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I want to see what you guys/girls do when you have a large project(s) that you want to finish.

How do you break it down so that you get the most accomplished? Do you work fast or take more time and work slow?


Let's say you're building an army from the ground up how would you tackle it?

Base and paint, or paint first?

Armor first, or infantry first? Do you just bounce around until it is all done?


I'm just curious how you tackle your tiny soldier projects?


All of this is pertaining to FoW only.

I'm just staring my Finns (ew to LW) I'm buying all in one go, and staring with core platoons, then weapons the support.

I'm starting an American Armoured Infantry army. I don't really know how I want to break down daunting task of assembly and painting. I think I want to Assemble a unit, paint it, base it and move on. I'm definitely moving in on buying it as one chunk.

Break it down into manageable parts. Paint sections or squads. The important thing is to see definitive progress. It's the biggest motivator.

I used to collect it piecemeal...But I soon realized for me, that doing so costs more, a fair bit more. This is purely how I roll YMMV.

So I forced myself to refrain, plan my army and save and buy it all in one go/ collect it piece meal but model and paint in one go.

It turned out to be a massive saving because I could buy the bigger boxed sets. Often was the case that I would buy a big $150 Boxed set, but not used certain parts, I would keep these for other projects or sell them onwards using ebay. I found that getting all the models 1st got me motivated, because once I finished adding all the tracks, and doing the modelling, I was done. I wasn't going to add another Platoon or unit out of next months paycheck and get into a another round of modelling. Once they were all glued and cleaned up, greenstuffed and any additional elements, I sprayed the lot Green with an Army Spray . I then painted the tracks, little details, Command figures etc. Then the next weekend, I did the decals. I found the process of working through it all, was far more efficient use of my time, and I set aside say a whole sunday afternoon and motored through them all. The key was planning, making sure I had the decals, right paints etc, but then thats what my evenings on Ebay or online retailers is for.

My System,

1. Write down your force.(use EASYARMY)

2. Work out where you can get the models , in what sets. Remember to work out the Big boxed sets too, because you get decals, dice and other things like objectives as freebies which you can keep, sell or trade.

3. Do your research on Ebay, Retailers to get a feel for the price, then look for things under that, don't forget bring and buys and local miniature shows. There are alot of Shiny-Shiny Magpie types that buy the latest thing, but never ever build them (no idea why they do this? But it is to my advantage) they then sell it 2-3 months later because they want to unlock the money locked into boxed sets they bought but never opened/ used to be able to buy more Shiny-Shiny!!

4. Collect all your models over period of months / Save up and buy them all at once.



5. Once you have them all, set-aside one day (negotiate with wife!) build them all in one big Six/eight hour session, (get the coffee on , put on your favourite albums CCR, Fleetwood Mac, The Who etc and smash through it).



6. Once they are built, check them, add details, add greenstuff, (This is an important step as you will kick yourself if your final model is ruined by gaps etc).

7. Buy a Colour Spray Primer.



8. Paint on the details, wash, drybrush etc.

9. Add the decals,



10. Varnish

11. Play.

If I do it any other way, I never finish the force and semi-abandon it. So I force myself to be disciplined because I'm not a natural completer.

Total cost £140...3 weekends work (3 months of saving my miniatures money).

My latest Project is a Jordanian Force FoaN from QRF (£65) I'm at stage 5, I need to do some filling and detailing stage 6 and onwards.

I agree that mwnciboo's method is the best. You can also assemble and base your forces and get in some early games before going forward with the undercoat and detail painting, which you can't do if you have a small number of painted troops.

That said, once you start playing you might discover that a big unit you bought as part of the package is not to your liking, and you want to replace it with something else. I think most units have strengths though, and it's great to have extra units around so you have the flexibility to build a future specialized company.

Oh and I forgot, Most important of all!!!!! KEEP A PAINTING JOURNAL!!!

Record the numbers/ names of the paints you use, and the techniques and the order etc. Same with basing materials.

