Practical issue: preparation time?

[PiotrW]

Hello again,

not too long ago, I've been asking you guys various newbie questions, as I was wondering whether to try picking up AoS or not... Well, I keep thinking on this issue 😖 And here's one thing that kind of scares me regarding starting AoS.

Basically: how much time does one need to actually be ready for playing? I played around with the Warscroll Creator and it seems to me that you need about 20 - 30 models to create a 1000-point army. Obviously, you need even more to play bigger games. There are also all these scenery pieces to assemble if you want to play at home, all these Endless Spells models...

It kind of seems... really time consuming? Especially if you want to have all of these things painted?

I'm wondering how much time do you guys spend on preparations? I admit I'm a bit slow when it comes to the whole assembling and painting aspect of wargaming. I'm currently playing Infinity and over about 2 years, I managed to get about 60 minis assembled (most of them are still unpainted). Also, across last year, I also have assembled about 20 fantasy minis for Dragon Rampant, some MDF scenery pieces and... that's it. And all of it takes so much time I actually don't play either Infinity or DR all that much (a few games across last year). So, I'm kind of worried that if I add AoS into the mix, I'll end up not playing any games at all - just glueing minis for games that won't ever happen...

Kind of wondering what are your experiences in this matter?

[Overread]

This is a potential pitfall of wargames so I think there's a few things to consider

1) Each person is different and there is no single right answer. Some are happy to slap models together and slap on some paint and go or even just play without any paint at all. Others want to file down every last mould line, perfect a solid paint scheme and paint every model before even considering taking them to a table. Where you fall on the scale is really your chioce, outside of events that might mandate painted models, its your hobby your rules. 

2) You can hire someone to do it for you if you've the money. Yep its not cheating (unless you claim the work is your own) and many gamers do use such services to give them armies they can play with whilst skipping out on some areas of the hobby that they might dislike or not have the time for. 

3) Balance - yep sometimes you've got to measure your own work pace and then balance things so that you get the fun bits. If you loath painting then work to reduce its impact on your hobby so that you can maximise the areas you do enjoy. Sometimes its good to paint a little quicker or not as highly detailed because whilst you get joy from well painted models, you get more from gaming and want to game not paint. 

4) Practice will improve you work speed. Furthermore familiarity with an army helps too. Once you've assembled 30 warriors you've got an idea where the mould lines are; where the tricky bits are etc.... So the next 30 of the same kind will assemble quicker.

5) Network and share ideas. Yep sometimes chatting to fellow gamers will reveal things you never knew about; tools that make a job go faster; tips on painting that might take a bit longer but improve appearance drastically. Also sometimes you can just hook up with a gorup down the club and spend the afternoon painting and assembling. You don't have to game to get the social aspect and painting around a table can be quite a fun way to spend an afternoon with friends and fellow hobbyists. Plus its a learning chance too. 

 

 

For your situation you might consider things ilke Skirmish and Warcry (we don't 100% know what that is yet, save that it will involve most of tthe armies of the game, though only chaos is getting new models for it). There's also Shadspire as well. S othere's a wealth of game options that can get you gaming with very very few models. Giving you a chance to enjoy playing whilst spending time building up your larger proper army. This can be a big help because it means that you don't feel as isolated and the goal of playing is mcuh closer; rather than having it as a lofty target which will take a year to reach or more to get to 1K points. 

Also check out the contrast paints, might be that they can help you speed up a portion of your painting to get your models battle ready faster.

[EccentricCircle]

I tend to spend about 90% of the time painting, and relatively little playing. Honestly I wouldn't recommend this hobby if you don't enjoy the craft side of it. So much of the point of warhammer is about building and painting that I'm not sure the gaming will be worth your while if you don't enjoy that. Clearly there are people who are only into the game, or rush or hire out the hobbying, but i definitely get the sense that they are in the minority. At the end of the day there are a lot of great games out there which can use prepainted minis  or at least small forces which won't take as long to get ready. If yiu like the warhammer setting the try a skirmishes sh game like those suggested above. If lore isn't an issue the FFG's star wars games can be a good option, their prepainted ship s are lovely. For fantasy themed stuff check out frostgrave and its family of games, they require fewer minis, and don't require you to use their own range. Wizkids prepainted figures (branded for D&D and pathfinder) work just fine ( and are increasingly good quality).  In short there are options.

[PiotrW]

Oh, I actually do enjoy the craft side of wargaming! I like assembling models, I really like painting them... It's just that there's so much of craft involved that I feel intimidated when thinking of picking another game. I already get jokes from one of my friends who says that Infinity has the longest "loading time" of all the games he knows (he's strictly a PC games player) and asks whether I actually ever get around to playing it. I'm worried that if I add AoS to my wargaming mix, I will never play anything... I wish there was a way to assemble and paint models faster than I do.

15 hours ago, Overread said:

For your situation you might consider things ilke Skirmish and Warcry (we don't 100% know what that is yet, save that it will involve most of tthe armies of the game, though only chaos is getting new models for it). There's also Shadspire as well. S othere's a wealth of game options that can get you gaming with very very few models. Giving you a chance to enjoy playing whilst spending time building up your larger proper army. This can be a big help because it means that you don't feel as isolated and the goal of playing is mcuh closer; rather than having it as a lofty target which will take a year to reach or more to get to 1K points. 

