JP On Gaming

Friday, September 28, 2012

[Rant] At least the Monkey would keep its mouth shut

I heard one thing I was just horrific - and I'll paraphrase - "It's a good thing there is no score for painting... This game is not about painting, it's just about playing." His buddies around him nodded.

WTF?

I mean as a wargamer, that is one of the stupidest things I ever heard. I firmly believe that wargaming is a "complete" hobby: it requires the player to spend time researching, collecting, painting the army, that is just the part BEFORE the game itself. Then there is playing time.

Really, there is something that annoys me greatly when someone gets to win a major tournament with an unpainted army. Now it is true that too many tournaments use an All-or-nothing scoring model for painting. Either you have the best army or you get nothing. If that is the case, that guy was right. Why waste time painting when you know you won't get any benefit from it? It's not good for the hobby in the long run

How many of us have been drawing into this hobby by looking at the nicely painted miniatures? I know I have... it was a big draw for me to see those nice armies and for me to imagine what my own army would be like. Yes, playing was a big part of it, but to say that a metal/plastic/resin/primed army is the same?

NO IT'S NOT. It's not as attractive to the eye. It's not as pleasing when you smash his model to bits (in the game, not real life). And there is something to be said about fielding a fully-painted army. A feeling of pride and joy, a sense of accomplishment, the idea that you did it. Even when your opponent deploys his army. A painted army LOOKS GOOD. It gets me in the game.

Its true most of us play with partially armies but only an idiot would feel content that his unpainted force provides him with the same pride as those who painted their forces.

I'm not saying that all of us are Golden Daemon-quality painters (I'm DEFINITELY NOT one of them). But giving an honest effort should be the bare minimum.

It's okay to field an unpainted force.

It's NOT okay to brag about the fact you do not have a painted army.Just means you have money to get models. A monkey could do the same thing you do. At least the monkey would be content with playing and not brag about it to the world.

I miss the monkey.

Man... Being proud of having an unpainted army... What an idiot...

JP

2 comments:

  1. The UK Student Nationals always has a painting portion to the wargaming category, with winners getting points towards their team's overall score. Plus, it's really nice as a lapsed war gamer - money, as ever being an issue - to wander around the tables checking out people's paint jobs.

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  2. I agree with you completely, I run a couple of events each year locally, and they all have a painting component. If you have put in the effort to paint, and base your entire force in a cohesive way you get full points regardless of your skill with the brush. If I run a two day event there is generally a peer judged players choice award for the quality of the paint job, but this has no bearing on the final result of the event.

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