How do I deal with my Warhammer pile of shame?

Sort the pile in ten minutes

1. Tip everything onto a table and make three heaps: started, ready to start and no longer wanted.
2. Take the started heap first. A model that is half done is the quickest win.
3. From the ready heap, choose one unit. Choose the one you would show a friend.
4. Pack the rest away where you cannot see it. Seeing the whole pile every day makes it harder to start.

Paint in batches, one unit at a time

Warhammer Community, Games Workshop's news site, has a painting team that recommends batch painting for big boxes. That means painting a group of the same models together, stage by stage, so you never sit waiting for paint to dry. Their advice is to do a squad or a handful of characters at a time, not everything at once, because it makes the whole box less daunting.

Three habits that help:

• Undercoat in the colour that saves most effort. If the army is blue, a blue undercoat means less to cover.
• Keep a matching pot of base paint for tidying mistakes. It fixes slips without redoing a whole model.
• Do the long-drying jobs last, then switch. The painting team put the Technical paint on the base at the end and used the drying time to start the next batch.

Size each batch to the time you have. A Warhammer TV painter did this for a big Space Marine force in July 2025.

End each session by setting out the models and paints for the next one and putting everything else away. A few models and one or two pots are easier to sit down to than a shelf of grey.

Write your colour scheme down before you start. A finished unit gives you the push to start the next. Our Getting Started with Space Marines box at £86.11 is a small first force: a single Combat Patrol, a project with an end.

A buying rule that works

The simplest rule is one box in, one box finished. Do not buy the next kit until the last one is painted to the standard you chose.

Free UK delivery applies on orders of £20 or more, so a single box at £20 or more ships free. Order only what you will paint next.

How long a unit takes

There is no fixed rule. One Warhammer Community writer painted a Loremaster in a couple of evenings, and two display-standard characters took about a week each, using advanced glazing techniques. He also says he gets faster with practice.

Your time depends on the standard. Decide before you start whether the unit is for the tabletop or for the shelf. Games Workshop calls a quick, army-ready finish 'Battle Ready'. Aim for that on a squad and you will finish more models than you would by polishing one.

Models you will not paint

Some models in the pile were bought on impulse and will stay there. Give them to a friend who paints, swap them for something you will use, or keep one and pass on the rest.