Poll suggested by Melchiour

Scary numbers. What do they say about the hoobyists as of now: are they young and impatient? Or lazy?

I voted 75%-100%, but only because my local place to play right now isn't technicaly a store, it is a private club where you have to pay monthly to be a member, and people there almost exclusively play with painted armies, because they mostly have fluff tournaments with extra restrictons and stuff like that. If I had to vote for my old FLGS, the amount of painted MINIATURES would be below 10% counting everyone playing there. It was downright sad. It is closed now and I have moved to a bigger city with much better gaming.

Since I only play during tournaments at my local store I would say 75-100 and soon I will be in that group!

At my local store, somewhere near 50%. We are working to increase that number, by including painting scores into tournament scores. It has encouraged several people who never paint thier armies to start painting.

Also we will begin a regular day every week for painting and modelling sessions at the store, giving people a place to learn techniques so they are not overwhelmed by the idea of painting thier models.

Hopefully the local armies will reach into the 50-75% margin soon.

I don't play in a store when the people with unpainted armies are around.

Everyone I play with in THAT store, though, has a painted army.

26-50% painted. Although I see some fully plastic armies.

-Ogryn

When I had a store there was only 2 guys that had fully painted armies (though I was a quick approaching third). We'd get about 20 people for tournaments so about 10% of the store. We had a third drift in and out and a fourth who showed up about once every other month, but its still firmly in that lower bracket.

76-100% at my FLGS. Most of them are not professionally painted armies (though in fairness, two of them play horde Orks), but pretty much everyone has at least a vast majority of their army painted. The few who don't have fully painted armies don't show up much, and have only recently gotten enough forces to play in the league to begin with.

I play against a lot of people who bought their armies in odd lots off of Ebay, and so they are usually poorly painted, non-matching and patched up. I am roundly reviled because nearly everything in my Ork army is entirely painted, or at least has basic colors. Haters gotta hate....

Wow. Looks like I'm lucky to have about 80% fully painted (or almost fully e.g. one model being currently painted). What's the point of buying an army if you're just going to play with it grey? The point of playing warhammer is that it looks at least partially realistic!

I only play with my fully painted army and I'm always a bit disappointed when I am given an opponent who isn't (Only 0-25% at my local GW are).

I think there is a lot of inpatience, but also some reticence. My brother is a great painter (probably 5-6/10 compared to the gallery here, but gets 'painter's block' a lot. He worries about not doing the job perfectly so never starts.

Well if I attended the troll hole that my UFLGS is I would say around 70%

I've never battled, just a painter so i put 0-25%

75.5% WHAT DO I DO?!

I joke.

Actually, I think I'm pretty lucky at my FLGS as almost all of the armies seen there, including mine, are fully painted. Even the ones that aren't are usually basecoated at least.

Less than 5%, and most of the rest are 50%+ proxied...

its hard to tell for my FLGS cause many people have multiple armies that come out to play pretty often, some armies are painted some are partially painted and some are all grey

I voted 26-50%, though quite a lot of the people at the FLGS (including me) are working on getting their models painted.

Seeing one that's painted with any effort at all is a rarity. A great deal of them don't have a drop on them. Not a single micron of pigment. Seriously, is it that hard to paint a miniature? I want my enemies to look good. Makes it more rewarding when I kill them.

I play in san Diego cal. My gaming group is almost 100% painted. I can't even think of one of our members that doesn't have a fully painted army. Well one guys isn't complete but that's just because he decided to change it. But his other armies are fully painted. As far as the store I'm not sure. I don't play in there leagues anymore.

No FLGS, but we do have a group that meets once a month. There's only a couple of us with fully painted armies.

I play at the GW HQ at Lenton, Nottingham, and although I don't go nearly as often as I'd like, I'd say the majority of players (usually aged 10 - 16) do not play with fully painted armies, or even armies which are painted at all!

You get the odd player turn up with a really good, fully painted army, but thats rare in my experience. I actually refuse to play with anyone who has not painted their whole army to a good standard...I've spent the time and effort to paint mine, why should I play with people who are too lazy??? Therefore I usually just play with my brother, who has the same thinking as me.

I voted for 75%

I'm shocked that the results are mostly below 50%. It's a shame that there are so many unpainted armies out there.

I actually haven't played a game at my FLGS yet, but honestly, if I find that most people there don't paint their minis, i'd rather play most games against my friends' nearly fully painted army.

It's a shame that there are so many unpainted armies out there

I voted <25% because most of the people who play in my local GW have mainly painted armies with a few unpainted or unfinished units/models for a given army at any given time. But I'd guess over 75% of models fielded tend to be painted to at least a basic standard (including those of most of the children who hang around in the holidays).

I chose 26 - 50, just because because before I quit ages ago, all the kids, had half painted, or painted armies that were just a blob of paint of their choice of colour. 17 now but I have only just got back into the hobby and haven't been to my local GW yet.

As a technicality, 0%. That's due to the fact that about everyone has a few/bunch of miniatures unpainted.
Realistically seen, it's about 60% of all models total and ever increasing since even the kids get good due to various painting tips, but some of the tournament players hardly paint their stuff at all which drags the total score down somewhat. As I only started Orkz myself recently I'm not really contributing much yet to the total score

Im lucky the norwich games workshop rule is and i quote: if you do not paint somthing you are NOT allowed to battle no matter how much you bribe us with food. also no food at the tables!

P.S: real hobbyists don't sit in a battle think about that. Also i used to spend 5 minutes painting a space marine but when i start my tyranid army im gunna take so much time, effort and sweat into every model i'll be dead by the time im done!








Make a poll for the choice if you like the new allies rule or not pleeeeaaassse i wanna see what other people think of it!

While most armies aren't completely painted (some having almost no painted models), it takes time to fully paint an army. Yes, I prefer to play against a fully painted army and field one myself. However, I'm not gonna be picky and say I won't play you because your army isn't painted, at least the first time or two (taking into account why it's not painted).

If you show at least some progress on your army, even if it's just one model a week, I have no problems with your army being unpainted. If a month or more goes by, and there's no progress on your army, then I might have a problem, unless something came up that prevented you from doing any painting.

Some people really don't have the time to paint their models, but really enjoy the game (though rarely getting to play due to their busy schedule).

Also, you have the new gamers that just dropped $300-$400 into the models for their army, built them, and want to play their army right away. I have no problems with that either, just the next time we play, have a model or 2 painted to show that you're not just gonna leave it grey.

I've been into the game for a little over a year now, and just played my first games with a fully painted army this past Saturday. However, I've always shown a little progress on painting each time out. Not to mention the fact that I've started 3 armies since starting my Raven Guard and have painted some on each army (4 if you count the Chaos Marine army I started on, then gave to my sister since she wanted to get into it).

There are many reasons why one may not have their army painted. I try to take into account why one's army isn't painted before I say no to a game with them (which, BTW, I have never said no to a game due to issues with a non-painted army).

ted1138 wrote:
Less than 5%, and most of the rest are 50%+ proxied...

ohh god..........

I don't get to play as often as I'd like but when I'm gaming, or even just wandering through an event I figure it's prolly about 50% complete painted armies about 25% partialy painted armies and the other 25% are grey or only base coated.

Friendly games generally 3 colored. Tourneys at the Memphis battle bunker are minimumed 3 colours with some consistency, some conversion work for a bonus. Yes, it is the main store for America. Yes, it's going through a rebirth to be like GW world in the UK.... No bugman's bar. So yes, they hold their competitive players to a higher standard. And in a up side to painting the store manager and the art manager are golden demon winners so getting painting advice is easy.

Not everyone has time to paint their armies where I play, and that's ok. We encourage players to paint their models. Me, I have a mostly grey primed guard army that I would love to paint..but there's always more waiting to be assembled. There really isn't enough time in a day. When you have horde orc players who have to spend exorbitant amounts of time converting tanks to looted wagons or something interesting into more orc crap, you have to realize that not every army is a 40 model space marine army. The problem at my FLGS is that all the players are older and have jobs, so meeting up is hard enough. Being paint nazis will only hurt matters in a game that is hard to keep players as it is.

I guess 100%. Every time i go to the local GW i see people play with fully painted armies. But i've been there like 5-10 times now XD.

My FLGS has probably 70% painted armies and Im surprised so many other people have much lower numbers. I get some people are just getting into the hobby or buy their models "in bulk" so they have a lot to paint, but really, what is the point of getting into the hobby if you're not going to paint it! You might as well just be playing chess or some strategy video game where you can play without worrying about looks.

I think about 20% at my FLGS have their army painted. Sadly I'm part of the 80%. It's just hard to find time to sit down and paint EVERYTHING. there are some guys that have had the same stuff unpainted since I started playing back in March. My goal is to have all my stuff painted by Christmas.

Very few armies are fully painted no matter where I go. Mine included!

My usual group of friends has all painted armies, but I tried playing with some guys at school (back in HS) and there were a ton of unpainted models, it's not as fun to play against an army of gray plastic, or an army of black spray paint.

