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I was at Games Day Toronto on the weekend and I heard this little rumour, just wondering if anyone else had heard it or had anymore information.

Seems that GW is going to allow unpainted models to be played in the store - with a penalty or something to the army. Possibly an attempt to get new gamers into playing faster while still encouraging them to paint?

Don't know what to believe, know it would make my son happy but it kind of goes against what GW has done all the years I've been in the hobby.

Again this is just something I heard so please feel free to confirm or debunk it as you see fit (source was a longtime GW store employee)

 

PapaSmurf

GW doesnt allow unpainted models in their stores? WTF?

Nope. Models for play in GW stores have to be painted and based.

Not a big deal for me because (1) I have no desire to play in a tiny, cramped store against 12 year olds on tiny tables with very little terrain and (2) I have a fully painted and based army.

I'm mildly surprised, but I don't see it being a big thing one way or another. They'll still try to guilt you into painting.

I've run tornaments in my GW, and I specifically allowed unpainted models. And they tried the rule about playing them with a penaly. That was just an, 'Ok *wink* *wink*,' situation. This is hardly worthy of a rumor or news, now is it?

 

The rules for painted and unpainted models have been relaxed for a while now. At least in the Baltimore area they have been. There may still be some stores in the US with old school managers, but as far as I know, as long as you show progress on getting your army painted, you can play with them unpainted and unbased.

Been playing with unpainted stuff at the store for quite some time now. Many people do, even people who hardly ever paint anything.

I actually make progress, but for the people who don't, they just get teased about it but they're still allowed to play. Our store manager is actually a decent guy.

Uhhhhhhhh...

I've been playing at the Seattle Battle bunker for about a year now and they've always let people play with unpainted minis.

the GWs in houston all allow you to use your stuff if its unpainted, as long as theres progress with the army. which isn't hard, they let you use free paints and brushes IN the store so you cant play the "paints/brushes are expensive" card to get out of that one.

Rules have been relaxed over here, too. You can play unpainted in all of Germany.

you can play unpainted over here but if your army doesnt show any progress then you can be refused by our store manager. which i think is fair, it shows that they are making progress and it also helps people get gaming qucker
millest

I've played at the Glen Burnie bunker with unpainted stuff before, they just gave me a little shake of the head and told me I'd need to show progress next time - priming, actual paint, etc. Was a little surprised myself, but worked for my lazy arse!

- Boss Salvage

I often play in GW stores-its a good meeting location for us old farts. There's never an issue whether our items are painted or not. In fact I may show up tomorrow with just the top shell of a wave serpent -my new stealth power field serpent until I get that puppy together.

On the weekdays we never many kidlets regardless.

Where do you play in Houston Kommissar?

Wow, that would be awkward.

"Hey! Haven't you learned to layer yet, boy?"

"Yes sir, I mean no sir, I mean...."

"Go play yer game and git outta my face. And remember to thin that paint!"

"Thank you sir!"

the katy mills store. occasionally go to the mar Q as well. yourself?

Marquee mostly. it is a prime location for the old fart crew.

I think one reason I've never been bugged is that whole age thing. One thing to tell a 12 year old. Another thing to tell someone as old as the employee's parents...

 

 

No surprise there. I've been to the Chicago Battle Bunker ONCE - never again. Why would I take my well painted and based minis to a store where some spoiled little nose-picker can't seem to keep his grimy little hands off?

"Can I see that?" (in that screechy ADD voice)

"Sure, you can look but I'm in the middle of a game right now"

(snatches mini off table) "Wow. Cool. Do you play Sapze Marinez too???"

"Hey! Put that back! Didn't you just hear me?"

I don't have anything against well-behaved kids who have a proper sense of personal space but what's with the GW stores always attracting the complete opposite?

Posted By ancientsociety on 05/08/2007 7:16 AM
I don't have anything against well-behaved kids who have a proper sense of personal space but what's with the GW stores always attracting the complete opposite?

"Hey!  I paid a lot of money for my kid's Space Soldiers army, so that I can drop him off for free baby-sitting while I shop in the mall!  What's a grown man like you doing playing with toy soldiers, anyway?  What are you, some kind of perv?"

There is no GW store within 500 miles of me, as far as I know (thank god); and my FLGS enforces a pretty strict behavior policy (and not just on children- one or two adults have been briefly banned because they couldn't control the potty talk while minors were in the store).

I heard it too. Maybe it is just a Canada thing. I have played people before with unpainted models but not in GW. It is frustrating sometimes to take a lot of time to paint something then it does not do as well as you had thought and then you have to use it until you paint a replacement. After that it collects dust.

theres some little kid problems in the store down here, but almost all of the kids know not to touch my stuff. i'll let them look as long as they let ME hold the model, but if they pick it up without permission then i start to get angry. most of the time if you tell them what they are supposed to and not supposed to do, they comply. however, there's ALWAYS TFK that drops the harlequin you took almost 5 hours to paint and manages to chip the diamond part of the paint job. darwin rox!

