Why It's Good to Have "Too Many Projects" 

I just primed 7 plague marines, so naturally I just bought $200 more death guard models.

me: "Boss, I've too many projects assigned" boss: sends me link to this... ...

One thing to consider as well If you're stuck on a difficult/annoying project is that moving onto a different project means you're still learning, and getting experience in the hobby. So hopefully when you go back to an incomplete project you'll be better able to tackle that technique, or specific task that was harder before.

Tabletop Minions' next video: "Why It's Bad to Have Too Many Friends and Family" ... I know I'd watch!

One thing that is rarely discussed is mould lines, they take days and days to remove properly

My rule is always, one project/ squad at the time, finish it, next. Discipline is key and only having one at the time is much better. It was my worst mistake ever when i broke my rule and primed too many at once.

Dragon Magazine published an article on this topic, back in the mid-70's. The author called it, "Works in Process". He said pretty much the same thing: work on what you want, when you want. He cautioned that it still required discipline, to complete any project, but it gave the practitioner the freedom to switch to something they were in the mood to work on. It is liberating, to say the least. I've been practicing it since I read the article around 20 years ago. Cheers!

My guilt over my recent Orks army purchase when I haven't even finished my Death Guard, Warhammer Warbands or Kill Team scenery + teams is now alleviated! Thanks as always Uncle Atom!

Not only do I have paint projects in plastic boxes like you've suggested, I keep build/conversion projects in zip-loc baggies so that i can remember what bits I was planning to use and convert with. It's also useful if you paint models in separate pieces before assembly.

I could not agree more. I was initially apprehensive to start multiple projects because it might hinder my progress, but I actually get a lot done in a more pleasant less forced manner. I often find myself rushing near the end of a project (which is usually highlighting) and I end up with a job I'm not so happy with, but with multiple projects going on I'm always bouncing back and forth to a project with fresh eyes and hands. Gonna share this video. Good one, Uncle A!

You really have a great perspective on this. For me I do primarily Gundam and picking up miniatures as a hobby. And I usually have like 5 things going on at once and I'm always having fun and watching the hours go by. Awesome man!

I find 2-3 projects on my table to be the sweet spot. I use a similar set of plastic boxes to sort my various projects in. It really works.

Can concur on this method for me personally, even have the Project boxes. It allows me to butterfly, but it maintains momentum on those "can't be arsed days" advantageous when you don't have a dedicated hobby space as well.

Living in a crowded house with other people, I find it difficult to find the motivation to set up a place to paint, so I have a bunch of unpainted Space Marines that don't properly represent the glory of Sanguinius.

Trade in your family for store credit and get as many models as possible

I just knew that having an entire army of grey stormcast eternals was a great idea XD

I have loads of hobby stuff on the go, I have unmade minis, unpainted minis and terrain, unfinished projects, half painted stuff, I find the hobby as a way to take my mind off other life stuff, it’s something I do by myself as I’m not really a people person, I don’t have friends so my hobby helps me get by. I love your videos, especially the Sunday live shows, you do a lot for the community and should be proud of yourself.

I definitely do this quite a bit already. A big motivation in project for me is creativeness and trying new things. So when I feel like I don't have much intuition, I switch projects until I find some inspiration that really gets me excited again.

I have so many projects on the go... 75ish Warhammer Quest 1995 core box set models. 12 Deathwing Terminators, including a Librarian and Captain in Terminator Armour. 22 Space Hulk Genestealers + brood lord. A Necron Command/Annihilation barge that I want to shove LEDs into. 3 Ravenwing Bikes. Several other "normal" model kits, including 3 Bandai Star Wars models, a 1/35 WW1 tank (which is basically death by 1000 pieces), a 1/350 Klingon Bird of Prey (been sitting around half started for 5 years!), and a 1/72 F-14A Tomcat... My "situation" in life has taken a turn for the worse so I've decided to crack on and try to reduce that list before I even think of buying anything new... ...motivation is so difficult however when it's hot and humid (as it is currently in my part of the UK), you feel lethargic because of it, and on many days when you could do some modelling, you feel generally unwell...

