If you could get pre-painted BattleTech figures, would you?

[Gladius-XC]

I’m pretty “meh” about the whole thing. I doubt that I will ever get all my minis painted, so I’ll just use the pre-painted minis as they are.  I don’t care about using mis-matched paint schemes in my games, so that’s not a big deal for me.

I feel like colored plastics are a waste of time though.  As soon as you slap primer on the mini, it doesn’t really matter what color the plastic was.

[Geg]

1000%...  I do not enjoy painting.  I do not have time for painting.   Let me running the FillerTech in an out of the box paint scheme.

[TheOldDragoon]

. I was probably influenced by StarCom and Air-Raiders, besides, what type of world would they be fighting over?

StarCom and Air Raiders? I think we can be friends. ;)

I've run both as RPGs at some point during my life using the West End d6 system. At one point, I even had a chart of all the rank insignia from the figures in StarCom, and I had worked out that the Thunderhammer in Air Raiders had a small galley and a couple of bunks inside the main body for the crew to rotate on long-duration voyages.

[TheOldDragoon]

So, for me.

  It's not that I don't want to be able to paint minis, it's that I'm terrible at it. Right now I have a bunch of Gundam Markers and I'm going to see what I can do with those.

  What I'd like is pre-painted forces that can represent either basic faction units with their iconic 'Mechs mixed with some of those that show up everywhere (like the Crusader, Stinger, Wasp, etc. in the Succession Wars) in a basic faction paint scheme or generic "merc" paint scheme. Ready-to-go force, kinda like the pre-painted "Orc Warband" or "Kobold Warband" you can see from WizKids. Ideally, this would be a Company/Binary sized unit since that's the scale at which it seems a lot of people play Alpha Strike or BattleTech.

[Orion]

I'd be willing to seriously consider it.  Most of my minis were bought from people getting rid of their collections.  Most were good, but a couple I think were done by 8-year-olds.  I can't be bothered to repaint even those.  I've had a set of v3 plastic minis for 20 years that are still in primer.  I think my painting is better than average, but not great, but paiting is not something I enjoy or want to spend time on.  If the cost isn't too much more, I'll buy them painted and based.

[CJC070]

I think it would have been better to have just a lance preprinted but personally I think it was more of a thank you from Catalyst for the support they received in the last two kickstarters.  I hope these next lance packs are it but if they continue forward I will adapt.  And if the paint jobs are good enough I will probably have a company painted in the same way if they don’t appear to be the same these are the mechs of great men of course they will stand out their egos would prohibit otherwise.

[Lion-Face]

Personally for me, I would like the mini's to come in parts so I can glue and pose them to my liking, so it doesn't really interest me having them pre-painted. 

But I completely agree with pre-painted minis as an option, lowering the barrier to entry and playing with a decent looking lance out of the box is great.  I am hoping to see maybe a full painted box alongside the force manuals that are coming as that would seem like a perfect entry point into the game, here's all the info about this particular faction along with a box of painted minis that reflect the primary or most prominent faction/house color from the manual. 

[thedancingjoker]

Yeah, I feel one of the sticking points for pre-painted is: what do you paint them as? Every faction has multiple iconic paint schemes and going with one might turn folks off who don't like that scheme (I personally find the new version of Davion guards hideous, I imagine most folks have a similar reaction to one scheme or another).  And you don't want to drive folks away from the product because of the paint job.

[Speedbump]

I'm not a great painter, but I do find it relaxing and there's an appeal in having my mechs look different on the table to someone elses. That said I'd seriously consider buying pre-painted versions of things like the battlefield support packs. All my vehicles inevitably end up in generic militia camo and my backlog existing backlog will keep me going for a while.

[Highlighter]

I like the idea/option since it means I can field minis quickly.  However, the idea would only be acceptable to me if:

1) Price does not increase.
2) Any prepainted miniatures are easy to strip.

The additional play options of prepainted minis are attractive but I also prefer painting my stuff, so I would need to be able to strip them easily.  As long as I can strip them with LA Totally Awesome (and not some kind of super expensive/pain in the ass solvent), I'm fine with it.

