"How to deal with option paralysis, starting a new project?" Topic

Hey everyone, I'm a new member of the forum so if my post doesn't follow etiquette or something please let me know.

Lately I've been browsing miniatures, as one does, looking for the next purchase, and I just can't stop discovering new things. Every two days, when I feel like I've decided on what to get, I stumble upon something new, or reconsider something I've looked at in the past.

Perry Crusades, ACW or Napoleonics? Footsore Barons War, Crusades or Dark Ages? AB Miniatures Napoleonics, ACW or WWII? Bolt Action, or some Flames of War miniatures maybe? Peter Pig ACW, WW2 or some more Wars of the Roses (my most recent, ongoing project)? PSC/Corvus Belli Hundred Years War? Baccus 6mm Crusades, Normans & Saxons, WWII? Foundry ACW, WWII? There's things I like about every single one of these options. I could probably rule out a couple, but still, the sheer amount of cool things available is intimidating at the very least.

I absolutely cannot decide on anything. Life has been hell since I discovered historicals – 40k is expensive but it's got far fewer options. (just joking, of course)

To make matters worse, I've got no one to play with and so I'm "stuck" playing solo; having said that, I haven't played a single wargame in my life because I'm never motivated to put some minis on a table and roll some dice.

I always feel like I need a better setup, some terrain, more minis or something. But in any case I don't really have the "game coming up, I need to finish X unit" to motivate me either, or a local scene to restrict my options. I don't have a problem with just painting as I really enjoy it, I'm just in this weird limbo of dreaming of big games and campaigns yet not having rolled a single die.

I haven't built any terrain and have no major investment in any one period (a couple boxes of WW2 Italeri 1/72 plastics, a box of Fireforge Teutonic Knights and a few Peter Pig Wars of the Roses) to keep me within one period either.

I'm sure I'm not the only one dealing with this "problem" (the definition of a first-world problem really). What have you guys figured out to combat this option paralysis?

Or try to "sell" me on one of my options, I suppose.

Apologies for going on a tangent, please bear with me haha

You like to paint. What scale do you prefer to paint? When you read about historical war, do you prefer large battles, skirmishes, or somewhere in between? Do you have favorite commanders and at what level do they command? The other way I make a decision like yours is to just start. Start somewhere. Inertia of rest versus inertia of motion. Have fun!

Best advice I can give is to try to do some historical gaming at a local convention or two, or at the local brick and mortar. I always find that gaming sparks the creative juices, and often in unexpected ways. If you can go with a local gaming buddy or two all the better – club projects are usually very fun.

The other thing is that time and effort spent on terrain is nearly always well spent. Terrain is generally useful in many periods and for many sorts of games, and whenever you decide on THE PROJECT, you'll be glad to know you have the buildings, trees, streams, etc. to put it into play.

I think rustymisket and Eumelus are both right. Go to Historicon or Salute and see what catches your eye. Then buy stuff in that period and scale while you're there. Remember you can't make a wrong choice.

Congratulations! Looks like you are ready to start on your mountain of lead. ;)

Good advice above. I'd only add that you may want to think about your interests and prioritize them/set limits on what you want to collect for yourself.

Looks like you like WWII – you listed it above multiple times in multiple scales. If you want to play a solos game, pick up some pre-made terrain, a copy of Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames, and put your unpainted (heresy) couple boxes of WW2 Italeri 1/72 plastics on the table and go at it.

Just buy it all. Figure out the rest later. :^)

Starr with something that you can get on the table relatively quickly. You don't need to start with a 500 figure army. Start with 40 to 60 and build up your forces as you have time and money. Two 50 figure forces that you play with regularly beat the hell out of two 500 figure armies that never get finished or take years to do.

Ignoring gaming for the moment, for which historical period do you have most books? Go with that…

Welcome to the hobby and TMP!!!

The sheer amount of cool stuff is amazing. I think most of us suffer from your "problem"! :-)

I see you're in the NYC area. I'm sure there has to be some local conventions you can visit. It's con season after all. I like trying out different periods and rules when I go to cons. I like looking around and taking photos. It's always an adventure.

You'll get lots of good advice. I'd write more, but I'm a bit under the weather right now.

Before settling on a period, you might consider if you would prefer painting uniformed armies or non-uniformed armies. I find painting uniforms boring, so I tend to paint earlier periods, where there was more individual variety. It takes longer to complete a unit, but I find it much more creative, and therefore more satisfying.

As others have said, just do it. Pick something you have interest in and get started. In my own case, I picked up some second hand 25mm Spanish American war figures just to do the Rough Riders vs. Spanish infantry.

From those first few figures came several regiments for battle games, matching regiments in 2mm for map games, and a fleet of 1/2400 ships just because.

I think you might find the rules One Hour Skirmish Games and its sister rules One Hour Wargames to be something to check out.

BoardgameGeek has a good section on OHW:
YouTube link

A good YouTube channel for someone with a lot of different tastes is The Joy of Gaming YouTube link

I really like this fellow. He plays and reviews tons of miniature games and plays solo, which I've had to do for the past several years. (Part of getting old, kids growing up, friends/relatives moving away or sadly "moving on".)

I think the Lion Rampant line of rules you will like.

BTW Peter Pig War of the Roses is fantastic!

Just order something, anything……

Pull chits, flip coins, throw darts at a sheet of paper with the eras listed.

Do it NOW.

You'll regret it decades from now, perhaps, with ALL the piles of unpainted lead, but lots of enjoyment in the interim…….

LOL

After around 20 years in the hobby, I came to realize that for the most part, I was most interested in playing periods that interested me prior to getting into the hobby.

The result was that I got rid of stuff for a lot of periods that always got put off for those "core" periods of interest.

I would suggest deciding which periods are of the most interest, picking one of them, and going with that. Try not to act on impulse, but on where your greatest passion lies.

Consider the scale that you think you'd most enjoy painting and model building in, and the scope of the games that you ultimately hope to play.

Before you are heavily invested, you may find that you most enjoy something other than your first pick, whether that be period, scale, scope, rules, etc. With little invested, it is easier to change direction.

You can start out playing small games on simple terrain, and expand to where you want to go. Don't try to start at the end of the journey, enjoy the adventure. Savor it, taking your time to get there.

What did it for me was to commit to someone else. I signed up to run a game at a con. Now the pressure is on to get those minis painted and run some play test games.

No cons? No problem! Set yourself a deadline to post a youtube video "This is me, playing XYZ rules and showing off my minis!" Now work the calendar backwards, and make a punch list: how many minis do you need to paint per week, how much terrain to build per month (make this minimal to start), how much time to read/play the rules. Now you've got a definite goal, timeline and punch list; so get to it!!!

Oh, and welcome to miniatures madness and TMP (which may or may not be the same thing).

Consider yourself invited to the Thursday night games at Maplewood Hobby – maplewoodhobby.com – shouldn't be too far a drive from Staten Island.
NJCon is still on hiatus from the epidemic, but will be looking for you at Historicon