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Just curious to see what Dakka thinks, as it varies a lot for those I meet in person.

If you're actually interested in what Dakka thinks, put this in the General Discussion subforum, not the 40k Discussion sub.

I absolutely revile painting. I do, however, love having well-painted minis, so it's kind of a prerequisite. Still, I paint because I have to do it to get what I really want, not because I enjoy the activity itself.

 infinite_array wrote:
If you're actually interested in what Dakka thinks, put this in the General Discussion subforum, not the 40k Discussion sub.

...Good point. Reporting this to get it moved.

I love modeling. I look forward to getting out the sprue cutters and superglue whenever I buy a new box of something.

Painting...I just can't get excited about. I love having painted models and like any skill I enjoy being able to get better at it when I practice, but the process just doesn't excite me at all.

That's probably why my army is a ton of unpainted but reasonably well put together/converted models with a couple squads of somewhat competently painted troops choices.

I despise painting. As such the few models I've (partially) painted look like crap. Fortunately a friend and I have an agreement, as he enjoys painting but hates assembling.

Voted indifferent, but love the model, but it's a bit more complicated. I hate the early stages of painting, all the boring cleaning up parts, base coating, etc. But I love the detailing and weathering, when the model comes together to be an awesome finished product. And of course I love the final product and refuse to play with unpainted models.

"I am mostly indifferent to painting, but I like how the painted model looks."

I hate painting my two dozen ork boys, I hate painting the tenth model in a squad who looks identical to the last 9 I just painted, but I love the look of a fully painted army knowing I did that.

I do however enjoy painting a small squad of elites or a hero even if I don't plan to use them that often. Yesterday I decided to do some painting and just sat down and painted a Cannoness in a single sitting, that I enojyed. My FW Biker boss is probably my best painted model and the one I enjoyed the most.

Didn't we just have one of these painted vs unpainted threads?

I love the painting aspect.

I have only been doing it for seven months now, but I love seeing the level that I can paint at improving as a paint and put equal effort into all my guys, whether it be a terminator, Daemon prince or pink horror

I do not paint i just set up the model with the gear I want. Then have a professional Painter/Model maker fix any imperfections and paint the model. Then i get back the completed model and base it with grass. Or if it is an HQ or Elite unit I have them do the base. I spend enough time going over army lists and setting up for events.

I love painting. I'm far more of a hobbyist than a gammer.. Also, one of my degrees was in art so I love painting anyway. But for me its my Zen, comune with the paint gods time. Its calming and I love it.
Converting comes a close 2nd place.

I can't get into painting as much as I try, I am not bad, infact I am one of the best in my club...

I just don't find it fun. It is a chore for me and doing it is boring, I lose interest in it. I have been working on the same five gaunts for over a week now and I just...don't care.

Like most here, option 1. It's all about the labor of love and putting the end result on display and on the battlefield.

I'll admit, I'm a pretty bad painter (or I'm not really trying hard enough) but I've always found it a nice, relaxing activity to do. I'd "accidentally" sidetrack myself from whatever I'm doing and spend a few minutes to paint for a bit to spend a bit of time to not worry on something. Also, I've always thought painting a model gave it a sort of sense of individuality from it's unit.

I enjoy painting a lot. I love looking at my work when it's finished and of course the process of doing so. But I only started the hobby in July this year so I'm not very good at it yet

Painting is the only thing that matters to me. The game, I have already left behind.

I love painting. Its the one part of the hobby I can still enjoy reliably, given that College now dominates Mondays, the only day my club meets.
I enjoy painting most models, and pushing myself to achieve a good finish. The results are also impressive, and I love these too. There are some exceptions (Brood Ratchets take the piss and Skaven... So many....) but I love painting for the most part.

First Option, I love painting, but sometimes finding the time is ... challenging.

I voted "mostly indifferent to painting, but like how the model looks".


I paint very slowly. It takes me a lot of time to get the results i want, and i'm anal retentive almost to the point of paralysis with my models. I will strip models that don't look "right" if i can't cover up the mistake.

It's a time consuming chore that i have to task-master myself into keeping focused on, however, with a very nice end result which is why i do it.


I view it like the fall leave cleanup. It's a pain in the dick to do, but i like how the lawn looks after i've done it.

