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Listen all the purpose of my starting this thread was not to start delving into personal issues or making attacks against lifestyles and choices that may differ from your own ... so lets cut that and get back on track.

To me this game is more than that, it IS a hobby. Which to me implies that one SHOULD have the time and be WILLING to make the effort in presenting his/her army. Again WIP is something we all face at some point with this hobby.

Personally WIP means "not finished" to me ... and therefore, unworthy of the battle field. I am not saying I would turn down a game against a partially painted foe ... but two things come to mind:

1-I would still WAAAAY prefer playing against a fully painted army (as I would only ever expect as much from myself

2-On a site like this maybe Bat-reps should be more specific when posted ... ie: Without pics - With pics (fully painted armies) - With pic (partially painted armies) ...

Thoughts?

*Edit:
Nvm i dont want to repeat what i said in page 2 T-T

I am generally of the same mind as the OP, in that I almost never field an unpainted model. I don't mind playing against plastic, but it's a lot more fun for me to play a fully painted army.

Now to the specific question... I would say that it depended on what the battle report was trying to accomplish. Is it trying to "set the mood" by showing off a bunch of nicely painted figs or terrain? I've seen plenty of good looking figures placed on tables with junk terrain... would this also be irritating? Is it experimenting with a specific army build or unit type? Is it trying to show the tactical progress of a young person learning 40k? Is it a 'Aard Boyz battle report where no one gives a whit about painting? Each of these foci (and there are others) place a different importance on the look of the figures.

So, I take battle reports into context before I pass judgement on the painting and modeling involved. Besides, if I really want to appreciate a nicely painted figure, I look in the gallery section... not the battle reports section.

Thanks Luna and Agnosto.

@Redbeard if you had read my posts earlier in the thread or looked at my signature you will see I do paint my armies. My point was about time priority and how it was a stupid point. Now I'm going to make this entirely personal so I hope you get the point I am trying to make:

Yes my kids have bedtimes and when they go to bed because my wife and I are still under thirty and have not been married that long we like to spend time together and do stuff that we can't do when the kids are awake or involves painting minatures, even if that is just eating together.

I play train for rugby twice a week and play once, I work for 0730 - 1900 pretty much every night of the five months of the year I am not away with the military and because our relatives like our kids they like us to go and see them (min 200 miles away) or they come and see us. This cuts down my time quite considerably but I still manage to paint because I do priortise my time.

The thing that really pisses me off are people who do nothing other than one hobby having a go at other people who combine it with other things which is why I reponded to Kaluwen in the way I did because he was being deliberately bloody rude to someone who probably has a hell of a lot more to do than sit and paint.

Rant over.

Of course when you have been working all day, seen to domestic issues and got the kids to bed having spent some quality time with them, mabe actually spend some time with the partner, the thing you really want to do is ...

probably sleep

Just because some of you have incredible stamina and devotion to the hobby you expect everyone else to do likewise.

The attitude that people MUST SURELY find time to do whatever... Lawks is not bad enough you have the boss breathing down your neck all day with this, without hearing it about your hobby as well.
If you don't like playing against WIP then that is cool. Your perogative, but some need slack needs to be cut.

Hey Ed your IG's are only 2% painted?
C'mon man put down that rugger ball and pick up a brush

I actually kind of like that % painted listing. I don't think I could ever do it because the irregularity of ever updating it would embarrass me but it's kind of a fun touch.

Locclo wrote:I don't have much time to paint, so...

FEAR THE GREY & SHINY ARMY OF DOOOOOOOOOM!

This almost made me laugh myself to death

I don't put a model into play until its painted, unfortunately I am a very slow painter I've been working on a 1500 point ork army for about a year now, but the end is in sight! Another couple weeks and I'll finally be done, just in time for summer when I wont even be playing lol.

Well time for you to buy 1000more points worth of orks and paint them!

i started choas space marines in early december and I now have 4k fully painted (except for my 12 raptors I just finished). I need to base them but to get them painted I basicly sat and painted when ever I had free time. Christmas was great, built and painted my 21 plague marines
Id rather fight armies that are painted, but honestly if someone doesnt want to paint their army thats their choice. I made mine for me and it would be wrong of me to expect someone else to fully paint their army when they are perfectly happy with little grey men. Some people love gaming and hate painting.

Vindicator#9 wrote:Well time for you to buy 1000more points worth of orks and paint them!

GHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! I don't even want to think about trying to paint more, it makes my head hurt. Besides there is no time, here in Canada when summer hits we all go outside and enjoy what little good weather we get. come the end of September though... ughnnn...

I have, over the years, had several armies partially painted. My best friend and I usually play with armies that are not painted fully, some might be primed, some might be in the final stages, some might just be built. We have even used pieces of paper to represent what we were using. My point is that we had fun. Now, do i like the look a painted army, yes i do, but I also understand that people are restricted on the time that they have to play/paint and will prioratize one.

me? im just to lazy to finish most of the painting, it goes in sperts of me painting for afew weeks, then not, then doing it again.

I generally dislike painting. I have to force myself to do it. Ive gotten the bodies on 20 genestealers, 36 gaunts, 6 hive guard, and 3 zoanthropes shaded and highlighted today. But its unlikely after this weekend ill pick my paints up for another 4 months.

Ive got full time school, I have a job, and most likely a second one coming up soon. When I feel like hanging out with friends, its generally not to play the game, because lets face it. A lot of wargamers are not the most socially adept and interesting to talk to. If I do decide to play, thats all it is, its not a happy fun hobby hour, playing the game has no painting requirement.

More often then not though, I like to relax by myself. I normally do this by going to a local cigar shop and reading, or lately learning to play the piano. I have found in general that reading Tolstoy or Wittgenstein, or even learning how to play a new scale is more productive and fulfilling then painting models.

Thats my take on it. The hobby includes both painting/modeling and gaming. And I am only in the hobby for what I really enjoy. Anyone who gets seriously bothered by unpainted armies should rethink a lot of things in their life. I bought the models, I paid the 400 dollars or so for my army, ill do what I want with it. If you buy me the minatures ill paint them up to whatever standard you please, and I can paint fairly well if I have to. Other then that its not a big deal. If you refuse to play with your own models before they are painted, thats your choice. Berating someone for not having a painted army is stupid, more so for not having a well painted one.

Personally, I've never fielded an unpainted model. However, at 15 and with only school and two nights a week working, I have a huge amount of spare time (also my painting is fairly basic), and if someone doesn't have time to paint, so be it. They paid for the models, they can do with them what they will.

I prefer to play painted armies, but if there's a good game to be had, and some models aren't painted, I'm not missing the opportunity for a good solid tabletop brawl. The best games I've had have been against my mates half-unpainted Ork army. He beats me every time, but my time will come .

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:

Hey Ed your IG's are only 2% painted?
C'mon man put down that rugger ball and pick up a brush

Hahaha good point my friend. (Painting my IG feels like being at work.)

Fielding fully painted armies is awesome, and even though I'm not a good painter, fielding an army that looks good together
(while not being perfect when each model is examined individually) doesn't require too much, and using Quickshade(dark) from
http://www.thearmypainter.com/ can make a model painted pretty much in basic colors rather nice too look at, and an
entire army can be painted like that quite quickly, and with some highlighting they become even better.

I would also love to try the Quickshade line , but i dont know if there are any Canadian company that carries them.
I would imagine shipping fee for those would be really high >.<

I play whenever, but I almost always at least put them together and paint them before I play with them. The only reason I play with them now un-painted is I am kinda a Mood Painter (can't paint worth anything unless I'm in the mood, which is rare), so I have 2 units and a Tank done up in my armies colors right now

Skarboy wrote:I think everyone PREFERS fully-painted, well-painted armies. It's part of the appeal. We all fell in love with the awesome minis in the codexes and rule books. But I'm not an elitist about it. I work at my minis and have ~3K orks done since December. But I don't turn down games or not read batreps because of some unpainted/poorly painted models. C'mon, man. It's not that big of a deal.

QFT

I try my best to make sure that my models have at least 1 or 2 colors not including primer before I use them in a game.

Most of the time, it works out great. Only once or twice have I used unpainted models.

I know that imagination plays a big part but it helps a ton when all of my models are painted! Makes it much more cinematic.

Note: I don't like playing against unpainted armies. I won't refuse if someone asks to play a game, but I'll probably not enjoy it as much. Call me elitist, that's just what I think.

What if the army is new. Ive had about half of my nid army for 2 months. They were on hold though as I wasnt sure if I wanted to keep them. Ive had the other half for just over a week. Would you not enjoy a game against someone who just got an army, and doesnt have 3 colors on it as much as you would against someone who has had an army for a long time and has 3 colors on it.