I think I'm ready to start wrapping up the hobby, at least in terms of the volume I have been producing. I'll still probably always paint, but I'm at a stage in my life where the armies I have currently painted, and the ones that are currently waiting for their turn on the backlog, are all I'll need. Any future expansion will either be small addons to a single a project or a small project that will consist of a handful of miniatures or even as few as one or two.
One of the reasons for this is that I've been in a bit of a funk about my hobby for some time now. Over the years I have finally developed my skills to a point of a mid to high painter, not award winning, but competent. However I don't quite feel the pride that I used to at the sight of my completed armies, nor the enthusiasm to build more. However, in the end I have a hard time feeling that I have much to show for it, a lot of miniatures for many systems, most of which I'll never play and in the end when I do play it is infrequent due to other life commitments and general fatigue. When I look at the fresh, unopened boxes on my shelf, I'm not feeling excited or challenged by new projects, I'm beginning to feel like all of it is simply more work, which is a horrible thing for your hobby to turn into.
The reasons for this change are many most of which I feel are related to a long term depressive downturn, which I know has been happening to me for a while. I've certainly been feeling a similar lethargy with my other hobbies and distractions in my life. So that is certainly part of it, if not the main cause. I suspect that my tastes may also be changing, especially as larger and larger sections of Gamer/Nerd culture start showing their arse in terms of precisely how reactionary they really are. For example I used to look forward to a revival of Star Wars as a franchise, now everything is Star Wars and I can't think of anything worse that the culture around the fandom. Please don't interpret this as a plea to banish politics from our favorite franchises because as we all know everything is deeply political, most people haven't realized it until now. 40k doesn't quite have this problem with the fandom advertised and reported on to the extent that it has been done for other fandoms, but even the small scratch in the surface reveals a community of gamers that completely missed the hidden curriculum, and now gleefully photoshop the heads of prominent world leaders onto the body of the Emperor of Mankind without a trace irony. It is not pleasant to be part of that.
I think what I need is to stop the hobby from feeling like an arduous task, which ultimately boils down to several critical factors.
- No More Armies
The downside the army painting is the by definition repetitive nature of the painting. You can't create something distinct and uniform on the table top without committing to one universal colour scheme. This means one colour scheme, one method for efficiency, which spells death for any chance of creativity. - No More Batch Painting
Productionising painting, while great for getting things done, has turned out to be bad for experimentation. My new goal going forward is to paint individual minis from start to finish and use this as a chance to exercise a lot more creativity. - More Variety
Single minis means the opportunity to branch out and try new things. I know plenty of techniques that I have yet to even try due to the lack of a proper miniature to paint. So, no more squad boxes, just three to four minis at most, a blister pack size if you will. Any more than that and I'll slip back into a painting funk again. - Avoid Discourse
There is a massive online culture war now in pop culture at large, which mostly comes from politics and bleeds over into every facet of life. That is not to say that these conversation are inconsequential, important questions about representation in pop culture, and appropriation are starting to get asked which is a good thing. However, the ongoing background radiation of the discourse takes a toll on me mentally. I also suspect it is why I have a hard time uncritically enjoying things anymore. If Discourse Poisoning isn't a term, it should, because that is what I feel like I have. The solution is not to shut it out completely, but to limit my intake, if only to avoid outright self loathing, while maintaining just enough to know what is going on.
What I've Been Painting
In retrospect, and in spite of my own deteriorating mental health, my progress has been quite good.
The first major project fully completed has been a significant extension to my Team Yankee Soviets. My intention was to bring them up to a tourney legal amount in terms of points, but it turns out I'm not going to be playing them this year. Maybe some other time.
In terms of technique, the vehicles are some of the quickest I've painted. A simple basecoat, wash, re-layer, transfers, then drybrush method worked a treat. The infantry on the other hand were a slog, and has given me some appreciation for the amount of work I'll be up for when I finally commit to rebuilding my late war British for Flames of War. I've wrote up the a detailed guide for how I painted the infantry on this very blog, if you haven't already seen it.
Another project I did immediately after I wrapped up the Team Yankee was to do a video specifically about my method for painting up fifteen mil minis. In terms of tutorial quality I think this is one of my better attempts, and the fact that I didn't record audio after the fact certainly helped with explaining what I am doing. I've also been convinced to try streaming again by some arty friends. I'll try to occasionally do it on a Sunday, and mostly focus on single minis and small projects to keep it interesting.The first major project fully completed has been a significant extension to my Team Yankee Soviets. My intention was to bring them up to a tourney legal amount in terms of points, but it turns out I'm not going to be playing them this year. Maybe some other time.
In terms of technique, the vehicles are some of the quickest I've painted. A simple basecoat, wash, re-layer, transfers, then drybrush method worked a treat. The infantry on the other hand were a slog, and has given me some appreciation for the amount of work I'll be up for when I finally commit to rebuilding my late war British for Flames of War. I've wrote up the a detailed guide for how I painted the infantry on this very blog, if you haven't already seen it.
I also got around to finishing Steelheart's Champions. While I don't think they are at competition level, I am happy with the result and if I paint any more Stormcast I'll probably stick to this scheme and make them my own custom Stormhost. I'm thinking the Knights Ethereal.
I've made a dramatic start to my Kill Team projects. So far I've finished some Space Wolves using the standard GW method and some Orks where I tried to get a bit experimental. While they both turned out fairly well, I think some of the metallic chipping didn't quite work on the Orks, and I've got a variation to try with my next kill team, I'm thinking the Ad-Mech as a candidate.
In hobby related news I'm starting to run out of storage space for my minis, which is a good thing as it means I can start to focus more and more on smaller, less space intensive goals. To cope with this I have been looking for interesting storage and display solutions. It turns out that clear perspex risers and drawers from office works generally works pretty great. I'm planning to buy a few more of these to store my Late War Brits.
I've also consigned a bunch of my old minis to the stripping vats. My old Battlefleet Gothic fleet is in their along with a selection of 40k single minis and Flames of War tanks. I'm hoping to treat them as one of projects for video tutorials and livestreams.
That is pretty much it, life goes on as does the little things we do to distract ourselves from it. I'll let you know how I'm going in the next whiny sad-post.
