Playing with non-gw models

[crazyredpraetorian]

This makes me imagine Ephialtes as a Praetorian.

[Demosthenes]

Tell him it isn't a "game", but a hobby. Part of the game is building and painting. I call it "paying your dues".

I'm definitely more forgiving of broken armies if I see that you spent some good time building it to be wysiwyg and painting it well.

For example, I hate it when people use genestealers as psykers...*cough*...nvm, I was just using lotr ghosts as psykers the other day, lol. I swear I'll buy the real ones when GW is finished running out of them again.

And wow those are some bad Praetorians... Yours are definitely way better, John.

[Oswald Shot First]

I don't mind as long as everything is consistent and decent looking, but that's a standard that's impossible to enforce.

[CrusherJoe]

I don't mind as long as everything is consistent and decent looking, but that's a standard that's impossible to enforce.

In "friendly" games it's impossible to enforce, but in tournaments...no, it's not.

Tournament organizers have every right to look over an army before the game even starts and disqualify an army for not meeting a standard (which, in all fairness, should be posted clearly in the rules and made available well in advance of the tournament).

Come to think of it, it's even easier to enforce in friendly games. If you see someone with an army that offends your sensibilities...don't play against it. There's no law saying you have to play a game you know.

[Oswald Shot First]

In "friendly" games it's impossible to enforce, but in tournaments...no, it's not.

Tournament organizers have every right to look over an army before the game even starts and disqualify an army for not meeting a standard (which, in all fairness, should be posted clearly in the rules and made available well in advance of the tournament).

Come to think of it, it's even easier to enforce in friendly games. If you see someone with an army that offends your sensibilities...don't play against it. There's no law saying you have to play a game you know.

In a tournament I think you have to more or less blanket ban them. Anything else is less than fair.

[Jwolf]

We're pretty blanket-bannish for BoLSCon on wierd models. I think someone who has taken non GW models as a basis for extreme conversion work is fine - they're practically sculpting their own models at that point - but the guy with the Tamiya tanks is right out.

[Dosadi]

I play at a GW store so you can imagine what that means for non-citadel models.

I have seen some really nicely done conversions of historical tank kits in some armies. German WW2 halftracks as chimeras and tigers as battlewagons in Ork armies. But all had had extensive conversions done to them. Where the line is drawn is another queston.
One GW manger told my friend that his half track wasn't converted enough. My friend pointed out the tracks had been replaced with IG ones and the turret was from FW (autocannon) with a pintle mounted stubber on it. Also the driver had been converted from a sentinel pilot and it had been painted with Citadel paints and covered with IG decals.When we pressed the manager to tell us what more could be done he simply told my friend to put more GW bits on it. We asked what specifically he'd like to see but he just walked away mumbling something about not letting my friend use it next time. I suppose the manager thought he was being fair, but my friend had bits ordered everything (save the FW turret) to convert the half track from that GW store and everything else in his army was Citadel so it wasn't like he was trying to build an army on the cheap as the examples above clearly are.


Dosadi

[TheCommissar]

Those look really awesome! If I was playing with green army men that is....

I agree that when people bust out non GW stuff I feel cheated. Granted using some really awesome mini from another game or a Reaper mini for a hero or special wouldn't bug me much. I know a guy though that pulled out a bunch of old MageKnight orcs and tried passing them off as 40K orks. I was appalled and as a result wouldn't play with the guy. Then again this is the same guy who thinks it's ok to use blocks of foam because he doesn't want to buy a battlewagon or uses a Velveeta box instead of terrain.

Maybe it makes me a snob but it just takes away from my enjoyment of the game to face off against that.

[Big_D]

Those aren't that bad. Better than some stuff I have seen out there. They are painted so that is a big plus. I doubt you would have a hard time figuring out what they are when they were set up on the table with the rest of the army.

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

As long as they are based correctly, painted and the type/unit is clearly identifiable then what is the problem? When one buys any other set of wargames rules then there is no obligation to use that firms minis - this is just strong GW marketing hitting the spot.

You don't have to buy into the whole "GW Hobby" if you don't want to, there was life before GW and, I suspect (hope), that most wargamers play a spread of rules/periods. Indeed some of the firms leading figures even game (shock, horror) other systems.

Clearly, one mustn't be rude and take a load of non-citadel minis to a GW run tournament or shop for a game but otherwise, so what!