Trouble with inspiration: advice

[General Strike]

Hello all, I left the hobby at the end of 8th, with Covid and then 9th not being my thing. I sold off all my stuff and now want to get back into it with 10th. I am struggling to decide on my first project to return with, as there are so many cool options. How do you conquer the choice paralysis? What do you use for inspiration? What helps you take the plunge and execute a project?

[LittlePlasticHomies]

As dumb as this sounds I started with Imperial Fists then switched to Blood Angels because my favorite colors are yellow and red.

 

Choosing an army can be as simple as you’d like

[Grotsmasha]

For me, inspiration comes from many places. I could be a well painted or converted model on Insta, the new hot thing on YouTube. It could be a scene in a BL novel, or codex, or audiobook.

In this instance if the aim is to actually play a bunch in 10th, I would first consider which play style you enjoy playing most. Sure, we don't know for sure what meta 10th will bring, but, do you like shooty lists? CQC lists? Horde armies? Low model Elite armies?

These questions will help guide you to a selection of factions, it's quite likely one will speak to you more than the others, sometimes I'll buy a single infantry model on eBay and paint it for funsies, maybe you could do this for these factions, see how you enjoy painting each faction.

[Rain]

For me the main thing is lore and models. I need to enjoy the lore, and the models have to either be really good, or have a lot of potential for kitbashing and conversions.

 

I like the theme of Chaos Space Marines, and always have. The only ones that can remember the golden age of the Imperium being a bunch of mostly insane and deeply corrupted traitors is grimdark and fun.

World Eaters specifically have some great models and kitbashing potential especially when FW is brought into the mix, I like the allusions to gladiators and Spartacus/the Servile Wars, and Betrayer is one of the best HH novels outside of the original trilogy. Finally, I noticed that the Reddit lore community tends to despise them. The opposite of the Reddit consensus on any issue tends to be a good initial heuristic 

[tychobi]

You gotta pick a horse. The game and meta will change but you will still be you so finding the models you want to build paint and form a connection to is really all that matters. I would start with one model that you find exciting, make it as awesome as you can and check back in and see how you feel.  (And 10th is right around the corner) This is an opportunity to begin the army you have always wanted to play. Good luck!

[Mike Zulu]

Like @LittlePlasticHomies , sometimes the choice for me has been as simple as "I haven't got anything painted green - I'm doing Salamanders!". 

Also, 3rd Ed Salamanders had Predator Tanks with Flamer sponsons, so there was the kitbashing challenge that interested me.

 

You may find the simple excuses are the best for not only inspiration, but motivation to begin your new project.

You do not want to tie yourself in knots trying to decide on an army/theme/etc that "ticks all of the boxes".

[Doghouse]

I think the patrol boxes are a good starting point. I'm still on the fence on whether I want to get back in but if I do I will probably follow the criteria of what is good value for money, isn't a tedious horde painting army and won't break the bank. Something easy to make and paint.

 

I'm traditionally a marine player for that very reason, lots of starter sets having them meaning easy access to cheaper models.

 

If I do take the plunge though I personally would like to do Votann for a complete change of pace or return to Eldar, maybe even Tau.

 

With the launch of the tenth starter coming Tyranids and marines would be two very good choices simply because the market will be flooded with broken down boxes which should make it cheaper.

[MegaVolt87]

I still have my custodes, I'm thinking of using the stack of primaris in the pile of shame to do BA, Mephy as one of the HQ's, the model has grown on me. New Tau/ Dark Eldar models might trigger the distracted boyfriend meme though. 

[Marshal Mittens]

I pick one, and while working on it, listen to YouTube videos about them or audio books about them, to stay hyped and figure out what I wanna do. 

[sarabando]

On 5/18/2023 at 2:08 AM, General Strike said:

Hello all, I left the hobby at the end of 8th, with Covid and then 9th not being my thing. I sold off all my stuff and now want to get back into it with 10th. I am struggling to decide on my first project to return with, as there are so many cool options. How do you conquer the choice paralysis? What do you use for inspiration? What helps you take the plunge and execute a project?

for me i often get inspiration from doodling i draw marines when im on hold at work so that often leads me to building minis, as for which army to work on that depends as i only really do heresy stuff a lot of the time i work on two forces that are fighting each other. So at the moment im working on some Blood angels that are fighting my Night lords so i get to bounce ideas around like "who would this guys nemesis be, who would he run away from" and then build that mini. 

 

also listening to audio books helps i started a whole ultramarines force just because i listened to Nightfane and loved the idea of Ultramarines in a facility at the bottom of the ocean. 

[Xenith]

I had the same issue with painting Primaris - add to my firstborn BA or start a new chapter, etc. I scratched both itches by painting all my primaris as the various successor chapters.

 

I personally think army choice should be guided by the models. Pick the ones you love the most, paint them in a way you enjoy and can replicate over an army. 