My 40k one is, but I am ashamed to say that my VC are rather lackluster. I have the big stuff donw just not the core troops.

It's sad, but only 2, mine and another, out of about 30 gamers armies are painted in my area.

1 and its mine :( i play with competitive donkey-caves that only care about what models to run, not how cool there stuff looks :/
I take that back, there is one other guy that shows up maybe twice a year that has 3 or 4 fully painted/based companies of Ultramarines. last time he came we played a 6k game with one restriction: models must be completely painted and based...for reference, i play with about 30ish people in 2 separate groups.

Thats one thing i don't like about my FLGS, all the armys are black and primed, no colour

Altough most guys at my FLGS don't have FULLY painted armies, almost everyone is on their way to get their minis painted. Hey, you want to play a few good games, but you don't want to spend every last minute of spare time you have on it for a couple of weeks, then go ahead. But at least show your opponent that you actually are painting your army. At my FLGS, no one plays with totally unpainted models.

I was surprised at the low painted results of this poll. The store I play at has a lot of painted armies.

The majority of the armies are painted, and there's little proxying...

I'm a slow painter/assembler... so I tend to play almost the same list over and over... too embarrassed to play unpainted models ><

888th vote, HELL YEAH

I joined a Wargaming Club years ago and it was the best thing I ever did in the hobby. We are based at a FLGS, but everyone and I mean Everyone, (and we have 50 members) has painted armies. We allow primed armies, but you never seem them more than twice because everyone gets them painted in double quick time. Most of us have 4-5 armies plus in many different systems.

So the bottomline is, if you like playing games with like minded people, and you like painted armies join a Wargames Club, rather than just playing at a FLGS.

I find for most players in my area that armies are like artwork:

Never finished, just abandoned.

Most armies are 50-75% painted, but hardly ever get finished as the owner moves on to a new project.

The only armies that are ever truly fully painted are all commision work.

One of the guys at my local store has a really fun house rule he likes to use: "All fully painted squads have the Hatred USR against any squad that is not fully painted"

makes it nice since that means it is usually 2 fully painted armies which make it a much better game IMO.

Counting all the games played, next to none.

I'll never field a fully painted army. I've got 9 armies for 40k, 7 for Warmachine, Infinity, Pulp City Heroes, Malifaux, 4 Blood Bowl teams, Dreadball, and 4 for WHFB. I don't even know how to play WHFB. I've also got minis to paint for Super Dungeon Explore, and Zombicide. I've got Relic Knights on the way, and plan to start Arkham City miniatures game, along with Vikings for Saga, and a sick gladitorial game that I saw on facebook. The flames of war crowd are trying to pull me in to that too. I'm in the playtest group for Shadowrun:Sprawl Gangers, so I'll get that when it comes out as well. So, yeah...never.

Low numbers is not necessarily mean people don't paint/field painted armies (it does say FULLY painted armies, not a fully painted army used)... At my FLGS, almost everyone who does have large painted armies are also fielding new units, finishing up new conversions, redoing counts as and adding in a new display level model, etc. Its pretty rare for any of use to field an army without a couple WIP/new models on the field.

Heck, I have 9 main armies: Almost two battle companies of Ultramarines 13K+ points (85% painted above a table top standard), Dark Angels successor 3K+ points (90% painted), Black Templar 3k ish (fully painted), Grey Knights 1.5k (50% painted), Tau 4k+ (75% painted), Pardus Armour 2.5K (fully painted), Tanith 1st (0% painted), Orks 4kish (10% painted), CSM 4k+ (80% painted), Space Wolves 1.5k (fully painted).

So of my nine, 3 are painted (33%).... yet you want to tell me that owning 28,200 points of painted models is bad for the hobby and I'd either laugh at or slug you depending on the situation.

In my FLGS it would be about 10% if that. This is due to a varriety of reasons:
-too many armies for one guy to paint
-beginner/ just getting into the games system
-not sure how to paint something
-army is constantly growing and so always has unpainted unit/model
-never paints anything
-borrwoing models from somewhere else as proxy for another model

I can see the validity of many of these reasons but it cna be a bit depressing to see your (crusade painted to the best of your abilities) charge into a sea of grey plastic and lose. I mean people call me lazy 'coz my BT army barely reaches the 3 colour minimum in our local GW but no paint on any of your miniatures is a disgrace. I can see why people don't have fully painted armies but an apocalypse battle report with loads of unpainted models isn't as cinematic and cool as one with all painted models. This is why I have my own club with 30 or so like minded individuals.

 chromedog wrote:
I don't play in a store when the people with unpainted armies are around.

Everyone I play with in THAT store, though, has a painted army.

Such an elitist statement that makes me feel sad.

A lot of us that paint our armies and bring them to tournament really influences other players with non painted minis to get theirs up to speed. Sometimes you got a new army you want to try out but you dont have the figs painted yet. its ok to take your time IMO. I care less about painted armies when I'm playing the game. More about the fun of the game itself. I paint for my own pleasure and game for my own pleasure and let others get theirs how they want. To be such elitist bastards as to refuse to play with others because they lack the speed, skill, or desire to paint their own like your somehow better than they?

Turn up your nose at someone vs inspiring them to do more is strait crap.

When i see just a spray primer army i don't think "yay gonna have a battle" i think "my army is going up against mannequins?"

It depends on your gaming group. Take Reaper Warlord, for example, due to their liberal policy, you will not find more than 10% painted. In another group for HGB, since the requirement is an fully painted army, everyone brings an fully painted one, either by burrowing or being commissioned.

My FLGS only boasts about 25-50 at any given point. We have a few vets that have had the same painted army for years and many of us just started playing/painting just a year ago. I have had a few painted armies but have sold them off. Now I keep acquiring new things and picking up new games here and there so being able to focus on just one task is somewhat difficult (shiny new model syndrome). Some of the locals have also started asking me to paint some of their things so finding the time for mine is tough. I also found that when I moved from an area that was mainly 40k to an area that is exclusively WHFB the desire to paint my own stuff went down since finding a 40k player here was like finding a leprechauns pot or gold strapped to a Unicorns back.

Since I only go to a GW since it's one of the biggest battlebunkers in the country, I find about 50% have there armies finished. I myself will never play a game without a 100% fully painted army, I feel half the fun is having that army wonderfully painted, but I never feel happy with my models when there painted :( I always feel like I could of painted them better ect.

Battles with two (or more) fully painted armies are the best! People should ask if its ok that they play unfinished (glued/painted), most players won't be jerks about it.

its just like "dude fething paint your guys"

My Slaanesh marines and some guy with Iron Warriors are the only painted armies out of basically everyone

It is a bit sad to see so much not painted at the local store <25%.

For me models at home to fully painted is around 3% but I manage to have enough fully painted for 2500 pts of marines. I am in no position to complain due to my collection problem.

I feel it important to see opponents there and comment on changes getting those models that next step closer. It is nice to see the evolution of the army (preferably not the stagnation).

One guy has Grey Knights and he got the etched brass and a few FW parts. His painting is so clean you could cut yourself on it. I hate him so, but it is pure hard work and HOURS he spends. I point to him as the brute force approach that works.

I think that well painted miniatures go a long way in enjoying the game rather than "toy models" being pushed around. It adds to that immersion. I said it before and will say it again: pure thinking and tactics game in abstract is chess, 40k is a "fluff" game where using approximate (proxi-mate? pun..) miniatures hurts the game. Chess or checkers I can replace pretty much anything and is no big deal.

A little under half are painted at my FLGS.

I voted 51-75 because I mainly play with friends... And I don't paint much because my room is to cold (lame excuse I know).
But the ones that are painted and 'completed' are amateur jobs...

Voted 26-50%.
The group I play with suffer the same problem I do, we've played 40k for a lot of years (15+) and have a lot of armies (I have 8). GW keep adding new models/units and there is never enough time to play or paint. Thus some are more painted than others.
Friends don't care how much is painted as long as progress is being made and I avoid troll caves (tournaments) like the plague. If a sense of fair play and sportsmanship isn't involved - then neither am I.

In this day and age of coloured primer and dip there really is no excuse

I love these threads that draw out the elitists who love to look down their noses at the unwashed masses.

Almost all of them are painted for me.

At my local club very few tend to be fully painted and the ones that are, are usually painted to a very poor standard.

At Dark Sphere, around 95%. Some of them beautiful, put ours to shame.

At the local GW, around 40%.

One time in the GW store in Hull, there was another Nid player who not only had all his army unpainted, his Hive tyrant had blank arm sockets, with the weapons just sitting on the base.

I'd rather lose than have an army that looks like crap. Seriously. And if another army kicks my ass, and the person who owns it has taken lots of care so it looks beautiful, then I'm happy. It shows they've put some care into it, not just some money.

