Mayday, Miss Marcy! Local Game Stores, Painting Competitions, and Printing Problems

They say March can roar in like a lion, but frankly this March feels like it sort of just appeared on our doorsteps, huh? Anyway, as we approach the halfway mark of the third month of 2026 (I know), that means it is time once again for another Mayday, Miss Marcy! This week we're running on Friday solely because Umamusume: Pretty Derby's new career mode came out on Thursday and I wanted to push our guide on that out again. You're welcome, of course.

Anyway, this week we have three new questions, and if you would like to submit your own questions to this column, we have a few ways we can do that! Please read below:

Have a question you want answered on just about anything you’d need advice on in this grand hobby space of ours? Board games, 40k, AOS, TTRPGs, MTG, anything and everything that we cover, we can help with!

For some examples, take a look at previous editions of our column at this link with a handy tag to see all previous questions and answers!

If you want to submit questions, we have a few ways you can do it. Patrons can use the Discord bot command to ask questions, which will be received anonymously!

If you’re not a Patron, or just don’t want extra steps, you can comment on this article, or e-mail Marcy directly at marcy@goonhammer.com!

With that out of the way, let's get to the questions!

The Bitter Taste of Paint Water

Dear Ms. Marcy,

Firstly, I want to say I appreciate your thoughtful insights in your articles.

Secondly, I recently participated in my first miniature painting competition and found the experience humiliating.

Not because other painters were so much better, but rather,from my perception, the judging was very biased and pieces that were obviously two color slap chops with a slathering of metallic paints on the weapons were placed higher than my pieces that weren't as bold colors but significantly more technical in their execution.

There were definitely pieces better than mine that performed better, and rightly so, so I don't believe I was the best by any means, but I definitely dint believe they were at the bottom as the judging suggests.

The question I have, because I know that being upset about subjective matters is silly, is how do I get over this sense of humiliation? It's taken me weeks just to feel able to paint again and has made me doubt my skill and painting choices. I don't know I'll ever have the courage to enter a painting competition again because of how humiliating the experience was.

Thank you,

Embittered Competitor

Dear Embittered,

Thank you for the compliment! I really appreciate hearing from people who enjoy the article, even if they don't agree with me (politely, at least).

To your question, I am curious about two things that maybe can give you something to consider. Are you familiar with the 1980 Dartmouth Scar Experiment? To sum up, researchers applied very realistic looking scars using make-up to people who would then go to a job interview. Before the interview, they told the people they had to touch up the make-up, but actually removed the scars completely. The interviewees felt that they were being judged and mistreated during their interviews due to their perception that they had a visible flaw on their face, despite it not being there; they simply believed it was causing them to fail even though it didn't exist.

I bring this up because there are, obviously, going to be instances of unscrupulous paint judging and competition rulings. It is just the nature of humans to put their thumbs on the scale if they can do so, and it is possible that the competition you were in had such an issue. But I think perhaps your anxiety over your paint job gave you a 'scar' effect, in some way. However, there is the possibility that the matter of personal taste played a larger role here which colored your perception; you thought those other paint jobs were less good than yours, mostly on the merit of time investment, but the judges don't care about the time you spent on the model, they care about how it looks on the table as it is judged.

I brought up the scar experiment because your perception of what happened and your anxiety to paint again is being affected by the competition, but you are thinking it was something that was done to you unfairly rather than any other reason for your placement. There are some things to consider, even that of how new you are to this place or what type of competition it was. In a perfect world, judges would consider the invested time, the skill, technique, or other matters, but in practice all of those are never going to fully matter.

I would say that you should let yourself get back on the horse and enter another competition. You may even want to, if possible, see what the other winners or competitors were given points on. Perhaps even see if you could get some feedback or tips from others on your own models; there may be something you are missing, but it could also just be that you were new, unknown, and that they had any number of reasons to not select your models over those that were perhaps from regulars or other previous competitors.

