Author: Lorenzo

How to be consistent with Warhammer
We all love painting minis. We all love buying them as well. So with a mountain of minis slowly growing in the comfort of your home, how can you be consistent with painting on a regular basis?

In this article I’ll go through my thought process on how to be consistent and I will show you what I have found that works for me. So strap in, grab a warm beverage and enjoy. I’m about to change your life.*

* Please note this blog may not change your life.

How to be consistent – my mindset

It’s true, it is hard work sometimes. I consistently failed at being consistent with painting my minis. Year on year I would tell myself “ok, this is it, 2 hours of painting a day”. And then fail. Ok let’s try something else: “30 minutes a day then!”. Guess what. I would keep that up for a week at best and then quickly end up in a slump and not touch the brush for months. Then January would come around, and with that new resolutions and dreams.

You get the gist. What I’m saying is that I would go down too deep too early. Most importantly I was expecting too much of myself.

There are lots of videos on youtube on the matter… but not many struck a cord with me. One which did, and is one of my favourites, is Eons of Battle one where they talk about dealing with burnout.

So where do I stand now?

Motivation is not enough.

You heard that right folks. Motivation is a myth. I have lost track of all the times I said to myself “I’m not feeling it today, maybe tomorrow”.

The result being that I wouldn’t do any hobby for months. Last time I stopped, I didn’t do anything for almost six months. And don’t get me started on how hard it was to get back into it! Why is that? Because my motivation was b*llsh*t, pardon my French.

Bottom line: don’t wait for motivation to come to you. It might never do.

But passion, man

The hobby is always full of people with passion. Passion equals motivation for many, but not everybody. Sometimes passion is also thought essential in places like your workplace and your job:

“AAA looking for passionate ice cream scoopers!” “Are you passionate about photocopying books all day?” “Join our most passionate packaging peas team!” “Are passionate about making other people passionate?” Give me a break.

Ok, rant over. What I’m saying is that passion is not enough for everyone, not even in our hobby. I have spent months waiting for passion to kick in. Fair to say it didn’t work. If anything, the more I was waiting the less inclined I was about doing anything.

How to be consistent – The “Do Something” law

Nike says it all the time: “Just do it”. And I kind of hate it. It’s such a superficial way to force someone to keep it up, whatever that is. But as much as I hate the advert, it’s kind of true. After you have planned how to paint a whole army, it’s time to get cracking, but how to be consistent at it?

In his “Subtle art of not Giving a F*ck” book (I highly recommend a read!) the author Mark Manson comes up with the Do Something law.

The idea behind the Do Something Law is that when you feel stuck, or don’t know where to start, at least do something. So for instance if you don’t quite know how to paint this ork boy, perhaps start looking at some basing material for example.

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Activation comes before Motivation

Therefore, if it’s something you enjoy, just start even if you are not feeling it. Paint a boot, build one mini. Just spill a bunch of argrax wash on the table if you have to!

You’ll see that even just the act of setting up your painting station will stir something up in your belly, filling you up with that fuzzy warm feeling of being back. You got this.

And so here comes the ultimate truth:

Activation comes before motivation.

How does it work? Here is a real life example:
- Me: “meh, not feeling it today, it’s been a long day in work and I’m tired”
- Other me: “ok cool, that’s fair enough mate”
- Me: “let me sit on my ass all evening”
- Other Me again: “yea sure, but we could do a little bit of painting right?” *Goes upstairs*
- Me: *sits at hobby desk*
- Me: “alright Other Me, well played. I’m here now, might as well grab a brush”
- Other Me: “yea I know, right? Let’s paint the teeth on this Squig, why don’t we?”
- Me: “sure why not, I’m here after all”
- Few hours later
- Me: “dude that’s awesome, the teeth are looking dope. Might try the base next!”
- Other Me: “yea mate, well done”
- Fin.
So essentially, as much as possible try to get the ball rolling even with the smallest of tasks, and it’ll kickstart motivation – just try it out!

Don’t skip twice

Yep, try not to skip a session twice. And with it I mean don’t let too much time pass between hobby sessions.

I don’t know about you, but if I go for a big chunk of time without hobbying, then the “idea” of it becomes a burden, and I get stressed. It’s almost like it becomes this scary thing that is impossible to do. The more time that passes, the more difficult an activity it becomes.

