As you may or may not have noticed, Journeyman leagues are my ish. The past two I’ve been a part of have been complete successes for me. I’m usually in the top 3 across every category (always a groomsman?). With talks starting up about doing our 2014 Journeyman League earlier in the year (March it’s looking like), and with Journeymans starting up anywhere else, I’d like to take some time to share some tips that have helped me and can help you in your League.

2012 saw me begin Protectorate of Menoth. 2013 saw me complete 50 points of Rhyas’ Rearguard theme force (plus a couple extras). What will 2014 bring? You may have guessed Circle…but due to a very generous “contribution” from Gdaybloke and some other stars aligning on my end in relation to that contribution, I’ll have a surprise for you all when our next League starts!

But anyway, let’s get to the tips.

Journeyman League Tips & Tricks

1. Set Expectations

This one seems obvious but it’s killed our Journeyman participants in the past. Our group uses a modified version of Privateer Press’ Journeyman Rules in order to better suite our player base since a lot of us are old hat at the game (for instance, free-form battleboxes to start with). But with the focus on painting that our ruleset slants towards, it became something akin to a number game. And if you couldn’t keep up, it killed your motivation to keep at the league at all. It also lead to massive burnout as painting a bunch of stuff over 6 weeks is wont to do. This year I proposed a new way of doing things: Pick a 50 point list (what our group normally plays at) and stick to it. By stick to it, I mean only worry about painting the models in that list. Don’t worry about painting warcasters for bonuses, just worry about your 50 points of models. Those 50 points are bound to contain your ‘important’ models, everything after that is fluff. What I mean by that is those models are going to be the ones you’ll more than likely use day in, day out (like your choirs, MHSFs, Gunmages, etc). So just about anytime you throw down after the league, your lists will have a majority of its models painted.

2. Avoid over analysis paralysis

I admit I’m guilty of this. Especially in regards to color schemes. Pick your list, learn it. Especially if you are new to Warmachine in general. Pick your color scheme, make it work. Which brings me to my next point…

3. Picking a color scheme

Nothing wrong with going with a studio scheme. If you go that route, your color coices and placement are easy and already laid out for you, especially if you have your faction’s Forces of… book.

But how do you pick a color scheme without getting bogged down in all the minute details on all these models and getting stressed out? Work with a triad.

Pick a primary color. This is the color for a majority of your model. Usually it’s the armor. This is your unifying color, meaning this is the color that is going to tie your entire army together on the table as your army. Pick a metal. This is usually for trim. Pick a gold or a silver. Both are fairly neutral to primary color choice usually. But to see which you like better: get a sheet of paper and paint a dot of your primary color, then a dot of your metal choice right next to it. Lastly, pick a “pop” color. Check out a color wheel and pick a color that accents your primary color. Something that really stands out or contrasts nicely with your primary color. It’s usually the complementary one on the chart. This is the color you’ll use on things like sashs and the like.

All the other colors can be decided on the fly for little details here and there. As long as you have a strong core color triad, you’ll be fine.

4. Tips for Painting under a Crunch

Arguably the most important. You’re going to feel the crunch of a deadline. A lot of us don’t have tons and tons of free time to devote to painting. So how do we get our army painted within the time frame and avoid burnout at the same time?

Paint a test model. Find a model that has a lot of elements in common with your other stuff. Paint it up until you’re happy with it. This is your guide. Document your process , ie., for metals I did this, then I washed it with this, then I did this. I can’t stress this enough. It’ll help you immensely with staying on track and getting things done. Split up your queue. Assembly line painting works for some. It doesn’t work for me. I need to see progress as soon as possible. Break up your 12 man units into groups of 3 (there are usually only 3 unique sculpts per unit in Privateer Press’ stuff) and sprinkle them in between a warjack/beast or solo. If you’re just going for a tabletop quality model, there’s a 3-step process for that as well (I’ll try to get some guides together): Base coat Wash Edge highlight or dry brush in a lighter color than your basecoat. P3 paints make this easy. They have paints with base or highlight in the name. Or just paint with washes. This is the easiest method I can think of. And it looks good to boot.

5. Relax.

The reason I like the Journeyman so much is that it’s a bunch of us usually trying out new factions and having fun doing so. It’s also a good way for new players to slot into our player base. To be candid, our meta can be hard to get into because new players often don’t have hundreds of models or even 50 points worth of models to start playing with right away. It’s gives them a chance (however small) to ease into things.

Just remember to have fun and remember what it is to be new again.