If GW switched to or added prepainted miniatures, would you buy them?

It depends to what standard they would be painted,if it is tabletop standard then perhaps I would do touch ups here and there.Yet I think I would still stick to buying unpainted minis as it gives me something to do,also there is always a nice sense of accomplishment for me atleast,to see a unit that I have just painted.

They would have to be cheaper than the original, unpainted becuase I like my custom colour schemes.

Would NOT buy prepainted minis if GW switched to.
I dont think I have any interest in "ready to go" figs. Now if its only some prepainted for a standalone game, thes could be acceptable.
A game like 40k with its wide range of paintschemes couldnt be covered with pre-paints.
Maybe 'showcase' kits not intended to be used on the tabletop would find some customers.
I believe pre painted would not strengthen 40k, but distract ressources.

HATE

- Salvage

No, because then it would be a sign that they are taking even more options out of the codexes. If this happens, they might as well make 40K a Milton-Bradley board game with all the rules and army lists on the inside of the box lid.

I like painting these miniatures, but I could see the appeal of a prepainted force, it would depend on the paintjob really. I may totally hate all the prepaint jobs (knowing GW, it would be all Ultramarines anyways :/ )

Make it collectible, too.

"Awww nuts, another Marneus Calgar!"

I'd be OK with prepaints for things like rank and file troopers. This assumes they have a decent three color paint job. What's the point in building and painting 120 Orks if I could buy them already painted? I'm not going to paint them to a Golden Demon level of detail anyway.

Of course I would still buy assemble and paint kits for characters, special units, customization and the like. Prepaints would be filler for the cannon fodder ranks.

I would then spray them black and pint them myself, if I liked the figures.

I would buy prepainted troops. As an ork player I don't really want to spend the time painitng 100+ boys, but i do want to paint my warboss, nobz, trukks and other things.
But 6 pt models that i take off the table in handfulls, yeah if i could skip painting them i would.

I might buy them, depends on how well they are painted and stuff depends on how i could use it/them with my existing army

I probably wouldn't buy them. Is there a plan to make pre-painted minatures or is this just discussion?

where is the "I would buy them and then strip them" option?

It'd be nice if they put a really thin coat on them or made them where they were really easy to strip if you wanted to, or just seal them if you didn't. If they did that, I might buy a squad or two. Would be a nice way to get started in a new army without the time investment initially.

But I'd love to see them for other players. The crowd I play with is the polar opposite of WYSIWYG, so I get a little sick of seeing the same grey and black legions "counting as" the flavor of the week.

Valcatta wrote:I probably wouldn't buy them. Is there a plan to make pre-painted minatures or is this just discussion?

it is a frequent topic of discussion but there are no plans in the pipeline that we are aware of.

legoburner secrately works for GW, its just anoother ploy to get more money out of us aaaaaarrrrrrrgh

Pre-painted minis would be such a cop-out. I dread the day GW decide to take that route. Even though I rarely get round to painting, and don't even enjoy the process much tbh, I still want to make the effort for the sake of having my own work on the tabletop. Rather that than have my minis painted by someone else or (more likely) by machine. If they existed alongside bare minis, and everything was still available unpainted, I'd tolerate them. If they completely or partially switched to prepainted I'd quit the hobby.


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warpcrafter wrote:No, because then it would be a sign that they are taking even more options out of the codexes. If this happens, they might as well make 40K a Milton-Bradley board game with all the rules and army lists on the inside of the box lid.

Shhh! Don't give them ideas

Wouldn't buy them but would be a good idea for younger people who want to get into the hobby but don't have the attention span or skills to paint them yet as they are too young. My little brother could do with some pre painted figs... so cruel...

I would buy pre-painted minis, but if that were to take place GW would first have to get a clear rule system in place or lose sales. Because with pre-painted mini's its about playing the game not doing the hobby. So unlikely to ever happens since they don't focus on making decent rule books.

HATE all the way

I would only buy them if they looked good, were properly fluffy, and if it didn't cost a fortune.

If they look decent, I would buy them for armies I want but have no interest/talent for painting like Eldar, Orks or IG.

Everything else is outsourced, so why not the hobby?

No thanks.

Tolerate as long as they are only a sideline kinda thing. If not, well, guess I have enough Mini's to be going on with...

80% of my fun is converting and painting minis... I really dislike premade, prepainted models for wargaming. things like mageknight and the D&D minis are fine, but warhammer is a big no.

I'd tolerate them, but in my eyes, even a poorly painted army is better than a pre-made army.

I may buy them for scrap and conversion if they're worth it, though... But I'd never leave them as they are.

Oh my God would I purchase pre-paints...

I remember bringing this up on my club forums once. I was treated like a heretic, and I didn't understand. 40K is a game. I want to play the game. I don't want to have to spend six months to paint up an army, the amount of time it takes me because I have a job, and a marriage, and other hobbies like video gaming, and I like to travel, and everything else that competes for my free time. I just want to play the game.

