Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Musings on projects: their start, middle, and end.

A few days ago, while reading one of fellow ancients enthusiast Trebian's updates on how his Classical Indian army is progressing, I professed admiration for a work ethic that could see figures bought, painted, based and recorded on the blog within the month, and contrasted my own feeble attempts at starting a project with the powerful record he exhibits on army completion.

He kindly offered to outline his method on getting projects underway and completed, and has been as good as his word, as this post shows.

While I read it with trepidation, his post actually makes me feel quite a lot better.  Not only is it full of useful tips (set aside family time being one that my wife might appreciate!), but it helped me to realise that I approach this whole caper from a different angle, this being that 'I started late and have a lot of catching up to do'.

I know very well that my biggest problem is the time lag between the buying of lead and the getting of it onto the painting table. Trebian's solution is to not buy until you complete your current project, but this would not work for me, for my wargaming mostly is one project: the Classical era Mediterranean!

What I have tended to do is keep an eye out for good deals on the figures I need to advance this crazy scheme, and have bought when the yen was strong and/or the price good, and (thank the Old Ones) when international shipping was more reasonable.  My Macedonians, Successors and Achaemenid Persians, for example, were picked up at between 20% and 60% of what I would be paying for them now, and that does not include the recently greatly increased shipping costs.

So I think I can safely say that (aside from getting sidetracked with moderns, Crossfire or ACW from time to time...) this approach has been a sensible one in financial terms, and I can also just about square it with Trebian's method.  As I said before, the Classical Med. is (technically...) one project, isn't it?

As far as painting goes, when I do paint I use the production line method.  I paint in large batches, and usually choose these to augment the armies that I already have.  I will do a whole consular army, or expand the Spanish, Gauls or Numidians of my Carthaginian army into a force in their own right, or perhaps enough Successor cavalry to allow me to do Magnesia, or some other similar mid-term target. So I do set myself goals; it's just that it takes a particular set of circumstances to force me to meet them.

I have to admit though that there are a number of things that will stop me picking up a paint brush and/or do get me out of rhythm, and I cannot match Trebian's discipline in this regard!

1) The seasons in Japan.  Some times of the year are just not good for painting, priming or dull-coating.  It's too humid, too hot, and the paint / spray doesn't like it.  Summer is basically a write-off, and it can take me a long time to get back on the horse once I fall off it.

2) Whims.  I have a lot of them, and they tend to be all or nothing.  I'll get back to playing the guitar, or exercising, or writing, or painting, or studying, or gaming, or following the (mis)fortunes of the NZ cricket team, or commenting on yahoo groups, but I can't seem to do much more than two at once.

3) Existential questions.  Sometimes I feel guilty about gaming.  I know it sounds a bit odd, but I do occasionally feel that I could be doing something more worthwhile, like writing more seriously, or actually getting good at Japanese, or building up some skills that will allow me to bring the family back to New Zealand one day.  These do cause the chain to drag at times.

4) Painting issues.  I'm afraid that I do fuss about a bit with my painting. Unfamiliar armies can give me a bit of a headache, and as I've had to redo a large number of figures because I was a very crappy painter when I started out I now like to try harder to get it right first time.  I will therefore mutter to myself about paint schemes, or research new techniques, and sometimes I just get nervous that I won't do the figures justice and so put things off.

All of these things mean that there are times that it's quite an effort to get started.  On the plus side, once I do get underway I usually get a lot done in a relatively short space of time, even if I start to go a bit nutty while doing so.

Moving on to project completion, I have to say that to this point there hasn't been too much of it in the Trebian sense.  I have nearly finished my 6mm Americans, but not quite; I have finished my Ancient Spanish, but even with these there are some command stands to do.  I guess I see progress in terms of steps (ah, I can now do Cannae, or Dertosa, or Zama, or Pydna, or Magnesia, or lose gloriously to Luke's '70s Czechs with my own models), rather than in 'army done' terms.

So, thanks to Trebian, I've sat down and thought it over, and while it may not be obvious, I actually feel a bit encouraged.  I may still take a long time to get things done and to get things done right, but on the whole I don't perhaps do as badly as I sometimes like to think!


16 comments:

  1. I've just read Trebian's post and it's filled me with unease. There's no such thing as a completed project in my book. There's always the odd unit to add or the minor repaint etc. I'm afraid he's a man of an iron will and I just don't got that.

    I do sympathise with your thoughts on the wargaming guilt trip, but I've always rationalised it with the knowledge that I'm just too damn lazy to do anything properly useful instead. I'm of an age where there's nothing I need to be doing, but there's always plenty that I ought to be doing. That's why God allows us to appreciate times linear quality: there's always tomorrow . . . ;O)

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    1. Ha ha ha, yes - I neglected to add sheer laziness to my list; I assumed that it would have been obvious! You're right about re-paints and new units, and this reminds me that I have some cataphracts primed and sitting in a box...

