Sunday 11 October 2015

Motivation is for chumps

We're nearly halfway through October now, and this means we're also nearly halfway through the latest iteration of Duelling Paintbrushes. So what have I done? Almost nothing.

Why? I have no motivation.

Hobby motivation is a strange and fickle beast. It can't always be predicted, and it can't necessarily be manufactured out of nothing.


I think I am still suffering somewhat from the fallout of the demise of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Whilst it existed as a properly supported game, it gave me a clear focus that aligned with all the effort I had put in over the last however many years. 

When GW pulled the rug out from under WFB, it threw the community into disarray. I think in a lot of ways, most of us are still finding our feet. Despite the fact that we're all still equipped to play WFB whenever we want to, many feel that an unsupported game has no future, and they would rather play something that did. This is probably particularly prevalent in the tournament community, where people are aware of the need for there to be a decent player base for things to survive. That includes the possibility of new players arriving on the scene. This is far less likely when you're dealing with a "dead" game.

The way forward for me is Kings of War. I've now played half a dozen games, and I am still happy with the system. I also think it will be a better tournament game than Warhammer ever was. The first few tournaments are starting to pop up locally, and it seems like it will most likely be the game I play at Cancon next year.

So I have a nominal direction. When I agreed to do Duelling Paintbrushes, I used my head and went for a solution that would require minimal painting to meet the requirements, whilst also targeting some of the obvious gaps in one of my armies when it translates across to KoW. My Dwarf army has no Earth Elementals or Brock Riders, nor anything that would translate across. There you go, easy decision.

Unfortunately, for all that the Dwarf plan was a sensible course of action, I have no enthusiasm for it at the moment. I was going to make some Elementals out of putty (they're made of rock - how hard can it be?), and could have been sculpting them before the challenge even began. After all, I devised the plan months ago. I now have the Brock Riders and have started assembling them (I probably would have finished had I not discovered part way through that they are made of a plastic that doesn't work with plastic cement. That was disappointing). And at no point in the last couple of months have I actually been enthusiastic about working on any of the things I planned to paint.

I have been known to use deadlines like tournaments as motivation for painting a whole lot of stuff in a short time frame. At times I've done it even though I haven't been all that keen on it. Generally it's just a question of building up momentum and just carrying on with it until the job is done. This time I have struggled to convince myself to get moving in the first place. Ultimately I've come to the conclusion that now is not the time to try to force myself into some sort of productivity.

For all of that, I noticed myself fidgeting with other things. I kept opening the wrong army cases when looking for things, and seeing things that offended me. Neglected things. I ended up pulling out some of these things and set about getting them ready to paint - finishing assembly, repairing and undercoating. I did this despite the fact that these models are in no way as practical as the Dwarfs I had earmarked - it's actually more Empire/human cavalry. When I was done with all the repairs and preparations, I found myself with the following undercoated models:

  • 14 Kislev Winged Lancers
  • 10 Empire Outriders
  • 5 Empire Pistoliers
  • Elector Count Valmir von Raukov

14 Undercoated Kislev Winged Lancers, parading themselves optimistically around my painting table.
Now let's be clear - I don't need to paint these guys. I have an awful lot of human cavalry ready for the table. But the state of these models was beginning to bother me, so I decided to do something about it. On Friday evening I even made a very modest start on painting the Winged Lancers. I figure I can use them as Mounted Sergeants in KoW (it's an excuse so they're not just competing for space with my 136 other Empire Knights). I also figure that, if I find myself getting up any sort of momentum with these guys, I am going to completely flip my Duelling Paintbrushes plans and focus on humans. There's still a big "if" in there though. 

For now though, you can focus on the fact that others have made more progress than I have (hard to believe as that may be)...
Owen
Drew

14 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear you're lacking the drive. Let's hope The Hobby Fiend can find it in himself!
    But hey, if Kislevites are what you're motivated to paint, paint them. You should hobby for enjoyment's sake.

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  2. I'm sorry to hear you're lacking the drive. Let's hope The Hobby Fiend can find it in himself!
    But hey, if Kislevites are what you're motivated to paint, paint them. You should hobby for enjoyment's sake.

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  3. Motivation AND Dwarves are for the weak! Paint Kislevites! Paint ALL the Kislevites!


    yes, I am fully aware that this makes me a chump. my only defence is that I do not own any kislevites to paint.

