Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I don't mind people playing grey marines. If I pay them a few times its always nice to see units geting undercoated and slowly painted; which is roughly how I collect armies. The one exception is a heldrake I have been waiting to prime (poor weather) but will ot yet play until it looks awesome.

I too would prefer to play a poorly painted army than one that isn't painted at all.

That being said, I would never critique someone's paint job unless I knew them personally, and well. Even close friends wouldn't see that kind of treatment from me unless we were ripping on each other in a modelling/painting venue, and even then only in a humorous fashion. I might give someone some friendly cajoling about having unpainted models, but even then I wouldn't be rude about it.

Those guys are d-bags and you should ask them to go have intercourse with themselves.

I'm the only one in my group if friends who actually enjoys painting and I still have plenty of plastic ones, so I'm used to have epic battles between the grey armies of doom My friends couldn't paint even if it meant saving their lives, they just hate it too much

But I would never, ever outright insult someone's paintjob (unless it was a friend and he knows I'm just messing with him ) since it was hard work to actually paint something. I would probably ask him if he wanted some help improving and offer my limited knowledge.

This hobby has some serious d-bags.

Play necrons, use metallic gray spray paint. VICTORY!

Good thing my local meta isn't like that.
My horribly painted marine army (re-painted three times, all with different colour schemes ) didn't get any criticism. Save for the 'Nice freehand banner!'.
Wich is awesome.

I've had "friends" tell me my models are painted like crap.

My response was usually "Good, I'm not selling them anyway."

Point is, I paint them so that I can tell what they are from 3-4 feet away. Not by some vaunted high-level painting prize. I don't need them to be amazing at 3".
I paint to satisfy me. No-one else. I won't sell my stuff (resale isn't worth bothering) and I don't care if someone else CAN paint them better. These models are mine, not theirs.

 chromedog wrote:
I don't need them to be amazing at 3".
I paint to satisfy me. No-one else. I won't sell my stuff (resale isn't worth bothering) and I don't care if someone else CAN paint them better. These models are mine, not theirs.

This.
Mine look rather allright from a distance, and I enjoy painting a lot. I've even been getting a bit better the last few months

Just paint them even if it is just flat colours. Painted always look better regardless of skill it shows your commitment to the hobby. I personally highlight my da and I regularly get comments saying they look like something from tron because of my extreme highlighting style.

I have only one rule about unpainted models. THEY DIE FIRST!!! Glue still drying would make we want to wait, don't want glue ghosting up my mini's if they get too close.

I hate painting buy like painted models and try not to play with anything that isnt fully painted (which explains why i hardly ever play as i am so slow to motivate myself to paint ).

I love washes as they are like detail in a bottle.

I dont have a problem playing 'poorly' painted armies and if the conversation moved on to painting i might pass on suggestions or tips but i would never insult someone's painting. Still made more effort than the guy with no paint on anything.

I would rathet play my fully painted army against badly painted than unpainted any day.

This kind of thread is upsetting. Why people would ever feel the need to belittle their opponent simply because of poorly painted models is completely beyond me.

I have a fairly well painted army by anyone's standards, but I've played against some horrifically painted armies. I've seen unpainted models, primed-only models, hell I've even seen models which have literally been dipped in paint and plonked on a base. Horrendous. But at the end of the day it's not my place to tell anyone how their models should look unless they ask my opinion. I play this game because I enjoy it, and although it's more fun to shoot a well painted army off the table, it ultimately makes no difference to the end result as long as both players enjoy the game.

You're gaming with jerks. Simples.

xCamdenx - those look fine. They've got white helmets, which makes them veterans in the Ultramarines. Nothing wrong with that. They're well painted too! I can only assume your opponent was looking for an excuse to back out of the game before they lost.

Dodes - Whoever's criticising your paintjobs is clearly a dick. That's just rude.

If you've made the effort to paint them certainly don't re-prime unless YOU want to. I'd rather play against poorly painted models than unpainted ones. Although I'm happy with unpainted, or even partially assembled ones - I'm pretty easy going - painted looks best. There are few sights better than two fully painted armies battling over a nice battlefield.

