Hello

Does anybody else ever get into a rut where its hard to pick up a brush after painting say 1000 figures in a week?   I have lately been able to just do 6 strips at a time after making a big push lately.   The little guys are looking better every batch and thats half the battle i guess.   But man keeping motivated and staying focused on one project is really hard.   I am waiting on the rest of the ACW to get here so I can finish those armies off.  I have painted several battalions of Austrian foot and have a big mound of them still waiting to go.   How do you guys keep yourself motivated to paint on a regular basis.   

Thanks

Bradley

PS is it even possible for a wargamer to stick to one project until completion without also starting numerous others?   Is it a mental disorder some or all of us have to bounce around with big piles of unpainted stuff lying around?

Hi Bradley,

what keeps me motivated very often is reading books about the period I'm just painting. Not books about  uniform colours or painting, but about the period, the war, battles and so on.

Cheers, Ralf

In 56 years of wargaming I have never achieved anything remotely close to 1000 figures in a week. I might be able to manage 50 6mm, 20 15mm or 2 28mm. I frequently stop painting for anything upto a month or more, and as I have grown older it has become more difficult to just keep ploughing on, such that I am now divesting myself of never to be completed projects, at the moment 10mm ones. I just wait for my body to let me know when to start painting again. Dealing with the hiatus at the moment by doing some rebasing.

I painted 3 booster packs of 10 units each of Rebel infantry, then I painted  15 cav for generals, then 8 guns and crew for union, 8 guns and crew for Rebels and finally 3 units of Union and 2 units of Rebel cavalry.   So very close to 1000 figures.  I was off work for 3 days and that allowed me to get a jump on things.    I just need to paint 3 union infantry boosters and 5 more generals, tents for HQ bases and that will wrap up my ACW Polemos/Altar of Freedom project!    I had a union army and a rebel army painted, as well as a union booster painted by guy on commission.   But when this project is complete I will be able to play any ACW Scenario with any rule set I currently own!

The ACW I have been good about painting as they arrive and not letting them stack up into a big pile.   The SYW well thats another story entirely..........

If you are painting 1000 figures a week, then I don't actually think there is much need for consistency unless you are planning some truly massive games.

3 booster packs is ~£65 (very reasonable price). Keeping that pace up over a year is well over £3250 and you would have over 50,000 figures: for me, that is much more than a lifetime's collection.  Even if I wanted to paint that much, I wouldn't have enough money for that kind of collection and wouldn't get the return of actually playing games with it.

So to speak to your question, I wouldn't even try to go consistently at that kind of level.  I would either paint for two weeks a year and then call it quits until the following year or I would do the more usual 'little and often' approach: 4-5 bases/week and maybe 5-10 larger scale figures is more than adequate for me, I find.

I think I am going to go with your suggestion.   Currently I am working on a Grant Sized regiment of spencer smiths as a break.  Then will finish the ACW Project and mabye actually play some games and enjoy myself for a ltitle bit.

This is the strange thing about wargaming. If you don't actually enjoy researching armies and painting figures, and unless you have a healthy bank balance for commission work, then is wargaming really for you. The Painting aspect should not be viewed as a burdensome chore. This is why I stop painting when it stops being fun. As a historical gamer I can spend equally valuable time researching the armies and campaigns I am interested in, or put on a game using a couple of my completed armies, such as SYW or FPW, or try out some new rules or rules tweaks. Recently I took a break from figure painting to paint some buildings and prepare some trees.

Over the holidays I lost focus on finishing units and have been building terrain pieces instead. Very productive and good fun, but not what I was planning or expecting to do. I'm starting to feel the urge to finish units again now so I can play my solo campaign, but the terrain pieces will be useful for that as well. Change is as good as a rest.

Great Duncan!   I may attempt to make some terrain as well.

To help me keep motivated I set myself targets that I can practically achieve. I also mix it up by when I've hit a wall with painting, I'll do some terrain, do some research and watch videos and listen to podcasts to get my mojo back.