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For me it's definitely time and enthusiasm.

I'm not a speed painter. If you look in my gallery, and see my finished Carnifex, it's not particularly great, but took me over 4 months to get finished. Simply because I don't have the enthusiasm to sit there for a whole day doing nothing but painting.

That's not to say I don't like painting. I do, very much so. I also like it when I put a finished model on the table. I also seem to get comments on my army at the FLGS, so I assume other people think they're painted well.

But it still comes down to time and enthusiasm. Right now, I'm playing a lot of GW 2. So I walk into my cave, look at my painting table, and think 'naaaah' and go play some GW 2. Though I do tend to go through cycles. Sometimes I just want to spend my time playing video games, and then I'll get a burst of enthusiasm and punch out a whole squad in a week.

As well as debating what official army to go with, or whether I make my own (probably Astartes + Tau), I'm also debating the painting thing.

Assembling things is relatively simple (except for those Emperor-awful Necrons and their skinniness). Painting is time-consuming, and I just want to get on with playing.

So to that end, I'm thinking of buying models, assembling them, spraying them one colour, and calling it a day. At least then no one would be looking at horrible unpainted plastic/resin models, right?

For most of my gaming career I have had no problems fielding unpainted models, but now that I have 1500 pts of fully painted CSM I won't add new units to my army without painting them first...

I have to agree a bit with Kronk. I have 3 children, 6,4 and 2. I work full time, factory work, 12 hr. shifts, 36 hrs and 48 hrs. I get home and spend a bit of time with the kids and wife, get the kids to bed THEN sit down here to surf and try to paint. Cant always paint though.
Right now I have about 30 WIPs of IG going. I work on about 10-15 at a time. 1 color on all, 2nd color on all, 3rd color, etc etc. My Catachans are just about done, got the detailing to do then I can start on my primed Cadians.
I like to field my stuff only after its done. I have fielded stuff that was just about done though. Then again, there is my primed Vendetta. There are many people I play with that field primed stuff. They seem to get 3 painted for every 10. I dont really mind that because the painted stuff usually looks pretty good.
I cant wait to field my new figures, painted like Red Skull and Captain America. (Will have pics on here soon) I think I have out done myself with them.

I like grey armies. It doesn't bother me or anything. I would make a grey army of Catachans if I had the money. I'm not too interested in painting the huge volume of models required to have a functioning IG army.

The humidity in Houston sucks. Just a little news flash for you kiddos. If you prime or seal with a spray and the humidity is over 50%, you'll get a bubbly basecoat and/or a "fuzzy" finish on your models. I spend 2-6 hours on a mini, depending on it's details and if it's an HQ I want extra pretty. I'm not about to ruin that paint job with a crap matte finish.

I have had to wait 6+ weeks for the humidity to drop in order to spray prime models or apply the spray matte finish to completed models.

Check the Hourly Weather Forecast in your area before you spray...unless you live in the desert.

YES, I'm safe!

 kronk wrote:
The humidity in Houston sucks. Just a little news flash for you kiddos. If you prime or seal with a spray and the humidity is over 50%, you'll get a bubbly basecoat and/or a "fuzzy" finish on your models. I spend 2-6 hours on a mini, depending on it's details and if it's an HQ I want extra pretty. I'm not about to ruin that paint job with a crap matte finish.

I have had to wait 6+ weeks for the humidity to drop in order to spray prime models or apply the spray matte finish to completed models.

Check the Hourly Weather Forecast in your area before you spray...unless you live in the desert.

Man, this must suck. Do you have a garage? It might be worthwhile for you to set up a spray booth with ventilation to suck out the fumes, and set up a dehumidifier in the space as well. I know people in the upper NorthWest (like Portland/Seattle) have to deal with rain most of the year, so this is something they'd consider too.

Huston has one of the best Job Market to Cost of Living ratios in the county, and one of my best friends settled there with his family. But I just couldn't handle the heat+humidity...dry heat I can do....cool humidity I can do...but mixing those two spells miserable hell for me. Good luck to you!

I don't have space in the garage to set up a humidifier, unfortunately. 6 weeks was worst case, so far. It's usually a week or so that I'll have to wait for the combination of free time and low humidity. That's certainly not the end of the world, by any means.

I typically have a back log of models to be primed or sealed between low humidity days.