Perhaps you could post some pics of the models you're referring to and we could give you some reassurance and maybe some pointers as to easy ways to improve them. Remeber, they don't need to be golden daemon standard - they just need to look okay from a couple of feet away in a game.

xCamdenx wrote:
So seeing threads like this fills me with rage. Not at the poster, no ive been there too bud it sucks. But you gta just shug d-bags off like that. From what ive experienced theres going to be that guy everywhere. Painting is not everybody's thing however iwill agree the washes will become your new best friend. But anyways people are just stupid listen to this. At my flgs theres this dude who runs the club and pretty much thinks hes the cats pajamas because he goes to the games day events,plays grey knights, and can paint well. I was playing him with my ultra marines and i drop podded some stern on him. Well he flat out told me that he was not going to continue playing with me because i cheat by not using the specific kit gw sells for veterans. He said if he is going to bring his elitly painted army tothe table that he bought all the units for he would not be insulted by my rag tag models. Ill include a pic and you tell me if you think its a big deal. But i guess whatim trying to say is dnt let them bring you down its your hobby enjoy it how you see fit.

Dv tac squad from ebay ftw! Best value, i thought bout using them as vets too. Im currently building a whirlwind using multiple typhoon launchers (partly because i have them and a rhino chassis, partly cos i think the whirlwind looks like crap), and thats the exact kinda guy i dread to face in case he whips that argument out. What are everyones thoughts on using converted models? Lol i used to play ravenguard cos theyre pretty simple to paint, could do that?

i used to have the policy of painting everything before using it...

but over the years, i've let it slip as there is the urge to 'try out' your army even if all of it is not painted, however i always try my best thats all you can do in the realm of painting, there are those who are ace at it but i'm just 'competent'

anyone taking a shot at the paintjob might wander into tounge lashing range, and get a few choice words lobbed in their direction if their own paintjob is not up to my own standards- though i haven't encountered it too much. I always get the accolade of 'he always has his armies painted' and all of my models have passed through my own fingers, no paying for painting here (we know soemone who does, and we all take the pee especially as his missus never found out how much he paid- we guess he might be in the doghouse if she ever found out, 'a fate worse than death' was the implication )

otherwise, don't stoop to their level and politely tell them to sod off or ignore them. Those sorts of people tend to have ego problems, for me i couldn't resist bursting it

I'm new and play at a local store. Almost every army at the store is fully painted. Now no one says anything to me about painting poorly or having only primed models but they did say it doesn't bother them as long as they can see progress getting made toward painting. The main few guys with multiple fully painted armies do paint very quickly as in the will get a model and within a week two tops it is painted and ready to go.

I dont paint models because of 3 things , it costs too much , takes too much time and I dont have a place to paint. I understand that some people may want to play against a painted army , but let us be honest how much of a model does one see from the other side of the table .

There is a valid point to painting:

You have to look harder to figure out anything of note with the model if unpainted.

I played a completely matt black primed army, it was brutal. Is that a melta-gun or plasma? Where is the Sgt for that squad?

Painting is like a highlight to show all the fancy bits easily from a distance. I colour code my weapons (Red on body, Green is plas, Blue is las or power weapon, Brass/Copper is flamer or melta, hazard stripe is melee)

My other main point is that to have everything look "real" in miniature is FAR more exciting to see played than some unfinished models being pushed around.

I do have some trouble justifying laziness and not painting at all. When I first started the hobby I bought CSM and painted a squad at a time. By my fifth squad I had to go back and "fix" the first one: I had learned so much just doing those few.

Paint darn you all! Do yourself and your opponent a favor, you will be happy you had.

xCamdenx wrote:
Well he flat out told me that he was not going to continue playing with me because i cheat by not using the specific kit gw sells for veterans.

I don't think I'd play that guy again. Nothing wrong with your models.

Here are some sternguard I made to look like DeathWatch using the some Grey Knight bits and other bits I had laying around.

I paint basic colors as soon as I can. No washes, no drybrushing and no highlighting. It looks fine from across the table, which is all the matters.

When I get the time or if I'm going to use them in a tournament, then I try to put some extra love in them. I really hate playing with unpainted models though, and enjoy games more if my opponent has painted models too (although, I would never call them out for it).

I would much rather play against poorly painted than unpainted. I think having a cohesive scheme helps. If you just have a basic color, do metals, black, (depending on army though obviously) and then base them... they will look okay for the most part.

