Like most wargamers, I'm a serial obsessionalist. I'm happiest when concentrating on one thing and totally submerging myself in it, but then I'm also easily bored and likely to flit to something else! Finding the right balance is a perpetual challenge.
This year I've planned for a limited set of areas and a close integration between what I'm painting and what I'm playing. As I'm basing-before-painting and using-while-painting I'm well placed to do this. (I'm committed to adding more paint before an army is used again so I have to slip the figures on and off painting bases, but that's no great burden.)
I typically play two games a month so the idea is to spend the preceding fortnight working on the armies I intend to use in my next game. Devotion to theme doesn't stop at modelling or swatting up on rules, but may extend to what I read or watch or listen to.This will not only 'feel right' but give me a big incentive actually to do some painting. At the moment I'm focusing on my 1798 figures and the strategy is working.
This approach is much better than the one that involves months of painting before you can play a game with the inevitable loss of interest before an army is finished. I have the semi-painted lead mountain to prove it.
It's a little unusual to write about process rather than models or games, but it's actually fundamental to the whole pursuit.
Hello Richard,
ReplyDeleteI am on a get things done mindset, before embarking on anything new. Not that I am inspired by anything new at the moment. My cull of unwanted items continues. I think your ‘reflection’ is the correct t way to go.
Cheers
Si
Si
DeleteThe finite nature of space, not to mention the finite nature of life, is compelling me to focus on projects I've already started. The concept of 'completion' is too monsterous to contemplate, but I feel satisfied if I can chip away at the lead mountain a little each day. For me it has become a question of finding the time to achieve something...
Richard
Hugely agree ... game while painting and discover best basing, best rules and even whether you really want to continue with the project - much better than painting two full armies and then finding some of those things out. Plus I think the gaming motivates the painting.
ReplyDeleteNorm
DeleteIn a previous wargaming life I belonged to a club that enforced standards. Well it was over 40 years ago. You weren't allowed to play with unfinished figures. I was reported to the Committee. Maybe some clubs are still like that but they can hardly stop you from playing with counters!
Richard
The upside with gaming with miniatures is that they are generally rules agnostic. Basing conventions seem to be the only concern, so unless you've made a huge mistake about the period itself, chances are you can migrate to a new set of rules if the ones you are trying don't work for you. In that sense I never consider the painting side of it to have been wasted, but do agree with your point on undertaking the mammoth painting project before even trying out the rules.
ReplyDeleteSince focusing much more on individually-based 28mm figures, the rebasing issue has for me fallen away, although ironically I haven’t felt the desire to change the rules I’m using.
DeleteEven with multiple-based figures, rebasing is not the problem it was. Modern rule writers not only allow for the predominance of standards originally set by WRG but typically accept any base widths as long as they are consistent.
I remember the times, however, when WRG ruled the roost. What was particularly annoying was when some new edition of WRG Ancients demanded rebasing just to play the new edition. We didn’t all have figures on flocked cardboard. Mine were on balsa, filler and sand etc (much as they are now) and rebasing was a pain.
More generally, I wish I could take my own advice and try out every game before investing in figures. However, I find it difficult not to get carried away. Two of this year’s three major army-building projects (Tilly’s Very Bad Day and Chain of Command) are new to me and I haven’t actually played them yet…
Richard