- Approximately two tactical squads of marines (including heavy and special weapons).
- Six Devastators and Sergeant
- Two Dreadnoughts
- One crashed land speeder terrain piece
- Two terminator squads
- One commander
- Two metal veterans
- Six Fire Dragons
- A Dark Reaper
- 32 Eldar Guardians
- The figures from the Mordheim sprues (8 humans 10 skaven)
All of which I want to assemble and, since I don’t assemble models til I’ve OCD neatly perfectionistically painted them, I also want to paint them.
However, the overwhelming desire to build a Dark Elves, Chaos Dwarves, Chaos Warriors, Orcs, and Lizardmen army are all driving me to buy those models and paint and assemble them, but subconciously I can’t tell if I will if I can’t paint the models I’m sort of no longer interested in (Mainly due to 40k only having like three units tops in each army that I actually like).
So, how do you guys gets yourselves motivated to set aside time for the hard yards? Hell, I’m between jobs right now and living at home, I’ve had two weeks already!
P.S. Selling my models is not an option, as a) I will feel like I have not finished what I started once again (I did that alot with older hobbies, stupid Pokemon cards…) and also due to the fact that some of these models belong to m brother, who I told I would paint for…
My one major rule is that I don’t buy anything new until I’ve painted what I’ve got. No lead mountain for me: I buy it, paint it, and I don’t go near the shops/internet until it’s finished and on my shelf.
The issue though is that, with Warhammer and 40K, you can’t have a legal army until you have a few units/squads, so it’s tempting to buy everything you need for a basic army first and try to work your way through it. Resist this temptation! One squad at a time, and just treat it as a craft hobby until you have enough models to fight battles. If you must, play skirmish or kill team with what you have (if you can find the rules these days…). This has the added bonus of letting you get into the painting side of things before the gaming side of things, so painting your models becomes a hobby in itself rather than a chore you have to go through before you start rolling dice and arguing over rules.
I find that the order I paint things helps. i.e. if you paint all the fun stuff first, you’ll find yourself having a very long couple of weeks painting big bulks of fairly boring troops. I find if you alternate between characters and regiments, it speeds things up, as you paint the grunts in order to get to the thing you want to paint.
My suggestion would be something like this as a schedule
-Six Devastators and Sergeant
- Dreadnought
- terminator squad
- 8 humans
- One crashed land speeder terrain piece
- 16 Eldar Guardians
- terminator squad
- Two metal veterans
- Six Fire Dragons
- A Dark Reaper
- 10 skaven
- 16 Eldar Guardians
- Dreadnought
- 8 humans
- One commander
Always leave your favourite/the one you’re looking foward to most model (i assume it’d be the commander) and paint troops in groups of between 8-10.
I generally agree with all of the above. Paint a “chore” unit or two, then paint a “fun” unit as a reward.
I generally don’t buy more for the same army until I’ve painted what I have already (save for bulking out existing units if they’re only a partial unit that I’m supposed to be painting).
My next paint job for 40k is thirty Ardboyz. This will be followed by the Deffkoptas.Next up will be thirty Slugga Boyz, then I’ll but a Battlewagon. Continue until done. I also usually have two or three painting projects going so I don’t get too bore of paining all Orks/Skaven/whatever…
Working like this is likeley whay had me accused of “cheating” when playing WFB. I was “cheating” because my fully-painted rat horde is apparently intimidating
I had a situation like this two Summers ago (before I got into a Helljob) and I decided to paint 5 models a night. I’d sit in front of the tele, sometimes laptop to the side and get painting. I think I changed it to painting 5 models to the point I couldn;t be bothered any more and often I got half way through 10 models instead. Basically, set yourself a target.
Also, as Thommy H said, don’t buy anything else just yet. If you’re REALLY tempted, only buy as much as you complete. This givces you incentive to paint what you have to get new stuff and it helps prevent you stockpiling and being daunted.
