Finishing any kind of project requires planning, forethought, an idea, a dash of creativity, and no small amount of investment of time and work, and boy oh boy, can it sometimes feel like work! The pride that comes of being able to hold up the culmination of all that you've put into it, though, is absolutely worth it, and most importantly, will never really fade. Once you've painted an army of miniatures, you have that army forever. You may learn better techniques and produce results you like better as your skills develop, but that shouldn't take the shine from those early efforts. You took some plastic, metal or resin and turned it into something that is yours. It can arguably be one of the hardest things to achieve, though, especially when we are exposed almost weekly to something new and shiny arriving on the scene that's so cool, that we must have!
It was with this in mind that Tale of More Gamers really came to fruition. An opportunity to state publicly that I was going to finish something, post regular updates, then be able to show it off and share my work once it was all complete. Time and effort focused on a goal - achievable, certainly, but that would require some real work - and then the celebration at the end! The way that I figure it is that if we're all working toward our own goals and sharing progress, there's the impetus necessary to keep working on a single project without floating away to something else every couple of minutes. Impetus is the right word instead of pressure, I think. This ought to be a project completely voluntary to all taking part, and if it feels like there's pressure to take part or something to be lost in not finishing one's pledge, there should be no shame in putting up one's hands and saying, "I am not going to finish all this on time, but here's what I've done so far and what I'm proud of."
Aah, but there's the question... What to do?!
We are spoiled for choice in this day and age. We are surrounded by awesome miniatures. Outside of the 'big houses' there are any number of awesome boutique-style manufacturers that're sculpting their own miniatures or working with sculptors to fill gaps in the collections available to us today. From obscure or historically minor events to the myriad choices available for fantasy and science fiction gaming, we need never lack for options. The trick, then, is to find inspiration! What we need - what I need - is inspiration and the interest in a project that'll last me the distance to get it finished. It doesn't matter so much if the effort put into it feels like work, but it shouldn't actively be a chore to pick up paint and brush and get cracking on the next colour on these miniatures.
So, with the earlier stipulation that the project should be something that I haven't painted an army of before, here's what I've got in mind for potential projects thus far on the Games Workshop side of things:
- Imperial Fists. These guys are a strong contender at the moment, owing to the mixed challenge of painting a smooth, consistent yellow finish across whole squads, but the sheer wow factor of dropping a bright yellow army on the table. It doesn't hurt that they're a consistent favourite in the lore and their rules are pretty damn good in 8th Edition at the moment.
- Adeptus Mechanicus. I love the Mechanicus. They tick a lot of boxes as far as interests of mine go - post-humanism, body horror, cybernetics - and they're probably the Warhammer 40,000 army that made the translation from concept artwork to plastic the most faithfully. They look like real nightmares built for purpose, and they're damn cool.
- Kharadron Overlords. I love these sky-mining dwarfs. The concept of the Kharadron is absolutely bonkers and I love how special it feels in Age of Sigmar. They're one of the armies that made the leap from 'just like Warhammer Fantasy Battles' and instead had fun being something distinctly Age of Sigmar, and it doesn't hurt that they're basically short Ferengi with cutlasses.
Contrary to popular belief, Games Workshop don't have a total stranglehold on my hobby budget just yet (though if they keep busting out things like Speed Freeks and Blackstone Fortress and those gorgeous Genestealer Cult miniatures on the horizon...), so there are a few other options to consider!
- World War 2. This is deliberately broad since there's a lot of potential choices, and I don't really have a specific project in mind just yet. I do have a fairly large collection of Warlord Games' fantastic Bolt Action miniatures in gorgeous grey plastic still - US, UK, German and Soviet forces - as well as both Deutsches Afrika Korps and British 8th Army from Perry Miniatures. All it would require is to write up the force and set a painting list. Good for my wallet if I'd actually do something with them!
- Dark Ages/SAGA. Something smaller scale and skirmish-based would be pretty neat. I've had the opportunity to visit some of the 'living history' parks around Germany such as Bärnau-Tachov and it could prove super interesting to delve a little further into a specific period and have some fun learning about the actual life and times of the people I'm representing on the table.
- Something else entirely...? Aah, but what? I'd ideally want to be painting more than ten miniatures, but less than a hundred! Maybe something from the Napoleonic period, maybe something in 15mm, or even take the plunge into the 6mm scale? Sengoku Jidai period, and paint samurai? The options are limitless, I'm just not sure in which direction I want to head!
Before we've even gotten to brush and paints the hard work really begins! I'm going to aim to narrow these down a little over the next couple of days and hopefully nail down a shopping list if I need one before Christmas hits and my friendly local game stores totally empty. Something that I can reasonably finish in two months but which won't leave me done in a week with nothing else to do for the time remaining. Something to pin down that hobby magpie and get me stuck into something I'll really enjoy holding up when I'm finished!
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