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Ok, So today i went to a warmachine league to see if i like that game and see if anyone is willing to help me learn a little(they did alot)
But i noticed, alot of people still dont have painted armies, and i dont mean models in the army that arent painted, i mean feilds of gray. This is the same at my 40k night.
Out of the 8-10 people ther only 3 can field a fully painted 1500 the rest have primer and show they give a little bit about painting. This may change though because we will be giving people points for the campaign for coming with a fully painted army.
But is it too much to ask people at least attempt to paint there armys? I know alot of people dont have the time but i see people buying more and never painting.
Am i asking to much?

Some just don't like to paint or haven't the time to.

I hate painting. It takes forever, and my results are usually quite sub-par.
Some of us prefer other parts of the hobby. Personally, I convert pretty much everything to some degree.

But what is the point of converting if you dont paint?

Some like modeling?

Yeah, But when you put that nice, awesome posed model on the table on painted there is no detail, it looks indistinguishable from other models.

Honestly, it can be really hard to find the time and energy to paint.

I generally really like painting and converting, but coming home from work rarely leaves me in the right mood to get into it. And I really don't like painting when I don't feel like I'm doing the best I can do.

As for always picking up new models? Shiny syndrome. We all suffer from it.

I know and much prefer painted armies as well, but just because someone is good at sculpting or reposing doesn't not instantly make them good at painting. Think of it like netball and basketball in a way. You could have both or just stick with one, they're sort of similar but different at the same time. Then there's the people who just like to watch instead.

There are several facets to this wonderful hobby of ours; Collecting, Converting, Painting, Playing and Fluff, to name some.

No one facet is more important than the other, and some people enjoy some facets above others.

No one should attempt to dictate how a given person gains enjoyment from this hobby.

It's nicer when armies are painted and it helps to distinguish between miniatures. But people are free to do what they want with their own minis

I find painting relaxing, but i'm a really really slow (and not that great) painter.

I love playing, and love converting, but painting for me is a semi-relaxing chore.

Doesn't help that i have gruesome amounts of models to paint, and it can take me a month to paint a single squad to acceptable tabletop due to nerve damage in my hands and lack of time

I'll be teaching my 6 year old to paint her first models soon, so maybe i'll get more painting in then..

Paint them. Its part of the hobby.

My paintjobs are never award winners, but it doesn't stop me painting the models.

If I didn't do something just because I wasn't good at it, I'd never get to the point where I COULD be good at it.

I'll never be brilliant at painting (I don't have the fine-motor control or vision for it) but I just don't give a sh*t enough about it to let it stop me. At least my dudes are painted. Coherently and you can tell what they are from arm's length. Which is good enough for me.

They don't have to be good enough for anyone else. It's not like I'm going to sell them. When I die, they'll probably be dumped in a box and forgotten anyway.

swordbrotherjim wrote:Paint them. Its part of the hobby.

I agree.

hotsauceman1 wrote:Ok, So today i went to a warmachine league to see if i like that game and see if anyone is willing to help me learn a little(they did alot)
But i noticed, alot of people still dont have painted armies, and i dont mean models in the army that arent painted, i mean feilds of gray. This is the same at my 40k night.
Out of the 8-10 people ther only 3 can field a fully painted 1500 the rest have primer and show they give a little bit about painting. This may change though because we will be giving people points for the campaign for coming with a fully painted army.
But is it too much to ask people at least attempt to paint there armys? I know alot of people dont have the time but i see people buying more and never painting.
Am i asking to much?

Is it too much to ask for some spell/grammar check before posting?

There, now we both sound like trolls.

swordbrotherjim wrote:Paint them. Its part of the hobby.

I missed that part of the rule book that says I have to field a fully painted army before I can play.

I enjoy the look of a well painted army just as much as the next person, but personally I'm a bit sick of the elitist attitude that people who don't paint their armies are somehow detriments to the "hobby".

There are many out there, just like myself, who do not have a single lick of artistic talent on their body. Furthermore there are plenty who have no want or drive to have their army painted. Sure you can claim that they can just take is slow, it doesn't matter if it doesn't look like pro work, etc... Well you know what? As one of those people who have tried to do it, even though I do not like doing it, no thank you. Attempting to paint my armies is a stressful venture. The results are crappy, and I'd rather look at gray/primed models then the eyesore that i'd produce.

