The Matakishi Model

[Super_Gibbon]

So Matakishi, if you happen to be lurking around and have the time, would you care to elaborate on how you go about getting your projects done, picking the period, setting the goal? Have you always been so goal oriented? Does the website help? I ask because the Gibbon is sick of his unfinished projects. I'll never eradicate my lead mountain, but I can be smarter in the future.

You may very well have addressed this in the past and I'd be more than satisfied if someone could point me to the thread,  or if anyone wants to add their thoughts, feel free. I couldn't find anything specific to this issue in the Tea House but I may have overlooked it.

While I have you, thanks for posting the link to those free counter games. Great stuff, and indeed, a great idea to use some cool aliens and those SST suits. I have alot of fond memories playing games with little fiddly counters with my dad.

[matakishi]

How do I pick a project?
Well, usually something shiny catches my eye, and away I go  ::
There are many historical periods that I'm interested in so sometimes I pick one of them. There are many other things I like, films, books, games etc, that I think about doing games about too.
In fact I'm considering many different ideas all the time and then, usually without any warning, inspiration will hit about how to overcome a particular stumbling block or how to get the figures I need or how to represent something with a really clever or elegant rules mechanism and the idea becomes a project.

I have two kinds of projects, planned and open.
Planned projects are ones I spend a long time planning and deciding about rules and setting etc. I sort out exactly what figures I need and then buy them and only them. If I need to buy packs and end up with spares I throw them away immediately so I'm not tempted to paint them and then need 'just another 10' to make a new unit so they get used. that way lies madness and a spiraling lead mountain
I only do a project that can be completed, which means I can play a game and don't need anything else for it, in a couple of months because I know what my attention span is. Other stuff can be added later but will count as a 'nice addition' rather than a necessary component (Camel Corps for the Sudan for instance).
If I can get a project done in a month, so much the better. Often I'll split big periods into little bits (WWII is a good example) so that it isn't overwhelming. Last year I actually only painted WWII stuff (apart for a tiny amount of additions to other projects) but if I'd started the year thinking I needed to paint hundreds of WWII figures nothing would have got done at all.

Unplanned projects are things like 'Alien Invasion', 'Pulp', 'Zombies' where I need very little to actually play but they're infinitely expandable and include all kinds of figures. These projects allow me to indulge my whims and add a unit of whatever takes my fancy at the time. They serve as an outlet for my need to buy new things and are often responsible for the lead mountain growing. This is ok though because I know it's going to happen so I'm mentally prepared for it. Unused figures for these projects are often discarded unused and nobody is any the wiser.
I try to confine myself to one unplanned project a year; this year it's Weird War 2/Shadowman (there's a huge crossover between the two as far as figures are concerned so I'm treating them as one thing).

I'm not really goal orientated. I was a commercial artist for a number of years and I worked to deadlines, needed deadlines in fact, to produce anything. So, I now set deadlines and targets for myself, I find it works.

Got to go now, more later probably.....

Back home now and away from a crappy work computer so I've edited the above for spelling but not content. I think I've covered all the basics but please ask if you want to know about anything specific.

[The_Wisecrack]

you saybyou throw away your spare miniatures. WHY, what i really ment was is ther ways that we could maybe pm and see what your throwing away when you do and make a deal?

[matakishi]

I actually throw them into a box and take them into my students at school so they can have them. Any left are taken to SALUTE and randomly given away to people I meet there.
I can't have them around for too long because I keep wanting to look at them and see if I can somehow keep them, which isn't the point.
Now, if you know you might be interested in something that I'm working on or have coming up, by all means let me know and I'll send you what I don't need

[Col.Stone]

I've tried setting deadlines myself and it actually works rather well
I'll have to cionsider the getting rid of minis part, that's usually how things get seriously over the top,
 "Can't have that extra tank commander lying about without a tank can we"

[Super_Gibbon]

Thanks for the extra info!

[The_Wisecrack]

cool. now you have said that im on your site going excitedly through your projects !  :mrgreen:  

[The_Wisecrack]

p.s unless you already know the samuri army has options for miniatures from the film "princess monoke" the factions or watever with the tall horse and the boars. they are the nightwalker and the boars from the film. and the little white thing is three wolves. one of which is a god. and a little girl riding on one.

[matakishi]

That makes sense.
My copy of HotT predates the movie so I never knew and the pics aren't too clear

Thanks for pointing it out.