Thursday, June 23, 2011

Paint or Pay!

Some weeks ago my friends and I noticed that we got more and more lazy through the years. We're playing the same models over and over again and we just can't stand them anymore.

What's the problem with the existing models?
It's not because the models are ugly or painted horribly, it's just because we got so used to them that we don't look at them at the same way that we did when we fielded them the first time. It's similar to a movie that you see for the first time and are completely keen about, then you buy the blue ray or DVD and watch it again still keen about, then you watch it the third, fourth, fitfth... time until the day you stand in front of your movie rack for picking a movie that you want to watch because there's nothing on TV and say "Great movie but I've seen it this many times".
I hope you get my point.

Don't we have new models?
Well, all three of us have several unpainted and unassembled models laying around in drawers because like most gamers we also suffer from the "shiny things syndrome". We see a new awesome model and buy it. Just to put it into a drawer and on our to-do list.

Why don't we field new models?
Mainly it's because we don't have the time or are too lazy. Thomas is running his bands and is either on a tour, a concert, has to practice, write songs, book concerts, do the merchandise and all the related stuff. The two left of us have "normal" jobs and if we get home we sometimes just want to sit on our couch relax or spend time with our girlfriend/wife and friends.

What's the solution?
We thought about something like these "Tale of X Gamers" but you don't have enough motivation behind this thing as you have to finish models just to get them finished. We need better motivation: penalties.
First we figured out a point list.

normal/human sized hero or unit model = 1 point
civilian/zombie = 2 points
monstrous sized hero = 2 points for the first, 1 point for each more
warmachine/tank = 3 points for the first, 1 point for each more
Each square inch of terrain (longest edges counts) = 1 point

We choose point values for our demands because we need more NPC models and so you get more points for painting them than for painting PC models. Also warmachines, tanks and monsters are not that important so you just get more points for the first model. The most points are for terrain because we don't have any new since years (exception is my bunker board).
We set our first goal at 20 points per month as we didn't want to set our goals too high.
That woul be 10 civilians or 20 troopers or a terrain piece with 10"x10" measuring or in any combination of course.
But there's a snag. For each point we don't finish we have to pay 1 Euro into a Pool of what we buy terrain or other stuff for wargaming.
This means you can buy yourself a painting free month for 20 Euros, that's doesn't hurt too much but is still a good amount of cash.
Now you know why we called it Paint or Pay.
I think this is a good way to get some stuff done.

Have a nice weekend.

2 comments:

  1. It's a good motivational tool, lately I've become very lazy in painting.

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  2. Hehe I like this method! Pay in gold or paint!

    ReplyDelete