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Not really needed, but it's a good way to cover recessed areas that you want to have more shadow (or you accidentally painted with a bright color).It's also a good way of toning down a color (say, you want a more muted red: wash it with devlan mud or gryphonne sepia). Also note that using washes doesn't mean you'll save time automatically--I use washes but still spend an hour painting faces.

For example:


That took me 1.5 hours to paint the face. Around 2 three hours on the cloak. Thing is, after I washed it I would re-highlight stuff and wet blend stuff and... well you get the idea.

I don't think that using washes lessen or heighten anyone's painting skill: it's a tool. If one does not have GW washes, the same effect can be achieved by watered down paints. Does that make him/her less of a painter for watering down his/her paints? It's just a technique. You either use it or you don't.

Check my gallery. Although I'm not in the level of winterdyne and such, I believe that my work is at the very least above average and not your typical tabletop standard level. I mostly undercoat in black like you (yeah, I'm painting a white and red army. Crazy, I know.), and I can still find use for washes. They're not clumsy like you think: you don't usually just slather it on the model and call it a day if you're aiming for a high standards. You use pinpoint washing: put badab black on an open mouth colored in scorched brown to deepen the shadows, baal red on a red cloak to even out the red color and to tone down the orange highlights, tint a bleached bone undercoat to give it a dirtier appearance... the list goes on.