Mantic Games Goblin Army

So after what has been a bit of procrastinating by doing other odds and ends related to this project (the king on the palanquin and the bit of red on the spitters) It finally clicked why I wasnt making the progress I wanted to in getting another big unit of goblins done. I was setting myself an unrealistic expectation of taking one whole day out of a weekend to just smash through the rabble legion (53 miniatures) in one big go. Now this worked for me when I did my spitters but if theres one thing I have learnt its that these spurts of hobby energy are not reliable for getting a larger project done.

So borrowing some of the theory from the Armies, Legions and Hordes book I decided I would set myself a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

For those who dont know a SMART goal is a goal that is:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time Bound

Now the smaller goal is getting this rabble legion finally done as part of my larger goal of having a playable army at the ready. I realised what I had been doing is setting myself a goal that was not achievable without me having a huge chunk of time to devote.

So my smart goal i have now set is to have the rabble legion fully painted come monday next week. How do i break this down into achievable and realistic bites? This i think is a key aspect of getting larger units of miniatures, especially for mass battle systems done. I decided I would set myself the aim of painting the first layer of skin by tuesday this week. This may seem like a modest goal and id say thats the point, I work during the week from home often until 6pm which means during the Canberra winter (which it is now) i dont particularly want to be painting too long out in my cold painting area in the basement. So by setting myself this modest goal i could be assured I could push through and get just a bit of painting done over the next two days.

I then said I would have the second and third layer finished by friday, followed by the black cloaks and then the final details on saturday and sunday. By Setting these goals I now have a concrete plan in my place for how im finally going to deal with this hobby roadblock (cause lets face it, painting 50-something goblins in one go is a daunting task). And its already paid dividends in terms of my progress, tonight i exceeded my expectations and actually finished layer one of the skin on the first day of the plan!

I guess what I am trying to get at when it comes to hobby and motivation in a project is that you need to be realistic and have a plan in place if you really wish to succeed at your army painting goal, even for smaller projects. When you set yourself unrealistic expectations or goals you will probably like me, find its easier to not even get started on making progress at all and procrastinate with other things you tell yourself are part of it all!

So here below you can see my goblins ready for second stage of skin painting.