Painting Oaths: Why this is such a great idea.

For those of you who know me, it will come as no surprise when I say I hate painting.  This is not a generic dislike, but an active displeasure.  This really isn't a problem for some gamers, as the grey soldier syndrome sets in and they happily play their games without them painted.  But for me it is.  The spectacle of a game played on a painted table, with painted terrain, and two fully painted forces is why I got into this hobby.  So not painting my models is also something I dislike.  So this is a no win situation right?  No, not since 2CE made me join Painting Oaths.



This month I pledged to paint five Dark Age models.   The four models I pledged are four Buzz Blades and Raze.  These models are part of my Journey into Dark Age list, which can be found here.  I plan on taking these models to GenCon this year and enter into the March to Immortality tournaments there.  I want to be part of the spectacle so not having a fully painted army is not an option.

But this article is about Painting Oaths and why it's the best thing to happen in my hobby in along time.  The reason is simple, my current group of 2CE, Tokengamerchic, Alli Alcatraz, Odinfellhammer, and Mordin56 have all made pledges.  So we are all spending time painting, we've set up Google Hangouts for painting days, we are showing our models around for input.  And that has shown me the truth about my hatred of painting.  I joined this hobby because it's supposed to be fun with my friends.  Painting alone in my house is not fun with my friends   It's boring at it's core.  But make painting a social activity and your's truly can put in 1-2 hours without batting an eye.  Last Tuesday I painted for roughly three hours while in a lot of paint (root canal) and nauseous (pain medicine from root canal) and I didn't mind.


One other important aspect of Painting Oaths is the accountability.  I declared to every member of the group that I would get these models done.  The prospect of having to say I didn't get it done is a great motivator.  Especially in my group, if I don't get these done, I'm going to never hear the end of it.

So if you are like me and really don't like to paint, try my solution.  Get your friends to do it with you, and make it a public commitment to get them done.  And who knows you might even win some prizes for doing it.  Until next time...

Belgarath97