40K had been my only tabletop wargame up until this point, well with a little BFG thrown in. Sometime after this conversation was taking place I started playing Flames of War. Earlier this year I started playing AT-43 and have now given it up, but it did help teach me an important lesson when combined with my experience with the other two games.

AT-43 is a game with miniatures. Some people collect them, but at heart it's the nature of the product as a game which sells it.

Flames of War is a game with models. The game comes first, but the modeling is a very, very close second. I would hazard that many people purchase and paint Flames of War just for the pleasure of the painting and don't play so much, or just paint and don't play at all...but it was still conceived of as a game first.

Warhammer 40,000...I think it's models with a game. The models come first. Why I feel this way...the Codexes don't get updated quickly enough so armies get out of balance. It's far too easy to find power builds that dominate tournament play, which suggests lackluster playtesting to me. New models, however, always seem to be on the horizon. More attention goes to production of models for purchase than game design and updates. Therefore, this is why when you bring up pre-paints many 40K devotees lose their frakking minds, because it isn't about the game. That's part of it - but it's not the most important part of the hobby. The modeling and the painting are what matter most, in the end.

I feel that people like me, pure gamers at heart, are such a minority among the 40K community that there will never, ever be pre-painted 40K minis sold. It's not economical.

However, having grown as a gamer, I no longer see this as a problem with 40K. Having discovered games which I feel are more balanced, strategic, and tactical as games, I play those when I want a real gaming challenge. I see 40K more as I think it was originally intended, as cinematic reenactments of battles as-yet-unwritten in the 40K fluff, but not a hard-and-fast strategy game or tactical exercise.

I appreciate 40K for the modeling and the painting after my exposure to AT-43. That's a pure game which is only in its first edition so the rules have weak spots, but calling the minis "models" just offends me as a modeler and a painter. They're not enough to keep me interested in the game like 40K and FoW which, once the models are painted are something that represent me as an artist and are a marked investment of time and let's face it, a labor of love - so I could never really see selling stuff I painted. It looks cool just sitting in the display case so I can say "I made that." AT-43 stuff is disposable, just toys, who cares, so now that no one I've exposed to the game cares about playing it I'm selling all my stuff and converting the money into other games (like Space Hulk, what a great game).

Even with that said however, if it would mean being able to play my Ork Horde of 150+ boyz without having to spend probably a year or more painting them all, I'd like to play an army other than my Space Marines without having to field bitz of plastic and metal...so I would probably invest in pre-paints to enable me to play different kinds of armies quickly, and then do touch-ups on them later if I felt like it.

i would never buy prepaints, but i can tolerate them for people who dont have the time/desire/skill to paint. i like to paint my own armies, i have the time to do it, and i love doing it.

I would buy pre-painted GW minis.

The benefits are so plentiful, I don't really see why not.

1) Those of us with more money than time/motivation get to have a decent looking army on the table top right away.

2) The likelihood of playing against a fully painted army is increased. Save for my opponents who are tournament regulars, I have never faced a fully painted army.

3) The value of pre-painted miniatures on the secondary are unlikely to decrease if I don't change anything to the minis, since all the pre-paints will fit into any other existing pre-painted army. This gives me an opportunity to try an army that will look good right away without too much time investment...and should I not like it, I can sell it off for no loss of money and try another army. This really increases our freedom of army choice. As of now, the instant I paint any miniature, the odds of me selling it for what I paid for are nil. Right now, I can buy any AT-43 miniature off eBay and know it will fit in my existing armies without any need to strip the paint or deal with any bizarre conversions. And assuming GW minis don't undergo any sort of fire sale like Rackham's, I'm confident that the secondary market value will remain constant (or even increase given GW's annual price increases).

4) And the quality of the paint jobs on pre-painted miniatures will never surpass the really awesome paint jobs of people on dakka, like Migsula, Navarro, or Scarab, so it's not like pre-paints diminish the hobby aspect in any way. I will still be in awe of a really great paint job when I see one, and I will always wait in line at any Gamesday to see the Golden Demon entries.

If GW released pre-painted minis, I would probably maintain one or two armies that I would want to paint (which would likely become indefinite projects...as they are already), but collect other "off the shelf" armies to game with (and perhaps sell of or trade away when I get bored of them and want to try another one).

more time spent painting = higher sense of accomplishment.
No time spent painting = no sense of accomplishment.

Therefore: prepainted minis get no love from me.

It doesn't look like they're getting much love at all, at the moment. I'm not a fan of this idea, although it would let GW sell to people put off by the P&M aspects of 40k.

I despise this idea.

To me, having a painted army (especially a great one) is a badge of honor, a testament to your skill and dedication to the game.

Without the painting, 40k is nothing but a little boardgame, Its no longer a hobby.

Even with hundreds of Boyz in my eventual army lists, I plan to spend the same (or even greater) amount of time on each model.

