Keeping the Mojo going

When it comes to gaming we all have big projects.
Whether it be that 200 figure Egyptian army, several teams for Blood Bowl, a US marine force for the Pacific, or a Napoleonic army for Blucher
These projects all have one thing in common, you really want to finish them.
You battle to keep that original Mojo burning,
but often that finish line seems pretty far away. And we all fear that if the Mojo goes away, then
that project will get shelved and may or may not get renewed in the future.

SO how do you keep the Mojo going? How do you get yourself to keep painting all those figs? Worse how do you stop form getting distracted?
Well here are a few suggestions.

Books: Read anything that has to do with your project. History books, fictional novels set in the period, all the fluff you can get your hands on. So if you're painting a Marine army for 40k pick up some of the GW novels. Painting ships for the Battle of the Nile, pick up a historical account or one of those countless Age of Sail novels. And if you are into Colonial gaming Flashman is a must!

 Movies: Painting Zulus. Then I'm sure you must be watching Rouke's Drift or Zulu Dawn. No matter how many times I've watched the assault on Helm's Deep, I always want to paint more orcs! WWII gamers are pretty spoiled in this catagory.

Music: Get the soundtracks to various movies or console games and play them as you paint those minis. My wife always knows when I'm painting pirates because the soundtrack to Pirates of the Carrabean comes on. Spanish Civil War. a cd of songs from the conflict. Youtube is a great source for this.

Rules: Read through the rules you intend to use. It'll get you excited to play, and you'll be ready to play.

Magazines: Pick up a gaming magazine for a bit of inspiration. GW gamers are lucky enough to have the White Dwarf that often has battle reports. While Historical and Pulp players have multiple support magazines out there with scenarios and articles on various armies.

Podcasts: Now this is a pretty new source for us older gamers but one that I have found very enjoyable. Look at I-Tunes for some podcasts that might deal with your period or game. Plenty for Flames of War or Bolt Action players as well as the GW universe. I've also found a whole series on Napoleon and Dan Carlin's Hardcore history is a must for Roman, Mongol, WWI and WWII players.

Test games; Don't wait till you have all 200 points of that army painted before you play, You need some motivation to keep going so paint up to 50 points and play a smaller game. Trust me this will always get you inspired to go home and paint some more. Again at 50 points, 100 points etc. The more you play with  the army the more Mojo you create. Many game systems have a ladder campaign designed just for this 

So good luck and keep that Mojo going!