lenihan
Moderator
So here's a dilemma I've been pondering.
I'm preparing for the oldhammer weekend, and the starting point of the elven expeditionary force I'm bringing are models that I already had from my youth (reaver knights, and old style shadow warriors) - models that I'd painted up but not really used when I was a teenager, instead sticking with tried and tested combinations so I could Win All Of The Warhammer (not that I really did win that much, but that's another story). Also, on my pocket money I could never afford to buy enough models to bring these units to a decent size, and money I had from jobs I did went to pay for other things. I've always felt a bit guilty about having these models I liked, but never using them enough, so now I figure their moment in the sun has come. Throw in some 80s classics via ebay, happy days.
So I get the old models out of their storage, and I look at the paintjob and... meh, passable, I guess. Bit of shading here, bit of drybrushing there. Paint the new models to fit with their style, and I'm good to go.
And then I get the high elf hero model out. My beloved general, if ever a figure was a proxy for me on the battlefield, it's this one. So many happy memories of his triumphs and (more often than not) heroic defeats. And I look at the paint on it and think... oh crap.
Thing is, I was never a good painter. But as I kept working at it, I got slightly better, from "caked paint hell" to "what the feck is that meant to be" to "ok, that's better than unpainted", and even one or two that I thought were quite nice. But this hero was very early on in my warhammer journey - the first mounted figure I painted, pretty much the first detailed figure I'd painted after row upon row of rank and file infantry.
And so I have hold of him, and I'm considering dropping him in the dettol and... no, I just can't do it. It's like I'd be stripping off all those memories with the paint. I'd be killing him.
So a bit of tlc and some washes and drybrushing and I think... well, perhaps people won't look too closely.
SOooooooo... to cease my rambling... what I'm interested in is how you guys balance nostalgia with perfectionism? When do you grab your old models and say "ugh, no way am I putting that on the battlefield"? And when do you stand proudly behind the heroes of your youth and say "you know what, I wouldn't change a thing"?
I'm preparing for the oldhammer weekend, and the starting point of the elven expeditionary force I'm bringing are models that I already had from my youth (reaver knights, and old style shadow warriors) - models that I'd painted up but not really used when I was a teenager, instead sticking with tried and tested combinations so I could Win All Of The Warhammer (not that I really did win that much, but that's another story). Also, on my pocket money I could never afford to buy enough models to bring these units to a decent size, and money I had from jobs I did went to pay for other things. I've always felt a bit guilty about having these models I liked, but never using them enough, so now I figure their moment in the sun has come. Throw in some 80s classics via ebay, happy days.
So I get the old models out of their storage, and I look at the paintjob and... meh, passable, I guess. Bit of shading here, bit of drybrushing there. Paint the new models to fit with their style, and I'm good to go.
And then I get the high elf hero model out. My beloved general, if ever a figure was a proxy for me on the battlefield, it's this one. So many happy memories of his triumphs and (more often than not) heroic defeats. And I look at the paint on it and think... oh crap.
Thing is, I was never a good painter. But as I kept working at it, I got slightly better, from "caked paint hell" to "what the feck is that meant to be" to "ok, that's better than unpainted", and even one or two that I thought were quite nice. But this hero was very early on in my warhammer journey - the first mounted figure I painted, pretty much the first detailed figure I'd painted after row upon row of rank and file infantry.
And so I have hold of him, and I'm considering dropping him in the dettol and... no, I just can't do it. It's like I'd be stripping off all those memories with the paint. I'd be killing him.
So a bit of tlc and some washes and drybrushing and I think... well, perhaps people won't look too closely.
SOooooooo... to cease my rambling... what I'm interested in is how you guys balance nostalgia with perfectionism? When do you grab your old models and say "ugh, no way am I putting that on the battlefield"? And when do you stand proudly behind the heroes of your youth and say "you know what, I wouldn't change a thing"?