I play in a really relaxed FLGS, and most of the participants are fairly new (12-18 months on the game). While that is enough time to paint an army, the people I play with are more concerned with gaming. I'm one of the newest in the community and I have more fully painted models than most others. Every week there is more color on the tables, though, so we're working on it!
I like to make sure that I play with orks that are at least primed and green, even if nothing else is painted. Green tide doesn't work if it's actually gray.

There are a couple of guys that are seasoned vets that have *some* models primed. It's upsetting to see that.

 djones520 wrote:
I love these threads that draw out the elitists who love to look down their noses at the unwashed masses.

Rather "Troll" way of stating things.
Drawing all kinds of writing on my BT Elite terminators shoulder pads has made me half blind.
Considering I looked down my nose for hours (days? weeks? months?) at my models while painting, it may be a habitual thing.
It is not my problem if you do not know how to apply a wash to your masses of unpainted models.

Sounding smug and condescending is a great way to make a liability look like an asset!
<<edit>> BTW you too can join the elites: get brush, paint, some water... GET PAINTING YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

 djones520 wrote:
I love these threads that draw out the elitists who love to look down their noses at the unwashed masses.

Shouldn't that be unpainted masses.

About half where I play are painted. They are either 100% done or all grey plastic usually. Not many inbetween.

Actually at my shop over half the armies are fully painted. Which is humorous as in my own group of players it is quite the opposite.

If our main group....
-We have a Tau player that has fully painted his army but has a very low model count as he easily gets bored building.
-2 new Necron players that is debating how to paint them (you in a month ago)
-A CD/Nids/Eldar player that has varying stages of painted. He has laveshly painted CD but only 10 models, Nids that are varying stages of completed (20 hormogaunts he bought a week ago not done, 18 term I gaunts primed, and then a bunch of varying completed pains, and Eldar which he just got)
-An IG/DA/DE/SM player that has troubles sticking to an army. IG in varying stages of done as he repaints them different colours, halfway done DE he never got around to finishing, and DA that are almost all painted.
-new ork player who is busy converting and building
-myself playing IG/CSM/SM/CD. My daemons are in varying stages MC not done yet but all 40 troops almost finished. IG halfway done, CSM only 11 painted, SM only 4 finished. My big problems are one, I never cared for painting. It was always my least liked part of art. Two, I struggle with painting and struggle with a fear of messing up. A single marine tends to take me a few hours as I go through detailing it more and more. Along with that it takes me a long time to think up a paint scheme as only one of my armies has a paint scheme down and the only Days Daemon models done are the generic ones that are always this or that colour

I'm aiming to get my FoW army painted for an upcoming campaign, but because I've got a full time job and about 200 mini's to paint I suspect I'll be starting only partially painted though I'll hopefully have them completed before the campaign is over.

In our club, I'd say about 50% of the stuff is painted, but I think that's mostly down to the majority of the members being 30+ and having other commitments as well as hobby butterfly syndrome. Having a single low model count army painted is easy, having a horde army of a myriad of armies for different systems painted is a whole new ball game.

Being honest though, as long as I can tell what they are I don't really care if they are painted or not. The only reason I'm keen on getting my FoW painted is so that it'll look good in the campaign blog. I do generally aim for at least primed, which isn't too bad since I use coloured primers. I'd get nowhere if I had to start with white minis...

This is hard, My army isn't 100% FULLY PAINTED so I don't think I'm able to say yes. My army is almost completely painted, I'd say 95%. You should've asked...Like What percent of the armies in your FLGS is 90% or more painted.

There is one ork player that has everything painted, although to a basic three up standard. But still, that's admirable as there are
a ton of orks.

Other than him my own SM army is the only army with the majority of models painted. I'm still working to finish everything in my army.

At mine, granted I've only been a few times as I am new, but every army had been mostly painted.

0% at the troll lair (FLGS). It makes no sees for players there to paint anything when they have to change armies every time the new WAAC list comes out.

 EldarN00b wrote:
Scary numbers. What do they say about the hoobyists as of now: are they young and impatient? Or lazy?

More like there is an obsession with winning. several people in my area will sell off thier plastic armies once the stopping winning (the majority of games) to buy the best new one.

I was the only eldar player in my area for years since 3rd edition untill now....3 guys sold thier armies to buy eldar so they could win. Only one will lift a finger to paint fully the other 2 will paint 3 colors and flock, if we're lucky. kinda sad really

Our local store isn't Games Workshop it's called Črna Luknja (Black Hole) in Slovenia and almost all armies are coloured.

ted1138 wrote:
Less than 5%, and most of the rest are 50%+ proxied...

That's a bummer!

I'm not a master painter, and I know this from looking online. But if people from my area don't start painting their armies, I might get delusional that I'm actually good at this. Honestly; time and time again, whenever i play against my friends or see other people gaming nearby, my army would put theirs to shame. Armies are regularly grey, or spattered sloppily with one or two different colours of paint. In fact, half way through a game models will sometimes just fall apart on the board; as if the lack of paint was bad enough.
OK: rant over.

My local gaming shop is shocking with the amount of unpainted models.
I've seen one guy who bought a tac squad box and used the bases in a game to bulk up his army when he was short of points. He then spent the game slowly building them when ever it wasn't his turn. Although at the least the rest of his army was built.

My local gw ran a lotr campaign at easter. 1 point a game played, 3 extra for winning it. 10 for having a fully painted force. Uptake was good, lots of players got involved.
I came second after only winning 2 games in 4 months (yeah i know, I suck), but my placing was due to the fact I had the only painted army.
The campaign was one where each months the points go up, but at 250 points in the first month, that works out at about 12/13 men, there wasn't much of an excuse to get your 3 colours on. One player had 3 models in his 3rd month force . . .

I remember a time where the same shop had a no non-painted model rule.

Most of the armies in my GW store are at least basecoated.

Kontakt wrote:
Not everyone has time to paint their armies where I play, and that's ok. We encourage players to paint their models. Me, I have a mostly grey primed guard army that I would love to paint..but there's always more waiting to be assembled. There really isn't enough time in a day. When you have horde orc players who have to spend exorbitant amounts of time converting tanks to looted wagons or something interesting into more orc crap, you have to realize that not every army is a 40 model space marine army. The problem at my FLGS is that all the players are older and have jobs, so meeting up is hard enough. Being paint nazis will only hurt matters in a game that is hard to keep players as it is.

Ork crap?ORK CRAP!*DAKKA*UNORKASY!

Not painting your models should be made into a crime

I went with the 75 to 100 cat. On the basis I've never seen an unpainted army playing in the shop but I don't play there myself but am about it quite a bit

Unless they are new. or the army is just getting started, the army is usually painted. but people don't care in the end long as you are a good player (in attitude)

Some people may just prefer gaming, but my games are much more fun against fully painted armies, especially when hours and hours have gone into individual models.

In my local club and store I haven't seen a single fully painted army yet.

For some, this is simply a game and painting is not interesting at all.
Each to his own, as they say...

Sadly my FLGS falls in the under 25%. Lots of Great Grey Plastic armies of various race and faction. Its sad but you cant exactly force other people to paint their models

Call me snooty, but I refuse to play against armies with less than 1/3 painted (first day players are not included) I play at three stores in Louisville and have only seen two people with un painted armies and they were painting them as I played.

I have brought 5 un painted marines to a table before (due to some huge mix up on my part) and apologized for like the first half of the game >.>

Edit, I got halfway through my thought and then stopped 0.o

I think its kinda rude to go to a game shop and play with people who are gonna spend time and money to paint and model these little plastic men and creatures, read rules and rules and rules to just have them play against someone to lazy to spray paint a sprue, and add two other colors (atleast!) to their little plastic men/creatures.

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
Call me snooty, but I refuse to play against armies with less than 1/3 painted (first day players are not included) I play at three stores in Louisville and have only seen two people with un painted armies and they were painting them as I played.

I have brought 5 un painted marines to a table before (due to some huge mix up on my part) and apologized for like the first half of the game >.>

Edit, I got halfway through my thought and then stopped 0.o

I think its kinda rude to go to a game shop and play with people who are gonna spend time and money to paint and model these little plastic men and creatures, read rules and rules and rules to just have them play against someone to lazy to spray paint a sprue, and add two other colors (atleast!) to their little plastic men/creatures.

And the opposite argument, of course, is that, as you said, it's a game. It's not about being lazy, I think, it's simply that people want to play rather than spending hours upon hours painting.

Personally, while I appreciate seeing a fully painted army, I don't really care that much. I also don't insist that, when playing chess, my opponent must use hand-cast and painted pieces.

f2k wrote:

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
Call me snooty, but I refuse to play against armies with less than 1/3 painted (first day players are not included) I play at three stores in Louisville and have only seen two people with un painted armies and they were painting them as I played.

I have brought 5 un painted marines to a table before (due to some huge mix up on my part) and apologized for like the first half of the game >.>

Edit, I got halfway through my thought and then stopped 0.o

I think its kinda rude to go to a game shop and play with people who are gonna spend time and money to paint and model these little plastic men and creatures, read rules and rules and rules to just have them play against someone to lazy to spray paint a sprue, and add two other colors (atleast!) to their little plastic men/creatures.

