Lost my mojo when trying to paint Artizan Swiss - every time I picked them up at least one pike would spring off. Refound when completed them (6 weeks later), dragged out my 6mm Napoleonic project and played some more Black Powder down the club (1st Carlist War). Next 10mm project will probably be late C15th Condottiere.

QuoteI make it a rule that I have to do a bit every day, come fire, famine, or flood. It adds up as time goes by.

I also have this aproach, I have a "window" of about 20 minutes every morning after walking the dog and before getting showered and ready for work, it amazing how much those 20 minutes add up to over a few months.

Incidentally there was an Archbishop of Cantebury (possibly Runcie) who when asked how he managed to write so prolifically said he managed at least half an hour a day while he was waiting for his wife to get dressed and ready to go out  .  I haven't been that brave but the principle's the same.

Quote from: DanJ on 16 January 2012, 12:00:31 PM

Incidentally there was an Archbishop of Cantebury (possibly Runcie) who when asked how he managed to write so prolifically said he managed at least half an hour a day while he was waiting for his wife to get dressed and ready to go out  .  I haven't been that brave but the principle's the same.

Wouldn't work for me; mine's a nudist. But there are consolations.

 

I have a theory...

Read my blog piece here on the Phases of Wargaming

http://panther6actual.blogspot.com/2011/10/wargamine-phases.html

Things just have to mature I tell you.

well thats a pile of orcs and ogres based individually, same with a number of dwarves and my giant and rock elementals, oh and a tyranosaur 
actually got them undercoated too. I would have started painting them but a certain young man has just gone to sleep 

I also find that buying and painting figures in small batches works very well, I rarely spend more tha £30 on an order, that way there is no huge and depressing "lead mountain" in front of me.  £30 is about 8-10 Pendraken  packs which is about 6 weeks enjoyable slow, painting, hardly intimidating and the results slowly rack up.

Quote from: DanJ on 21 January 2012, 06:07:39 PM
I also find that buying and painting figures in small batches works very well, I rarely spend more tha £30 on an order, that way there is no huge and depressing "lead mountain" in front of me.  £30 is about 8-10 Pendraken  packs which is about 6 weeks enjoyable slow, painting, hardly intimidating and the results slowly rack up.

I agree wholeheartedly - speaking as someone who has left entire units undercoated on the work-surface for months while I worked through a totally different project. 

I think DanJ has a very positive and doable approach. Must try that one - maybe with my newly acquired Republican Romans - very nice figures indeed.

I also never have more than 3 units on the painting table at any one time and normally only one or two, one being cleaned and primed and the other being painted.

As soon as a units is inished it's whisked off to the box, that way I never have to look at how little I've done or how much I've got to do, only the figures I'm actually working on. 

Quote from: Nosher on 13 January 2012, 08:47:56 AM
What do other do to keep the momentum/inspirational juices flowing?

Aye, those are two separate things though, for me at least.

Inspiration tends to come from two places;

1.  The chaps at the club and i deceide on a new project or event, like a big game or more usually a tournament.  Dealine is set and off i go.  Typically in that case, i'll buy an army in one go and paint it over a weekend (or perhaps a week if i'm busy).

2.  I find something that i really like, a new set of rules, range of figures, inspiring battle etc.  I that case i'll do the same as above.  Buy all i need, paint it up in a mad frenzy and get it on the table.  Last time i ran a project like that was 'The Battle of Dorking'...painted a large 1880's British and similar Prussian army over the course of a month (all 10mm Pendraken of course!)

So i tend to sort things out in 'bursts'.

'Keeping the momentum' going is a lot harder for me.  Some of the chaps (and some of you here two), are methodical - painting small amounts regularly.  I find that really difficult to do and tend to lose motivation unless i have a clear goal to hit.

E.g., now having a large Prussian army ready for FPW action i bought a French army to match...it's still not finished.  My motivation waned because i haven't found a good set of FPW rules yet...


How do i keep things going overall?  Well, a change is as good as a break, so i switch things about quite a bit to avoid getting bored (like with the FPW French).

So i've recently been painting 6mm DRM figures and got about 30% through those...but we're kicking off a Club FOG Tournament so i've switched over to some 15mm HYW English to fill out my arhcers ready for that bash.
Once done i'll head back into the DRM stuff to finish it off...etc.

The only current 'slow burn' regular painting i've done in the last year or two has been my 28mm AVBCW figures.  I have a small xmas cache of add ons (some little tanks, a few bicyclists, medical chaps, etc., to fill in the gaps on my Chopwell Communists.  So thats a sizable force built up over a couple of years.  Its nearly done now and that sort of long term motivation is very rare for me...


I see painting as a bit of a chore really...a neccessary evil to get the toys on the table so i have to get the paint slapped on as quickly as possible when the muse takes me, as i can go months without wielding the bristles at all!

My wife's been sick since Christmas, and I find as a result that I do not give much of a damn about hobbies.  Which is a pain, because I could really use the distraction.

Quote from: Luddite on 28 February 2012, 03:47:26 PM
1.  The chaps at the club and i deceide on a new project or event, like a big game or more usually a tournament.  Dealine is set and off i go.  Typically in that case, i'll buy an army in one go and paint it over a weekend (or perhaps a week if i'm busy).

Had this one recently - the clubs embarking on SAGA in 28mm and I bought, based and painted a 9pt warband in under a fortnight

QuoteI find something that i really like, a new set of rules, range of figures, inspiring battle etc.  

Have considered quite a few new periods and rules myself but am holding out for Falklands and LoA ranges. Have also made a pledge not to buy from either range until the ranges are complete (or complete enough to field a coherent force without resorting to filling gaps with make do figures)

Quotei haven't found a good set of FPW rules yet...

Me neither - and I have loads of FPW all painted up awaiting the day when 'the' ruleset comes along. At the mo its the occasional Principles of War game but keep meaning to try BP. Im in the process of finishing off the last few units to give me a couple of Corps a side in POW terms but we are talking 6mm

After that I'm hoping to take on an Ayyubid Egyptian force which is all based and ready to go but the thought of tackling a few hundred mounted figures is (quite frankly) about as appealing as lockwiring my knackers to a garden gate and allowing the children to swing backwards and forwards on it.... (the gate that is!)

Hey everybody

My motivation is a good Competition because you have a Deadline so you have to paint yes or yes.


Cheers

Luddite,

What do you want from a FPW set of rules that the current crop doesn't provide?  Is it size of action that can be played, or command and control, or "period feel" or something completely different?  I realise that rules are a very personal thing,  and I am currently - very, very slowly, working on something which might bridge the gap between corps level games and skirmish games. Lots of figures, not quite one to one, but one to five, or one to ten.  Something which begins to close the gap between ground and figure scale, which produces the look I am trying to achieve, and which, just perhaps, starts to face the player with the tactical choices commanders faced.  At the grand level, I am a fan of To the Last Gaiter Button,  which "feels" right to me -but not to everybody.  It seems to me that for a relatively minority interest we already have a load of rules out there (V&B, Black Powder, TTLGB, 1870, Zouave,  Field of Battle,  Principles of War, and the FPW rules on this forum) and we are soon to have Age of Valor (sic).  I am sure I have missed others.  This period really inspires me,so I am truly interested as to what other enthusiasts think is  missing from the existing sets.

Cheers,

Mollinary