I've had to recently reaccess my priorities when it comes to my hobby. Too many armies, too many projects, too many gaming systems. Are you in a similar 'boat'. I spend far too much time sat looking at my table and the models infront of me... period. Confused about what to do next; I should maybe do this, but then again I need to paint this, etc, etc.. and so it continues... before you know it the night is almost over and u've done nothing.

Well, I've decided to not get any more new armies for a kick-off, and not to add to any of my existing armies either for some time. That is realistically very hard to do as new models get released and make great additions to your army, but I have to remember that these models are not going to disappear soon, they will be around for a long time; ie, the new V.Dreadie for SM.

So, I decided to look at my 40k armies from a playing p.o.v.:
Dark Angels/Space Marines
Chaos Daemons (Khorne only army)
Imperial Guard
Daemonhunters
Dark Eldar
Tau - being my most recent aquisition...

From all the Tau boxes I bought though, I've only managed to make a hand full of models. So I'm going to keep those, and return to my shop the rest (coz I can )



The rest I will keep and play as new codexes hopefully arrive for them. Till that happens I'll jut use my IG, SM or Khorne. IG/SM I can swap and change, Khorne when I just don't want to think too hard about tha game Charge!!!

We now play FoW quite heavily at present:
Germans - when playing an allies army and want to be fluffy
United States - main option

Again though, my US army is now to the point where I do notneed to buy anything for a while. And my Germans are there only to allow usto keep it fluffy based on my opponet's choice of army.

So that's the playing sorted, or the modelling I should have said really. As for the painting... well that's another story. I need to prioritise.

Plan of attack:
1). Paint all US FoW units I own.
2). ...and this next one is massive... IG 40K. Finish making all my IG models. Then paint them all. As this collection is such a large one, I'm going to have to do them in batches. Not sure if I will go unit types; ie, all Leman Russes, or units; ie, a typical IG troops choice.

Just these two projects alone will take me that best part of this year if I'm being honest with myself. So I best get started. I'll be starting a project log for my US FoW soon.

I guess from this point on my new policy i going to be; buy, paint, play; ie, not to play with any new units till they are painted 3 colours minimum. This won't stop me playing with greys still. But once I have 'finished' my US FoW and moved on, that's when this kicks in. New additions will have to made painted and then I can field them.

How do you guys attack your collection, or don't you have a plan as such?

I buy when its cheap (i'm tarred as an "anti boomer") Paint when I've started liking how something plays.And occasionally sit there wondering why the fudge I have so much stuff (e.g. nobodies used any of the "house armies" in a good 6 months- oh no I tell a lie, LH borrowed a defiler for a game 5 weeks back)..

Squad at a time I'm doing some rats, finish bikes, bring up my 40 assault marines for the BA release.. all this I hinki I listed in matts "what are your goals for this quarter?" thread.

I've tried to make a big (painting) dent in my collections over the last 2-3 years. I got fed up of having loads of stuff sitting around not finished or not wanting to use it because it wasn't painted up. I think I've made good progress but still have a long way to go.

So my current armies will not have anything major added to them now until the painting has caught up. I hope to have got there by the end of the year. I'm even happy to have our friend Paul help me get there. I want to be in a place, for every army, where I can buy a new unit and it's the only thing that needs painting (by me).

I'm aiming to start a new army this year (WoC) but will not start even putting it together (I've been slowly buying stuff for it) until I've made more progress with the armies I already have.

I'd like to start FoW and Warmachine but gaming time is limited and having spent so much money and time on the systems I currently play, I don't want that to be wasted or to dilute my gaming across too many systems. Having said that, as a club we will be starting to play March of Eagles at some point this year, but the Victrix models we have for that are collectively purchased for us all to use and Paul is painting them all up for us.

One thing that worked quite well for me and the TWAT'S was we all got into 40k at the same time (a group descision).
We made a pact to not field anything that was unpainted and set ourselves the target of 1500 points...

A few damn near morale failures and the best part of a year later... shazzam! Everything done and ready to go.

I think this start has instilled a discipline that to play you have to paint.
I like playing the game, I hate painting the minis (I really do mean hate).

That's the deal.

When painting en masse, I always go for the horriffic bulk work first, get the crap out of the way then think about something different.
I try to start in "factory production" mode, ie about 10 at a time, then the next batch is eight, then 6 etc, as this serves to create the (illusion of) progress needed not to stop, or at least to take a temporary break.

I also have to play daft psychological games, like only being allowed to listen to music, whilst painting.

I prefer to play with fully painted armies as well.
I like finishing the paint job, but sometimes I'm not to fond of getting to the finish!

