Hey Dom. As a subscriber to your youtube channel I was surprised to read about your woes- I think you're a great painter, and there's nothing that suggests you've struggled with the Hobby so far.
I got back in to wargaming a few years back, and have had a pretty good experience with the gaming side of things. I've found that most war gamers are fun, decent people, and it's well worth getting over any apprehension (I certainly had some the first time I went down to my local club) and meeting people who are involved. I played infinity for a while, which is a really frikken complicated game (too complicated for casual fun, in my opinion, which is why I don't play it any more), but went down to a tournament in Exeter and had a great time despite not knowing anyone, or really understanding the rules that well. You might get the odd overly competitive person, but even they are usually nice enough to get along with on a friendly basis.
But I digress. Certainly, playing the game is a great way to get motivated to paint. I'm not so hot at motivation either, but getting an army ready for a game is a motivating factor for me, and works wonders.
You're absolutely right though- you won't paint figures you don't like. Might be worth looking at what you've got painted already, and seeing if you don't already have a head start on something. It seems from your youtube channel that you've painted a fair few miniatures, so perhaps you'll find that you've got the lions share of a force already, and don't have to do too much to finish it off?
There's also really nothing wrong with allying in a mixed force, just to get enough models together to play a game. 500 points is a good level to aim for.
Personally, I'm also always motivated by a nice theme for my army- autumn elves for example, picking earthy shades and bases full of tree roots and autumn leaves. I was going to make a mirkwood force using winter colours- blues, whites and pastel greens.
But if you've got a bunch of models already that you can knock together in to a force, then you can always just re-base them all so that they look cohesive. We all think that painting our army with an identical colour scheme is the unifying factor, but actually a single basing scheme does wonders even with disparate paint jobs and colour schemes.
Finally, I've found I have a lot more fun when wargaming for theme and story than any attempt to win. Obviously a lot of people play to win first and foremost. We all like to win at things. However, if you can find a way to separate the act of playing a game from the desire to win, and concentrate instead on playing out a cool story on the tabletop, regardless of the outcome, you'll enjoy the game a lot more.
Then, with that in mind, you can deviously plan the utter demise and humiliation of your enemies
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GW Leamington Spa sounds like you go to Warwick Uni- that's good, as you're slap bang in the middle of the country, and can easily go to the events up north or south. I plan on attending at least a few tournaments this year, and have played only a handful of games, most of which have been against a single opponent (a pal of mine). Like I said earlier, the intimidation factor is definitely there, but I think most people feel the same way- if they don't know a bunch of people that will be there it's a bit nerve wracking. But it really is well worth the effort, and you spend the time after the event wondering what you were worried about in the first place!
If you're ever down in London I'd be more than happy to host a game, or just go for a beer and talk about toy soldiers
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