Yeah, this is definitely me; I actually find it harder to work with a hobby area where I only have one project out at a time. Usually, I'll keep two or three projects "in the queue" so to speak, so that if I have any downtime (waiting for something to dry, adjusting color scheme, etc) I can keep my mind and hands busy otherwise I find my attention begins to wander a bit and I start thinking about things not related to the hobby. I actually attribute the fact that I can't do group painting in some place like a game store to this quirk; with a limited amount of open table space and multiple people looking to utilize it, I can't exactly bring several projects with me to work on. Oddly enough though this doesn't affect building; I can happily sit at a table with a group and work on things like assembling miniatures or making bases because at least then it feels like I have multiple things to focus on.

Having more than one project on the go is great to have a change of pace, something to refresh the enthusiasm when that big army gets a little monotonous however having more than one project visible is a distraction for me. I can only have the project I’m working on visible on my desk otherwise the scale of what I have ahead of me can become demotivating rather than motivating. Seeing a model or a unit completed can give you that boost to do the next.

Oh wow that necron box is nearly as old as me. I think.

I'm a painter rather than a Wargamer. And I'm trying to improve every time I pick up a brush. Because of that I tend to be more or less sick of the model/colour by the time it's done. Yes, it's effort, but the pay off is great when you can see improvements. I've got about 200 minis, mostly on sprue, and doing my damnedest to keep it around that. But it does mean I've always got something different to pick up and paint at the end of a project. For me, switching helps keep the interest up, the motivation levels high, and keeps me interested in pushing. So as an example, my current project is a Harley Quinn, prior to that, two halfling Bloodbowl players, and before that, a Primaris Marine for a comp.

I've got a wall full of GW kits that I purchased to use in conversions. I know it is possible to buy individual bitz from the internet, but I just like to have a wide range of bitz to hand when the fancy takes me.

I've always had multiple projects on the go, I complete one stage and then move onto a different model, when that stage is done, go back or start something else. The benefit is there's always something to do and models never get rushed, after a day or a week a fresh perspective helps with those motivation issues. Currently have 6 models on the go and many many more that require final touches for their eventual display areas. :)

Totally agree. I am a Hobby Warrior and I flit between my Ynnari Eldar (so much RED!!) and Chaos Space Marines simply to refresh my eye after all that RED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having a few projects on the go that broad both painting and building is great but the best advice in this video is clearing your space. It’s so hard to switch gears when the other thing is still on your desk distracting your thoughts

A veritable SEA of cheap D&D minis, an ever-growing couple of Infinity armies and the Kickstarted Conan board game by Monolith (some 200-ish models)...I'm forever jumping back and forth between these three separate projects and ever since I saddled myself with the daunting task of finishing all of them I've managed to paint almost every day.

Another hobby trap: watching miniature tubers talking about the hobby and motivation instead of painting mini's which in itself becomes hobbyception XD.. Huge victim of this btb lol

I like to overlap. When I get near the end of the current project, I get the next out of the box, take a few minutes each night cutting and cleaning mould lines, and by the time the last bit of paint is on the last project, I'm just about ready to prime the next one. I may do things differently next month, because who's stopping me?

Yeah, I stepped over the line recently. I find having multiple projects going on does definitely helps when things get stale and you need to switch it up. It's part of the reason I'm working on two different armies. However, I now have six boxes of models in the works. Trying to set myself up for late fall and winter is my current excuse, build mode.

I've used this approach with a variety of projects from school, to work, to hobbies. Especially useful for attention deficit management.

I think this is going to be so useful! I found it tough starting painting my lord of contagion after finishing my bloat drone. So frustrating do because it was a weekend and realistically my only time to paint. I took your advice and did a tedious house work job and then had the motivation to start painting. It’s all about tricking the mind lol!

Totally agree. I've always had a lot of models sitting in the closet and on the shelves but when I first began painting I used to work on 1 single project at the time. However, when I got tired of painting that particular Blood Bowl team or Chaos Marine squad I didn't get ANY painting done. At all. Because I didn't have anything else built / primed / ready on the table. Now I usually have around 3 different projects sitting on my desk ready to be cleaned / primed / painted or whatever. So each day I can say "what do I feel like working on today? Investigators for Mansions of Madness? Monsters for Descent? Heroes for Gloomhaven?". And while this of course makes every project longer to complete, it keeps my hobby motivation high because I can work on exactly the project (or model) that I feel like working on. And that's pretty darn cool.

