Paint/Build Plan

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**Argive**

Hi All

So I'm working on my army and its slowly coming along. But sometimes I feel like im doing a bit here and a bit there a bit haphazardly.

Do many of you keep lists or plan how you are going to utilize hobby time?
Feel like making a list/schedule would be worth while to keep track. So I'm interested in the collective wisdom of dakka... How many people do this? Does it work for you? What tips and tricks can you offer ?

For example I've been spending some time building my own carry case for my wave serpent using some free foam I got from a dakkian and a shoe box. Then I kind of started to look at these dire avengers I got cheap on ebay. They were primed blue but the savage I got them off didint even clean the mold lines so I went at them with a small dremel file. I suppose the next logical thing would be to build more dire avengers and then prime them and re-prime the ones I filed.

But then again l already have a bunch of models primed and ready to paint so it feels like I'm procrastinating getting on the paint train again..

**Elbows**

Without launching in a massive blog-worthy post...I'll just say this.

Finished models beget finished models. The sooner you finish something and it's on the table, the quicker you're onto the next thing. Would you rather an army which is 20% assembled/painted across the whole thing...or an army with a steady progression of finished models. The more you finish the more your mindset will change.

**Argive**

Do you make a list /plan guide of any sort or just play it by ear?

**ingtaer**

Personally I always make a plan and like all plans it never survives contact with the enemy, ie. I tend to stick to it for about a day. Mostly it changes either due to procrastination or a wild burst of enthusiasm for something different.

**StormX**

I did go through a half painting things and moving on to some thing else thing for a while when i first started out, but then i decided if i cant finish what i started i really should not be painting at all sort of a thing, that's how i felt personally any way.

**Big Mac**

I try to prep/build/sub assembly everything in the army if I own all of it, because you can model and prep your loadouts better and make slight changes to differentiate your squads.

As for painting, I came a long way from painting 1 bret knight per week to 40 inf in a batch. I suggest you to paint whatever # you can handle and not feel overwhelmed in a batch, completely finish that batch before continuing to the next. I have seen too many people doing scatter paint jobs and lose their motivation over time, then quit and sells their minis and either get a new army or out of the hobby.

**Argive**

Tbh i seem to have a paint mode and a build mode.

Im more of a paint one thing fully and move on when it comes to actual painting.

My build mode is assembly build, base and prime. I consider this as one build step. So once i got stuff to this stage i just dont build anymore until thats all painted. But occasinaly theres other things that can be done like sorting out pre built ebay stuff and make storage solution.. I think ill try making a lost of things i need to do 'hobby admin' wise and what ill paint. Will see if that helps. I do like my lists... lol

**John Prins**

Prep and plan the beginning. For 40k, that mostly means the start of a Battalion - 2 HQ, 3 Troops. After that, do with the feels, because you've got the essentials to play.

I did recently plan and execute a 1000 point Eldar Force as one batch, but that's not something I generally plan up to that level.

**Excommunicatus**

I'm a planner. I work to a pre-written list (though some of those lists are nothing more than silly) and I plan my builds.

I plan painting too, but somehow those plans take much longer to come to fruition.

I used to be very 'scattergun' in my approach and as a result almost nothing got done and nothing EVER got finished.

**Elbows**

Argive wrote:
Do you make a list /plan guide of any sort or just play it by ear?

I pick a model/unit...then simply build and paint it. I generally don't have more than one thing on my desk (I have a small number of primed models I'm too lazy to paint). So the plan is only "what do I want to paint next for my army".

**Nevelon**

I don’t currently have any plans. My armies are already fairly solid, so I’m just adding stuff to taste. I let my mood drive what crosses the bench. That and what fits the theme for the monthly painting challenge, which makes up about 3/4th of my volume these days. (percent pulled randomly, might actually be higher, I should check)

In the past when I was painting a friend’s SoB army for him, I did have a plan. I made a sheet with check boxes for all the stuff that needed to be done, and made sure I alternated what I was painting to help prevent burnout. So paint a HQ, then 4 sisters, then a tank, then 4 more sisters, some seraphim, more sisters, etc. Having a check list meant I could tell overall how I was doing, and what I needed to focus on, without having a wall of intimidating unpainted lead in front of me. I also didn’t have a shelf of painted stuff to show progress, as I delivered them when they were done to join the crusade.

I think I still have the list around somewhere, and I know I did a number of things before I started keeping it...

