Welcome to Space Din-O-pinions where I ramble about my thoughts in the wargame hobby. Today's post will discuss an issue that affects many an over enthusiastic hobbyist: when an army doesn't work out.
Picture this: you see a model get announced on Warhammer Community, which you think is just the bee's knees. Clearly you need this model, despite the backlog of shame that you have sitting in your closet. You think to yourself, but what is one more? But if you give a hobbyist a model, they're going to want a skirmish warband to go with it. Then a 1000 point army. Then 2000. The pile of shame grows ever larger. You lose motivation, or other armies just interest you more. The FOMO got you, and now you don't know what to do with this non-start of an army.
As an example, and proof of my speaking from experience, we have my Gloomspite Gitz "army". My interest began in a Games Workshop store, where I became convinced that my next army should be a destruction force, seeing as I had armies from all the other Grand Alliances. I picked up a Spiderfang Grots Venom Clan, which is no longer in production but contained an Arachnarok Spider and 10 Spider Riders. I actually managed to paint the Arachnarok, and had a lot of fun doing so. But the Spider Riders sat, their monopose, same-y look unable to get me to commit to painting.
Fast forward a bit and I was playing more games of Warhammer Underworlds than actual Age of Sigmar. In the second season of Underworlds, Shadespire, two Destruction warbands were announced: Zarbag's Gitz, whose characterful and humorous sculpts caught my eye, and Mollog's Mob, whose mechanics seemed pretty interesting to me. I scooped both up, and then Gloomspite Gitz were announced.
The sets looked amazing, enough so that I got the cheaper Endless Spells as a test run. I really loved the sculpts of the new squigs and troggs, and even considered getting the Start Collecting kit for some time when it released, but never pulled the trigger. The models would continue to sit on my shelves, only seeing a single game of Age of Sigmar, where they were played by my brother, not me. They would never be played or painted with again, only shunted further back in the shelves to make space for other projects.
It's not even that this army was difficult to paint, the spells painted up very quickly. However, in a hobby as experimental as ours, sometimes you have to admit that a trial didn't work, and that's ok. It frees up time and money for other parts of the hobby you enjoy, getting you more out of it. If you're savvy, you can even trade armies with other players or simply sell them online. It certainly helps to offset the ever increasing cost of this hobby. 
If you find yourself at the crossroads with an army of yours, it's time for some introspection. Part of that is looking at why you wanted to start the army in the first place. Is it the FOMO, or did you genuinely love the sculpts and story? Part of it is painting. Are they enjoyable to paint? Can you see yourself painting 100+ clanrats or goblins? I realize now that this was only ever an army started out of pure excitement, which won't be enough to sustain you in the long run.
Quitting isn't always the answer either. I almost quit on my Slaves to Darkness army at one point, but when I discovered a paint scheme I totally enjoyed (my favorite color is blue fyi), it made the army "click". Sometimes an army needs to sit for some time, as your mind subconsciously works in the background before you're struck with inspiration.
Neither do you have to completely get rid of an army. I've decided to keep the Underworld's warbands, since they can be used in small scale games. You might do the same, reducing a 2000 point army to 1000, or to a skirmish warband. Sorta like how you got into this mess, but backwords, working to those original models that caught your interest.
At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself a few questions:
Do I like the way this army looks? (A) no / (B) yes
Do I enjoy painting this army? (A) no / (B) yes
Do I only play for the meta or how powerful it is in games? (A) yes / (B) no
When was the last time you painted a model in this army? (A) > 1 year / (B) < 1 year
Would I rather spend my time on other aspects of the hobby? (A) yes / (B) no
If you answered mostly A, then you should seriously consider moving on to another project. It can be tough, or even painful to give up on a project, but you need to take a more wholistic look at the hobby and find ways to maximize the enjoyment you get out of it, instead of stubbornly grinding through something you don't like out of a misplaced sense of obligation.
That's my thoughts on the matter, let me know if the comments if you agree or disagree, or ways I can improve these opinion pieces for the future.
-The Space Dinosaur
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