Referenced in my first post, my “long term artistic project” is the completion of my very first Warhammer 40,000 army. My high school friend group revolved mostly around video games with an occasional flirtation with Magic the Gathering. I had seen boxes of models or maybe a couple people playing at hobby shops throughout my teen years, but I never had the peer pressure or financial capability of getting into the hobby.

Skipping ahead to college, and I still was never bit by the wargaming bug. It seemed like it would take up too much space, would be too time consuming and expensive to get into. I dipped my toes more into TTRPGs, started drowning in Magic once I earned a steady paycheck, and just admired the hobby from afar.

Catching up to last year, I was introduced to a youtube channel called Play On Tabletop, who have a running series of slickly edited battle reports that shorten what typically takes upwards of three hours down to fourty minutes. These videos were playing with fire, telling myself that I could have just as much fun watching others play instead of getting into it myself (lies). This worked until I made two new friends at a Halo tournament who were into 40k, and so began my descent.

Another thing that always stopped me from diving in was the painting. It always seemed too precise and too permanent to be a fun activity. I never thought I’d be able to get the eyes or faces right, and when you browse all of the color options at the store it can get really overwhelming. My new friends (enablers) brought me to the local Warhammer store to try a three paint challenge: you get three randomly selected pots of paint and 30 minutes to paint a free provided mini, that will then be displayed in the store. We were told not to worry about the type of paint provided, just make do as best you can with what you had. When the timer went off, I was actually impressed at the level of detail I was able to accomplish right at the start, and the paint wasn’t as unwieldy to work with as I initially anticipated. Maybe building the models would be the barrier I couldn’t get over.

Trying something new

I started like I’m sure many do, with an introductory Paint Set with three Necron warriors inside (not enough to field a full unit, but enough to decide whether this whole process was going to drive me up a wall). I also grabbed a small collection of paints to try out my first color scheme, not satisified with the brass terminator motif the box art was going for.

I lucked out in that the majority of my chosen army (Necrons) are “push fit” models, in that they don’t require glue and can be assembled like really fussy Lego. Glue was purchased ahead of time though, anticipating the moment when I snapped one warrior’s flimsy wrist when trying to attach to the shoulder joint. All in all, the process was satisfying. Seeing my models go from sprue, to assembly, to primed, to painted happened over a weekend, and I was really excited with the final product.

I eventually got better at taking pictures of my finished work too

Over the next couple months I planned out my approach. I had seen too many others buy a mountain of unpainted plastic and have nothing to show for it but another, separate mountain of unopened boxes. I purchased a Combat Patrol (Warhammer’s rough equivalent of a preconstructed deck in Magic), and told myself I couldn’t get any more models until they were completed. I assembled a few more tools (more brushes, and a magnifying headlamp that is worth every penny). After taking a long night to assemble the entire Combat Patrol, I took my time making steady progress. I tried new techniques I saw on Youtube (shade paints, dry brushing). I only broke my rule of no more models when I found out that one of my LGSs had a “mini orphanage” where you could purchase some models at various stages of completion at a discount. But soon enough I was ready to play.

Imotekh in all his glory

Back at the local Warhammer store, they held a Combat Patrol tournament likely aimed at newer players. I was welcomed into a very friendly atmosphere, with everyone making mistakes and learning while we played.

Bringing everything out in public, being able to share what I’d done and see everyone else’s work in person was really cool. When all you’ve really compared yourself to are the absolute wizards on Youtube, it’s nice to see the range of experience in person. Some were comperable, using techniques I wasn’t yet familiar with or just bringing years of experience to a new army. Others didn’t share my compulsion to completely paint their units before fielding them, more focused on the social and gameplay aspect of the hobby. But everyone was really nice and supportive of me as a new painter and player, and that bouyed my motivation to keep building my forces.

My first time playing with strangers

I stuck to my strategy of planned growth. I built first a 1000 point list that would work on its own, completed that to my satisfaction so I could enjoy the game on a larger scale, then created my 2000 point list with a better understanding of the rules and mechanics. Slowly working towards this goal over the course of a year has taught me a lot of unexpected lessons that I hope I’ll be able to carry forward into gamedev:

• A large project broken up into smaller chunks is more approachable, and more likely to be completed
• Skills that I assumed were out of my reach ended up being one of the most enjoyable parts of the process
• Few mistakes are irreparable, just time consuming to resolve
• Sticking to a plan helped reduce distraction and “scope creep” (in this case, buying more models I wasn’t immediately planning on using)
• Sharing my work with others is really rewarding, and keeps me motivated to work on the next chunk

With the full force painted, I’m ready to reinvest some of the time I’ve used on it here on this site. I’m definitely going to keep playing, and if I budget accordingly maaaaybe I’ll dip my toes into another faction, but I’ve seen what I’m capable of when I dedicate my time and I want to see if I can have the same pride, progress, and fun in my gamedev work as I’ve had with this.

A big step completed towards a larger goal