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Sorry to sound noobish but what is tabletop quality? I see it referenced to time and time again but i'm not exactly sure how good that means your painting is. Is it good or just the standard needed to use in a game without your opponent ridiculing you? Thanks!

Tabletop quality is how it sounds- It looks good to be on the table, battling it out with whatever. It doesn't mean that it will receive awards, but when ranked up it will look just fine.

Basically, it looks good!

There never really is a standard by which to judge painting since beauty is the eye of the beholder and all that. Art is, after all, a matter of perception.

In mini terms, quality is usually peer reviewed; you judge yourself by what others do, hence painting compos like Golden Daemon offer a benchmark of quality. The cool mini or not web site offers something similar.

Tabletop quality to me, means a mini that is neat and presentable, not of a particularly high standard but good enough to game with. Most of my stuff is tabletop quality; it doesn't look top notch when viewed close but viewed as an army, it presents a unified and neat colour scheme.

Table top is a rather subjective term. It is a middle ground between "it has paint on it" and a well painted miniature.

Here is how I break it down:

Painted: There is paint on it. It doesn't look great, paint isn't in the lines, no real highlighting or details.

Table Top: Put a small amount of effort into it. Throw some drybrushing and some washes on it, highlight a few things. Basically, it probably looks better from 2 feet away than it does in front of your face. SO it looks good on the table top. This usually includes flocking the base in some way, too.

Well Painted: Basically, above and beyond table top. Nice shading, exact details, some blending maybe. This is how you paint a character or something that you want to stand out.

To me, tabletop means painted, and looks good enough from 3 feet away.

This can mean a simple block paint job with a wash or dip.

Or the more extreme verison I have seen in many historical armies.

Black Prime. base color leaving plenty of black around edges, then a harsh highlight with white or light color.
Repeat for all colors on model.
Pick out small details if needed, especially uniform details such as lace or tassels.
Little to no use of washes or inks.

I don't know what this style is called, but I have seen it quite often.

skrulnik wrote:To me, tabletop means painted, and looks good enough from 3 feet away.

This +1


If you can step back 3 feet and look at your figs and say to yourself... "that looks good" .. thats table top...
You convey the color and appearance of your army that can be easily recognized.

Good question! I define it as such on my website:

What is 'Tabletop Quality'?

Put quite simply, the figures will be painted to a standard that they are going to look good on the table. Mind you, this is not Golden Demon work, but a method that produces great looking figs to actually play with!

Each figure is primed, basecoated, given a layer of shading, a layer of highlighting, final detailing and matte sealant.

All the figs in my gallery are what I consider to be 'tabletop quality'. I paint to game, not win any awards. If someone looks at them and says "cool", I'm happy.

Also, even though this is kind of a given, tabletop quaility is a minimum of three colors (or so I have always been told) as many tourneys have a 3 color minimum rule.

A Black Ram wrote:Tabletop quality is how it sounds- It looks good to be on the table, battling it out with whatever. It doesn't mean that it will receive awards, but when ranked up it will look just fine.

Basically, it looks good!

This. Tabletop quality painting means it looks good on the table top, but might not hold up if you're looking at it from only an inch or two away.

If you look at Le Grognard's gallery, that would be what I consider a high table-top quality. It looks quite good from a couple of feet away and you can tell some care has been put into the details of the mini. In order to get above table top quality, I think you need to begin to blend and layer your colors.

I would assume tabletop has two real meanings.

You have the minimum you need to get the figure playable at a tournament/game. Thus the 3 Color minimum.

Secondly there is the painters version which would include at least some washes or dry brushing with a few details such as eyes attempted to be picked out.

The problem with the ladder example is that if someone attempts it that way then its possible you could have someone with a great painted mini or the guy that took the tank brush and did all of the painting with JUST that brush and the thing looks like it was just rolled around in paint.

Tabletop is too objective unless we consider it just enough to game (the first example) IMHO. I would prefer to see an army painted above tabletop standard across the table but as long as It's not a bare or primed black army I'm happy.