This surprises me, I never even knew there WAS such a rule ever in place. I've been going to GW's in the Western Chicago Suburbs (including the bunker) since the begining of last year (relatively new player) and all I ever see are mass hordes of white, black, and grey armies. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a fully based and painted 40k army on the table in a GW store around here.

We are not lucky enough to have a GW Store in the Cincinnati area. Though I would never pay full Retail for GW Products. When I go to the local Independent stores all I see is unpainted stuff being used in games. Proxy this, supposed to be that. Reminds me of a Necron army a kid had. It was just the black plastic bases with letters written on them so you knew what they were. "W" for Warriors, "D" for Destroyers, etc..

I would almost rather not play if it is with unpainted stuff. Visual game for me.

Maybe its just a Canadian GW store thing, cause none of the GW stores I've been to would let you play without a min 3 colours and a painted base. Other FLGS do let you play unpainted which certainly encourages more active participation. It has always frustrated me because I'll by a unit to add to my army but because I'm such a terribly slow painter, I'll never get to use it because something else shiny will come along. I hope its true and it appears that this is perhaps more to do with the local manager than with a company policy

PapaSmurf

G'Day, Papa Smurf!

Indeed, we at GW Canada are relaxing our painting rules. You can come in and play with merely assembled models. However, we would like to see progress, so you only have one week to play with said models, at which point they they will have to be primed before you can use them again. A week later, they should be basecoated, and so on.

The reason for this is simple - we want you to enjoy gaming earlier.

We will only impose penalties to your models if you fail to make progress on your models in that time frame. So if you're an eager beaver and you want to use that unit of Harlequins you just bought, there will be no penalty. A month later though, if your models are still bare metal, they may have to start making Difficult Terrain tests with that unit, or be unable to fleet, or the Shadowseer may be unable to use Veil of Tears...etc

Hope that helps!

Clarence
GW Vaughan Mills

Posted By Clarence on 05/08/2007 7:12 PM
G'Day, Papa Smurf!

Indeed, we at GW Canada are relaxing our painting rules. You can come in and play with merely assembled models. However, we would like to see progress, so you only have one week to play with said models, at which point they they will have to be primed before you can use them again. A week later, they should be basecoated, and so on.

The reason for this is simple - we want you to enjoy gaming earlier.

We will only impose penalties to your models if you fail to make progress on your models in that time frame. So if you're an eager beaver and you want to use that unit of Harlequins you just bought, there will be no penalty. A month later though, if your models are still bare metal, they may have to start making Difficult Terrain tests with that unit, or be unable to fleet, or the Shadowseer may be unable to use Veil of Tears...etc

Hope that helps!

Clarence
GW Vaughan Mills

I can appreciate what you're doing when you encourage players to paint their
armies before they come to the store, but saying that you want them to enjoy
the game earlier seems a bit....odd.

If the game is good, then they'll enjoy themselves with metal, plastic, primed,
or even (heaven forbid) proxies. I think what painting does do is not allow
someone to enjoy the game earlier, but it allows them to become more invested
in their army sooner. Once you'e painted a force, you've put time into it, and
time invested increases your loyalty to that product.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing, in fact, it's probably the thing that keeps
unpainted miniature games going in the face of clix, prepaints, and video
games. Time invested is the lure of the points system of X-box live, unlockable
characters, RPGs, and that deadliest beast of all, Online RPGs.

I do have a question about the system, however.

How do you track a player's painting progress?

It varies from store to store. BAsingstoke tried it, so all us vets buggered off to the local games club instead.

Posted By fellblade on 05/08/2007 7:43 AM

"What are you, some kind of perv?"

Is that a rhetorical or trick question?

I was at my local GW yesterday and brought in 2 armies. ! unpainted and 1 painted just in case. They said I could use the unpainted and it allowed me to try things and a couple things will definitely be pushed to the back of the "to do" list. I like it a lot

To Malfred:

It's not a question of whether the games is good or not, we simply felt GW Canada was being too facist with our gaming policies - you MUST have a fully painted army to play, your army MUST be fully based, you MUST bring in your dice, rulers, templates...etc. All these rules made it take harder for a hobbyist to come in and start gaming, and could kill the interest in the models a person bought.

As to how we're going to track the progress, it will be done visually, basically. I work there 40 hours a week, and so do my other 2 full timers. Between the three of us, we should be able to notice when a regular starts abusing our rules. If a non-regular starts abusing the rules, and we don't catch him, ultmately we won't mind as his infrequent visits will minimally affect the attitudes of our regulars. Hope that helps!

The two GW stores near me (northern VA) have been allowing unpainted models for several months now. No biggie, the players sit and paint while waiting for a game and then play with what they've been working on.