And the opposite argument, of course, is that, as you said, it's a game. It's not about being lazy, I think, it's simply that people want to play rather than spending hours upon hours painting.

Personally, while I appreciate seeing a fully painted army, I don't really care that much. I also don't insist that, when playing chess, my opponent must use hand-cast and painted pieces.

How many hours does it take to paint three colors?

Spray painting sprues takes me 20-30 to do three boxes of tactical marines (that is all time put into it, set up, air drying and pack up)

It would take no time to paint the helmets, or shoulders a color and then the bolter/weapon

I can understand if you just got this new army and wana play with it right now! thats cool, but months of an unpainted army are irritating.

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:

f2k wrote:

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
Call me snooty, but I refuse to play against armies with less than 1/3 painted (first day players are not included) I play at three stores in Louisville and have only seen two people with un painted armies and they were painting them as I played.

I have brought 5 un painted marines to a table before (due to some huge mix up on my part) and apologized for like the first half of the game >.>

Edit, I got halfway through my thought and then stopped 0.o

I think its kinda rude to go to a game shop and play with people who are gonna spend time and money to paint and model these little plastic men and creatures, read rules and rules and rules to just have them play against someone to lazy to spray paint a sprue, and add two other colors (atleast!) to their little plastic men/creatures.

And the opposite argument, of course, is that, as you said, it's a game. It's not about being lazy, I think, it's simply that people want to play rather than spending hours upon hours painting.

Personally, while I appreciate seeing a fully painted army, I don't really care that much. I also don't insist that, when playing chess, my opponent must use hand-cast and painted pieces.

How many hours does it take to paint three colors?

Spray painting sprues takes me 20-30 to do three boxes of tactical marines (that is all time put into it, set up, air drying and pack up)

It would take no time to paint the helmets, or shoulders a color and then the bolter/weapon

I can understand if you just got this new army and wana play with it right now! thats cool, but months of an unpainted army are irritating.

For someone who don't like painting the answer is simply "too long".

That's it, really. Some people just don't like painting. And I'm not going to force them to do something they don't like. I'd rather spend my time gaming than arguing about whether or not the models should be painted.

I guess, I can understand wanting to just play, and I hope you could understand not wanting to settle and Just play.

An unpainded opposing army makes my painted army look REALY good.

Most people here have multiple armies with there main one painted but the others grey or in progress. So on general play dayes around 26-50% there will be painted.

On tournament days its more like 76-100%. Getting extra score for a painted army motivates people aswell to start painting.

just last week I managed to fully PRIME my army.

Hey, it's a start... I have a good 40% painted. All the big vehicles, basic Infantry, special characters. The rest are all Zombies but I've made it my goal to have a new unit painted up every game, since I only play every other week now.

My schedule doesn't allow me to paint much. And I haven't even STARTED on the Orks (of which I have hundreds)

When I do get something painted however, I do feel overly accomplished. "Hey Honey! I just painted 16 Plague Marines in one day!"

And my girlfriend just looks up from her cellphone to give me that disinterested 'that's nice' look.

I put 0-25% because it specifically says FULLY painted -- I took that to mean "I have nothing left to paint in this army." Although on further though, maybe that's completed, not fully painted. I myself have never played a completed army -- there's always at least a unit or two that only have 2-3 colors on them that I haven't finished yet.

At my FLGS about half the people have painted armies except for models they may have bought that day and assembled at the store ( this is most often 'jacks and solos). I play with a fully painted army whenever I can, occasionally if I just got a new unit or solo it isn't painted but I strive to have my models look like more than pieces of plastic/metal. My painting isn't very good, but I try to make them presentable.

I refuse to play anybody with an unpainted army, unless of course it's a dear friend or we are just messing around with rules etc. in fact it was almost 6 months before i even played my first 40k game brcause i thought youd get seriously vibed or even werent allowed to play unpainted units!I spend too much time and care painting my army to be table wiped by some smug jerk that pulled a tournament list off bols. I just cut it out of my life, and the game is more fun when you've got two great looking armies battling it out. That's warhammer.
BB

Probably about 75%, they are a hardworking bunch at GE Pasadena, I regularly play with about 5 different guys, 4 of them have immaculately painted armies, and one is a little sloppy, but still more than three colors.

I do see some gray plastic knocking about, but it's not as common as you might think.

Just another reason I have enjoyed the move over here.

As far as I've seen. the majority of those armies at the store I go to are painted. unless they are new.

Even those who constantly swap around armies take some degree of time to paint them.

The largest armies are for the most part uniform.

Unfortunately, most of the models I see at my local store, Games Workshop Bowie, are unpainted. Those of us who do paint our models do so with devotion, but most of the customers in the current community there simply don't paint.

Nearly every Saturday there's a massive Apocalypse 40K battle at the store and the huge game table is crammed with hundreds of models of all types and sizes. Most of them are not painted.

At my FLGS, I would say around 20% of the 40K armies are fully painted and maybe 60-70% of the fantasy armies are fully painted. This is of course to the degree of point values agreed upon. If every game was 500 points, everyone has 100% and decreases as you go up.

If an army isn't fully painted we'd make them take a points penalty. Like 100 to 150 less for the unpainted army. I play at GW so the army's have to be painted.

Just about 100%, not including me.

I try to play with a painted army, but every now and then a "grey" slips in.... Xeno scum.

I personally am OK if unpainted armys, as their are a variety of reasons. My personal one is because I want them to look nice, not like a rushed job inorder to be able to play, so I take my time with my minis and that leaves most of my army unpainted.

Lol this is funny

I've been in the hobby for around 10-12 years, about half my life, and I only just got enough models painted in my 40k army to finally field a fully painted list.

Painting is not fun for me. It's boring and tedious and takes forever. But, after learning some new tricks and redoing all my old stuff, I've found the end result is very nice, so I've slowly but surely started getting work done.

Very few people at my local GW store have fully painted armies. Nearly everyone still has some grey or unfinished minis here and there, or an army of mostly just primed models. And that's fine.

This is a game and a hobby, meant to be enjoyed. It's supposed to be fun. While painted models look nice, and certainly should be encouraged, it makes me sad to see people sneering and scoffing, saying they refuse to play against people with unpainted models. That kind of elitism just creates an unneeded hostility in the community, and paints you as kind of a jerk. It's not very becoming.

But that's just my two cents.

I live in a moderate sized town with only one painting and hobby place in town, and after going in there on a regular basis ( only been here two years now) I have come to the conclusion that I might be the only fully painted army here !
And may I add that I don't think age has anything to do with it as I am one of the youngest players at the store, most other players being at least 5 years my senior.

Our club has some decent painters. I'm not one of them..
That has not held me back thoug, so im my four armies I can field 2500p to 5000p painted and based.

Most of our players have their army's painted at at least 90%. Some new models can be work in progress..
So all in all we have pretty decent looking armies doing battles. Sometimes this intimidates new players, althoug we do not gripe about it..

In tournements we do give points for painting, and basing.. though we do not expect masterpieces, we promote painted armies..
Some of our players visit GW toernements, so for them it's mandetory...

0%-25%. I met this one guy recently who showed me pictures of his painted Inquisition/Grey Knights. I was like "wow, finally, would you like to play a game next week?" and he agreed. Fast forward next week, he shows up with half painted pink horrors and decides to play daemon factory against me.

im currently the only person with a fully painted army at my local GW store

I almost exclusively play with painted minis, except for one time where I had to fill points.
All the armies at my store are painted to a high standard, although some field models during the painting process.
That being said, I don't actually enjoy painting itself. A game with two fully painted armies
is much more enjoyable and captures the fluff better, but I see painting as a unwanted yet necessary in-between stage of making and playing that I just have to live with.

Local FLGS (which is an hour away) has a simple house rule - no paint, no play. Exceptions are made for the odd squad that hasn't been totally finished in an otherwise fully painted army. Otherwise looking at close to 100% of all players' armies being fully painted.

This pretty much sums it up:

As a technicality, 0%. That's due to the fact that about everyone has a few/bunch of miniatures unpainted.

At tournaments and events, 100% turn up with fully painted armies, even though the store doesn't have a rule that requires them. It's just considered a matter of courtesy, as those events are also to promote the store and the game and usually feature more detailed and beautiful tables than the everdayday game.

At normal, friendly games, I'd have to say that 100% of the armies are painted, but 0% are fully painted. There is always that one odd, recently purchased unit or character on the table that's WIP and unfinished.

Wow. Those are some pathetic numbers.

My FLGS has one (1) fully-painted army, mine. It has four (4) partially painted armies, of which mine is one (65%), the owner's (75%) and the resident Necron and DA players (90%). I am an intermediate-skill painter but there I am a BOSS. There rest (12+ regulars) are plastic or eBay nonsense. It is tiresome but I keep it to myself because I am not a child or lacking manners.