I've been fortunate enough to squirrel away some money now and again to get others to paint my armies, but it tends to be even more expensive then purchasing the models, and that is something that is a big stretch for a lot of gamers.

So as someone who doesn't paint their own stuff, I'd like to say give it a rest. I play this game to enjoy the game, not the modelling aspects of it. You derive a little bit extra enjoyment from the modelling aspect of it, and I'm glad for you. But in the end this is my hobby, and I will do it as I like, and you have no grounds to tell me and all the others otherwise.

I really hate playing with, or against unpainted armies. So many people in my local GW use whatever the latest cheesy combo is with completely unpainted models...grr, it really winds me up. I wish they would go back to the old rules they had where if it wasn't painted you couldn't play with it.

I honestly dont get the not painting them thing. OK you might be a bad painter or lack time, but how can you stand dropping £200+ on models and have them look like crap?

You can make some effort without going overboard, for example we have a grey knights player who has painted his entire army with silver car spray paint. It doesn't look great by any means, but it looks a lot better than grey plastic.

In my opinion if you arent going to make any effort to paint then ypou might as well play with cardboard tokens.

I'm a pretty solid painter and my Everblight will most like never see paint. ^_^

I'm toot busy working on other people's pieces.

hotsauceman1 wrote:But is it too much to ask people at least attempt to paint there armys?

But is it too much to ask people at least try to put together a competent list so the game isn't a whitewhas/leave the competitive armies at home so we can have a good narrative game/not use 'counts as' models in every game/use the colour schemes from the book rather than inventing their own/[come up with your own unreasonable reasonable questions - it's fun!]?

Yes.

Some people aren't any good at painting. Some people derive no enjoyment whatsoever from painting. Some people would rather use their spare time to play the game.

Some people are all three of these things.

djones520 wrote:

swordbrotherjim wrote:Paint them. Its part of the hobby.

I missed that part of the rule book that says I have to field a fully painted army before I can play.

I enjoy the look of a well painted army just as much as the next person, but personally I'm a bit sick of the elitist attitude that people who don't paint their armies are somehow detriments to the "hobby".

There are many out there, just like myself, who do not have a single lick of artistic talent on their body. Furthermore there are plenty who have no want or drive to have their army painted. Sure you can claim that they can just take is slow, it doesn't matter if it doesn't look like pro work, etc... Well you know what? As one of those people who have tried to do it, even though I do not like doing it, no thank you. Attempting to paint my armies is a stressful venture. The results are crappy, and I'd rather look at gray/primed models then the eyesore that i'd produce.

I've been fortunate enough to squirrel away some money now and again to get others to paint my armies, but it tends to be even more expensive then purchasing the models, and that is something that is a big stretch for a lot of gamers.

So as someone who doesn't paint their own stuff, I'd like to say give it a rest. I play this game to enjoy the game, not the modelling aspects of it. You derive a little bit extra enjoyment from the modelling aspect of it, and I'm glad for you. But in the end this is my hobby, and I will do it as I like, and you have no grounds to tell me and all the others otherwise.

Amen! My painting skills are terrible, and I simply don't have the time to sit and paint an army of plastic men (with work, plus looking after the house, plus caring for my terminally-ill mother and grandparents, I barely have time to glue and play the damn game!) I'd rather spend my time playing than painting, you know, ENJOYING myself. I'm lucky that I've only encountered one guy who had a problem playing against unpainted models (and he was a TFG anyway, albeit for other reasons). Everybody else has the imagination to enjoy the game, often in a cinematic sense, without having to see finely detailed figures on the table. Maybe I'm just lucky and play with a flexible, interesting group, who knows..

Paint for the painters. Glue for the gluers. Games for the gamers. One is not more important than the other.

aosol wrote:I'm a pretty solid painter and my Everblight will most like never see paint. ^_^

I'm toot busy working on other people's pieces.

This.

