"I've lost my mojo" Topic

…mojo for painting and working on terrain. I want to run a few games for an upcoming convention and I just cannot get jazzed about anything related to the hobby much less going through all the work to put together a good game for a convention. I have plenty of options for what I could run with some of them not really requiring that much in the way of work. But each time I try to begin work on a project I am getting up and going on to something else.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I am sure I will get out of this lapse of interest but in the meantime it is bugging the heck out of me. I know it is a first world problem but I hate it when it seems I cannot motivate myself.

I go through that often myself. As you can tell by my frequent sale ads. When I lose interest in painting, I will generally completely clear off my gaming table, leaving it empty. I'll turn to building terrain or focusing on commission painting. Eventually a movie, book or article will get the juices flowing. Wait it out, it will pass.

Happening more frequently to me too. It all just seems like too much work and not enough fun.

For me it hits about June and ends at the end of the summer. Sometimes I get it back about mid August. For me it's the heat sapping my drive to do anything.

Do a bunch of prep work (filing/sanding and priming). Generally that is easy and quick enough. You should be able to get small groups ready at a time without too much fuss. Then when you get back to it, you will have a lot of stuff lined up waiting for the brush.

Here, borrow my Mojo …

… but I need him back when you're done.

You could run a game that you have run before that was popular at the con. No new minis to paint and no new scenery to create either. Then, when the mojo comes back, do some new stuff.

Or you could invite a bunch of people you know to your game so you have an obligation to them to finish stuff up.

"You could run a game that you have run before that was popular at the con."

Exactly what I told him to do some time ago! Do the jungle game that won you the award at Historicon a couple years ago. That was a good 'un!!

You could go to the Con and just PLAY in games for once! :-)

Yea! Yea! Naz I hear you, damnit! But I've been there, done that, and yes I know the folks at Millennium con will not have seen it so it would be new and shinny to them. (sigh)

Okay, I'll run Jungle Gods. Naz look among the stuff you got from my house and see if you find a box with a bunch of 28 mm canoes in it. It seems those did not make the move down to Texas with me and I may need them for the game.

Gonsalvo, it seems to be against my religion to just go to a miniature war game convention and just play. I must game master or I feel I have not taken full advantage of the event. I know it is a sickness but it is how I am.

Oh and +1 etotheipi, I realized after I posted the thread that someone would post that character.

Have you checked the couch cushions?
That's where my remote always ends up being.

I second Gonsalvo's suggestion. You've turned your hobby into a job, an unpaid job. Free yourself of the obligation, and enjoy what other people are doing. Maybe you will find inspiration there.

I'm in the same boat but I don't worry about it. The interest will come back again sometime and it'll feel fresh and interesting. Do something else instead and don't sweat about it, see it as a holiday from your 'other job'.

For me I got burn out twice, once through having done too much and pushed a big batch through my production line and secondly the heat of summer removes my will to do anything very much.

I agree with the others who mentioned the heat.

Try to do whatever you can to make painting fun again. Maybe work on a handful of figures you really like, without feeling the need to use them in an urgent upcoming game or project.

You might want to try to identify and fix anything that makes painting a pain and not a joy. Maybe some new, good brushes are needed, for instance, or maybe there's something about your painting area that needs attention. (One thing that killed painting for me for years was using our small house's kitchen table for painting. I had to set up and take down everything every time I wanted to paint.)

I don't know if you have a perfectionist's outlook about painting, or if you're more relaxed and casual. Although I think I'm more fussy about my own painting than most folks, I think that folks who just put some paint on their figures and actually get respectable armies finished for gaming have an advantage over people like me. Just something to consider if this applies to you.

Good luck getting your mojo back! I know the feeling.

Jeff

Read a book.

When done get some figures and paints out and leave them where you can see them.

Read another book.

As soon as you feel up to it paint some figures other wise read another book.

Do not watch television.

Do not go to the movies.

Do not pass go.

Oh and +1 etotheipi, I realized after I posted the thread that someone would post that character.

Assume I did the voice, too, while posting. 'Coz I did. My kids were the right age for that show, and I loved it, too. I'm pretty good at the Mojo Jojo voice.

Seriously, put yourself on the hook to some other people that you care about. It will motivate you.

The canoes are indeed here. I'll box them up with some other stuff of yours and send them out.

Your a prince Naz, thanks.

Agreed etotheipi, loved that show. I too can do the voice.

I think the others are correct I have turned the hobby into a job here lately. Time to do something else and then get back to it.

The jungle game sounds like fun. Will you be doing "the voice" of Mojo Jojo, or Tarzan, during the game? I'll look for photos of your Historicon game. Inspiration breeds inspiration, and puts the muse in amuse.

It took a bit but I found my old post from the first play test of the game way back in May of 2014. Wow! That means I have not been to a war game convention since July of 2014!

Anyway here is the link and just seeing the photos got me eager to pull all that stuff out again.

TMP link

I might not do the voice of Mojo Jojo or Tarzan. However, I just took advantage of Timman Studios big sale and one of the figures I ordered was his "Jungle Lord" model. So I might modify my game to include said Lord of the Jungle. I mean why not???

Yes, His Lordship reigns supreme, so why not?! Cheeta would be fun. Make all the players imitate Cheeta whenever a double is rolled. Ha

Thanks for the link. What fun!

I shall look forward to participating in your game at Millennium!

I was too until some of my group wanted to start playing lotr. Now I'm pumped up. Painted over 50 minis in over two wkends and can't sleep cause of terrain ideas that keep floating thru my head.

In my experience the mono is never lost. It is simply on sabbatical.

It shall return.

Shrink everything down. 2 ft/60cm square gaming area. Small handful of figures. Get some skirmish rules.

Nothing helps poor mojo recover like finishing things and having them be done.

I've lost my painting mojo too. Usually the summer months are when I really crank out a lot of newly painted figures. Not so much this year.

It is probably related to the toy soldier Sudan craze that I'm currently on and I intend to ride that horse until it gets tired.

It could also be a "summer thing" for me and others.

Playing in a game is good advice and it is a good way to get back that mojo.