Depends on how they say it. If they're trying to be constructive then welcome it and better yourself. If they're not then they could either be joking with you or just being jerks, both shouldn't be taken seriously. Don't let it get to you, in my experience half of the ones complaining couldn't even paint a fence.

You also have to be willing to accept constructive criticism as well, you reject tips that you could use to improve and you'll either never improve or do so much more slowly.

It does depend a bit on just how bad the paint job is. If you slapped house paint over your miniatures in random gobs, then bare plastic might be better; I've seen some pretty awful paint jobs. Generally though, painted is better than not. I might quietly judge paint jobs in my head, but I'm not going to be rude and share that opinion (unless asked for, and then I'll at least try to be nice about it... I may not be good at it, but by god I'll try.)

Personally I try to only play painted stuff, and I'm working on switching to a new army that's painted to a higher standard. Will I play with some stuff primed only? Yeah. I have 25/26 models more to paint, plus 3 arms from models that needed to be re-equipped, so it might take me a little while to get everything done. If someone gives me grief about it? They can STFU, GTFO, and GCOAD. I've never had anyone give me a hard time about playing with painted/unpainted stuff, or based/unbased models.

Maybe you should look for some painting advice? get some pics up of your stuff should help.

Most of them are rather unrealistic , it is as if all those people who are giving tips had huge paint station with special lights , magnifires and a milion paints .

xCamdenx wrote:
So seeing threads like this fills me with rage. Not at the poster, no ive been there too bud it sucks. But you gta just shug d-bags off like that. From what ive experienced theres going to be that guy everywhere. Painting is not everybody's thing however iwill agree the washes will become your new best friend. But anyways people are just stupid listen to this. At my flgs theres this dude who runs the club and pretty much thinks hes the cats pajamas because he goes to the games day events,plays grey knights, and can paint well. I was playing him with my ultra marines and i drop podded some stern on him. Well he flat out told me that he was not going to continue playing with me because i cheat by not using the specific kit gw sells for veterans. He said if he is going to bring his elitly painted army tothe table that he bought all the units for he would not be insulted by my rag tag models. Ill include a pic and you tell me if you think its a big deal. But i guess whatim trying to say is dnt let them bring you down its your hobby enjoy it how you see fit.

Anybody not accepting those models at anything other than the most elite level of tourney...especially anyone who makes those comments, shouldn't be allowed to play at that location anymore on the grounds that he is a huuuuuuge douche

Makumba wrote:
Most of them are rather unrealistic , it is as if all those people who are giving tips had huge paint station with special lights , magnifires and a milion paints .

I think you vastly overstimate how difficult it is to get tabletop worthy paint schemes done quickly/cheaply.

let say I stick to 5 basic colors and get 2-3 brushs . thats a whole unit I could buy . It doesnt count the messed up models , the time it takes to paint or the place I dont have.
the models will not look better then unpainted . they wont sell better then unpainted ones , in fact there is a good chance they will sell for less then unpainted ones .

I tried to read guides about painting but half of them start with a guy showing what he can do with an airbrush .

Post some pictures of your models so you can get some advice from people who arn't jerks.

Generally If someone makes an effort to paint their models I'm happy.

unpainted cadians , valks , LR all out of the box and glued up and metal storm troopers as my vets , metal marbo , metal commisars and plastic/metal command section those are the models I own .
I have not painted a single model in my life. Non of the guides I seen were helpful. And as I said before the cost of pains and lack of spec to paint would stop me from painting , even If I wanted to do it.

Dodes wrote:
So once or twice now I have been confronted about the paint job quality of my models. The critiques were not favorable. So my question is, is it acceptable to have unpainted models for 40k tabletop gaming? I'm thinking about re-priming my models just to cover my shame and I'm even more leaning towards just priming my new miniatures and not painting them at all. I've been trying my hand at this for 2-3 years and I have not seen any real improvement other than finding a color scheme that I prefer.

If both players are enjoying the game, you could be playing with stones for tactical marines for all I care.
The general consensus is, however, that a painted army is always better than unpainted. I myself am a pretty poor painter, but I've found a way to get my army a unified colour scheme with minimal effort (It involves a large brush for sticking on the base and main colour, then using a small brush to poke the details in until it looks somewhat like the desired model).

I personally won't play until my models are painted, but I really don't care if someone else does long as the model is put together.... but critiquing someone's stuff screw that guy