If your going for a horde IG army get some green spray and spray the lot then it's just a case of touching in the flesh areas. Couple of hours work and you're done.

Mind you I can be a bit anal with my own painting I recently spent about 10 hours painting an assault Sgt.

It's a hobby not just a game, half the fun is producing something that makes your opponent go "WOW your army looks awesome" and then secretly want to grab his paint brush and stab you with it.

I would rather play a fully painted army. Failing that, a partially painted army. If it's just going to be bare metal or plastic, what's the point? We may as well use full-color paper cutouts, there are plenty available for download out there.

I will never use am unpainted miniature again. Sure, I did it in my reckless youth, but no longer. When I got in touch with my buddies to let them know I was getting back into the game, I told them it would be about three months before I was ready t play, because it would take me that long to paint up my new army.

As it turns out, I received a VERY generous gift of a fully painted army that has allowed me to start playing right away... but it's not quite my style of army, so I am still a good month or so away from playing games with my own army.

I don't mind playing against folks that don't paint there minies, it is the guys who paint all but 1 squad and leave it that way for 4 months that kinda of annoy me.. but on the other hand I myself am down to 1 unpainted squad, but I intend on painting my last squad of lootas this week.

As someone who takes a lot of pride in the completeness of his army and his painting (even though it isn't much compared to some painters, obviously), I really dislike playing against unpainted armies. It's just more fun and interesting when everything's painted. It's also a hell of a lot easier to tell what's what.

FWIW I don't like playing horribly painted armies either. I don't mean just poor painting, but rather haphazard stuff like "RAINBOW COLLAGE!" where the person painted every model a different color...it's not really that hard to paint your guys to a decent standard, even if you don't have "mad skillz". With "dips" available nowadays, nobody really has an excuse. You can do an entire army of Nids, for example, by simply spraying the entire thing whatever color you like for the skin, then blocking out the chitinous bits, dipping the mini, and then basing it. I've seen people do it this way and it actually looks really good.

Cohesion is more important than anything else, but I don't enjoy playing opponents with unpainted or crapped up armies nearly as much as I enjoy playing opponents with cohesive, decently painted and based miniatures.


I won't put a miniature on the table that isn't fully painted and based.

Justicar Alaric wrote:It's a hobby not just a game, half the fun is producing something that makes your opponent go "WOW your army looks awesome" and then secretly want to grab his paint brush and stab you with it.

Exactly! Half the fun is building and painting your minis. There is just no feeling like seeing a newly unit finished put on the table.

I agree with the general sentiment. I want to play against painted armies. A big part of the game is the look, and it does not look nearly as cool with grey plastic across from you. I have the luxury of being around for a while, and have 2 armies of 9-10,000 painted points. Two other large armies that are mostly painted, and a 5th waiting for color. Not to mention that unpainted armies always seem to have a bunch of, "This guy actually has a_____ and this tank is really a_______ ...,"because the player is chasing the latest codex. I realize that people have committments like school, work, and family. However, you can always make some progress on your army. It is nice to see that it is a little more complete over time.

My gaming group has pretty much gotten used to majority of my models only being basecoated or in the case of my wave serpent, not at all. It's my problem where, once i get money, i tend to buy more models instead of the 60+ dollars worth of paints i need at the moment.

I view no problem in playing someone with an unpainted army. Maybe they're just experimenting with a new codex, and aren't willing to put all the effort into minis they may not use again. Who knows? Plus, it does take a lot of time to paint, and lots of people want to play. So go ahead, put your unpainted minis on the table....I just expect to see some progress. A touched up thing here, a newly painted mini there.....as long as you are moving along I don't care.

Honestly I'm happy if my opponent has models. Most of my opponents' armies are predominantly card-stock circles. Though that is changing... slowly.

I don't think you need to be good at painting to have a painted army. One of the coolest armies I saw was a chaos force that was just black with bright pink and electric blue trim. No highlights, no washes, and most details were just left black. but each model had a little bit of the other colours. Like a blue sword, or pink horns. It wasn't going to win any painting competitions, but on the table it looked awesome. Neat and colourful and unified.

I don't mind if someone hasn't got a painted army, and I might even prefer that to a badly painted army (messy and unfinished). But I think If you have an army and you play with it regularly you should at least spray it all one colour. It's not hard and it makes a big difference.