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To the original posters question regardingfinishing an army - this

 CragHack wrote:
There's always a plan for me: paint (usually up to 10 miniatures at a time) -> rest from painting, assemble something - > paint something again.

The answer is industrialize. Learn Your abilities and attention span, work in batches that stay safely inside Your limits. Set up Your conveyors, paint similar color details on a number of miniatures so that when You finish with the last one in Your batch, the first one is already dry and ready for another color or a touch-up. Organize Your hobby space as You would Your workplace. Batches on trays, ready to be swapped. No separate bits or labor-intensive modifications, everything not used on a model goes to the bin to be sorted afterwards. Speed things up, use color sprays for undercoating, dips for pre-shading, sprays for varnish, fluid glues for flocking and sanding and so on. And cut down the forum/Internet usage to an hour every three or four days.

This will (likely) get You an army in a few weeks, but You (again, likely) may hate it afterwards.

Now, if You don't want to make Your hobby another part-time job and streamline, I may offer You to branch.

Think of it in terms of "fancies", "projects", "commitments" and "tasks".

"Fancies" are just that, things that interest You. They have no start or finish, like "deck-based British observation planes" or "barbarian-themed terrain". You obviously can't finish something like that! So it is not something bad to Your hobby to identify such area of interest and buy-model-paint something for it every now and then. Caveat is - money and time budget for "fancies" always comes last!

"Project" is something that can definitely be started and finished, like "a Hordes army with several standard-sized lists to pick from with a reasonable variety". Project can be mothballed or extended, but it can be finished under its original definition. Got a few warlocks and some 70-90 points of beasts/units/solos? Pat Yourself, put a big green tick-mark on a nice piece of paper and proudly show Your army on a shelf, tabletop or forum! Projects have priority over fancies - is there anything to speed up or just finish the project? Then forget the fancy and get that thing done!

"Commitments" are project parts You have committed resources to. Unit or even a single miniature or a model. Gather paints and tools, think out a scheme and layout, maybe an army list or two, open up a box... Investment done, there is no turning back, You either see it through to the finish, throw it in a rubbish/fire or open a trade request somewhere to get rid of it. it is OK to have several commitments, in fact it is better to - You have choices what to work on. But they are immediately more important than projects they are part of - if You have trouble keeping Yourself from starting too many, try to physically restrict Yourself. Only so much space for bits, for drying, for painting stages. Before throwing money over the counter think whether the new adorable shiney will speed Your commitments. If it advances Your project - good, but if it delays something from being completed "tomorrow" - think again!

"Tasks" - these are the easiest. These are actions that separate build model from a pile of bits! Go out and spray. Go in and paint. But these are the most important things. If You favourite sable 00 is down to five hairs or You are all out of red, it is time to pack everything and go hunting! And don't try to look for more plastic until Your new brush and bottle are picked, packed and in the post!

There, You have it! A recipe! Now think of Your own one...

TL;DR - recipies are for pies, now put on some death metal and slave away!!!

I focus on one army until it's playable before moving on to the next one. While I still have a Battlewagon and a unit of Lootas to paint for my Blood Axes, there's another 2500 points of painted Orks to play with. I could go finish them but I've started up my heresy Ultramarines, and I want to make sure they're playable before I get inevitably distracted.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

With your ideas and suggestions in mind, I've decided to get back to painting my Orks, as they're numerically probably the largest batch and the easiest (if somewhat boring) to paint. I'm currently aiming to get an army of around 500-600 points fully painted and based, and from there I'll see whether I switch over to my Space Marines or stay with my Orks for the moment.

So far, I've managed to get three Boyz based, two Boyz and a Deff Dread started and the final Nob of my first Nobz squad is nearing completion...

...a little progress is still progress, right guys?

 Ezra Tyrius wrote:
...a little progress is still progress, right guys?

Progress is progress.

If, at the end of the day, your stuff is more complete than it was before, it's a good day.

Buy so much and invest in so many projects that you finally realise you're a fething moron and thus stop buying more stuff.

At least that's what I did.

I basically isolate my pile of unpainted miniatures into what I need immediately to get that army on the table. Ex: My Bolt Action german army. 100 Grenadiers, 2 PzKpfw IVs, 1 PzKpfw V, 1 PzKpfw VI, one StuG III/StuH 42, one Puma, one Pak 40 and an assortment of weapon teams. Of that, I need approximately 32 grenadiers divided up into 4 squads, a mortar team, a StuH 42, a command team, a sniper team and a Puma to get this army playable. 36 infantry, a support weapon team and two vehicles are much more manageable. I then start painting that "core". Once the core is underway I start planning "add-ons" like a truck and a flame thrower team to make this army potent on battlefield. I then paint the "Nice to have but unneeded" stuff like a platoon of PzKpfw V's or two more platoons of grenadiers.

 Ezra Tyrius wrote:
I'm sure you're all familiar with this problem: you've got three armies you need to finish...

IMO, that's your problem.

Pick one. Put the others away. Not just to one side, but away, in boxes, and keep your painting table clear. Pick a unit, paint it and finish it. Then do another one. I like to get the boring things done up front, so I can "reward" myself with something more interesting like a character.

Look at the colours you're using. For example, the first time I painted my Cadians, in the mid 90s, I copie the Studio colours; 3-tone camo on the trousers, dark green tunics with red piping, black armour. black boots, brown webbing and pouches. red weapon casings. Now, all the fatigues, webbing and pouches are "camo" green, the armour, helmets and heavy weapons are khaki and the boots and weapon casings are black. Much quicker, and it means I can churn out a platoon quite quickly. I also avoid mixing paints, again to make things quicker.

Set yourself a goal; the first time some friends and I set out to paint 40k armies a couple of years back, we decided to do 2,000 point armies in 4 months. We arranged a game at the end of each month, culminating in a trip to Warhammer World. We only used what was painted, so if you fell behind, tough luck. Month 1 was the compulsory units - two Tactical Squads in Rhinos and a Captain in my case. We're doing it again this year, with Heresy armies.

Mind you, remember this is a hobby, not your job. If you find you're not enjoying it, then stop doing it. Don't waste your leisure time doing something that isn't fun.

There are three rules:

1. Discipline

2. Discipline

3. DISCIPLINE

You simply have to paint even if you don't feel like it. You need to make it a habit so you do it without really thinking about it. You need to be able to finish projects you start. If you don't, you're doomed to be a hobby butterfly like me, fluttering around from project to project, always reaching for the next shiny thing without ever finishing anything.

Yeah, I've now taken to doing something painting- or basing-related in the spare time I have, even if it's just like 10 minutes. I have to admit it's really pushing me to get more things finished, as the time constraints help make the decision of what I'm going to do in the time I have.

By the way, I managed to get that one Nob finished last night, thought I'd show it here as a motivation for everyone else struggling with their planning

Behold, the fruits of my labor!



Painted in about 4 hours in two nights, which is pretty much a record for me

I don't. For my personal armies I buy a s%$@load of figures, get them stacked in my painting area and then I despair . With customers projects well they plan them and I paint them so they kinda always succeed. It has to do with money I guess.