 

Even if I stopped playing the game, I don't think I'd sell my models because I simply like looking at them, and I enjoy the painting and converting side also. Whatever you do, if you decide to get out of the game again, keep a small army at least - with the right build even a 2k army can fit into a briefcase-sized box which can be squirrelled away in case you ever want to get back into it again, and will save the high ramp up cost of getting a large army together. 

[Domhnall]

My problem with inspiration is that I have too much, but not enough time to put most into action. 

My current list of 'in progress projects' is as follows:
 

Space Marine/Trygon diorama, with references to the film Tremors. 

Primaris Lieutenant/Royal Warden from Hachette Imperium Issue 1, in a duel based on the 80's Thundercat's cartoon (Lion-O being the marine, Mumm-ra obviously the Warden). 

The Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priest (from Imperium again) 'drilling barrels' in bolt rifles. 

The year one Warhammer+ Vindicare figure, about to fight off a termigaunt climbing the structure...

and many more that will never come to pass.

 

Inspiration for me isn't always quick. I've had that duel idea since I got them, but only recently did the Thundercat's idea get tacked on when I saw the cartoon intro again.

 

Sometimes it's a case of looking at a model and knowing straight away what I could do with it, other times it's having the initial idea and building upon it over time. 

If it's an army you need inspiration for, start with something you like personally, either a story, an activity, or favourite food if that's your desire, and build it around that. It's easier to keep a theme going if it's something you enjoy, rather than trudging along when you tired of it last year. My chapter is who it is because my favourite colour is purple, and it's background is very loosely based on the border Reivers of the Scotish/English border in times past.

[2PlusEasy]

I liked the earlier analogy about backing a horse: that's a great comment.

 

My view on this is that it's one thing to have an idea and another thing to carry it out. Ideas are free: Warhammer is not.

 

Alot of tabletop wargaming (and even scale model) hobbyists buy impulsively based off ideas, which is why piles of shame and the second hand market exist. GW also knows this, which is why a GW redshirt is always standing next to you saying "do it" and why their "buy or miss out"  sales method is so successful at the moment. I'm not beyond this: I've impulsively bought projects as much as the next hobbyist throughout the last two decades. But recently for me, with age comes wisdom: impulse buying can be a very unhealthy trait. Especially when you're buying for the sake of buying based off an idea, and it never comes to fruition.

 

So in many ways, the OP's decision paralysis is not a bad thing: they're actually thinking about their choice. This is great, and something that needs to be encouraged.

 

So to the OP, there's three questions that will help you:

 

- Tabletop Wargaming is 5 hobbies in one: collecting, building + converting, painting, playing and (because of our general impulsiveness,) selling. Which of these aspects do you like about the hobby?

 

- Why do you like those aspects? Are you in this to play or paint competitively? Are you more into the artistic side with the converting and painting? Are you one of those collector-types who just likes owning stuff? Are you an all-rounder? Do you simply enjoy seeing through a project, whether it be one model or one army from start to finish?

 

- Where does your inspiration come from? Is it the gaming  meta that drives you? Is it the deadline of the next painting competition? Is it telling a story through your art? Is it telling a story through your games? Is it the setting itself and the tie in novels? Is your inspiration simply catching up for a game once a month with your mates and the hobby is the medium which you all come together over?

 

As an example:

 

I was a RPG player first, before I was a tabletop Wargamer. I filled the role of GM more then player, so took away the telling the story aspect from RPGs. Most of my drive for tabletop wargaming comes from this: it's a physical medium with which to tell a story in a different way. So I enjoy the settings to coincide this.

 

I haven't built them yet but I have a Eldar periphery realm army stored away, heavily influenced by Andy Chamber's novella: The Masque of Vyle. It's only now that the bits and kits are readily available for me to fulfill that hobby vision properly of a culture influenced by both Commorragh and the Craftworlds.

 

However, ironically, the more that 40k takes itself seriously and fleshes out detail, the less engaged I feel with it as a setting. I really liked the days when 40k's lore intentionally had holes left in it because it encouraged the hobbyist to fill the hole with their own creativity. That's a GM's dream setting to work with in RPGs. It's why I see great appeal in games like Frostgrave and Battletech these days and am moving away from Warhammer.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by 2PlusEasy

[Rain]

@2PlusEasy I don’t mind the setting “taking itself seriously,” but I agree 100% as to the demystification and overexplaining of the setting. I understand that the Horus Heresy made GW an obscene amount of money, but it was so much more compelling as a dimly remembered age of legend, directly remembered only by Chaos Legionnaires, who are heavily biased and mostly insane.

Kind of like the Clone Wars in Star Wars, actually, though that made less sense as it was only 20-30 years prior to the “current time” and not 10,000. 
 

Leaving certain things mysterious creates narrative hooks, and gets people invested by having their own imagination fill in the gaps. Having it all explained in a just-so exhaustive fashion robs the setting of gravitas regardless of how good the actual stories are, and they are very hit and miss.