"Do you ever wish your figures had LESS detail?" Topic

Been painting some 15mm figures lately/ Thinking "You know, this dudes going to be in the back rank, do I really need to paint this belt. No one will know…".

And the little voice in my head "But you'll know. And it will nag you forever that you didn't paint that tiny little detail…"

Been switching off and on with new Blue Moon and stripped old Minifigs, there is a world of difference in detail.

Normally I have no problem with painting details on a figure except sometimes there will be some small detail which I have no idea what it's supposed to be! Bag? Pouch? Grenade? Waterbottle? That I kinda gloss over.

definitely!
for me there is a curve of detail,
where up to a point it helps me paint,
then a SHARP drop off when there is too much detail (GW etc)
:)

I first had that complaint about GW Orcs and Goblins. Why did they need so many pouches and straps?
It occurs to me that I have the some complaint about "regular" AWI troops. Particularly 1768 Warrant with full kit.
Just to be spiteful, I avoid buckles and buttons.

Yes, I loved my old minifig dwarves and Napoleonics. The dwarves gave me lots of room to paint designs of my own on shields and tunics and the Napoleonics painted up quickly. Part of the charm of 6 and 10mm figs existed in the old 15mm of the early days in that they painted up quick and looked very good in units at 2 feet.

Only on some Fantasy figures

I just finished painting some Old Glory 15s and some other brand (unknown). The OG have so much detail it comes across as bad molding when I painted them. The other ones have less detail and are easier to paint and look better when completed. I am also getting too old to paint 15s, I think.

Never – just because it is there does not mean it has to be painted.

Ha! I was just joking with my opponent last Sunday about that. We were going to be playing Blucher in 6mm. I was French and he was Russian. He, naturally, asked which year I had an army for.

"Doesn't matter", says I, "1805 to 1814; it's all the same figures".

Somewhat appalled he gently mentioned the fact that the French army in 1805 had bicornes, and by 1812 shakos of course, and after that many would increasingly be wearing the Bardin uniform.

"Ha!" I airily responded, and handed him a stand of my 6mm French. "I bought and painted my figures long, long ago.
They're Irregular!"

Yes, the black blobs at the top of the figures can be either bicornes or shakos. And as for being able to see shorter Bardin tunics, well, I repeat "Ha!".

My opponent, who has Baccus, the poor man, is forced to deal with figures where not only can one distinguish kiwer versus shako, but he actually needed to paint the shako cords because one could plainly see them.

(Don't get me wrong; I love Irregular, and have lots of their 6mm, 15mm and even some 25mm and am quite happy with them. And I also have a lot of ACW Baccus figures, and am very happy with them. Not trying to knock either company – and even though I am somewhat of a uniform stickler – I would never EVER use my 15mm 1809 French for a Austerlitz game for example – it is somewhat freeing and refreshing to use my lovely 6mm French for anything Napoleonic. Oddly enough, my Austrians which I just bought are also from the same firm…)

Black is the new black.
"Is that a pouch or a grenade?"
"It's a shadow."

Yes, it gets in the way of gaming. I still enjoy painting my 25mm Minifigs ECW and sometimes I add more detail to them, madness.
I leave a lot of the fussy stuff off my Napoleonics as I can't paint it in scale and I prefer a neater less fussy overall look as I think the impression of the uniform is better.

If a real life line of piping was say 6mm wide, on an 18mm figure that line would have to be painted about 0.06mm wide to be in scale. Pointless even trying in my view.

If I had my time again I'd go 6mm and put my effort into modelling the terrain.

If you can't see it 4 feet away don't paint it.

Yes. Backpacks, canteens, haversacks, cartridge boxes, belts, straps.

I try to get figures that appear to be ready to go into combat, hence, they have already dropped all unnecessary kit and have just their weapon(s), a cartridge box, and maybe a canteen.

Well, I've painted many which HAD less detail--Scruby, Spenser Smith, the old "comic book" figures Risk pieces in tricorne and shako, and the old "Giant Toy Company." They were not all the worse for that. The trick is that the proportions need to be right, the manufacturing at least reasonably professional and the line complete, at least at the line/light/elite infantry, heavy/light cavalry and artillery level. Sadly, often they were not.

Otherwise, probably seldom too much detail, but often too much equipment.

Yes.

Absolutely!

Yes! I'm not that good of a painter so I avoid buying "highly detailed" figures.

No. As above, I can just not paint things I don't want to paint. Since I almost always do either a drybrush and a wash, often times both, the details I don't paint do not look bumpy and weird. They just look washed out.

While I don't always paint all the sculpted bits on a mini, I also often paint additional things that aren't sculpted in.

Well, I am working through ten pounds of Peter Laing Marlborough figures, so no. Sometimes hard to tell infantry from cavalry.

Most definitely, especially as a get older, not just due to diminishing eyesight but also just the ability, or lack there of, of being able to hold a brush steady.

I am thinking about trying out 3mm, 6mm, N-scale Historifigs, 15mm from Warrior or 1/72 scale figures.

Yes, absolutely. Some Fantasy figures are very nive but just a pain to paint. Too much accessories, details, another skull, it ends up just not being fun.

Sometimes hard to tell infantry from cavalry.

Ha! Well said!

Back when I was painting WWII microarmor, I preferred H&R infantry for two reasons: stronger feet, and less detail. Painting was mostly drybrushing, with a few details picked out (er, added with paint) to make them look good from a distance. I liked being able to vary the positions of the faces and hands by just choosing where to put the blob of flesh-colored paint.

- Ix