FLG Judge Talk: Paint Requirements

Hey everyone! Adam, FLG Head Judge and TFG Radio host, here to talk about the paint requirements for FLG events.

If you have ever been to a Frontline Gaming event, or any major event nowadays, you know that there is a minimum requirement for the armies to be painted. This had always been a staple of Games Workshop tournaments from the early days, although there was a time when this wasn’t required during the ‘Ard Boyz tournament format. If you go to any multiple day tournaments today, there is usually some requirement for the models to be painted. Still, there are a few things that people have questions about.

Why Have the Requirements

The reason for this is that it Games Workshop considers painting the models as all part of the hobby and was actually factored into your tournament score. It also just looks nice. Games that didn’t require armies to be painted for tournaments didn’t really pop to the casual observer as it was hard to tell some models apart when they were bare metal or plastic. These days there are actually very few game systems that allow models to be played unpainted in a tournament. I personally feel this actually takes away my desire to try to play in a tournament for that game system, which is funny because I do not like the painting aspect of the hobby.

3 Color Minimum vs Battle Ready

So there seems to be about 2 ways to require models to be painted for a tournament. There is 3 color minimum and Battle ready. 3 color minimum is just that, the only thing is that a model need at least 3 colors on it. This seems really easy to do and it is. The benefit of this requirement is that it makes it easier for people to have armies ready and allows for a lower barrier of entry. There is some issues in that players really skirt the line when it comes to these 3 colors. This is usually players that chase the meta and need to get models done as quickly as possible, especially in a fast changing meta. Battle Ready is usually used by Games Workshop and really just adds a couple extra steps and more paint to the models. It is a little more effort as you also have to put some basing on the model but it does look a little bit nicer. I have no preference for either requirement as long as the models are painted.

Professionally Painted Armies

This is an issue that people argued over for a long time. Should professionally painted armies be allowed to receive paint awards at a tournament? Back in the day, Games Workshop would not allow player to submit models not painted by the player and would as the player if they painted their army, trusting the player to be honest about it. In those early days I too felt that players that didn’t paint their own armies shouldn’t be allowed in the paint competition at a tournament. Now I don’t feel the same way as there is now a dearth of painting services out their and the criteria, and name, of the award itself has changed from back then.

I hope you found this article helpful. Next week we will talk the Paragon of the Hobby award. In the meantime don’t forget to buy your tickets for our events.

Also, if you happen to be in the Southern California area in August, sign up for my 40K tournament and try your hand at winning a Golden Ticket for GW’s World Championship in November.