I love your videos there so useful and you're really engaging with the audience! Thanks for the content!

Really awesome video as always! I normally have multiple projects going. This summer while I'm off from college my goals by the end are to have my kill team terrain all tabletop ready, as well as finishing my Ad Mech KT, my Scions KT and I've also started creating a Frostgrave warband as it's been like 5 years since I've painted some fantasy miniatures! So lots to keep me distracted with and to keep tricking myself into still getting stuff done !

I've found this to be true, I may have too many projects but at least having 3-4 current projects really makes it easier. Currently I have a selection of models on my painting tray from various projects so I can easily switch between them. When I finish a couple from say my Peninsular War I just pick a couple more from that army (in some cases there's a lot in the queue ready to paint, others have to be prepped).

I'm currently using a 3 project system that seems to work well. I have one in depth painting project for days with lots of time and motivation. Then there's an easy painting project for relaxed painting. And finally I've got another project in the pipeline that I'm excited to start. All in all I have enough motivation to keep moving forward and enough variety to not get bored.

I'm working on 11x terminators, 10 squad and a banner to swap in.. when i apply the washers to them, I'll have to wait 30 mins, since ive got 10x primaris tactical marines lined up. They instantly become my second project [Whilst the terminators dry].

Too few projects? There is absolutely no danger of this ever happening to me. I have at least a dozen going at any one time!

Great video! But damn , did you really just say "hanging with friends or family or something dumb like that" LOL

I appreciate your motivational approach to videos! Being distracted by such mundane things in life like work, caring for aged parents, home chores, etc.. muy malo! Need to stay focused on what really matters... getting my minis ready for battle!

Just what I needed to hear. Thank you.

I think a good compromise is to only have one large project, an army/boxset whatever and one or two small projects to break up the large project!

I'm pretty much 100% Age of Sigmar right now (stormcast and some nighthaunt) but I also have some boardgame models from Reign of Cthulhu Pandemic and about one million tiny little zombies from the Zombies!!! boardgame it's expansions (zombie clowns!). I never really feel bogged down by having too much to do, and my vast Steam library is proof of that. I think it's comforting to have more than I'll ever need. It would also be nice to have something futuristic to jump over to when I feel fatigued with painting all my other stuff. This video put me over the edge to grab that Imperial Knight Paladin I've had my eye on.

So many on the go haha, two infinity armies, new space marines, necron kill team, imperial side of sw legion, dnd minis, x-wing repaints, it's good to jump around between if I get bored with one system/batch to mix it up and keep going.

Thanks for the video! I found that having paused projects (while I work on something else) on my desk/work area does not work for me. It’s better to put them away and almost forget about them. Having 50 unpainted minis that stare at you while you work is not something that I recommend :)

I have three squads of Stormtroopers to paint, along with the Emperor, Bosck, Boba, Pathfinders, Speederbikes, and Sabine. I'm not buying anything new until most of those are complete. My Stormtroopers will not be canon as white armour seems silly to me. Good video, thanks for the advice.

Right now I have Space Marines, Death Guard, and T'au models in various states of building and painting, I have some scratch-built terrain in progress, and I am building a display case for my models as well. On top of being a single father and working. I don't think I have too many projects, just a sampler plate for satiate various tastes as they hit me.

I've got the space and stuff laying around to do multiple projects... I'm a holding pattern to move back up stairs until someone moves out of my house. We have mixed goods in the current project area, my move will be so much easier once he snags his stuff out of the current junk jumble lol

I think it's good to have an entire huge project that you can split into different subprojects and working together at different projects in the same week to get precisely that overall feeling of that entire project-in-progress. I speak in particular about several stories/books and music score projects that are all in development modus. For modelmakers it can be exactly the same but only if you are a 'worldbuilder' in which all your figurines have a particular role to play in one and the same 'fictional world'.

Thanks for this. I have 2 Units of blighted trolls that have been sitting on my desk top unfinished because I just don't have the itch for them. I kind of felt guilty moving over to 2 other faction projects, but it felt nice to take a break from the others. I thought I could muscle through 22 of basically the same model, I was wrong lol.

