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I am not normally one for complaints, but with the new releases lately the models look amazing. The details are top notch and phenomenal. One would normally say this is not a complaint.

That being said, and coming from someone who has 4 armies/10k points that are 90% painted including green tide orks, it is becoming a nightmare to paint. I am an average to slightly better than average painter. I recently bought 3 annihilation barges, assembled and primed them. After painting for 3 hours I almost crapped my pants when i realized how long this was going to take me to paint the minimum of details to make all the different areas of this thing stand apart from one another. The model if not painted properly will simply not stand out between the sections of itself. As gorgeous and sexy as this model is, it seems like it is becoming too much work.

So the question is, are the models becoming too detailed? Are they becoming excessive in the quantity of paint work needed? Should GW hold back on some of the exquisite details to help with the painting? Would this help stem the tide of grey colored armies?

I am of the opinion that the grey tides that seem to be so common in game stores are hardly relevant to the detail level of miniatures.

At my flgs it tends to be the people who have gaming at the top of their priorities and so have very little interest the painting side of the hobby.

Further more I must say that I really enjoy the little details on my miniatures. Especially those on zombies . For example the zombies from Manticgames are fantastic! Open stomach wounds, maggot holes, starved physique, chunks of flesh missing and even receding hair lines!
All of which were an absolute pleasure to paint even with my average painting abilities.

This cake is too delicious!

This chair is too comfy!

My brain buckles at the idea of people complaining minis are TOO detailed.

I'm liking the more detailed miniatures, that set my annihilation barge is currently sat half finished on my window sill given how much time it consumed. Its waiting on an airbrush to power through the majority of the flat surfaces so I then just have to pick out the details.

Ive been at this hobby for 2 years now, and in these two years ive only played 3-5 games. I dig this hobby for the painting possebilitys and the books and fluff.

So the more detail a miniature got the more excited i get! I play Orks aswell and i usually use 2 hours per Ork Boy and love it!

Ahhh.

Threads like this should not exist.

I think the OP makes some fairly good points, whether you agree with him or not.

Can't see why this wouldn't be valid.

I love painting. I love few things more than sitting up late on a Friday or Saturday listening to MWG vlogs, or 40k inspired compilations when I have nothing else on every couple of weeks by myself painting for 6-8 hours. But I'm not a terribly good painter and relatively new to the hobby.

I have to say, as much as I kick myself for saying this, sometimes I, too find the detail can be quite intimidating and overwhelming.

I like high detail on minis it means they take a wash/dip really well.

My main complaint is that GW keep increasing the model count needed for armies. My old 1500pt HEs for WHFB would now make about 800 points.

I like high detail, however not when it's clutter as they seem to be going with some of the 40k stuff. Adding more skulls does not a high detail make.

I love the detail on the annihilation barges. That said I keep the detailing to the engines/glow effects, weapons, pilots, and consoles. It really takes way less time to paint one of those than the ghost arks and doomsday arks...

I'm in it for the painting, so no. I can see the argument though, more details make it more difficult to just get an army out. The Annihalation barge is a great example. The vast majority I have seen have been forced to skimp on the highlighting because there are just SO MANY EDGES!

Personally I love it. I don't think they gone too far yet. Most of the models details don't require individual painting, they just make washes really effective time saving techniques.

The problem with the annihalation barge isn't that it is too detailed, as that would just invite the use of washes to great effect. It is that it has too many flat surfaces requiring edge highlighting. But I don't think that is a common problem among GW mini's.

Jubear wrote:My main complaint is that GW keep increasing the model count needed for armies. My old 1500pt HEs for WHFB would now make about 800 points.

Not surprising for a company that makes the lionshare of its profits from selling minis. What will sell more minis? Cut the points cost for minis in half in the games. That way people need to buy twice as much to play at the "recommended" game level. Who sets the recommended level? GW of course.

I like detail on minis because it means that it is easier to base coat rank and file minis easier with washes and drybrushes to bring out the base details and then painting the specific details in for completed models. Little detail means little stands out after these processes. :(

Skriker

I love highly detailed minis. I do agree there can be a bit of a problem when you spend hours on one figure just for it to be some random 10 point schmuck who dies on turn 1, however. I speedpainted my Orks and at times I did wish there was less detail just so I could get them done faster. However, my Marine and Guard armies have plenty of detail and I was always more than happy to lavish the extra details in wherever they were.

Extra detail, like the straps on Ork clothes or what have you, can just be left the color of the shirt if you really want to skip over them. It's harder to add detail than take it away.

I'd actually prefer to see less detail, but more bits. Then you can detail the figs like you want. For character models, it's cool. But some of the models do tend to become "cluttered" looking the more details they try to squeeze into them.

well, I play marines, and I find the models are all pretty much perfect with the amount of detail they have. Necrons look like a pain in the butt with their new models, but with an airbrush it wouldn't be THAT bad. That said, without an airbrush I'd never attempt to paint a ghost ark...