I love getting the inspiration for mini conversions, getting together the necessary parts and putting them all together, but I just can't get excited about painting once the conversion is completed.
I'm afraid of making a complete mess of it and, worse, going with a paintscheme that, though competent, doesn't look 'right'.
There are some minis looking at me right now, waiting for their SS-eichenlaub (oakleaf pattern) paintjobs, but I keep putting them off... and, while they sit unpainted, I can't justify starting anything else.

Painting is my 3rd 4th 5th favorite past time.

I like painting small numbers of distinct miniatures (or one big impressive one), but have a low tolerance for painting the same guy over and over. I'm mid-range in terms of painting quality, with most of my stuff being in the "looks good from three feet away" category, but I have a few stand-outs I'm proud of. I prefer to field painted stuff myself, but I understand others don't enjoy painting that much, so don't mind playing unpainted minis.

My actual position is a mix of the bottom two. I personally loathe painting. I'd rather do my taxes or go to the dentist than paint my miniatures. I do like the way a well painted army looks, but that doesn't have any impact on whether or not I enjoy a game with an opponent. After the initial examination of the miniatures before the game starts, the fact that the miniatures are painted ranks well below how well the social interaction with the opponent goes in terms of determining whether or not I enjoy the game. I'd rather play against a "gray horde" run by a really great guy than against an entire army of Golde Daemon quality miniatures run by a douche bag.

All of my models will eventually be painted. I enjoy painting, but have too many hobbies to sit down every night to do it.

I love both the process and result of painting (and converting). I'll always make sure a model looks good, if I think I can do better or I just don't like it I'll paint all or bits of it again. Regarding playing, I always try to use painted models (I am for 90% of an army painted at minimum), and unless stuff is brand new I'll just leave it out and make an effort to paint it ASAP (yet somehow I still have 30 Space Wolves in a box from over a year ago).

I will never look down on anyone for not painting their minis, as I fully appreciate not everyone has time/inclination to get stuff painted. However, I will admit I do enjoy the feeling I get from having 2 fully painted armies facing off across a fully modelled and painted board.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

At some point in my life I must have wanted to paint miniatures. I must have thought that painting miniatures sounded like something fun, that I really wanted to do. I must have, because I went out and bought miniatures and paint.

I can even remember the first guy I painted (after getting back into the hobby). I had a blast painting him, and he turned out awesome...

Then something went wrong. I started buying more miniatures at an alarming rate, digging out old poorly painted miniatures from storage and stripping them for repainting. Picking up new Fantasy Flight games, Space Hulk, SDE and Zombicide. Now my to do list is probably greater than my life expectancy... When I look at all the miniatures I have to paint, I just sort of curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth, sobbing and mumbling the phrase "it isn't possible!" into the darkness.

I'm not sure why that is the case. Why owning many miniatures makes it harder to paint a few. It's not like I worry about having to paint miniatures that I don't own. Maybe I just feel guilty because I know that if I want to paint them all I'm going to have to lower my expectations down from Golden Deamon winner, to something more realistic like one colour and maybe a dip...

I think I do still love painting. But unfortunately the big workload makes any amount of painting seem futile. It's like some kind of learned helplessness syndrome. I'm trying to work through it now, but I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Maybe I should start some kind of Dakka Painters Anonymous group. Where people that can no longer cope with the stress and guilt of having to look at all their unpainted miniatures can go for support.

Remember guys: "One miniature at a time" *hug*

You're not alone, Smacks. You're never alone...

Um, you know, in the "solidarity" sense, not the "your unpainted models are watching (and judging) you from the closet" sense. Because they don't do that, right? RIGHT?


Personally, I'm very hot or cold with my painting. If I'm honest, I'm probably more tepid or cold, with very rare, short-lived bursts of heat. I do love the results, though, and something has to keep bringing me back, other than guilt. If it was just guilt, I'd have tried to sell off the bulk of my collection to assuage it, instead of keeping them tucked away and wistfully sighing "someday."

When I first started the hobby I was most interested in actually playing and painting was secondary. Now that I have a family and much less time for gaming I enjoy painting much more. Getting the thoughts in my head to actually translate well onto the model has helped also. So the better I get at painting the more I enjoy it.

eerrrr how about "I enjoy painting but dont really care if the models on the board are painted or not"?.