The most interesting data breakdown of the 2023 Great Wargaming Survey so far is definitely on the issue of unpainted miniatures…
https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-us/blogs/great-wargaming-survey-blog-wss-magazine/gws-2023-unpainted-figuresThe respondents to the survey have traditionally skewed towards the massed ranks end of the hobby, decidedly not-naval, and I think that these questions really illustrate that. Apart from overbuying and / or never completing projects which are both personality-based issues, the nature of naval gaming
does not should not lend itself towards the hundreds or thousands of unpainted models represented here for two reasons…
First, the size of most naval forces represented in games is orders of magnitude smaller than the average land based competing game. The average number of models per player in the average naval game is four to ten, twenty, possibly thirty at the outside (assuming the game is based on squadrons, or the player in question really likes Brute Rams) which can easily be the number of models within a single infantry unit of a land based game. That difference in number of models is totally expected as there have always been more soldiers than ships, regardless of the scale of the game, and also has the benefit that naval gamers never have to concern themselves with any considerations of figure ratios. The only abstracted models that I have seen in play are always elements that could be represented by tokens, such as fighter wings or torpedo spreads, and have only once ever heard a reference applying ratios to actual ships. Their comment was obviously a joke, but historical enthusiasts having to break down units into 1:50 or 1:100 or greater to account for required base sizes is no laughing matter.
Second, I would say that ships as opposed to other tabletop miniatures are far easier to paint given their usual geometric compositions. It simply takes less effort and less time to paint models with little if any complicated textures. Painting tutorials abound in the difficult corners of the hobby, like horses, faces, or tartans which are required for most land based miniatures while ships can be managed with the simplest techniques. A Highlands regiment is a daunting task, and could easily break a painter’s spirit and cause the closeting of that army, while a ship operating off Scotland needs nothing more than traditional gray with a few highlights.
Overall, I do not remember what my answer was at the time of the survey, but I do have hundreds of unpainted models currently with the vast majority of those not being naval so I need to close out the ones that are ships since I really have no excuse not to.
