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How do you all stay focused on working on one army and then squeezing time in to work on it when life and family get in the way.

After a long hiatus from the hobby I have decided to get back into it with 6th edition.

Problem is I do not have a completed army to play which has always been an issue but never a problem as I always play with friends and we all fielded half finished armies but even than I was the worse offender. But now I will be playing at local stores which will not be as forgiving or lax.

I have gone from working on my Space Wolves to then switching to my ultramarines then deciding to put all things marine related on hold for a new codex which is rumored for later this year..

I then decided to start on my Tau because of the new codex then the new Eldar codex came out and what started as a good time to sell turned into thinking of my using this army.

Part of my problem is I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to all things 40K and been at it since the rogue Trader days and have more stuff than most stores do.

I can probably field decent size armies for 2 IG forces, 3 flavors of marines, Eldar, and Tau along with assorted forces to make a few allied armies

So what are some tips for keeping an ADD affected 40K player in check.

Thanks,

Ray

I have this problem, although not for the same reasons as you apparently.

The answer:

1) Choose a single army you want to work on, and gather together all unassembled, unpainted stuff/bitz for that army.

2) Put away every other model you own. Finished stuff goes in cases, box everything else up. Then put these where you can't easily access them.

3) Set up your hobby area with your chosen faction, and get to work.

4) Profit!

You make yourself do it. No matter what, you make time to paint.

I pretty much have forced myself to stop painting until I can get some reasonable progress done on painting. Once I get a unit or two painted up I'll get back into it, but it's just my way of adding incentive.

I tried the "dont buy anything new until I finish what I have," but that doesn't work when you're broke and can't afford any new minis

This is a common problem, if indeed it is a problem. You are supposed to be enjoying yourself and if that means working on multiple armies then there is no harm in that. If sticking to one army becomes a huge chore you are not enjoying then dont do it!

I have this issue, too. I got a LOT done on my Sisters of Battle by forming squads and working on one squad at a time. Doing something similar for Dystopian Wars and Heavy Gear at the moment.

maybe take a few years off work and try to finish everything?

I personally have a similar problem. But I decided to care for it in going with Orks. So if I find a different model from a different army I like. They loot it. And yeah it might be half finished here and there, But it looks ramshackle like an Ork army should.

You are supposed to be enjoying yourself and if that means working on multiple armies then there is no harm in that. If sticking to one army becomes a huge chore you are not enjoying then dont do it!

This is the truth.

If you're having fun, you'll be motivated to paint and things will get done. If you really want to get a painted army on the table, don't focus on just one because you'll get bored and do something else. Try picking two or three armies to work on simultaneously and just accept the fact that they'll get done eventually. I have ADHD and five incomplete armies in four different game systems (40K-IG; DW-EotBS; DzC: PHR & UCM; FoW-Germans). I'm working only on the PHR & German armies at the moment because they're the ones I most want to play.

If you can find a way to work with your ADHD rather than against it, you have a much greater chance of success.

You seem to have two flavors of marines, plus some guard done?

If that's the case, use a marine list with guard allies. It may not be optimal, but with not too many models you can hit 1000 pt or so. That will get you playing games, and I've found it is a LOT easier to add a unit here and there rather than sit down with a whole army at once.

I've never seen people have a problem with marines painted the "wrong" color. Using them as multiple armies is one of the great selling points of marines.

If it ain't painted, it don't get played.

A simple rule, which I have largely stuck to since I returned two years ago (back in the day, I'd frequently get about 3 out of a squad done, or base coat a vehicle, and never touch those models again)

Losing a game and thinking "those Assault Termies would have made a hell of a difference if I'd got them finished and could have taken them" is great motivation to get a squad finished.

In addition, I enjoy painting the big stuff, not so much the troops (who does?!) so I always try and make myself finish a squad before doing a big model. (This is working exceptionally well with the daemons I'm working on, I've got 40 troops out of 70 and 9 bases of Nurglings done, so I've almost exclusively got fun things left to do!)

As for focussing on one army? I find following your heart, and not rushing into things, to be the best way. When I came back, I picked up DE, as they'd not been out long, the codex was strong and the models were almost uniformly excellent. Trouble was, as much as I liked them, I didn't love them. So, 6 months down the line, I jumped ship. I had read the HH novel Deliverance, and despite that book having its critics, I really fell in love with the Raven Guard. I also found the black with white contrast a really striking scheme visually (although by no means as easy to paint as you might think) and discovered that the BA codex allowed me to field the force on the table that reflected my vision of what I wanted.

