"Unpainted or badly painted?" Topic

As the title suggests what would you rather see fielded against you – a poorly painted army or an unpainted/just-primed force? I'm just wondering as I have collected Byzantine & Seljuk armies in 1/72 (had to do several conversions!). They are lovely castings but I'm afraid my pitiful attempts at painting will spoil them, whereas if I just primed them their detail would still be visible.

Give me poorly (subjective anyway) painted any day. I appreciate effort however presented and would not dream of judging others work as absent my close friends, I have no idea where anyone is coming from as regards, skill, experience, physical disability etc.

On our tables, effort is appreciated regardless of subjective opinion.

+1McKinstry

My own efforts will never win any awards, but I love them all the same.

Do your best and hope for improvement over time.

Painted only on my table.

Painting for me is perhaps the best part of the hobby. Yes, it takes forever, but it's worth it. I am a fairly decent painter but I concur with the comments of the gentlemen above. I won't judge or demean the efforts of anyone. This should be an "unwritten rule" of wargaming. Judge not; and you shall not be judged. Good gaming all!

+1McKinstry

I will field no army before it's time. It must be painted. If you just started and/or make progress, some gray is fine.

I play a lot of Kill Team and players score 2 VP for a painted "army." I like that; more games should do the same.

Heliat. Try some of the new Citadel Contrast, Army Speedpaints, Valejo Express Paints, etc over a white base. They make many a poor painter look pretty good, and they are super-fast to use. You could get those armies on the table in no time and painted better than you expected. Check out many of the numerous videos on YouTube about their properties and how good they do the job that they are intended to do. There are also videos on how to make your own contrast paints if the price tag scares you. I have been painting for years and I can't overstate how good these paints are for fast painting!

Paint and play! In that order. Good luck and any attempt is better than none at all.

Try simple block painting, using craft paints, followed by The Dip Technique. It is fast, simple, easy, and very effective, viewing the minis from arm's length, and further. Cheers!

Painted figures are a prerequisite to play. However, the standard of the painting is up to you and your abilities. No reasonable opponent will criticize your efforts. Another way to improve the overall look of your figures for relatively little effort is to put a little extra effort into the basing.

Painted every time please, however badly. As noted above, a simple wash over a block painted figure can transform it, as can a decent base.

As a bad painter myself, I can't emphasise the meed to do even a little work on the base (some texture, flock or static grass). It transforms the look of the finished piece.

+1 to all above. You won't know until you try and you won't get better if you don't keep doing it.

Consider a spray for the base coat of the infantry depending on what they are going to be. Same for the horses. This batch is brown, this batch is dark brown.

For me, unpainted figures need to be 1/72 or 54mm plastics.

Painted, please. There are fast techniques, two feet of distance covers a multitude of sins, and you'll get better with practice. How fast will you improve without practice?"

+1 Mckinstsry, also, with the exception that if everyone is trying to move into the period quickly and want to get the rules tested, that sort of thing, then primed troops would be understandable. A group understanding would be involved. As far as poorly painted, everyone has their own abilities. Relax and enjoy.

Painted only. I'm a lousy painter so have a hard time criticizing anyone else's efforts.

IDK.

As long as the minis work for the game, the appearance is not a concern.

+1 rustymusket

Painted even poorly is always best

Thank you for the comments and advice guys! You've inspired me to give it a shot and try to paint them up. Hopefully I will end up enjoying it

Unpainted figures – I am not playing.

Badly painted figures – Depends on how bad they are. I've played some really bad figures but I appreciate the effort just the same.

Unpainted at a con game is unforgivable.

There are no "poorly painted" miniatures, just varying levels of experience. The way to gain experience is to … wait for it … paint miniatures!
Your first miniature will not be as good as your last.
If you really don't care about painting miniatures, don't do it; there are plenty of options to obtain painted miniatures.
If you don't care about having painted miniatures to play with, are you in the right hobby?

For some of us painting is the better part of the hobby.

+1 Legionarius.

Painted in whatever can be done….except perhaps spray painted