"How Much Does A Good Sculpt Matter?" Topic

I think the Concept matters at least as much as the execution;
Fer instance, the original DragonTooth miniatures
were basically sculpted out of candle wax,
but very few lines can touch the concepts for originality, even to this day

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My painting time is limited.
I really like painting nice miniatures.
I prefer interesting and good rules.
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Sculpting is important to me, and if there are no nice miniatures available I won't play the game. But nice miniatures alone does not make me play. (I might buy the minis to paint, though.)

Why does a good scuplt mater?

The aesthetics of course, but as a median quality painter, largely of 15mm, I know that the quality of the sculpt can help may painting. From that point of view I'm not all that concerned about the pose as much as the definition of detail.

Life is too short for bad coffee and ugly miniatures!

Since a well sculpted mini is often easier to paint well than a poorly sculpted mini it makes a world of difference to me. I can make slag look nice but it takes a lot more work whereas some higher quality figs practically paint themselves.

As usual, Pictors speaks the truth.

The worst is a bad casting of a great miniature.

Steve
cavalcadewargames.com
nycjadie.wordpress.com

At today's prices it better be a good sculpt.

Amen brothers!

I would also add that nicer sculpts are more 'inspiring' to me to paint and play with, they fire up the imagination. whereas some old 70s figures may be amusing froma nostalgic point of view they are hard to paint and just don't get me excited in the same way, so they're going to stay in the "Waiting to be Painted" box longer.

Or get sent to my friend with a spincaster to be recast into something else!

A second to James and brother Pictor! I spend much more time painting than gaming, and having been painting for more than 25 years (hmmm – you think I would do a better job) I can tell you it makes a world of difference when you have a great fig from the likes of Copplestone or the Brothers Perry

I went 5. The look has to be there. There should be some detail but not too much. I would say that there are plenty of modern miniatures I would not buy today because they have this over the top look and way too much detail. Gimme the old school any day! Older GW from the early 90s are some fantastic looking miniatures. Right detail. Right look.

If I am going to spend my time painting a fig for gaming, I want it to look nice.

I've got a few old characterful but poor sculpts (a bit like saying "She's over weight, but she's got a nice personality!") , but pretty much everything I have are higher quality sculpts. I'm not into the nastalgia aspect of older minis. I want stuff that looks good on the table and the older poorer sculpts look out of place against the others. A good sculptor is of utmost importance in my book.

I think that much depends on what *exactly* you mean by "good sculpt". I have minis that are truly awesome in detail and design (Tom Meier anyone?) that yeah, I have to say are "good sculpts". On the other hand, I have minis that I really like that are not nearly as clean or detailed, but have their own charm – whether is subject matter, posing, or just "character". At one time (here I go aging myself again) I had a couple of Red Martians from the old Heritage Barsoom line. The details were chunky, the anatomy was questionable, but they painted up really, really well. Good sculpts? Not by todays standards, but they were still good minis.

<shrug>

All said, I *prefer* good sculpts. Just kind of wish I could do them… :)

There are too many minis out there and not enough spare time to waste the effort on poor quality goods. Like most things in life, I buy the best that I can afford. If I am spending $5-10 a figure I want the best I can get. At $10 USD or more a figure, it had better be world class work, and sadly many of them in that range are not.

Well sculpted figures are easier to paint than poorly sculpted ones.

It matters a great deal to me and I'm 15mm and down in sizes. Good clean sculpts, not always detail heavy but crisp, are much easier to paint and once finished, simply give me a better feel of accomplishment.

It depends. Anything I'm spending any large amount of time on painting may as well look good to begin with. Other things I just need to get into game I'm a little less critical on the sculpting.

These days life is too short to waste it painting rubbish figures.

I'm not a good painter, so a good scuplt makes it a lot easier to come out with a good result.

If it does not look good, then I WILL NOT BUY IT! Even if its a fig that I really need, if it does not look good, I WILL NOT BUY IT.

