Painting Matters! In Defense of Hobby Standards.

[grant]

Also, no ginger beards.

This. Well said as always.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QJ882QYzr-M

[grant]

no middle ground between encouragement and bullying?  sad world....

'Fraid not. You're either with us, or against. You either have a sense of humour, or you don't. You won't just wake up one day and "get one". It's all very black and white, I'm afraid.

[grant]

[former user]

I'm afraid You will have to elaborate on that. what do You mean?

either painted or not, or

either inclusion or exclusion.

because the latter is the actual point for me. I don't think anyone wants to game with unpainted miniatures, the point is how we get there...

[grant]

I'm afraid You will have to elaborate on that. what do You mean?

either painted or not, or

either inclusion or exclusion.

because the latter is the actual point for me. I don't think anyone wants to game with unpainted miniatures, the point is how we get there...

I don't think it matters. Not one bit, really.

[Captain Blood]

I agree with Matakishi. Well put.
This debate is old as the hills. it would be nice to be able to have the discussion in a measured, civilised way, without immediately reaching for perjorative, inflammatory words like 'looking down on', 'exclusivity' and 'bullying'.

Wargaming is a visual hobby. We are all attracted by the 3-D visual appeal of playing games with little representational men on miniature representational landscapes. If we didn't all feel the draw of this visual appeal, then presumably we'd all be playing games with counters on maps instead. Which a lot of us do as well. But that's a different genre. But please let's not pretend 'what it looks like doesn't matter', because plainly it does matter. Otherwise we wouldn't bother playing with figures on terrain at all.

So then it comes down to the compromise between the level of visual representation people are happy with, versus what they are capable of achieving.

I understand completely that some people don't have the time, patience, eyesight, ability or 'eye' for painting figures or making terrain. Not everyone can achieve the same standards in everything they do. So if you're happy playing wargames with unpainted figures on a subbuteo cloth with bits of cardboard for roads and books for hills, go ahead, that's your choice. As it's my choice not to. Because it doesn't look as nice. And if we accept miniatures wargaming is, de facto, a visual activity, then the way it looks matters.

[has.been]

Some 30 years ago I joined a big club in a city. It was the norm for people to use unpainted figures. One member brought the same unit of Mini-Figs cavalry to every game. They were not painted at all & the riders were blue tacked into their saddles. They were not even the same time frame. He had Romans through to ACW. If we were playing Ancients they were 'elite' guard cavalry. Napoleonics, the same. ACW & they became Confederates with shotguns. Science Fiction, no problem, the Valdurians are here. Fantasy, well is it not obvious? The Pegasus fighters are here (riders having been removed). Dragoons in the ECW ?  Mounted=riders tacked on, dismounted=riders pulled off.
Whilst I could admire his imagination, the MAIN reason unpainted troops had florished was lasyness. A few, mainly among the youngsters, had no idea about how to paint nice (not brilliant) figures.
I and a few like minded souls, fed up with other members ALLWAYS borrowing units & not treating them with respect, took action. It turned out that the club had not had an AGM for over eight years!!! One was called, things were changed:-
The committe was a totally unworkable 22 members!!! We reduced this down to 5 & had to meet at least 4 times a year, the 22 had never met to dicuss club stuff;
We used club funds to subsidise (not give away) figures for a campaign  (the period was voted for by the members) You could buy as much OR as little as you wanted, BUT could only field what was painted & based. If you wanted to be in charge of a brigade then fine. It was also fine if you just wanted to field one cannon & crew. No-one was allowed to 'borrow' figures foe the campaign games, which were once a month;
We started painting sessions & little competitions to encourage people to put paint on the figures;
At the end of the first campaign (at the next AGM) members were trated to a prize giving ceremony for those who had taken part/been a good sport/ been heroic etc. The club was very keen to do another campaign in a different period.
At no time was anyone told they couldn't play their OWN games with unpainted figures, but about half way through the first campaign it was very rare anyone brought unpaint stuff to the table. Figures from the first (& later campains) continued to be used & thus the club built up a reserve of painted & based figures.

 

[Silent Invader]

I haven't read the article as it's on a blog (I tend not to read blogs as I prefer forums) but I will add that I really don't care if people paint or don't paint their figures.  But I do. Because I likes it that way: minis, rules, terrain - the works - I pretty much want it all the way I likes it.

I don't belong to a club but I do occasionally (and not nearly often enough) play with like-minded gamers who enjoy a visual treat that is the product of their time, imagination, ambition and ability (and, to some lesser extent,  budget).

I regard each persons' hobby as their own.  It's as simple as that really.

Putting on what I regard as a visual treat takes a certain amount of commitment that I enjoy committing because I am doing it for myself.  If others enjoy that ride or can help me improve it then great, I like that too.

I find it strange when accusations like bullying, exclusivity and elitism get thrown around because - to be frank - it sounds too much like people feel a right or a need to belong to something they don't actually share the mindset of.

It's a hobby: do it the way you want to with people who want to do it with you the way you want to.   

[von Lucky]

I also agree with Matakishi's sentiments.

When I play I at least field the block-painted miniatures and expect the same from my opponents. When the table next to me has unpainted figures on it, I don't care.

Is it wrong that tournaments stipulate painted armies, are they being exclusive? Not in my book.

[Zoggin-eck]

So for the "painted only" chaps, what's the minimum level?  Base colour other than white or black?  Would you accept a figure painted as a chess piece in ivory or red (with a wash and highlight), or painted as different metallic colours (again, base, wash+highlight)?

I certainly would, and encourage it. Generally I think that looks better than someone who doesn't enjoy painting being forced to follow something like the fabled "four colour rule". It's generally what I do as a first step to each model/unit, in case I never finish it.

I think the easiest way to make a "grey horde" army look decent is to undercoat black and drybrush two lighter shades over the top and pick out one or two main colours (such as metal for weapons). Same goes for washing colours over a light/white undercoat. All you need is some inexpensive artist's acrylics and a fairly large brush and can be done in an afternoon.

I guess some people might want to keep some sort of resell value, though I'd rather part with organs than miniatures, so I wouldn't know much about that.

[eilif]

I guess some people might want to keep some sort of resell value, though I'd rather part with organs than miniatures, so I wouldn't know much about that.

That's a factor I hadn't thought about.  I'll bet that painting or the lack thereof is affected by some folks' desire to keep the re-sale-ability of their figures.  The plastics that form so many of today's armies aren't as easy to strip as their metal forebearers. (though I've stripped hundreds)

Still, it probably does reflect a sad sort of transience in the hobby and the codex creep that encourages folks to quickly acquire an army and then divest of it as a newer army becomes the "it" force.  That's not a pattern that will encourage painting.

[Westfalia Chris]

I don't think this is going anywhere except towards the production of weapon-grade insults, so... starts with t and rhymes with rocked.