A useful question when planning a new army

[FierceKitty]

Shall I spend more time playing with them than I do painting them?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Thought that was the idea - but the reverse was often true. 

IanS

[Subedai]

Most definitely the other way round for me. I've got armies I've had for more than 3 decades and never had a game with them, but one day...

MickS

[Zippee]

A painted army is a potential game

An unpainted heap of models is a heap of work away from potentiality

Time spent painting thus increases the likelihood of more games. 

[Bodvoc]

Planning and painting a new army is all part of the fun

[fsn]

Absolutely! 

[FierceKitty]

Do you manage to remember that when grinding through units that need hundreds of identical troops?

[fsn]

Certainly. They form a coherent visual core to the thing.

Take for example, the French Napoleonic army. Infantry are tedious beyond belief, but if you alternate painting them with the more "interesting" troops like Hussars, horse artillery etc, then you a) get a pretty balanced army and b) keep the tedium of lots of French infantry at bay.   

[Ithoriel]

Researching, planning and collecting armies are a joy and delight to me. Painting and playing, these days, not so much.

[d_Guy]

I think about playing more then actually doing it and certainly  way more then painting.
Mostly I play vicariously through this forum. I like collecting figure, staring at them and imagining them painted. They would win awards of course.

[Bodvoc]

FSN has it spot on!

[Subedai]

A painted army is a potential game

An unpainted heap of models is a heap of work away from potentiality

Time spent painting thus increases the likelihood of more games. 

Very Sun Tzu-esque

Researching, planning and collecting armies are a joy and delight to me. Painting and playing, these days, not so much.

Yeah, that sums me up as well.

MickS

[Orcs]

I think that when looking at a new Army you should ask the question, BUT I don't think many of us do.

For me part of the fun is organising collecting and painting, so I often buy models to add to a collection  just because I like them.  An example of this would be the Italian Pavesi artillery tractor. They were used in WW2 buy at leats the Italians and Hungarians.  I ordered one but found that it could be made as a covered or uncovered version, so I had to get another so I could field one of each

[fsn]

I likes me a regular army. I hates painting irregulars. No proper colour scheme. 

I ordered one but found that it could be made as a covered or uncovered version, so I had to get another so I could field one of each

I likes the way you think, Friend Orcs.

[petercooman]

I used to buy lots and lots of stuff for different games, but it became apparent that we always went back to blitzkrieg commander, so i am buying less models now. (actually waiting on the pendraken WWII Belgians, i want to have 2 early war armies,might as well get an army for my home country)

As much as i like the ACW, hoplites and napoleonics, when we ask what we will play, almost everyone chooses blitzkrieg commander, so i stop getting new armies ready for different periods. When i do get stuff ready i usually have skirmish forces for solo play, so the "painting time-play time " ratio is somewhat different to 'proper' forces.

I likes me a regular army. I hates painting irregulars. No proper colour scheme. 

+ 1 on this though. If i compare the painting time on a regiment of union troops to that of confederate troops, you see that the union paints up faster! Same thing for my latest painting, british soldiers and partisans. British are way easier to 'get in a routine'.