I need help....unpainted games

Yeah, Primer, then paint, then dullkote is a great way to make minis tougher, but I'll tell you what, I think you could run my Space Marines over with a fucking truck after the dip. I shit you not, that sealing job is absolutely the nuclear blast of mini protection.

I want to find a really good one with no color, that doesn't yellow, and use it. I prefer my own wash over using dip.

I love, love painted minis and love adding them to my games. However, I don't have the time or patience to do the work myself. My solution was to pack them up in a big envelope and mail them to Sri Lanka where presumedly they get painted by a bunch of half-starved children, shackled to benches. They'll paint them however you want (or do what I do, and print out images of what real artists have done to the miniatures and send them with the figs). I've used the service four times already, and I've been incredibly pleased each time. Your figs will be out of commission for a bit, while they're being shipped half-way around the world, but it's so cheap that even the extra cost in shipping makes it worthwhile. Check out paintedfigs.com if you're interested.

The King in Yellow wrote: My solution was to pack them up in a big envelope and mail them to Sri Lanka where presumedly they get painted by a bunch of half-starved children, shackled to benches. They'll paint them however you want (or do what I do, and print out images of what real artists have done to the miniatures and send them with the figs). I've used the service four times already, and I've been incredibly pleased each time. Your figs will be out of commission for a bit, while they're being shipped half-way around the world, but it's so cheap that even the extra cost in shipping makes it worthwhile. Check out paintedfigs.com if you're interested.

Ahahaha, this is so terrible it's beautiful. Is it also possible to order a Sri Lankan opponent to play warhammer with for a dollar per hour?

I'm a shallow, shallow man.

I have painted:

Descent 1 ed;
Battlelore;
Warhammer Quest;
Space Hulk;
Gears of War;
Castle Ravenloft;
Fury of Dracula;
Last Night on Earth;
Talisman;
DUST Tactics / Warfare.

I'm with the OP in spirit, but with heavy use of a varnish and then a spray coat of Testors Dullcoat, anyone can touch my pretties.

Shellhead wrote: But painting is an important way to protect your figures. One of my friends kept grabbing Sergeant Lorenzo by the helmet while we were playing, and finally that eagle fixture on top broke off. If it had been properly painted and sealed, it wouldn't have broken off so easily. I understand there is a way to soften the edges of the two pieces and re-attach properly, but I would need to practice with sprue pieces first, so I keep putting it off. With the high price of Space Hulk 3E, there is no reasonable way for my friend to replace Lorenzo, but he did end up donating about $80 worth of new miniature-scale map tiles to my Ptolus campaign.

You are thinking about polystyrene cement I guess, but I can tell you it won't work. The bond is never going to be as strong as the intact piece, which was never that strong in the first place. I just cut of the stem, drilled holes in the armor and in the ornament and join them by a piece of rigid wire. You can chuck it at the wall and it stays in place. If you glue it it will break at some point anyway. Paint is going to help but it's much worse to see your mini in pieces after you spent hours painting it.

SaMoKo wrote:

The King in Yellow wrote: My solution was to pack them up in a big envelope and mail them to Sri Lanka where presumedly they get painted by a bunch of half-starved children, shackled to benches. They'll paint them however you want (or do what I do, and print out images of what real artists have done to the miniatures and send them with the figs).

Ahahaha, this is so terrible it's beautiful. Is it also possible to order a Sri Lankan opponent to play warhammer with for a dollar per hour?

Why is it terrible? I guess they earn more than being chained to the desk in customer service centre. Labour costs being what they are I'm surprised that US based painting services are still in business.

On topic: How the hell can anyone think painted minis make no difference? I can understand not everyone likes painting or has time/skills to do it. If you don't care about visual appeal at all then why aren't you playing games with sticks and rocks on a board drawn in the sand? Sure gameplay is most important, after the company of course, but if you like games with minis then you obviously see the appeal. Why is everyone here all over X-wing, which would probably go unnoticed if it wasn't for the brilliant minis and Star Wars setting/visuals. There's nothing wrong with admitting you like nice looking things. If I'm going to stare for hours at something it makes for much better experience if it looks good. Can I live without it? Sure, I still have my Space Hulk unpainted for the lack of motivation/time. Do I wish it was painted? You fucking bet I do.

