Ok, first thing, please accept this in the light that it is presented: This is supposed to be a lighthearted look at those of us that are willing to paint HUNDREDS of miniatures to make a table look "cool".

What we are talking about here is why my wife comes into my office and finds me quietly sobbing or whimpering that no grown man (well, person) should experience...

...and I understand this might be my process and/or lack of experience.

I can't decide on the most frustrating thing about painting miniatures (I don't even know if I can articulate the list):

1) Putting paint where it doesn't belong on the "final" cleanup, just a small slip that causes one to get out that other paint...again...and fix yet another mistake..again...

2) Not putting paint where it DOES belong: that sort of "How did I miss putting flesh tone on his FACE?! I'm at CLEANUP!!"

3) Seeing a spot that you missed that you can't get to without blasting the entire area in paint and having to cleanup based on that.

4) Finding out at the "shading drying step" that you missed something un-excusable; "how did she get that big GOLD line across her face??"

5) Don't know if this counts as something different but same as #4 AFTER basing.

6) Speaking of which - Causing a flaw (glue on the cape?) such that basing material is now on the wrong part of the miniature (how did I get a rock on his leg??)

7) Painting a spot, messing it up, then during the fix, messing it up such that the original spot needs to be repainted wherein you are likely to make the same mistake that caused the original issue in the first place.

8) Obvously: Deciding I didn't like that color 2 weeks AFTER the miniature was finished (or more likely the group of minis).

9) The minis come grey, you prime them, they look kinda cool, you add the first color, they kinda "pop":"Neato!", you add the second color: "OMG! these look like CRAP!"- Knowing they'll get better, but...C'mon Man!!

10) Transfers, ok Freehand is OUT of the question for me, but:

10.a) The Transfer that won't go to the right spot

10.b) The Transfer is...Perfect...until you shade, which DESTROYS the transfer...during...shading...sticky mess

11) Lines: Cavalry, I talking about you here, plus ALL belts: trying to paint not the outside, but the side lines - trying to get those proper and straight.

12) Finding that you didn't really glue the part on correctly and there's a gap AFTER priming...(I don't get this, I KNOW they were right when I finished gluing them).

13) Finding that you apparently had the spray primer just "a little outside" so EVERYTHING on the mini is grainy

14) You shaded, you checked the shading, it didn't pool...you check every 10 minutes for 2 hours, I mean I set a timer! No Pooling...next morning...pooling

If you have more, please feel free to add, comment, critique!

Step 1) you put your paint away?

2) if it is a mass model, I might just not bother, as I've missed it this long, so will everyone else

3) If you can't reach it, wash in some really dark shades, as chances are it is shadow anyway

4) heh.

5) some models I base, others I work up a 'colour' or area (say golems rock) at a time, opposed to hopping all over, this lets me clean up stuff as I go, as I haven't painted anything but the one colour. It also lets you use previous shades.

6) builds character, maybe he's training with ankle weights

7) those dissipate with practice

8) Always do a test scheme on a single figure!

9) I laugh at your sorrow

10) Get micro sol/Micro Set, then come back and talk. Put on the transfers after you 'shade' as well (assuming you mean apply a wash). If you insist on washing over the decal varnish it first.

11) are you familiar with the technique 'darklining'? Using bleedover between colours shades to increase separation, it can help with this if you have issues, and also can just help in general with appearance.

12) Is it a hero/ siege? no? Who cares.

13) as 12?

14) pooling? You are using army painter quickshade poly/ minwax?

Points 1 thru 14. The grand scheme of things on the table, none of this matters. The army looks great!!

Care less and be much happier

For me, the thing about painting is that every time I pull my models out to practice set up and moving around the board, I think, "Nope, I should be painting instead." I love doing it, but after the same amount of time playing Runewars as I did playing X-wing in 2012, I'm much less proficient at Runewars.

@Adun42 I feel your pain. Been working on Runewars the boardgame for several years and I'm still trying to finish it before moving on to Runewars Miniatures Game. A lot of your points ring true for me, and like you, I feel a sort of love-hate relationship with it all It's frustrating and discouraging and difficult, but I wouldn't want to give it up.

Never tried minis painting aside from a few armada ships until this game. My first 4 figures I labored over for hours trying to make them 'perfect'. 70 some reanimates later I don't care if a bit of cloak color is on the armor or vice versa, at casual table view they look fine.

I suffer from problem (2) the most though

15 hours ago, Darthain said:

Step 1) you put your paint away?

2) if it is a mass model, I might just not bother, as I've missed it this long, so will everyone else

3) If you can't reach it, wash in some really dark shades, as chances are it is shadow anyway

4) heh.

5) some models I base, others I work up a 'colour' or area (say golems rock) at a time, opposed to hopping all over, this lets me clean up stuff as I go, as I haven't painted anything but the one colour. It also lets you use previous shades.

6) builds character, maybe he's training with ankle weights

7) those dissipate with practice

8) Always do a test scheme on a single figure!

9) I laugh at your sorrow

10) Get micro sol/Micro Set, then come back and talk. Put on the transfers after you 'shade' as well (assuming you mean apply a wash). If you insist on washing over the decal varnish it first.

11) are you familiar with the technique 'darklining'? Using bleedover between colours shades to increase separation, it can help with this if you have issues, and also can just help in general with appearance.

12) Is it a hero/ siege? no? Who cares.

13) as 12?

14) pooling? You are using army painter quickshade poly/ minwax?

1) I use little bits of paint in a pallet, haven't tried the "wet pallet" thing yet, meaning I've got to shake that paint vigorously,and pour a little dab on the pallet

2, 3) it's amazing to me how the errors stand out if you miss them. I'm starting to take pictures of the minis before shading, because issues just JUMP out at the camera.

5) I mostly do 1 color at a time, then do 1 color cleanup, at a time, but that breaks down, because while I'm on "green", I see the gold error, and if I don't stop and fix - sometimes I'll miss it (goto #2)

8, 9, 12,13) that's what this list is about, laughing at myself about - or if this thing is successful, having us laugh at ourselves about worrying about this.

But #8 is funny because I do - I test figures, do test paints (if I'm not just following army painter), paint, like it - or "mostly like it" finish maybe a couple of trays then get an idea with the next set, go stare and the first set, thinking "how could I fix that now?" Sort of the process of; "wow, that looks cool!", to "I'm not sure I like that" to "no, I'm not sure I like that at all but not sure how to fix" to "no, I gotta do something about that" to " ok, take it on..."

No - I don't know about Darkling...I'll google it.

12, 13) take a picture, close up...crikey...I care

14) yes I'm using the army painter quickshade, don't dip, just paint on, getting more careful all the time. The Waiqar I could slosh on and they looked good - elves, I'm using a fine brush.

Speaking of which, yes these errors loop - 2 causes 4, causes 2, causes 11...

But the whole process is hilarious, frustrating, rewarding, daunting, fun, grueling, and I can't wait to get back to my elves!

2 hours ago, Adun42 said:

5 ) I mostly do 1 color at a time, then do 1 color cleanup, at a time, but that breaks down, because while I'm on "green", I see the gold error, and if I don't stop and fix - sometimes I'll miss it (goto #2)

Here my advice is then, wait til the last step before you use the quickshade. Do all them at once in rapid succession, which is what I do if I work in a basecoat, shade, highlight flow (which I do a bit of, sometimes, while assembly lining say archers). Touch up everything at once, not 5 times.

Wet palette is nice, but more a necessity for me, given the climate of the area, I get little work time otherwise. It doesn't magically keep paint alive for hours upon hours though, I am just surrounded by a good 20 bottles as I paint generally