A whooping 565 people on march 11 of 2015 do no have a store to go to like me.

How many armies played at your local store are fully painted?
I dont have a local store / No idea 19% [ 565 ]
0-25% 33% [ 968 ]
26-50% 24% [ 703 ]
51-75% 15% [ 449 ]
76-100% 8% [ 238 ]
Total Votes : 2923

Wow. I have not even played my first game yet and my 750pt IG army is around 80% painted.

 Lightish Red Space Marine wrote:
Wow. I have not even played my first game yet and my 750pt IG army is around 80% painted.

I've been playing for over a year and a half now and only last month did I decide only to play with fully painted armies. I do it to encourage myself to paint.

I can understand someone not having the patience to paint an army before playing their first few games, I can understand not havong the time to paint an army well, I can even accept being lineant with WYSIWYG within reason, but I can NOT STAND whem people have proxied armies

You and I will never play because I proxy all the good stuff from FW expensiveness. I use soda cans for the Dread Claws and Milk Gallons for Titans. I also use CDs for nightscythes.

Its not really that were lazy (yes I have an unpainted army deal with it) its that either A) We are awful painters B) We don't have enough time to paint and instead of painting we are playing or C) The paint costs money that could be better spent on more minatures.

 Feasible wrote:
This is hard, My army isn't 100% FULLY PAINTED so I don't think I'm able to say yes. My army is almost completely painted, I'd say 95%. You should've asked...Like What percent of the armies in your FLGS is 90% or more painted.

THIS. NOONE at our local GW has a completely painted army. None of the regulars have a completely grey plastic army either. Everybody has some models (somewhere) in the process. Some of the vets (people that have been in the hobby since at least 5th ed, or longer) have the majority of painted models, and could easily give you a completely painted 2000 pt game.

On average, the total painted models on the table are somewhere between 50% to 75%. There is always 2-4 people in the store per week painting. Very few people do proxies, and if something is being proxied, either somebody wants to try something out before buying it, or they just bought the box and haven't built it yet.

We're currently doing an escalation campaign, so right now you'd probably see more unpainted models than normal, although there are point benefits to getting your units/army painted. And the last season of kill teams, models that were painted had USR hatred versus unpainted models.

I personally, have a huge pile of grey stuff, (or stuff with white primer on it), but I am super picky about my painting, and I run two fraking horde armies.

We've never played an army that isn't fully painted , beyond the first few months of 40k.

In our store, can only think of one regular who's ever played an army with any grey figures whatsoever.

A couple of regulars have super-OP armies , at least one of them has tailored his army against us, Space Wolves, and lest the table bare of tyranids, all of them incinerated. But we don't care... because his army is beautiful, and however OP it might be he's taken the time to make it look good.

 Filch wrote:
You and I will never play because I proxy all the good stuff from FW expensiveness. I use soda cans for the Dread Claws and Milk Gallons for Titans. I also use CDs for nightscythes.

Hey, creative choices at least, and that is the important part, being creative when making proxies. I love to see conversions of all degrees, weather using "official" parts or just random junk. I meant no offense about not wanting to play against suck armies. It is just my personal downfall that I hesitate when I see heavily proxied armies. For example, at my local store a player uses an army comprising of nothing but different colored bases to represent his 2000 points of dark eldar. When I see things like this, I can't help why someone bothers with the hobby at all. Yes, it is unreasonably expensive, but putting effort into the hobby will make the games more enjoyable for everyone. On the otherhand, I've seen an army consisting completely of hand made/drawn paper cutouts. It looked amazing, and I would love to have played against it.

 Cobra66 wrote:
Its not really that were lazy (yes I have an unpainted army deal with it) its that either A) We are awful painters B) We don't have enough time to paint and instead of painting we are playing or [or converting]

Word dawg.

I am unfortunately a busy dude (I'd like to play a lot more than I do). I also love love love to do conversions. I only tolerate painting. If when I actually have time, the choice is finishing painting some dudes or figuring out a new kitbash, I am going with the kitbash.

Only ~3 people in my LGS play fully painted. My regular opponent has played for 2 years and has never fielded a fully painted model.

Id say 10% of the armies I play against arnt fully painted but somewhat painted for WH40k.

As for warmachine no one is interested in painting models.... Me and a few people have painted armies but for the most part everyone runs 100% bare plastic/metal armies.... I find that extremely boring.

Our local GW has just started a 40K league but with no 'painted' restrictions.
At my LFGS Thursday night's 40K night at least 75% of your army must be fully painted to be allowed to take part and I think thats fair enough- why should someone who hasn't bothered their ass's be allowed to take part against someone who has put a lot of time and effort into their army- be different if the non painted army suffered a point loss then that would balance it out- a tiny wee bit!

Amoung my WHFB group I think only 2 people who have a fully painted army, you could count a third considering we've just started a 600 point campaign and the dwarf player can now field 600 points fully painted.

But as said above, there aren't much fully grey armies either (unless they have been bought a week before). Almost everyone is trying their hardest to fully paint their army, but these things don't happen over night.

I apparently voted here a while ago, but I'd want to make my vote 75-100% from my recent experiences. We did an unofficial 400 point tourney using the Adepticon rules recently and I'd say about 80% were fully painted, the remainder had at least 1 or 2 colors besides grey. But TODAY, I saw 10-12 people doing a massive WHFB game as an End Times scenario. Everything on their table was painted, and quite stunningly I might add.

Most people in my flgs play with part painted models forces. There are also fully painted forces and forces that are mostly painted but the new unit hasn't been yet. Most of them want painted forces but if they had everything painted before they could play anything getting into new games, changing lists or forces would be difficult and personally I would rather have a bunch of people to play who haven't yet finished their armies than have only have one or two to play against with painted models and make new comers paint everything before playing.

The store also foes journeyman comps where I believe painting or at least painting progress ties into the score.

I take pride in fielding a fully painted and based army.


As so almost any other player in my gaming community. So, yes. Technicolor rainbow!

I want to know how many Ork, tyranid and IG armies are completely painted. Not sure if some of you realize the struggle of having to paint 80+ models of just infantry for one army.

While I agree playing with and against fully painted armies certainly is more enjoyable and enhances the game experience, to be a nazi about playing against those with Unpainted armies seems like a douche mentality. Not everyone has the time and/or patience to paint hundreds if not thousands of miniatures like others might, life and work get in the way of me painting most of the time and I need to be in the mood to even want to pick up the brush.

Think I might commission all of my infantry however. I don't mind painting the rogue character or a couple tanks here and there but looking at my waves of unpainted cadians is a daunting feeling.

 Resin Glazed Guardsman wrote:
I want to know how many Ork, tyranid and IG armies are completely painted. Not sure if some of you realize the struggle of having to paint 80+ models of just infantry for one army.

While I agree playing with and against fully painted armies certainly is more enjoyable and enhances the game experience, to be a nazi about playing against those with Unpainted armies seems like a douche mentality. Not everyone has the time and/or patience to paint hundreds if not thousands of miniatures like others might, life and work get in the way of me painting most of the time and I need to be in the mood to even want to pick up the brush.

Think I might commission all of my infantry however. I don't mind painting the rogue character or a couple tanks here and there but looking at my waves of unpainted cadians is a daunting feeling.

i play orks for 40k about a 100 boys/grots plus bikes, deffkopta, 2 looted wagons, a trukk and a deffdread and a skaven hoard army about 220 models for fantasy all completely painted and scenic bases

 Gunnvulcan wrote:

ted1138 wrote:
Less than 5%, and most of the rest are 50%+ proxied...

ohh god..........

sweet sweet jesus....

what is wrong with today's youth - they be spendin too much time on them devil compewders and minecraft and such....




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At my local club, we stipulate that at least three colours of the model are fully painted.
I aslo refuse to play against unpainted stuff full stop because it's lazy.

I think an unpainted Grey Knights army could be considered ok

Most guys at my store are constantly buying new units and fielding them in different stages of paint

I'll need to take a look round the club tonight. Although the X-Wing and Armada players might skew the results.

A couple of friends and I did a four-month painting challenge last year - 400 points a month for four months with a game at the end of each month. The final game was at Warhammer World. One of those armies was Tyranids; the trick is to keep it simple (white primer, paint the carapace red, sepia wash, quick highlight and details; job done). A hundred finished models look much better than ten award-winning ones and ninety grey ones.

With the exception of the odd game of Arena Rex, unpainted models don't make it into my games.

Sadly there isn't that many 40k players at my LGS. Those who do come in tend to dislike painting, in fact one of my Marines buys most of his stuff second hand just so he can avoid painting So unfortunately I'm one of the few people who actually has painted stuff (My Ultras are almost completely painted). The only time I see painted armies other than mine is on tournament days when the competitive players come to play at the store, they have painted stuff.

I would have to say less than 30% at my FLGS. Most of our local tournaments have 10-14 players, but only 2-3 have fully painted armies despite the fact that there is a paint score factor. Sad, I know. Eventually I will have a fully painted army myself, but it'll be a while at my glacial pace though...