[Sellsword]

I don't mind pre-painted minis but they might be best in a starter box set so the customer can startup and play right away without painting.  For instance a Falcon vs. Lyran box set with Green and Blue painted mechs.

Unfortunately CGL's 1 painted mech per box set is a horrible idea.  There is no way to determine if the painted mini is a draw or a deterrent to sales.  Look at the Star League Command Lance.  The Orion is already available unpainted.  Whether the Orion is painted or not, is the Orion mini the one that is going to get you to buy that box set?  The other 3 mechs are Phoenix Hawk Special, Atlas II, and a Thunder Hawk.  How are you going to determine if the pre-painted Orion in this set helped to generate sales?  How do you then take that information and determine that you should produce a whole lance of pre-painted minis?

[Normie]

I have mixed feelings about this topic. I'm all for removing barriers to entry and it's hard to deny that painting is a barrier. I do think that gaming companies have made some unreasonable expections for what a painted army should look like but I think that's a different discussion. That said I would have some concerns if they started to go the pre-painted route.

1) I think it would be a risk for them, the product would be more expensive to make, and I do think the affordability of Battletech is a strength.

2) How would they choose fractions. I think TheOldDragoon's suggestion of a generic merc company would make the most sense. You'd need a decent sized range if you went pre-painted so people could have choices, but I don't know how big of a draw a generic merc scheme would be.

3) How easy would it be for people to change the scheme? For me part of the appeal of Battletech is that I like a lot of the different fractions, and the scale of the games make it easy to have multiple fraction. I hate stripping paint though, its the worst. So for me pre-painted could be barrier for me.

I tend to think Catalyst should explore pre-painted lances. I just really feel that one the first steps needs to be a large survey so they know our expectations and how viable it would be to meet them.

[ActionButler]

In order for me to buy in to pre-painted minis, the process would either need to be prohibitively complex (as in, pick a Force Pack and a color scheme, and the pack is 3D printed for the customer) or I would need to completely re-think how armies are raised and battles are fought (basically shifting from "Dune, but with mechs" to "Warhammer Fantasy Bretonnia, but with mechs". If the quality was good enough, I think I could probably come around to the latter, but it would still be a struggle for me and it would run counter to last few decades of fiction and sourcebooks.

Even then, the overwhelming majority of my interaction with Battletech has been via painting minis, so a major component of the soul of the game would suddenly be missing for me. Would it be a nice option if I suddenly needed a large OpFor? Maybe, but even then, it would bug the hell out of me if everyone had drastically different colors and heraldry.

[Pat Payne]

I think the Essentials box was a missed opportunity.  If Yen-Lo-Wang and Legend-Killer (or the others that came as cardboard standees) came pre-painted it may have increased sales even more.  I would be more than happy to pay for a lance pack with the four of them painted.

While it would have definitely been a cool idea for then to have pre-painted Yen-Lo Wang and Legend Killer (both pretty difficult schemes for most painters) I don't know if it would have increased sales. And that's for two different reasons: 1) Pre-painting the minis would have necessarily raised the price on the set, possibly past the "sunk cost" threshold of anyone who wanted to try the game out on a whim; 2) It would have ended up being a one-time purchase for most long-time fans, as there would be the one scheme on 'mechs that had multiple schemes (Yen Lo Wang because it was repainted by Danai and possibly Kai before her, Legend Killer because the mini's a stock Rifleman), meaning multiple purchases would be likely pointless.

[Stormy]

Sure - though it’s not an attraction for me. In general I’d rather have access to more plastic.

[thedancingjoker]

I tend to think Catalyst should explore pre-painted lances. I just really feel that one the first steps needs to be a large survey so they know our expectations and how viable it would be to meet them.

I think it is improtant to rememeber that while these forums may contain the most passionate and....lets go with "Entrenched" fans, we actually represent a pretty small minority of folks who buy product.  I agree that they should do market research to see it pre-painted is a good way to go, and I agree that the one mini per pack is a poor way to measure that.  For instance I'm not buying the 1st Star Leauge pack for the painted Orion, but for the Thunderhawk and Athlas II.

