I've done a big shed clean over my school holidays. Although I'm a pretty energetic painter (though 2025 was not great) and my project "drawers" - each unfinished task resides in a removable drawer - has reduced from 32(!) to 10, I've found a few big incomplete projects - big being 50 or more 28mm equivalent models.
Some date back 10 years. So why have these been ignored when I've painted thousands of models?
To avoid more boxes of unpainted plastique, I've asked myself: What makes me complete a project?
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1. Do I find assembling/painting the minis satisfying? Do I have enough for a decent game?
Whilst I hate Warmachine as a game, I find the sculpts weirdly fun and quirky to paint. I've played about 5 games, have no desire to ever play again, but own perhaps 300 minis across 5-6 factions.
My ECW plastics are not compelling. Designed for rank n flank, they are kinda samey and bland. My Perry samurai are great but have an unpleasant amount of small detail. Infinity models make me feel inadequate. I hate painting lots of flesh and sandals are lame.
My Robotech are horrifically complex to assemble and you need to build all 3 flight modes (i.e. 3 models to represent one on the table)... but I loved kitbashing Hot Wheels for Gaslands.
While I get ease of storage and cost reasons, some scales are just too small to be fun. Some are in a weird spot - my force is too small (Imperialis Aeronautica) but they are OOP so it's not worth adding to them.
Furthermore, while the odd hero is fine, I dislike 3D prints forming the core of my force. They're just too fragile and explode-y when dropped. So anything relying solely on resin is out.
2. Do I have terrain and fun/acceptable rules?
Without either, it ain't going to get any playtime. I'm too old to enjoy tissueboxes for buildings and books under a sheet for a hill. Without plausible too-scale terrain, a game ain't getting on the table.
If the terrain is difficult/complex or pricey to source - then that game is on hold, indefinitely.
I know pdfs on a iPad are probably sensible and the way of the future, but if I don't have a hard copy of a rulebook to browse on the toilet to study at my leisure, the chance I actually play the game drops to only a few percent. Also, charging $20-30 for a digital copy means there are many good games I just refuse to buy. 1490 Doom caught my eye but... $80AUD for a few pdfs? Come on.
Poor rules can also slow me up. I love Battletech but enjoy neither original or Alpha Strike rules, and I struggle with indie rules that don't follow the lore/universe. I was super excited about Trench Crusade but are kinda underwhelmed by the rules and the models sit unpainted....
3. Does the project capture my imagination in some way?
I roll my eyes at blue Space Marines but can picture mini-submarines dogfighting like Korean War jets in undersea trenches at 300kph. I find regular WW2 infantry dull, and Napoleonics lines immeasurably more so, but love the French Indian Wars so much... ...I added velociraptors to it. Necromunda is not cool, just a grubby cringe 80s Judge Dredd rip-off. I love MTBs speeding in a shower of spray hammering away with automatic cannons.While I love Biggles, WW1 biplane models are boring.
This is where I'll step in and make homebrew rules if needed. If no one has made Hellgate:London in 28mm I'll just have to do my own thing with Infinity Nomads and GW Khorne, right? If there is no game where sci fi stormtroopers get possessed by demons? Fine. No one has vikings fighting zombies in frozen buried skyscrapers in a post-apoc future? OK then.
4. Cost
This is pretty obvious, but I'd say it's less absolute cost, and more: "can I try it cheaply and add to it in increments." I'd love to play Titanicus, but as I'd need to buy both forces we're talking $500 upfront. My home-made Tankmunda games with 15mm tanks cost $100 for a dozen tanks per side, and each new tank costs ~$10 not $70-100. I've probably got $500 of tanks now, but I have dozens and dozens collected and painted over years of gradual acquisitions. So anything with a big buy-in (most stuff GW) is out. $220 for something like Bloodbowl (regarded as cheap in GW circles) is significant chunk of hobby cash. If I need to buy another $150 of minis to make a game shine/work, we're heading into sunk cost fallacy territory. Aussie postage is a killer too. When a $100 game costs $50 postage there's a big impact on the per-mini cost. If it's from USA, I probably will never own it. I've been been printing PDF rules but the cost there is not cheap either - it's a hard no if a freaking pdf I have to print and bind myself is $20 or more....
So how am I overcoming inertia?
I've been going through incomplete projects and listing the barriers.
No good rules? I've recently been printing out pdf rules of free or OOP rules and covering/binding them. These are not random but targetted at sets of minis or projects that are unfinished, to encourage enthusiasm and remove a barrier to play.
No suitable terrain? I'm trying to identify most "needed" terrain to enable the most game systems and scales. I'm using found materials and MDF to keep cost down and throwing out old terrain that is no longer fit for purpose. It's amazing how good, suitable terrain inspires you to play. E.g. if I make small scale coastal islands and ports I can re-ignite my modern jet rules, age of sail and coastal forces with one fell swoop. A good forest will be good for most skirmish wargames. My current medieval ruins/undercity will be good for grimdark necromancers, Weird War II cultists as well as dwarves... I enjoy my Tankmunda homebrew rules but having better, non-cardboard terrain will encourage more playtesting...
Is the project cool? Are the minis fun to paint? I'm struggling with some - like ancient Greeks as I'm not a fan of sandals and togas - so I'm holding off. E.g. the Nolan movie Odysseus may boost my interest. As long as I've got storage (downsized from 7 to 5 shed bays but I'm still good) selling is a bit of a no-no - as my son would loooove any donations and given my small town location there's not a lot of swap-buy-sell. My son is not an enthusiastic painter sadly, so donating them doesn't clear my backlog though...
Cost. This is just by focussing on free terrain or rules - like my rubber mat ruins or the freebies in the photo above, and avoid big boxes or premium brands. For example, I can play Bloodbowl for $130 not $220 if I print my own rules, avoid the box set and just buy two teams of my choice. Or reviving old (2012!) projects like Quar - the new free rules printed out and bound for under $10 reinvigorates a big set of unused minis. Another focus is more big generic plastic box sets like by Wargames Atlantic or Frostgrave where I can use the boxes for a range of projects i.e. I bought a packet of Victrix vikings for both LOTR Dunlendings and my vikings vs zombies homebrew.
I'm also trying to be selective in my purchases - by applying the above criteria to any prospective purchases i.e. do I have rules or terrain for it already? Do the minis look fun to paint or is there (at least) a manageable number of them? Is there a low buy-in with the ability to incrementally expand? Can I avoid overseas P&P.
Do you have an old project that beats my 2012 Quar? What's your biggest incomplete project? And is there a "must have" set of free/cheap rules you've tried lately? What about recommended multi-use terrain type for those wanting to get away from 40K corner ruins?
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