For this reason, I try not to let too much time pass between sessions. This way the “hobby monster” stops growing in my head and it is simpler to get started each time. Hence the don’t skip twice rule.

It is obvious that life will get in the way, so of course don’t beat yourself up if something comes up and you can’t hobby. Just remember this and come back to it whenever you get the chance – maybe paint a tooth?

So as much as possible, don’t let too much time pass between your painting sessions. But don’t be harsh on yourself if you skip for whatever reason. Next time go sit down, grab a brush and off you go.

How to be consistent in the hobby – Conclusion

And so there you have it. That’s my secret method. If you are asking yourself how to be consistent, just remember this:

Activation comes before motivation.

Just Do Something.

Don’t skip twice.

This entails to just get going even when you are not feeling it, because the drive will kick in as soon as you start 🙂 as a matter of fact I just did some painting before sitting down to write this and I really wasn’t in the mood for it.

Please let me know in the comments how you are consistent with your hobby, I’d be thrilled to read your thoughts and process!

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December 9, 2022
How To Paint Your Warhammer Army (5 Tips)
You’ve bought a bunch of miniatures. You were hyped to start a new army, and here you are, after the dust settles, surrounded by boxes. Now your pile of stuff (I’m not going to call it “of shame” yet) is sitting on a shelve next to you. What have you done? Here I share my tips on how to paint your Warhammer army.

How To Paint Your Warhammer Army? Enter the rabbit hole..

SO this happened to me a while back. It was the End Times on Earth, everyone was stuck at home because of Papa Nurgle, with too much time on my hands. What better thing to do then buying loads of Warhammer? You know I love me some Warhammer every now and then. What about a whole Gloomspite Gitz army? Yea, I reckon that’ll do. Let me just pop onto eBay real quick..

One. Do your homework – paint a test model

This is something that I learned recently. If you need to undertake a big project, you need a plan. And if you need a plan, you need to prep.

I have seen it and read it in a few videos and blogs about the subject, but it never stuck with me. You should take the time to do a test model first! I will save you time! I always thought: wouldn’t it be faster if I just go straight into painting without doing the homework first? See, I am usually not too bad with visualizing a color scheme, but I wanted to try this other approach this time. And thank God I did.

Having a test model helps you settle into a colour scheme (by the way, Blue and Red or Purple and Red worked much better!). The other thing to do is is obviously take notes on the steps to reach the desired colour scheme, this way you don’t have to think when it comes to batch painting the lot.

Here is my recipe after some experimenting:

And here lies the crux of the problem: you want to save time, and if you don’t have to think about which colour to choose and how to apply it, then you’ll save time over a big project.

Two. Keep it simple – every step of the way

Admittedly, not quite following this myself. But the main idea is to streamline the process of paint and minis as much as possible. I have a few things I’m leaning on for this task.

First of all, your painting recipe should not have that many steps. The logic is simple enough, less steps take less time, therefore you’ll be faster at finishing a single model. For instant, you could skip highlighting if a wash reaches a good enough result. Be mindful when batch painting: you might find ways to achieve what you want by speeding up some aspects of your colour scheme, like removing steps which are overkill to troops, or dropping the second pass of highlights.

I think this is particularly important. I discovered this myself while doing the first batch paint. I realised that I could skip an orange highlight by using contrast paints, basically achieving the same result. If you can streamline the process as you go you’ll gain momentum and velocity during the project, which will keep you motivated.

Easy Techniques

Another thing I lean on for this is using simple techniques. This makes it so it’s not too time consuming when batch painting. Techniques to have in your arsenal that might come handy are:
- Washes
- Contrast Paints or Speedpaints
- Drybrushing
- Streaking Grime
- Oil washes
I personally will never finish my Warhammer army if I were to building the highlights and shadows by brush only (also, I don’t have the skill to do that!!), so this provide worthwhile shortcuts while delivering good quality product at the end.

Looooooooots to paint…!

Lastly, keep your bases simple! God know I made that mistake and now I’ll have to keep going with it to maintain a consistent look 🙁 I have far too many steps for building my bases, which eat a lot of time. Also, complicated bases require a more involved paintjob, which again will take time.

