You should stay inside, and while you are at it, this is an excellent chance to paint your models. Click to read on, or check out the Tactics Corner for more reviews and strategies.
1. Stay Inside
Now, at an unusual time like this a lot of you are wondering: stay inside and paint your models? And as an experienced competitive player with years of familiarity with the subject, I can confirm: stay inside and paint your models. You might think stay inside and paint your models, but a lot of people will actually forget that stay inside and paint your models is actually stay inside and paint your models.
Of course, this completely ignores stay inside, which in a lot of circumstances will mean that you paint your models- even if you have already decided to stay inside and paint your models, or you are running a stay inside list that wouldn’t normally paint your models. But it’s always worth remembering that you can stay inside and paint your models, even for lists that aren’t designed to stay inside and paint your models.
2. Paint Your Models
It’s something a lot of players don’t think about, but ask any top-tier player like Nick Nanavati or Brandon Grant and they’ll tell you: stay inside and paint your models. It’s one of the fundaments of competitive play, and if you find that in a lot of your games you’re staying inside, it may well be that you need to just buckle down and paint your models. In fact, stay inside and paint your models can very nearly overturn a game when you are behind by more than stay inside points, even if the opponent tries to paint your models or stay inside and paint your models.
Now, this isn’t to say that stay inside and paint your models is the entirety of the strategy, but the odds are with you and if you stay inside and paint your models, more often than not your models will get painted as you stay inside. It’s not a guarantee, but you have to play the odds- but just in case, have a backup plan ready in case you need to stay inside, or you end up painting your models. Roll a 6? Great, you can stay inside and paint your models this turn. But if you get that dreaded 1- well, it turns out you were still ready to stay inside and paint your models. That’s the beauty of the strategy; you aren’t reliant on a dice roll to successfully stay inside, because you can always just paint your models.
(Note: some tournaments are ruling that you have to stay inside and paint your models, even during the opponent’s turn, unless the unit you choose is able to stay inside and paint your models. While I personally don’t believe that this is stay inside and paint your models, it is the TO’s choice on how to handle the matter, so be prepared to stay inside and paint your models in a worst case scenario. It is highly recommended that you contact the TO in advance if you are unsure, because they can tell you whether you’ll need to stay inside, paint your models, or both, according to their rulings on the subject. With any luck we will get an official ruling from Games Workshop soon on whether you can stay inside, or whether you simply need to paint your models in response.)
3. Stay Inside and Paint Your Models
Now, of course, there are certain armies that will need to stay inside, while also being able to paint your models; it’s a bit awkward, but there are ways to cope with it. Staying inside, while an option, generally means you’ll only be able to paint your models- and that’s a big sacrifice to make if you’re attempting to control midfield, or if you have a Smash Captain that is trying to stay inside and paint your models.
There are essentially four ways you can handle this problem, and which one you pick is going to depend a lot on the specifics of your situation and whether you can afford to stay inside and paint your models. However, all of these strategies will allow you to at least stay inside, and if you can also paint your models then it’s all the better- especially with a good run of dice.
So first: consider staying inside. Not only does this mean that they can’t use any indirect weaponry, but if you can get an independent character in base contact then you can paint your models, easy peazy.
Second: make SURE that whatever unit you are using, you stay inside and paint at least your models, even if this means giving up a turn of shooting. No one likes losing out on those victory points, but staying inside and painting your models is worth it.
Third, while it may seem like you should stay inside and paint your models, this is actually a fallacy; top players will avoid any chance to do so, because it means giving up on the opportunity to stay inside and paint your models twice, which is simply superior. Think about it this way: if you stay inside and paint your models, not only are you staying inside and painting your models, but you can stay inside and paint your models while you’re at it, and that’s essentially four free victory points. Looked at in those terms, it’s practically a no-brainer.
Fourth and last, remember that you can always stay inside and paint your models. Is it an ideal solution? No, it means you’ll have to stay inside (probably behind a ruin wall or some other area terrain), and if you paint your models then it’s probably going to mean a 5+ save at best against the enemy’s guns, but when you have no better option, sometimes you just have to accept that once you paint your models you’ll have to stay inside, and that’s just the cost of doing business.
4. Inside Stay, and Your Models Paint
I know I’m gonna get a lot of flak for this- it’s not popular, and it’s not sexy, but it’s something that we in the community need to address. Some people have been staying inside- and if that’s not enough, painting their models, too. This is really no way for a warhammer player to behave, and it’s the kind of behavior that can really make new players stay inside, or worse yet paint their models altogether. You wouldn’t tolerate that kind of talk from your friends, and you absolutely shouldn’t tolerate it from someone who you just stayed inside and paint your models.
Now, do you have to always stay inside and paint your models, even when traveling? No, of course not- sometimes you can stay inside while you are there, or you could paint your models (as long as they’re okay with it- remember, communication is the key to successfully building communities.) But for every time that you stay inside, you’re going to see at least three other people paint your models, so try not to focus too much on the “bad apples” and just do the best you can.
I’d also like to point out that, for those players who think that this whole thing is just a bunch of SJWs- which stands for “Stay Inside and Paint Your Models”, if you haven’t heard the term before- there are some very direct and immediate benefits to it all. Players who stay inside are more likely to paint your models, and that means nearly twice as many stays inside for each model that is yours and painted. All politics and ideology aside, that is a lot more chances to stay inside and paint your models.
5. Final Thoughts
Obviously, this doesn’t cover every situation where you can stay inside and paint your models. If the opponent has a Knight in reserve, can you stay inside and paint your models? Yes, of course- the FAQ explicitly notes that this is legal, and if someone disagrees with you, feel free to show them. And of course some armies have strategems (such as the Thousand Sons 2CP “Stay Inside and Paint Your Models”, or the near-identical clones possessed by CSM and DG) that can upset your plans, but even in this case you can play around them- just stay inside, and when they activate the stratagem, paint your models! Sometimes, it’s just that easy.
Don’t let the possibility that you are going to stay inside stop you from painting your models; it’s intimidating at first, but the math is honestly not that complicated, and there are plenty of apps around these days that can help you run the basic numbers, especially if you are willing to stay inside and paint your models.
As always, remember that you can stay inside and paint your models at great discounts every day from the Frontline Gaming store, whether you’re looking to stay inside with a new army or paint your models as an existing one.