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  2. Thanks for sharing. I found that to be a very interesting piece and I think the suggestions on focusing are quite good. I don't keep a lead mountain and as a result, if I want to paint, I have to paint whats available (the project under way).

    Don't feel guilty about having other interests that take you away from time to time. That's the beauty of freedom of choice. I used to love drumming in Rock Band. I did it almost every day until I became very good at it. Then I fell in love with painting and the other had to go.

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    1. Monty, If you drum with the same vim and passion with which you paint, I would love to have jammed with you. I used to play guitar in the odd band, but rock 'n' roll is not really a family man's game so I'm mostly back with the acoustic and the very occasional singalong when I catch up with old friends. I admire your painting discipline and artistry, but must confess that whenever I see you sell something a little part of me dies - I can't imagine ever wanting to part with the stuff I've painted :)

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    2. You sweet talker! If we were neighbors, we'd be jamming. I came to drumming too late to do anything useful with it but I learned much by getting hooked. It was a huge stress buster. I never understood what was "hard" drumming until RB. Now I have a great appreciation for it.

      As for selling, I tell myself I can always paint up more. That's a bit of a lie because one day (shudder) painting will go the way of drumming.

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    3. It's interesting how you (and a number of other bloggers I admire) really enjoy the painting side of it, whereas I much prefer the finishing and the gaming to the painting itself. I am warming more to 'the painting process' though, and have found that having something good to listen to and a nice drink of something nearby goes a long way to making it almost enjoyable!

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  3. I respect Trebian's approach, but can't say I work like that myself. I have been working on a project this evening, that I started in early 2009. No paint has yet been applied to a miniature!

    I have 4000+ unpainted 28mm minis, and 1700 part painted, but un-based... half the fun is working out what to paint next. :-)

    Simon

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    1. Well Simon, I certainly wouldn't want to argue with your output! You are a painting machine, and always to a magnificent standard. I guess this proves that there's room enough for various approaches :)

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  4. Hopefully you find solace in the fact that you are not alone. I also think you figures look good. So soldier on I guess.

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    1. Thanks Sean! I recall you also struggle to get as much painted as you'd like. Maybe we should start some kind of club for chronic painting underachievers?!

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  5. I find it amusing that people are using words like "iron willed" to describe me. I'm not actually like that. It's because I'm not like that that I have to force myself into a corner where I have no choice.

    As for "no such thing as a completed project" I'd agree, and I think I said so in the original piece. I'm always on the look out for extra bits to add to armies which are otherwise "completed" in the sense that they are big enough to be used.

    Sympathy to Prufrock ho' -never cosidered that the weathewr would interfere with a in door hobby!

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    1. Yes, that's a good way to do it Trebian, and I think that I'm similar to you in that respect - gaming is the end rather than the painting in and of itself, and the plan is to expand what you can do on-table. Whether that be completely finishing an army for all time or whether that be simply having enough troops done to supply the armies for next week's battle is immaterial, really.

      Thanks again for a thought-provoking and inspiring post.

      Cheers,
      Aaron

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    2. There's no need to thank me for thep iece. You provoked me into writing it and through that and the medium of TMP it has been the most populat and positively received piece on wargaming I've written for a long while Even picked up a goodly number of followers.

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    3. Glad to hear it Trebian - you certainly made a great job of it and deserve all the positive attention you get!

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  6. I guess I vacillate between being a wargaming bowerbird, just chasing the shiny, and desperately trying to get the little pieces painted so I can game with them.

    Currently have 4 periods on the go, and while one is an "all my own painting effort" I will admit that life has moved to a point where I am content to go a bit slower in the collecting and buy the units already painted. But I guess even with a plan its still hard to know when a period is done, as there always seems to be just one more unit to make it perfect, or another brigade to give you greater flexibility on the battlefield.

    I guess the fact I raise both sides for any period helps a bit in at least ensuring "balance" as an end point, I still find it hard to know when "just one more tank" is too many, and when maybe I need to indulge in a new period.

    Ohhh and if we really were chronic painter underachievers we would just go the very easy route of painting one army red and the other blue. :-)

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    1. Hi Anthony, thanks for dropping by, and you make good points. I guess we're not quite at the red and blue stage yet ;-) I also build both sides, so I suppose that does help with balance - but has the side effect of needing to expand both sides if you want to expand one!

      It can indeed be hard to know when to stop...

      Cheers,
      Aaron

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