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So a lot of people say when you're choosing an army or collecting models to "just pick what looks good to you!" well as sound as this logic is, as you'll never be unhappy with looking at the models you've accumulated and painted, I'm finding that I've run into a kind of wall with this school of thought.

Everything from most miniature ranges looks simultaneously awful and great to me.

Now that sounds stupid but what I mean by that is this: I've spent so much time looking at 40k showcase minis, catalogs, painting guides, Privateer Press displays, Dark Age mini galleries, Infinity battlefields packed with terrain and brightly colored soldiers and auxiliaries that it's hard for me to pick an aesthetic to get excited about anymore.

I recently bought a whole bunch of Tyranids and I was super excited to paint them up in bone and red and say "I did this" and plop them on the battlefield, regardless of whether I won or lost, but through a combination of painting hassles and delays discouraging me and seeing other people's armies and models painted up beautifully with various other schemes, I've become numb to my little buggies and their smooth chitin plates and molded exoskeletons.

I really don't know how to fix this. Do I need to change colors to something more pleasing to the eye? Push through it and get better at painting so I can be proud of my minis? Force myself to pick a new aesthetic to cling to and make a full army swap? By the way, I tried going the Fantasy instead of Future-Fiction route but I definitely disliked the fluff and look of those models whereas right now I just can't find something I like. If you want to suggest some of your favorite models/model ranges I can have a look at that might make up my mind for me, that'd be even better

If anyone else has run into this feeling, feel free to share, and if you can, help?

I found that painting Infinity minis feels very different than painting GW minis. They're a bit smaller with much more detail and present different challenges.

Also, I think you may want to look into the fluff more. It's hard to really understand a model without understanding what it is and why it's like that. Each model has a story that can bring that excitement. Recently I read about the Uberfallkommandos from Infinity and loved the fluff so much that I had to have them.

Try that approach and see what falls into place. For my suggestion, PP really has amazing fluff that some people don't bother to look at.

Sound like you might have both burnout and shiny model syndrome.

SMS is when you look at all the -other- cool stuff out there, and covet it. Your own stuff isn’t as interesting anymore. Giving in to it leads to side projects, second armies, and piles upon piles of unpainted plastic. Or when talking about paint jobs, countless times repainting the same mini.

Burnout is understandable, particularly when dealing with horde armies like nids. You might love your army, and be psyched about your paintjob, but somewhere around the highlights on gaunt #47 you just want to scream.

One way to help with burnout is by mixing things up. Paint 5 guants, then a warrior. 5 more guants, then a tyrant. Reward the tedium of painting waves of troops with a special project. Or give in to your wandering eye and paint something outside your own army for a change. Or something in your army that breaks the mold. For example, when I grow tired of painting ultramarine blue power armor I can do some scouts, which I do in a forest camo. Or Eldar, or any of the other odds and ends on my painting bench.

I really have a 40k fluff problem (what's an addiction? ) if it weren't for the fluff, I probably wouldn't even play the game. I kind of glaze over glaring rules issues and GW horrendous actions as a company with the justification of "but I love the universe!" particularly the Black Library novels. Haven't got into Horus Heresy but I'm sure it'll come in time

My disenchantment with Tyranids in particular might be because they don't have any real characters or stories told from their perspective. They just eat and eat and eat. Which is cool, but there's no emotion... Makes for kind of a one dimensional faction... That's how I've always felt about sentient, non-A.I. machine factions... It's hard to play as a group you can't relate to.

I haven't read much of the Iron Kingdoms lore though. Do they have novels/a publisher like Black Library I could look into or are there other sourcebooks for lore and fluff I can get my hands on for cheap/free?

 bocatt wrote:
I really have a 40k fluff problem (what's an addiction? ) if it weren't for the fluff, I probably wouldn't even play the game. I kind of glaze over glaring rules issues and GW horrendous actions as a company with the justification of "but I love the universe!" particularly the Black Library novels. Haven't got into Horus Heresy but I'm sure it'll come in time

My disenchantment with Tyranids in particular might be because they don't have any real characters or stories told from their perspective. They just eat and eat and eat. Which is cool, but there's no emotion... Makes for kind of a one dimensional faction... That's how I've always felt about sentient, non-A.I. machine factions... It's hard to play as a group you can't relate to.

