Painting competitions, game tournaments, have no interest for me as a participant, but I like the "meta" around them and admire the artwork they produce.
As a non-competitive gamer, it makes me wonder what OUR tabletop-ready standard should be.
Back when I started with Warhammer, I was a poor teenager still at school. Table-ready for me sometimes had to mean plain metal until my allowance came in.
I was also really impatient, even though it was extremely rare anything I bought for the hobby needed assembling. At the time I wasn't really in the need of anything too calming in my hobby, it was social and fun I was after.
Now I like to paint my miniatures for pleasure. I'm still not a fan of the assembly if it is very involved - that is the basis for a lot of my pile of shame.
My guys in the attached photo have been zenithal primed and then coated in GW "contrast paints". IMO I could play them on a "home" table, but at a store, I probably wouldn't be allowed.
What do you think? How much work do you require to be "table-ready"?