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I would play a guy with a poorly painted army, over a non painted, but drilled, any day

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it helps to add a sence of relaism to the modle.

I don't think it's necessary, but nothing is more disappointing than seeing a really nicely painted model with no barrels (and mold lines).

No barrels for the power table-top gamers and barrels drilled for the hobbyists.

I like drilled barrels, they look more realistic and that's always good.

I don't have a hobby drill though because kits are too expensive I paint little black circles on the end of the muzzle

My 40k army is traitor guard in a horde of foot models.

I'm sorry but I don't drill the barrels out of my 200+ infantry models alone. I also don't give a squig's butt if my opponent does either.

I don't think it's very important. A cursory glance through any GW product shows that even their professional teams can't always get the hole centered perfectly, so I would never hold it against a normal person who didn't feel comfortable taking the risk of ruining their guns.

I've started doing mine, its not dificult but I do recommend getting 1,2, and 3mm bits since right now I'm just using 1 and having to enlarge the holes very carefully with a scalpel

Personal preference, yes. But it's not actually important, is it? Chill out people going ape about it.

I only would do such a thing on something like a tank or if it were a bigggger weapon

I don't trust myself to drill out the barrels, I've seen enough poorly done ones that I don't want to risk ruining the mini. As such, I don't mind if you don't have your barrels drilled out. They look better, yes, but I personally don't do it.

I don't think it matters.

If you enjoy painting and posing and using green stuff on your models, totally go ahead and drill the gun barrel it'll add some depth.

However, I am currently working my way through a Flames of War army (British) and I see pictures of the tanks online with drilled gun barrels and I don't want to do that to my models so I don't.

After all, my tanks are going on to the field just to blow up other tanks and any other enemies so I'm painting and making my army to do that, I'm not concerned with the opponent gazing at my tanks and their amazing drilled barrels.

Yes, on heavy weapons or weapons with big barrels (bolters). Otherwise I don't think it matters.

I just remember seeing this one space marine with a heavy bolter. The model was painted pretty well, but the barrel of the bolter wasn't drilled and was just solid gray (I think there might even have been a mold line over it, but I might just be imagining things). That really annoyed me a lot more than it should have.

Am I going to be drilling barrels on my Tau? Probably not, because most of the weapons I can think of off the top of my head either look better undrilled (pulse rifles, put a blue/red/purple dot on the 2 little nubs sticking out the front and call them a focusing crystal), are already good enough (railguns, riptide ion gun, most battlesuit weapons), or have such weird shaped barrels that drilling them out would be a nightmare (pathfinder special weapons).

I suppose that just leaves Kroot weapons if I want to drill. We'll see if I have that kind of dedication once I get there.

The metal pathfinder with a rail rifle needs to be drilled usually. It needs at least an indentation at the end or something.

I spin my knife around at the end of the tau plasma guns to give them a bit of a cone indentation at the tip.

I drilled my dark angels, And i have a whole bunch of them. I want to do it for my eldar by i have a problem. what the FETH is the shape of the barrel on a shuriken catapult or scatter laser sypposed to be!?

I could care less if the barrels are drilled or not. It really dont matter

I could care less. I hate it when people rage at noobs for not doing it. Not everyone can afford a proper little drill or dremel. I do like a black dot at least though


Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW- I really think GW should do it standard on their models so people don't have to

 Rented Tritium wrote:
The metal pathfinder with a rail rifle needs to be drilled usually. It needs at least an indentation at the end or something.

I spin my knife around at the end of the tau plasma guns to give them a bit of a cone indentation at the tip.

Putting a little indent in the top of the barrel sounds alright by me, and I'll probably end up doing that when I finally get a chance to work on my models again, but I'm sure not going to try and walk a drill bit around to get a pathfinder rail rifle looking like a miniature tank railgun

I think it depends a lot on the model, some it is great others very easy to ruin a miniature.

Look far better drilled, I don't do it as often as I should. Must do better!

Wish they came pre drilled, looks especially silly on multi barreled auto cannons.

Personally I prefere to see them drilled. I do it as well howere o end up breaking barels very often.

Definitely prefer drilled out barrels. I've done it so far on my tau and greyknights.

I'm going to have a drilling session soon.Those sluggas look pretty weird with a cylinder sticking out(It looks like its to block sand.Which is unorky(BLAM!)

I drill barrels because it looks nice, also because I am not a strong painter so I focus on physical details like this and magnetizing.

This one pops up every once in a while...
Yes, except for Orkz...
An old fluff story, goes a little something like this...

A small mob of Orkz were captured by an Inquisitor's unit. The Inquisitor had two boyz chained, their weapons on the deck of the rhino. The weapons were an odd amalgam of items. The choppas were obvious, as were the stikkabombs. However, there were two items that made no sense: they appeared to be some sort of firearm. A stout chunk of metal, roughly in the shape of a bolt pistol, with a block of wood bolted in the position of a grip, with a spring bolted in the position of a trigger. There were no openings anywhere on the "weapon". Nowhere for ammunition to be put into the weapon, and no place for the projectile to come out of it. This perplexed the Inquisitor, as the boyz had definitely been shooting at him; yet had no recognizable firearms. He questioned on of the boyz as to the purpose of the pistol shaped clubs. The boy responded, "It's me slugga." The Inquisitor, finding the naivete of the mentally challenged Ork amusing, asked if the boy could demonstrate how it could possibly be a weapon. The boy picked up one of the "pistols", and shot all nine of the Inquisitors retinue, with load reports and smoke pouring from the "pistol", before a strange click was heard. The Inquisitor's henchmen lay all around, some dead, others in the process of dying. The Ork held the weapon up to his mouth, kissed it, and said, "Sum tyms, it gets hot, an' den it runz owt of ammo." And then, he shot the inquisitor.

Ork weapons, like all ork tech, do not work within the physical laws of nature as dictated by human-kind. They are THE most psychically gifted race in the galaxy. If they THINK that it will work, it does. Red Wunz go FASTA!!!!!!

I like to see it done on 28mm and up. But my current penchant for 10mm means nope. Not possible. It's not vital to a mini, but it's a personal preference of mine.

I think it looks better, but doesn't affect whether I'll play or not.

On rank and file troops i don't think it's necessary particularly with smaller models but on characters and other feature models I believe it's worth doing

Only on orks. where if you get the hole off-centre (as I do 33% of the time) you can get away with it.

I am too lazy to drill the barrels. I just paint a black do to represent them
I do think a drilled barrel looks nice though. It just seems like a lot of work for something so small.

Drilled holes is good looking, but if don't It's not a crime