There's quite a split between the pro and HERESY camps.

My idea, which is much better than pre-painted, is that GW should mould the sprues in different colours.

I mentioned it before but here is a quick recap.

It's possible with modern technology not only to mould plastic in different colours but also to mould a single sprue in several colours. You can see this in the high-grade Gundam kits (which are much cheaper than GW kits.)

An army like SM would easily be moulded in a variety of colours:

Head
Shoulder pads
Torso
Legs
Arms
Weapons and bits

For example, Shoulder pads could be moulded as a separate sprue and available in 8 different colours, or they could be included with a 'Chapter' sprue containing the official colours for a codex chapter.

Thanks to the web ordering system, GW could offer any combination of colours you liked. Design a heraldry for your chapter, order the colour sprues you need, and build it!

Most 'little johnnies' buy SMs. This system would let them build a nicely coloured army very easily.

Buy. Strip. Repaint. Invoice GW for paint stripper.

Painting is one of my favorite aspect so I would dislike prepainted mini. not to mention most prepainted mini tend to have bits missing and bad coverage.

NOOOOOO cause warhammer is a hobby and a game and if you take away the painting they will have to be already assembled.

Taking the painting stage away would ruin the hobby for me. I never play a game unless every model is fielding is painted. Having the fully painted army is a feeling of great achievement for me. Its that simple.

I think that we should have the option of a model being pre-painted (for a small price.) The lack of color in models has left a few of my friends away from the hobby, since they can't paint very well (and of course they're embarrassed about that fact.) I think we can all agree it's okay to have the option of pre-painted models, as long as it doesn't take over.

Well, i wouldnt buy, the painting is what I enjoy the most. But Id be more than happy if they offered them as an alternative - I mean Im not going to refuse to play someone because they got a painting service to do their whole army, so why any different with a GW paintjob?

No problem with pre-painted if it gets more people into the game. I myself would not get them as I like painting.

Humm.. Well I dont think pre-painted is really a good idea.
Personaly, without the effort to build and paint my mini's, I would have zero connection with my army. Where is the fun in putting an army on the table that is in no sense yours. You didnt build it, convert it, design it or paint it, so how can you feel anything about it.
Plus you know they wont have 60 diffrent paint schemes. you would be lucky if they have 2 or 3. Now all the tables are filled with the exact same looking armys literaly.
No I dont like the idea of it at all...

I picked other. Which means, I would buy a full army that is already painted from someone. Most likely an army that I want to play with by requires too much effort to complete it myself, so Id much rather buy one thats painted from someone looking to get rid of one.

I rather enjoy the "and tolerate their existance" portion of this vote. It made me giggle... then the guys in my class were all "why is she laughing" and I was all "hahaha TOLERATE" and they told me to shut up and stop being a Warhammer cigarette and I yelled at them and now you can see I am frustrated and ranting...

I am not the target market for the snap fit figures, and I would not be the target market for pre-painted miniatures. Although, for me the "and tolerate their existence" part of the option should be "and blissfully let anyone who wanted to buy and use those do so".

The unspoken fear for producing pre-painted figures is that the army lists would have to change to suit the pre-painted boxes. Ask the next cynical forum goer how much of his army he would expect to be able to still use after the purge, I mean codex update.

No way painting is half the fun and painting yourself makes it unique

Pre-painted?

Look at what Rackham has done with Confrontation! They had some of the best quality metal minis, but they stopped the production to release pre-painted minis with the painting level of a arthritic chimp!

Die, pre-painted! Die!!

40K is more than just a board game like hero-clix. It is a total hobby so if you remove the modeling and painting then it would really devalue the game. I would be pissed to go to a GT and have a pre-painted army in front of me that looks like every other prepainted army....

If they were cheaper and I could strip them....

I voted no but tolerate, as I'm not the greatest p[ainter in the world by a very very large stretch of the imagination, but they're my mini's, and I like to paint them. It gives a sense of achieving something.

I can see something like Space Hulk being prepainted. It isn't really part of the hobby so much as a gateway, and an even nicer presentation would only help.

The "side" games would probably do a little better prepainted, especially Epic.

To me, an army is a very personal thing. I don't like even borrowing my friend's models if I can avoid it, so I much prefer to have all of my models painted by myself. I don't have anything against people who do use them, and admire those who paint and sell them - must be a great way to make a bit of money - but would never use them myself. While my own painting style is miles away from pro, it's still my style and I like it =)

Strip 'em, re-paint em. Always good fun to pit yourself against some internet yobbo.

I was torn between "tolerate" and "hate". I would for the most part tolerate their existence, especially on the part of a brand new player just starting out. But I would expect to start seeing some "non-prepaints" as they bulked out their army, and preferably see them repaint or replace the pre-painted ones. Maybe it's because I'm an old (and old-school) fogey, but like many others, I see painting as part of the hobby. If all I cared about was the wargaming, I'd play RTS's online. I've never seen pre-painted minis that looked any better than third-rate. Mass production doesn't work here. I'd rather see someone drop a crappily painted army on the table than a pre-painted one, because then I at least know they might care about something besides just winning.