I have been a gamer since 1979. You will notice I said gamer, not a painter, modeller or hobbist. A GAMER! I love the arguement that it is part of the "hobby" but that is largely subjective. Does anyone get mad at or deride those hobbiests that collect and paint but never play the game? That would be in the same vein as not painting, would it not? After all, is playing the game not part of the hobby. Is every model in your army converted? Again, part of the hobby right? I remember when Blood Bowl came out and had cardboard cut outs for counters, do you? Would you, OP, not have played because of that?
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a well painted army and wish I had the time, skill, patience, money etc to have one but I don't. I AM A GAMER, first last and always!!!!! If youy cannot/will not understand that then meh...
You be you and I'll be me
Happy GAMING
EKP

From the 5th ed. Rulebook:
"You will have realised by now that Warhammer 40,000 differs from normal games. There are unlimited possibilities and players must be prepared to expend time and effort collecting, assembling and painting their models and setting up their battlefields. If all this sounds like hard work, you’re right – it is! Glory on the battlefields of the far future is not won lightly."

Hard work is just too hard GEEDUBYA!

Seeing painted minis do battle for me is half the fun! Honestly, applying the base colours to a mini and doing a single wash of black or brown is not hard at all and looks quite effective for novice painters. Give it a go and don't give up so easy!

depending on the person, the army, and their situation, some just dont have the time/money/skill. one of the people i used to play with fielded unpainted models because he would rather leave them unpainted than paint them like garbage. other people i have known barely have enough free time to play 1 game a month, and have been sitting on unpainted models for years because they would rather use that free time to play than paint. the last group are the ones for whom EVERY purchase is something they have to save up for months on, and they would rather put that 5 bucks toward their next box of Marines/Boyz/ETC than a single color of paint.

That said, Marines crons and nids are the easiest army to paint for someone who does not want to take a lot of time. pick a color to be their primary, and purchase a spray paint of that color. pick 2 other colors and detail them with those colors.

It rather frustrates me when you enter a tournament and people have unpainted armies, it makes for a poor experience overall IMO. One of the things I like about tournaments is seeing other peoples armies, and admiring the time they've put into them so that they can play.

On the other hand, I have no problem with playing an unpainted army in non-competitive games. Some people like to get a list together before they start painting so they know what to paint up. Some people might spend so long on one miniature that they're gearing themselves up to painting that horde army. Some people may be daunted by painting, and are worried they'll mess up. Some people just may not like, or have the time to, paint.

Either way, painting/modelling and gaming as a hobby depend on your outlook. I know loads of people that can churn out stunning miniatures ridiculously quickly but don't game because they only like painting and modelling. I also know people who like gaming but not painting, which is fair enough too.

I have no issue with tournaments having 'must be painted' rules. Hell, back in the day the GW store had a 'must be painted' rule for games night.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I can see the "colour" on bare plastic minis just as easily as I saw smooth curves on my blocky LEGO when I was a kid.

If you are not going to paint your models, why not just use chits? Or print up paper pictures and put them on bases?

Painting the model is part of the game. Not just because they should be painted, but to distinguish units from one another, to show who sergeants and commanders are, and to avoid getting your unpainted models mixed with Joe's unpainted models. Unpainted models make gameplay harder, which lessens the experience.

I work hard to put a nice army on the table. Don't expect to play me if I don't see you at least trying. It's a matter of respect. You're spitting in my face when you say it doesn't matter if the models are painted or not.

Go play something else then.

Am I elitest? Sure and there is nothing wrong with that.

I'm a builder. Secondly, I'm a converter. Well, a kit-basher mostly. Lastly, I paint. For me painting is a social activity. I do it at the GW Bunker or I don't do it at all.

KGatch113 wrote:If you are not going to paint your models, why not just use chits?

Because we like the model. Duh.

KGatch113 wrote:Or print up paper pictures and put them on bases?

Because some of us enjoy modelling and converting.

KGatch113 wrote:Painting the model is part of the game.

Really? There are rules in the game for painted models? Where exactly?

KGatch113 wrote:Unpainted models make gameplay harder, which lessens the experience.

This is what the Internet refers to as "Opinion presented as fact".