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Both mentally and physically.

I'm not including paint costs or anything operational like that,
but I'm thinking of the shelves of minis. The idea of a neverending
system of kit-bashing depresses me, which must be why I'm not
as into GW customizing as some of you impressive modelers or
terrain builders are.

I'm going to try to catch up on some of my backlog, and not create
any more (that's the key issue there, kind of like compounding your
debt and the like), but how do you deal with it and get through?

Character models first? Assembly style? Dipping?

Raiding Jester's "mature" DVD collection?

How?

I have a ton of partially-assembled miniatures in my closets that are a testament to my old ways when I would just buy anything and everything that struck my fancy. Now, if I can't realistically see myself finishing a miniature or kit, I just won't buy it.

I still have a few ideas that I'm working on, but I don't put unrealistic demands upon myself to finish them.  I do have a life outside the hobby.

I try to keep my unpainted model count at home to 10 models or less. That way I can easily paint all of the models that I have at home in a timely maneer. The desire to buy new models helps motivate me to paint what I have at hand expeditiously. It also helps that I am not a great painter, so I do not spend weeks on a single model.

Darrian

Purchase discipline is so important.  My M.O. is buy / paint, then once I'm all painted up I let myself buy again.  Although I prefer to mix up the projects if I'm putting an army together (i.e. I'll paint a tank, then some infantry, then a monstrous creature).  I use relatively basic paint schemes, and paint my forces like an assembly line, one stage at a time for @ 10 models.   Doing this I can usually  finish a squad or a pair of vehicles in a day or so while watching movies or listening to music.

As far as all the leftover bits go.  I toss them into my bits box and then try to find good ways to use them.  Right now I'm using all of my leftover I.G. parts to put together a horde of LatD zombies.  Although I had to buy a zombie box for the parts...  and then a small army of Adeptus Arbites to fight against them.. and then some new paints...   Like I said purchase discipline...  Its a losing battle.

I follow the "Leadhead Larry" school of thought and, as such, have several lifetimes worth of unpainted and/or unassembled model kits, miniatures and other gubbins in a vain attempt at immortality. So far it's working, but I am "young".

Sell stuff you know you can't really ever see yourself ever painting. Clearing out a lot of stuff all the while knowing you can't get to it for a long time really starts to pile up.

One that is done, control your impulse shopping. If you are looking for specific bits, use some of the bits ordering services and check with your local gamers to trade out.

Painting whole units at a time helps. I tend to not paint individual models in a squad. This helps save some time. It can get tedious, but once the project is over, it is well worth it.

Tournaments is a huge motivator for me. Once I know I'm going to a tourney, I work out the army list and get to painting. It creates a deadline and nothing like some pressure to get your painting completed. When I paint just to relax, it is just that. I don't worry about getting the model finished in any certain time. Army painting requires some diligence and I need some type of deadline to push me.

Hope this helps.

I've got several battleforce boxes of Tyranid sprues that need putting together, about 40 metal Guard models, and a bunch of CoD buildings to finish up. The pile just grows.

We deal with it by having 'building days', where we forget about playing and just build stuff until our eyes go blurry or we pass out from the fumes. Which ever comes first. Works very well.

BYE

I deal with backlog by just buying what I know I'm gonna paint, and not buying anything else till it's done. When I buy more than one thing, I build it all first so that if I can't get it painted right away, at least I can still play with it.. if I keep painting and not play with stuff, I get bored with it and eventually ditch it. There was a time when I would just buy all kinds of stuff for future use but one day I realized that future would prolly never come so I just ebayed what I knew I wouldn't use. You just gotta control your spending

  I, too, am a believer in the Larry Leadhead method.  It's worked so far! 

I just keep moving my clothes, linens, etc. into smaller and smaller closets. This frees up space for the backlog. You'd be amazed at how much storage space you can gain on bookshelves by boxing up your paperbacks and stacking them haphazardly in the attic...

Mentally, every so often I go pull out some box of minis that I haven't looked at for a couple of years.  I say hi to all the cool things that I had forgotten about, and enjoy the warm glow of possession.

As with everyone else, I have alot of stuff.

 

Im beginning to wonder if its worth it, anymore, but as a stress release, I love panting and being able to escape a high stress job of teaching and be able to have a small time for just paint, the figure and myself. I have no desire to do it professionally, but have an ongoing interest in the art aspect of the hobby. I deal with it by *female dog*ing about the overprices and crap rules, and then go back to the paint table and put 110% into a mini. I paint more then I play, as a result.

I paint a unit every three days, if I can, and if not, it will depend on the army.

I have 3 projects that I start a week, 3 that I work on, and 3 that I am finishing, and stopped backlogging projects, because you never will finish what you start if you are always starting something. I weened off of impulse spending, and have a specific agenda in terms of the project. It is a bit of a visual overload at first, but if you break a project up into a few different areas, and combine that project with the others, it keeps them from being boring and being burned out on the jobs. You make headway, and it does you and the work justice that you finish it to a good standard, and have time on your hands as well, because it doesn't take long to be clipping along to a good pace and have a army before you know it.