My other reason for despising the idea, is it's just a short step from offering pre-painted minis to only offering pre-painted minis. Then it's "starter" boxes and "booster" packs. Then it goes downhill from there and you can only field these "pre-painted" minis in tournaments, which will probably show up as a rule about the same time Commisar Yarrick and Eldrad Ulthuan become "rare" minis that only show up in the occasional "HQ booster" pack. The rares will get more powerful, you'll have to spend four times as much to get anything besides a "horde" army of any type and soon after that, the only way to build a competitive army is to take out a second mortgage and compete for those "special" minis on eBay. I will also freely admit that this may be nothing more than an overly cynical "glass-isn't-half-empty-it's-bone-dry" viewpoint brought about after watching MtG fall prey to the hovering vultures of money-motivated "collectors" and all of the "Clix" evolve-or-die games, where evolve = shell out tons of money for more powerful minis.

Will I tolerate them? Yes. And if were to start seeing GW start dropping unpainted minis from their product line, I'd probably sell my rulebooks and armies and "get" while the "gettin' was good". But I'm a pessimist and you can probably disregard this entire rant.

Most of the fun is building and painting them yourself, playing the game is just an excuse to showcase your work!!!

im not a great painter so i hate buying awesome models and 'fething em up' so to speek.
so i wouldnt hesitate to buy then

NEVER EVER EVER EVER!!! why would you play 40k if you didnt enjoy placing your own customized company down on the table and having a little story to all of the minitures... also it would feel very second hand if they were painted

I collect to paint , i only game 2-3 times a year or so ..

So i would strip them for sure..

i fully understand this, my armys is extremely story based but tere ust be some benefit of buying these

My god yes I would buy pretty much pre-painted 40k stuff if it was avaliable. I despise assembling and painting these damned minis.

I am a fantastic painter, and it is my favorite part of the hobby, so i would not buy pre painted minis.

Also, i wouldn't want a bunch of 80 year old chinese women painting all of our warhammer and trippling the price. Those of you who know about Rackham will undersatnd what i mean.

No way in the Warp. It would turn 40k from a hobby to a mere game.

I would buy them for my normal troops as I play Iguard and painting hundreds of guardsmen for hours on end coupled with my painting disability leaves me literally in a painting depression followed by rage

At one of my LGS there are a few shelves with pre-owned minis. Basically you can sell your minis to them and they will sell on thier pre-owned shelf. Most of theese are painted, some to a good standard. These minis, like those on eBay, are cheaper, however i much prefer buying my own rather than rpe-owned ones, especilaly from eBay because you dont really know what your getting. However if the models are expensive from GW, i may buy these, though i normally do this from Amazon.

That would ruin a third of what Warhammer is. Build, Paint, Play... without the painting!

sdf boy wrote:where is the "I would buy them and then strip them" option?

Indeed! A quick bath of simple green fixes all!

Honestly, I buy pre-painted stuff all the time. Ebay is great for getting cheep minis with horrendous paint jobs. Just drop it in the bath, pull it out in a day or two and start over fresh :-P

NO, but I would rather see some one put those on the tabletop than some paintjob.

No I wouldn't buy them. Most of the fun for me comes from me painting (No matter how poor my painting skills are)

EBAY!

I hate painting, but to my friends and the people in my area it's not very important. I wouldn't buy them over anything else, but I think it would be nice. You wouldn't have to rush to finish painting your army before a tournament.

I wouldnt like it if GW did that.

Great for beginners and non-painters.

Im sure we all know at least 1 person who would benefit from them in all our gaming groups as painting its a popular deterant for a lot of potential gamers.

Yeay, I did a dry and serious paragraph!

Newt-Of-Death wrote:Great for beginners and non-painters.

Im sure we all know at least 1 person who would benefit from them in all our gaming groups as painting its a popular deterant for a lot of potential gamers.

I agree, but not just beginners, if they were basic colours, that you could paint a few extra details on I would be tempted to do mass infantry armies.

Pharcae wrote:more time spent painting = higher sense of accomplishment.
No time spent painting = no sense of accomplishment.

Therefore: prepainted minis get no love from me.

+1

it would lose the soul of the whole hobby if the made prepainted minis

I wouldn't mind some painted figures as long as would be some elites or something lik a command, vanguard veterans, stern guard or HQ units like an Avatar, Eldrad, Dante etc.

I buy prepainted only to strip them and repaint!

I would not. There are many other games in the universe that already have pre-painted figures. GW games appealed to me for the opportunity to not only game, but also to create an army that was different from anyone else's.

if they where cheaper i would... and then maybe strip them and paint my own scheme on, lol..

