How many campaigns is too many campaigns?
I don’t criticize the number but I’ve just went to CAMPAIGN section and it appears that we have 15 running and another 11 awaiting campaigns now… Man… and I remember the times when I’ve participated in every campaign running .
Have fun guys, we have a lot of options to chose from

Andrzej

Actually, this is a concern of mine. I think because there was such a backup of proposed campaigns that I overcompensated. I probably should not have started 4 in January though I thought they were somewhat diverse and wouldn't have as much overlap. Two are specific to a particular manufacturer, 1 is overhauling already completed models, and the other is more like a typical campaign.

So, how many active campaigns is too much?

Does it really matter? If a group of individuals want to build a similar themed kit, why should it matter if there are other groups of individuals building different themed models at the same time.

Think about it; that's like telling a few guys you can't build the panzers you want to right now because a bunch of guys over there are building Shermans and a few more over there are building Jeeps.

Then there's the argument that "I would join your campaign, but I'm involved in another (others) right now." Should that stop other guys from building a model they want to because a few others already have multiple kits in progress? News flash, most modelers have several projects ongoing either on the bench in front of them or stuck back in a box on the shelf.

I guess any number would be OK,providing the people who sign up live up to their commitments,if too many drop out or don't show up,what fun is a "Campaign" with only a few participants.

I have committed to 3 on this forum ,and 1 on Aeroscale,that should leave me enough room to spare.

It does seem like a lot of campaigns at the moment but then again, isn't variety the spice of life. More choices, more entrants/enlistees? It might even get some of the lurking types to sign on to the network. Lets not forget that a number of campaigns will be ending within two months. By the end of December I think that Gary's chart will show things aren't that bad. BTW, Gary, I for one have faith in your handling of the situation.

Just my two diminutive coins.

tread_geek

I don't want to be misunderstood: I do think that as long as people want to build stuff together it is OK to have as many campaings as possible but as Anthony mentioned it may lead to drop outs. People show support for 20 campaings, enlist to 10 build 4 models... campaing with 50 participants ends with 5 models in gallery.
Very long time ago I proposed "Soldier Evolution campaign" - it was supposed to be figure campaign showing changes in soldiers equipment and weapons through the ages. I had some people interested here and on Historicus Forma as well. Tarok told me to move the campaing to HF (great site as it is but it has much less visitors than Armorama). The point is that right now there is 11 people enlisted (though I had much more people claiming that they are interested) and it seems that I'm the only one to build anything so far...
On the other hand we had On The Eastern Front campaign once… there were about 5 campaigns running at that time and OTEF had 70+ participants and over 50 of them finished their builds.

Andrzej

Its a difficult question to answer, it all depends on what you (armorama) want to achieve. Do we want to have manye choices so that as many as possible can find a campaign for them? or do we want to have few campaigns running at the same time to maximise the amount of participants in each?

I feel the strenght of Armorama is the diversity you find here, both in options and the number of members and what they build. At our national IMPS site there are just 1 or maybe 2 groupbuilds each year. This year the focus is on the Spitfire. Hey, thats great for all those airheads out there but I would like something more down to earth so this year the is nothing for me there.

There can of course be to many campaigns but finding the right number is difficult. One way to analyize this would be to go back 2 years and do a count of all the campaigns that have been going on and see if the number of participants/finished models have dropped for each campaign, and in total, as the number of campaigns have increased. If so there should be a limit.

On another note I would like to see that there at any given time is one diorama campaign. Now and then there is just to long between these. Really enjoy following those

Did this make any sense? who knows, just my scrambled thoughts right now.

I do think Andrzej has a strong point there!
I see a lot of campaigns being proposed, I see many people showing interest, I see quite a few start off on it, but I also see few actually building and finishing something.
I myself, in all my enthusiasm, like to enlist as I have plenty of ideas, ending up with a overly full workbench and losing interest as a result. But lately I also had to drop out on a number of campaigns, simply because life was happening to me, while I had made other plans.
Right now I do think that we should take a break and look at what we got and finish that first! I think it makes campaigns just that little bit more special, with people enjoying one anothers' builds and showing their own stuff, instead of campaigns bogging down and people dropping out (or not even showing up).
I also think we should be more cautions with asking for extensions, because that does miss the point; getting something done on time! A bit of pressure can be a good motivating thing and if it does become to much, you can allways drop out.

Here is just some random samples (completed/enlisted) :
Operation Barbarossa (2003) 32/86 = 37.2%
Arty Up! (2006) 16/51 = 31.4%
Die Bundeswehr (2009) 15/39 = 38.5%

We shall have to wait for the next set of campaigns to see if the workload is too much. Also such a random sampling doesn't take into account how many campaigns were going on at the same time. That will require some digging. Evidently some of the pre-2003 campaigns have lost their list of who joined (0 participants).

My main concern was also the number of people who completed campaigns. I was wondering if people were spread too thinly and worked on too many campaigns and ended up finishing few, if any. But as was pointed out, it's up to the builder to figure he has too much on his plate and to cut back. Still it must be a bit frustrating to be working away on several campaigns when another few nifty campaigns pop up and you can' participate in them.

remember what happened to the Germans when they opened up two campaigns

Stalin will attack Armorama?