Yeah, I use this trick a lot. Recently had to do a mass load of Orks for a big game, after the game I thought I'd gotten painter block until I started working on Necrons. I don't want to go near any Orks at the moment but I've managed to a get squads of Necrons don't instead in the meantime.

You might want to check your video editing, Uncle Atom. I think I saw a flash of something terrifying and foreboding near the beginning.. but that might just be me. Great video, keep it up

Love the flash to hoard , brilliant

You know, with variety, it's one of the major pluses for having shifted more towards the D&D side of miniatures recently and away from the more miniatures games...mainly due to player availability, but most of the projects are a small number at most and many unique.

Great video with good advice.

Excellent video as usual but I would caution that it's very easy to end up with a basement full of a lot of incomplete projects. You may find when you go back to something, the reason you stopped in the first place is still there - way too easy to go - well, I'll start something new - then, when the new one hits a snag, that first project is still at its annoying part too - so onto project #3...then #4...#5 and nothing ever gets done.

100% agree with everything in this video, I have sw legion, age of sigmar and batman Miniatures going on and by chopping and changing it keeps me motivated to paint

I just went through this exact scenario. I've made a promise to myself to work on just one army for all of 2019 (no getting distracted by the new shiny things) with some impossible goal of getting an army (mostly) finished. I focused on a new army for this attempt by doing AoS mortal followers of Slaanesh. It took me 6 months to get sick of painting purple armour so I took a quick break to try painting some savage oruks with the new contrast paints. Now I'm feeling rejuvenated enough to get back to the original goal.

Please stop enabling me.

In my table, I have a Predator, next to that, I have 35 Long Beards, above them, I have 8'ish dwarf characters. Next to them, I have my Storm boyz,and next to them, I have my Trukk Boyz. And on the tippy top, Emporors Champion, and a (one of them kinky bar winged gals) and 6 Deathwing Terminators on consignment. Yeah...

Love the Aaron Horkey shirt. Nice video also

I get a great sense of completion from painting many minis!

completely agree. Been painting the dark imperium box and im tired of space marines. So time to start the Drukhari army ive been dieing to start

Yay! You mentioned legion!

Best to save painting characters for when you start to feel that squad-painting frustration. Characters are a much faster turnaround and reminds you of what you can achieve in a finished product...which re-ignites your motivation to finish your squads.

thank you for this .

I see you are also up working on those "too many projects". In My personal experience. A good Rule of thumb for every project you have, I suggest you have an equal number of projects to make terrain. And when you're not working on a project instead consider making terrain. And when you finish making terrain, and find yourself with nothing to do try a good old fashion round of make terrain. It's very nice and relaxing. Making terrain that is.

I use a similar method but often it revolves around the stage of painting that my miniatures are in. For instance the base coating phase can often become tiresome so I'll switch out to a model that is ready for washing or highlighting. It's a bit more micro-management but it means I can still focus down the same unit or army and get it closer to being finished.

With the way that GW/FW raises prices, you DEFINITELY want to horde a few armies.

Even though i have a massive stack of stuff to paint, i decided to get all the Underworlds stuff. I now have 15 warbands built and need to paint before i can learn to play as i dont play with unpainted. Trouble now is in the UK the kids break for summer holidays in a week and i wont get a lot of time for 6 weeks once they are home. :(

I would like to get to the point, where I finish a project and look than after a new one. Just the thing, that I have to wait for the mail, is something like christmas when I was a kid. I Cant wait to get the order. BUT this probably will never happen :D

I find switching from project to project stops me getting bored. After painting a few AoS models I find switching to painting a few Space Marines reinvigorates me.

I'm gonna get me a plastic box for my "on-hold" stuff. It's all about removing barriers and reasons to say no. I'm going to say yes to more of my individual minis and get less stuck on whole units :D

On my table I have belisarius cawl, one of the new ork buggies, an ork deffdread and a squad of tau pathfinders for a killteam. I get bored easily while painting and it keeps me focused jumping between them all while one is drying.

I like to have the option of painting something different once in awhile. Painting a Dryad over and over again starts draining my soul and then the hobby stops interesting me. To prevent that I bought a Dark Souls board game add-on and I've been having a blast painting Artorias. No need to build the figures either, which was a nice change. Also painting a model that's a lot larger for a change is refreshing.