 

 

I just get more stuff to block the older unfinished stuff out. Distraction is the key. When you start thinking about the unbuilt projects just start a new one to distract you from the older one. And then reapeat again.

Realize its just a game and don't worry about it. COnvert/Paint at your pace and desire. If there is a "backlog" then thats just fine. But I would second watch the build up in minis. This hobby can get bad for obsessives on the wallet.

When the backlog got too big, I sold it.

Agree with Osbad. My backlog got so bad that I ended up getting out of the hobby COMPLETELY just so I could mount a reconquista on my closet and drawers space. The breaking point came when my wife got stabbed by an uppity Grey Knight who was forsaking his vows and had somehow infiltrated our bed. Needless to say, I didn't get any that night.

Getting back into the hobby now (after having made quite a bit of my backlog money back by selling it) and I am buying one blister/box at a time, completing it, then buying the next box. Hope to post my first squad (stealth suits) in Modelling soon.

Buy what you need. My Ork KoS army, when I use everything I own, is over 2000 points, and its the list I will always take (though I often play 1850 or 1500).

But Buy, Paint, Buy is too strict for me.

I tend to buy, buy, paint, buy, paint, paint... etc. Layer my purchases.

Although I do have a ridiculous backlog, I really don't let it get to me. I just find better ways to pack everything into smaller boxes.

But my 'technique' for staying motivated is simple: I hate to play with unpainted minis. Yet, I like having new options and models in my army. So when I really want a new unit in my army, I buy the miniature and then I try to not allow myself to use it until its painted.

Even better motivation is to enter yourself in a tournament with an army or units you'll need to paint to play (even better than that: a team tournament where people are counting on you). That way you absolutely must get that stuff painted.

I've painted more stuff in the 3 months (or so) leading up to tournaments than during any other times in my life combined.

Yakface: If I had done that for the Warhammer Fantasy Escalation tournament I'd
be pissed off right now and wanting to murder my miniatures. As much as I like the
Wood Elves line, I "broke" at some point and just stopped painted. I'm not sure, but
I think I stopped before I hit 1500 pts.

Tournament or campaign play is usually what gets my backlog unclogged.

I use the side panel from an old large-sized computer tower as my painting tableau
I keep my palette, water dish (though empty) and a few small works-in-progress on it at all times.

I'm currently still painting a Wordbearers army (It was 3 colour ready for the last tourney, I want it up to competition level for this one) but I have on my board 5 old Grey Knight terminators that need final details, the dwarf daemon-slayer games-day model that needs final shading & details, and 8 mordheim ghouls/zombies that have only a few colours.

When I tire of painting Wordbearers, I pick away at one of those projects. When one is finished I'll add another WIP to the tableau.

yeah back log is no fun I have a whole bone marine(imperial gaurd army http://www.reapermini.com/gallery/album13/14279_G ) army i have just three colors on and the three colors are a triad of blues well over two hundred figures not counting tanks and Officers now.
Yeah i know its pirates but its good fluff.

Move to a place with a bigger closet?

If it wasn't for tournaments and leagues, I'd never get anything painted. I usually leave out whatever my current projet is, so I have to see it every morning and every night as a constant reminder.

Yeah, guess the closet is all full over here.

*waits for it*

...We deal with it by having 'building days', where we forget about playing and just build stuff

Me too HBMC!  My group as well, in fact, some months, the build it days outnumber the play days for many of us!

But the greatest way to deal with the backlog is to give stuff away, I give bits, and box sets away all the time, especially to people who I know that recently finished something! That's really satisfying because maybe if they paint it, you'll (I) still get to play with it, in a way, and friends can enjoy it too!

Augustus: Might just take your class at Adepticon, assuming I have spare cash of course.

Although it's not very popular the paint before you build method has worked for me. Only the final weathering, washing, and dul-coating is done after the mini is assembled. So, the moment the mini is put together it is at least ready for table quality. With my primary force (IG) it is also necessary to create an assembly line method as well. Since the sprues have enough pieces to make 5 line troopers I usually just do 5 at a time.

I guess this doesn't really help the backlog directly, but it does force me to paint which in turn gets things done.

I don't have a back-log to deal with.

One of the perks of being a partner in a painting company I guess

hey flatlanderboss you want to paint 250 bone mairnes for me and 15 chimeras(LOL) just kidding.
I though one of the perks working for minature company was that i get discount minis( which I did) hence i have a five year back log on minis and other stuff.... Does any one need any warlord bits and bases???

Kult,

That is a standard-sized order for us pretty much. PM for serious quote if you'd like.

Don't beat yourself up over it.  Just realize that you enjoyed buying the models in the hopes that someday you might paint them.  I can tell you that  I have some armies I bought in the 80s and 90s that I am just getting around to painting now!  And I'm glad I did buy them -- several of the manufacturers are now out of business, the lines of miniatures gone forever.

"I do have a life outside the hobby"

lucky...