Earlier this year I happened across a new subscription magazine for a little game called Warhammer 40,000, rekindling the passion for a hobby I had all but forgotten. What seemed at first nothing more than a questionable financial decision, soon turned into a wellspring of inspiration and learning, and not just for painting tiny plastic men.
For those that are unaware, Warhammer 40,000 is a popular sci-fi table top game produced by British company Games Workshop. As with many table top games, the hobby consists of players collecting miniatures, building and painting them, and then setting their armies onto the table top for a war game that makes Risk seem rather tame.
So why post about miniature war-gaming on a largely music blog? Two reasons: Firstly, as a sort of project accountability for myself, and secondly because I’m coming across a few interesting things that apply to creative practises and projects as this project unfolds, and I’d rather like to share those thoughts. And so over the last couple of months, I have been slowly relearning miniature painting, and building up a little collection of Space Marine soldiers.
What’s the project accountability? The subscription sends me a different batch of miniatures and/or paints each month, and I’m challenging myself to finish each batch before the next arrives. Unlike my studies or job, there’s no consequence to not meeting the deadlines except for a build up of unpainted plastic and the sense of failure.
So by posting my progress, I am forcing a deadline upon myself. And if even one person reads them and pesters me about it, then I have somewhat of a consequence. Mainly it’s an experiment in my own time management and a way to train myself to improve my project process.
Which brings me to the second motive for these table top tangents. As I learn things about the process of working on a project, managing time, overcoming unexpected challenges and everything else that undoubtedly comes with any creative project (or any project for that matter) I want to be able to share my thoughts and findings.
These findings will be based largely upon my own experience, but also filled out with some research and study. Some of this will be genuine research, where I may be looking for a new method to refine my time management skills (or something to that effect) while some of it will just be interesting things I happen upon as I tumble down the rabbit hole that is Youtube, or maybe try out a new painting technique.
With that all said, this post is merely intended to be somewhat of a messy introduction. Presently I’m about 5 months in, and the subscription goes for approximately 2 years. I still have a couple of miniatures left to paint before the next issue arrives, but the majority are complete. From here on in, these posts will be more focused on either progress updates, or sharing thoughts the processes and projects in general.
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Tom Page Creative 