I am firmly on the side of painting scores, now I am not the best painter in the world but enjoy trying to improve, I seldom get the wow mark but dont begrudge those who do, as I appreciate playing against those amazing armies we see at epic UK.  For me I would spend the same amount of time painting regardless of whether the points were there, and would never pay anyone to paint it as I enjoy that part of the hobby too  much, however if it acts to increase the quality of amries I play against (which only motivates me to improve further) then it is worthwhile, I dont really care whether they are commissioned or not, I get to see well painted minis.  

I am a regular tourny player, in fact I play more games at tournamenta than elsewhere, and before epic was mostly 40K, I am a reasonable player and have won a number of tournamants but my best triumph for me was the one time I won best painted 40K army (players choice),

I'd just like to throw in that the only reason that I paint new models nowerdays is to field them at tournaments, otherwise I'd just leave them silver.

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www.epic-uk.co.uk - home of the UK Epic tournament scene
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NetEA Ork + Feral Ork + Speed Freak Champion