A pretty good show last night, I think. Both Infinity games had fully-painted armies, as did the Batman game (although that was let down by the unpainted building right in the middle of the board ). The X-Wing games and Ghostbusters boardgame don't count, nor do the RPGs, but everything with the possible exception of the Malifaux game seemed to have painted forces.

The "painting challenges" I mentioned in my last post work pretty well; one guy, who was previously the butt of the "silver horde" jokes, now has painted armies for 40k, Warhammer/Age of Sigmar and Dropzone Commander, for the first time in his life.

Being a player who hates to bring unpainted models, it is a sad day whenever I go to play with people outside my personal gaming group; The greys are overwhelming.

I don't know if it's because people have no desire to paint or if they just buy them so fast they never get around to painting them though..

 Nordicus wrote:
Being a player who hates to bring unpainted models, it is a sad day whenever I go to play with people outside my personal gaming group; The greys are overwhelming.

I don't know if it's because people have no desire to paint or if they just buy them so fast they never get around to painting them though..

The group I play with is a mix of people who play with unpainted models and people who refuse to play with unpainted models, and I'm one of the former. We have a consensus, however, that those who play with unpainted models generally come to each session with more of their forces finished.

I think the grey hordes can be explained for a number of different reasons. Some people just don't want to paint miniatures. Others buy so much that they get discouraged when they look at how much work they'll have to do. Other people try to do too much detail work and spend too much time on basic troops that will generally be lost in the shuffle.

Scary numbers. What do they say about the hoobyists as of now: are they young and impatient? Or lazy?

Hoobyists! #WordOfTheYear!

Less than 25% of the armies where I play at are painted, and honestly I'm lucky if I'm not playing against proxied armies. Seems the locals I game against decided to sink all their money into having tons of Space Marines, yet want to play Eldar or Nids.

ted1138 wrote:
Less than 5%, and most of the rest are 50%+ proxied...

Crikey how's that? where you from? I personally feel wretched and I have about 30,000 pts of painted stuff and about 15k unpainted all WYIWYG and I feel constantly embarrassed because it's not all done.

I'm not saying it's top top but the main IC'S are & it looks OK from about a foot awat.

I think they are mostly lazy. At my store its alot of HS kids and marines. Alot of them are even half assembled. IDK why. I cant stand not having unpainted models on the table.

I saw an album my store put up where they did an apocalypse game. It was...........yikes.

There was the "I want to be the OP knight player" guy with his 5 assembled, half primed half not knights.

The "I want to be the OP tau player" with his all blue, unbased army. He did paint the heads on his suits yellow so it looked like they're weren't 100% one color though.

The space marine player had only his stuff primed and the silver painted on his tanks. The Eldar player was painted, but it was barely a 2.5 color scheme, really the bare minimum. The grey knight player didn't paint his army, the imperial guard didnt paint 90% of his army, and the 10% that was wasn't based. The ork player just had his first base coats.

It was a travesty. Worst looking game I've ever seen.

I recently purchased a bunch of stuff at a flea market, and just looking through was a great motivational boost. I mean, why did you paint your marines shoulder pads yellow and leave the rest grey plastic? The guy I purchased my stuff from had primed all his models red and then painted them with revel paints. The plus side was that the only needed a thirty minute soak in isopropyl alcohol for the paint to be off.

I put around 26-50% but I avoid people with full painted armies they always tend to be uptight and annoying. Like who really has enogh time to paint 60+ figures when each takes 2+ hours thats 120+ hours. Chances are they are the.... More interesting characters you will meet. The ones who scary away ladies lol.

Between work wife and kids, toys come in a very very low about 12 on my give a crap rader.

I think "...fully painted?" is the kicker in this Poll. I'd say in the local shops I haunt, overall, 20%. Sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but I'd say that's where the bell curve peaks on average. That said, at any given time it's quite common for every army being played to sport some degree of painting done to it, but "fully" is asking a lot for the casual gamer. Throw in an adult life with career, spouse, kids, continuing education, travel, etc., etc. and as one of the previous posters said, painting toys soldiers comes in somewhere around on the importance scale. The only fully painted armies I have are the ones I've used in Tournaments and not that many hobbyists are tournament players.
Also, as I saw this term bantered about rather absurdly, "lazy" is not a term with any relevance here. Desiring to fully paint one's army has no importance at all to some people's enjoyment of the hobby, so who is anyone to brand them "lazy"? You don't like their unpainted armies gracing a table in a shop you've blessed with your presence? We're involved in a micro-niche hobby that needs all, and I mean all the enthusiasts it can attract for sake of longevity, if not existence. If there was a requirement that you needed fully painted armies in order to use a GW/FLGS/Wherever table to play, this hobby would fold like a cheap suit. Do your thing, enjoy it your way and let others do the same. Quit throwing stones...unless they're fully painted stones, of course.

A lot of players at my home store just prime their models and call it a day while those of us who like to compete in Battle of the Brush and such paint ours fully. There are also painting stations at the store in case you want to come in and paint. Its fun as hell.

OgreChubbs wrote:
I put around 26-50% but I avoid people with full painted armies they always tend to be uptight and annoying. Like who really has enogh time to paint 60+ figures when each takes 2+ hours thats 120+ hours. Chances are they are the.... More interesting characters you will meet. The ones who scary away ladies lol.

Between work wife and kids, toys come in a very very low about 12 on my give a crap rader.

Why the negative stigma towards people who are passionate about their hobbies? What does having a wife and kids have to do with it? I have a job and a life and part of it involves free time I set aside for what I like. Does that make me any less 'adult'?

It takes a night for me to paint 2-3 models. Painting regularly every day and anyone can complete an army. Its really not that hard or as time consuming as people make it out to be. Most people just lack the motivation to paint. Or maybe they care more about the actual gameplay than the hobby side. Either way its not worth judging someone on either side negatively.

I agree with Son Savik above me.

80% of my models are painted and I can paint a whole unit of guardsmen in a night due to their colours, or maybe 2-3 marines.

That doesn't make me some kind of over-geeky, uptight weirdo who has a fit every time I'm within a 2-mile radius of a woman, or any non-miniature gaming person.

You can't judge someone's whole life, opinions and personality on whether or not their armies have paint or not

In my opinion, an army isn't finished until every model is painted AND based. I have and old Ork army (my first army) that is fully (read: badly) painted, but not based. They still look unfinished to me.

 EldarN00b wrote:
Scary numbers. What do they say about the hoobyists as of now: are they young and impatient? Or lazy?

I love assembling, converting, magnetizing, scratch building and playing but I hate painting. That's why I play with unpainted models. But at the same time I never proxy


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rowboatjellyfanxiii wrote:
At my local club, we stipulate that at least three colours of the model are fully painted.
I aslo refuse to play against unpainted stuff full stop because it's lazy.

I'd rather play with/against unpainted armies rather than using models very badly painted with 3 colours because otherwise they're not allowed in tournaments.

The local GW store here in Katy, Texas just implemented new rules. You are not allowed to play in the store unless your armiy is painted with at least three painting TECHNIQUES (not colors) as in: base, shade, and dry brush.

AND every model must be 100% GW or FW components. No 3rd party bits are allowed on the models at all. I think it is silly and overly strict because it rules out every army I have. I always throw in a few 3rd party bits to every army I have to add variety and something unique.

I only play with painted models because I think the visual spectacle of the game is one of the most engaging and rewarding parts of playing it. Otherwise, you could just play chess or a video game if you just like the strategy. But for me personally, I enjoy having something unique in each army and so I often look outside GW for bits to spice up some of my models. I think it is ridiculous that the store bans that, since we are still buying the GW model and then just adding other bits to it. It just means I will only be playing in my garage against other like-minded players.

I haven't played in a long time but it is taking me a while to finish all my Harlequins. I have a Troupe, Death Jester and Shadowseer painted up for my kill team in Shadow War. Otherwise I have another Troupe based and two skyweavers painted in different designs and a Starweaver/Voidweaver painted in a different scheme than those.

As far as I am concerned, if the store isn't against off themed color schemes or lack of paint, it's not a big deal. I personally wouldn't set up an army I didn't like, but I also wouldn't buy multiples of every unit just to make multiple color schemes for every possible army.

However, as a Harlequin player, I create my own fluff to go with my color schemes. To me it adds to the experience.

My store, the tourney's can't feature a best painted score, because only a couple of us have painted armies.

I used to not care so much, but since I started painting, I'm found myself upset if I don't have a fully painted army. Even for ATC this year which doesn't have a paint requirement, I'm getting the few models I need done for it.

Meh, having a painted army is a luxury, not a necessity. I play tournaments a lot so I have enough to put together a handfull of 2000pt lists per army (it's GW, most of the units are the same) that are tabletop and almost everything is basecoated and shaded but that's about it. Most people at the store have 3 color minimum at most, gray plastic otherwise.

