What % of the armies you regularly field are painted?

[Laststand]

Hi. Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this? Do you wait to hit a certain points value before fielding an army? Do you lead a force of grey plastic? Or do you bounce from painting project to painting project and have several half painted armies you use? 

[El Syf]

Some of the new nighthaunt stuff was grey plastic for a while, all my other models are carried over from web though so all painted there. That folklore of painted models do better than unpainted always sticks in my mind! Also back in the day some stores wouldn’t let you play unless your units were under coated at the very least.

[sorokyl]

My first army I painted as I played. Now I decide for each new army if it is a "play it gray and work on it later / as I go" or "don't play anything from this army that isn't fully based/painted".  I did the later for my gloomspite and it did motiviate me to paint a lot (did 2k in a few months which is good for a guy with a toddler). But it does cause some burn out so I havent accomplished much since. 

 

 

[zedatkinszed]

100%

If you want to grow an army. Then buy a small force for Path to Glory and add and paint as you grow it. 

If you buy more than you paint you're doing yourself and your wallet a disservice. In the words of Uncle Adam Don't be a Wargaming Hoarder:

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by zedatkinszed

[Dead Scribe]

When I buy an army it is bundled and sent to a couple of pro paint specialists that paint my stuff for me, so ... I don't ever have unpainted models.

[flemingmma]

everything is undercoated

hehege

[Skreech Verminking]

Well from a few years ago I usually had around 90% of my army unpainted😅.

I was a bit discouraged after having been playing an army that basically had trouble with anything it met.

since the battletome for the skaven was announced and some other old world armies got an update I started painting my miniatures with courage and full of new vigor.

Since then my army  usually consist of painted models.

although there are always exceptions and sometimes you might see a few grey models in it, when playing against me.

[Mutton]

Usually around half of them are painted or are in stages of being painted. Painting isn't my biggest lean into the hobby, so I usually get a burst of enthusiasm for it when a new army or book that I like comes out, then burn out on painting so many guys in such a short time. But it means I can go back and work on different stuff from time to time.

I've never had a problem with people running entirely unpainted armies. Everyone should enjoy the hobby how they want, and many simply don't enjoy the painting aspect.

[Fulkes]

My nids were 100% painted, my Sisters of Battle were about 1/3 painted but I was actively painting them, but my original Beasts of Chaos army in 8th was unpainted (largely because interest in WFB tapered off almost entirely and I lost motivation to paint them). I've realized I've got a bad habit of not finishing my painting projects though, so now I'm working to fix that and at the same time learning new things to push my painting to a higher level (I've been a pretty decent table top painter for years, but I'm looking to break the ceiling I've hit by learning new things and putting in brush time to get there).

So not many games for me in the near future, but everything will be painted if it touches the table.

[EccentricCircle]

Ideally I like all of my models to be painted before I use them. Sometimes they might not be entirely finished, as I often take ages over the details, but I like them to at least look ok from a distance even if I'm going to go back and do more later. The closest I've ever gotten to fielding an unpainted army was in my last 40K game, where I wanted to use my new Necrons, so quickly spray painted them silver. I need to go back and paint them properly, but it did the trick for that game.

[sorokyl]

 

 

 

3 hours ago, zedatkinszed said:

100%

If you want to grow an army. Then buy a small force for Path to Glory and add and paint as you grow it. 

If you buy more than you paint you're doing yourself and your wallet a disservice. In the words of Uncle Adam Don't be a Wargaming Hoarder:

 

If you buy everything new at full retail, sure. But even buying 1 box at a time at those prices is doing your wallet a disservice.  I usually buy new on sprue or new in box kits for 50-70% of MSRP (cheap enough that i can always get rid of it and not have lost money), or used models/armies for 25-50% of MSRP.  By buying stuff I know I will eventually want when a deal comes along, I save a lot of money.  I also enjoy collecting models even if they are not painted.   

Everyone has different hobby goals and different things work for different people. 

[Fulkes]

5 minutes ago, sorokyl said:

If you buy everything new at full retail, sure. But even buying 1 box at a time at those prices is doing your wallet a disservice.  I usually buy new on sprue or new in box kits for 50-70% of MSRP (cheap enough that i can always get rid of it and not have lost money), or used models/armies for 25-50% of MSRP.  By buying stuff I know I will eventually want when a deal comes along, I save a lot of money.  I also enjoy collecting models even if they are not painted.   

Everyone has different hobby goals and different things work for different people. 

