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yournamehere wrote:And I couldn't care less who paints it.

Off topic, thank you for using that expression correctly. It drives me crazy when people say "I could care less". So you could care less because you care an awful lot right? Makes me nuts

Back on topic.

This conversation should evolve to :

Does someone who fields a Pro-painted army deserve to receive a high paint score, which could affect tournie results? Does painting it yourself entitle you more to that paint score? Or is it just about having a beautiful army, and who cares who painted it?

Painted > unpainted. Well painted > globby mess. Nothing wrong with commissioning paintjobs. Kudos to the all-out gamer who bothers to field a snappy looking army.

Personally, I prefer the all-around hobby approach, so I'd likely be a bit miffed if the "best painted army" award was won by commissioned work instead of hard work, even if the owner was open about it. Aside from that specific case, I'm all for commissioning nice paintjobs. I do lean a bit towards the "at least try (I mean, really try) it yourself" side, if lack of skill is the only deterrent to a DIY army, but to each his own.

I can paint decently (in my own opinion, you can look at my gallery and photobucket pages to make your own) but I also use painting services.

At my place I do not have an area I can claim for painting and leave stuff set out. To paint I have to clear an area of the dinner table, set up, paint, then clean up before the next meal. Not ideal.

Time: I have a more than full time job, plus am a geographic single parent, plus have dogs and horses to care for. Though I enjoy painting and do save some items specifically for ME to paint, the reality is I just am not ever going to get to all the stuff I want painted.

SO I use painting services. I give them credit when folks ask 'Did you paint that?'. I would NEVER enter somethign I did not paint into any painting competition or accept points for anything I did not paint in any other competition.

I choose to use my limited time playing when I can and painting what I want. Financially my wife and I are at a place where it is just easier to pay for someone else to paint some items than it is to give up the limited time I have.

Jake

Jake

if someone does an awesome job on the paints and you have the cash to pay them go for it.

Shenra wrote:This conversation should evolve to :

Does someone who fields a Pro-painted army deserve to receive a high paint score, which could affect tournie results? Does painting it yourself entitle you more to that paint score? Or is it just about having a beautiful army, and who cares who painted it?

There is only one commission company I know of that paints anywhere close to the standard of top hobbyists, and that company charges big bucks for small armies. If you want to fork out the cash I say go for it, and let me drool over the models for a few hours after we're done playing. Otherwise most services paint at a level that is very achievable for anyone committed to painting their own army.

I guess my point is that the odds of commission painting really influencing a tournament is very small. If you just get your stuff done to decent level you are easily at or above most commission armies, and if you can't do that (and I think most everyone can, lots of people just don't want to) then commission your own stuff. But I have never been to a tournament where a commisioned army beat out a non commissioned army for overall just because of paint scores. I just don't think it will happen. And like I said a commission is almost never going to take best appearance (the guy I knew who won with someone elses stuff wasn't technically a commission), then for general and sportsmanship it doesn't matter. So really it doesn't influence any of the tournament results in me experience.

Put what you like on the table, play how you like, and spend your money how you like.

I have three armies.

Orks: Painted by my wife.
Dark Eldar: Painted by my buddy Hulksmash.
Necrons: Going to be painted by my wife.

No one cares.

There is nothing wrong with it as long as you don't claim to have done it yourself. If someone compliments you, you should say "thanks, I had them done by X".

When it comes to tournaments with a paint score you should definitely disclose that they are commissioned, you could even be disqualified depending on the TO.

Other than that I like playing against nice armies, why would I care how you spend your money? I would rather someone who had no interest in painting paid someone else to do it than field bare plastic.

I dont mind...definately prefer that over a non-painted army....now if they are taking credit for the work, Id have to call them on that!

I'm all for it if you have the money. I'm a pretty awful painter myself, so although I've never had a comission done, I can see the appeal.

I've always had a problem with paint jobs influencing the overall score at a tourney. Yes, painting is part of the hobby, but at a tourney, you're not playing a hobby, you're playing a game, with a set of rules. Your tactics, list choice, and dice rolls are what wins the game, not a paint job. Add that to the issue of whether or not the person playing the army actually painted it, and there's another problem. I think its great to have a "Best painted Army" award, but I don't think it should infuence your actual score at all.

Thanks for all of your comments everyone. I was really surprised at the interest in this topic. I think I'll go ahead with commissioning an army, while slowly learning to paint myself if I do indeed find it interesting. If I'm able to achieve my goals I'll have many years of schooling anyway, during which I doubt I'll have time to spend hours a day painting vast numbers of Imperial Guard. If I'm ever in a tournament where the quality of the painting is involved, I'll make sure to let people know who I had paint my miniatures. I also wanted to show you guys a painting service I found which, although very expensive, does some amazing work, although when you compare their prices to other services and consider the Alpha level quality, they arent all that bad. The name is below. Thanks again.

www.gmmstudios.com

The Macharius in the "My Stuff" section alone is fantastic.

Leigen_Zero wrote:The way I see it is similar to how I feel about apple products:

Do what you want, it's your money and your hobby, just don't sit there and act like your better than me because you paid significantly more for essentially the same product (as people who owned macbooks in uni would facebook me using their iphones while listening to their ipod touches).


Incidentally, the above is the reason I refuse to use apple products.

also, DISCLAIMER: I am not claiming here that a) commission painting is ridiculously overpriced or b) people who use commission painted models are pretentious people with parents who dish out money like jelly tots

FIGHT THE POWER!

I quite frankly don't care whether you paint your models or you pay someone to paint them for you, provided they are painted. My own personal gripe in this hobby is people who buy a ton of models and then are too lazy/unmotivated/unwilling to pick up a paintbrush or too cheap to pay to get them painted.

I paint my models myself. I take a *lot* of pride in my models, and it really aggravates me to put down my force only to face off against a tide of pewter and plastic or black primer. I think I'm going slightly off topic here...

Anyway, paint them or pay to get them painted but at the very least do one of the two.

L. Wrex

I don't mind it...
As long as they don't try to take credit for it.

I would rather play against a commissioned army then bare plastic anyday of the week. I am still a beginner at painting and some of my models I have had other people paint ie some of my hqs,my skirmish games my D&D character. Pretty much stuff I want to look awsome and dont have the skills to make pop. I do paint all my troops to the best of my ability as I dont have the coin to commission everything.
As to painting scores just dont claim it as your own thats just wrong.

A personal anecdote.
I used to feel very strongly that people should paint their own armies and I stuck religiously to that myself. Every figure I fielded was painted entirely by me. Then one day I ordered some used rattlings sight unseen. They were very inexpensive (less than 2 bucks each) so I expected bare metal or a crap paintjob. When they arrived they were nicely, if simply painted. Before I knew it I had dipped them, recolored the balast and put them on the table!

Nowdays it matters not to me who paints so long as people don't try to pass off commissioned work as their own. Further, I've gotten to the point that I wish more people would comission work so that I wouldn't see so many flippin' grey hordes at the FLGS.