Having issues getting excited

[Ryan814]

So I have over time started many small 500ish point WFB armies over the last couple of years, it has greatly improved my painting skills but I really have trouble getting excited with any of them.

I started Dark eldar 5 months back and wow, every day i wanted to do something with my new army, paint something, read fluff, make army lists, look at themes, and thought of a thousand different ways i could make my army new and shiny and awesome. So far I can't get into a fantasy army like that.

I'm wondering what about your armies make you get excited, and any suggestions on what would make me extra motivated with an army? I know some people are fluff buffs some like the lists, some like the "feel" of an army etc. Basically what makes your hobby heart "tick"

[tmarichards]

I love playing in tournaments, and tweaking my list each time I go to one and having to paint up the new stuff to go into the army is what keeps me interested.

Also, I've only used a fully painted and completely finished army a handful of times, and only at one tournament. But, I love playing with a fully painted army. So that keeps me going.

[Jind_Singh]

I'm sorry - I just saw the thread title and laughed my head off!

[Mace1982]

Indeed the thread title does give a certain impression especially for those of us who have a higher immaturity strain in them like myself, however for me i find the easiest way to get excited about an army is the vision you have about it, the finished project, sometimes i have sat and wrote out detailed background for my army which then spures me on further (this was all years ago as my recent plog has been somewhat of a failure mainly due to real life but i digest ) Also i found it alot easier to get into 40k etc due to the high level of science fiction movies and so forth compared to fantasy.

[Freakiq]

I hear there are pills for that.

Try not to burn yourself out on an army, you don't have to reread the codex every day and think about tactics and paint schemes constantly.

Try pursuing other interests while you're building the army, read a (non Warhammer) book or buy a lengthy video game to take your mind off the army you're building.

but i digest

Big meal?

[Woodsman]

Foreplay?

Ah sometimes I think I'm still 15 trapped in a Ma..(looks in the mirror) well a body at least.

Anyways - I collect Brets - me old man used to read to me every afternoon when I got in from kindergarten and most of what he read was penguin books - little simplified accounts of historical figures and legends - I loved the stories about knights and medieval times in general and still do. So that's not going to help overmuch. I keep interested in various ways - writing stories set in the WH world involving my army is up there and similar. Brought a number of the roleplay supplements and keep reading those. I read a lot of fantasy and things like - A Song of Ice and Fire just get anyone excited about knights!

Good luck.

[Daemonia]

Yeah I'm with Woodsman- find a book or movie about some race or culture in Warhammer you really like and it'll inevitably inspire you to build an army out of it.

[Ryan814]

Good idea, I'll go through my nerd collection (i.e. everything I own), if anyone has some suggestions some of the non-warhammer stuff that peaks my interest are;

Warcraft Forsaken (love their lore)
Ancient greek and roman history (300 the movie included here, love the story of Thermopylae)
Anything ancient and tribal feeling (who doesn't like a good drum beat)
I like fictional characters who have very disciplined outlook on all things martial (duty first, war is serious business types)
Also fictional characters who display unwavering devotion to a particular creed or even outright zealotry.

Not sure if anyone can suggest any fantasy/sci-fi fiction based on that to help me get ideas rolling.

[tmarichards]

Starship Troopers always makes me want to start playing 40K again...

[Lord Inquisitor]

I'm sorry - I just saw the thread title and laughed my head off!

Ha me too... since I can't really add much to the innuendo I'll leave it at that...

Disciplined troops with zealotry? Sounds like an Empire army even without a classical source... Perhaps a greek or roman theme?

[Mace1982]

Suggestion of books fantasy style would be either the John shannow novels or the druss saga by David gemmel he also does tonnes of other fiction check him out

[Bingo the Fun Monkey]

If nothing sparks your fancy don't get started. I understand the urge to have a set or something akin to a "complete GW collection of [insert your name]". While I can think about my orcs and gobboz all day long and even dream about them, I can't get excited about any 40k army, despite this weird sense of obligation to own one. OnG fit the bill nicely, so 40k Orks would feel redundant (to me).

My suggestion would be to just read something you normally wouldn't. You never know where you'll find inspiration, but it's always the last place you look.

[drear]

i do find it difficult getting enthused about a new fantasy army.
im fine with the buying, i get very excited.
but its the assembly of so many models that eventually bogs me down. and then the painting when i lookat the amount i have to paint..

but thats my own fault for buying 3k of orcs and 2k of lizardmen along with 3k of marines all at once...

i think i find 40k easier to get into painting wise, because its easier to break a unit into smaller squads and get a 'unit' finished and displayed.

fantasy doesnt seem finishied unless that unit of 20 is painted and based and has a movment dtray all done.
but i do find once i get into fantasy painting i can plough through units 20-30 at a time.

[Woodsman]

Yeah Gemmel does some great Heroic Fantasy - the Drenai novels cover a number of different heroes two/three cultures, good stuff. He also re-imagined the Trojan war which fits in with your greek theme.

Warcraft - I think this is some sort of game? Sorry can't help on that front - I'm a luddite.

Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden and Valerio Massimo Manfredi have all written in the Roman empire and Iggulden also has a mongul series. Manfredi isn't the easiest reading in the world. If you like ancient Rome, you may find Silverbergs Roma Eternal interesting and amusing.

Much of fantasy has disciplined martial characters; Lan from Wheel of Time springs to mind - however I wouldn't recommend it because Jordan lost his way and books 6-9 are pretty poor IMHO. The first three books read quite well as a standalone trilogy and so does New Spring which is a prequel to the series as a whole.

Ancient and tribal - not really my field Tanith Lee's Lionwolf is really good - very magical, almost mythical - personally I think Lee's prose is amongst the best there is, but I know some find it strange so... Jean M. Auel wrote possibly the most famous pre-historic series - Clan of Cave Bear/Earth's Children, not a fan myself, although the first book or two were quite enjoyable. Bernard Cornwall wrote a book set during the building of Stonehenge and his Arthurian and Saxon trilogies are good reading - sort of tribal just not that ancient and not too many drums.

Other fighty stuff - James Barclay's Raven trilogies are recommended, as is Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen (be warned this is truly Epic - 10 books following hundreds of characters over several continents). I still think Glen Cook does grit and mercenary stuff the best - The Black Company being his best know work although The Tower of Fear is an interesting standalone.

Zeolotry - somethings nagging away at the back of my mind but I can't think what.

Other stuff you should read because it's awesome:
Michael moorcock - Thought Chaos was a GW thing? think again!
Joe Abercrombie - put the violent back in fiction and so much more.
Gurm (G. R. R.)Martin - Best. Series. Ever. Low fantasy lots of knights intrigue and unsurpassed characters.
Lord Dunsany - sadly ignored today by many - fantastic writing style - lots of shorts no doorstops full of useless padding.
China Mieville - Put the weird back in fiction often with a slightlty() red slant. New Crobuzon is an amazing world; buy anything you see by him.
Janny Wurts - Wars of Light and Shadow.
Sir Terry Pratchet - a good piss-take of pretty much everything.
Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicles.

I should probably stop now.

SF - will have to wait for another day.

[thesheriff]

Man, that titles wrong. I want to say something about homo-erotic asphyxiation, but I'd probably get banned

Starship Troopers always makes me want to start playing 40K again...

True dat. COME ON YOU APES, YOU WANNA LIVE FOR EVER??!?

I find I meticulously plan budgets for an army, but only when I have the money I find Out what I really like.

I also find a theme really motivates me also. I've seen loads. Simple god based chaos affairs to my mates KKK night goblin army.

thesheriff

[Memnos]

I got excited about Beastmen because I was told you could never:

A) Make a competitive Beastmen army and;
B) Cavalry in 8th edition was rubbish and;
C) Beastmen monsters were terrible and;
D) MSU armies couldn't work in the new edition and;
E) Movement isn't important in the new edition.

I built a Beastmen Monster/Centigor list as a 'Make the internet cry' list. I love it. It's reasonably successful, winning about 75% of the time even against what some people call the hardest lists, is interesting to play as it's all about outmaneuvering people.

[amplebob]

Just read up on some fluff and try to find something that appeals to you.

[RMacDeezy]

i use the hobby aspect to get excited about my armies. example- i just bought 30 more bloodletters, 6 more flamers, and 2 more fiends. i've started to work on the bloodletters with a new set of W&N brushes and some different shading techniques that look better than what i'm used to. for the 6 flamers, i'm trying a new basing idea of scorched ground and embers with some GS flames around them. the flames are done and have me really excited to finish them. i'm also going to try my hand at OSL on the models as well.

i'm the exact opposite with you, i can't get excited about a 40k army. its just an endless cycle of marines, imp guard, and dark eldar in my store so why bother getting in at all? sure i can start something different but i don't want to play the same 3 races all the time.

[gd09garett]

SNIP A very good list of authors by Woodsman

All of that and not a single mention of Robert E. Howard. Don't even need the Conan stories [which are about his most well known character]. Heck, don't even need the stories at all. His poetry is inspiring.

an excerpt from a poem of Soloman Kane

"And Solomon rose and bared his sword,
And swift as tongue could tell,
The dark spewed forth a painted horde
Like shadows out of Hell.

His pistols thundered in the night,
And in that burst of flame
He saw red eyes with hate alight,
And on the figures came.

His sword was like a cobra's stroke
And death hummed in its tune;
His arm was steel and knotted oak
Beneath the rising moon.

But by him sang another sword,
And a great form roared and thrust,
And dropped like leaves the screaming horde
To writhe in bloody dust.

Silent as death their charge had been,
Silent as night they fled;
And in the trampled glade was seen
Only the torn dead.

And Solomon turned with outstretched hand,
Then halted suddenly,
For no man stood with naked brand
Beneath the moon-lit tree."

I would write more, but everyone should read his poetry for themselves.

[Woodsman]

Ah sorry, I tend to take it as read, that some people will have read; Howard, Lovecraft and Tolkein. Not sure why though, I know a fair few who haven't.