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    1. Totally agree with Owen, turn to the Kingdoms of Men and blow the consequences, if that is the thing floating your boat then this is the direction to find motivation. That or find it in a large bottle of Bourbon........oh sorry that's after you buy the lastest AoS Sigmarite leader at $134..........

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  4. Hi man! I felt the same emptiness than you some months ago... so many years collecting armies, starting scenery projects for... for what? Fuck GW for what they did.
    But from the ashes of Warhammer 8th edition now it comes the 9th Age. In Spain, something have changed few weeks ago. Tournaments have returned, hobby centers will start new leagues or campaigns and the players community on the net are speaking about warhammer one more time. All of it, because of the new fan-made and awesome rulebook that the ETC and Swedich Comp. guys had created.
    Take a look on it. Here we are sure that, as blood bowl or Mordheim, what GW throw away... ...fans will make it better. Out of economic matters, out of stupid rules.
    http://www.the-ninth-age.com/news/

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    1. Yeah I agree, I prefer 9th age to KoW, then again I don't mind losses that much so I guess that doesn't make me a competitive player or Win At All Cost player though I do love tournaments I also love campaigns like Border Wars or Triumh and Treachery with friends.

      Many are turning to AoS though, I'm happy to hear 9th age is thriving in Spain, I have a vacation house in Costa Blanca, maybe start a community there or take one of your high speed trains to Madrid for some games ^^

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    2. When 9th Age is in a more completed and stable state with its final army lists and the like, I will have a look and see where it's at. Realistically I don't expect it to hold any more appeal to me than 8th edition, though. If I'm just playing a social or campaign game with friends, I'm just as happy to stick with 8th edition and all the material I have for that. 9th Age only really becomes relevant if you're looking for a Warhammer-based tournament system. I'm not sure that such a thing will really exist in Australia within a couple of years, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. For my part, I think KoW is a better basis for a competitive game and probably the way tournaments will go over here.

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    4. That's true, I just had a 8000p 8th edition Battle 1vs2 3player and it was awesome, used 9 hours and it was a blast. Most fun I have had in tabletop. My local tournament community has already switched to KoW. So if I want to continue tournament play I need to adapt to a post WHFB world as well :( As for 9th I'm looking forward to it but will wait until the longbeards finish perfecting it, as it stands now it is nothing stopping anyone from playing 8th.

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  5. Have you considered re fighting some battles from the warhammer world's glorious and epic past, but this time with Kings of War rules? Keep the fluff you love, but play with the smooth Mantic ruleset?

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    1. Yes, I've considered it. I haven't done anything about it yet, but it's definitely something I've thought about. I'll try some larger games of KoW soon to see just how well it scales. I expect it to work well.

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  6. The GW motivation hit is wide-reaching; on the 40k side, things are grim with the rumors coming out about the Tau. As a man who apparently gravitates towards doomed armies (I was a Beastman/Lizardman Fantasy player, I'm Chaos in 40k), the idea that when the man comes 'round to Chaos Marines they won't get the things that they need is...daunting.

    Glad to see that you've got Kings of War on the horizon, as I always enjoy the big battle and tourney reports. My wife and I have settled comfortably into Malifaux, which helps a bit with motivation because individual forces are small of size and close in theme. It's fun to say "My puppets are all going to be made of porcelain" or "I'm giving these wizards Kabuki masks and a shifting set of colors!" and have a thing that can be executed across a small handful of models.

    Keep up the painting and the posting!

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    1. Cheers! I've been a bit quiet of late, but things will pick up again at some point soon, I suspect.

      Some of the guys at the club enjoy Malifaux, but besides having the odd interesting model it's not really a game that grabs me. KoW is much more up my alley. Does require a lot more painting, though...

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  7. First, let me just say I think you are off to a great experience playing KoW at a grander scale. At that level, it is only nice not having to worry about individual armour and equipment of each hero and wizard, and the more streamlined rules and unit sizes and combat shines.

    Second, I also felt the dose of gloom over the ending of warhammer. But, when I switched systems last christmas, I found it to be the holy grail of my hobby. The new system was not the end of the times, but a new beginning, meaning new army buildings, new units available and unit sizes and shapes. I suddenly found myself trying to fit my Warhammer minis into KoW, which meant quite a bit of re-painting, re-organizing, and finding new roles for the minis. It was a thrill trying to organize the army, as if I just again felt the wonders of learning to walk or something. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully you can think of this as the new beginning, the new times, and get the lust for the hobby back!

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