This is fucking spot on 15 years doing my nids, i had nothing to bounce off! Hello Necromunda

Mostly agree, but your discussion might have mentioned availability. The models you want will probably not be in the shops indefinitely and we all know what happens to the price of that box of outworld infra sergeants or whatever once they can only be obtained on the secondary market. So I purchase them now, wallet willing. The trick is to reach a steady state where you somehow balance having a) some new projects ready to go, b) some projects in various stages of completion, c) some output of completed stuff, and d) the foresight (and resources) to acquire the models we need to reach our ultimate goal, i.e. complete that army or diorama or whatever, while we can still reasonably obtain them.

I try to have a single project going at a time, but I always have too many options waiting in "shoe-boxes" to switch to. I tend to not finish stuff if I start too many things in parallel. So my mental battle is with me trying to have one or two concurrent projects (you have to have to do something while paint dries ;) )

I play 40k and AoS, and I tend to keep a bunch of miscellaneous heroes around just for this reason. Its just enough of a change that I can do it, have fun, and pass back to doing my main armies. And if none of them interest me, I tend to back Kickstarters and have some overflow models. Or theres still D&D minis after that. Following in the footsteps of Uncle Adam.

I’ve now been supplementing those times I don’t have any expansions to my glorious Free Guild to work on I’ll make miniatures for use with D&D.

When I was in Art School one of our Teachers told us to always have at least 2 projects going on because switching from one to the other allows you to look at them with fresh eyes and suddenly see things you could improve upon. I go a little beyond your recommendation because I have lots of different hobbies I switch to; I could build or paint mini's for a week and draw when I need a break, or I could write songs and play guitar in between working on a story I'm writing... or maybe just read comics and play video games and go running to get out of the house.

I'm one of those that needs to finish a project 1st, but I always maintain 3 or 4 stash projects so I can switch on completion. I would always start a new project otherwise and have 10 uncompleted LOL

The last time I saw someone do a RU-vid video that was in 180 degree opposition to an earlier video, it was Gordon Ramsay and he was cooking a steak.

Lol! I actually just got into the hobby not long ago crossed over from scale modeling...I’ve got 28mm plastics and metal,15mm, 6mm American Civil War guys...Bolt Action, 1914 12mm from Great Escape ....it’s a sickness man! 😮

I have 5 clear shoe boxes - the contents of which spark joy.

Did the audio from this video set off anyone else's Google Home or Google assistant? It happened at least twice for me. Always weirds me out. I think Adam's voice and mine are just close enough for it to recognize.

My ideal state would be 1 project per army, which means variation through the different armies, but a hard cap on the pile of unpainted/unbuilt models. In reality though i completely fail at it and probably sit in the middle of the two outer ends XD

I discussed this with my wife yesterday, she looked shocked and asked when I thought I was going to die.

I think I'm at the point of so much stuff to paint, I won't finish in my lifetime! And yet, I still buy!

YEY, caught this one early!!

I mostly do Star Wars and Star Trek models. You have to buy those when they are available because they discontinue those rascals all the time. Then you are either without or paying the scalpers on eBay.

I'm currently painting Arab speerman form a friend and whilst they're drying I just pick up my Roman legionars and start to build on those

I have to tell my girlfriend! It's efficient and part of the creative process, that I got a new box despite the other two still not being build :)

I could listen to this guy talk about anything

i fall into the hobby trap if i get too many projects and find it very hard to go back to an army or set of models if i start another army or if i buy to much of that army . get models for xmas seem to be a big problem for this .

I follow a similar method, only I look forward to playing the wargames rather than building or painting more, as gameplay is what i enjoy most. Amongst gaming, family and Netflix I dont have enough time to have a perpetual flow of minis to build/paint, wouldn't enjoy it either. Having just two armies for Star Wars Legion and some warbands for Warcry is what I am content with, with the odd model box here or there.

I think I've ran into this problem recently . A bit ago, I finished all of my zombicide basic zombies, and I moved onto the Dead-Eye walkers. But then Hate came in the mail, and I would rather be painting Hate

I had two sets of centaurian's weapons to paint or like 80 to 100 guns and gun add ons to paint. It stalled me for like 3 weeks.