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I am a prominent figure at my FLGS. People watch me as I go by, and they all have the same question on their minds, "When will he finish an army?"

My problem is that I have DOZENS of awesome army ideas per day, and as hard as I try to sort them all, I cannot for the life of me work out an army I can stick with. I still haven't found a Fantasy Army that I like, despite dalliances with Skaven, Dark Elves, and even trying(and failing miserably) at Chaos Dwarves. This affliction has hurt my 40k work too, I have never painted more than a few squads, I just keep going, "Oh, wouldn't THAT be a cool army?", model some cool conversions, then do absolutely bugger all with them. I think I've finally found something I can stick with, in my Preheresy Iron Warrior Wolfwing, but how can I make sure I stick it out?

Sheer force of will? I don't know. I get tired of armies too after a time, especially older ones that are really limited.

1. Give a friend a newspaper
2. Instruct them to hit you with said newspaper if you deviate from your current army plan


But really I guess you could just save those ideas for later and try to focus on the current one you're doing.

Also just keep in mind how cool it would probably look if you manage to finish it. I guess really you need to focus on the end result to give yourself more motivation and try not to think up of new ideas until after you have finished an old one.

Play Thousand Sons, you already have the essence of Change in you.

Seriously though. I had the same problem in Fantasy, I would play Wood Elves, Chaos, Orcs, even started playing Vamps for a while. It wasn't until I started sitting down and trying to paint that I found that I was a Chaos player though. I'm not much for painting in general, but the only thing I really can bring myself up to paint well is metal and furs. My marauders barely have paint on them, and I've had them the longest.

Slarg232 wrote:Play Thousand Sons, you already have the essence of Change in you.

That doesn't help, that was one of the ideas I had.

n0t_u wrote:1. Give a friend a newspaper
2. Instruct them to hit you with said newspaper if you deviate from your current army plan

Actually this seems like the solution I'm leaning towards. I've actually gotten to painting my first IW Termie, and I know I'll never hear the end of it if my army dies after this.

Archmagos_Amadeus wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Play Thousand Sons, you already have the essence of Change in you.

That doesn't help, that was one of the ideas I had.

Sorry. At least the theme is right though

Haha, thanks anyway. They're probably number 3 on my list of armies to do.

I have the same issue. I like to solve the problem by making armies that can play as more than one codex.

I used to have the same problem, but then I finally settled on Tyranids.

But now the taint of Chaos is taunting me again (it was my first army) and it wants to start a Night Lords army...

*sigh*

The problem with Army ADD is that if you're one of those people that has it...you just kinda have to deal with it and hope you can at least finish a army before you move on to the next one, rather than stopping in the middle of one.

Here's my armies and the total points I can field in each.

Chaos Daemons 1240 points.
Dark Elves 2320 points.
Chaos Space Marines 1650 points.
Beastmen 750 points.
Brentonnian 800 points.
Chaos Warriors 1500 points.
Space Marines 1500 points.
Orks 1250 points.

And I have been playing WHFB and WH40k for...seven months. And I've played...five games total.

I definitely have Army ADD.

Focus your creative effort on one really awesome army. Try as hard as you can to consolidate all of your ideas into only a few armies with a little bit of abstract thought. Attempt to add cool and memorable aspects to every unit you possibly can within the army you're dead-set on sticking with, and try to put a coherent theme into your entire army. Try to tackle projects where it's very easy to see the results from each step. Don't set any solid boundaries for yourself when you're painting or sculpting; only set a general theme from the army and don't be afraid to deviate from certain aspects to help sate your boredom. Search through related projects to find new ideas that relate to the army that you're currently working on.

All these tips should help you in building a single army up. Always try to remember that there will be time for more armies later, once you've finished your current work.

I would say you need to sort your buying habits out.

Design an army. Buy the army. Paint the army. Absolutely nothing else gets bought until it's finished.

I have the same problem, but only get as far as buying codices. Was real bad back when WFB 6th edition was released and a new army was out every 2 months

I would suggest reaistic goals for each army. 750 points is a playable, if small, game. If your buddies will humor you for small games while you get your armies built, you can build and paint 750 points of an army, and while you play games with it, you can be working on 750 points of another army. Then go back and add 250 points to your first army. Then do another 750 point army. And so on. Before you know it, you will have three or four armies at 1250 or 1500 points.

I used to suffer the same army ADD. After I built my Dark Eldar for 3rd edition, I tried to build a second army. I managed to get a couple units done for Chaos, Eldar, Necrons, Marines, and Imperial Guard, but never managed a playable force. And then I stopped playing altogether for close to ten years.

So when I started up again, I decided that it would be only one army at a time, until I have a playable force. I have finished 750 points of my Eldar, and am in the homestretch towards the 1250 mark for them. So I don't feel too bad for dabbling a bit with my upcoming Tau, for which I have already bought stuff for (since I am done buying Eldar for the time being.)

So I hope you find my suggestion and anecdotes useful and or helpful

I can definitely sympathise with anyone who suffers army ADD, I suffer it but not quite to the extent of others. At the moment I have 5 different armies at various stages of completion (that's in both 40k and Fantasy), and I suspect they will shortly be joined by a 5th as my LGS is running an army building comp in November. My only "completed" army to date (Dark Elves) was the result of the last one they did but even that needs a lot of work for me to be happy with it.

In 40k I'm yet to get a fully painted army together. My main army is my Thousand Sons, I have 1250 points built, 250 points being built and out of that lot only about 260 points is painted. Then I have 500pts of DH/GK which are on the back burner as I'm waiting for the new codex before I go any further. Finally I have a long term 1000 point IG project which is mainly there for me to work on whenever I'm bored of working on my main project (or waiting for something to dry).