**terry**

When I have an upcoming event I've kinda got a building/painting plan, but otherwise I just paint/build what I want

**Horst**

I always have a tournament coming up, so I'm always building and painting models to fit into my new tweaked list. I raced to get a Knight done in a weekend because I've got a tournament coming up this coming weekend. After that I need to get a Scout Sentinel done. After that I have a 2 week period to get done 3 Shield Captains on Jetbikes. After that... we'll see what kind of tweaks I want to make to my list before the next tournament.

Fun stuff.

**Rybrook**

No plan for me, but I’m working on a small BA army so have all models built and a few primed ready for paint then only paint when I can

**Argive**

yeah I found planing a game couple weeks in advance does help with getting things done.

Ive come up with an action plan of what I need to do. lets see how it turns out lol.

**Racerguy180**

When I pick an Army, I kinda have a plan, actually it's more like a feeling of how I want it to look on the tabletop.

I started in RT with Salamanders. But promptly switched focus to Squats(man I really miss my biker gang). Took an extended break(25yrs) and came back in 8th & started my Salamanders up again. I knew I wanted a versatile and thematic composition for the list so I built up from Dark Imperium by filling in holes in Primaris range with Astartes Sr.

Now I've just started a Flawless Host warband and have a general idea of how I want to go, it may change, may not.

But no matter which army I pick, I always have an idea of how i want them to look in use.

**Tyranid Horde**

I tend to be pretty strict in the early stages of my building. I like to clean, assemble then prime but sometimes it'll be easier to prime on the sprue then touch up things later.
A lot of my stuff is primed and awaiting paint so I can jump to a new project if I feel the motivation go on my current one. I used to have a lot of projects on the go but now I limit them to about three. One or two long projects and one short project to keep me happy about finishing models.

**Not Online!!!**

It depends: i have a buildplan for my Renegades and Heretics, see sig for blog, but beyond that i normally don't have a build plan. Paint plan is even worse, generally i go and paint a unit and then let the brushes rest and me calm down since i have a passionate love-hate relationship with painting.

That said, my Renegedae buildplan is open ended sooo, can i still classify that as a plan ?

**Argive**

If its written down its a plan I guess ?

Seriously though i dont mean like specificaly writting down like the colour scheme e.g. green cloak, leather trimming, metalic gun , red eyes etc. (Than again might be useful now that I think about it haha)

I associate a plan with an actual written list. Atm got something like this:

1. 10x ranger base coats - done.
2. Dark reaper launcher base coats
3. Washes on rangers
4. highlights
5. Reaper heads and hair.
6. Ranger rifles
7. Serpent weapon options
9. Ranger leather bits
10. Reaper edge highlights
11. Finishing detail on rangers
12. Bases for rangers and reapers
13. Wraithguard trim in brass
14. Wraithguard armour plates
15. Spirit seer
16. Autarch conversion.
17. Build and base 10 dire avengers.

A mental one can also be a plan I guess but if its prone to not being stuck into is it really a plan?

Wheras if Ive written it down I feel more motivated to do it to see the list shrink visually. Everyone is different.

**Bellerophon**

I barely play the game, so I don't really try to build to any army list, I just work on the models I feel like and try to keep an interesting succession of varying things within the current army or armies.

I tend to have phases of building a lot and painting a lot. I could get everything built faster than I could get it painted, so I generally try to limit my building to keep step with my painting. I know that after I've been painting a while I'll feel in the mood for building something and so I don't want to be in the position where everything's built but theres hundreds of models that need painting.

I'll tend to work on things at unit level (e.g paint a whole squad in one go assembly line style), often having a few units on the go in different stages of completeness. I usually plan things a few squads/vehicles in advance. Like, "next I'll paint that squad of Wraithguard, then those Howling Banshees, then those Windriders" sort of level. Due to how long it takes me to paint a unit though, by the time I'm done I'll often change direction from what I'd planned to do next.

**Red_Ink_Cat**

So I generally build and paint whatever I want, but a lot of that can get shaped by whatever tournament I have coming up. I build the list out of what I already have painted and add unpainted models that I think I can get finished in that time.

**JoshInJapan**

I don't play army-scale games any more (and even if I did, I have multiple painted armies for 40K, Warpath, Kings of War/9th Age), so I go from small project to small project depending on what game/scenario I think I'll be playing next.