It would make me hate GW even more if they added pre-painted models though.. -.-

I would not mind SOME pre-painted, but not all of them.
The Pre-Assembled I would like to see it some of the Vehicles, Mostly Rhinos, Chimarias, and Valks.

What if you could custom pick the paint scheme via some sort of ordering program, like you pick 3 color paint scheme for custom orders. I think that would extradite the people that'd play or at least make people with disposable income able to take their armies to competitions because of the whole stigma about bringing non painted models.

However this would raise the price and since they are going to rise their prices anyways I dont think anyone would want to use that anyways.

if games workshop did this, id start playing warmachine seriously pre painted minis are more toys than miniatures

THIS ANGERS LUDD, IMO the main reason I play 40k is for the painting and modeling, to whatever standard, its all good...

I wouldn't buy them personally, but I do see their advantages. My feeling is that painting/modelling is the other half of the hobby and pre-painted minis take away from the whole experience. But then again, I see someone like my brother's point of view where he would love to play but has no inclination to pick up a paintbrush.

No way would I buy those. It takes away a lot form the hobby, and you would get plenty of hollow comments on how nice they look when you did nothing.

how about pre primed?

i hate priming my minis its boooooooooooooooring

95% of the fun is building and painting your own miniatures
Getting to show your own work, is its own reward and i love hearing people say wow you painted that?...

I wouldn't buy them and would worry about where the hobby was going if they started selling them. I have bought figures already painted though, but I liked the standard and they were cheap. Pre-painted stuff will all be the same and undoubtedly more expensive.

This is my reaction when i see cheap models for sale.
"Must add tooo collection...."

I personally paint my own miniatures and prefer it that way but I would purchase these models if they released them. Of course there would be one caveat.... their level of painting. I do not want dry brushed drek and globs of flesh paint on the board. They'd have to be a decent level of painting.

The reason why I say that I would purchase pre-painted models is because I simply do not have the time to paint all the armies I'd like to. Even being able to purchase a 1000 point army would serves its purpose allowing me to continue painting what I truely want to concentrate on. It would be also good for doing those kill team drones etc.

If I see marines I go giddy with exicement as I want to add more to my collection as I will take them strip them and rebuild them myself. and there you go A new badass marine.

I would hate this.

40k is about the hobby as much as it is the game.

A well painted and assembled army is as respectable as a tactically superior army.

Games Workshop would never do this. It would cost them more money because they wont be selling all the hobby supplies.

Smitty0305 wrote:I would hate this.

40k is about the hobby as much as it is the game.

A well painted and assembled army is as respectable as a tactically superior army.

Games Workshop would never do this. It would cost them more money because they wont be selling all the hobby supplies.

uhh we are talking about would you buy it if it was onsale and not being sold by GW. Not that.

I've bought stuff off eBay but usually respray it and start again.

I would not buy them and hate their existence.

I do buy painted miniatures from eBay, but never because of the paint job but because it is the miniature that I want and this happens to be the auction I am winning. Sometimes I really like the paint job and other than touching up to tie it in with my existing army I'll leave it alone, but that is a rare situation and generally occurs when I am purchasing a group of miniatures. The majority of the "pre-painted" miniatures I buy wind up in the Simple Green bucket.

I would hate their existence for reasons I won't post here. But trust me, I would. A lot.

Not pre-painted, but pre-primed would be nice. Not sure how it would work though

what i like about GW doing unpainted stuff is that you can make a unique army and customise it as much as you want

Prepainted miniatures? Blasphemy!!

Seriously though kinda means everyones army is just all the same, wheres the fun in that? A great deal of the enjoyment is the painting for me

Im not shore. pre made models would only be an option for me if they had colour scemes i liked. if not no. I also think that half the hobby is the painting if not more. pre made models effectivly steels the enjoyment of the hobby

Having some of the base work done for me would be a help, I would want to add the details though. In order to be prepainted though, they'd have to be made of that plastic/rubber stuff that Mage Knight was made of, and I would not like that at all.

I think prepainted minis would be good for kids ect who i wouldn't trust with a hobby knife or paintbrush!
I wouldn't do it myself but yeah, go for it if you're lazy!

Painting is the most important aspect of the hobby to me.

I'd buy pre-painted models because i dislike painting but only if I actually like the paint scheme which might be rare depending on the army.

That would ruin the hobby

*WE ARE ARTISTS! * LOOK AT THIS SITE, MY NON WARGAMING FRIENDS HARDLY BELIEVE PEOPLE ACTUALLY PAINT THE IMAGES WITHIN! EVEN THE "7'S" ARE OFTEN INCREDIBLE.

WOULD YOU REALLY CONSIDER GIVING ANY OF THIS UP? LOOK AROUND... PRE-PAINTED MODELS ARE AN INSULT TO US ALL.

Sorry for the all caps but I really feel strongly about this . As someone who took a 15 YEAR break from this hobby and now is totally happily back; I feel that many of you forget that the projects we complete are works of art!

