In the last segment concerning how to be inspired with the hobby, I discussed the benefits of creating a collection list and forming goals surrounding that list to aid in completing hobby projects. While this is a great idea, nothing really gets gamers (we are often prone to procrastination) moving to complete hobby like a looming deadline.
So once you have that list of models to complete, either for a competitive list; or simply because that's the models you wanted to paint this month, what further motivation is there actually get them completed?
Step II.
Tournaments & Deadlines
While creating a list is a great first step towards making progress with the hobby, most players credit tournaments with forcing them to finish their armies at a timely pace. Many unfortunately tend to wait to the last possible minute, dashing paint onto models and throwing a series washes onto various parts of the model to cover up hastily made mistakes.
Deadlines work in much the same way, being a stop date for an approaching event that you want to participate in, or playing in a narrative campaign that requires painted models, etc..etc...
I know that I have been prone to feverishly throwing modeling flock and glue onto a display board as I was about to board a train bound for Adepticon/ pulling an all-nighter the day before Duel Con to put some finishing touches on the models...but I digress.
Generally players want to have painted models for a tournament, and will spend a lot of time and effort to make sure their forces are presented exceedingly well. But all of this time and effort spent making plastic model look presentable for an event begs the question: Why?
Some may argue: That unpainted models typically roll just as well as painted models- without the hours spent on improving their general appearance. Hell, that Assault of Black Reach marine whom has been missing his bolter for two years is a great stand in for that Ork Boy too!
If you are a general gamer/ tend to not be as competitive like myself (at the moment, I'm sure that I'll become a rabid WAAC player at some point- you know for the Emperor) you'll have your army painted (and at least modeled appropriately) as a point of pride. Not to mention help make the games more fun as Warhammer is really a visual game at its' heart. Games can be fun against someone with an unpainted army filled with proxies....but more often than not...they are not fun and are lessons in frustration (although the strong exception is always there for a person whom is actually making progress through their army).
Please don't use proxies...they make Ultramarines sad...
However if you are a competitive player, you are painting for one thing...and one thing only....POINTS, GLORIOUS POINTS!
Most tournaments will have a painting rubric associated with their event, and many players will paint and modify their armies to directly match this. This will enable them to maximize their soft scores at a tournament, helping them to achieve the top overall slot; or best painted if they should do poorly in their games.
But this is where the prep-work of building a list and creating goals is essential to the process of actually getting the work completed. Without a clear heading, you'll paint units you don't need/ wrong war-gear. Or to the wrong set standard for the event/ tournament.
Once the list/ heading is set and locked in; you can go down your hobby list, painting unit by unit and piece by piece until everything is completed. This is a more methodical approach to the hobby, but it can yield results better than tacking a project without a clear goal in mind.
Personal Example- When I first started out with the hobby, I did not believe that I would do well with the battle points (case in point- I was playing 3rd edition Demon Hunters in 5th Edition 40k). Accordingly, I decided that if I was going to go down in a flaming wreck each game, I would do so- looking good. I looked up the tournament painting rules, created a hobby list and promptly waited to the last possible minute to get it done (the night before!).
In my first tournament I scored middle of the pack (thank you soft scores!), and had secured Best Painted. Immediately after the tournament I started to re-work my entire army to be in NMM; looking at the painting score sheet for Da Boyz GT- which was the next tournament I had planned to attend (never got there though... :( )
Local Examples from some of the folks from the Albany Exterminatus Gaming Group concerning prepping their forces for the upcoming March 8th Tournament:
A Space Wolves Player:
A local Space Wolves player has been play testing several different lists at the store for the last month and a half. He started up with the game over the summer, around the same time the campaign box came out. He has already amassed a large Space Wolves army, but he is concentrating on the competitive side of the hobby over trying to finish off his collection at the moment.
His current hobby goal is not to win best painted, but instead to make all of his models "table top" quality so he can score a good chunk of the points at the event. With this clear goal in mind he was ready to start making his list.
He recently came up with a final list and has decided to stick with it. The first thing he did was to create a list of what hobby projects he had to complete and what he still needed to buy. He found the following:
I. Needed to finish off some smaller details on his overall force
II. Needed to buy a box of Centurions and get them painted for the tournament
III. Needed to buy a Drop Pod and get it painted for the tournament (told you it was competitive!)
IV. Needed to scratch build and paint several Rapier Weapon Batteries for the tournament
Once he had the list written down, he figured out what he wanted to buy, which project to tackle first, and created a time table to get this all accomplished in.
With two weeks to go, he still has to finish up the weapon batteries and drop pod- but has been more or less on task with his progress thus far.
A Eldar Player:
A local Eldar player has been play testing a tough as nails 1500 point list over the last few months at the store and has his final list down now. The vast majority of his models are painted to an extremely high quality, with conversions, OOP collected models and extreme detail added to almost every model in the force. The entire thing is an army to behold and once its' finished, it'll be capable of winning a top spot for painting at any major event.
Similarly to the Space Wolf player, he wants the army to look presentable to help increase the overall enjoyment of the games at the event.
Furthermore, he is going for all of the painting points he can reasonably score to help him take the overall slot if he fails to win the overall tournament. He is accomplishing this by again first creating a full list of what he wants to accomplish for the army and is working towards finishing that goal in a timely order.
March 8th Tournament Painting Rules:
With these two examples focusing on a local tournament, I wanted to share the painting requirements for the event. It is based on technical skill, level of completion and basing. However, there are a couple of caveats. The best painted award can go to the individual with the best painted single model/ unit in their force. Furthermore, an individual cannot win this award twice in a row.
These caveats were designed to keep one person from constantly "stealing the show" with their army and provide additional motivation towards those that are just starting with the hobby/ starting up a new force, or are looking to improve their painting abilities.
That does it for Part II of this discussion concerning hobby motivation. With Part III I'm going to discuss competitions and hobby progress challenges that are now available on several different forums. I'm going to focus on how these can help to push you towards completing big projects over the course of a year.
Thank you for your time,
-Skip
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