Three. Use an airbrush – no seriously, just do it plz

I know, not everyone has one, yada yada yada. Just remember that rattle cans are you friends too!

These tools are great for basing, zenithal highlights and quick basecoats. My Gloomspite Gitz army is composed mainly by squigs, so it makes sense to spray the whole thing in red to begin with!

Another cool thing that you can do with an airbrush (or rattle can ok ok) is undershading as it makes the model pop way more. Just hold the model upside down, give it a spray and BAM, professional looking mini in a second. I’m quite a fan of this technique as it is easy to do and super satisfying. I’m using it on my squigs to give me both a blue underbelly and overall shadow: they look awesome!

Quick and Easy Colour Transitions

Speaking of undershading, what an airbrush can do is giving you amazing color transitions in no time. I’m planning to use this for my squig army in order to boost the highlights of the models, and combining it with another easy technique to get some really nice results. Here’s my plan, after undershading:
- Spray an off-white on the face on a 45 degree angle.
- The spray goes on the face but also lightly on the knees and the top bits of the model.
- Then use Contrast or the like to tint the white. In my case is orange.
Contrast paints + airbrush transitions. Love it

This gives a great highlight, quick and easy. What’s more, it focuses the attention on the front of the model, so I don’t have to spend much time on details on the back.

So yea, in conclusion: buy an airbrush plz.

Four. Don’t beat yourself up – you do you

I think this is important. After countless hours of painting minis I usually end up seeing only the faults. But it’s a hobby after all, there is no pressure coming from anywhere, just yourself.

I try to remind myself that perfection doesn’t exists. So I shouldn’t worry too much if my models aren’t. Do I like them? I do. Then it’s all good mate. Miniac has a great video that resounded with me titled “You are a good painter”. You should check it out as I found it very inspiring.

Another aspect of the hobby that I always worry about is spending too much time on one single model or unit. As I’m usually a slow painter, it happens fairly often and I get stressed about it. Thing is there’s no need for this stress. I just want everything painted and now. But where is the joy of the hobby if I focus only on the finished product.

I think this is the wrong approach. Again, it’s a hobby after all, we should all enjoy it however we like it. Which brings me to my last point.

Five. Don’t focus on the end goal – all about the journey

So I think this is absolutely crucial. The journey to a fully painted army is long and filled with ups and downs, so focusing on the end goal only will detract the joy of the act of actually painting it. I definitely tend to focus on the end goal, but I try to maintain joy in the journey. Here’s how I do it.

First, I’m breaking it down. I relatively enjoy batch painting, I enjoy getting a few models all done in one. I do struggle with it when I’m getting towards the end. My issue is that I love the beginning, but the closer I get to finish, say painting a 10 men squad, I cannot wait to be done! So many itsy bitsy details that take forever.. oof.

Break It Down, Mix It Up

So instead, I’m doing just squads of 5 at a time. I know it isn’t a big number, but I get to batch painting a bit and I’m done sooner. Being finished sooner is very powerful because seeing 5 dudes finished makes me want to start the next 5 asap! Basically I’m left myself wanting more on purpose! This way I’m driven to do the next batch and so on.

The other thing that I do is that I mix it up. Maybe 5 squig riders not, then 5 squigs and a squig herder. Then a Loonboss on giant squig. At the moment I’m even painting a Blood Bowl team instead! What I’m saying mix it up so that you don’t burn down painting the same thing 20 times.

I said about trying simple techniques. I’m trying to do different things on each little batch. Some squigs have a blue underbelly, other ones have a purple underbelly. This keeps it interesting to me and different enough to make me carry on.

So yea, enjoy the journey. Namaste.

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(Bonus) Keep it consistent

Easier said then done of course. But there is something that you can do.

I know, countless hours have been spent discussing about procrastination, and how to beat it. What can you do about it, how to fight it etc. etc. But just listen to me one sec.

The thing for me is that if I don’t paint for some time, the whole painting thing becomes a big whole scary monster in my head. Oh my God it’s so much effort, I’m not feeling it today, I’m tired, I’m feeling meh, not today, maybe tomorrow, feeling lazy etcc. But tomorrow never shows up!

So here my friend, I’ll give you the ultimate secret to win at life.

