scoring??

[squidders]

I\'m wondering... If you see a non converted mini that you personally hate but has great painting, how much does this effect the score you vote?

\"hate the mini, love the paint work\"

which way would you vote: high or low?

 

[Roger Bunting]

I try and put my opinions about the base mini to one side. Sometimes that just isn\'t possible as it may be really, really bad.

 

[lizcam]

I always try to vote on work alone. Doesn\'t matter to me if it\'s converted or not and I try not to let my feelings about a mini effect my vote. I even try not to let the photo work into the equation, although if you can make out details that at times hard. I look at color choices, shading, blending and faces. Faces are really importnat to me. I try to make judjment on those things alone if I can. That being said, we\'re all human. Sometimes we can\'t let stuff go.

 

[Bill]

Does it matter?

 

[squidders]

Does what matter? me wondering or what everyone thinks?

 

[Bill]

Scoring in general. I\'m not saying your question isn\'t valid or relevant, but the number of topics on the minutiae of scoring seem a bit, well, pointless. I mean, does everyone really care that much about what rating a mini gets?

 

[Rodnik]

When I score one, I try to be figure agnostic----good paint is good paint.

Granted, I do consider the basework a bit. Simply because so many folks do them as an \"afterthought\"----I\'m guilty of it, too.

 

[Temporary Sanity]

Nope, not everyone!

Just because I may not like a mini doesn\'t mean I\'ll give it a bad score (or worse than it deserves). I vote on the painters skill and the overall appeal of the piece.

 

[squidders]

Well, that\'s a good point Bill... at the moment, there is a lot of talk about scores and which mini is better.

I was curious not about what score is given but how or if people seperate the sculpt and the paint.

I personally try to seperate the two unless the painting is not really in keeping with the mini... even the best painted lurid pink wood elves would get a lower score from me than the same standard in more \"woody\" colours.

I wonder if there are trends in mini painting and if certain types of mini or pose or feature go in and out of favour.

The answer to \"which mini or painter is best\" was not what I was after.

 

[jahminis]

well squidders...i think there are definitely trends in mini painting...just look at the fact that most painters who paint a gw mini are only postin\' the latest hero mini or hot new thing(such as harlequins), but you rarely see a 15 year old gw mini get the treatment....yet some of the minis hold up to todays sculpting standards(such as the phoenix lords)...the top painters are more often than not, only paintin\' the mini for sale, or for gd, not to play the games, or collect an army...
there is also a move to paintin\' smaller companies minis...a lot of this is probably due to the availability of gettin\' minis from france, spain, australia, or where ever online...
it used to be that only gw had the money to hire the best sculptors...now any sculptor can set up his own webstore...if the minis were not awesome, people wouldn\'t buy \'em, or spend 30 hours paintin\' a single little piece...this is more of a sculptin\' trend, or market shift to more independent sales, and ma & pa operations(some amazingly good, and some not so much)...there is a big backlash against givin\' money to the evil empire, and feedin\' the little guy instead(and rightly so i say)...
the paintin\' trend is more about technique... we seem to see a heavy slant to blendin\', and away from layerin\'...heavy towards nmm, and away from true metallics...of course there are an infinite variety of approaches to paintin\' but i think when you check the gallery of top artists, you will see a lot more blendin\' and nmm, than layerin\' and metallics...a few years ago it would have been the opposite...
i don\' t think that the choice of mini effects peoples votin\' as much as the choice of mini inspires people to pull out all the stops on their paintjob...for me at least, the more i like the mini, the more effort i\'m gonna put into the end result...

cheers
jah

 

[squidders]

That\'s really interesting jah... and I saw what you\'re talking about first hand when I recently-ish got back in to minis after a 10 year break... things had changed in a massive way. Back then, there was no NMM for a start... also, I was waiting for SENMM to take off but it hasn\'t really.

I wonder if any of this collective preference in sculpts, producers and painting can offer any insight in to any future trends.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

the future is orange lol

 

[Thunderhawker]

My personal opinion is that a good paintjob can save a mini that would others be swill. That said, the reverse is not true

 

[Sand Rat]

I try to take the mini as a whole when I vote.

That being said, after multiples of the flavor of the moment or 200 space marines in a row, I will eliminate a manufacturer or two from my voting trends for a while - or only vote on historicals or terrain for a while.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Breaking down scoring and arguing the toss is just semantics as the whole issue is subjective. Let me say this though: I hate it when people deem converted figures to be better than standard ones every time. Some people seem to think every piece has to be converted to score well, which is (subjectively) bullsh*t.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by reverend
Some people seem to think every piece has to be converted to score well, which is (subjectively) bullsh*t.

Exactly right. It\'s Coolminiornot not Coolconversion.

I\'ll give credit where credit\'s due if someone\'s managed to make a Silk Purse out of a Sows Ear of a mini, then kudos to them, and votes as appropriate.

 

[rosac]

Originally posted by reverend
Let me say this though: I hate it when people deem converted figures to be better than standard ones every time. Some people seem to think every piece has to be converted to score well, which is (subjectively) bullsh*t.

i agree. the eisenhorn mini (inquisitor scale) that won a slayer sword last year, was my favourite mini out of all the slayer sword minis in white dwarf. although i love converting, I know it isnt nessecary.

rosac

 

[tzor]

Originally posted by squidders
I\'m wondering... If you see a non converted mini that you personally hate but has great painting, how much does this effect the score you vote?

I love great painting. Great painting wins out anyday on any mini. Average painting, on the other hand might be influenced by my general impression of the mini type, but only as one factor out of many, including, sad to say, my overall mood at the time and the random luck of the draw.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Every miniature I score I do with my initial gut reaction in the first few seconds of looking at it. I don\'t need to study it or look for flaws or what not..I just go.. cool or not cool.

As for scores of my minis I really couldn\'t care less.. its a frigging score on a mini and its not going to effect my daily life one bit or another.. scores Im concerned about at the moment, My credit score...my bank balance..my cholesterol..my weight.. all more important than if my mini scores a 9.0 or not.

Sometimes I think we really need to turn off the computor and go outside a bit more...

 

[Avelorn]

Heh.. but people care about everything, small and big. I know one guy who goes ballistic when people park one centimetre too close to his car. Other people have heated debates of which interpretation of Chopins Fantasie Impromtu in C#. My father can spend hours ranting about the stupid cyklists of our town.

Of course the sculpt matters as it is our canvas. You can\'t really be objective about the judging anyway. A mini like the Vorag barbarian from Ilyad is such a great sculpt that it won\'t limit your efforts. While an old Ral partha sculpt can be much more difficult to do something cool with for example. But if someone succeeds with the Ral Partha sculpt.. then it\'s really awesome, But of course I try to look at the paintwork and not the manufacturer.