Painting sucks and I hate it but I love the models and I love the game so I do the minimum I need to.

Btw, THIS is the expensive part of the hobby, people cry and moan like the book/models are the costly part but a good tabletop standard army from box to table is what? 150-200 hours for a new painter? With probably 50-100$ in hobby supplies.

Assuming your time has value equivalent to the current US minimum wage (8$) you're looking at 1600$ invested into painting BEFORE you factor in stuff like, learning how to paint, failing utterly at your first few dozen models, figuring out halfway through that you hate ypur scheme, etc.

$Paint>>>>>>>>>>>>>> $Models. That's why so many people have huge painting backlogs. It's cheaper to buy a new kit then paintthe old one.

I'd wager FULLY is just under half... if you said mostly then close to 75-80%. And that is just because the growth in the hobby and the return of players. We have old armies that we are updating to the new rules, getting new units, and that takes time and work...

Overall, very happy with the gaming scene in Omaha.

My army might be the only fully painted army that shows up.

I don't play as often in a store, mostly home, but in torunaments its less than 50%. Though, most of the painted armies, are very nicely done. As for me, recently I've decided I will have 1500-2000 painted army. So far, I'm missing 2 rhinos and a few marines. Playing with and against a fully painted army (and terrain) really improves the game; waay more than big games and proxies

I don't get why people should be angry about unpainted armies, to the point where many even claim not to accept to play an unpainted chap. Firstly, painting represents a great money investments as you need many and various paints that you'll need to re buy over the time because you'll run out of it. Secondly, it is time consuming and when you work hard for your studies or your work, you ma not be able to paint that much. Finally, some poeple simply can't stand painting and so they won't waste time in it whereas they enjoy other parts of wargaming such as fluff or battles.

What's more the "all painted army" thing doesn't account for quality. If you're a crappy painter as I am, it is sometimes more beautiful to have the army resin grey than paint it for the sake of painting it and bring on a great display of ugliness that makes Nurgle wet its pants.

I hope I don't sound to aggressive but I really can't wrap my head about that.

A lot of people don't enjoy painting. I am one of them. I'm not gonna waste hours of my life painting an army just so I can play with some punk just cause he can't handle facing an unpainted army. I'm in it for the hobby, I don't want it to become a chore.

 Davespil wrote:
A lot of people don't enjoy painting. I am one of them. I'm not gonna waste hours of my life painting an army just so I can play with some punk just cause he can't handle facing an unpainted army. I'm in it for the hobby, I don't want it to become a chore.

Well spoken, sir! I feel exactly the same way. If you enjoy painting, good for you. If you don't, that's cool too. But, if you wanna be one of those annoying little children whining about unpainted armies, they to hell with you.

I'm in the military, so I don't have time to paint everything I put on the field. That being said, I have a hard-on for infantry, and strive to paint every troop choice I have. I play AdMech and Imperial Guard blobs.

Presently I'd put it in the range of 60% or so. Quality though is all over the board.

I always play 100% painted. If a model doesn't have paint it doesn't get played with and won't hit the table at all until it is 100% complete.

That said, I have played against units that are blank bases, others that are just legs on bases, still others just missing arms, and many more that are in stages between just assembled to fully painted.

I can count the number of fully painted armies I have faced off against in 12 years of war gaming on one hand.

It's sad really. Players can always make time to play and or assemble. They just can't seem to ever find time to paint....

I've never actually fought another fully painted force. I think my own army is the only army I've seen (in person) used on the tabletop that is fully painted.

I play IG too... painting up 100+ guardsmen was no easy task >.<

Fairly high % here(maybe even over 75%) though occasionally new units come out unpainted.

 Ghool wrote:

It's sad really. Players can always make time to play and or assemble. They just can't seem to ever find time to paint....

But they have plenty of time to tell us they have no time too

ValentineGames wrote:

 Ghool wrote:

It's sad really. Players can always make time to play and or assemble. They just can't seem to ever find time to paint....

But they have plenty of time to tell us they have no time too

I'm on forums on and off during my work day. I'm on facebook on and off on my phone wherever I am. Yeah, I've got more chances to tell you how little free time I have during times I couldn't be painting anyway.

With the time I have for this hobby, considering it's not the only thing I do, I would absolutely rather play than paint if I can set that up.

 Davespil wrote:

 Davespil wrote:
A lot of people don't enjoy painting. I am one of them. I'm not gonna waste hours of my life painting an army just so I can play with some punk just cause he can't handle facing an unpainted army. I'm in it for the hobby, I don't want it to become a chore.

Well spoken, sir! I feel exactly the same way. If you enjoy painting, good for you. If you don't, that's cool too. But, if you wanna be one of those annoying little children whining about unpainted armies, they to hell with you.

This attitude confuses me. If one hates painting so much they can't be bothered, then why not play a game where an activity one hates isn't part of it at all?
I see the hobby as whole and not disparate aspects of which there are some I enjoy and others I hate. I either like war gaming and all that it entails or I don't like it at all.

The reason I get confused about hating the hobby half of.....the hobby.....is because with the gaming options available, no one has to settle for anything which contains aspects that they hate.

If one hates painting so much, find different games to play.
If I hated painting so much I would never ever bother to pick up a brush, I don't think I'd bother with miniature games. There's so much out there that doesn't require painting, I'd find something else to spend my money on.

But hey, to each their own. I just find it really odd to waste time and money on a thing one partially hates.

 Ghool wrote:

 Davespil wrote:

 Davespil wrote:
A lot of people don't enjoy painting. I am one of them. I'm not gonna waste hours of my life painting an army just so I can play with some punk just cause he can't handle facing an unpainted army. I'm in it for the hobby, I don't want it to become a chore.

Well spoken, sir! I feel exactly the same way. If you enjoy painting, good for you. If you don't, that's cool too. But, if you wanna be one of those annoying little children whining about unpainted armies, they to hell with you.

This attitude confuses me. If one hates painting so much they can't be bothered, then why not play a game where an activity one hates isn't part of it at all?
I see the hobby as whole and not disparate aspects of which there are some I enjoy and others I hate. I either like war gaming and all that it entails or I don't like it at all.

The reason I get confused about hating the hobby half of.....the hobby.....is because with the gaming options available, no one has to settle for anything which contains aspects that they hate.

If one hates painting so much, find different games to play.
If I hated painting so much I would never ever bother to pick up a brush, I don't think I'd bother with miniature games. There's so much out there that doesn't require painting, I'd find something else to spend my money on.

But hey, to each their own. I just find it really odd to waste time and money on a thing one partially hates.

There's a difference between "hating" and "not enjoying." Plus, some people genuinely enjoy just playing the game. I have friends that play this and not other games, so this is how we spend time together.

If you don't like painting, then why did you choose a hob where it is nearly 1/2 of it?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
If you don't like painting, then why did you choose a hob where it is nearly 1/2 of it?

Answered nearly a month ago. Plus, if you don't paint at all (I do paint, but slowly and not a lot lately), then the hobby for you actually consists of no painting. It's only part of your hobby if you make it part of your hobby.

100% of my army is painted and that's all that matters to me

Yes its nice if the opposition is painted but thats other peoples toys/time to do with as they please

I am making a specific effort to put together a properly painted force before I start looking for games. It just seems like good manners to me after my research of the hobby.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
If you don't like painting, then why did you choose a hob where it is nearly 1/2 of it?

There are several people that only paint and don't play a single game because they're not interested into doing that.

A lot of gamers at the shop I frequent typically lay down one base coat so all the models are this solid color. Then add one distinct detail to it. Like a racing stripe down the side of a Rhino. I just don't consider that "fully painted" as it does not truly contribute to the aesthetic of the match. The "lull" that is sometimes experienced during a match as an opponent makes a decision or finds a given rule is alleviated by the detailed figures to admire. It lends the imagination some fuel.

We have a 2-3 players who usually meet up with mostly painted armies in my local gaming group.

I am probably the only one with a rule of "not painted, not on the table" The thing is though, that it only apply to myself. I don't enforce it on the players I'm against.

Funnily enough, having a page for it and all, I love the painting aspect, but it's also a good check for me. It's keeps me from buying a gakload of models, as if my backlog gets too big, then I do a full stop until I have painted what I have. It's a great motivator.

Plus. I just love the sight of a fully painted army across the battlefield.

Most were painted, save for my own. But no one gave me grief about it so I didn't really care. After all, it was about the fun and not all about paint.


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 hotsauceman1 wrote:
If you don't like painting, then why did you choose a hob where it is nearly 1/2 of it?

More like a quarter.

At the tournaments I've attended, there are never more than 25% painted armies, and at "competitive" tournaments (ranked ITC) rarely more than 1 or 2. I'd guesstimate at least 25% of armies are mostly bare plastic, and the middle half consisting of a mix of primed, or 2-color slapdash paint jobs.

The numbers might be better in casual play; I mostly play with a smaller group of friends at a home table.


