In any hobby, I guess sometimes there is always a high point and a low point. Sometimes you feel so motivated to go ahead with full power, sometimes for days, everything seems so slow and low spirits. Especially when you see that there are many more miniatures to paint. But if you think about it on the bright side, it looks amazing when it’s all finished.

There are few ways that I usually push myself and motivate myself in this hobby. The trick to this miniature painting and wargaming hobby is that it revolves around the modeling, painting, and playing cycle. The cycle goes round and round to stay motivated.

If you have a few games, after that everyone will be motivated to paint more miniatures and explore different army list possibilities. For me, I have games from time to time, it’s all up to me and my fellow players, time and commitment. Before and after the games, my mind is always thinking about the strategy of the game and how to improve the army list. It also leads to quick thinking about whether it is possible to quickly assemble or paint this or another new unit, so that it can shine in the battle ahead. Sometimes in games we always joke like, wow, this unit isn’t painted, that’s why it lost the fight.

When I paint, I revolve around different game themes to paint. It’s like, I feel like painting the vampire army, once it’s done or half done, sometimes you get bored. Then I’ll usually switch to another army to paint, like Imperial Guards Cadian or whatever other army you’re collecting. Helps keep the unit running.

Another motivating way is to also read Black Library novels. Especially after reading those novels, wa, you really feel like painting or having a good game. I still remember reading the Black Library novel “Eisenhorn”, after that the inspiration is so great that I wanted to paint more and play a game. It also made me love Inquisition and Demonhunters more. Other reading materials like the monthly White Dwarf also serve as another motivator. But I do think the White Dwarf’s motivation is more to entice you to buy more miniatures and collect more.

There are PC games like Dawn of War I & II and Warhammer Online, wow, watching those game trailers also increases the motivation level. For me, it’s not so much about playing PC games, but watching the game trailer, which really motivates me a lot. I can clearly see the trailer for Dawn of War I, where the Commander of the Space Marines yelled “LOAD!” and the Orks roaring! So inspired to start painting and have a good game!

Well, this hobby that we all love, once started, we must commit to it. Sometimes we lose our vibrations, we must always remember our commitment to it, so that all the time, effort and money spent are not wasted.