Are your armies painted?

[Cactus]

Long before I started playing mini war games, I painted models. I had no idea what some of the models were or what they might be used for, but I purchased all sorts of minis from GW, D&D, Robotech, etc. and painted them up because I enjoyed the crafty part of the hobby.

When I finally got started to actually build an army to play Warhammer, I bought the Wood Elf army box (which was a new release at the time) and slowly painted my minis. My local game store ran a league, so I played with unpainted minis and because I was being careful with each and every model, it took months just to get a rank painted. Now that the mini-wargamming monkey is on my back, I have far more armies/models that I could ever field or paint, but I keep painting away, skipping from game-to-game on a whim.

So far, I've only had three fully painted armies on the table. My Dwarfs, a beastman army that I sold off, and an Ultramarines army that I also sold off.

Currently, most the armies that play in tourneys or leagues at my LGS are not fully painted. There are a couple of hastily base coated armies, a lot of half-painted works in progress and few that just don't want to paint and field bare metal or plastic.

Because I keep skipping around with my painting, I feel like I'm never going to get another army fully painted... How often do you guys have fully painted armies?

[magickbk]

I started playing back in Rogue Trader. Back then, I painted quickly (read as: poorly, but at least I stayed within the lines), and I rarely had anything unpainted for more than a few days. As I've gotten older, my painting skills have improved, and my time is limited more by work, family, and other 'real life' things. So, it may take weeks to paint a unit, or a rank, and that means it takes years to finish an army. I'm certainly not going to wait to play, so I go unpainted.

Do to time limitations, I rarely get out to a store to play anymore, and play occasionally with friends at our homes. A few weeks ago I took my current project down to a store to get a game in. My army was entirely unpainted, and my opponent's was mostly unpainted. On the table next to us was a fantastically painted Tyranid army, against a mostly finished Imperial Guard army. Everything else I saw that day was either unpainted, or had so little paint on it that it didn't count. I've been to that store a number of times for paints and supplies, and can say that is a normal occurrence.

My Tau army, although small, is painted to a high standard, and the last time I took it somewhere, I gathered a crowd to watch my painstakingly finished models get massacred. I think the reason the crowd gathered was because people are not used to seeing finished armies on finished tables unless you frequent tournaments.

My feeling is that ultimately, the goal should be for everyone to have a painted army. But, it takes a long time to get there for people who want to and enjoy painting. People who don't enjoy the painting aspect don't care. So the vast majority of games will include unpainted stuff. In a store environment, the best way around this is an escalation league and/or painting club, where everyone is encouraged to at least show progress. If you want to play games with fully painted armies, you and a few other players should try to show by example.

As for when I've fielded fully painted? One game with Tau last year. Before that, it would have been many years and editions. I still have those armies, but I don't use them because I am no longer pleased with the paint jobs, and wanted a different tactical challenge.

[pgarfunkle]

I currently have several work in progress armies, the only army I own without any paint whatsoever is a Tyranid army. I haven't actually seen that army since 3rd edition tnough . I think part of the reason for this is that until recently I haven't played much so the motivation to paint is not there. I've just joined a local club and have set myself a goal of getting my current lizards painted for a tourney in November although the new releases could mess that up a bit.

[burad]

As someone who spent 35 years painting and playing mostly historical miniatures prior to getting into WHFB and 40k, I won't put one of my units in a game unless it's fully painted. A little of that is due to the fact that I don't assemble minis and then paint them; but most of it is that it's not really 'my' army until I have painted it. It's just plastic.

[Wildeybeast]

Of my 6 armies across 2 game systems, none are fully painted. Whilst I take pride in fielding painted units, I find painting a time consuming and rather boring process. However, I'm entering Warhammer Doubles later in the year, so I have a clear goal to aim for to get my WE painted.

[Brakkart]

i only really have the one army currently which is my Space Marines, of which about 40% is fully painted, another 20% or so is semi-painted and the rest is unpainted and mostly unassembled too. Technically I have the figures to field a Chaos army. however that would be a Chaos army in the sense of when the now 3 Chaos fantasy forces (Warriors, Daemons & Beastmen) were all in one army book together. Most of those models are metal, unpainted and still in boxes/blister packs and are several editions old now.

[troglodytesrus]

To be blunt -

Anyone who doesn't paint their army is doing Warhammer wrong.


Never played a single game without a fully painted army. Never played a single game against a non-fully painted army.

[Cactus]

To be blunt -

Anyone who doesn't paint their army is doing Warhammer wrong.


Never played a single game without a fully painted army. Never played a single game against a non-fully painted army.

