Plastic or Metal: Both, depends on the model itself. It's not the material that interests me but the subject. I don't game much so I get most of my miniature enjoyment out of painting the models not from actual gaming. Hell I spent a significant amount of time and research as to which colours to use for dead-yet-exposed zombie muscle tissue). I admit I like the solidity of metal, since the new GW Grave Guard tend to fall apart in transport due to thin parts and small glue surfaces.

Pre-paints: Only if I think I'll be using the stuff for *lots* of gaming. And it better not be blind buys. Example: I don't think my AT-43 RB stuff will get much use so I'm considering putting the whole lot on ebay unless I get to game much more with the models.

Paper: Nothing beats it for scenery with structures. I dislike it for models tho. (Still use insulation for hills and such, although Mars Station and Hinterlands are taunting my foam-using ways)

SD
Paint Smell: I thin my paint with a mixture of acrylic floor wax and water, so I usually don't notice the smell of the paint itself.

In Order of Preference:

High Quality pre-painted Plastic

Unpainted High quality Plastic

High quality Metal

Paper


Reasons for order:

Pre-painted plastic (like AT-43) can be moded as needed without me wasting time painting them first.

Unpainted high quality plastic cause plastic is so much easier to convert than metal.

Metal well this is 3rd for a reason. Not a big metal fan.

Paper is last just cause it takes time to cut the damn things out and If I don't want to sink time into painting unless I abolutely have to, then the others above paper. The cool thing with paper is that you can print a TON of figures cheaply, and if you have SHOP FOO you can mod them before printing.

HEAVY METAL!

Metal minis are king!

plastic - in recent years the detail of the plastic has improved greatly. plastic is more affordable, so long as it has good details. to make up for the light weight of these minis i mount them on metal, or plaster bases. a heavy base gives them more stability and a little more heft. the ease of customizing can be nice.

resin - typically costly but hold details much like metal. i like resin alot!

prepainted minis are soo poorly painted IMHO that i can not stand to pay for them.

paper minis: oh yea! i like the cost to volume here. excellent stand ins. good value, a little assembly and boom ready for a nights encounter. if some get lost or trashed i do not really care i can make more. print, cut, glue, play!
Now if i could only find someone to do the entire d20 SRD/pathfinder monster catalogs.

You know, I buy pre-paints for certain games (like Confrontation and AT-34) and sometimes for D&D purposes.

What I'm finding is that if I don't feel content with a certain pre-painted mini, I've actually touched up the paint job myself. It works wonders for some of the "almost" D&D minis I get.

I stopped using metal a long time ago. I agree that it does have a higher quality of detail, but the expense is starting to get to me. Plastic is almost as good, since I too can cut and mold plastic just as well as I used to goop metal sculpts to my liking.

Paper always works best for large city set-ups. When I want to set the mood in a tavern, 20+ paper minis seem okay in comparison to the players' actual plastic/metal ones.

Most of the minis I've actually used lately, though, all came from the Descent boardgame. The detail is incredible for the minis, and I found you can paint them fine after a single base coat.

1. Paper
2. Pre Paints - Hi quality
3. Plastic - Naked
4. Metal

Paper - With out mentioning names or url's I can safely say that I have had a better experience with paper than any other mini type. This is mainly due to the fact that I don't have to paint it (which I dislike doing) plus the time to trim out is about 8mins per figure + 30seconds edging time.

For an example of what $4US and some paper & time has done - I could only deam what it would cost in GW terms (plus they flatpack)

Pre Paints - Hi Quality. This is about the standard that I paint or a tad lower. End of the day I would love all minis to come this way as an option as I am more about the gaming than the hobby these days.

Plastic - Naked. When I did paint I liked the way paint flowed over plastic vs. metal minis, don't know why but it did (maybe the core temp of the metal cured the paint faster). Plus the ease of modding the figures in plastic.

Metal - I guess that nothing beats the weight of metal, that mass of an old school lead figure.



Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

These days paper wins hands down.
With my health problems, my tons (literally - been collecting for 30+ years) of metal have been getting left in their bins.
Not sure if quality companies like Arion Games had been around in the early-to-mid 70s if I would have started to collect metal figures.
Only did in the '80s because Ral Partha was coming out with BattleTech machines way faster than FASA was coming out with paper ones.

Plastic is next, but that is where I started.
I am sure I am like many of you my age - the 1/76 (OO/HO) Airfix soldiers.
Yes, plastic has many positive qualities, but I am still not pleased with the level of detail.
It could still improve much.

Pre-paints are next but that is because my sons refuse to learn to paint, and I hate being "blinded" by my opponents' unpainted hoards.
HaloClix, Heroscape, Crimson Skies CMG and Heroclix used for Crimson Skies Aces are fairly prevalent here.
Plus, the quality figure primers and sealers have really gone up in price the last couple years.

Metals are next because I just have not felt all that great in the last few years.
Conservation of energy issues regarding my health.

Resin is last.
Resin for figures has always been, for me, the substance of sneak thieves.
Of those folks who rather work twice as hard to have an army than to pay for the creativity and hard work of others.


Granted with terrain, that is a whole different ball game.
Pre-paint resin is my terrain of choice.
Then paper.
Next pre-paint plastic.
Coming next unpainted resin
Followed by unpainted plastic.
And finally metal.
Self-crafted was high on the list once, but with the last few years ... .

Is this the look you're talking about?

Exactly.

Not as good as painting, but a lot better than bare metal.

The Auld Grump

I love paper miniatures. With the credit crunch hitting my wallet I love the fact that I can print out as many as I need.

Between the few that WWG offers and other companies I have amassed a pretty good collection of paper miniatures. I only purchase the painted ones, I can not stand CGI ones ripped from DAZ. They don't go with any of the terrain from WWG.

Denny I'm begging you to get more involved with ! The link goes to a list on this site. The WWG standees are really good quality. I would have to say the best on the market.

After paper then it is pre-paints. I hate painting. I have four children in a small house. Unlike when I lived in the States and had my own hobby room, miniatures and painting equipment takes too much space. Pre-paints are getting better every year. Pre-paints are also cheaper than metal or even plastics when you add in the cost of painting.

Even without the cost of painting usually. Unpainted unassembled metal or plastics go for what like $3-$5 each? You can get common prepaints for under $1 even the uncommon or rare one for under $5. And thats when you buy them as singles rather than taking your chances with the random boosters.

Some of the uniques may go for a lot more, but there are tons of super expensive metal/plastic too.

Depends very much on the plastics - GW is expensive (close to most folks' metals), while Wargames Factory is a lot less expensive - less than $15 US for twenty plastic British Infantry for the 1800s.

The Auld Grump