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What is the hardest army to paint?

Hardest to paint well? Or some other definition of 'hardest army to paint' would be nice.

I mean, since Witch Hunters is pretty much all-metal, and I find metal a pain in the rear to paint, I might be inclined to say they're the hardest army to paint.
But if we're going with armies that are hard to paint well and nice looking, Eldar would be at the top of my head.

Ronin wrote:Hardest to paint well? Or some other definition of 'hardest army to paint' would be nice.

I mean, since Witch Hunters is pretty much all-metal, and I find metal a pain in the rear to paint, I might be inclined to say they're the hardest army to paint.
But if we're going with armies that are hard to paint well and nice looking, Eldar would be at the top of my head.

Hardest to paint well

Amagad necrons got my vote *hissy fit*



jokes apart, i would have to vote for Eldar/Dark Eldar,all the armour plates, gems, insignias and the vehicles must be a paint to paint.

StasisNid95 wrote:Amagad necrons got my vote *hissy fit*



jokes apart, i would have to vote for Eldar/Dark Eldar,all the armour plates, gems, insignias and the vehicles must be a paint to paint.

ok

I voted imperial guard. Most models are open-faced (and it takes good technique and a lot of time to get a face to look good) and there are a LOT of models in an IG army. That takes time which equates to painting an entire army being "hard".

My vote goes to Orks. Anyone can paint anything to look like crap, but I think Orks are the most difficult to paint well. More so in the time, not so much the technique. A lot of bitz and parts and weathering scraps and gashes. A clean Ork just doesn't look right.

IronSnake wrote:I voted imperial guard. Most models are open-faced (and it takes good technique and a lot of time to get a face to look good) and there are a LOT of models in an IG army. That takes time which equates to painting an entire army being "hard".

that is very true. faces take a while to make them look good. if you do it sloppy, your model is ruined.


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Warpseer wrote:
My vote goes to Orks. Anyone can paint anything to look like crap, but I think Orks are the most difficult to paint well. More so in the time, not so much the technique. A lot of bitz and parts and weathering scraps and gashes. A clean Ork just doesn't look right.

when I had orks, they were hard to paint for the armour.


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I meant to say to paint well.

So far....hands down, Eldar has presented the most problems. I have been painting off and on for 10+ years and have painted pretty much a little of everything at 1 point, but Eldar are definitely the most difficult. It doesnt matter the technique or color scheme you approach them with, its always a tough task with Eldar

Element206 wrote:So far....hands down, Eldar has presented the most problems. I have been painting off and on for 10+ years and have painted pretty much a little of everything at 1 point, but Eldar are definitely the most difficult. It doesnt matter the technique or color scheme you approach them with, its always a tough task with Eldar

eldar look hard if you want them to look good. I am going to try to paint a few DE and see how they turn out.

I think the somewhat pointier shape and established schemes (lots of edge-lining going around) for DE make them a decent bit easier to paint than Eldar, who have probably fewer than three hard edges to be found in their entire model range. Some painters will have no trouble with them, instead things with lots of fiddly details, like Ork armor or SM characters, but for your average painter who isn't likely all that practiced or comfortable making seamless blends on large, flowing curves, Eldar are going to be the least forgiving army out there.

Anything where white is a primary color. White is easily the hardest color to paint well, and any mistakes are a royal pain to cover up. Yellow is a close second.

Necron123 wrote:

StasisNid95 wrote:Amagad necrons got my vote *hissy fit*



jokes apart, i would have to vote for Eldar/Dark Eldar,all the armour plates, gems, insignias and the vehicles must be a paint to paint.

ok

That 'ok' all on its own scared me a little ._.

Miniature to miniature, I imagine eldar to be pretty hard. After that orks.

To paint a whole army, orks by far. So many miniatures. So many colours. After that eldar or guard.

Eldar. For one thing every unit is supposed to have a different color scheme, so you need to be well versed in painting many different colors well. They also have a ton of curvy surfaces.

And harlequins. Impossible.

Voted for Eldar. They have varying colour schemes, small details and a lot of fiddly-diddly stuff.

Tyranids. All the different pits, spikes and armour plates make a hell of a job deciding highlights and shading.

meh i disagree on the tyranids. i painted about 2000 points of nids and 1500 of ork... ork was def the hardest. there are something like 14 or more color changes on a large ork model.... and when you are finished guess what... you have 10 more to go... lol tyranids seem to be relatively easy to get a good look on the as the have alot of easily dry brushed detailing.

Eldar 'cause of all the fiddly gems n stuff

No single army is hardest to paint as such.
Its all down to the colour scheme and technique you use to get them painted.
While some colours may be harder to paint (pure whites, yellows etc) its still down to the way it is tackled.

For me pure colours like yellows take alot of time as i refuse to airbrush anything.
This leaves me with several thin layers of yellow to get the right colour.
To others, a few quick passes with an AB does the job.

Even simple armies like crons can be painted to an amazingly difficult level simply by incorporating wet blending, OSL, NMM etc.

So yea, my vote goes to none of the above as its down to a players skill range and colour choice.

zilegil wrote:Miniature to miniature, I imagine eldar to be pretty hard. After that orks.

To paint a whole army, orks by far. So many miniatures. So many colours. After that eldar or guard.

depends on what eldar


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Jackal wrote:No single army is hardest to paint as such.
Its all down to the colour scheme and technique you use to get them painted.
While some colours may be harder to paint (pure whites, yellows etc) its still down to the way it is tackled.

For me pure colours like yellows take alot of time as i refuse to airbrush anything.
This leaves me with several thin layers of yellow to get the right colour.
To others, a few quick passes with an AB does the job.

Even simple armies like crons can be painted to an amazingly difficult level simply by incorporating wet blending, OSL, NMM etc.

So yea, my vote goes to none of the above as its down to a players skill range and colour choice.

true. i should have explained more carefully

I should add that I'm offended that WFB was excluded from this poll. Some fantasy armies are a royal pain to model and paint.

Aerethan wrote:I should add that I'm offended that WFB was excluded from this poll. Some fantasy armies are a royal pain to model and paint.

Sorry. i only play 40k i will start WFB soon, but 2 armies is a lot of$$$$$#

Aerethan wrote:Anything where white is a primary color. White is easily the hardest color to paint well, and any mistakes are a royal pain to cover up. Yellow is a close second.

Try Iyanden Darksun as undercoat

Wolf_Ov_The_Void wrote:

Aerethan wrote:Anything where white is a primary color. White is easily the hardest color to paint well, and any mistakes are a royal pain to cover up. Yellow is a close second.

Try Iyanden Darksun as undercoat

That is hard to paint well. the hardest eldar to paint well in my opinion are dire evengers

Eldar are a *pain* but my Guardsmen actually take me longest per mini... which is ironic since I have 120 of them.

Necrons are without a doubt the easiest.

Henners91 wrote:Eldar are a *pain* but my Guardsmen actually take me longest per mini... which is ironic since I have 120 of them.

Necrons are without a doubt the easiest.

I never thought about the faces on the gaurdsmen

Well I do the faces with a simple three-step process... it's more the camo and pouches that take up most of my time.

Though in batch painting it's usually a lot quicker... plus I guess I was much more of a novice painter when I did my Guard.

Henners91 wrote:Well I do the faces with a simple three-step process... it's more the camo and pouches that take up most of my time.

Though in batch painting it's usually a lot quicker... plus I guess I was much more of a novice painter when I did my Guard.

it depends on what kind of face you want.

Personally, I didn't put too much detail into my guard, I made a point to excentuate the fact that guardsmen are pretty much all faceless grunts until you take a much closer look at their characters.