Like the Supreme Court said (re porno) we will know it when we see it.

Same thing here. All kinds of issues -- scale being a significant one.

Casting and metal quality are as important. Nothing worse than a casting crudded up with flash that has to be carved away and filed, except a well-painted great sculpt that has an advanced case of lead rot.

Rick

Matter for what? So really, it depends.

A rank and filer that's gonna be buried behind others? Not so much.
A little goblin in a horde? Again, no biggie.
A commander or a hero? Becoming more important.
A major creature/vehicle/objective? Very important.

Scale comes into play as well. Smaller scales are more about "what it is" than pose, detail, etc.. Larger scales bring the emphasis on pose and detail.

General purpose/type of game should be considered. In a mass battle game, the effect is more in the quantity of forces than the quality of each individual miniature. In a skirmish game, quality and design are more significant, as the individual piece is the visual focus of the game.

I am quite happy with 70's figures, so I voted zero

There needs to be a better definition of what is "good"… "highly detailed"….? "correct proportion"…? "historically accurate"…?

A friend of mine maintains (and, generally I agree with him) that a decent paint job on a so-so figure always looks better than a crap job on a really great figure!

Take a look at the figures in this pic:

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indeed any of the pics in this blog post:

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Now those are mostly 30mm Scuby Napoleonic which on close inspection most of the figure "connoisseur"s would say, by todays standards of detail, are "rubbish"… but when they're all painted up pretty and there's hundreds of them on the table… who's going to notic whether those belts and straps were sculpted on to the figure or were just painted there… as they were in most of the cases…

The sculpting matters more if I am playing a skirmish game with only 10 figures on the table than it does when I am playing a mass combat game with 600 figures on the table.

Regards, the Gorb

A good enough sculpt matters. The better of two or more of the same figure at the same price. Otherwise, performance has to balance with price.

While I very much want the coolest possible figures, my needs are driven by price.

If I can get a fantastic (9-10) sculpt for $4-5 that is a treasure.

If I can get a good (7-8) sculpt for $3-4 then I am quite happy.

If I can get an acceptable (5-6) sculpt for $2-3 I'm game.

Anything less than acceptable level is, well, unacceptable. Even if they are the ONLY line of minis coveing a particular area of interest, I'll pass.

If all three levels of sculpts for the genre/scale I am interested in are available, I will usually buy the best figures I can up to my max price per fig.

I rarely ever go over $5 USD for a typical 28mm figure. My guess is that 99% of my thousands of figures meet my price limits above.

So sculpt quality is important … up to my budget limit.

I pretty much only buy figs that I think have an excellent sculpt. I want bang for my bucks.

buying and not buying, simple as that.

and I try not to pay more then $4 USD for a human sized 28mm mini.
and feel most are worth $1 USD to $2 USD

Good is a term that is relative to the person viewing the miniature, in most cases. There are some miniatures that due to the sculptor have all the characteristics of being very fine miniature. such as good proportion, detail, etc within casting limitations. And, in IMO, these are limited.

The bulk of all miniatures, again IMO, fall into a catagory of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Second, by reading the above comments of others, "good" is also defined by what one is willing to pay, given the nature of the hobby. In general, gamers like figures, lots of figures, and those "good" is often determined by the types of games they want to play, and what they are willing to spend to play those games.

I spend a fair amount of time on each figure I paint. Why spend time on a poor or mediocre figure when there are so many excellent sculpts available now?

I recently painted some 15mm Minifigs from the early 90's,and most probably made in the 80's. By todays standard,they probably lean toward mediocre,but when painted the same way as my Essex(which,while probably from the same time period,are excellent sculpts)they look pretty sharp. As others have said,I have seen some excellent figures whose paint left much to be desired,with the overall effect that I would think the paint is at least as important as the sculpt. I'm not trying to put down anyones painting ability,but there definately is a difference,IMHO.