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Hey Dakka,

I suffer (like a lot of us) from army ADD. How have you combated this in the past?

I would like to figure out a few different ways to attempt to combat this so I can get an army fully painted and completely done and used for awhile before jumping onto the next project.

Any insight you guys and gals have would be great!

Thanks,
-manofsteel

Why fight it?

If you can afford it, why not have pick and mix? The rules allow for it these days.

The "proper" way to "do" "GW: The Hobby (TM)" is the way that gives you pleasure.

As for completing things, only you know how significant your attention span or lack of it is. I COULD say - paint x before you open y, but we both know that in many many cases that simply won't happen.

Agreed, don't really fight it. Instead, practice "productive procrastination" (stolen from Tabletop Minions Youtube channel).

If you have a handful (and this is the important part; 3-4 projects, not a dozen) of armies/games you're working on, you can switch between them when your motivation is feeling a bit lacking. "Guh, I don't feel like painting these damn orks" winds up not doing any hobby time at all if that's your only project, but if you have something else you can jump on ("So instead I'll build this new Skeleton unit.") then you can still use your hobby time towards your hobby, rather than saying fek it and not doing anything at all.

Now, it might also be helpful to set some milestones for each project (get a skirmish group painted, get a character done, whatever) so that you can play something with your duders, but in my own experience what doesn't work is "I will finish this entire army of 500 models before I work on anything else." That just leads to burn out and doing nothing, in my experience anyway.

"productive procrastination" Love it!

 oni wrote:
"productive procrastination" Love it!

Yeah, Uncle Atom has a few good ones.

This is the video in particular that I was talking about.

Army ADD is one of the reasons I switched to skirmish games.

If I want to jump over and try something it's a whole lot cheaper than buying a whole army.

Yeah, a lot of my army ADD has to do with looking for a combination of gameplay and painting variety. Trying other game systems satisfies this significantly better than starting another army in a game I'm already playing.

I've largely switched to board games (usually with miniatures, lol), and a handful of skirmish games. My bane is Kickstarter addiction, lol.

I suffer from it as well, and over the many years I have been painting and modelling (about 20, now), I have drifted away from army-scale games to skirmish games.

I simply cannot stand to assembly-line paint anymore, and skirmish sized warbands make it easier because each model tends to be a bit more individual, and I can fulfill my ADD by changing things up with each new warband. For example, in the last year I have painted about 10-20 model warbands each of Skaven, Orcs, and Stormcast, which obviously is a pretty varied trio of forces stylistically.

I actually chose Dark Angels as a project because of the three paint schemes within the army. I try to keep my purchases reasonable and not load up on too much of one thing. I also accepted that I mainly enjoy the painting part of the hobby, so I don't really feel the pressure of building optimized lists for what I collect.

I've never had it (ADD).

That said, I've flitted from game to game for the last 30ish years without regrets. I might settle into a game for a while, but there's no guarantee it's going to be my "forever" game. I played 40k or 25 years with 4 armies and still quit it for another game. Downsized all 4 armies to about a quarter of what I had for the most part, keeping only those models I still liked.

I just bought into games on the strength of a particular army's models. I never even got a "full" collection of any of them, and I usually will tire of the game and move on long before I have got (at least) one of everything for that army.

Box up and store away any projects you arent currently working on. Out of sight, out of mind, out of temptation.

Then begin to chip away at your current one.
Set a goal each evening, a dude here, a squad there, a character etc.
Then each morning have a quick look at them and give yourself a proverbial pat on the back.
Line them up or put them on display so you can see how you're progressing along nicely.
Rinse and repeat.

If its a particularly boring set of dudes you have to get through, give yourself a mental reward by saying if I finish these I'll work on that tank I cant wait to start on.

Start a blog on here, get people involved and encouraging the progress - post pics, get feedback, tell a story along with the blog.

I have never suffered from it in regards to 40K.

And I have never suffered from it for fantasy gaming - I enjoy every minute of it!

I run RPGs as well as play fantasy wargames - fantasy miniatures can serve multiple purposes - a dwarf is a dwarf is a dwarf, and likewise for goblins, elves, orcs, skeletons, zombies, and etc. whether I am using them for Pathfinder, Mordheim, or Kings of War.

*EDIT* This may well be the root of why I prefer fantasy gaming to SF gaming - I get more use from the minis.

The Auld Grump

one of the newest members in our group has 4 different armies now, they are all small (maybe 1500pts for his biggest army) he switches between units, Paint a unit of blood angels, then a unit of death guard, then night lords, etc. this way he stays interested in painting and hobbying, I'd also like to mention he had progress the fastest painting wise of any in our group, probably because of all the different styles he utilizes.