This is really important as it links to Sudasana's point, if you ever want to add a new platoon, or the rules change and you need to modify a Platoon then at least you can match them as closely as possible, in colour etc.

I once got caught out by the Flames of War Sprays, that went out of production half-way through a Project. Since then, I have an eye on the future, I'm not Tom Wise but I like to collect Company sized Elements, and am considering doing an entire Battalion, probably by buying another two of the boxed set above!

 mwnciboo wrote:
Oh and I forgot, Most important of all!!!!! KEEP A PAINTING JOURNAL!!!

Record the numbers/ names of the paints you use, and the techniques and the order etc. Same with basing materials.

This is really important as it links to Sudasana's point, if you ever want to add a new platoon, or the rules change and you need to modify a Platoon then at least you can match them as closely as possible, in colour etc.

I once got caught out by the Flames of War Sprays, that went out of production half-way through a Project. Since then, I have an eye on the future, I'm not Tom Wise but I like to collect Company sized Elements, and am considering doing an entire Battalion, probably by buying another two of the boxed set above!

I do exactly this as I have a journal for my SS Autumn Oak Leaf camo units and one for Italians (Eastern Front/North Africa). I've found when I first got into FoW how quickly I mus-identify paint-shades, thinking I knew how I painted my first few units from way back. The journal keeps things organized an I can always come back to it when I'm adding more to certain armies where I like a particular scheme. If I make changes to it, it is noted down for future reference.

Secondly, I also do mine in one go like mwnciboo does; I break it up into two weekends...one for assembling and base-coating and the other for details and decals, etc. I find I make much more progress this way when I have everything to do in one go. Sometime i just takes a different tac to get me motivated but I find this method works for me as well.

First thing i do is historical research into the army... get a feel for its background in reality and the look.

Big P wrote:
First thing i do is historical research into the army...

Agreed; that's part of my planning phase to see what their TO&E is, etc, so yeah, first things first.

 ThirdUltra wrote:
I've found when I first got into FoW how quickly I mus-identify paint-shades, thinking I knew how I painted my first few units from way back. The journal keeps things organized an I can always come back to it when I'm adding more to certain armies where I like a particular scheme.

I agree 100% with this, I have via Vallejo about 12 different shades of Green, about 10 different shades of Tan, Khaki, Sand, another eight or so Grey's or Green-Greys, as well as 5 or so shades of Earth. Not to mention countless charcoals, blacks, rifleblack, Gunship grey.

My wife see's my painting Carousel and says "Why do you need so many different shades!"....."Because Dear, I cannot match the shade 100% if I mix it every bloody time, and when you are painting Russian, German, British and US Infantry and Tanks they all have different standard or non-standard colours"......"Okay you are boring me now, I'm off to watch The Good Wife".......

Seriously, I don't ask her to take an interest but when she does, she uses it as an opportunity to insult me. I'd rather she didn't ask if she doesn't care, at least that's honest, I don't ask about her Soaps and crap TV.

She doesn't like the fact that when we have visitors the kids and Husbands, always end up wanting to go to the Glass cabinets in my study and have a look. I'm always pretty wary, because kids cannot look without touching.

Funny... My kids, and their friends, never touch anything.

But then I have always let them in my studio and let them look and pick stuff up if they ask.

Making it available has made it of no interest and no curiosity...

Nothing broken in nearly seven years!



The same cant be said for the people I game with who break and chip far more than kids do.

My approach (Note; this is probably not the best approach for a long term project! )

1) Decide what army I'd like to do.

2) Research a bit; maybe put together a basic army list. (1500pts ish)

3) Buy enough models to do a small part of the list (500pts or so; depending on the models in question.)

4) Build the models, usually by platoon.

5) Paint the models by platoon.

6) Get to the third model or so, then repeat step 1 for a different army

Yeah; I'm one of those magpie types who never finishes things

Wow that force looks extremely cool mwnciboo!