I consider myself as on the upper end of tabletop painting. However, it is about as broad a term as "pro painted" on eBay. I consider a good level of "tabletop" painting to be neat highlights, washes/shading, eyes painted, and maybe a little bit of freehand here and there.

My goal is for my minis to look good from 3' away. Thats what I consider table top quality.

I consider it to be minis that look good from 3 feet away, but still good up close. Not Golden Daemon winning, but good looking.

Differing opinions then, no real definition from anywhere?

Nob 'ead wrote:Differing opinions then, no real definition from anywhere?

Welcome to the Internet!

@OP What is the reason that this question was asked? Are you trying to buy an army that is supposedly Tabletop Quality? Or is this just because people mention Tabletop Quality? :-P

I consider tabletop quality to be 5-6 base colors, washes, and a little highlighting.

Tournament legal is just 3 colors in most areas, or no paint at all required in others...

@Ivellos my painting was said to be tabletop standard and I had no idea if that was good or bad still not sure!

Well tabletop quality I would say is actually above average. Most people I would say don't even paint that well. I would say that tabletop quality puts you somewhere in the top half of painters.

0%-30% of painters just throw some paint on it
31%-60% put some effort into it but it really doesn't look good
61%-98% put out tabletop quality
2% are really good painters that make you go wow!!!!!

But with anything artistic you have different strokes for different folks. Generally speaking when someone says you have tabletop quality miniatures it is an ok complement (but not always). I know this doesn't really help because it is so subjective but usually if someone tells you that you have tabletop quality miniatures you are doing ok.

I'd say I paint my minis to tabletop quality. I get all the details and make them look good, but they won't win any awards any time soon.

I agree with Mattlov

Nob 'ead wrote:@Ivellos my painting was said to be tabletop standard and I had no idea if that was good or bad still not sure!

If you're happy with it, does it matter?

hungryp wrote:

Nob 'ead wrote:Differing opinions then, no real definition from anywhere?

Welcome to the Internet!

It's one of those loose terms, which generally means something along the lines of the following:

-It's painted

-It does not embarras me to much

-looks best at about 2-3' distant

For example, my dwarves. Solid base coats, then washed to provide definition, with only a few models having eyes. When playing, you can make out details, but they aren't amazing. Basically a solid paintjob.

@insaniak just interested in what it means -.-

For me, tabletop quality is painting inside the lines. No advance techniques needed, just do the basic paintjob without much error.

Table top is pretty subjective. One poster in this thread thinks that basic freehand belongs in tabletop quality, others seem to think it's just a step above three color minimum.

I think the most generally accepted definition of tabletop is that it's a level of painting quality that will look good in nearly any environment. To achieve this, I think that minis must be completely base colored, most major details (ammo clips, badges) painted, washed/highlighted, and with a painted and flocked base. Once you fully base paint, add depth, and put a base on a mini, it'll look fine in any battle report.

I define it as such:
~Clean lines. Stay within your boundaries. I don't want red all over a marines face, even though it's his eye.
~ Simple color scheme. Depending on your army, try to stay with the same colors throughout. A base, trim and detail. That's all you need. More than 4 colors looks silly.
~ Clean paintjob. I want to see the face or hands, not a glop of paint that obscures all detail.
~Simple bases. Don't put elaborate bases on crappy models. That dire avenger shouldn't have a space marine corpse under him.

There ya go. I think I'm forgetting something though..
All of these rules are Dependant on your models being correctly put together and all of your mold lines being scraped off. If you don't do that, then you'll be judged.

As long as you're happy to field them, it doesn't matter what the Community sees as 'Tabletop Quality'. If you're happy with how you're painting, then that's that.

But, if you want the assumed, general guidelines of Tabletop Quality, then so long as you're using 4-6 Colours, with Smooth, Accurate Coats, and either Washing, Drybrushing or Highlighting, then it's a Medium Tabletop Quality.

Happy Painting!