Thats a lot. The non-reclaimed troops were those from the Dark Vengeance set, sniper scouts, a Forgeworld Land Speeder Tempest, a Razorback, and an Ironclad.
All the rest? Imposters!
Reclaimed mini's come with one gigantic benefit; cost.
This is weighed against their pitfalls that come inherently with them;
- Time to strip them
- Paint finish
- Unknown quality.
Of them all, I'd mark paint finish as the biggest issue. Whilst metal mini's generally strip beautifully in Fairy power spray (like Dettol but odourless!) like this Techmarine and his Servitors;
Most plastic figures don't, seen here with the awful paint finish on these marines.
This is a real problem, weathering will hide most texture blemishes on a small scale, but chances are you're going to have to deal with large surfaces where you simply can't hide the marks of the previous owner.
Tanks are some of the worst when reclaimed, but again, their low-low cost is far too tempting. For Marine armies, a rugged and weathered appearance is ok in small doses but cannot go as far as to openly appear broken, these are Superhumans damnit.
With the Guard, and with Traitor Guard in particular heavy weathering is almost mandatory. Scuffs, breaks, irregular damage and overall irregularity means that a lot of the time, the terrible finish on reclaimed mini's can be passed off as 'what would Chaos do?'
Still, I did wince when I saw the finish on the sides of my most recently stripped Guard tanks mid-paint;
Ideally, you'd have a tiny flat bladed razor, that would allow you to clean the finish of flat surfaces without digging into the surrounding spaces.
.
For now, thats the price you pay.
I worry whether I'll ever be able to paint something thats pristine and clean, the closest I've come are the new Tactical Squad Marines that I've been saving for a post-Guard break.
Heres one;
But for now, flat surfaces abound!
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