Can't back that up enough about keeping a painting journal, even a basic one. I've lost track of the number of times I've tried to go back to half-finished projects after a gap, and then can't for the life of me find what combinations of paints were used..

For myself,
1 - I started by reading some books on WW2, maybe watching a film or drama. Made the mistake of watching the film 'Come and See' thinking it would enthuse me, nearly made me jack in the whole thing! I guess something like Band of Brothers would be more enthusing.

2 - I then thought about what force to collect based on that, for my latest project I've gone for late war Germans, focusing on some of the forces fighting around Normandy. An Osprey book proved invaluable for getting specific camo patterns and unit compositions.

3 - Then used a combination of the late war army books and easy army to make a list. There were a few 'must have' units (a Tiger, tank destroyers) and I built the rest of the army around those, about 1800pts worth altogether that will make a good basis to pick from.

4 - Then look for miniatures to use. I looked up some website reviews of the tanks I was going for, looked at some blogs etc. I think in the end the force I ordered was from 4 different manufacturers.

5 - I then bought the whole lot of it on a credit card!

I have a blog in my signature for the project, that's also been useful in helping to track the project and keep me going. Sadly on Dakka it's difficult to get user comments (unless your miniatures have big shoulder pads), but it's just as useful to myself. Sadly, the project has been very temporarily sidelined as I am completing a SAGA force!

Big P wrote:
Funny... My kids, and their friends, never touch anything.

My son is 3, he has a fascination for vehicles of all types, he is inquisitive and there isn't a lock on my lair door. There have been indicents.....

I generally start a new army with a concept for a type of list that I want to play or I form it around a central theme. From there I pick out the core platoons that I want to use and knock out a rough army list.

I generally buy my armies in batches, starting with the core platoons that I will definitly be using. This gives me time to fine tune my eventual list while I am getting the stuff I have already bought ready.

It can take a while but I always finish the projects that I have stated this way as they are broken up into more manageable pieces. I did once buy an entire early war Soviet tank army at once and I haven't even get around to assembling them 5 or 6 years later.

 mwnciboo wrote:

 ThirdUltra wrote:
I've found when I first got into FoW how quickly I mus-identify paint-shades, thinking I knew how I painted my first few units from way back. The journal keeps things organized an I can always come back to it when I'm adding more to certain armies where I like a particular scheme.

I agree 100% with this, I have via Vallejo about 12 different shades of Green, about 10 different shades of Tan, Khaki, Sand, another eight or so Grey's or Green-Greys, as well as 5 or so shades of Earth. Not to mention countless charcoals, blacks, rifleblack, Gunship grey.

My wife see's my painting Carousel and says "Why do you need so many different shades!"....."Because Dear, I cannot match the shade 100% if I mix it every bloody time, and when you are painting Russian, German, British and US Infantry and Tanks they all have different standard or non-standard colours"......"Okay you are boring me now, I'm off to watch The Good Wife".......

Seriously, I don't ask her to take an interest but when she does, she uses it as an opportunity to insult me. I'd rather she didn't ask if she doesn't care, at least that's honest, I don't ask about her Soaps and crap TV.

She doesn't like the fact that when we have visitors the kids and Husbands, always end up wanting to go to the Glass cabinets in my study and have a look. I'm always pretty wary, because kids cannot look without touching.

LOL! Exactly.

My wife looks at the table of the mass of Vallejo paints I have and pretty much claims it's a mess (among other things on the table), but there's a method to my madness as I have them arranged by shade or by the current painting project.
And yes, it's a fleeting interest for her if only to remind me of what a mess it is and to "remind" me to straighten it up lol! And yes, she watches the "Good Wife" too....<sigh>

Just wait....In 14 days my new House is ready....Mwnciboo's Miniature Studio will be born.

I will put up some pictures of how I'm doing this, as I've waited for a dedicated Hobby space for years. Finally the wife has let me have my dream room, and I've been collecting furniture and other items for months. I give it a week before she moans that I'm spending too much time in there and I should come and sit on the Sofa and watch TV with her *unproductive*.