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DeathKorp_Rider wrote:

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 hotsauceman1 wrote:
If you don't like painting, then why did you choose a hob where it is nearly 1/2 of it?

More like a quarter.

Well yes, if you don't bother painting your models, then it follows that painting will take up significantly less of your hobby time.

Maybe around half. As far as I know, nearly all of the armies are at least partially painted in some form or another.

Honestly less than 50%. :(
Wish it was more...

I haven't got a local store, so currently I play my brother/friends. They all have painted armies... That I painted. I sooner will knock a few points off my list then let them use a model that is unbuilt/painted.

I only play my friends so I have no idea what anyone elses armies look like. On top of that we bounce around from gamestore to gamestore.

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
What's more the "all painted army" thing doesn't account for quality. If you're a crappy painter as I am, it is sometimes more beautiful to have the army resin grey than paint it for the sake of painting it and bring on a great display of ugliness that makes Nurgle wet its pants.

This all day.

My armies are fully painted and it's rare that I field a model that isn't (my) display standard. My friends vary and against a few I'm usually playing an entirely grey army. I play at a lot of tournaments with painting requirements, however, and I'd much prefer to play my pals' grey forces than the inch-thick 3-colour things that people who take no pleasure in painting or can't find the time are forced to field.

Oh, i mis read the title. Please delete post. sorry

It's about 25-30% in my area.

I always try to have the base color for my marines on when I play, but I just can't be bothered to paint. I was really hoping GW was going to announce prepainted miniatures with what became the Contrast line. :(

After about a year and a half we *finally* drove the last two "paint criers" out of the store. Since then, things have been a lot better for our group. So, I guess this is a plus!

Pretty much zero. Maybe one or two. In my actual gaming group (we don't game at the local stores) we're maybe 4/12 as far as fully painted.

In my case we are a small group, but we try to have as many miniatures painted as possible, to the point we regularly hire the best painter in our group to paint our armies.

It is a curious economic system, in which the older players with more money but less time are basically paying the younger players with more time and artistic skill but less money, which in turn use that money to buy more miniatures.

crap mis-read the question.

definitely not 100%. I would say usually I face a dipped army or grey plastic. Rarely if ever do I face a well painted army and only once have I played one better painted than mine.

when I got back into this hobby in 2003 there was a 3-paint requirement but as soon as it was dropped people went to grey plastic (replacing the garbage paint jobs people did at age 11).

My armies stood out because I painted them and to a good standard. I look back now and I don't get so depressed they aren't the best armies painted, I'm depressed that with 1 hour a day I got a really nicely painted army done in a short time and no one else would do that.

It is depressing that GW keeps making faster and easier ways to make an army look good on the table top and people still choose different priorities.

Speaking for myself, at least, my armies tend to have "holes" in them.

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy painting or don't put effort into it, though.

Personally never had a painted army. I don’t enjoy painting and I’m not paying a huge fee for an army I might lose interest in.

Never had any issues with anyone about it though.

TBH, pre covid, at our club, the % painted seems to vary greatly by gaming system.

Im frustrated by people who wont paint their armies but I deal with the issue by trying to encourage people, post my wip pics on the group chat, encourage and offer support rather than condemnation.

At the end of the day you can't make other adults do things as its a voluntary hobby. I just wish the expectations were higher in some gaming communities.

I think those are your own personal expectations your disappointed in. People can enjoy the hobby however they want, whether or not it includes playing, painting, or model assembly.

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
I think those are your own personal expectations your disappointed in. People can enjoy the hobby however they want, whether or not it includes playing, painting, or model assembly.

And i wouldn't disagree with your statement. As I said, im fully accepting of the fact that you cant make adults do things they don’t want to do. Plus life, circumstances etc can make painting difficult (im a big painter and I struggle with time/space/family etc) which is why I work to persuade, encourage and support people in the normal course of my hobby and gaming interactions. But maybe to expand on my previous point.

For me, every time you put a game on the table you are in fact also advertising your game system of choice and your local community/club. What is more likely to get a person to join your game system and club? A table with poorly constructed, and/or unpainted models, unpainted terrain (or 2d terrain in the case of some WM/H players….) etc. Or a fully painted cinematic table with fully painted models that looks cools and people who appear to be open and friendly to help you learn and play the game and improve your hobby? I think the latter.

Pre-covid, in our old club id say that GW stuff was about 50% painted to a medium standard, Bloodbowl/Necromunda/Mordheim was 80-100% painted, Malifaux was about 80% to a high standard, WM/H was about 20-30% but that which was painted was to a high standard.

Even my own personal tabling of armies isn't 100%. I have several painted armies, but I've got a lot of bare plastic that I play with too.

I really enjoy painting, I find it very zen, however I take a long time to paint in the style that I like and I don't plan of waiting the better part of a year to play the new 1k army list I want to try out.

I love seeing two painted armies on the table go at it, but I don't believe it should be mandatory by any means (I'm looking at you 10VP, though crushing someone that insists on a handicap against someone they've never met before is certainly satisfying in it's own rite. I play pretty laid back most matches, but that's when the claws come out).

There are plenty of immersive tabletop games out there that don't require painted models to get into and their are plenty of reasons why people can't or won't paint their models. (My best friend is colour blind so his models don't exactly come out artistic, but he does it anyway because against anyone other than me, he feels like he has to.) If your immersion in a game is solely based off of your opponents painting, then you need some better imagination, if not, then what's the problem?


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Sunno wrote:

For me, every time you put a game on the table you are in fact also advertising your game system of choice and your local community/club. What is more likely to get a person to join your game system and club? A table with poorly constructed, and/or unpainted models, unpainted terrain (or 2d terrain in the case of some WM/H players….) etc. Or a fully painted cinematic table with fully painted models that looks cools and people who appear to be open and friendly to help you learn and play the game and improve your hobby? I think the latter.

I would counter that by saying it depends on the person, but for the most part I would actually disagree. While seeing two cool painted armies square off is a sight to behold for sure, if I wasn't already into Wargaming, I'd look at that and think "that looks awesome, but I don't have the time / am not good enough to make an army like that" and move on. (I've been playing this game for over 20 years and only in the last 5 have I become actually proud of my painting, and even then, it's my own unique style I've developed, not everyone likes it.) Looking at unpainted, or partially painted armies, they see that they can play a work in progress and (I think on average) are more likely to try something new and get into it. It's great to see the end result, but know that you'll still be able to have fun on the journey.

We had a recent AoS league. by the end three of 13 were fully painted.

But props to everyone, they all had SOME painted units. We were working hard and the paint judge went to every single persons army and gave them kudos on their efforts. Painting a full AoS army is no easy venture. If playing skirmish, we tend to go for fully painted.

Don’t play in a store. Ever. Also don’t care if my or my opponents armies are painted. I’m in it for the game. I get so sick of hearing that painting is required to enjoy the hobby…. I am a pretty poor painter and very slow to boot. And when free time comes I have a lot of other interests that come waaaay before painting ever will. Not to mention as an adult I have many other things that demand my time and attention. If I manage to find three hours of time, I much prefer to play a game.

recently, When I went to my local GW store and painted a pretty average Iron Warrior there (with a half done OSL effect which was my first time trying it) I got compliments from a Squats player with half painted models, and there's a guard player with a pretty much fully painted army (no highlights or shading, from the look of them) , as well as a DA player with basecoat only marines. Granted, they still look great on the table, but some of them aren't completely based (my IW's aren't based either) so really the only 'finished' ones in the store are the display case space marines and daemons as well as a Bloodthirster, Wraithlord, and Great Unclean One just there to show off paint schemes. Really makes you feel part of a community, that store does.


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Anvilbrow wrote:
Don’t play in a store. Ever. Also don’t care if my or my opponents armies are painted. I’m in it for the game. I get so sick of hearing that painting is required to enjoy the hobby…. I am a pretty poor painter and very slow to boot. And when free time comes I have a lot of other interests that come waaaay before painting ever will. Not to mention as an adult I have many other things that demand my time and attention. If I manage to find three hours of time, I much prefer to play a game.

I don't mean to be rude, but why shouldn't one play in a store? I understand some people are pushy and rude, but why forgo playing at all in a store?

I'm the same, no way I'd ever play in a store. Any time I've been to a store it only seems to be loud, obnoxious idiots who play there and the vast majority of them seem to not realise there's such things as soap and deodorant.
I stick to playing with my like minded group who appreciate the effort involved in painting the miniatures without anyone being judgemental about it.
If you don't like playing against people whose armies aren't painted then that's fine it's your choice. I know many people who dislike painting due to the attitude of others looking down on them if models aren't painted to some imaginary standard they dream up.
If you enjoy painting your miniatures then great and the same goes if you don't. It's your own individual choice on how you use your hobby. Paint or don't paint, game or don't game it's up to you how you do it.
There is no correct way to do this hobby, anyone who says there is isn't worth talking to.
Life is too short for arguments about something like a hobby you should just take what you want from it. As long as you're happy nothing else matters, it's your money and your time that you invest in it.