Editorial -- Are Pre-Painted Minis Good or Bad?

Posted by Ranillon on 1. November 2009 22:01

After reading through the latest White Dwarf where Jervis states his general disapproval of pre-painted miniatures and his confidence that GW won't ever be going down that route for extra sales I came away with a few conclusions.  Then, over time I realized that the situation was potentually more complicated for a bunch of reasons.

But, first, here are some examples from Rackham -- the minis producer that has been making the biggest jump from high qualiy metal non-painted figurines -- long the common standard -- to the new prep-painted units of mediocre plastic designs with equally mediocre paint jobs.  For the differences compare the first picture of an elven sorceresss of the old style which I painted myself against the next one coming up.

This is a confrontation model I did as to reprecent a character in my RPG who essense merged with that of her special familiar, one later reveal to be an actual angelic being.  The metal was a purchase from Rackham's old metal ranges that are now being sold off at discount almost where you go.

Here is a pre-painted Confrontation warrior pic I grabbed off their website.  Take a close look at the two.

First thing that catches my sight is that pre-painted Lion isn't half bad.  Some basic high-lighting and shadying have been done.  The end result is fairly flat, but is certain better than the hordes of bare metal players can bring to games.

While the pre-painted aren't terrible they don't compare to the paint job on the one I did above  (although my camera skills are insufficient to get across all the differences -- but, note that the first is done using my own limited photography skills while the second is a professional photo).  What's more is that the level of detail on the model is more limited as well.  Perfectly serviceable, but otherwise uninspiring.

It would be easy at this point to climb up into my ivory gaming tower and denounce the whole idea of pre-painted models as heresy that offends the one true miniature gaming faith.  However, the more I think over this subject the more conflicted I become.

For one thing pre-painted miniatures do concievably allow people an easier entrance to miniatures gaming.  Painting takes a lot of time and, moreover, takes a lot of time to even learn the basics.  While you won't see it at big tournaments in my experience local gaming groups are awash with large amounts of bare metal and plastic, even after months or years of use.  I am sure that in some cases the players in question just don't care, but one does have to wonder how much of those "naked" models are the result of people just being intimidated at the idea of painting them.

The flip side of this is that pre-painted miniatures are something of a "cheat" in that they allow the player to have a "painted" army without actually putting in time and effort.  Come on -- one of the appeals of going to the trouble of finishing an army is to show it off to your friends.  Accordinfly, there is apt to be an understandable let down to find out that the guy you are playing bypassed all that work by purchasing pre-painted material.  It's easy therefore to scoff at such armies as somehow being "forgeries".  Yet, people have been paying other people to paint their armies for a while already and, as long as they don't try to pass them off as their own work, are generally accepted without much grumbling.  The worst you face in such instances is being disallowed to win the Best Painting category (if there is one) while still getting full painting points overall to put toward your final tournament score.

One negative aspect of the Pre-painted models out there is that they all tend to be clones -- in twenty years of miniatures gaming we've gone to unpainted clones to a wide sellection of kits that can be assembled and painted anyway you like and then back to clones, just painted ones this time.  Hard to see that as an improvement, at least as a long term strategy.

I'd argue that it is all that hard work and effort that goes into turning a mere hobby into a true attempt at excellence.  It's what allows tho hobby to transfigure into the realm of true art.  Now that takes a heck of a lot of effort and struggle that in turn generates a lot of drive and energy into the whole miniatures experience.

The danger with pre-painted is that it might instead bring things down to the least common denominator.  Why struggle with painting and converting if it doesn't get you much in the long term?  There are already calls for regular GW tournaments allow non-painted armies or just qestions of why there should be a paint score at all.  It's in fact easy to see standards fall and painting miniatures seem to be just a waste of time -- after all, who cares about how pretty your troops look when the real fun is shooting them up?!?!

So, in a sense pre-painted models could alter the whole miniatures landscape even with games that don't use them.  It sets up a two-tier system where pre-painted can easily win tournament since painting is not judged only to fatailly doomed when used in other games where painting matters.  It's easy to see people complain about having to GW armies when other companies provide pre-painted stock -- why should the bother with 40K or fantasy if another game allows them to get away with no painting at all? 

In short, it can setup a division between the warriors and craftmen.  The first just wants to fight and win, while the second wants a more hollistic situation where all the various skills long associated with miniatures gameing are celebrated and rewarded.

So, what do others think?  Pre-painted armies bad?  Hired painters for your army bad?  Or, is it rude and elitist to insist that only accomplish painters should, in practice, be the only ones allowed to win (since having a bad score in painting can make a critical difference in scoring)?  Perhaps we should have different leagues, different awards for pre-painted and own painted?

What do you guys think?