Old School here and like many of you, I have serious Hobby ADD. In just the two years I have operated this blog, I have sold off a Tau army, started, briefly played and sold a Deathwing army, developed my Chaos, ran an extensive tactics and unit reviews series on them and collected and built a Tyranid force. This is all pretty average I'd say for the folks I roll with, but one shameful fact stings me ...
... I haven't painted a full army past three color minimum. Now don't get me wrong, I have very nicely painted and finished models, units, creatures and vehicles in both my Chaos and my Nids, but no coherant 40k army painted in full. I recently came into a windfall of cash and immediately looked at revamping my Tau or maybe purchasing some craftworlders (the airbrush would treat both armies very nicely), but I decided that after looking at the two armies that have treated me so well, that I need to finish what I have started.
This is going to be tough as I have some more pending comission work coming up and I will always feel the pull of buying another army, but I decided rather than do that, I would commit to a paintscheme and a set of models that I need to paint for my 14th Black Crusade and begin painting. Once I am satisfied with a good 2000 point spread there, I will finish my 5D Nids and then start picking off stragglers in each army until my units are painted.
I have committed that if I feel the need to purchase things, they will be only items that will be immediately built and painted or they will be supplies for finishing the army (paint, mediums, wash, styrene ect.) I have put this in writing for one reason: I will look like a total punk if I don't stick to it and meet my goals. I will feel motivated each time I finish something and showing it off here will really help that process along!
With this off my chest, I ask you; Do you have Hobby ADD? How so you cope? Have you let it run wild or are you taking steps to curb it and finish a damn army!
I cheat a little bit, by collecting marines I have several different chapters (with more planned) and they each use different methods.
ReplyDeleteYou can go too far the other way, I have a batch of marines kicking around primed for way too long, but it also took me a while to realize I needed a break from them and I should just paint something I feel like painting.
I try to avoid buying new stuff as much as I can, since I already have waaay too much. If I see a good deal I may pick it up, but otherwise every "new" box I've picked up over the past year is from gifts.
OST, I'm feeling the same way and can go painting challenge style on you to say finish one unit every one or two weeks. I'd even put something small on the table for it.
ReplyDeleteI will be needing that push to get my salamanders out now that I have a list that is more viable than the one I started with for my winterbreak project and then gave up on (because why paint a shitty list?)
And don't feel like I'll spank you with my meth fueled painting habits, because school has started and for the first 8 week session I have a total of 3 week days off and an average of 22 hours on campus alone time per week, not to mention homework.
So I'd throw down to a painting challenge just to stay driven and focused and more than happy to lay out ground rules.
Oh, and another thing that drives people to paint: Painting required tourny's. Why do you think most of the kids over at Fortress have painted armies? They almost always require painting!
ReplyDeleteI sort of cheat i guess. When I noticed that I losed joys of painting I and the wife (my main opponent really) decided to take a look at speciall operation killzone, so now well not even a entier special operation group i s fully painted but getting there.
ReplyDeleteAlso I got into warmachine mostly since the closest and really friendly LGS hosts gaming night for it (gratis even), and quite liked the size of a standard battle and seeing that the amount of figures would not lock me down for "ever".
I mostly relive my "gah must paint something else" by jumping between the systems, and doing some random conversions with no clear purpose (like a minotaur for chaos)
I've avoided Hobby ADD by setting myself the task of getting a 2000 point army assembled and painted before moving on to my next project. To avoid burn out I let myself work on one off miniatures that let me play more relaxed, non-competitive lists. Like the Techmarine sitting next to me with his half built power weapon.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it looks like I will be getting myself some Tactical Terminators for their CML.
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I like to keep my projects a little mixed up - keeps things interesting, but also means I'm slow to build up an army. I'm a horder too, so I tend to have a massive backlog of stuff to assemble.
ReplyDeleteThis year, I think I may start keeping a record of painted-bought, just to shame myself into sorting out some of the stuff I already have! My personal circumstances are changing too - moving into a new apartment with my best mate, not going to have a desk for painting in my bedroom in an attempt to be a more sociable creature - instead, I'm going to build a workstation out of MDF and use it on the dinner table or breakfast bar in the living area :)
I also hardly played last year - just a few games of Space Hulk. Hopefully the move will mean more space for gaming, which might in turn lead to me wanting to get the Guard and Warriors of Chaos painted...
I'm with you OST. I made a vow after the blood angels...no more armies until I finish what I have. Which has meant I've yet to finish anything.
ReplyDeleteI'm now more inclined to sell through my hundreds of unfinished miniatures and focus on smaller projects. I don't know. Maybe this year will see me get things done! Good luck to you!
Oh yeah I have hobby ADD... I wish I could include a picture... Currently I have a stack of unopened GW boxes from floor to ceiling (not kidding) in the corner of my basement. All of which are slated for projects, I come up with, draw out, design, and sometimes start, before getting distracted...
ReplyDeleteThe silliest part is I wont even make resolutions to fix it anymore. I have done so before, and as part of the stack are models purchased in 1995, they obviously have not improved the situation. I commend anyone that can sit down and commit to a project and actually finish.
I don't really have this problem, mainly because I can't afford to buy stuff regularly enough to end up with whole unpainted armies. I do however, rarely finish a project before moving onto the next one. It's a case of 'just paint what you want'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the thoughts y'all, but there is one man in the room who has thrown the challenge gauntlet and I intend to answer the challenge! You got it CV, One kill point per two week was the deal? I think we can make this pretty fun!
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteWait im lost. Whats the challenge? I must have totally missed something.
I say we make this into a challenge for the whole store. or a few people and see how far we get in a preset time. Anyone down for that? Cuz i have alot of models that need to get paint on them and this would be a great way to keep a drive to finish those models!
ReplyDeleteWow, yeah, thats me.
ReplyDeleteI have three built armies, and a fourth in boxes.
I vowed to not even start building the fourth until the third is done. I make terrain, organize games, run an rpg game and have other non gaming hobbies as well.
One of the things I found to help, is to have a "wip" box in my work area. I only work (except for emergency repairs) on stuff in that box.
I can put stuff in it, but once full, the only way something comes out, is to finish it or sell it off.
One of the hardest parts is getting past a certain point, sure I may have a whole army basecoated, 2000 points painted well, and maybe 1500 painted and based...its hard to finish the other units, but I find that if I slowly put them in the "wip" box, it helps a lot.
And finally, one thing that really helps is....oh, look...a squirrel!!!!