What parts of the hobby do you enjoy least?

[Glorfindel]

Matt,

What a nightmare, particularly when we all know how much time
it takes to paint the little blighters up.

I think I am really lucky - we have a small gaming group of four
who get together every Friday night and are not too far from you
(Wolverhampton).   You are very welcome to get in touch if you
want to explore the possibility of a game.

Cheers,



Phil

[Ben Waterhouse]

I only play solo... but that's my choice...

[Dr Dave]

I despise Cheaters. 

I know a chap (who's now stopped coming to our club) who'd measured various parts of his arms and fingers to help him "estimate" ranges during games where actual measuring was not permitted. He'd lean over the table and ponder if he was in charge range etc... placing his arm next to the units in question.

On a personal note, he was an utter knob as well. 

[Leman]

Unfortunately they do exist, and seldom have  much of a grasp of military history. Quite happy to have an army almost entirely of Roman Praetorians and cataphracts to go up against Sumerians or Medieval Welsh.

[Ben Waterhouse]

I despise Cheaters. 

I know a chap (who's now stopped coming to our club) who'd measured various parts of his arms and fingers to help him "estimate" ranges during games where actual measuring was not permitted. He'd lean over the table and ponder if he was in charge range etc... placing his arm next to the units in question.

On a personal note, he was an utter knob as well. 

Tell me about it. I had the unfortunate experience of such a character destroying the last club I belonged to, along with " forgetting " to return models and scenery to people he had borrowed them from...

[mollinary]

To the Strongest is a set of rules which minimises the situations in which this sort of player can flourish by removing measuring and angles and such by inserting a grid. But do not underestimate the power of human ingenuity! While still a novice at the system I was faced with an opponent who, regardless of how many times he was asked, would never announce what he intended to do before he drew his activation card. This allowed him to adjust his aspirations downwards if faced with a particularly low draw. A minor advantage, but hugely IRRITATING!

[d_Guy]

To the Strongest is a set of rules which minimises the situations in which this sort of player can flourish by removing measuring and angles and such by inserting a grid. But do not underestimate the power of human ingenuity! While still a novice at the system I was faced with an opponent who, regardless of how many times he was asked, would never announce what he intended to do before he drew his activation card. This allowed him to adjust his aspirations downwards if faced with a particularly low draw. A minor advantage, but hugely IRRITATING!

I think you are being generous calling it a "minor advantage" 
If it were FK&P it would be a major advantage.

The temptation to cheat in solo play is great. I have had to resort to "stoppage of gin" to quell it.

[mollinary]

I think you are being generous calling it a "minor advantage" 
If it were FK&P it would be a major advantage.

The temptation to cheat in solo play is great. I have had to resort to "stoppage of gin" to quell it.

If only 'stoppage of gin' could be imposed on an opponent!  I fear he may appear at the 'To the Strongest'  World Championships this weekend. - I trust he has mended his ways!

[Subedai]

In order of hateness:

Rebasing anything.

Painting horses.

Scale creep.

Rebasing anything.

People who decry smaller scales as not proper figures.

Players who cheat.

Painting horses.

Rivet counters

People with huge backpacks, BO or both at shows

Rebasing anything.

[mmcv]

Painting horses

Is that because of or in spite of your love of Mongols, Subedai?

A lot of people seem to have issues with painting horses, is it just the horses themselves and all their leathery strappy bits, or cavalry in general?

The bit that annoys me about cavalry is the numerous awkward angles and deep crevices between horse and man that can be a pain to paint without blobbing a bit. The tack, while tedious, isn't quite so annoying if done in small doses.

[Cavillarius]

- shows that seem to cater exclusively to 28mm, fantasy or WWII, or even worse: combinations of the three...
- removing flash
- too few clubs focussed solely on historical wargaming (I've had to compromise meanwhile, buying a fantasy army that could also serve historical purposes minus the flying carpets, wizards and djinns)

But worst of all:
- the time it takes for my orders from the UK to arrive here in Belgium, if at all.

[d_Guy]

I don't like painting horse (although my one attempt at a chariot was worse - in fact any thing with wheels pulled by creatures of any sort), elephants would be right out.

Contrary to the know universe, one of my favorite things is (apparently) rebasing.