Usually I'll take a break from the minis by knocking out some terrain pieces.

I've always struggled to paint basic troops in the past. I'd start on a block of 5 or 10 as recommended but then get bored and work on one for about 3 hours until it was perfect. Now I'm less picky and am happy to spend time on the character models and less on the rank and file. Plus dipping helps with painting at speed

I have been doing this for a while, no new purchases as I have enough figures for all my periods to paint. When I have cleared at least a third of the back;og I am then allowed to buy in small bites any glaring ommisions to those forces I have been painting.

My other trick is the painting Table, I am ruthless in that it has a figure limit, and only new ones are allowed on when something is removed as complete. This helps no end as it stops the partial work flit between periods/armies/projects even.

It works pretty well as long as you stay disciplined, and is a good way to shift rank and file, before getting your teeth into something juicier.

I have to say, having collected huge armies for most forces in WH40K and WH over the ast two decades I tend to change my aproach to modelling and painting. I see things I like or force ideas I want to try - and i start shoping. That aside - I have tried different approaches and found they never last:

Method 1: 'I'll paint all the grunt troops first, then the nice stuff after' - then I discover after painting 60 guardsmen that I'm sick to death with painting infantry and my eyes rove over to those rhinos on the shelf....

Method 2: 'I will paint one unit of infantry, then one vehicle / character, then back to the units' which works well for a while, but then I find myself attracted to models for painting in another army that I'm actually playing at the time.

Method 3: 'I'll paint all the nice characters and worry about the dross later...' but then I can never face painting the dross....

Method 4: 'I'll paint this army, one unit at a time, and not stop till it's done.' Then I get bored and wonder off....

Method 5: 'I'll paint whatever i feel like....' Which is my current method, which means I jump from force to force and never seem to finish anything....

Herne, method 5 is what I am trying to avoid, as that was my normal method and meant a huge backlog of unfinished's.

My plans are normally forced by signing up to an event and then bricking it with a few weeks to go and slapping some paint on....... *looks at the 2250 TK he has 3 weeks to paint with only one weekend day available*

Otherwise I just grab a model I fancy painting.

Well if any one 1nts a hand I have more time than god has on my hands. Just pm me for a reasanable quote and of what you 1nt to have done.

That, Simon, is a fair offer. But most of the hobbists I know always think they will eventually get round to painting their entire collection, at some point. But I'm starting to realise, that not only will that never happen for me, but that I may never even get it all made!

So I've set my stall out now, let's see how it pans out. As I said, its the US FoW stuff 1st, so that's my priority for the time being.

3K of IG is needed for the GW BAttlefields weekend, so I don't have forever to complete the FoW stuff. I reckon I will need to paint at least another 1k of IG to make that 3k up. So time to get started.

Yup I was like that 1nts with a 950 troop space marine army all full painted. Not to mentchen the tanks ect.
But alas I disided to consentrate on the painting side not the gameing. Hents the servis I provide for thos who just dnt have the time to paint the models them selvs but 1nt to play the games. I thort I love painting and thos People out ther who paint for profit not pleshure drive me up t wall. I mean who wood pay a guy £50 for painting 1 space marine???????? Its sickaning. But yes I agre on the seting a goal and acheving it. And that feals dame good.

My appraoch to the unpainted masses it typically to paint a large group of rank-and-file, then reward myself with a special piece once they are complete. This is often a nice conversion piece for another army so that I have something completely different to paint for a while. Then it is back to more of the RnF. I am currently trying to finish some Brettonians I have been working on for a mate for 6+ years. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Six more mounted yeomen (I painted 4 from start to finish in the past two days ), some Archers and Men-at-Arms, then the Lord and basing of the army. I figure two more months and I should be done. Then I will have my new Catachan units (4 Command squads, 3 Veteran Squads, 2 Valkyries and a Thunderbolt), Tau (Vespid, Kroot, Devilfish, and 2 Piranhas), Red Hunters (most of a standard company, 3 Drop Pods, and 2 Thunderhawks), Dark Wolves (20 Berzerkers, 10 Chosen, 20 Possessed, 27 CSM, 2 Lords, and 1 Sorcerer), and my Disciples of Change (2 Dreadnoughts, 9 Raptors, and probably some other models). If I'm lucky and I stay focused, I should be able to finish before my great grandson's 5th birthday.

I really have to just force myself to sit and paint (usually whilst listening to music), doing it in batches with something as a reward/change of pace.

Hi Cilven, and welcome home we missed you. When you coming to an AoS meetup?

Erm, did I just hijack my own thread lol

Painting, that was it... back to it!. bfn