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We've all been there, that temptation of just one more box... Or that unit you spy for sale on the shelf and hadn't needed until just now...

Most of the people I know who actively game have way more forces than they could ever paint, and compulsively add to them.

But on the other hand, I have many friends who've painted armies and hordes of minis for systems they never get to play.

Which camp do you sit in?

If I missed an obvious answer, feel free to yell.

Missing an option for 'I have stacks of minis, both painted and unpainted, but never get to play' ...would love to but have a distinct lack of both time and opponents, but still enjoy building and painting and collecting enough to not worry about the game too much.

Very much the last poll option. Over the last few years my gaming group has disintegrated somewhat, so I have hundreds of minis that get painted and never see the tabletop.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though; I'm much happier to buy, paint build one-offs and minis with no obvious gaming purpose and such. I've still got plenty for gaming should the occasion arise, but also a few nice shelf pieces that I would never have done if I'd only bothered with the gaming aspects.

I have five armies of various point levels and am just now starting to paint. It's slow work, but a couple squads have color now.

I mostly collect to play. When I buy something it is in the intent to put it into an army where needed.
I seldom collect just to have.
(If I had more money, maybe, but even then rarely.)
That said, painting and modeling are perhaps a little bigger than my interest in gaming, but I need that functionality to be there.

I have way more 40k minis than my playing skill deserves. Most of them are not painted, but I am trying to get stuff painted because I like to do it. The primary purpose of all my minis is playing, though, not display.

I'm the same MWH, I buy to paint, I have a very small collection outside my armies (IG, Wolfen, Malifaux and 40K Orks). I could probably individually name figures I own that don't fit into those groups.
Building my army for 40k has been hard due to most of what I want being OOP, it comes in job lots. So I'm endlessly getting loose crap I don't want.

I collect compulsively.

I have an entire coat closet, nearly floor to ceiling, full of model kits of all kinds. My model collection isn't limited to war gaming stuff either (though it is the bulk of it). I have airplanes, sci-fi vehicles, Gundams, watercraft, figures, etc.

My gaming mainstays are X-Wing and Armada and both of those come prepainted, which is nice. Painting is a bigger interest over gaming when it comes to other games though and I've been slowly shifting to towards more traditional scale modeling. Most of the commissions I take are for war gaming though outside of few things here and there.

I collect compulsively in other areas, at the moment I'm cataloging and getting ready to sell off eight years (or three cubic metres) of themed collectibles.
With minis being something that don't feel "complete" until they're painted, I held off in that area, and stick with useable pieces. Probably just as well.

I almost never play - it happens maybe once or twice in a year. I was always more into painting and modelling.

I have boxes and boxes full of boxes of models that I have bought but never used as I feel like I fail at painting so haven't bothered even trying to. I still end up buying more models knowing this, maybe I have a problem...

I’ve been trying to paint more then I buy, and have been doing OK at keeping that goal. But I do have a massive backlog.

I do tend to play only with painted stuff, so the amount of grey, built models is low. While I enjoy painting as well as playing, I tend not to buy stuff just to paint. With a limited budget, I try to focus on things I can use.

Lately I have been enjoying painting more than anything else.

I have never played a game, and only paint. But you don't seem to have an option for me in your poll - I have endless grey masses and don't play

I had been painting more than I play, but I'm on a strict budget currently, and have no grey plastic to paint.

Playing is free, once you own enough crack.

None of the poll answers really fit right for me...

I only play with painted stuff these days, and everything that I paint specifically for a game sees use sooner or later. But I also buy a lot of stuff just to paint, because I like the mini and have no intention of using it in a game at all.

 insaniak wrote:
None of the poll answers really fit right for me...

I only play with painted stuff these days, and everything that I paint specifically for a game sees use sooner or later. But I also buy a lot of stuff just to paint, because I like the mini and have no intention of using it in a game at all.

This. I'm a huge fan of old citadel models but obviously dont use them.

well i haven't played in almost 2 years i guess ... but about a month ago i started painting again .. got a friend interested as well ... he is starting from scratch ... and i am teaching him to paint first then play what you have painted ... he is shooting towards a killteam type list right now ... so once he is ready i will prob play again.

kb_lock wrote:I have never played a game, and only paint. But you don't seem to have an option for me in your poll - I have endless grey masses and don't play

Alright, I hadn't anticipated that one. I suppose I should have. I'll see if I can add something like..

insaniak wrote:None of the poll answers really fit right for me...

I only play with painted stuff these days, and everything that I paint specifically for a game sees use sooner or later. But I also buy a lot of stuff just to paint, because I like the mini and have no intention of using it in a game at all.