I've only ever played against a couple of fully painted armies. Most have some paint on them, but even at Wargames Con where you received painting scores, a lot of armies were "naked."

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Yes. I only ever play with painted models. I've got a large fully painted Ultramarines army, a growing Ulthwe Eldar army, and some Tomb Kings sat waiting for me to get the urge to paint them again. I love painting. It's what got me back into this hobby.

Playing against unpainted models makes me a bit sad, honestly. I'd never say no to a game against someone with an unpainted or partly painted army, but I don't like it as much. My brother and I have the same philosophy on this these days, though, so it's all good. :)

[Deadlift]

I've only ever played against a couple of fully painted armies. Most have some paint on them, but even at Wargames Con where you received painting scores, a lot of armies were "naked."

I think it depends really on what each person wants to get out of the hobby, I personally wouldn't play with an unpainted model. To me it's not finished. But then I enjoy painting more than playing.

[Wildeybeast]

To be blunt -

Anyone who doesn't paint their army is doing Warhammer wrong.


Never played a single game without a fully painted army. Never played a single game against a non-fully painted army.

Hard to tell whether that was a light hearted comment or deliberate trolling. I'm going to assume the former as obviously there is no 'right way' to play Warhammer.

[magickbk]

Hard to tell whether that was a light hearted comment or deliberate trolling. I'm going to assume the former as obviously there is no 'right way' to play Warhammer.

When I worked for GW, part of the training regimen was about identifying what aspects of the hobby a customer was into, and making sure you spoke with the customer in the terms that interested them. There were three aspects as far as the training was concerned, collecting, painting, and playing. Everyone in theory had to be into at least one of those, most are interested in two. If someone came in who was into collecting and painting, you could talk to them about how great a Wave Serpent is in the game now, but they won't care if they aren't interested in painting it, and they probably aren't interested in constructing a valid army list either. Anyway, my point was that at the time of my training, GW effectively considered those three alone, and any combination thereof, to be ways of doing it right. We were to encourage the others, but ultimately help the customer get the aspects out of it that they wanted.

[ElectricPaladin]

My lizardmen are pitifully unpainted. They're all primed, buy only one Skink, one Saurus on foot, and one Saurus on a cold one are actually painted. It's pretty sad. I need to do something about that.

[troglodytesrus]

Hard to tell whether that was a light hearted comment or deliberate trolling. I'm going to assume the former as obviously there is no 'right way' to play Warhammer.

Heh, it was actually meant boringly seriously :P

I have played since age 9 and always painted my units. To me the hobby comes as an entire whole, I build my models, I paint them, I play with them. Playing with my models has always been the 3rd step on the ladder and only comes after the first 2 stages are complete.

Admittedly I've stayed away from the more 'hard-core' end of the hobby pool, not done tournaments and mainly played with my group of friends but I still just strongly feel that playing Warhammer with unpainted models is missing a LARGE part of the hobby; in other words, doing it 'wrong'.

[Ankhalagon]

2500 pts Vampire Counts. 10000 pts Dark Elves. 4000 pts Skaven. Complete painted.
Nippon in planing.
Adeptus Mechanicus WIP.
And a little braindamadge from the Skaven!

[Cactus]

2500 pts Vampire Counts. 10000 pts Dark Elves. 4000 pts Skaven. Complete painted.
Nippon in planing.
Adeptus Mechanicus WIP.
And a little braindamadge from the Skaven!

Nice!

My warhammer ADD keeps taking my focus away from a single army before I can build up a nice 4,000 point army.

[Wildeybeast]

Heh, it was actually meant boringly seriously :P

I have played since age 9 and always painted my units. To me the hobby comes as an entire whole, I build my models, I paint them, I play with them. Playing with my models has always been the 3rd step on the ladder and only comes after the first 2 stages are complete.

Admittedly I've stayed away from the more 'hard-core' end of the hobby pool, not done tournaments and mainly played with my group of friends but I still just strongly feel that playing Warhammer with unpainted models is missing a LARGE part of the hobby; in other words, doing it 'wrong'.

It may be missing a part of the hobby, but saying that is 'doing it wrong' is rather arrogant and narrow minded. There are a number of people who buy and paint models but never play with them. Equally, there are people like me who don't have fully painted armies (because I don't have time to do so) but still want to be able to play with them. GW encourages all aspects of the hobby and doesn't look down on anyone who only engages in certain aspects, so I fail to see why should. If you feel all your models should be painted before they hit the table top, then more power to you, but please don't go around telling those of us who do it differently that we are 'doing it wrong'.