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At what point stage did you guys begin to paint your armies? I have about 500 PTS of DE and am curious.

Before I really even had an army. First unit I got, I started painting.

I got into the hobby for the painting, as I had very little cash back in the day so i could only get a troops box and a few paints at a time. Thus, i paint them before I filed them as I hate the look of unpainted minis on the table top.

As far as if I'm starting a force h0w many points I buy to start painting, I'd say at least a single troop, transport, elite, heavy support and HQ. Then I slowly grow it from there.

OK cool, so you get the basics to field the army then paint. thanks.

As soon as I can get anything for an army assembled how I want. I can play against unpainted armies (though I don't really like to as it kills the awesomeness of miniatures gaming) but first and foremost I want my army to be built and painted to my satisfaction before it hits the table.

As soon as I can. I generally start with units I like first, but I try and keep painting as much as I can to keep it from spiraling out of control.

I had about 2500 points before I started painting. Now it's almost all painted (sternguard, grav cents, tigurius and 5 pods are all that's left).

I don't think I put a brush to paint until I'd already been playing for like 8 months or something.

I still go very long periods of time without painting, and then I'll paint a whole bunch of stuff and stop for months at a time again.

I started as soon as I got models way back when.

Now I almost never am not painting something, but I buy new stuff before I finish a unit so as time goes on I just get more and more unpainted things.

Really depends on the army... Some of mine have been more or less complete before I started assembling and painting, some have just grown organically from a few models.

Back when I first started, my local store required all models to be based and painted. I tried to keep with the habit and paint something as soon as I took it out of the box. The stack of boxes I have sitting in the corner tells me this plan hasn't worked out as expected. Painting seems to be the part of this hobby that takes the most time so the sooner I paint something the less likely it'll collect dust on the shelf.

Get Tank --> Build/Customize/Modify Tank --> possibly get side-tracked due to a myriad of different factors ---> Base Tank----> Get side tracked again, ADD ---> Eventually Paint tank

Goes for my troops too

Its been like that since my first unit.

This is how my painting process goes.

Get model --> Assemble Model --> Reluctantly Stare at Model Hoping to will Paint Itself --> Read about Lore behind Model --> Paint Model --> Don't base model because still learning to paint...

To answer your other question don't become one of those people who don't paint their models; as soon as you pick up a miniature assemble and paint it.

As soon as possible, it's the best part

I never painted my army. This does close big tournaments to me, but IG is not much of a tournament army in the first place.
Plus it would cost too much. I do have a painted cygnar army though, had to have them painted, because the store enforced the not painted, can't play rule.

 jreilly89 wrote:
As soon as I can. I generally start with units I like first, but I try and keep painting as much as I can to keep it from spiraling out of control.

Haha, I genuinely have to say that I do not approve of this kind of behavior! The absolute last units you want to paint are the ones that you like, and I'm saying this from experience.

I did start off painting my models as soon as I made my first purchase, and boy did I make mistakes. I started off painting like 3 or 4 tac marines, but then figured terminators were cooler and wanted to paint them first. Well here I am with a squad of termies that look like absolute gak, the guys that I genuinely care how they look, all because I tried to paint my favorite models before I even knew how to thin my paints properly. I have 3 squads of downright sexy ones, and 1 squad that looks hideous haha.

My ultimate advice to those starting off painting: start with the guys that you genuinely don't care that much about, that are easiest to paint, and that cost the least. Save your HQs for when you can actually paint faces.

Can't agree more though about keeping up with getting everything done. Tell yourself you're not buying any more models until you get everything you have painted, otherwise you're doomed to never actually have a fully painted army. And it genuinely feels great when you get that last model for a 2000 point army painted and have them all out on a table. At the same time, this doesn't mean rush it.... hastily painted models are not a satisfying thing to look at, especially when you know you could have done better if you had just taken even a few extra minutes per model to touch up.

... later

 AegisGrimm wrote:
As soon as I can get anything for an army assembled how I want. I can play against unpainted armies (though I don't really like to as it kills the awesomeness of miniatures gaming) but first and foremost I want my army to be built and painted to my satisfaction before it hits the table.

Yerp this, I get my guys painted up ASAP after getting my greedy little mits on them.

I paint when the mood strikes me. Half of my Christmas gift CSM force isn't even fully assembled yet so that should give you an idea as to how much time I have to put into painting and building. I'm in this hobby primarily for the game so the biggest chunk of my hobby time goes to gaming leaving me with little time to really sit down and paint stuff.

For my Ultramarines, I don’t play with unpainted minis.
With Eldar, I’m still growing my army to playable levels, so I cut them a little slack. I still hate putting primered/bare plastic on the table, so that helps motivate me to paint.

I like painting, so I just keep chipping away at the to-do pile and add stuff to the finished shelf. I’d recommend that to new players as well. Start painting as soon as you can, and keep plugging away at it. Your skills will improve, and you end up with a painted army. If you let the daunting pile of grey intimidate you, nothing will get done. Just pick up a mini and put some paint down.

The largest apocalypse army begins with a single trooper...

i start after all assembly is done for the entire army

Painting models before I knew there was a game to go with them. When starting a new army I always paint up a few test figures before actually investing heavily into the force.