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Wow, a lot of people have some major self-worth issues.

 Griddlelol wrote:

 Happyjew wrote:
I just want to relax and do nothing...

I find painting incredibly relaxing. I put on a podcast and before I know it it's time for me to go to bed.

I'm not sure how painting could be stressful, but maybe try painting for the hell of it, rather than because you want to get it done as quickly as possible. I find my best paint jobs are on the miniatures I don't care about getting on the table immediately. I picked up warhammer after a long hiatus because I wanted to relax and take my mind off work. Just so happened that I love playing the game too.

It's not that it is stressful (it's not). it's more of the fact my idea of relaxing is drinking, reading a book and sleeping.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
You are correct, it is your army, if you do not wish to paint it, then that is your rright.
but know that people will not like it and deal with it.

And why is it that people who choose not to paint have to "deal with it" but people who prefer their opponents to have painted armies don't have to "deal with it"?

I don't think I've ever read a thread where someone is annoyed at painted armies. Why is your version of fun "better" than someone who decides not to paint?

They have to deal with it aswell, not everyone gets their way.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 TedNugent wrote:
I spent $400 on models this year, and yes, I've only painted 5 marines.... and I'm worried that someone is going to criticize me for not having every one of my models painstakingly filed down and painted to a Professional Standard.

I have to work full time to spend $400 on a few piles of plastic models, and that means 40 hours a week that I'm not sitting around painting embossed shoulder insignias. Sorry.

No one is saying proffesional. People are just saying put some love on them.

But what if he wants to spend time and effort on each and every model? People keep saying that you can slap three colors on and that would be fine. It may be, but it's your standard. Maybe he wants to take time and effort to paint as good of a model as possible within his abilites, which takes time and effort.

And then you claim that he isn't showing his models some love? I think some people have a greivous misunderstanding of this concept.

If he does want a high standard, paint them a high standard.

Its bothers me, but I'm not going to say anything about it except say "oh, cool, you have alot of the metal stuff before they switched to finecast!"

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

No one is saying proffesional. People are just saying put some love on them.

I love my models enough not to crap on them. I'm talking snapfits and I'm taking at least a week on each one, granted I spend most of my day at work and I'm procrastinating something fierce.

I'm making sure that color seams are close to where it needs to be. I don't want crummy paint jobs. I've only got 5 models painted but at least they're painted precisely.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
They have to deal with it aswell, not everyone gets their way.

I don't understand.

A non painter "shows no love for the hobby" to quote you and should try over and over until they get a paint job they're happy with (again, according to you) but painters should just deal with non painted minis?

That seems kind of contradictory.

Of course, everyone should leave at least one miniature unpainted.

Because, remember, wargamers live forever as long as they still have something to paint!

I've got very little attention span when it comes to painting models. I'll spend a few hours converting one then leave it unpainted for months.

Of my current army about 2/3rds of what I field is painted. The majority of which is the Traitor Guard element. Why? Because the models (Bretonnians ...with Tommy guns) are so much simpler to paint than my Chaos Space Marines. I rarely get around to painting the rest because painting just doesn't do it for me is building the things. Spending a while making a model to not do it justice when its painted is a little disheartening. Which is to say that I have a innate need to dry brush and ink everything. =P

I really couldn't care less if the other guy's army is painted or not. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I'd prefer playing an unpainted army as opposed to one that looked like it was painted by a blind monkey. Mine are about 60-70% painted, and I work on them in between doing projects for other people. How much I enjoy a game is about 99% derived from the personality of the person across the table, not what their army looks like.

I don't care if it is unpainted. I hate when they have no heads and arms. 2 people have armies like that. One GK player has Guys with no arms or heads and Rhinos that have no tracks, front/back hatches, and heavy bolters. I like wysiwug. I might stop playing people who don't at least assemble their armies. It cost me my last game. I thought I had killed his ML space wolves so I didn't move my Doom. He insta killed it with an armless ML guy I thought was a bolter. I could have hid from the ML and forced snap shots if I knew that it was a ML.

I have a largely unpainted army because I want all my models to be to a high standard...and I am just absolute pants at painting.

Unassembled or half assembled armies are where I draw the line. If one of your dreadknights doesn't have arms cause you're trying to figure out your favorite loadout, then that's fine. I only have to remember what that one model has. If your entire army has no arms and I have to take your word on what weapons they have, that's a no-fly zone.

I am currently paying certain individuals who paint far better then me to complete my armies. However before then I have always had unpainted armies due to the fact that I have work, school and military obligations as well as spending time with my GF and friends in other hobbies and activities. Do I want a painted army? Yes, its adds alot of personality and makes the game look that much better. Will I refuse an opponent who does not have the models/paint job on his army? Never, anyone that thinks that "his army is not painted so I am not playing him" honestly sounds like a total prick and I probably would not want to play him. Some people have priorities over warhammer and people like that need to get over themselves and realize that.

I am trying to get my army painted, but I paint terribly. And before you say "just practice" I have been in the "just practice" phase for ten years now. Its not happening, I simply lack the fine motor skills to paint well and whenever I do get them painted I feel the people at my club silently judging me for being a terrible painter. And don't you dare try to claim I have self worth issues, I simply like well painted models and feel bad that I cannot produce models like that. I try to get things done but that will always be in the back of my mind and slow my progress. In my opinion the person behind the minis matters more than the painted state of the minis.

