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I'm a beginner who's touched base with a local games group. About 75% of my Imperial Fists army has been bought off eBay as base coated models & I finished off the small details myself. The remaining 25% has been pro-painted, simply because my work does not allow me the time to paint everything to an acceptable standard.

Would you look down upon such a player (and army) in a social setting? After all my personal focus is on tabletop performance, as my painting skills are dire & I just want to dive in to rolling some dice; that said, I shiver at the idea of fielding unpainted models.

Judge me, judge me harshly.

honestly I give no craps. I play unpainted simply because I don't care. I like how the models look and I like the game, that said if I could find someone to paint my models that was affordable I would so do it, the only OTHER thing about buying it pre assembled is kind of confusing to me, as half the fun is customizing your army, but that piece is up to you

What do you mean by "Pro-painted"? Done up to a good standard or ebay "Pro-painted"?

I personally wouldn't care. To me regarding the hobby, personal time and money are interchangeable. If you have more money than time and decided to just pay someone else to pay your miniatures then that's fine. At least it's better than playing against the grey hordes or something half done.

While I enjoy the painting side of the hobby, I recognize that not everyone has the time. I’d much rather face off against a painted army then grey plastic. Don’t care who painted it.

I will think higher of someone who did it themselves, but not less for someone playing with minis someone else painted.

So long as you're not claiming someone else's work as your own, all the more power to you. Not everyone has the time to paint everything, nor does everyone have to enjoy that particular aspect of the hobby. At the very least, it shows that you at least care about having a presentable force. It'll beat the hell out of the '3 colour army' aesthetic anyday.

I wouldn't care if someone showed up with pro-painted minis. It'd be cool to inspect the work firsthand, actually.

My LGS has lots of painters offer up commissions. Ive even done a few myself.

Personally, i try to avoid buying painted models (a minor ocd) but its your army. Like I tell anyone who is starting the hobby, ultimately it is you that is going to be collecting, storing, and transporting your minis, more time than actual gaming, so any choices as to army aestetic is yours only.

Nope. People have different interests, different time availablilty, all sorts of things. I love to paint, some people don't, and it's good that there's ways for both of us to play the game.

I am sorry that i could not judge you.

Showing up with a painted army is a nice thing to do. It makes the game more enjoyable for all players involved. I don't really care how you got them painted if they look good they look good. If money wasn't an issue I would only convert models and let others paint most of my rank and file troopers. Painting those can feel like a chore rather than a n past time. So sure if you value your time more than owning your own painted army or the "joy" of painting the sure go ahead. We all have jobs and limited spare time. I am happy as long as your army looks great and you aren't weird about it.
What I don't like however is if players with bought paint jobs enter painting competitions.

I love awesome painted models, and care not who did the work.

Painting mIniatures is subject to the Speed, quality, and cost triangle, pick two you like and prepare to suffer in the other. Depending on which resource you have the most of certain solutions will make more sense for you. If you have money and not time, ordering from a painting service is just making the best use of your resources. The rest of us usually have more time than disposable income, and your tolerance for/interest in spending time painting will determine if you go fast and not concentrate on quality, or take your time and spend more time on each model.

I used to hate painting, but these days I kind of find it relaxing, so I tend to spend more time painting.

No one cares if you painted your own gak or someone else did. Like, at all.

No, of course not. It's painted, it's pretty, it goes on the table.

There's nothing wrong with pro painted models. I "pro paint" from time to time. I cut deals for friends and always shoot for a consistent paint job at any "level" of detail. Mostly that just means to a nice table top standard. So, I can't see too much wrong with anyone putting down models they paid some one to paint.
For my self, I don't go to tournaments any more so I don't worry about what gets best painted. I do also consider that if that's what I am going for, because I haven won more than 3 games in the last two years, then I have to bring my A game.
Which when you think about it is the same when your only competition is locally known. But I do feel it does create a possible pay to win. But I don't think most people buy painted models for that reason.

Honestly, if you don't like your own painting skills, and you don't have the time to practice and improve on them, you're actually improving the experience for all involved by having the models done professionally. The better the paint job, the more you and your opponents will enjoy looking at them.

 kronk wrote:
No one cares if you painted your own gak or someone else did. Like, at all.

At least not anybody you want to worry about!

The worst I'd be prepared for is casual small talk asking how you painted the army. It's good form (at least for me) to compliment something about any painted army I play against.

Only briefly as a first impression. Oftentimes I've found that those people who carefully paint and prep their models tend to know the rules better and know their army better. Fully self-painted armies can be an indication of the level of interest and commitment to the game.

That said, that is only a first impression and it can dissipate pretty quick. You never really know someone until you fight them. (or see them fight)

Or just talk to them. . .

