Painting and Using Miniatures or Not?

[BiggusGeekus]

I prefer pre-painted minis.

Actually, I don't. I really like the nice old lead minis that are painted very nciely. Because when my minis look good, they feel good, and when they feel good, they fight better. But I never have the time to paint them nicely. So I just lean toward pre-painted minis.

 

[Desdichado]

I use a lot of dice as miniatures.

Typically, we'll whip out the prepainted variety -- we have a fair amount -- and things like mooks and PCs are often chosen from that. I also like painting miniatures, and while I have no illusions about my skill relative to the real experts, I'm pretty happy with my work. So I'll use them from time to time, especially if they represent something really odd -- I've used Confrontation, Warhammer (and 40k) and Warmachine minis in particular, because they look unlike anything else out there, for the most part.

But only from time to time. Where I really focus my mini painting time is on my Blood Bowl teams. And when I've got stuff that I can use for both --like my big Rat Ogre, for instance-- I'm extremely happy.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Well I have used some kind of item as a representation on a map since 3E.
Since the WOTC minis came out I can't get enough of them.
They sit on shelves behind me ( I DM at my house ) so I always have access to them.
I have hundreds but still have to handwave what the represent ( yes I know they are grick mini's but they are supposed to be "whatevers" )

Also the mini game itself is fun with 6 & 3 year old boys

 

[sniffles]

Now that I am over 40 I find that I cannot focus well enough to paint the eyes and small details.
-KenSeg

Reading glasses. I've just had to start using them for my mini painting.

I love minis. I paint them for my own enjoyment, and most of my fellow players do so also. I've painted a few for other people, and I'd do more if they wanted me to, but they would usually rather paint their own. I always have a mini painted for my PCs, and usually I end up painting several because after I paint one, another one is promptly released that I think suits the PC even better. I have one PC for whom I painted 8 different figures.

The one GM I game with who doesn't do his own mini painting has got into using the prepainted plastics. I don't mind them for monsters and non-recurring NPCs, but I prefer painted metal minis for everything else. The plastic ones just look so generic and lacking in personality.

I love terrain pieces too and often feel frustrated that most of the time we just draw some crude lines on a battle mat instead of using terrain - especially annoying to me since several of the player/GMs in our group own quite a lot of terrain pieces (and we're playing at their homes!). It sets the stage for me, and helps to alleviate communication problems. I find that just describing the action verbally or even drawing a diagram on a wipe board leaves too much room for misunderstanding. Unless the GM and players are always on the same wavelength and the GM is really good at giving atmospheric descriptions, there's nothing more effective for me than a table full of terrain and minis to convey the scene.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

We use minis and I paint... though, I paint slowly (but I do a damn fine job).

 

[pogre]

Painting minis, sculpting, creating scenery, and so on are major parts of the hobby for me. I am fortunate that we play in a purpose built room for gaming. My glass miniatures cabinet is next to the table:

And my boxes of master maze and numerous Hirst Arts pieces are in two massive sets of drawers:

All of it is located near the gaming table:

Now, if I had to drag all this stuff out of some sort of storage every time we played - I might not. I still love painting miniatures though...

edit: I should add the gaming room is in one of my player's (hwoolsey on here) houses, which makes the wife very happy.

 

[farscapesg1]

I really need to look into the plastic pre-painted miniatures. We still use mostly metal figures, some painted and some not. Our biggest issue is the lack of concern by other players in the group for the painting jobs. The DM and myself provide most of the miniatures, and the other players feel that it is fine to just sweep them up all together to clear off the table Needless to say, I spend most of my free time just trying to touch up the chips/scuffs/etc caused by this instead of getting to paint the ones that are bare

My biggest problem with the pre-painted ones is that I want to see the miniature before buying it. Unfortunately, there isn't a decent gaming store in my area (The Woodlands, TX - just North of Houston). Sure, I could drive into Houston to go to the only decent store (Nan's), but it is a good hour drive there and back just to look at some miniatures, and I don't even remember them carrying a lot.

 

[frankthedm]

I like painting figs of monsters. I have lots of humans, but those don'r have as much thrill to me to paint. I paint them, but at a slower rate.

Pre painted plastics from Mageknight, heroclix, and D&D minis have seen more USE in game than my painted monsters the last few years though. i still use my painteds, but the prepaint plastics can SAFELY be tossed into cardboard boxes rather than storage bins. This means they can be used more often with less rumaging.

 

[pogre]

Our biggest issue is the lack of concern by other players in the group for the painting jobs. The DM and myself provide most of the miniatures, and the other players feel that it is fine to just sweep them up all together to clear off the table Needless to say, I spend most of my free time just trying to touch up the chips/scuffs/etc caused by this instead of getting to paint the ones that are bare

You need to be direct with these folks and tell them NOT to touch any painted miniatures. If you are anal about it they will finally figure it out and may even develop some respect for the craft.

I have had groups where I was the only one allowed to touch the figures. Fortunately, my current group is fairly respectful.

 

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

We always use minis, generally a mix of D&D plastic pre-painted and metal painted. For PCs we use metal painted ones, because choosing a mini has become an integral part of deciding what kind of character to be. One of our group is deciding whether to be male or female in an upcoming Conan game by whether she can find a better male or female mini.