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Every army in 40k has multiple ways to paint them with unique and iconic paint schemes.

Have you ever had second thoughts about painting your army as a specific faction (ie. Raven Guard or Imperial Fists)?

There were times when paint=rules where I envied the people who did homebrew chapters, or even the grey legions of the unpainted. I was being forced into a certain rule set because the the paint I chose.

During peak Ward, the hate for Ultramarines was wearying. Having to keep explaining things to the meme 4chan crowd that the handful of outlining recent comments (although legitimate, some more then others) were not the norm for the history of 40k, and some of the stuff coming out of the hate echo chamber could be applied to all space marines.

Playing a notoriously by-the-book chapter has stifled some kitbashing potential. Not that I don’t break out the hobby knife from time to time. But the army is mostly stock and parade ground ready.

Not faction specific:
I painted my scouts in forest camo before I settled on an army, so they could work with both my BAs and Ultras. I don’t dislike them, but really enjoy the arctic camo I’ve done the phobos in.

I kept my paint scheme uniform for a long time, just to keep the army coherent. No shoulder trim. The RTB01s didn’t have it, and I didn’t want them to look out of place. No edge highlights. Young me didn’t have the knowledge or skills, and I, again, didn’t want my army to look mismatched. With 8th and the primaris I reset a lot of my old standards. They were going to look different anyway, might as well trim and highlight them.

I started painting my CSM as The Scourged, because Tzeentch. I'm currently debating to switching to a green and gold scheme to better match the leader of my Chaos Knights so that it all fits as a more cohesive force (and makes it a bit easier to explain having Noise Marines and Berzerkers).

Nothing major or deep but I regret that I painted my death guard the stereotypical green for years. It was fine, and it was easy, and it got them on to the table quickly but after seeing the off-white preheresy scheme I started using that and it looked a LOT better. Took way longer to do but I was much happier with the results.

Then there was the time I tried using enamels because they were cheaper. That went about as well as you might think....

My very, very first army was Silver Skulls, I loved the look and even had a silver Dante painted up. I didn't know any of the lore back then and was mainly just winging it but I wonder if going for another faction might have been better. Maybe Iron hands or something (although this was in 2nd edition, where they weren't much more than just a colour scheme)

The biggest painting regret I had was when I tried to go from goblin green + flock bases for my Orks to rubble and grey. I used a GW grey paint, can't remember which one now, and I was prepping for a tournament so I painted the entire army's bases at once.

I glued an aggregate that was way too chunky on, and then just slopped over it with this grey paint with no drybrushing to bring out the texture and no wash. The grey paint dried VERY blue, and the entire army looked ridiculous to the point that opponents commented on how goofy it looked (which was not common, people were generally kind about paintjobs!).

I had to scrape it all off and try again!

Aside from that, sometimes I regret doing "in universe" factions for my Marines and Chaos Marines and feel I should have done homebrew all the way. But Crimson Fists are THE iconic space marines for me and Word Bearers have a cool scheme and are the quintessential chaos marines, so I don't worry about it too much.

Definitely my Harlequins.

Honestly?

No.

The closest I've ever had to regret has been when my artistic vision exceeded my artistic skill of the moment.
But I was happy with the color schemes, etc I'd decided on (and still am) - some just didnt turn out as well as I'd have liked.
And (most of) those misses can (and have been) corrected.
Sometimes I needed more skill, or a different technique. Sometimes different supplies. Sometimes both.

I regret painting my armies too slowly.

I started my Death Guard with a camouflage scheme and it was terrible to paint. I still love every miniature I finished in that style, but when 8th edition came I switched to DG Green and so far didn't regret it. I left the shoulder pads and all Details the same way I did the older ones so it still ties together. Also they're CSM, having a variety of schemes isn't that bad to represent some warbands that were integrated into the legion.

I messed up thousands of points of my Eldar, back in the day, by gluing the edges of their bases with sand and painting them shades of green. It was...fine...but it really distracted from the minis themselves and made the bases bigger than 25mm.

Now I'm feeling like a genius. Aspect Warriors are on 28mm, which is exactly what mine worked out to be with the sand, and if I repaint them a more neutral color and add some highlights, foliage, etc, I'll have a refreshed army.

Do I regret the past? Yep.

Did I get stupid lucky and am looking forward to the future? Also yep.

Moral of the story? It's OK if you mess up. It might work out, and if it doesn't, even plastic minis can be stripped and started again. Consider it practice.

Painting necrons in the typical all silver is something I wish I hadn't done. Whenever I get around to repainting it at least it won't be too difficult given it's basically just primed and mostly one color/one accent.

I've leaning towards a black/blue theme that I've seen some great inspirations for around.

I regretted painting my guard with the standard 8th cadian schemes minus a few strange goofy colours (red turrets lol). But I stripped everything and fixed that! So now I'm mighty happy with them.

My SoB's bone-colored armor is too close to the hue of their sandy bases, and while you can justify it as camouflage, it doesn't look that great. I now realize that the base should contrast with the miniature, not blend with it. I should have either based them differently or painted them another color.

Also, I used GW sand, but it looks rather meh compared to other desert-themed bases I've seen. The surface is too flat, and the grains are too large (almost the size of pebbles compared to the minis). To quote Anakin, it's coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere. That last part especially... So many grains of sand inside the cutouts of my foam trays. I should have gone for a clay- or mud-like material and painted it the color of sand.

 NurglesR0T wrote:
Painting necrons in the typical all silver is something I wish I hadn't done. Whenever I get around to repainting it at least it won't be too difficult given it's basically just primed and mostly one color/one accent.

Try contrast paint over silver, and then a very light drybrush of silver on top. It's how I got a nice metallic purple for my new Custodes.

.

Can't regret it if I haven't painted anything.

I regret painting my Necrons in a Mecha-Godzilla silver/red scheme.

Mainly because its too much red and Im debating going back and changing the weapon colours.

I don't regret making my marines Deathwatch, but GW has certainly tried to make it an unpleasant decision over the years. Very happy to see that style of subfaction rules go away in 10th and I really hope it stays that way.