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Hey guys, new poster/long time lurker here. I have about 1500pts of SM in my possession. The army was acquired to be a drop pod sally army but I haven't had time to get to them yet. I came into the hobby via AoS and still have a paint backlog on that side. I don't plan to ever play 40k but I still would love to paint some 40k. My question is this:

Should I keep this large army (mostly assembled and primed) and paint them or would it be more wise to sell them off? If I do keep them, should I paint them Salamanders or am I going to lose value (should I paint them a more popular chapter)?

Ultimately if I keep them and paint them I would at least want to return what I invested purchasing them (to further fund my plastic addiction). My painting talents are higher than TableTop Standard.

Thanks

It's probably hard to say exactly, but generally, there's probably more of a market for people too lazy to paint their models well than there are for people who are too lazy to paint their minis AND must have them from a specific chapter.

That being said, in my experience, painted models don't really fetch that much more than unpainted models - certainly not more than the time you put into painting them, unless you're a world-class painter.

So, if you want some money back, you probably won't gain that much more by painting them yourself. Least in my opinion. But if you do put in the time to paint them, you certainly won't be hurting your profits, but I just don't think it'll help as much as you'd hope.

Unless you are an outstanding painter the best way to maintain the value of the SM is to keep them on sprue, unpainted and in the original box

they'll hold value pretty well until a fancy new version hits the shelves,

you say you're better than table top, but that covers a pretty wide range, and painted stuff will put off as many people who will want to integrate them into their own painted force which your style etc (let alone limiting youyeslef to salamander players) may not suit,

as attract people who want a complete army ready painted (and those that do will probably expect a significant bulk deal that you wouldn't have to give selling unpained stuff off box by box)

but if you want to paint them and enjoy it go for it, you don't have to ever play with them. Just (day)dream of their amazing victories, and harrowing defeats instead

If you want to paint them, paint them how you want.

Because unless youre an absolutely incredible painter 99.9% of people will buy your army and immediately throw it in simple green.

Chapter won't matter, painted never really helps unless you have a whole army painted up to a great standard.

If you want to sell them later, leaving them primed is your best option.

Thanks for the replies. I purchased the army as a lot and got a great deal on it. Based on what you guys are suggesting it seems I should maybe just sell everything off by units and keep maybe a tac squad and drop pod or something to get my 40k painting fix.

supasnake wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I purchased the army as a lot and got a great deal on it. Based on what you guys are suggesting it seems I should maybe just sell everything off by units and keep maybe a tac squad and drop pod or something to get my 40k painting fix.

That's likely best.

Problem with buying painted armies is that even if quality is good that means army is basically locked or future additions will be very different style wise. But especially with GW mixing meta all the time tournament players need to update armies periodically to keep up and non-tournament players want likely to buy new cool models as well. Which means problems with painting them to match old ones...

Which is why I strip all models I buy and paint. Even if they are better quality than I could paint. I want style to match with others.