Project management

Started by fsn, 06 March 2018, 09:47:55 PM

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fsn

06 March 2018, 09:47:55 PM Last Edit: 06 March 2018, 10:33:48 PM by fsn
Gentlemen.

A question. How do you prganise your projects? My project plans go something like:

1) Watch a video, read a book, see a film that sparks my imagination
2) Research same in books, online etc
3) Draw up one or more OOBs
4) Convert OOB to Pendraken catalogue
5) Be very thankful that Pendraken are reasonably priced and even my most grandiose projects are not tooo expensive.  B)
6) Purchase Pendraken goodies in monthly lots until I have everything purchased.
7 ) List paints etc that I will use, get flags, bases etc
8 ) Paint

In the painting phase I usually try for a mix, leaving my favourites to last. So for the Brusnwickers it would be line inf, hussars, light inf, uhlans, guard, artillery, staff.

Now the butterflies usually take flight at steps 6 and 8. For example, the Brunswickers I have bought over 3 or 4 months; but I find it hard to keep motivated in step 8 leaving several projects 80% complete. For my 1:600 1940 air war, I've done the Italians, the French and the Germans. The Battles and Hampdens are on my painting table. All I have left to do are the Blenheims, Hurricanes and Spitfires ... and I'm really going to have to push myself to get them done. (This weekend, definitely this weekend.)

Does anyone else suffer the same problems? How do you organise your projects? How do you keep motivated?


*edit* One of the things I'm trying this year is keeping a log of what I've completed.  
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

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3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

petercooman

06 March 2018, 10:19:30 PM #1 Last Edit: 06 March 2018, 10:21:29 PM by petercooman
Project process v3.9

1: ooh shiney
2: buy
3: work out project around impulse buy
4: ooh shinier
etc...




now seriously:

-Read or watch film/documentary
-choose rules or buy if i have none suitable
-work out forces and look at paint colours
- order forces and any paint colours missing
-leave lying about for years paint


Usually the paint stage is subject to change. There is always something that i need for an upcoming game that sneaks in the line, or something that gets priority because ofmy painting challenge.

Ithoriel

Project Process

1) Discover fascinating period for which I have no existing figures/ rules
2) Read some basic guides to the period
3) Read some wargaming guides to the period
4) Read  some university text books on the subject
5) Mourn my failure to learn Latin/ Greek/ Akkadian/ Russian/ Spanish/ etc thereby denying me the ability to go to source material
6) Plan buying of basic forces required for both sides
7) Decide on rules to use
8 ) a) Purchase commercial rules or b) write own rules
9) If 8a then also write own rules. If 8b purchase commercial set
10) Purchase at least one more commercial set of rules
11) Realise original buying list impractically expensive
12) Cull intended purchases until 25% larger than originally envisaged.
13) Purchase miniatures
14) Buy/ make scenery of appropriate scale
15) Purchase more miniatures
16) Final decision on painting schemes
17) Paint a handful of miniatures
18) GOTO 1
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

DFlynSqrl

I'm borrowing your list FSN, and making a small adjustment... new additions start at 6.

1) Watch a video, read a book, see a film that sparks my imagination
2) Research same in books, online etc
3) Draw up one or more OOBs
4) Convert OOB to Pendraken catalogue
5) Be very thankful that Pendraken are reasonably priced and even my most grandiose projects are not tooo expensive.
6) Order a batch of figures from Pendraken to see how they look (Great as usual!)
7) Ponder basing and rules...
...and ponder basing and rules...
...and ponder basing and rules...

My projects tend to stall at 7... which is really dumb, because I'll just be playing solo most of the time anyway.  I need to just sit down and decide on some rules/basing sheesh.

Norm

TRY ... to just buy enough initially that I won't get overwhelmed by the painting task.
Look to see if there is a minimum purchase that could get me moving some units around on the table and then add to that.
Spend the next 3 months worrying about how I should base them, decide, base some and then change my mind and re-base to new standard.

paulr

My list seems to be quite different :-\

1) Consider (sub)periods that our group doesn't already cover
2) Search for some background & inspiration
3) Look at rules options
4) Do some research
5) Run some test games using dummy forces, usually top down pictures on cardboard bases
    if unsuccessful or been round this loop too many times go to 1)
    if not successful enough, got to 3)
6) Do more research
7) Plan an order for two sides, possibly coordinated with others in the group
8 ) Do more research
9) Place one big order, to minimise the cost of postage
10) Work through the order, doing some from each side to allow for games as the painting progresses

I'm currently in the 3-5 loop with Ancient naval and ECW (hoping FKaP will move us onto 6)

Steps 1-8 run in parallel for multiple projects
I try and complete 10 before doing another 9
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

fsn

07 March 2018, 07:34:49 AM #6 Last Edit: 07 March 2018, 07:52:33 AM by fsn
Gentlemen,

I am heartened by hearing of your similar struggles. I am of the opinion that everyone else is a painting machine that just gets it done.

Another thing I'm trying is to stay in period whilst painting. For example, whilst painting Stukas and D520s, I'm listening to the Aeneid and a history of the Byzantines and ales of Norse combat, so my butterfly is flapping its wings gently even as I splodge paint on the wings of a SM79.

The one thing I don't worry about is rules. I have sufficient basic rule sets for just about everything, and I usually modify those to suit (the advantages of being a solo gamer).    

