X-Wing: Pre-Painted? More Like Re-Painted!
Did you know about the Repaint Scene in X-Wing? Check this out hobbyists and Star Wars fans!
Hey BoLS readers! AdamHarry back again with another article about the awesomeness of X-Wing. When I talk to people about X-Wing one of the objections they have to the game is how everything is pre-painted. Maybe they have had a bad experience in the past with plastic pre-paints. I get that. There were a few other game systems that used pre-paints that were… lets just say terrible bad awful “substandard” for what I would consider table top quality. I think you know what I’m talking about if you’re a fan of this site. But as for the X-Wing, personally, I don’t mind the pre-painted minis for X-Wing as most of them look really good! The detail on the small ships isn’t bad at all. The larger ships look really cool too – heck I bought a Millennium Falcon when it first came out just because the model was really well done. It’s still in the package!
It looks like this, but dusty…
But did you know there is a whole repainting scene in X-Wing? If you did, great! If you didn’t – don’t feel too bad, I didn’t know about it until I started poking around the X-Wing community on the internet more frequently. Yeah, I’m a bit behind the times with this news but I don’t feel bad about highlighting one of the coolest aspects of the Hobby as a whole. Repainting the X-Wing miniatures is about as Hobby as you can get – it’s characterful, challenging and it adds a uniqueness to your models that will really make them stand out.
Characters
There are a TON of characters in Star Wars. Even if you don’t count the Extended Universe (don’t get me started on that…) there are still a bunch of different pilots from the movies. If you wanted to customize a set of ships to represent a theme or specific group from Star Wars cannon – you can do that. In fact that would be a really cool project to paint up the entire Rogue Squadron and play games with them. Same goes for the Empire. A quick search and I found a list of 116 different Imperial Starfighter Squadrons for the Empire. I mean seriously if you’re running out of painting ideas, you’re just not trying – or you’ve painted them all…in which case, maybe take a break?
Challenge
The models themselves are small and if you’re looking to push your painting skills or challenge yourself they make an awesome canvas. Maybe you just want to experiment with some washes to add a bit of color or weathering. Or maybe you want to go for a full repaint of the entire ship. Either way I think both those options will only help you improve your painting overall. I know some painters prefer having something to work on or add to vs starting with a blank page. But what ever you decide to do painting your ships will help you get those creative juices flowing – even if it’s just making your YT-1300’s look different.
Unique
What if you wanted to go in a completely different direction? There is no reason you can’t – in game there’s no rule that says you have to paint your models at all, so feel free to go nuts! Below are just a few of the examples of ships I’ve seen where the painter/artist decided to go off the rails with some spectacular results. (Obligatory Picture Spam Attack!)
Check out the tutorial at workbenchwarriors
So the next time some one says they don’t like X-Wing because it’s all pre-painted you can smile back and say, “let me show you something cool.” Or start a fight with them about how their subjective opinion is wrong and you have objectively proven their reasoning is flawed… ’cause I’m sure that ends well…
What do you think of the repaint scene in the X-Wing community? Do you have a particular ship or squadron you’d love to see on the table top? Let us know in the comments below! AdamHarry – OUT!