12 months or so on, and inevitably I got a little jaded, so I embarked on my next (and last as far as GW are concerned) project, the aforementioned daemons. I'd been thinking this over for almost the whole time since I'd come back, as there are so many more third party producers now, with such easy access through the net, that I really wanted to build the army with as many alternate models as possible. Finding new producers, or tracking down OOP models has been a real hobby in itself, and I now have a good number of models in my army that are there because I love the model, and not just because I've wanted to field that unit and bought the model from GW. This means that nearly all the characters and big beasties have me really excited to paint them, which is motivation in itself.

TLDR Follow your heart, not your head, buy models you love and you'll want to paint them and play them.

Simple answer is ..... allies!

You can always field 2 armies at once, swap them round between games and get full use out of all the half-armies you have.

Pay someone else to paint one of your armies.

Pick a "primary" army.

For every "alternate" army figure you paint you MUST paint a primary army figure 1 to 1 ratio.

Hopefully you either will have a full army or some great allies done so you should be able to play no matter what.

I take a week off work, and then lock myself in a cage in the basement with only one army and a paint set, then I tell my missus to only let me out in 7 days time, despite any protestations to the contrary.

By the time she arrives I'm covered in filth and excrement and weeping sores, have rickets, severe malnutrition, and a wonderfully painted and based army.

So... no change at all by the end then, except for the lovely completed army?

My strategies for working my ADD are mostly what has already been mentioned.

Ktulhut wrote:

.... 2) Put away every other model you own. Finished stuff goes in cases, box everything else up. Then put these where you can't easily access them.

3) Set up your hobby area with your chosen faction, and get to work.

As folks with ADD, we love to have options and new stimulus is really enjoyable. Closing off your options helps you to focus because if there's other stuff on the workbench then you know you'll reach for it...

azreal13 wrote:If it ain't painted, it don't get played.

This is a big one. I don't put anything on the table that hasn't been painted. An advantage of ADD for some folks is that when you get in the groove you can sometimes give a real burst of effort to one thing. The impetus to play with something helps me to work extra hard/fast to get it done. Even if it's just finishing up one unit before jumping to something else, it's nice to be able to get that unit on the table.

All that said I don't think there's anything wrong with having more than one project going. I just recommend having only two projects on your desk and only having one unit in-progress within each of those projects.

 azreal13 wrote:
If it ain't painted, it don't get played.

This is my general rule. While I do have models which are as yet unpainted, anything I use for gaming IS painted.
At least basecoated, at that. It doesn't matter how awesome the model is - it will NOT hit the table without paint.

This gets me motivated.

How do I avoid switching to the next new shiny?

Space limitations. I have only so much room. I already have 3 40k armies, 1 WHFB, 3 infinity forces and a handful of other game forces.
If I want to add a new army, I have to like it MORE than one I already have. Because I have to get rid of one of those, to make room for the new one.
If I don't like it more than one I've got, then it doesn't join my collection. No problems.

Ahhh this old proble. I find that working on smaller armys is the key. Darkage is good for this (only around 10-20 models on a tournament level army!) or alternatively do the paint a squad/paint a model thing where for every non-army model you paint you paint a squad for your army. Also try doing your army in small chunks, only buying what you need. Also i find that a simple-but-effective paint scheme works. Take my Khantonians for instance: There primary colour is black so undercoat black, several drybrushes of gradually lightening grey, shoulder/unit identification pads and items painted, flesh? Only faces because they wear gloves, eyes, metals, little details, bases based with a mix of PVA glue and real mud then drybrushed Truecolours Dark Earth then a coat of PVA glue to give the wet effect (there themed around fighting in a rainsoaked battlefield) and done. Looks great and i can have around 1000 points done in a day or 2. Crew art on vehicles takes a little longer but is optional.

There are lots of different techniques to help get your army painted, and you may find that different ones work for you at different times.

You might try setting yourself deadlines or goals, such as '250pts per month', or 'do all the basing this weekend', or 'I want to play a 1000pt game by August', or 'paint for at least 15 minutes a day, every day'.

Find a reasonable goal that you can achieve – and enjoy. Even large, high-quality armies can be produced in relatively short time if you have a good, solid and realistic plan that you stick to.

My biggest obstacles to painting aren't other commitments. Much as I'd love to blame household chores or cooking, or my job(!) for stopping me painting, I've always got at least fifteen minutes free. If I fill them with painting – a hobby I enjoy – I get a kick out of it. If not; no harm done. Don't treat it as a chore, but as something to enjoy, and you'll soon find the painted models stacking up.