(if you don't believe me go to a local art gallery and see what passes for "art" when you get home you will look at that lowly infantry squad with a smile on your face)

Hi all.

I was debating replying to this thread or not as I run the risk of being 'the Devil's Advocate' (cricket box on stand-by... ) as I have just started my own store on eBay selling (dun-du-du-dun) pre-painted models Pre-paint, if done well, would be good for new-comers (i.e kids with a low attention span) as it would preserve some of the model's original value and I wouldn't have to go through the pain of seeing £££'s of hard-working parent's money (not to mention awesome looking models) end up looking like they were self-portraits done by Mr. Picasso-Potato Head (harsh but in some instances fair).

First off in replying to OP: GW would never do this, but if they did, I personally wouldn't buy them for many reasons - mainly because I've always had a greater affinity for painting/modelling than I have for gaming, so to me P&M is king. If they did do them I can't see how they'd sell them/want to sell them cheaper and would have a hard time with models that looked like they came out of a Kinder Surprise (although if GW produced a chocolate egg with a random painted plastic, one-piece model inside for 80p, I think we'd all buy it ).

As a gamer I hardly ever saw a fully painted army, not playing in any tournaments & all, which I always found to be a great shame. I think there is a genuine need/desire for some people to buy pre-painted models (the 43% who would buy them seem to agree) and it irks me when I see badly finished, Army Painted (varnish dip and all - although if used correctly this can give quite a nice basic finish) models sell off eBay for 3-5 x their value +/-. As I'm new to painting and selling I'm still trying out varying ways to finish off the models to see what people go for/don't. It's tricky as I don't want to rip people off or under-sell my work. I feel for some people that they perhaps have the money but not the time, perhaps nor the skill, to finish off an army how they would wish. So if I can offer new, well finished, nicely painted models to them and sell them for 25-100+% more - I'd rather do that than see gaming tables populated by monotone models.

I am in a fortunate position at the moment as I have a lot of stuff I can paint/strip/repaint (to improve my skills/technique and speed) and re-sell which I have had for years, so the original model cost is not a major debebilitating factor to me and I'd be more than happy to break even at this point. Obviously this will change when I run out of stuff to paint (which will be in quite a while, hence no commissions as of yet) but hopefully I can offer my services as a paint-slave at a later date to supplement the costs of painting the shiny new models I really want to paint

I understand fully how militant some people feel, but when you consider the amount of unfinished models/armies you've seen vs. complete ones, if you're anything like me, then seeing a nicely finished, if quite simple, army is better than re-enactments with Mr. Black, Mr. Grey, Mr. White & Mr. Forever Incomplete, if at the cost of a few more $/£. Yes this is a hobby, above all, but to some it's more of a game, and others may yet (sadly) feel dis-heartened when they pick up a brush and stare at the 100 Guardsmen they have to paint, or are else just plain lazy - and for that they might well come to people like me. BWA-HA-HA-HAAA

Whenever I buy or barter for painted minis, all I can do is look at them and say 'feth, i can do a way better job than this' and not even want to put them on the table for fear my opponent will think I painted them.

Any type of mini that came prepainted would not be to a standard I would be comfortable playing with, and if they were, they would not be at a price I would consider.

warpcrafter wrote:No, because then it would be a sign that they are taking even more options out of the codexes. If this happens, they might as well make 40K a Milton-Bradley board game with all the rules and army lists on the inside of the box lid.

I somehow doubt this, they don't have models for a large number of things that are in the codices. No reason the prepainted ones couldn't be the same way.

Pre painting the minis would neuter the hobby for me. I would probably quit.

I'd get prepainted miniatures for the models that are just a pain in the rear to paint (im looking at you Harlequins). It doesnt help that I suck at painting aswell.

If they were painted well and in my colour scheme, yes I would but otherwise, no

no, because i like painted my self.

If they look good I may consider. Personally, if I didn't have the time to paint an army, I'd buy and build my own army, and commission someone to paint that, rather than just buy pre painted stuff on Ebay.

I'm not the best at painting and it takes me ages to get any units/armies completed but I really enjoy assembling and painting my miniatures. I wouldn't buy any pre-painted models but I could understand their existence, some people just don't have the time for painting.

I have too much pride in my painting, not that its amazing or anything.
Also painting is what first attracted me to the hobby.

If they are cheaper, sure! It's not that hard stripping painted models, but stripping down the price...

I would HATE them! I love painting and would hate to see only painted stuff.

No,never.

Painting them is just as important a part of the hobby as anything else.

Yup


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only if there good though

I am definitely in the hobby for painting. But I have no problem if other people just like to play the game and have no patience to paint 50 models.

personally, im a control freak. If it doesn't match up to my colour scheme and isn't painted by me in my way, I wouldn't buy.

Because, hey, half the hobby is YOU painting YOUR models, not buying somebody's already painted models.