Quote from: Norm on 07 March 2018, 06:30:56 AM
TRY ... to just buy enough initially that I won't get overwhelmed by the painting task.
Look to see if there is a minimum purchase that could get me moving some units around on the table and then add to that.
That's a sensible suggestion. The reason I by everything at the same time is because my butterfly extends to my painting techniques. I have tried undercoating in white, black, white with a wash, black with a dry brush, grey, base colour ... so if I'm not disciplined I will find the Brunswickers I painted in bacth 1 will look very different to the Brunswickers I paint in batch 3.

Having said that, there is also step 9 which is "Pendraken release more for the range ... go back to step 2." Then despite having written down exactly what colours I've used ... the darned things look different to the existing batch.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Womble67

You all plan :o now I know I've got a real problem

Take care

Andy
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Orcs

07 March 2018, 10:22:48 AM #8 Last Edit: 07 March 2018, 10:24:23 AM by Orcs
1 get interested in a period due to A} playing a new period at club. B) Being persuaded by friends to start a period. C) OOHHHH Shiney
2 Work out if there are a suitable set of Rules
3 Work out  what figures are needed for a complete army
4 Buy army
5 Put in Cupboard for 5+ years while I complete other projects
6 Work out, what I need for opposing army
7 Buy army (normally within 6 months of No 4)
8 Put in cupboard for 5+ years

I normally flit between projects .but try to follow the following

1 Start painting a enough of an army for a game
2 When no1 is complete drift onto another project for a break (Ie Having painted loads of 10mm WW2 I might do some 28mm )
3 Go back to 1 and do additional units
4 Repeat of No 2
5 Finish army from No 1 ( Ie painted all models I havev )
6 Play a scenario and realise I am 1 unit short of what I need
7 Buy an extra 3 units
8 paint extra units

Numbers 6-8 may be repeated several times a break from another project.  I normally have several projects' on the go at any one time and two or three projects not started

So at the moment

Projects on the go


10mm Marburians - Few British cavaltry units to sort out (after Turbill miniatures Debacle)
10mm Marburian opponents - Spanish or French ?...French or Spanish?
20mm WW2 - British and German
28mm Frostgrave figures.
28mm Sudan for The men who would Be kings
28mm Lord of the rings odds and ends

Nearly finished

10mm Poles = 50 figs to complete army
10mm Early war Germans - few packs and vehicles to paint

On the shelf waiting ( in no particular order)  Please note, I obviously can't count as there are more than 2 or 3 here

10mm Desert Scenery to be made.
15mm AK47 Buildings
10mm BEF
10mm ACW and Buildings
10mm Early W2 Russian
10mm Early War Fallshirmjagers
15mm Napoleonics (Waiting since 1986)
1:3000 Pre dreadnaught
28mm Arabs
15mm Renaissance (400= old Essex/ Mikes Models)
28mm Gondor 100 figs
28mm Orcs  60 figs


And before anyone asks:-

Yes I have been looking at the following

1:1200 ACW naval
28mm Balkan Wars
15mm Neo Babylonian
1:300 Rapier Miniatures Alexandrian Macedonians
20mm American WW2

So Perhaps this should just be called PROJECTS, as there seems to be very little management involved  :D
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Duke Speedy of Leighton

All of the above, in equal measures!
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Glorfindel

A couple of points to add to this really :

a.   Hard experience over many years means that I now only ever
buy a month's worth of figures (the amount I can reasonably paint
in a month).   Costs more in postage but I don't end up with an
unused lead mountain.

b.   Keep in mind your original inspiration - nothing like watching
that film again etc.   For me, I was inspired to start a Pendraken 
WSS army by Wargames Illustrated 314 and seeing the Ramillies
game by the Staffordshire & District club.   Just reading the mag
or looking at the pics again maintains the inspiration.


There was an excellent two Battlegames part article written by Phil
Olley which goes into this subject in some depth.



Phil


toxicpixie

1/ Something sparks interest
2/ Get excited, order rules/lead/scenery
3/ something else sparks interest
4/ Earlier stuff arrives, gets relegated to the pile as new thing gets some research/reading/salivating time
5/ order other stuff/dig out old stuff before returning to the lead pile and returning to 1.

That's the way everyone does it, right?!
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fred.

I was about to post - then TP posted which pretty much sums up my approach.

I have a facade of organisation - I keep most stuff for a project together. But then flit between actually doing stuff.

Generally games trigger painting and purchasing.

But I still have many projects that were triggered by something that then haven't gone far.

It's very easy to buy new toys  much harder to get them on the table, and even harder to game with them regularly.

One positive is that I tend to go for generic stuff, so it can be used with different rule sets.
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toxicpixie

I'm really trying to be good atm, especially as personal painting eats into commission work time and I need to crack through loads of stuff, but it's hard work...

I've a weekly D&D game to prep/run, two more different ideas I want to break in, hope to get some actual figures down for either BBB, Twilight of the Sunking or AdlG, D&D figures to do, some scenery to build for all four of the above (ranging from 2mm to 6mm to 10mm to 28mm...), and some aeronef's from Brigade, and STILL I keep wandering off to other things...

Is there a wargames ADHD support group somewhere?!
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Womble67

Quote from: toxicpixie on 07 March 2018, 02:56:34 PM

Is there a wargames ADHD support group somewhere?!

I could also do with this

Take care

Andy
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