As a final thought, while rationalising your models into counts-as armies or allied forces can work in the short-term; ultimately you're cheating yourself of the big satisfaction of knowing that you are painting the very final model of a complete army that you've planned from start to finish. Once you've had that feeling of a job well done, and have one complete (even if small) army done, you'll find it much easier to motivate yourself to get more done.

Good luck!

Get an air brush. I have dyspraxia (along with other problems) and it has some things in common with ADD. I have a very short attention span and need new stimulation all the time. An air brush makes a massive difference as you can get allot of the boring base coat stuff out of the way very fast.

I have this problem problem as well. While I only stick to one army, in less than a year, I have accumulated approximately (really rough guestimate) 10,000 points. A great deal of the junk is stuff I INTENT to convert (Valkyrie to Ork Bomma, etc.) and it always starts well, then I get distracted by a new idea. At this moment, I have no less than 6 major unfinished projects (That bomma, a squad of looted Sentinels, some rhino conversions, etc. etc.)
When I DO finish something, it usually takes a great deal of willpower to focus on that one thing. I tell myself "I am going to work on THIS until it is done or the day is over." Then I clear off my work space of other things and get to work. Usually works reasonably well.

It does not sound like ADD t me lol, it sounds like you just have a lot of extra cash to spend on lovely models you like. Then you get overwhelmed because you have all tis stuff and not enough time to do it all.

Seems like the double edged sword of ADD.

I'm diagnosed with it as well, but I actually get stuff done. I can go on 16+ hour painting sprees on any given day. The thing that prevents me from getting armies done is my cashflow, not the lack of focus. And to add with it, I'm not taking any medication for it. In the past year I ended up painting 4 armies (albeit not all high model count armies; about 3000 points of Grey knights, 2000 points of Deathwing, 1500 points of Warriors of chaos and about 3000 points of orks)

Granted, I don't have a family as such... and one might argue if I have a life if I can (and want to) spend full days painting, but I guess that's a choice I made. And no; I did not opt out of "family life" because I like figures. Pretty much anything I was involved with as a hobby wasn't really "family life"-friendly. And I'm quite sure it wouldn't work for me either.

I do have some of the impulsivity that often comes with ADD, but over time I learned to deal with it and just let ideas sink in before I commit to them. Currently there's 4 armies I want to do and probably only funds for one in the near future. I'm still looking the pros and cons for all of them before I commit to it. However, if I commit to that, I'll keep at it. If I don't care for it anymore, I'll sell it off. Telling myself to wait it off for a new codex that comes sometime does not motivate me to get it done. Besides; new codex comes out, new models come out, buy new models. What about the old models I'm leaving unpainted?

To some extent I do agree with kal-El above; "It does not sound like ADD t me lol, it sounds like you just have a lot of extra cash to spend on lovely models you like. Then you get overwhelmed because you have all tis stuff and not enough time to do it all. "

Back when I had more money to spend on figures I'd stack up on armies and have grey hordes all over. Back then I was in fact, in the same boat as you with all kinds of half finished projects. Eventually they'll got painted, but by then I already had a new project. But I guess that's the way GW markets their stuff.

So, any advice I can give? Do things one at a time... don't go on the GW site too often if you suffer from "shiny model syndrome". Create an armylist of an army you want to play and stick to that. Create a schedule when you want to paint what and get to it. Yes, life does get in the way sometimes, but I don't think life gets in the way every time... if it's a structural problem that interferes with your time and ability to enjoy a leisure activity, you might want to look into it and sort that out.. .create more stability, since a rather "unstable" life is the bane of anyone with ADD.

Is anything painted?

if you feel you legitimately have ADHD I would recommend getting an official diagnoses and figuring out the proper medication. I had this same problem for a while, but now I'm on a ritalin regimen and I can paint a solid 1750 point army in a year.

disclaimer: be very careful with stimulant drugs. They can be dangerous and make you feel like a zombie if you're not careful

Actually, not just a zombie, they range from stimulants to more exotic drugs that do weird stuff to your brain.

I'd recommend coffee. As someone who has 'oooh shiny!' syndrome, I would recommend not allowing yourself to purchase something new until you've built and painted what you currently have. One squad at a time if you can't assembly line paint(I know I can't without losing focus).

My other problem (if you can call it that) is with two kids who aren't yet old enough to paint with, it is really difficult to balance the hobby and spending time with everyone. So the hobby side suffers because when I do have time I'd rather knock out a few extra Zzzzz's.

Find faster ways to paint or do zenithal highlighting with spray cans to make painting faster. I have an airbrush, but requires too much time to clean up, so I've been hunting for silver spray cans that don't suck (Doom Eagles) so I can finish my marine army.