Ha! I appreciate those trying to give how to paint quickly advice but isn't that like teaching a junkie how to tap the vein? I wanna be encouraged to get by without painting.

That said I'm very familiar with the dip, etc. However over the past 20+ years of experience I feel like I can get better results with washes in the same amount if time.

Anyway, like I said I didn't like my attitude after the ravenloft and drizzt games were painted, so I sold them...for a good amount of money. Those games are so awesome though I wanna get them agtain, but I don't want to paint them all over! Hahaha sucks.

Jeff White wrote: That said I'm very familiar with the dip, etc. However over the past 20+ years of experience I feel like I can get better results with washes in the same amount if time.

The dip isn't really for the wash effect unless you can't actually paint well, IMO. Even then, it's such a touchy process to dip anyhow that being a bad painter and dipping is a little bit like giving a 10 year old your Ferrari keys.

The dip's sole purpose, in my mind at least, is to create an incredibly strong protective coat that's solvent and water resistant as well as having a very good structural strength aspect. I just wish they made a crystal clear one that didn't yellow over time. I still haven't found it, if it exists.

luckyb0y wrote:

SaMoKo wrote:

The King in Yellow wrote: My solution was to pack them up in a big envelope and mail them to Sri Lanka where presumedly they get painted by a bunch of half-starved children, shackled to benches. They'll paint them however you want (or do what I do, and print out images of what real artists have done to the miniatures and send them with the figs).

Ahahaha, this is so terrible it's beautiful. Is it also possible to order a Sri Lankan opponent to play warhammer with for a dollar per hour?

Why is it terrible? I guess they earn more than being chained to the desk in customer service centre. Labour costs being what they are I'm surprised that US based painting services are still in business.

To be honest, I'm sure that my comment is just a manifestation of white guilt. While I doubt that the painters are highly compensated, they're not exactly chained in place. At one point I received an email from the owner, apologizing for delays. The rains were very heavy in the area so the painters couldn't or wouldn't come in to work. If you're employees aren't showing up due to the weather, you're probably not a savage task-master.

Jeff White wrote: Ha! I appreciate those trying to give how to paint quickly advice but isn't that like teaching a junkie how to tap the vein? I wanna be encouraged to get by without painting.

Just remember, if you collapse all of the usual veins, there are plenty of large, accessible ones in the penis.

And painted miniatures are awesome. Do you hear me ?! Awwwwesommmme !!!
[Not ready to admit that he has a problem]

luckyb0y wrote:

Shellhead wrote: But painting is an important way to protect your figures. One of my friends kept grabbing Sergeant Lorenzo by the helmet while we were playing, and finally that eagle fixture on top broke off. If it had been properly painted and sealed, it wouldn't have broken off so easily. I understand there is a way to soften the edges of the two pieces and re-attach properly, but I would need to practice with sprue pieces first, so I keep putting it off. With the high price of Space Hulk 3E, there is no reasonable way for my friend to replace Lorenzo, but he did end up donating about $80 worth of new miniature-scale map tiles to my Ptolus campaign.

You are thinking about polystyrene cement I guess, but I can tell you it won't work. The bond is never going to be as strong as the intact piece, which was never that strong in the first place. I just cut of the stem, drilled holes in the armor and in the ornament and join them by a piece of rigid wire. You can chuck it at the wall and it stays in place. If you glue it it will break at some point anyway. Paint is going to help but it's much worse to see your mini in pieces after you spent hours painting it.

