Motivation

Ron's sent around an e-mail asking us for what keeps us motivated and painting/modeling/what have you. This actually led to a few revelations as to why I enjoy painting and modeling that I hadn't realized before. Surprisingly, this blog is not one of them. I originally started the blog to refine my tactics and force me to sit down and look at my tactics/strategies and refine them. I believe that I have seen some small improvement in that area, as my Mobile Infantry list has proven to be fairly successful, especially given my limitations unit-wise. However I don't feel any particular need to complete more models because I have a blog- if anything that's just gravy on the top.

One way I get my painting done is my compulsion to multitask. The girl and I enjoy watching shows together (currently working through a very impressionistic series of recordings of Battlestar Galactica season 4), so when we fire them up she gets off to reading/working and I break out my models. For some reason I can pay attention better to both things when I'm not focusing on them as much, especially during monologues.

Another is that I'm finally beginning to enjoy the work that I am producing. Adding dry brushing and washes to my repertoire has really made my dudes pop (at least in my opinion), so I'm proud of the work that I put into them now. I still need to try this "highlighting" at some point and my free hand needs a lot of work, but hopefully that'll all fall into place at some point.

A third thing is the many different paint schemes that I have going on with my army. If I ever get bored painting normal guardsmen I can switch off to one of my vets or the other platoon. Painting an army all the same color just seems mind numbing to me unless they have a really freakin' awesome paint scheme, and even then when you have IG to paint that could be a bit too much.

Finally, and probably the biggest reason that I do what I do is that I have vowed to not buy another model until I have painted/assembled all of the models that I own. This has a financial aspect to it as well, as on an Americorps salary I really can't afford to buy all of the units that I want (Valks, Demolishers, more Chimeras another army- maybe next year...), but I also know that if I didn't have this requirement I would probably just leave the lot of them blank and carry on.

And speaking of painting... some pics of me painting up Hearts platoon. The boys still need hearts on their bases and squad insignia, but for the most part they are done. Next on the list: flamers and sergeants. Base coat consisted of Gore Red and Bleached Bone uniforms, Boltgun Metal blades, Chainmail insignia and some Snakebite Leather and Tamiya flat black thrown in on places. Skin was either just Bronzed Flesh or combined with Elf Flesh or Snakebite Leather. Badab Black wash was used over the Bleached Bone, Leather and Chainmail bits and Ogryn Flesh over the skin.

First post and pre wash:



Now some pics of the squads post dry brush with Skull White: