Having recently finished painting Heavy Intercessors and a Gravis Captain (3rd Company Captain, Kaius Timaeron), I’m still committed to getting a 2,000 point force for this army painted up over the coming months (on top of the 4th Company Boarding Patrol units I’ve already done!) – so that means straight into painting the next units, two Desolation Squads.

With the Crusade campaign I’m currently running/participating in, I’ve added a bit of additional pressure for myself, by aiming to get certain units ready for milestones in the campaign. The Heavy Intercessors and Gravis Captain are part of that plan, and I’ve managed to fit them in to be able to take part in the second part of the campaign, with bigger battles as everyone’s Crusade Roster grows. I’d like to get the Desolation Squads done for the end of the Campaign, but to be honest I know they won’t be fully painted for that deadline (end March). They’ll get finished, just if I want to use them in games before the end of the campaign I’ll have to tolerate them being part-way done!

Still, I’ve got a plan for painting my units, which includes – believe it or not – a schedule of what I need to paint when. Based on my initial experience painting the first units I completed – Assault Intercessors and Hellblasters for the Boarding Patrol – I can realistically paint two units of 5 Marines, plus a character, over three months of evenings. So I know, for example, I’ll need the best part of a month (!) just to highlight the armour.

(Believe it or not, this actually helps me – though I did show a friend and he said it made him feel anxious looking at it!)

So as I start the Desolation Squads, I’ve become aware of the risk of getting a bit of hobby burnout, due to putting ‘pressure’ on myself by having a schedule. This isn’t helped by the fact I wanted to literally make a start on these straight at the start of the month/new year, but I didn’t quite have them ready to begin painting – then I caught one of Nurgle’s blessings that have been very prevalent this winter, meaning I didn’t feel up to do much of anything for several days.

Hobby burnout is real – there’ve been a number of posts on this forum in recent months. It’s something I’ve experienced myself, leading to my taking a four-year break from building or painting any 40k miniatures. For me, what can lead to burnout is trying to paint to deadlines (ironically, what I’m kind of doing at the moment!), coupled with having over-ambitious goals of what I’m wanting to paint in a specific amount of time. When experienced burnout last time, it was compounded by having spent the best part of 7 years mainly focusing on one project (my Chaos Marines, the Legion of Taurus), and finding that the paint scheme I chose (and the standard I wanted to paint them to) was time-consuming and painstaking. My ambitions for getting things painted for that army were often thwarted by the length of time it would take me to paint what I already had built!

I’ve been able to deal with the second of these three things through a combination of knowing how long it’ll take to paint a couple of units (as stated), and also being flexible about my ‘deadlines’. Thankfully, the timeline I’m trying to follow for this army is by and large my own, there are no external factors (such as painting for a competition or to get certain units ready for an event like a Tournament). So if anything ‘slips’ then really there’s no detriment. I can also be flexible, swap something out if I want to paint a different unit (or move on to a different project altogether for a change!).

The last burnout factor, I’ll admit, is a risk for this army. Whilst I’m enjoying painting these more than I did my Chaos Marines, by the time I’ve done the Desolation Squads that’ll be almost 40 Marines I’ve painted consecutively in this colour scheme – it’s at this point that doing intensive, time-consuming parts (like the armour highlights) is at risk of becoming repetitive, taking the enjoyment from this project. Again, to mitigate that, I’m currently painting an Apothecary alongside the Desolation Squads – a break from Grey armour! Also, a new challenge for me, as I’ve never painted White armour before. In recent years I’ve found that it helps me see a project through if I’m actually working on 2-3 things at the same time; I’ll balance out a more detailed, time-consuming project (like these Ashen Sentinels) with something I can get done quickly. 

When the pandemic hit in 2020, with the extra time on my hands I broke out some old Marine minis I’d had in boxes for almost a decade, and using faster techniques (thinned paints and washes to simulate building up highlights rather than painting them all on. I did 60 miniatures in 6 months – it had taken me almost as many years to get the same number of Chaos Marines done when I was doing that army! I took what I learnt, and in the following years I painted armies of Death Guard and Nighthaunt employing the same techniques; in this day and age of Contrast and Speed Paints, it’s easier to get results that look good for tabletop standard, and get a larger number of miniatures done quickly. This year I’ll be painting Necrons as my ‘speed project’ – letting Contrast, washes and Technical paints over sprayed Leadbelcher basecoat do the heavy lifting.

Contrast, Technical paints and Shades made these armies possible! 

Does that mean my ‘schedule’ for the Ashen Sentinels will slip? It doesn’t have to – I can fit the Necrons in on my lunch breaks when I work from home, but my evening painting sessions will still be focused on these Marines. But having something else to build and paint can break up the process of doing the Marines, and offer something different by way of a change.

Saying this, I’m still aware the risk of burnout is real, certainly when it comes to this army. But knowing what can trigger it, and trying to address or mitigate those things will certainly help when it comes to avoiding it. I’m very invested in the Ashen Sentinels as my main 40k army for the foreseeable future – but it doesn’t have to be my sole focus, if it ever feels like it’s not a ‘fun’ project to paint anymore.