Typical time to paint your army?

[PartyFoul]

Hello, I am working through my first army and am wrestling with the tension between wanting to play soon versus having a well-painted army. Any advice on how to set my expectations around the time investment?

How long has it typically taken you to field 1,500 - 2,000 points?

 

[Warden]

How long has it typically taken you to field 1,500 - 2,000 points?

Years...

But that's because I keep being distracted. I got my first character and two core units painted really fast when I started (saurus scar-veteran on foot and two blocks of saurus infantry) and after that I would assemble, play with them, and eventually paint. My brother and I started playing around the same time and learning as we went, so we played tons of small games until we slowly grew our armies. Took about a year I think before we finally had 1000+, that was after maybe doing a unit a month? Kinda fits-and-spurts.

If you sat down and busted out some table-top standard minis, you could probably have a decent amount done over a long weekend or over the span of a month.

 

[tom ndege]

I restarted the hobby about one year ago (more than a year, but not yet one and a half, to be honest ) And did not manage to finish a single unit since then. But I'm looking forward to finish the first units of saurus warriors and guards... My problem is, that I don't have too much room for doing units all at once... And when I find a new paint scheme it can happen that I redo a whole unit...

 

[spess]

Its tough. I don't like to paint, but I don't want to field an unpainted army. I like the hobby of converting, constructing and planning, but really the hardest part is getting motivation to base and paint. It takes me hours to finish a few basic warriors.

I've been on and off the hobby for a while now, but have just recently started Seraphon. I have 2,000+ points in boxes, but only 5 warriors are actually painted.

 

[Yrtomin]

If it makes you feel any better this is what i have painted so far.

painted:
17 saurus warriors
1 skink brave
slann
two salamanders
1 temple guard
1 kroxigor
carnosaur (half finished)

not painted:
8 cold one riders
11 saurus warriors
87 skinks
8 kroxigors
stegadon
bastildon
3 terradons
8 jungle swarms
2 skink priests
2 skink chiefs


struggle is real, I have recently started painting again.
I really really enjoy the game, but painting is not my biggest strength ^^.

 

[PartyFoul]

Thanks a bunch for the replies and encouragement! It's very helpful for setting expectations and wrapping my head around the time investment.

So far, I only have these 10 Saurus Warriors partially complete, but now that I have a color scheme and a process, the next ten should be much faster.

 

[n810]

 

[Rokanos]

The above sums it up perfectly. Bravo.

 

[n810]

yea... I have around 7,500 (7th edition points) worth of models...
Promised myself I wouldn't buy any more till I painted them,
still haven't bought any of the new models from 8th edition...

 

[PartyFoul]

For those of you who with unpainted models, are they typically assembled / do they end up on the table, or are they just sitting in boxes / on sprues?

I've been hesitant to assemble models except as part of the painting process, for a number of reasons:

1) I like the idea of not fielding anything unpainted. I'd prefer to play against painted armies, so it just seems like a good way to pay it forward. I'm also afraid I'd never end up painting them if I started playing w/ unpainted models.

2) The gamers at my FLGS (at least the ones with painted models) seem to swear pretty universally by first painting subassemblies, and then doing final assembly and detailing touches (so no fully assembled, unpainted models, unless they're very basic infantry).

3) I'd also prefer to play WYSIWYG, which bogs me down a bit on the theorycraft of weapon choices before diving into a new unit.

I don't think there are really answers to any of these constraints, especially since they're all self-imposed, but those are the main factors keeping my models on sprues.

At least as far as AoS goes, there's a decent meta locally at 1,000 pts, with all the newcomers to the game. With 40 Saurus Warriors (I'm doubling down on the one unit I know how to paint) and an Oldblood on a Carnosaur (can't argue with the Start Collecting box value), I should be able to find a game and start moving models around sooner rather than later. Stay tuned!

 

[spess]

3) I'd also prefer to play WYSIWYG, which bogs me down a bit on the theorycraft of weapon choices before diving into a new unit.

Magnets, magnets, magnets. Currently magnetizing a stegadon to be able to swap out of any of the three (?) options. For smaller units though (like saurus warriors for example), I typically stray from the WYS aspect and put the figures with my list's weapon choice in the front of the unit.

 

[Bowser]

Normally I will build an army list, paint all the regular troops (saurus, skink) to a table top standard. Quick base coats, 3 colours, a wash. The heroes and monsters will take a bit more time. I fo have assembled inpainted for casual games when we decide to go bigger, but for the most part if you prep all the models and do an assembly line of about 10, throw on this color on all, then this colour, and so on, shouldn't take long to get to a decent tabletop standard and get playing.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Ohhh all depends on what I'm painting in the last 12 months I've painted approx 300 models some have been a fast job and some I have taken my time on, I painted 40 warriors in a week but these were fast, it usually takes me a week to paint a character approx 10hrs.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Normally I will build an army list, paint all the regular troops (saurus, skink) to a table top standard. Quick base coats, 3 colours, a wash. The heroes and monsters will take a bit more time. I fo have assembled inpainted for casual games when we decide to go bigger, but for the most part if you prep all the models and do an assembly line of about 10, throw on this color on all, then this colour, and so on, shouldn't take long to get to a decent tabletop standard and get playing.

Pretty much my method, although with my new Grey Knight 40k army I am doing each one to a near display level if possible.

 

[n810]

... I painted 1 skink (THIS WEEK)

but, yea all of my models are assembled and primed,
I'm down to just masses of core skinks and Saurus and a few unpainted temple guard.

I end up putting my unpainted models in the rear ranks, so they die off first.

 

[Rokanos]

I am notorious around my area for always having unpainted models in my armies (I'm an extremely slow painter, but it's with the mentality that, "hey, I paid a buttload of money for these, I'm gonna take my time and make them look good.") But I do try to pin down a list and then get it painted as much as possible. I assemble everything and at least get it all primed, I never play with just bare plastic. That being said, I do feel bad from time to time (just a little) when I go up against an army that is painted 100% and mine isn't.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

yea... I have around 7,500 (7th edition points) worth of models...
Promised myself I wouldn't buy any more till I painted them,
still haven't bought any of the new models from 8th edition...

Your willpower is to be admired! Impressive.