I like it because Washes really help make those details pop. Back when I didn't wash, I would just skip over some details (my Crisis suits are monuments to my sins) but many details are great. It can become somewhat annoying when you want to get an army on the board and you only play what you paint( like me) sometimes, but when it's finished and you look over the whole Squad/Army/model, you see it's worth it.

Iur_tae_mont wrote:I like it because Washes really help make those details pop. Back when I didn't wash, I would just skip over some details (my Crisis suits are monuments to my sins) but many details are great. It can become somewhat annoying when you want to get an army on the board and you only play what you paint( like me) sometimes, but when it's finished and you look over the whole Squad/Army/model, you see it's worth it.

This. And I'm guilty for doing the same with my Eldar, though they are soon to be repainted in a much better fashion.

For me, more detail=more fun.

The OP is very correct in his assertion that models have been getting more detailed. As time went on, the sculptors kept getting better and better, and some years ago they switched over to computer modelling, allowing them to do and redo as much detail as they wanted. Once it gets cheap enough, eventually they'll do 3d printing, where they can just do whatever crazy detail they want.

I like having nice models, and newer ones are CERTAINLY better than older ones, but...

n0t_u wrote:I like high detail, however not when it's clutter as they seem to be going with some of the 40k stuff. Adding more skulls does not a high detail make.

I have to also agree with this. There are some model ranges that they've been putting out as of late that seem to have details for the details god, rather than more details because it makes the models look better.

For example, the khorne berzerker backpacks are awful to paint, and look terrible because they're basically just a bunch of gangly tubes and widgets seemingly thrown on at random. As often as not, I find myself REMOVING details with my hobby knife just to get something that looks reasonable.

More good details is better, but I'd hesitate to say that more bad details is any better than a less detailed model.

I agree that some details make the models incredibly cluttered. However, some details make the model that much better.
For example:

The detail on these models makes for a mind-blowing look. Rather than extra clutter, the parts details really make the feel of the models better.

However:

The lettering on these is incredibly difficult to pick out, and really fail to contribute much to the model.

Cerebrium wrote:This cake is too delicious!

This chair is too comfy!

My brain buckles at the idea of people complaining minis are TOO detailed.

No. The cake is a lie.

GalacticDefender wrote:
No. The cake is a lie.

It's almost 2012, Portal cake jokes are about 3 and a half years past their expiration date

In my earlier post here I was pretty happy with highly detailed minis. I still am, to tell you the truth. But after a whole day painting Khorne Berserkers, I can't help but agree with Ailaros that a lot of the details (on that kit in particular) just serve to clutter up an otherwise good design. There's so much more kibble on these guys than I thought there would be, especially given the age of the models,

Honestly, I'm going to agree with the OP here. While I can see the value of a lot of detail on a model, it really is overwhelming to a novice painter like myself. While I'm now on my third army, and dedicated to making it look pretty, it's enormously frustrating to have to keep going over a single model with seven different colors because I have to pick out details and paint them as such. And that's even with me cutting out colors - I'm not bothering to paint buckles on my boyz, and I'm only using two colors for the skin. It just gets frustrating at times, knowing that I'm going to be giving myself this much pain trying to paint up these boyz, knowing full well I've still got a box full of them to do the same thing to.

That said, I'll admit that it's very, very satisfying to finally finish up a squad of 30 boyz, each lovingly painted with lots of detail. I almost cried tears of joy when I finished off my nine killa kans.

You 40k only players who think models are getting too detailed need to go paint some Warhammer Fantasy models. Basic troops are generally up there with 40k HQ choices in level of detail (though obviously shy of special chacacter levels).

[quoteg]o paint some Warhammer Fantasy models[/i]

HA-HA-HA-HA

No.

:p

I'm not that sadistic.

CadianCommander wrote:[quoteg]o paint some Warhammer Fantasy models[/i]

HA-HA-HA-HA

No.

:p

I'm not that sadistic.

Masochistic, even.

-Loki- wrote:You 40k only players who think models are getting too detailed need to go paint some Warhammer Fantasy models. Basic troops are generally up there with 40k HQ choices in level of detail (though obviously shy of special chacacter levels).

Shenanigans I say.... I play Ogre Kingdoms, what are details??? the most "detailed" part of my painting of either bulls or Iron Guts is the rust effects on the gut plates and weapons... Skin and clothing can all get a slight wash to change their overall tones.

There just ain't pleasing some people....

DarthSpader wrote:There just ain't pleasing some people....

I do understand where he's coming from though. Some models have so many details that it can be daunting to look at before you start, but man do they look sweet when you get done.

I do raven guard, so if i spray them black they look alright, but some models are to detailed. Some tyranids are quite
detailed, but with orks its just quantity

As much as I love the models, I'd never get a Death Korps of Krieg army for this very reason (tiny, tiny buttons, on tiny, tiny brocaded cloth).

I imagine my eyes would start bleeding after an hour of painting.