Seriously... I've asked the question because I started to feel some sort of confusion – each time I dropped by to see what’s going on with campaigns I’ve seen more and more new people (which is great) participating in vast amount of campaigns (which I’ve even stopped trying to follow).
I my feeling it lost some sort of “building together” spirit because when participating in 8 campaigns most of us just built, post a picture of finished model and go to build another model to another campaign. Everyone just build alone, post picture, grab ribbon, build another model, post picture, etc…
I repeat – this is ONLY my personal feeling. Maybe it’s just me (I hope) being tired and it would be nice if you could prove me wrong but if it is the way I feel than maybe we should do something to return to our ancient ways of Armorama Order .

Andrzej

In your opinion, what should be the limit on the number of active campaigns?

Personally I don't that there should be a limit. The more choices we have the better. It is up to the individual modeler to decide what particular campaign that they wish to join. The "unenlist" feature I have seen is a good addition as it allows the builder the option to withdraw if they figure out they are stretched too thin. I know I have came up short on a few campagns in the past simply because I had "life" get in the way of my building plans. Lets face it, life does happen and can and will prevent some of us from completing a campaign no matter how hard we try to finish it. By putting a limit on the number of active campaigns we are essentially telling folks this is all we can do. No more, not gonna happen. Wait your turn. For a campaign to go active it needs at least 10 folks to participate right? Well, thats at least 10 folks who would be building towards that goal. If only a few finish, then only a few finish, but some is better than none. Obviously if we have more campaigns that we have people we will have problems, but I don't think that is going to happen. Build on folks. "Q" :)

@ Gary - maybe it's not the number of campaign but the change of approach to this subject that great number of these campaigns may generate... You've done amazing work with summary of participants/finished model ratio - I believe that it can be done in 4-6 months again: this will be true image of current situation.

@ Matthew - I agree with you that freedom of choice in how many campaigns you want to participate in and of subjects of these campaigns is great thing. I just think that somehow it results with many builds not really shown on the forum. Sometimes you participate in campaing, discuss the problems you've met, campaigns subject etc... and than a guy you haven't seen before posts a picture and disappears again not even saying "Hi" to all the guys that are applousing his great build Just kidding but this is basically my point...

Another thing is: how many of guys originally supporting the idea shows up and actually participate in campaign they've supported

Ok, I'm done - I promise to be good and not to grumble any more

I have to hold my hand up and admit to not finishing all the campaigns I join. I may be wrong but I think there used to be a rule that you could only sign up for three campaigns running concurrently. Of course I may have dreamt that

As a newbie you can take my input with a grain of salt.

I am amazed at the number of campaigns but I think some of it is back logged stuff. I have signed up for 7 campaigns, 4 active and 3 for the future (two with the new year and the engineering campaign next June). I have completed two of the active, 90% on the What if? and 20% on the Abrams campaign. I think the concept of the campaigns is motivating. I actually finished 3 kits for the Get the Job Done...Again though only one was a military kit.

Now, finally getting to the point, what about the recurring campaigns like Wheels and Half-track? I would like to propose a new half-track campaign but the early part of the years seems full.

I would also like to see a "What If" annually. It allows people to be creative and experiment.

Tony

Pat,
I'd be totally against a limit on the number of campaigns anyone could sign up for. Some people can build amazing models in a short amount of time while idiots like me can't seem to finish a kit out of the box in a year. Besides, I wouldn't want to search through the lists everyday and keep track of how many campaigns that a member has joined.

Andrzej,
I understand what you are saying about the feeling of community. With many campaigns, it can split us into little cliques. Fewer campaigns could get more people together and becoming a larger community. It could also encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and do something other than, say German WW2. It is food for thought.

Tonyfr,
I would rather such "annual" campaigns be started by the modelers instead of a regularly scheduled event.

This is often due to buzz being created for a campaign that will then start 3, 4, 6+ months from then. It loses a lot of life in that time. If they started soon after the idea came about, it would carry more momentum.

Conversely, on another site, an enthusiastic modeler will buy the recent hot kit and then announce that he was started the kit last night and is starting a group build that covers the kit, which is rather ridiculous.

There is probably some middle ground that would work better.

There are a number of reasons not to finish a campaign

+ Real life.

Most likely the biggest one from illness to job. One can only plan so far.

+ Overestimation of skills/underestimation of model

Happened to me in the "Viking" campaign. An StrV103C (with etched add-ons) was a "tad more complex" than planned

+ Loss of interest/model or no interest in competition

In some campaigns the choice of vehicles is limited, either by kit availability or by modelers choice(1) So if one it number three announcing "model x" and/or another builder delivers a superb model earlier one might loose interest since one does not care for comparision/competition

+ New toy syndrom

The model you had on backorder for the last four month finaly arrives (happened to me recently with a Leopard IA4) and you MUST build it. NOW! (Fighting that urge to get the M113 ready for the Cold War campaign and finishing touches to the KaJaPa)


As for "appearing out of nowhere": I know that I sometimes have problems finishing stuff. So I prefer to "show results" rather than "build progress but no results".


(1) I.e I won't even consider building WWII gear. Plastic armor modeling has a bad enough reputation in Germany (child stuff) without attaching "Nazis" to it (Birkenstocklerensis Treehugeris can't distinguish a Sherman from a Panther)

That's funny..
"Q"

I think there should be a verity of campaigns to chose from as everyone is not interested in the same subject and as they say verity is the spice of life

It is up to the individual as to how many campaigns they enlist for if you think you can do a build for each one why not?

Tony=
I am very flattered that you think the What if should be an annual thing