Set limits that you’re comfortable with and select an order to do them in. al-hashut’s list is a good one, but I’d suggest breaking up the units a little more:
4 Devastators
2 Devastators + Sergeant
Terminator Squad
Dreadnaught
5 Guardians
5 Guardians
Terrain
6 Guardians
2 Veterans + Commander
6 Fire Dragons
8 Guardians
Dreadnaught
8 Guardians + Dark Reaper
8 Humans
8 Humans
5 Skaven
5 Skaven
Of course, that’s an idea of an order I’d do it in (with newly bought things straight after those Skaven as incentive) or maybe put a dreadnaught at the end instead. Basically, I personally find it best to paint large amounts of one type, with a breif respite of something else (such as the terrain) and then return until it’s all done. It feels like more of an accomplishment (which will keep you motivated) than doing it piece by piece.
Well, we can all get a small paint station type thing ready to go. I use a folding stand alone wood tv tray, and
whenever I watch tv or a movie I can bring it out and paint (my paints are in my mega-paint set for space, but you could easily put them right on your tray.). You can then get just a little done every night…(Big hint- try to get a tray with a lip on it…it helps avoid dropping fig and paint bottles on the carpet…) And getting stuff done is one of the biggest motivators I know. I know a Golden Demon winner who did the same thing. He was a roommate of mine, and every night I’d come home and he’d be painting. He also used a tray-often just a box lid will work. Good “seen 'em a million times” movies also work great. I’ve painted tons of minis to movies like Conan or Ice Pirates or LOTR. Something we all know the words to by heart, so you don’t have to watch it at all. (Star Wars, Indiana Jones…heck even High School Musical will work-if that is your thing…note NOT MINE )
Also, I have an Ott light which helps with the light at my station…you can even get a battery run one if you want to spend a little extra money.
The biggest thing that ever helped me was group painting…get a group of friends together once a week, when I was at GW we painted at someone’s house every Wednesday. There were also numerous painting nights at the company. Jeremy Vetock still does that in England with the studio guys over there, and he arranged several nights like that in Baltimore. Several others would paint during their lunch breaks, using a box lid as a mobile tray. It greatly helps with “unit” painting when you can take 2-3 colors, your figs, a brush or 2 and a coffee cup for water. Then just paint all of those belts or swords during your break…eat something small and go back to work.
The big thing about group painting is that you can talk, and still paint, but you also have someone else doing the same thing, and as you get some stuff done and they get some stuff done, you can really see and get motivated by all of the progress. The Chaos Dwarf Marathons are these writ large over the net. Great Idea by the way…just wish I could get rid of one of my jobs to get the 6 hours in ;-(. So try to get a painting night together, something with a more than just a few friends if possible, and you can meet at a store, someone’s house, or even a cafeteria or break room.
This and an upcoming tourney are the biggest motivators I know…
My one major rule is that I don't buy anything new until I've painted what I've got. No lead mountain for me: I buy it, paint it, and I don't go near the shops/internet until it's finished and on my shelf.
Thommy H
Usually my exact philosophy. However, only the marines are mine, and the reason I have so many is one tactical squad, terminator squad and dreadnought are all from a friend of mine who was selling all of them for TWENTY BUCKS. I jumped on the offer obviously, and also the other dreadnought, the commander and the second terminator squad are all from the Black reach or whatever starter box, which I bought (coupled with the free erminator from the white dwarf) so I could have a Deathwing/Third Company army that required no painting before assembly because they could be dissassembled.
Also, due to popular suggesting, I've developed a schedule:
- Combat squad Alpha I
- Three marines
- Flamer marine
- Sergeant
- Combat squad Omega I
- Three Marines
- Flamer marine
- Sergeant
- Terminator Sergeant as Commander
(Thus, a legal force is created)
- Devastator Squad
- Four Missile Launcher armed marines
- Sergeant
It's only a start, but, well it's a start. Possibly the other five members of each tactical squad next, or the terminator squad, or a dreadnought.
I'll do the Eldar when my brother needs them I suppose? They are Ulthwe and thus two colours, and the 8 men and ten skaven are for Mordheim, and frankly I've been running short/out of opponents...
Well um yeah, once I get to it, I'll be sure to post pics.
I buy lots of crap, open up boxes, half build it then scratch sculpt the army I bought. I know, I’m lame. However, I had realized throughout the process that I don’t play warhammer. I play Smurfhammer.
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