While true, many of us pay full price because we're supporting our FLGS. Store has to make money if you want to be able to keep coming back to game there.

The only reason I'd pick up used models at this point is to help another gamer out if they were needing some extra cash and I wanted in on that army.

[Laststand]

Lots of interesting different approaches. I personally try to paint incrementally. Get the first 1,000 done, then 1,500 and so on. I have found painting the same army continuously can lead to a bit of fatigue with doing the colour scheme over and over. 

@Dead Scribe out of interest do you pick a colour scheme and army look yourself or leave it up to the painting service to do the typical paints from the pic on the boxes?

 

[Fulkes]

5 minutes ago, Laststand said:

Lots of interesting different approaches. I personally try to paint incrementally. Get the first 1,000 done, then 1,500 and so on. I have found painting the same army continuously can lead to a bit of fatigue with doing the colour scheme over and over. 

@Dead Scribe out of interest do you pick a colour scheme and army look yourself or leave it up to the painting service to do the typical paints from the pic on the boxes?

 

Incrementally is my approach as well. Lets you shift things around if you start getting burn out, makes it easier to add a couple new things here and there and generally is more manageable for long term projects.

[Thiagoma]

About 60% . Unfortunelly i play High Elves (GA Order) and i end up mixing and matching and some of the models are bound to be discontinued, and that kills my joy of painting then.

Aaaand i am an incredible slow painter.

 

[amysrevenge]

I demand of myself 100% painted at all times.

 

I demand of my opponent nothing at all.  Golden Daemon-painted, sea of gray, all of it is fine.

[chord]

I only play with painted models.  

[Dirtnaps]

I like to only play with painted models in store but if it's at home with friends and family I'm not that worried and get the grey plastic out on the table every now and then. That said it looks way better when both armies are fully painted though.

[Acid_Nine]

depends on the army, really.

if It's my brand new, proper round circle army like my deep kin, I'm trying to fully paint my army and not have a grey model. (got one unfinsihed base though... I just need to buy water effects or something for it. ) just because I like painting my eels and sea elves. I have a story in mind, and I'm doing it!

for my square based, mostly second hand death army? yea.. I play with half of it unpainted and not on proper bases. mostly because I ran out of calvary bases and circle bases for it. I really should finish them, but I'm just not in the mood currently to paint all those skeletons.

[Banshee1978]

100%. For me the immersion (models,paint,terrain)is key for a good game experience. The throwing of dice is secondary

[Ahn-ket]

Actually only 20% of my NH and 30% of my LoN armies but i have around 15k points worth of death models to choose from but not as many to paint them as i want

[Nos]

80-100%

[RuneBrush]

I aim for 100% all the time - it's an agreement the entirety of my painting group have come to as it provides a much more engaging gaming experience for both players and any spectators.  I can guarantee that we get more interest with people coming over to look at our games when we play at the local club with everything painted, versus the people who are fielding grey plastic.  We aren't militant about it though - if you've just put together a new unit we're not going to force you to rush painting it before you field it, however if you're doing that a few games on the trot you will be heckled 😂

[mikethefish]

At the moment, I field fully painted armies.  Wasn't always the way.

Ultimately, once I got one army fully painted, I just used that until whatever other project I was working on was completed.  My Gloomspite are the latest example of this.  Nearly fully painted now, and nobody at the shop has even seen these guys yet.  Going to surprise everyone in a few weeks!

[Painbringer]

I usually play my new models as soon as they are asembled - I don't mind playing with unpainted minis. However, I try to paint  as much as possible. I try to paint on a regular basis and it really adds up over time - my Sylvaneth are 100% painted now and I finished a lot of stuff for my other armies, but it took almost two years (and it's the first time that I have a fully painted army after 10 years of playing miniature games). I like painting heroes and big models and painting large number of infantry models is not something I enjoy too much (unless it's Sylvaneth stuff) - so for my Khorne and Wanderers i decided to take a different approach: I contacted a guy who does commision painting to paint most of my units, while I focused on heroes and big stuf like Skarbrand. It really helped me a lot, because now I could use my limited hobby time to play or paint the models I enjoy, while in the same time most of my other units were getting  finished as well.

It's really funny as well, because now, in my mid-thirties, with a child on the way, job and what not, I managed to finish painting a lot more stuff then 10 years ago, when I had much more time available I guess I just sorted out my priorities and learned to use my available time more effectively.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Painbringer