[Colonial13]

Personally, I have no interest in pre-painted units, whether it is a one off in a larger pack, or an entire lance.  That said, I could see it being somewhat of a selling point if they stick with bigger, well know units that have canonized paint schemes.  Wolf's Dragoons, Eridani Light Horse, Gray Death Legion, etc...

[garhkal]

For myself?  Possibly.  However, a few of my players would jump at them.  They want to play wargames with painted minis, but have zero interest in building and painting minis and no inclination to pay someone to do it for them.  Instead, they just play with my collection.

Also, some of us like painting, but suck at it, so if the 'pre-painted minis' look just as good as what WE could do, some would pick the pre-painted jobs..
That said, i can see buying pre-painted miniatures, MORE for games like Starwars (need lots of stormies/scuot troopers/generic aliens), or Ad&d (orcs/goblins/giants etc), than i can battle tech.. 

Wargaming has historically combined the building, painting, and gaming hobbies into one conglomerate hobby and some industry players have reinforced that.  In the last decade or so we've seen that change a bit, and it has brought new people into the hobbies.  The thing is, people already in the combined hobby were already cool or at least tolerant of the three aspects.  Having pre-paints isn't really about going after existing customers, its about creating new customers by knocking down barriers.

True that.  Back in the mid-late 90s, when i was focusing on a lot of 2nd ed ad&d gaming, i had better luck bringing in new players when i had miniatures out for them to see/use in game, though i had painted them (mostly ral-partha).  When we got the pre-painted ones, in the mid 00s, that number increased from what i saw previously...
Same for Starwars d6..

[Church14]

If I’m going to get one prepainted mini per box, I’d like it to be a unique paint scheme. Legend Killer, Yen Lo Wang, Alarics Savage Wolf, Stone’s Atlas II, etc.

An entire box of pre painted would work best for known mercenaries. Goons, ELH, Kell hounds. Where there’s generally a known, clear scheme.

[ThisACforHire]

If I'm planning a campaign or tourney for a gaming group or friends, I'd buy affordable, pre-painted, CGL plastic mechs to be the opposing force in the games. Probably just generic camo or house schemes.
I love painting and try to put my best effort into my paint jobs, but it becomes a curse for cranking out numbers. I start thinking I'll paint a company of mech quickly, and the next thing I know I'm getting sucked into the blackhole of painting details and basing, and suddenly I've been spending hours on each mech.

[Swankmotron]

Yes. I would prefer it personally. I'm starting to enjoy painting minis, but I'd rather not.

[MoffMalthus]

I'm a decent painter but more than half my mini's are still not painted... just not enough time so I would be down for getting some pre-painted minis

[Woody]

If painted and unpainted were side by side on the shelf, the unpainted would not be spared a look. 100% pre-painted interest

[General308]

I like the idea/option since it means I can field minis quickly.  However, the idea would only be acceptable to me if:

1) Price does not increase.
2) Any prepainted miniatures are easy to strip.

The additional play options of prepainted minis are attractive but I also prefer painting my stuff, so I would need to be able to strip them easily.  As long as I can strip them with LA Totally Awesome (and not some kind of super expensive/pain in the ass solvent), I'm fine with it.

Well your Item# 1 would for sure happen on prepaints.  You can't expect more for the same money.  We already know the pack with one prepaint is costing a bit more.    So in my opinion that isn't a realistic expectation

[General308]

I think the Essentials box was a missed opportunity.  If Yen-Lo-Wang and Legend-Killer (or the others that came as cardboard standees) came pre-painted it may have increased sales even more.  I would be more than happy to pay for a lance pack with the four of them painted.

CGL would not have been able to meet Targets price point they wanted for the box if they did prepaints I suspect

[Alex Keller]

No. If given a choice between buying a mech that I have to strip and is more expensive, I'd choose an unpainted miniature because it's significantly easier to get painted as I want it to be.