I'm genuinely uncertain how to describe that as an option. Let's slap an 'other' up...

i want to learn how to play... but i just never get around to it
i play a game or two every now and again with my brother with revised rules, he like to collect and i like to paint lol

Having a family and job and all, It's much easier for me to find time to paint than to play. I play a couple of times a month for about long stretches (5:30 pm to some time in the am), but I paint almost every day for a few hours.

I can't remember the last time I played an unpainted model. Probably 25+ years ago, I recall playing Eldar lead minis with shuriken cannons unpainted (even unglued to the base, just stuck in there) Right now, It would be pretty hard even if I wanted to, because I paint most models partly unassembled, and almost never do I paint them on a base.

Frankly, I'd rather see a proxy than an unpainted mini on the table.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 insaniak wrote:
None of the poll answers really fit right for me...

I only play with painted stuff these days, and everything that I paint specifically for a game sees use sooner or later. But I also buy a lot of stuff just to paint, because I like the mini and have no intention of using it in a game at all.

This actually describes me really well.

There are tons of minis I paint that I know will never get used for a game, like Reaper and minis of unknown or random manufacture never intended for a game, plus 80% of my PP collection, since I will paint PP models from any faction that look cool.

Frankly, I'd rather see a proxy than an unpainted mini on the table.

With being new, I always ask if folk are okay playing my half painted gear. Those that see me often, know that it's an active WIP that's actually headed somewhere. I think a lot of people are used to the same folk turning up week in week out with no progress, which can feel a little disrespectful at times. Even I roll my eyes at the lads I know who've been playing 40k since 5th and don't own painted armies.

Due to this, I've stopped taking on more units until I'm done. My stuff is either partly painted (about 50%) or fully painted by the previous owner and needs stripping (30%) or some combination of being stripped or basecoated.
A squad snd transport that I don't field are waiting for serious bodywork that would take disproportionate time compared to the amount needed to simply paint the rest. I really look forward to doing those as a reward.

At the moment I'm catching up... In all honesty, I bit off far more than I expected by starting a Guard army, and buying bulk lots to jump right in at 1500.
..,80 Mordians, 80-90 Tanith, plus psykers, enginseers and two tanks...
I have completed painting:
Almost half of a commissar.

If I could find more people to play, I would paint more so as to have more armies to play against them.

As it is. . . It is a struggle to paint, fearing I may never get to use the minis.

MB

I sculpt far more then I either paint or play 18+ hrs on reaver still in progress, crissis suit I'm still working on the fusion blade, eldar when I get the phantom think neon genesis fallen angel idk I cant describe it just really chaotic posing then a daemon screamin face. I mean when you are still putting a form to the model how can you possibly put paint on them

I wanted to get back into 40k, but 6th dropped shortly after I got back into the hobby and I wasn't impressed. Then 7th happened...

I paint because I enjoy it and I enjoy improving my skills. To that end I've expanded beyond just my Space Marine army, but always return to it because I love the customisability of marines in the build stage. Plus it gives my hands something to do while I watch ridiculous amounts of TV and films and listen to podcasts in those hours when my insomnia is acting up.

I probably have more unpainted than painted because I have more ideas for stuff than I actually have time (even with the insomnia!), but there's not much in it and I certainly don't have even a quarter of the problem some seem to with hoarding plastic, resin and metal!

I'm mostly a painter a few years under my belt once my orks are done though I'll play my first game

Since I experience cash shortage lately, once I finish my army list and then paint it, there will be whole lotta more playing than painting.

edit:
And I love to paint thou :(

As a boardgamer, I've noticed the mini's that are easiest to paint (eg. Zombicide) are NOT the games I want to play most (ie. Eldritch Horror, which has no mini's).

Do wargamers have this situation? I'm guessing that, at least with fantasy, wargamers can use miniatures from one company for another company's game, but also might want to play armies which have miniatures that are difficult to paint?

I have painted things

I have un painted things

i have BADLY painted things

and i still play with all of them

But that doesn't stop me from shifting the unpainted and badly into the painted section.

nor does it stop the painted from shifting to badly painted then that gets striped into unpainted

and so the cycle continues

I'm a relatively frugal person, so I tend to not collect stuff that I don't intend upon using on the tabletop. There have been some rare exceptions over the years. That being said, maybe 50% of my collection is fully-painted. I paint/hobby significantly more than I play, but I'm a slow painter and a bit of a perfectionist. And I've been actively trying to address my backlog before making additional purchases.