Also check out the contrast paints, might be that they can help you speed up a portion of your painting to get your models battle ready faster.

If I may: what are the options for playing with small amount of models? I have the current Skirmish rules and I have Shadespire / Nightvault. Is there some third way of playing with just a group of models?

[JPjr]

@PiotrW So... various options open to you...

There’s a new General’s Handbook (out next month) that is going to have some kind of revised rules for smaller 1000pts games.

Then as you say you have the Skirmish rules (not sure what version you have of those but they published a slightly updated version in this year’s Jan/Feb White Dwarf).

Underworlds, as you say, is a thing though rules wise it’s totally removed from the main game (still great though and I personally play it more than AoS and collect all the warbands for the fun of painting them).

But finally and most excitingly in late July we’ll have Warcry, which seems to focus on warbands of around 8-10 models, and has been designed from the ground up by people involved in both WH40k:Kill Team & Underworlds. 

Whilst principally/narratively Warcry will be focused on Chaos, it will come with rules for what seems like a fair % of the other factions. So lots of options really.

Edited June 2, 2019 by JPjr

[pollo1126]

Another thing to consider is that some armies take far longer to paint than others. If you play seraphon, you can just air brush 40 skinks, paint a unit or two of some other troop get a preist and you are set. On the other hand, khorne has lots of little details and a high number of models that can take ages to paint up. Keep this in mind when deciding.

[InSaint]

17 hours ago, PiotrW said:

I'm wondering how much time do you guys spend on preparations? I admit I'm a bit slow when it comes to the whole assembling and painting aspect of wargaming. I'm currently playing Infinity and over about 2 years, I managed to get about 60 minis assembled (most of them are still unpainted). Also, across last year, I also have assembled about 20 fantasy minis for Dragon Rampant, some MDF scenery pieces and... that's it. And all of it takes so much time I actually don't play either Infinity or DR all that much (a few games across last year). So, I'm kind of worried that if I add AoS into the mix, I'll end up not playing any games at all - just glueing minis for games that won't ever happen...

Kind of wondering what are your experiences in this matter?

I took me nearly 1 year to paint my Daughters of Khaine army while balancing my commitment in life. Totaling around 100+ properly painted and based with a couple more to go. Throughout this time, I play several casual and competitive games.

Casual games allow for unpainted partially assembled models and proxies.

Competitive games with painting requirements are usually a big push factor for me to sit down and paint.

Interestingly, I do think this hobby do reflect some measure of a person's character. Something can be said of a person who takes the time and effort to bring a fully painted army to the tabletop. 😉

 

[Retro]

Everyone else has covered most what I can share so I'll just add this.

You can always go the route of choosing an army that has low model count. The risk being that you could end up with a weaker army (if that matters to you).

Also, consider an airbrush. There are some shortcuts you can achieve by using one that might speed up your painting.

[prochuvi]

I can tel you two datas:

 

It takes me around 3 hours to build(only build,not paint)a dispossesed dwarf

 

I have as 100 dwarfs 

 

You can guess the time that take me to get ready my army

 

A hint:i started my dispossesed army with the tempest eye box released 2 years ago and i only have as 1400 points built so far in those 2 years and only built,as i havent painted nothing

[PiotrW]

3 hours ago, InSaint said:

I took me nearly 1 year to paint my Daughters of Khaine army while balancing my commitment in life. Totaling around 100+ properly painted and based with a couple more to go.

 

One year to paint 100+ models? Wow, that's... about 2 models a week. Awesome 😵

BTW. Could you guys tell me what are those new contrast paints, exactly?

[Kramer]

11 hours ago, PiotrW said:

One year to paint 100+ models? Wow, that's... about 2 models a week. Awesome 😵

BTW. Could you guys tell me what are those new contrast paints, exactly?

I think you best bet is checking YouTube  and the contrast paint thread here on TGA. 

Both feature a bunch of painters that tried it. So they’ll be the ones that give you the real info but as far as I can tell if you don’t mind a bit of gritty look the contrast paints work really well to skip a few steps in you painting. 

[RexHavoc]

I'm still painting models I brought when I got into warhammer games, back in 1989!

It doesn't help that I'm not much of a gamer and prefer the creative side of the hobby. I'm also the only painter, so I have to sometimes paint models for my opponent that I might otherwise not really want to get done or might otherwise have issues with. Which can slow the whole process down.

But it's not that much of an issue. I don't play warhammer games because of the endgame, I play them as I enjoy the whole process. If you enjoy it, the time is takes isn't wasted or too long.

It can help to have games or competitions planned. If you have deadlines to get things finished by, you'll have more incentive to get models finished quickly (at least in theory) People that play far more regularly than me are able to knock out a set of completed models in the time it takes me to build one or two models. But if you plan ahead or push yourself, you can find ways to make the process faster.

If you enjoy glueing models together, it's not a waste if a game never happens. I build so many minis for Inq28 (inquisitor) which I can spend weeks on converting, but I am unlikely to ever finish painting 99% of them and I doubt any I do finish will even see a gaming table. But I find the whole process relaxing even if once in a while, I get a small panic attack when I see the tray full to the brim with no more room to add any more!