I feel that no paint is usually better than a rushed paintjob I'll feel bad about everytime I see the model. I guess that is why I have no requirements for the painting of my opponent.

But our group have pretty high painting skills and standars anyway. There are seldom grey plastics on the table and lot of nice conversions. I think this is because most of us play pretty relaxed games with non-optimized lists.

I would like to play with only painted models, but I would also like to enjoy painting my models. Painting huge amount of similary looking warriors or vehicles are never fun. Especially when the warriors spend one turn on the table before being burned by a helldrake.

That is one of the reasons I have begun to switch over to skirmished sized games like Malifaux. It gives more varity in the painting which make it feel less like a chore.

What I find funny is that some people say that they have no time to paint, yet have time to assemble the miniatures and have games.

 MetalOxide wrote:
What I find funny is that some people say that they have no time to paint, yet have time to assemble the miniatures and have games.

Because some people think of that as a chore, and the game itself is fun. They'd rather not take the time to do a chore during their fun time.

Different people enjoy different aspects of our hobby.

This is a tough one. I have no problem playing an unpainted army as I have an "IN progress" army also. I do paint my army over time and have a constantly evolving army or two. However I started with Rogue Trader and the first rule still sticks in my head "Your army must be painted....LOL This is a game and I rarely play in any kind of formal environment where it really matters and it is just about fun. I do agree that having painted armies on display and in battle does make it a much more satisfactory experience. And yes you do need to have assembled minitures. I know some can suffer damage in transport ect. I am more about having a good game than anything else. So game on and destroy the half-hearted armies on the table and let the lack-a-dasiclels understand the power of finely painted minitures loose on the table top. Tell them that the unwritten rule will unlock the devastation potential of theris. I am rambling.. Have fun.

I no longer play with any unpainted models in my army. I never feel quite right if I field an army that has one or two 'incompletions', as I will constantly focus on them during the game. The motivation is good for me, too, to actually get stuff painted. If I know there is a tournament coming up in a month, and I really want to use several new models, then I 'have' to get them painted before the tournament. It's also nice consolation, if I get annihilated in a game, that at least I went out in style, especially if it was against an unpainted army.

This is how I enjoy the hobby, though, so I have no restrictions on my opponents when it comes to fielding unpainted models.

To answer the original post; does it grind my gears to see unpainted armies? No. It is not my army. However, I play in tournaments and my army has to be painted. Do I play pick-up games with unpainted models though? Absolutely. But I think what most people are saying on this thread is: What would make you decline playing someone? Some say that they would decline someone who proxies armies. Others would turn down someone who doesn't have a single model painted or primed. Some say that it is a case by case basis, and I think that is true for everyone. I would refuse to play someone who would poop in my drive way if I won. No body wants that... But at my local gaming store the clientele is a dead division of either kids under the age of 17 or over the age of 25. If a 17 year old high schooler wanted to play me and had 95% of his army unpainted, I would still play him. I would play him because I am an ambassador for the game that I enjoy playing, and I want to have a good time and want my opponent to have a good time. There is a reason why in tournament play there is a score for sportsmanship.

I run a pretty much completely unpainted army. It never has bothered me. I enjoy the gaming aspect of 40k but could really care less about the modeling/painting aspect. The only reason I would even consider painting is if a tourny in my local area required it. I know that's not even close to the norm but eh to each their own.

 reaverX wrote:
but could really care less

Urgh. This "grinds my gears" more than any amount of painting or lack thereof.

 Griddlelol wrote:

 reaverX wrote:
but could really care less

Urgh. This "grinds my gears" more than any amount of painting or lack thereof.

Understandable. However I find no joy in it at all and would rather go workout, climb, stare at a wall, etc. I only care about the tactics of the game and rolling dice. I do enjoy conversions/modeling but that's another story. Now I enjoy seeing other peoples completed work but I look at it like I do tattoos. I appreciate the artwork but wouldn't put it on myself (or in this case paint the model).

 reaverX wrote:

 Griddlelol wrote:

 reaverX wrote:
but could really care less

Urgh. This "grinds my gears" more than any amount of painting or lack thereof.

Understandable. However I find no joy in it at all and would rather go workout, climb, stare at a wall, etc. I only care about the tactics of the game and rolling dice. I do enjoy conversions/modeling but that's another story. Now I enjoy seeing other peoples completed work but I look at it like I do tattoos. I appreciate the artwork but wouldn't put it on myself (or in this case paint the model).

Yes, but we still don't know how much less you could care.

 Crimson wrote:


Yes, but we still don't know how much less you could care.

Thanks for getting it.

For me the visual aspect of the game is really important, and I really appreciate that my enemy has a painted army, and I'm much more likely to arrange game with people that do.

I understand that different people value different aspects of the game, and that's fine. But I don't think that preferring to play with people who share my preferences is anyway wrong or elitist of me.

Depends on the army and how unfinished it is.

Hordy armies (like orks) its really effing hard to field a 1500-2000 pt boy heavy army fully painted because they scream for so much detailed painting (i dont speed paint even my boyz, they get a legit paintjob...least by my standards im no pro painter that appears in White Dwarf or anything) but when people field stuff from Grey Knights or Nidzilla lists unpainted....really? you have like 15-20 models to paint....atleast give them table-top quality lol. I have over 90 models painted and still working on it to field a fully painted army for once, but again...over 90 models vs 15-20...cmon dude lol.