Well the unwelcome scenario has occurred. The tournament that I'm getting ready for has been moved up from July to April of this year cutting the amount of time I have to get everything ready in half. Despite this I have a fair bit of confidence that I will be able to get the majority of my army ready. People have asked me before how I'm able to get as much done as I do in such a short period of time so I've decided to share with you my technique.
The biggest things that you need to worry about with my system is encouragement, time management and efficiency.
Be willing to invest the time
First of all you have to be willing to invest time. I put in an average of 3-4 hours a night on my army. Now you might be thinking "Whoa, there is no way I can put in that kind of time" but in reality most of that 3-4 hours is spent playing video games or watching tv. I pull out my figs during the cutscenes, load times and commercials adding a bit here and there. Once sometimes twice a week I'll put in a solid 2-3 hours straight on my army. It's not until I start to paint that I start putting in long hours because I find most of that process tedious and want it over with. The more time you invest obviously the more you'll get done. Only putting in a couple hours a month won't result in much progress
Have a dedicated work area
Building an army can be so time consuming that whenever you have an idea or the urge to build something you should have a setup that allows you to just go work on it without interuption. Over a decade ago when I first started I was living with my parents and the only space I could carve out for painting and assembly was in my dad's workshop. This meant that anytime I wanted to paint I had to pull out all of my stuff, paint and then clean up afterwards. This made working on my army for any less than an hour or two at a time impractical. Whereas if you have a dedicated painting area you can always leave your tools out ready to go. In my case I just need to fill my water dish and I can paint, that way I can put in 5 min or 5 hours whenever I feel like. You shouldn't have to waste time setting up or tearing down your painting area.
Prep time is also key
For alot of people building a fig out of the box is the entire process, but for me its only the begining of the conversion process. I actually find this part tedious as often I just want to get to the conversion work, the 'fun part'. To help with this I like to put in two to three hours every once in a while just to build basic figs. Once I have a suitable pile ready to go I can just pull them out one at time and always have 'raw materials' for my conversions. This includes having all your materials ready to go. There is nothing I hate more than having to stop a project because I forgot to buy glue, or because I decided I would wait before buying those extra bitz on ebay. If you have all the materials ready then you're able to just work whenever it suits you.
Work on a couple things at a time
I like having a couple projects on the go at once. I realize that some people can't do this because it can make it hard to concentrate but I find it helps me immensely. I'll frequently switch between a couple different projects while waiting for glue or putty to dry or while I wait for inspiration. The last thing you want is to sit idle while you're in the mood to assemble and paint.
Display your army
I have a smaller desk next to my painting desk that has my entire army in progress on display. I like having it there staring at me. In addition to encouraging me to work on it I also get a sense of accomplishment. Everytime I look over at it there is that many more completed figs. When I start to paint I work in reverse. Everytime I finish a fig I put it in the case so I see my workload ever shrinking.
Don't paint or assemble the cool stuff first
Painting or assembling a cool fig should be thought of as an award. If anything it's to encourage you to paint basic troops. It happened to a friend of mine where he painted all the cool figs first and then didn't want to bother with the normal men so the army never got finished.
Paint 4 at a time
As a rule thumb I try to paint more than one fig at a time. This makes your painting more efficient as well as giving you something to work on while the paint is drying. Instead of painting one pair of boots, one set of goggles, one gun etc you can paint 4, 8 or even 10 at a time. It saves you time by not having to constantly switch between colours, keeps your figs more consistent and it feels like your making fast progress.
Generally I will prime an entire squad and do the base colours on all of the them at the same time. In my case the skin and base coats on the metal. Once I get that out of the way I find its alot quicker to go back, clean up the figs and add detail. Again the 'fun part'.
Another trick I like to use is to paint my base coats with a 1/4" wide flat brush. I dilute my paint with acyrlic extender to make an even coat and this way I can paint the base colours and washes on a fig in seconds. I find its alot faster to do that and clean up after then trying to paint on the base colours the old fashioned way.
As for spray basing? It works great and I wish I could do it but my figs have too many random colours to make it worth while.
Have a backup plan
Whenever possible, have a backup plan. It's one thing to try to get things done for a tournament, it's another to rush. I am willing to put in a tremendous amount of effort to get my army done but I want it to have the best result possible. So to prevent myself from rushing I have a backup plan. I have another army that I can take if I have to, I have some old figs I can put in to fill points and I have a couple high points cost units that I can use if I'm really stuck.
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