Wouldn't bother me.
One of my mates at the FLGS has painted pretty much every regular army except mine - then again, it could be questioned if my armies are truly regular.
Unless you're claiming that you painted them yourself to claim points in a Slow Grow League people will appreciate seeing painted miniatures more than they care who painted them.

No objection whatsoever. I'll just be happy to be playing against another painted force.

It might look a little odd if the yellows are different shades or don't match, but that's not a big deal. Nothing I would even comment on really.

I normally have my HQs/Named characters commission painted, and most people at my local shop love to see them all done up nice next to my shotty paint work. I also find it helps draw the eye from the bad paintwork I do to the fine painting of my commissions.

TBH though, I gotta say you should show up rocking grey plastic and most wouldn't mind, painting is a nice treat in my local meta, and most people just like playing the game.

 Nevelon wrote:
While I enjoy the painting side of the hobby, I recognize that not everyone has the time. I’d much rather face off against a painted army then grey plastic. Don’t care who painted it.

Nail on the head. This is how I and many people in my area see the issue.

I've given my friend grief for models he's entered in painting tournaments that he's claimed are his own paint job when his wife (or I!!) have painted them. But in a standard game where it's just nice to see painted stuff on the table? Who cares who did the painting. It should only matter if you're entering into a competition that wants the paint job to be strictly from you. They can't prove it, of course, but karma is a bitch.

I look at it as they're your models, do with them what you will good sir!

If you want to buy prebuilt models and get them painted by someone else, more power to you.

My only quibble would be if you attempted to play with said army at a tournament and entered into a painting competition at the event with a model that you didn't paint, as that's dishonest. Of course nobody would be the wiser if you didn't say anything, but meh.

Most tournaments have a painting score, 3 colors, based, painted to above tabletop standard, etc. etc. with different scores for it and offering a prize for best painted army. It doesn't specify in there that you painted it, but simply that it was the best painted at the event. I have no issue with this, as rather than spend time, you opted to spend money to have a nicely painted army. I won't fault or begrudge you that choice.

Just my thoughts on that. Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

Couldn't care less who painted it, as long as the model's look good and you're not taking credit for someone elses work.

Some people hate painting, and some don't have time to paint but do have the money to hire someone else to paint for them. Why would I (or anyone for that matter) disapprove of that?

Just as everyone else says...

1) Don't act like you painted them.
2) Don't enter them in competitions for painted armies.

Beyond that, who friggin' cares? I'm sure some hobby purists might frown on it (their own opinion) but I'll take painted armies over grey plastic all day, every day.

Get painted minis on the table - I don't care how. Go for it!

EDIT: To add to this...it could serve as a pretty good litmus test as well. If someone gives you crap or throws a fit about it...that's a person you don't need to be spending any hobby time with. Sometimes these things make excellent indicators of who you should avoid gaming with in general.

As long as you're not winning painting competitions with them I'd be totally cool with it. Hmmm, I wonder if it'd be possible to win enough painting competitions with models I didn't paint that it'd recoup the cost of getting them pro painted?

Seriously though, playing against painted stuff is fun. You'll often see me playing with gray/basecoat/half painted minis because I really hate painting my guardsmen (set my goal as 5 a week so I can eventually finish all of them), but I really hate not having my stuff done. If someone specifically requests painted I can always pull out the DA, although a lot of them I do need to go back and do some more work on (especially my ravenwing). Especially nice for the people that like to take pictures/video of the game, makes a much better presentation.

I like to see well painted models so either way is just fine with me, just as long as you don't claim to have done it yourself and take the credit away from whoever painted it for you. Because it's not so cool and cause when people see good painted things they tend to ask for tips on how to get similar results so wouldn't want people misled that way.

I enjoy painting my models, and I enjoy playing with painted models. Generally, it's a lot easier to identify what gear a unit has when there's some variety in color, rather than a single homogenous gray or primer black, but that's about the only problem I have with playing against unpainted models, and it's a minor and often irrelevant complaint.

So yeah, play with your unpainted models. Is cool, man.

I'd rather play against someone that paid someone else to paint their army to a decent standard than an unpainted army. Hell, I'd probably even enjoy it more than playing against a poorly painted army that someone painted on their own. For the most part I'm not terribly concerned about *who* painted the models.

I would be a little cranky if they ended up winning some sort of painting prize though.

Of course not? That just tells me you don't have as much free time as you'd like, but you want your army to be presentable. Perfectly fine.

I would love to face wonderfully painted minis. I don't give a rats ass if you claimed you painted it (although it would be obvious you didn't if you compared it against the ones you did) it would make the game far more enjoyable. It sets a beautiful narrative.