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So I'm trying to paint up my dwarf army and I just can't do it. Tonight I hit the point where I almost just want to put the whole thing up on Swap Shop. I really want to field this army from a tactical point of view, and I also love the imagery. Painting the beards is pretty entertaining, but when it comes to the shields, armor, and whatever else... well...

To be honest, I've never finished painting a fantasy army. The closest I came was with Chaos, which I'm not even sure is a viable army now it's so old. I guess I like knowing that I only need 10 models to match at a time in 40k as opposed to the 15 to 20. I think if I could just get one unit done, the others would start to fall into place. I'm also making myself paint the R&F troops first so I can "reward" myself later with the heroes, characters, and special units later. I guess any suggestions you can put up as to what gets you to finish painting a project is what I'm looking for. Or should I look for a different army that I think might motivate me? There's a tournament Saturday, but I only want to use my dwarfs if I can get 3 units completely painted. At least I'd feel like I made progress by then!

Otherwise... Keep an eye on Swap Shop for the army in coming months...

A rank and file army is not something I've ever truly
finished. I painted my Wood Elves over the years, but
in between painting them, I've painted a complete
Protectorate of Menoth army, a band of Delaques, some
Cryx figures, a Circle Orboros army, a couple 40k squads
and a few Infinity figures. What I'm trying to say is that
I'm only able to paint things in rotation. A squad from this
army and then a squad from that one.

Also, actually playing an army might encourage you to
paint more of it.

I have 3 very large fantasy armies under contract right now and I am alomst finished with the first one. My best Suggestion is to use the kiss method. Keep it simple stupid. Base coat the unit and cover the basics for sure, but only spend time on the front rank, the heads/sholder of the back ranks and a few outside guys down the ranks. No one is ever gonna see the guys in the middle and you pull kills from the back of the unit. So knock your self out on the front rank and do em up good but dont try it all the way through, its a waste of time. Dont use to many colors and a great basing job ups the look of a fig 20%. A few well done banners and the bang up General fig and wham your looking good. You can always go back in and paint more later, but if getting them on the table and playing is your goal. Try this out. Good Luck

Too bad that mostly doesn't work with WEs...

Thanks for the assist guys... Definitely going to try putting the guys on the table soon to hopefully spark some interest! As for painting, I've got to do them all or nothing or I'll never go back to finish them up...

I put on a movie with a similar theme when I want to paint something. Science Fiction war movies when I want to paint my Ultramarines, something like Kingdom of Heaven when I want to paint my Empire army, or Dune when I want to paint my Eldar, etc. If I'm not watching a movie, I find similar music. For example, the song "Joy" by VNV Nation always gets me in the mood to paint Space Marines too. Hope that helps.

Dont forget to check out the dakka article on getting motivated to paint (and add any extra ideas you might think of!): http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Getting_Motivated_to_Paint

So I fielded the army in the tourney anyway. Unpainted and poorly marshaled (I lost all 3 matches, my only saving grace was I took few casualties as the games progressed) I came home and banged out a unit of Thunderers. With them done, I'm now 4 short (get it? Dwarfs =short?! I'm a riot! ) of having a unit of warriors finished. All the while slowly working on my shield-bearers, obviously I want to take some time on those guys. So, the "fielding the army" strategy got me going. I may have these guys done by the end of the month, who knows? Thanks!