"Historical vs. Fantasy, Sci Fi, etc" Topic

So as I have been browsing ebay for painted armies recently I have noticed something interesting, and it begs a question. Why are Warhammer fantasy, Warhammer 40k, sci fi, etc. armies almost always painted to a MUCH higher quality standard than historical armies? In fact I don't recall seeing any really high quality paint jobs on any historical armies for sale, and I looked at hundreds of offerings. The only ones close to high quality were a couple of small WWII units. Thoughts?

Demand and the main difference between historical gamers and the other.

40K in particular has a high demand for painted minis on thr market so people rise to meet the demand. Other sci Fi and fantasy games also generate more players so higher demand.

Historical gamers have a different thought process I've found. Fewer tournament style systems and fewer tournament players. Priority is getting accurate armies on the table for the period you care about. I'm working on my 28mm AWI armies for the Saratoga campaign. I'm researching uniforms and which regiments were present. Not much of a market for the Massachusetts and Connecticut line regiments to be assembled and painted. Plus it takes extra time and effort to do it right. Space Marines are blue. That's what I need to know for 40K.

I have seen Warhammer armies of both eras painted poorly. Some were smile spray painted primer.
It all depends on what level the monitor of the tournament requires.
Players who only play one area such ACW, WW2, WH or Battletech tend to put a lot more effort into detailing their beloved army. Those with armies in multiple eras tend to focus less on details. For example back in the 1980s I painted 30 battalions for every power in Napoleonics.

Are Fantasy, Sci Fi, etc gamers just willing to pay more for well-painted armies?

you have more artistic license with fantasy, sci-fi and generally speaking there are far less figures to paint than the large scale historical battles. This said, there are some very good historical painters out there as well.

I think it's because historical games often need too many figures.

Age of Sigmar and 40K armies need about 80 figures. That's maybe 3 historical units.

Take a look at Conquest or Song of Ice and Fire. A Rank and Flank game with 12 models per unit: not 24 or even 36!

I would think they're willing to pay more just given the games they play. A handful of troops in 40K will class the side as dozens to hundreds of historical miniatures depending on scale

Some of those historical armies were painted 50+ years ago with much poorer materials and tutorials, and sometimes very poor sculpts. Keep in mind we needed to paint 500 figures to field an army. The combination prioritizes speed over quality.

Hmm. Also you're browsing the Internet, which means you're looking at the castings none of the deceased mates picked up.

fewer figures needed, more time per figure. Plus you are seeing a small percentage of the armies. I'd suggest that most are primed plastic with 1-2 other colors

Is that your assessment of the painting quality or theirs? I wouldn't say my historicals are painted to a super-duper quality, but I've certainly seen much worse. And many of the fantasy/science fiction armies are no better painted than mine.

Grelber

Warhammer gamers tend to field only one, maybe two, armies… They can concentrate more on quality painting for those reasons.

As far as other fantasy games go… I play 2e BattleSystem (mass wargame based upon 2e AD&D RPG rules), and I have 12+ armies of different races, with my painted figure count at 1,200+ figures in my collection, alone. They are 28mm size based.

As mentioned before, those of us who are painting mass numbers of figures, tend to reduce the quality of the painting, to get them onto the tabletop. I am a simple block painter, followed by The Dip Technique.

I have to say that the new Army Painter Speed Paints 2.0 produce better painting results, with less effort, and one-half the time I spend in my assembly line painting. I average 10 minutes/figure in block painting + The Dip Technique… With Army Painter Speed Paints 2.0, you can assembly line paint masses of figures in 5 minutes/figure, and get much better results! Here is a video demo'ing the value of Speed Paints for fantasy/Mech Warrior figure painting.

Unfortunately, Speed Paints may not work for historical figures -- I don't know, but I've read some historical gamer posts to that effect. For fantasy, however, they are da' bomb, Baby!… Cheers!

Proof once more that quantity has a quality all it's own

Sgt Slag has it spot on – most WH gamers I know have at most a couple three armies, and they tend to have fairly small numbers of figures – perhaps a hundred or so

To put this in perspective from my point of view, my French SYW army has 360 infantry, 60 cavalry, 20 gunners and five staff officer/command bases – and it is one of five armies and not the largest! Although I do have some SYW figs I am pretty happy with in terms of painting

coolminiornot.com/456567

TL:DR the above, but many 40k armies get retired and are not allowed in competitive play, making the min-maxer competition players scramble to get a new force.

There is just more churn in the Warhammer community.