So yeah I do have suffer army ADD to an extent, however I find that giving myself targets to meet really helps me to finish a project be it a single character model or as in the case of the Dark Elves a whole army.

For example I won't be able to attend my LGS's games evenings for the next month (staff holidays causing a couple of nights to be cancelled plus me being busy on the days in question). This is annoying but at the same time it gives me a date to aim for when trying to complete my Thousand Sons army, which gives me more motivation to finish.

If I had the cash I'd TOTALLY have a bajillion random units in various states for paint and assembly. But being as strapped for cash as I am, I kinda have to set goals to make collecting realistically possible.

If you want to complete an army, just start with a small point goal for one army. Then you can can build and paint it all in one sitting. Then just slowly make additions to the army. Even if you wanted to start a new army. Buy some stuff for that army, and some stuff for you existing army as well. Just add little by little each time.

If you want to stick with an army or two for a while than commit to painting your army well. This works for me. I recently expanded my ultramarine army by adding 2000 pts of bikes and decided to paint them all with a tricky paint scheme. Not only do I have to paint all those bikes I have to go back and strip the paint off my original army and repaint it to match my new one. If your army takes forever to paint you'll be using it for a while before starting other projects and hopefully when you finally get it done it will look so good you dont want to get another army any time soon.

I too suffer from army ADD, although it is on a different scale. While I do complete my armies, I only play a few games with them before another army grabs my attention.

While it is of no help to you, I have now suffered from it for so many years that I have come full circle.
I am now the happy owner of several (9+) huge armies (5000+ points) and can flutter about like a happy butterfly.

On a more helpful note; Make some goals.

Then do the hardest thing.

STICK TO THE GOAL!

Make the goal small. Like; In the next fourteen-day period I will finish painting these ten Guardsmen/Skinks/Whatever.

Not only will it help you finish your armies, but it will also teach you a bit of discipline.
Once you have experienced the joy of reaching your goal, you will find it easier the next time around.

While this is a hobby, and as such is fuelled by fun, enthusiasm and motivation, sometimes one just needs to man up, strap on and grap a hand-full!

Sometimes the job in front of you isn't the most exiting, but it is the job that is in need of getting done.....and so you do it.
You can of course "trick" yourself sometimes.
I might need to paint 60 Ork Boys, but I paint them ten at a time. This gives me the pleasure of seeing (part of) my models all done.

*Pats oneself on the shoulder*
* "Who's a good boy, then? Huh, huh? Who's a good boy?"*

Perhaps I am very much influenced by having spent some time in the Armed Forces, I don't know.
I guess I'm trying to say to man up and learn some discipline. It is well worth it.

The end might have come out as overly harsh, but it really isn't meant as such.

I used to JUST play IG, and then I got hit with army ADD, but I managed to channel it eventually because I have enough armys by now by that every urge I get can be directed into another one of my armys. Hey! I want to do a Killa Kan army! Better get painting on those IH dreads! Ya Know, I feel a need for speed, back to Bikes! I feel like indulging in my "bad guy" side. Maybe I should do some Ch-- I mean more Ogres! I have been considering starting FOW, better go play COH. Hey, I have this really cool idea for a HUGE project! Better go rebuild my imperator. So my armies don't ever get finished, I am just building them up in layers, one at a time. Bluntly going NO! Im gonna stay the course! is hard for me, so I do something that is similar enough to satisfy my whim, until I cycle around to my last army. This makes deadlines a pain, though!

I have a similar army ADD problem, as do a lot of people I'm sure.

My solution, which is kind of working, is basically a variation of the "keep reachable goals" advice above...and I'm dedicating myself to just making 200-point Kill Teams.

The reason why this works is that my interest in "the Hobby" is in the design, painting, and modelling aspects. I personally treat the army list as just a commonly accepted framework on bring the miniatures together.

Even with this, I still have problems. I got 2 armies half-done (Marines and Orks) since I got back in the hobby, rather than fully completing just 1 Kill Team, but that's already progress for me. I'm painting faster while buying less.

Yes, I have a problem, but I admitted it, am fixing it, and I'm getting better. Maybe the above ideas are helpful to you, OP.

Thanks so much to everyone for your advice. I think what I'm going to do for my current project is just write down every model on a checklist that I need to build/paint/etc and just use that as my list of goals. I'll cross off each model as I paint them and occasionally use them in games to keep me motivated.

Another thing that I've been considering that should help immensely is starting a plog here on DakkaDakka for the army. It'll be hard to convince myself to do another army while the teeming masses of the internet are all crying at me for "More!"

I painted the first terminator for the army last night. It came out really well, so that alone is a huge motivating factor.

Archmagos_Amadeus wrote:I think what I'm going to do for my current project is just write down every model on a checklist that I need to build/paint/etc and just use that as my list of goals. I'll cross off each model as I paint them and occasionally use them in games to keep me motivated.

I think I'll follow your lead there and make my own to-do list. Thanks for the great idea.

No problem. I actually got the idea from an old WD where someone printed out the Space Marines Battle Company datasheet and crossed off each Blood Angel as he finished them

I think a lot of players best the ADDemon by sheer expident of not enough ready cash.

Even more dangerous is the curse of vast army bloat, where your little, playable strike force gets bigger anf bigger and.... oooh, I'd like another baneblade with that! Which means I'll need more troops, and more fast attack, and another dread, and then some...

Until you have an Apoc-or-nothing two billion point nightmare that you can't bear to piece out for little games, and even one turn takes a geological age.

I have the same problem but it doesn't seem to matter to me. If you are having fun with going back and forth between armies then have iat it as long you enjoy it.