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I’ve got a case of hobby paralysis, and I’m trying to break out of it.

The problem is that I simply have too many projects to work on and none of them really have a due date attached to them. They’re all projects that I’ve been wanting to paint or build, but they also aren’t for games I’m playing anytime soon. So I’m staring at five projects and wondering what I’m supposed to do next.

The Hobby Paralysis Projects

The five projects that I have to work on (and it’s weird that I have ANYTHING to work on since I sold literally all of my models) are these:

Leagues of Votann

I have been very vocal about the fact that I am a longtime Squat fanboy. We’re talking LONGTIME–I bought them in first edition. I’m not sure if they were my first army, because I bought a box of metal Harlequins around the same time, but the Squats were certainly the first army that I expanded on, buying not only the boxed set of soldiers but also several of the Trikes and an Ancient.

So of course I bought the boxed set. I took the box with me on my recent trip to Scotland and painted many of the models there (you can read about traveling with miniatures here) but since I’ve been home–and fighting a bad bout of COVID that I caught while traveling–that I’ve been making real headway on them.

One thing that I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by is that I actually quite enjoyed building and painting the Hearthkyn Pioneers. Initially I DID NOT like the fact that Squat trikes were going to be hover trikes, but after getting these models I have fully fallen in love with them.

The problem is that I am SO CLOSE to getting the boxed set done–I only have 6 Hearthkyn left–but my attention is being drawn away.

And this is compounded by the fact that I don’t really feel like I can play a game of Warhammer 40k with the Leagues of Votann–I am waiting for so many models to be released. And they’re all models that I am really really excited for. But because I can’t play the game anytime soon, I don’t have that deadline to push me over the edge and get them done. And my eyes are wandering.

Word Bearers: Horus Heresy Age of Darkness

I know what you’re saying: didn’t you paint an entire Age of Darkness boxed set of World Eaters and then sell it? Yes, and I regretted it. Even before I sold it I had determined to paint a second boxed set of Word Bearers. (I find it weird that I am suddenly so interested in the Word Bearers because I have never liked them in Warhammer 40k. But in 30k? They are fascinating.)

I am following a tutorial by Mediocre Hobbies, a painter who I like quite a bit, as the recipe for my Word Bearers. It’s mainly starting with a base coat of Gore Grunta Fur and Reikland Fleshshade before layering up with Word Bearers Red. It’s not something I would have thought of on my own, but the results are great so far.

But I already know that it’s going to be hard to keep up momentum to get through the entire Age of Darkness box–I know this because I’ve done it once before, and that final push to get the last ten Space Marines done was a slog. But the end result was something I was really very proud of, and I’m happy to say that they have gone to another happy wargamer who is playing Horus Heresy with them.

But then I got distracted again.

Blooded: Traitor Guard

This was an impulse purchase that I made while I was in Scotland because I have been in love with all of the various Kill Team-specific teams. And I also have long wanted Traitor Guard, ever since playing Blackstone Fortress and painting those great models.

So I bought this box and I basecoated all of them and I painted the Chaos Ogryn and then my attention got pulled away.

Tabletop World Guard Tower

I absolutely love Tabletop World terrain. This is my fourth building from them–I also have the Wizard’s Tower, the Blacksmith, and the Mansion. And I needed something else so I let my oldest kid choose which would be next–and they chose the Guard Tower.

Tabletop World, a company that operates out of Croatia, makes the finest quality wargame terrain I have ever come across. The models are intricately detailed, both inside and out, and they paint up so well. They’re not cheap, and the fact that you have to import them from Croatia means that they cost more and that they take a long time to get to you. But they’re so worth it.

Now this one isn’t technically in my hands yet, but I’ve been tracking its progress as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and just today it arrived at the distribution center in my city. So it should be here before the week is over. And I’m going to want to devote a lot of time to painting it.

The Model Train

I have been spending a lot of time on the model railroad layout. But there was something that got into my head when I was in Scotland: I needed a castle on my train layout.

Everything on the layout is scratchbuilt, or at least kitbashed, and I decided I wanted something akin to Stirling Castle–only in the theme I have already established: Pilgrims vs Sea Monsters. This theme has morphed quite a bit since I’ve been building the model railroad because there’s only so many places on a layout that you can put sea monsters, so it’s come to include monsters of all kinds.

And the castle needed a good opponent and I really had no choice but to buy my first Mega-Gargant and get him ready to tear down the castle walls. And I have indeed painted the Mega-Gargant (having COVID and not needing to work gave me a lot of time in the last seven days to paint). So he’s ready and able to be placed on the train layout when I get the castle done.

Bonus: The Thing I Really Should Be Working On

I went all in on Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings when I got a large gift card from work, but I quickly realized that I didn’t like the game. So I sold the Household Knights I’d painted (they turned out pretty good) and it seemed that the guy I sold them to like them a lot. So he asked if I had any others to sell–and if I’d paint them for him.

I am not a commission painter, and I don’t pretend to be that good. But we agreed to a very small amount that covers the cost of the models (I had three other boxes) and a decent paint job.

And I just can’t force myself to do them. I need to, and they wouldn’t take much time, but I just do not like Conquest.

How Do You Defeat Hobby Paralysis?

So here I am in a fit of hobby paralysis, with a ton of models that all could be painted–almost all of which I really want to paint, and a few of which I’m obligated to paint–and I feel frozen.

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the same way. I mean, I shouldn’t complain because I have an embarrassment of riches. So many cool things that I get to put on my shelf and that will look good.

I just don’t know how to choose. Do I force myself to get the commission done? Do I dive into the Tabletop World tower that I know I’ll adore? Do I get started painting a few test models of the Word Bearers?

The Answer to Hobby Paralysis

I think the answer–the only answer–is that I’m obligated to paint the commissions and they’ll make me feel guilty until they’re done. But then I’m really free to do any or all of them. None of them have a deadline attached to them (I’m not playing any games in the next little while) so why not just take a little from here and a little from there? There’s nothing wrong with sampling.

Paint something until it starts to get old, and then switch to something else. I don’t have any models that are incoming that will need to be painted–I can’t imagine I’ll be buying any new models until the rest of the Leagues of Votann come out, and then I’ll want to get a 2000 point army done.

(But there’s a fatal flaw. I liked the Imperial Guard boxed set, then I loved the Kasrkin Kill Team, and then I’m head over heels for the Rough Riders. So is there another Warhammer 40k army in my future?)