I haven't read much of the Iron Kingdoms lore though. Do they have novels/a publisher like Black Library I could look into or are there other sourcebooks for lore and fluff I can get my hands on for cheap/free?

They do have their own line of books. Here's Into the Storm.
http://www.amazon.com/Into-Storm-Larry-Correia-ebook/dp/B00EUSMLLE
All their other books
https://skullislandx.com/warmachine
No Quarter
http://privateerpress.com/no-quarter/issues
But also, their Iron Kingdoms RPG is filled with awesome stuff.

@Nevelon, I hadn't thought of that. I have four carnifexes to paint but haven't touched any of them except with primer as I'm afraid I'll muck it up too bad. I've just been practicing on termagants. I guess I'll give one of the bigger gribblies a go. What's the worst that could happen? I have to strip it like I've already had to do to one carnifex and 20 gaunts? Lol

 bocatt wrote:
@Nevelon, I hadn't thought of that. I have four carnifexes to paint but haven't touched any of them except with primer as I'm afraid I'll muck it up too bad. I've just been practicing on termagants. I guess I'll give one of the bigger gribblies a go. What's the worst that could happen? I have to strip it like I've already had to do to one carnifex and 20 gaunts? Lol

You gotta graduate from gaunts sometime. Give one of your bigger 'Nids a go. There's always Simple Green if you don't like it.

I've definitely felt similarly in the past, and I've gotten around it with little dalliances into other ranges.

What you really sound like is that you're bored with your current level of painting technique, and you need to step up into a slightly higher level. A breakthrough in technique can really reinvigorate.

Get some Magic Marble Swirling paints and dip them suckers! Fast, fun way to paint Nidz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhH0jKLE36M&feature=youtu.be

 brendan wrote:
I've definitely felt similarly in the past, and I've gotten around it with little dalliances into other ranges.

What you really sound like is that you're bored with your current level of painting technique, and you need to step up into a slightly higher level. A breakthrough in technique can really reinvigorate.

Another nice thing about using one-off minis from other ranges/armies is that they don’t have to match what you are doing. I value consistency in my army. After all, I play Ultramarines, a more uniform bunch of guys you are unlikely to find. This makes it difficult to stretch my painting wings. If I started doing extreme edge highlights on a tactical marine (for example), he would stand out from his peers, which would be a bad thing. If I wanted to do something like new fabric techniques on the tabards of my honor guard, that’s fine; they are the only guys who have them. But I could also use some old D&D minis to work on new techniques. They are all individuals and don’t have to match. If I like what I’m doing, I can either touch up my old stuff, or strip and re-paint the whole army.

Not that either is likely to happen, I’ve got enough unpainted stuff kicking around. But I could if I wanted to, or just reserve the new tricks for HQs or other special occasions.

 bocatt wrote:
I recently bought a whole bunch of Tyranids and I was super excited to paint them up in bone and red and say "I did this" and plop them on the battlefield, regardless of whether I won or lost, but through a combination of painting hassles and delays discouraging me and seeing other people's armies and models painted up beautifully with various other schemes, I've become numb to my little buggies and their smooth chitin plates and molded exoskeletons.

I have this issue. I try not to look at other peoples plogs because seeing stuff painted to a degree I'll never match is fairly discouraging. I actually can't paint to the level I want to due to having astigmatism in one eye. Even with corrective lenses I physically cannot see some detail, particularly bad on Infinity models. I've learned to accept that I paint to a certain level with certain techniques and just get on with it.

The other problem you have here is you bought a large amount of models in one go and now have to start at piles of unpainted stuff.

Put it all away. All of it. Grab say, 10 Termagants. Prime them all, and paint each one differently but in the colours you want. Drybrushes, washes, dips, highlights, layers, etc. Figure out which one was the easiest and quickest to get to the level you want. Dump the rest in a bucket of Simple Green or something to strip them, reprime them, and refine the technique over the squad. Then take another squad out, leave the painted squad in view, and paint that squad up. Just get it done, a squad at a time.

Personally, I think my Behemoth Tyranids are fairly standard. The skin is just primed Army Painter spray red, washed with Strongtone Ink, and relayered back to red. it's nice and vibrant, but kind of flat due to not being highlighted. The chitin is just black, feathered with a few greys and finally turquoise. I get complemented on the army whenever I have it at the FLGS. An army painted in a consistent way will always look good on the tabletop.