don\'t be afraid to paint something.
just because you don\'t get it perfect the first time doesn\'t mean you didn\'t do something right and gain from painting.
don\'t be afraid to test something out before painting a mini. paint something else like a popsycle stick to test your color if you mix them.
use the proper tools. don\'t get hurt by using a knife or other tool that is dull and could slip rather than cut and hurt yourself with.
take care of your tools. brushes, knives, everything last longer when taken care of properly. some of the more expensive tools are not fun to replace because you forgot to wash your $15 brush. a minute or two cleaning saves a lot of money.
enjoy doing it. if you feel frustrated when painting or modelling a mini then put it down. pick up your tools and clean up your workspace. come back when you are a bit more relaxed. some details of minis can be frustrating. there is no time limit on your hobby. no matter what an non fully painted mini can still be played with in a mini wargame.
consider everything a work in progress. odds are even once you have finished something when starting out you may want to change it later. go ahead and change it if you want. its your mini and your hobby. make it what you want and change as you see fit.
don\'t be afraid to do something different. some minis may have a default paint scheme, but there is not going to be someone busting down your door and pointing a gun to your head forcing you to paint a mini that way. its your mini, paint it how you want. not every mini has to look the same even. if you prefer individual minis in a unit to look different instead of uniform then go for it. the more differences the more easily to tell the minis apart when gaming.
example: 5 guys all have the same weapons/options and are game mechanically the same. they can look different without taking away form their game stats.
example 2: 5 guys all have different weapons/options. now with 5 individual looking minis it is easy to distinguish them apart.
in both cases the same 5 minis could be used. this saves money as well since you don\'t need to buy the second set of 5.
don\'t buy into the hype. as above buying more than you really need is not only a money drain, but a resource drain as well. time painting the minis to game with means it takes longer to actually play unless you do the above and are willing to play with non fully painted minis.
don\'t think you have to enjoy painting to play a tabletop miniature wargame. many games are prepainted and fully assembled today. for those that are not you can get by with simple painting rather than trying to go to extremes with painting. again make it what you want. if you want as few colors and little painting as possible just to play a game with your minis with then do that.
don\'t subscribe to money grab gaming schemes. while GW games are fun some of their tournament rules are a bit abusive when combining all the hobbies together.
there are several tournament rules for GW tournaments.
3 colors minimum. this is a good one so you don\'t have to play with unpainted or just primered/basecoated minis.
WYSIWYG. ignore this. if you don\'t want to buy parts to make specific minis and use minis for multiple option designs then do as above and make them how you want with some way to identify the ones that need to be different because of special options.
this goes for other tournaments as well. if you don\'t like the tournament rules, then don\'t feel like you have to play in tournaments. there are more places to play than a local gaming store. if they want to be competitive with super restrictive or crazy rules, then find somewhere else. you should play a tabletop wargame to have fun. be it competetive, or jsut for the sake of playing the game.
GW tournaments also have 3 prizes.
Sportsmanship. tournament or not you should be a good sport when playing.
Tournament winner. this is the person that wins the games in the tournament.
Painting. this persons \"army\" was voted the best painted by the judges.
as there are 3 prizes then you have a choice for your goals. you don\'t have to try to win them all. to my knowledge they winner in each prize category gets the same prize, but a different certificate to specifiy which category (s)he won in.
again with any tournament figure out which prize if any you want to go for if more than one is offered. you don\'t have to go for all of them.
and lastly (for this post), have fun. again its your hobby, your time, your money, make what you want of it. if you like painting more than playing don\'t feel you have to play the game. if you like playing more than painting then just paint it up to look decent for you. don\'t worry about painting every eyeball or cuticle. if you like both then do both so long as you are having fun with your hobby. it is a hobby after all and not a job. so its something you should be doing to have fun away from the work you already have to do on a daily basis.