I really do encourage you to keep painting and try another competition; if you feel that the same thing keeps happening, then it would be time to perhaps consider confronting someone, but for now, I think you are likely hoping there is a grander reason you lost than any of the more mundane ones; sadly, it likely isn't that elaborate.

Can't Print Other People's Money

Ms. Marcy,

Unlike some of your other writers, I work at an LGS, and I'm currently just looking to get a second opinion of sorts. A customer of ours has recently begun printing their own minis. In essence this isn't a problem except that since doing so, they've been slowly not obviously buying anything model related, but more annoyingly, they've been offering to print models for other people. I've caught them saying as much at times during game nights, and while we haven't confronted them about it yet for fear of scaring off customers, it is getting under our skin because it feels like they are simply coming here to play with their 3D printed models.

I want to take them aside and state that we would like them to stop doing so, but I also don't really want to inherently ban or kick him out for doing so. But it also feels bad to bite my tongue while someone makes it more and more known that what they're using are things they didn't buy; I don't even really know if I care if they buy them from us, and maybe my issue that they're trying to offer it to others.

Out of Ink

Dear Out,

I think you need to take this person aside. Last week, I told someone who was working to avoid spending money that it is okay to not spend money at your LGS if you feel you don't have anything pressing to spend money on, and that prioritizing your own budget is important; when you can and need to support your LGS, you should, but that you also shouldn't just waste money. It doesn't sound like this person is doing that, and is instead just hogging your table space. Worse, though, is their loud and obnoxious offer to provide these same things to others. It is one thing to print accessories or things that can't be bought, but straight up printing and army and bragging about is is disrespectful, especially at a store that sells the product being played.

You really should tell them to knock it off, and perhaps your store should implement some sort of rule about printed models on tables. I also mentioned it but I think more LGS should charge a nominal fee for play time; this would probably get him to stop bragging about it, and if he still did, at least he paid for the time at the table. I do also wonder if printed models turn off other onlookers or if the discussion about it makes them feel uncomfortable or awkward; it is something a little different to ask where a model came from and be told "my printer."

End of the day, don't be afraid of booting this guy; he isn't paying you anyway!

Local Gaming in Your Area

Hi Marcy!

I hear people talking about engaging with their Local Game Store and playing against opponents in their LGS and such and my question is just... how? What does engaging with your LGS entail and how do you go about it? How do you get started? What are the unwritten rules and expectations? I would love to be able to play some games more often and with more people, but I don't feel like I have enough data to be able to predict conversation directions and mentally prepare relevant information and responses and stuff in order to create an action plan.

Best regards, Yes I have autism, how could you tell?

Dear Best Regards,

I think a great first step is to ask your local gaming store if they have an official schedule posted anywhere, and perhaps what types of games or events they run and at what times they do so. Some stores post those on their socials or websites, but it can be helpful to ask if you don't see it posted anyway. It would also be a good idea to perhaps ask if there are any fees associated with playing, or what sort of level the average player has; for example, if they host Friday Night Magic, it might be worth it to find out of the LGS considers the store very competitive, casual friendly, or similar. This at least can help manage expectations a bit.

After that, I really suggest considering going to check out the store and see what the general vibe is. If there is a fee to play, ask if it's okay to come spectate and see if you'd like to play there. If there isn't one, it could be a good idea to visit, see what is going on, and then perhaps consider if you'd like to come back the following week to participate; I don't think you should feel the need to jump right in on your first visit to the store.

It could also be a good idea to scope the store out during game night to see if you can use any of that information to plan or think about your time there. Is the store overly noisy, is it hot, cold, where or how can you get water, all of these things could be good to view from a casual perspective before you worry about directly joining in, and that way, when you do go back to play, you feel more at ease and with a better plan in mind for how things will go.

If the store or event you're looking at is board gaming related, I also suggest considering bringing a single player game that would allow you to play and be active while other people do things; this might let you strike up conversations with others, but also not feel like you're just standing around gawking at others. If it is magic or miniatures based, I would recommend scoping and spectating first, and then try your hand after you feel like you have a good evaluation of what is going on!

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Tags: mayday miss marcy