Painting scores

[Derick]

Just looking back at what used to done in the hobby is not always the best or right thing, but have all changes been for the better.

The standard of painting now is much higher, but so is some of the criteria.

10 years ago when painting scores were given, if you didn't paint your own army - you borrowed, had it commissioned, bought it already painted etc... then you got a score of zero and even if it was the best army there, you would not qualify for a prize. The painting score was an indication of how much you put into the hobby, not much much money you spent.

Now, if you have the funds you can not only score high painting marks, but also win a prize.

Is this a good thing?

[Chaoswolf]

An excellent point, who are people turning too to get these excellent prizewinning results? Not that I'd use them myself, unless I was then able to win prizes! I cried myself to sleep over my Nicon2011 paint score.

[Tuatara]

I thought you still had to have painted the army yourself to qualify. Has this really changed? Seems a shame. Like a Ford winning Bathurst, only for us to find out there was a GM motor under the bonnet.

[NeckFace]

Now, if you have the funds you can not only score high painting marks, but also win a prize.

where does this happen?  the events i've played at, you get 0 for an army painted by another person

[Rasputin]

Most I know, you still get a painting score but there is no way you can win best painted .... that seems the best way to me ...

[Vaul]

Most I know, you still get a painting score but there is no way you can win best painted .... that seems the best way to me ...

Correct.  These days in tournaments I go to, there is a prize for top 3 best painted, but separately you get a small component of your overall score made up of a paint score.  You can't go in the runnings for 'best painted' as a separate prize if you didn't paint your own army, but you can still get the paint score.

I think this works great, because the paint score is in there to encourage painted armies - its there not only to reward effort but also to just plain encourage painted armies - something which improves the event for everyone.  But you can still work towards a goal in the runup to the tournament, since there is a separate prize for excellence.

One weird scenario is when two players both attending the same event swap armies with each other.  I did this once!  Does that mean that neither of you are in the runnings for 'best painted'?  I guess it is up to the TO at the end of the day.

And on a related note - paint your army!  There are techniques that make it so easy to get a very basic, reasonable job done.  No excuses not to even try.

[NeckFace]

one thing i've wondered about, similar to your situation Luke, what if I attend an event where there are one or more people also attending with armies i've painted? can i get a shot at best painted with all those armies? or just with the one i'm using?

[Tuatara]

one thing i've wondered about, similar to your situation Luke, what if I attend an event where there are one or more people also attending with armies i've painted? can i get a shot at best painted with all those armies? or just with the one i'm using?

That's quite the dilemma and thankfully one I'll never be faced with

[Sectiplave]

That'd have to be a call made by the TO I guess in terms of entering multiple armies. The major issue would be how they would differentiate the votes between the two armies, without having the award given to someone else or standing in instead of them, sounds like most TO's would just say no due to complication.

This thread reminds me my Salamanders still are only 50% complete after 2 years....

[Derick]

I have been to tournaments where the paint score did not contribute toward the overall score. I don't think that works.

It gets back to the competitive or the creative question... are you here for the competition of beating up other armies, or do you get into the creative side of things.

I see buying/using an army that's been painted by another as a bit of a cop out.
I see the painting score being a reward for the effort you put in.
This whole thing about getting a painting score is rubbish.
It actually been my experience that most of the better players do paint their armies to a fairly high standard.

I brought up the question just as a musing. I just had a look at the Nicon Scores

James Page had the top battle points, but the lowest paint score.
Bobby had a top paint score, but low battle points
Rob Sadler took the 1st place 2nd top battle points and an average paint score
In this instance, the effort that Rob put in to painting, gave him that edge over James.

[Vaul]

I can see why you worry Derick, but the one reason why I have never been overly concerned about the matter (with regard to the warhammer scene, at least) is that the people who podium at tournaments are the serious hobbyists.  They're the people that are the most dedicated to the hobby, they've played the longest, studied the rules the most, played the most practice games, and have generally invested too much of themselves to put up with playing with a poorly painted army each time.  That's why you see painted armies win tournaments incidentally.

As for the warmachine & hordes scene however... well lets tackle one thing at a time, shall we

[Rasputin]

I agree, the top level players in the GW systems have adapted to the "hobby" style of scoring and as a direct result you do see a lot more finely painted armies at tournaments, the painting prize becoming quite a coveted trophy in some cases

Now as for warmachine/hordes .... yes well 

[Chris]

As for the warmachine & hordes scene however... well lets tackle one thing at a time, shall we

I'll have you know, Nicon had 1/27 armies contain any models unpainted. Thats 26 players with fully painted armies, probably more than the WFB tournament

Even the only person with unpainted models was probably 50% painted rather than having all his models half painted which I think is swings and roundabouts.

[Monkey King]

26 players with fully painted armies......th at's actually more than the total number of fantasy players at Nicon