Just show up.

No, seriously. I was skeptical about this too. Then I tried it. One day I wasn’t feeling it at all, but I just sit down and started building a model. Once that was done I left it, still not feeling it too much. The next day I wanted to paint it. And so, after months of not touching my brush, I managed to paint something. I basically hacked my brain into motion and my lazy a$$ followed. Isn’t that wonderful? There you go. You go conquer the world, my friend. Let me know how that works out for you.

How to paint your Warhammer army – Conclusion

So.. easy for me to keep blathering non-sense to you. Where I am right now? Is this Gloomspit Gitz army finished yet? weeelllllllllll… no. I have not finished yet, the process is obviously long and I interleave it with other painting projects in the middle. But I’m getting there. Here’s what I have:
- 20 Squig Hoppers
- 10 Boingrot Bounderz
- 2 Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig
- 2 Mangler Quigs (one is a Loonboss build)
- 1 Colossal Squig
- 10 Squigs + 2 Squig Herder
For a grand total of 47 models. That’s nothing to sniff at, it’s a sizeable chunk if you want them all looking nice and pretty. So unless you are doing hobby full time (I wish) this will take months.

Squigs, squigs everywhere!

But, but, but… So far I have painted quite a few things:
- 10 Squig Hoppers
- 5 Squigs and 1 Herder
For the grand total of 16 models. Only 31 to go. I think next I’ll move to do 5 Bounderz, then back to finish the squigs herd, then maybe a Loonboss on Giant Squig. See I mix it up?

I might do an update once the army is finished. Will it be done soon? Doubt it, but it will be done nonetheless.
September 20, 2022
How to save money on boardgames (5 tips)
Let’s be honest, boardgames and tabletop games (from wargames and to rpgs) can get expensive. You know you love them, you get surrounded by them and suddenly you are sucked in into a vortex of cardboard in no time. So how to save money on boardgames?

Well, you are in luck. Here I want to share my top 5 tips to avoid burnout and don’t spend the earth, whilst still enjoying the hobby.

A note on how to save money on boardgames

Please note, although in this article I’m talking about reducing your spending, my main aim here is to convince that you can spend ZERO, or maintain your budget to a very low amount. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Without further ado here is my guide on how to save money on boardgames.

Dune is the perfect example of a great and cheap game.

eBay is your friend

Let’s start with the obvious. The second hand market is surely your friend when it comes to saving money. It is a great place to look for bargains and bag something special, or sell that thing that you haven’t touched in a long while, make some money and re-invest in your hobby with new found enthusiasm.

I personally use eBay a lot, both for buying and selling. You can get some bargains sometimes, the only thing to keep in mind if be mindful of your emotions when bidding. It is easy to push the envelope and upping your bid. The last thing you want is to enter a bidding war with a stranger. So you have to try and set your budget ahead of time and then keep it that way.

If you win, well, you win! Congratulations! You are now the proud owner if that thing you really wanted and it will soon be in your home, where it will start gathering dust on your shelve instead of someone else’s (yey?)! And if you lose weeeell… you saved money!

There are also other places to go to for when looking for second hand. If you want to save money, here is a list (not exhaustive!) of places to dive in:
- eBay
- Facebook market place
- BoardgameGeek Market
- BoardgameGeek Trade feature
- Charity shops (I haven’t personally found anything good yet, but I have seen people finding some great gems online)
Try before you buy

Ah, the good old saying of yore. Try before you buy it! In an increasingly noisy echosystem of Kickstarter projects, it has become very hard to try something before you decide to pull the trigger. Yes, it is true, some publishers let you try their kickstarter games on platforms like Tabletop Simulator, but they are not the final product, things can change, and we are here to save money.

So, I hear you say, how can I try a boardgame before buying it? Well, boardgame cafes are a great place to start. They are perfect for you to try those expensive games, take them for a spin for a few hours. And hey! You didn’t like it very much? Boom, now you know, and money is safe in the bank. Or maybe you love it? You can always come back to the boardgame cafe and keep saving hundreds. Some cafes also do rentals, so ask at the counter!