On topic: How the hell can anyone think painted minis make no difference? I can understand not everyone likes painting or has time/skills to do it. If you don't care about visual appeal at all then why aren't you playing games with sticks and rocks on a board drawn in the sand? Sure gameplay is most important, after the company of course, but if you like games with minis then you obviously see the appeal. Why is everyone here all over X-wing, which would probably go unnoticed if it wasn't for the brilliant minis and Star Wars setting/visuals. There's nothing wrong with admitting you like nice looking things. If I'm going to stare for hours at something it makes for much better experience if it looks good. Can I live without it? Sure, I still have my Space Hulk unpainted for the lack of motivation/time. Do I wish it was painted? You fucking bet I do.

Thanks for the tip. I think I will need to do both, the drilling/wire insertion and the polystyrene cement, because the edges of the break are jagged and sticking out. I'm not worried about the sharpness so much as the ugly border where I would connect these two pieces. From what I understand the polstyrene cement will soften the plastic a little and then I can smooth out the jagged part. I've got this old school dental instrument that I can use to kind of re-sculpt that area a little. And though I am uneasy about dipping, I might just do that to really protect these Space Hulk figures.

And I agree about the importance of painting unpainted minis. To my eye, a bunch of unpainted minis on the table look bland and overly similar from even a few feet away. Why bother playing with unpainted minis at all?

I do understand the time limitation, though. I am currently running my first D&D campaign in a very long time. When we played AD&D back in the old days, the combat system was a bit vague and minis were strictly optional. But with the detailed 3.5 combat rules, it's really crucial to see where everybody is at any given moment. At my rough estimate, I would need to buy and paint about 1,200 minis for this bi-weekly campaign, which would have required an absolutely insane amount of painting. So I have been making tokens instead. I bought a bulk load of wooden nickels in a couple of sizes, some craft clue and a 1" hole punch. Takes me about an hour to swipe art online and set up a sheet of token pictures to print, and then another hour to cut and glue. The campaign started in July, and I have already done about 800 tokens.

But that's D&D. Aside from zombie games, most boardgames that have minis have a more manageable quantity to paint. Might as well paint them.

Shellhead wrote: Thanks for the tip. I think I will need to do both, the drilling/wire insertion and the polystyrene cement, because the edges of the break are jagged and sticking out. I'm not worried about the sharpness so much as the ugly border where I would connect these two pieces. From what I understand the polstyrene cement will soften the plastic a little and then I can smooth out the jagged part. I've got this old school dental instrument that I can use to kind of re-sculpt that area a little. And though I am uneasy about dipping, I might just do that to really protect these Space Hulk figures.

If it's just a rough surface from the fracture then you don't even need a sculpting tool. Dip a small brush in the polystyrene cement and lightly brush it over the rough edges. Usually the surface tension does the rest and it will just smooth out by itself. You might need to do it a couple of times.

The King in Yellow wrote:

Jeff White wrote: Ha! I appreciate those trying to give how to paint quickly advice but isn't that like teaching a junkie how to tap the vein? I wanna be encouraged to get by without painting.

Just remember, if you collapse all of the usual veins, there are plenty of large, accessible ones in the penis.

Someone's seen Requiem for a Dream....

Hey, can you hook us white people up with the secret Sri Lankan painting sweatshop? I, for one, consider it a microloan, which is both reputable and awesome.

SuperflyTNT wrote:

The King in Yellow wrote:

Jeff White wrote: Ha! I appreciate those trying to give how to paint quickly advice but isn't that like teaching a junkie how to tap the vein? I wanna be encouraged to get by without painting.

Just remember, if you collapse all of the usual veins, there are plenty of large, accessible ones in the penis.

Someone's seen Requiem for a Dream....

Hey, can you hook us white people up with the secret Sri Lankan painting sweatshop? I, for one, consider it a microloan, which is both reputable and awesome.

No problem. It's www.paintedfigs.com
You will not be disappointed. For the record I always get the "collector" quality instead of the much pricier "showcase" quality, and they still look great.

You're the best. I am going to drop a shitload on the million Bones figs that I don't want to paint.