Might buy the guys that will be the center of attention painted; at least until i get to a decent stage of painting.

As a general rule i prefer to make my troopers as custom as i can(my next Guardsmen group will be so custom they will have creativity falling out their ass) so if so the ONLY things i would buy would be things that would not be able to be customized with the tools given.

I would welcome the idea but thats because i am quite extreme in my opinion. I hate painting, I haven't got the skill or the time to do it and it's so painful because the models look awesome when painted to a high standard but I just can't hack painting. I would buy them as long as they looked good, and were not ridiculously expensive. However if GW were to switch completely that would be terrible as as much as I can't paint, I appreciate that for the vast majority of players painting is a huge part and painting adds a individuality to the models and you just have to look at the galleries to see the excellent stuff people create. I completely understand why people hate the idea, but for me it would be good. I am part of the hobby for the competitiveness and the social aspect and enjoy looking at models and playing games, painting for me is a hassle.

Other: No objection to them being available. Whether I would buy them or not would be completely dependent on cost & quality.

Nice idea for people who want to play but dont want to paint. Personally, I prefer the hobby over the game.

Not only would I not buy them, I would fume, fuss, cuss, and threaten illegal things to make them stop. Leave prepainted to others.

I don't care as I don't play 40k.

BUT, if I was to give a damn about this poorly done part of the wargaming hobby anymore I would happily buy prepainted and none prepainted models, because believe it or not people you can REPAINT a prepaint.

I've done it with war at sea
axis and allies
and star wars miniatures

for people without the time or patience they would be fine, and if they want they can try ad make time to redo them but not be afraid of having a none painted army

frankly the whole side of despising them with a passion and wishing them burned and never mentioned again and never playing with or against them reeks strongly of mouldy pathetic elitism that plagues 40k and makes it as appealing to new players as a vomit enema.

I would buy them for bulk miniatures, e.g Tyranid gaunts, But not for characters and small units, or things i want to convert =)

Takes the creativity out of it, i'm not the biggest painter, in fact i kind of dread it, but i'd hate prepainted minis

If accompanied by a sharp price decrease, I would happily buy them.

To me, this seems to come down to the hobbyist v. gamer debate.

Prepainted miniatures definitely lean more towards getting the gamer into the game and increasing their overall experience. I played AT-43 in the past because I doubted my painting skills and it was nice to pick up a box of something and immediately throw it on the table for play. Everyone I played with had a fully painted army and that was cool. Some guys stripped their stuff and painted it a unique scheme (like one of my best friends). Since I started 40K, I find myself more in line with the "gamer" mentality. Painting is nice, but I would much rather spend the hours I invest in assembly, priming, and painting actually playing the game. I have a very demanding job and it leaves me little time to sit down and actually paint my minis (makes me but gotta pay for my plastic crack like everyone else).

I have total respect for hobbyist folks because they have tremendous skill in converting/painting minis and it is something they enjoy. I personally think there is a middle ground for GW to come in at that caters to both the hobbyist and the gamer.

I had to vote for 'buy them, but paint more,' as I frequently use ebay as a cheaper alternative to GW, and oft time the models I purchase are prepainted.
That said, I do love panting up a model in a unique colour scheme, and to try my hand at painting challenging or fun models.

I would not like it and not buy them. GW is, and always has been, about building, painting and playing an army and to take that away would be wrong and totaly change what they do.

Fortunatly GW agree and would not do it. The cost would also be huge.

no sense of accomplishment if you've already purchased a finished mini, it's part of why i started on the tabletop version of WH40K

For me it's a silly idea, I can understand people being crap at painting, I'm not that amazing myself but I like sitting down at the end of a busy day at work, sticking some music on, and spend a few hours painting.

I'm only in it for the painting, I don't game, so pre-painted models are pointless haha

It would depend on the army. If, for some reason, I was struck with a great desire for a blood angels army, I'd say sure, sell me prepainted ones. One BA looks like another BA - painting them is mostly a craft, not an art. On the other hand prepainted orks would be heresy to me! Orks are supposed to look different - every army (and every ork) should be a work of art. That's why I actually don't like that they're filling in the ork line - you don't see the variety of crazy conversions you once saw, especially for vehicles.

Painting/modelling is too an integral part of the hobby for me so this is a big NO for me. But I would love if some of my grey/silvery/undercoated enemies bought them

I'd hate it, to be honest. Each figure I paint is a testimony to time and effort spent deciding on colours, building the model, painting the model, working on the model until I am happy with it. I use figure painting as a form of 'destressing'. It calms and relaxes me, gives me something to concetrate on other than things going on in my life. If GW switched to 'pre-painted' stuff... well I'd be rather confused. One of the points of Warhammer etc I've championed to friends who do not play is how much players are encouraged to be creative with their models (painting, modelling, conversions, backgrounds & stories etc). When I was a staff member for GW it was one of the angles I impressed upon the parents who were dubious about the hobby's 'credentials' (others include literacy, numeracy, social skills and to an extent it teaches patience) - they often just saw the hobby as playing with soldiers when there is actually quite a bit more to it.

Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked. Would I buy them? As my current army is a Forgeworld one, and I can't ever see Forgeworld going over to pre-painted models, I'd not really be affected but I would not be happy about it in general. Could even be the death of GW systems - as an ex-GW store staff member I'm very much aware of how proud gamers, young and old, are of the models after they've painted them, of being able to say "You see that? I did that. Thats my work. May not be 'Eavy Metal team standard but -I- did that." and I think the hobby would be worse off without that element, far, far worse off.

I'd probably buy pre-painted (if done to the level of AT-43, and not like HeroClix,) for mass choices like troops and common vehicles like Rhinos. Characters and smaller units I'd still want to paitn up myself.

No. The painting and model making element is the key factor for me. I would have no use for pre-painted models.

Boss Salvage wrote:HATE

- Salvage

We sure love to hate this, don't we boss?

It depends on the quality of the paint job one and also if you can tell them the colors you want them to paint the models that way you can still have unique armies. Also I would want them to still sell the unpainted models so a person had the option to paint so as not to lose the hobby aspect of the game but not get overwhelmed with the massive numbers of minatures (gaunts, org boys etc.).

i would activate a virus bomb in my house if i found a pre painted minature there, i wouldnt make a fuss if someone else used them on the tabletop, id just be really smug about it

It's not exactly my strong suit, but painting and modelling is the best part of the hobby for me. Being able to personalize my armies is the biggest appeal to me, and I'm also a major fan of some of the fluffier armies i.e. lesser known IG regiments or SM chapters, chaos warbands etc.

If GW did prepainted minis, It'd be ultramarines, Cadians and Black Legion

I'd imagine it would take all of the individualism out of the game.

Just having a look through the gallery and an gamesday entries and at it absolute greatest this hobby is an art, all that would be lost with pre-painted minis.

not to add to my exsiting army, the models would stick out as sore thumb and i hate in when you have different painting styles in the same army.

I may think about it if starting a new army though

I am buying some today, respray and repaint

You do mean preowned by this don't you?

I think they would fill a nice void for the players who don't care about painting. I would happily play a game against a pre-painted army, if it still looked good. Some players will always like customizing their army and painting to a "T", some do it only out of necessity. I say make it available, but not for me, I love the hobby too much!

Provided the quality was at least as good as mine (if Raff is a 10 I might be a 5) I would accept them. If it was somehow 'eavy metal/codex showcase quality, I might buy an HQ or Elite single model if they had a real close color scheme.
...jeez I can't imagine painting over work better than mine just to match colors, that would be intimidating.

Would they still come on a spru? I kind of enjoy the posing even more than painting for the customization and unique character you can create. If I only got the stock bolter across chest pose for tac squads no way would I but that.

Playing with 40k models painted to HeroClix standards would really take a lot away from the game.

Painting is a big part of the hobby (tm) for me. Playing the actual game is fun, but would probably not keep me around forever.

i think if GW were to do something like Dust Tactics i wouldnt have so much of an issue.

The starter models would be mostly assembled and primered in a different color per army and any models you buy out of individual boxes need assembly.

A bit more? All but one of the prepainted minis I have in my ork horde was repainted completely.

Painting & converting are the most important aspects of the hobby for me - so NO

Any one else remember hero clix? those models looked like butt. The pre painted models are done so badly, You would have to repaint them and convert them to make them look right. And who is painting them? Old eav'y metal? The guys that wanted to paint everything with bright gawdy colors? To end this whole thing. Lets all try and get rid of the three color minimum on most tournaments. Its a hobby, when you take hobby out of it, You are left with grown men standing over a table playing with GI JOEs. I can't think of what the world would be like if that happened.

Well, if they where pre painted, they would have to be pre assembled, wich means it's not a model building hobby, it's a collecting hobby, so i'm out. AND... it would make GW's high prices even higher. Short answer no (but mabey for whfb)

I doubt that they would make it so you couldn't by mini's unpainted (too much detail, that's what they are designed for), but it actually would be nice to see everybody's miniatures painted when I'm playing in public. Never going to happen though.

I had to put otherrr the question could have been a bit more specific for me.

Would I buy pre-painted miniatures if they were mass produced and shelved that way at my GW or LGS?
Probably not, if I did they'd best be paint-over-able because everyone's armies would look the same by default and it would suck, no doubt costing more too!

Would I buy pre-painted i.e commission based models to my specifications or a set that has been uniquely painted by someone else to be sold?
Yes to that I probably would, I like the idea of buying pre-painted to my specifications i.e Commissions for models I don't have the confidence to paint myself.

For me, it really depends on the quality.

"Clix" prepaints sucked, were badly sculpted and made from a poor material.

AT-43 prepaints were awesome, great sculpts, good material.

It's all down to the execution.