As an example, this happened to me with Scythe: absolutely loved the game when I tried it at my local boardgame cafe. I decided that I wanted to buy it (what a sucker uh). In the meantime we went back there and played it a few more times: it was still great! Then I realised I probably would not be able to take it to the table that much if at home and so I did not buy it in the end. If I want to play it, I’ll go back to the cafe instead.

Another great place to “Try before you Buy” is a friend’s collection. Maybe they own a game you’ve been eyeing for a while, and that alone is a perfect excuse to get a meet up organised and spend a lovely afternoon or evening (or morning? you weirdos) together. Trust me, your friend will love to share his collection with you (and I know! I’m usually “the friend”), and if you love it, you can go back for more! Not even need to buy the game at this point!

It doens’t get more classic than Wind in the Willows, but it’s not all about old games..

Rediscover old classics

Boardgame Geek is all about The Hotness. There is LITERALLY A CHART called The Hotness. There are even youtube channels comparing last month’s hotness with today’s. So why not going against the grain some time. Try to look for some old stuff. Something dusty but still great. Go Vintage baby.

For instance Cosmic Encounter is great. Great Western Trail I hear is awesome (haven’t tried it myself yet, gotta go to the cafe :P). 7 Wonders, Dominion.. *Chef Kiss* What I’m saying is there are LOADS of games that still hold up. So if you don’t already have them, you could pick those up, instead of paying through the nose with the latest plastic filled kickstarter cardboard box.

You can also look at this from another point of view. When I say classics, I don’t only mean classics in the broader term. I mean classics FOR YOU. Just play what you already have! You’ll find that one game that you haven’t picked up in a few years, and you’ll remember why you loved it. It’s such a great game!

And if you don’t like it anymore? oh well, I guess it’s ebay time.

Unsubscribe! Unsubscribe!

Many channels and media nowadays are always focused on the next new shiny thing. I follow many boardgame channels that cover what the next upcoming Kickstarter will be. As much as it is fun watching and keep up with the joneses, it is also kind of stressful. It is definitely not what I had in mind when looking into how to save money on boardgames.

In fact, I have my fair share of purchases based on reviews that I found on YouTube (Shut up and Sit Down anyone?). I also get newsletters from publishers and other media outlets. This is all well and good, but it also impacts my wallet.

So, if you can, try to unsubscribe from the noise. Out of sight, out of mind!

Sushi Go Party has it all. Fun, can accomodate high player count, quick and easy to teach!

How to save money on boardgames? Just wait

This is the most important tip that I can give.

Wait.

These games are not going anywhere. A lot of marketing surrounding board games is hype and FOMO. So just wait. This has a twofold effect.

First and foremost, this is helping you to beat the hype. I think this is probably the most important thing that you can do when looking at new games coming out.

Have you ever had a Kickstarter showing up at your door after a year or two, and you didn’t even remember you backed it? I have had instances where some games arrived and were left on my shelves still in shrinkwrap. For instance, my Arcadia Quest Inferno pledge arrived, and I really didn’t want to play it once I had it. What happened was that so much time had passed that I didn’t care anymore since the hype had died with it. It ended up on eBay after collecting dust on my shelves for months.

Secondly, you also end up “filtering out” games. For instance, let’s say that “Game A” is all the hotness right now. So much so that is sold out everywhere and you cannot find it anywhere. Well, if the game is good, the reviews will be positive and it will be reprinted. If it isn’t, you won’t see it again. That means you didn’t buy a crappy game and saved!

What I’m saying is that if I game is actually good, you’ll eventually find it again, and you’ll have the certainty that your money is well spent!

This is why badgeroid.com exists. The subheading Tabletop Counterhype is not by mistake, it’s a movement! It is a way for me to exercise self-restrain, and maybe help others doing the same along the way. All I want is to keep it cool while others are rushing out to buy buy buy.

You can wait, save money, look at the reviews when they come in and then decide. It is very possible that by then, that game doesn’t tickle your fancy anymore, and you will be all the better for it.

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Conclusions on how to save money on boardgames

And there you have it folks! my Top 5 tips for saving money with boardgames. As a quick roundup, these are my steps:
1. Buy Second Hand
2. Try before you buy
3. Look back at old classics
4. Unsubscribe from the noise
5. Wait
Do you have any tips that I haven’t covered? Let me know in the comments below, would love to hear about them!
July 11, 2022