Although nobody asked - my most favorite thing is doing the base edges (with a black or brown marker) - means I'm done (maybe)!

The think I dislike the most is, while doing the edging (as above), discovering a figure that has some feature NOT Painted!

[Leman]

You're lucky you've only had to paint that one horse Bill  . Seriously though, I have found a way of producing nice looking horses by using a darker base coat and highlighting the raised musculature, eg. I do a lot of brown horses using a chestnut base, highlighting with light brown. The biggest pain for me is then having to add the tack with my big, clumpy hands.

[Cavillarius]

I discovered by horsy technique by accident:
Prime them with a white spray can, use a darkish chestnut brown that has been thinned out slightly too much. Makes for wonderful 'highlights' and is fast as hell to paint....

[Westmarcher]

Might try that. 

However, still got the tack, horse blanket, nose, blaze, maine, tail, fetlocks, hooves .... wah! 

[Leman]

It's amazing how much static grass/flock can hide hooves.

[steve_holmes_11]

The basis of my horse technique - not great, but quick and little fuss.
Looks fine for massed cavalry where a sharp-dressed man on the saddle distracts from a host of errors lower down.

1. Colour distribution - take 2 or 3 hours to read this series of artickes on hose coats and genetics: http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.com/2011/04/horse-of-different-colour.html

Summary:
About 75% brown coloured, of which 75% are "bays" black manes, tails and darker ankles. The remainder of the browns are chestnuts (without the black markings).
The remaining 25% are mostly black with the odd white, grey or more exotic colouration.

I sort my horses into groups of 16, then paint a quarter each light brown, mid brown, dark brown, then do the fancy colours (mostly black) on the last quarter.
I then pick out the 25% chestnuts from the browns (taking a higher proportion of the light browns because I prefer it that way) and paint black on the manes, tails and ankles of the rest.

Next a bit of white on some lower legs and almost all faces.
Room for a bit of artistic license here.

My secret for tack is doing the absolute minimum (This is the worst bit).
Brown horses with brown tack require little extra if you manage a satin finish - light will catch the mounded straps and hint that something's there.
For the black and light exotics, I try to keep things minimal as well.
I've no idea why all those bits are there, but I do know that most belts and the like a massively overscale on models.
Imagine reins that are an inch across, how broad would they be if scaled to 15mm - far too fine to sculpt I'd guess.
I therefore apply a very fine touch to the reins and (the straps that lead form the mouth up round the nose, and also back toward the ears.

Saddle blankets and saddles follow the normal uniform guides.
I find a coloured stripe along the bottom or round the edge looks good for irregular horsemen

Then sort them into (usually mixed) groups and base them.
If they're close order charging types, most of the horrid detail will go unnoticed, people will see the head, neck, rider (and tail if looking from behind).

[steve_holmes_11]

Now to answer the "Least liked" question.

1. Rules that promise much, but turn out to be reheated old-skool, or worse - utterly unintelligible.
    I now wait for reviews as opposed to rushing to be the early adopter.

2. Rebasing - I'm tending toward games that rely less on specific basing requirements, or ones that use a popular standard.

3. Joining in "that" participation game at a show, and realising that you've signed up for 2 hours of purgatory - Thankfully rare.

4. My Monthly trip to see whether TMP has got any better - I'm thinking of reducing it to a bi-monthly event - or opting out completely during the 18 months  American presidential elections.

5. My house has insufficient storage for all the new stuff I'd like to do.

[d_Guy]

You're lucky you've only had to paint that one horse Bill  . Seriously though, I have found a way of producing nice looking horses by using a darker base coat and highlighting the raised musculature, eg. I do a lot of brown horses using a chestnut base, highlighting with light brown. The biggest pain for me is then having to add the tack with my big, clumpy hands.

Andy, it only took one horse to arrive at my opinion. 

[Techno]

You're lucky you've only had to paint that one horse Bill  . Seriously though, I have found a way of producing nice looking horses by using a darker base coat and highlighting the raised musculature, eg. I do a lot of brown horses using a chestnut base, highlighting with light brown. The biggest pain for me is then having to add the tack with my big, clumpy hands.

It's damn fiddly putting the tack on the gee gees with green stuff as well.....Especially the reins....So if I have to suffer... 

Cheers - Phil