Miniature catastrophe - Major heartbreak.

My name is Shelly and I have a problem. I am addicted to collecting models.


This isn’t such a strange statement for a gamer to come up with. We all know we buy more miniatures than we can paint. Some of us are actually good when it comes to controlling the habit. Others aren’t. You hear it all the time down your local club about the numerous painting projects this guy has or the number of models that guy bought ages ago but still hasn’t used. I use both of these frequently. Like many gamers, I have (or had – read on) several armies/forces from different systems:

Warhammer - Dwarfs
40k - Dark Angels, Imperial Guard and Necrons
Necormunda Ratskin Renegades and Van Saar
Infinity - Yu Jing and Combined Army
Monsterpocalypse - Terrasaurs and Empire of the Apes – Monsterpocalypse
Warmachine - Protectorate of Menoth
Malifaux - Outcasts
The sad thing is this hobby can make gamer do really impulsive things as there is always something new to try. Since attending the Cross Gaming Club for the last year and a bit, I have been sucked into new gaming systems. Before that I was a proud and devoted Dark Angel player with an army worth over 11000 points. I won’t detail everything here but it does have a full battle company and many, many tanks. Initially, I was aiming to collect a whole chapter which was obviously inspired by the pictures of the entire Ultramarines chapter featured in White Dwarf. Naturally this would take an enormous amount of time and is definitely more than varied enough to play a simple 2000 point, but achieving that goal would have been so great! Of course there would be a lot of time to devote to the painting of the chapter. Out of my 11000 or so points I would only guess that approximately 15% was fully painted and based, while another 70% was either base coated only or in the middle of being painted. As I’ve said before in previous posts, I don’t have a lot of patience for painting. And this isn’t helped when other ideas/projects come up. And neither does not having a competitive Codex. Under the new rules, it seems that non-regular Space Marine armies have suffered under the new 40k rules. I love my Dark Angels as they are my first army but this left me feeling slightly jaded.
Which is why I decided to wait for the next Codex to come out by starting a side project to spice things up a bit. After looking into (lusting after) both the Necron and Tau armies (this took a lot of thought), I went for the Necrons. The deciding factor was that they would suit my painting style, i.e. very little skill needed. Most of them have just been base coated in Boltgun Metal and then sprayed with Devlan mud or Badab Black. Shoulder pads and face masks have been lightly painted with either Red Gore or a very dark blue mixed with Mithril Silver, and other small details have been picked out (scarab design on the chests and wire from the weapons). By doing this, I would say that 80% of my 6800 point force is fully painted. I am very happy about this. But again I am feeling a bit jaded with them. So with the Necrons facing the same Codex issues, I was happily whisked off into another project.
I fell heavily into Warmachine during the first couple of months of playing at Cross Gaming Club. Watching everyone else play just kinda sucked me in. I took a look and fell head over heels for the Protectorate of Menoth. After a year of more or less using them every week and buying lots of minis solidly each month, I now have a stupidly large force (nearly 200 points with six casters – 7 if you count the epic version of Kreoss). I am still very focused on building on this. Painting has gone mostly ok but I still think that I’ve only painted under 50% of these guys. The good thing about this army is that I haven’t lost interest. Moving into the MKII rules hasn’t dulled what is a great game, I haven’t had a bad experience yet.
Alongside Warmachine, I have also looked at playing Infinity and Malifaux. I have a couple of starter boxes for both games but haven’t really used either, I have only had one game of Malifaux. Neither of these have seen even a sniff of paint. I like the different styles of play of these games and will hope to get some game time soon. At the moment, these starter forces are going to stay starter forces. I am not going to expand just yet.
I also decided to make a go of starting a Dwarf Warhammer army. I’ve always liked the Dwarfs and the first ever GW blister I bought (and painted!) was Dwarf Crossbowmen. I’ve always had a few minis but not enough to make a legal force. I did have at one point a legal force, but lost a full case of minis (which included all sort – Dwarfs, Guard, Dark Angels, even a Lord of Change!) while moving flats one time. So over the last fifteen years or so this small throng has just gathered dust. Plus I’ve never had an opponent to play with and when I started attending the club I had other interests. Just before Christmas last year, I was given an opportunity to get the Dwarfs operational by buying a big box of them of a fellow club goer. This no doubt would have made my throng legal. But then, GW decided to release the 8th edition rules which kinda put me off a little. So they stayed in their box, partially painted by someone else.
One other game I have glossed over is Monsterpocalypse. This appealed to me so much. Where else can you actually play a game that unfolds just like a big monster b-movie? Also, and this was the biggest draw of them all, the minis are all pre-painted plastic! After much hype, I have only played two games. Unfortunately there isn’t a great amount of interest at CGC, so my large force (which I built up alongside my Menoth force) is just sitting on the bench.
This pretty much illustrates my collection and my compulsiveness. I’m sure there are lots of fellow gamers in similar situations. But the compulsiveness came to light after an argument with the wife when she found out how much I had spent over the past year. When put together, the sums that I had spent each and every month prove to be really quite terrifying. For the same amount I could have got myself some driving lessons and a decent used car. It’s not really about the money, but it’s more that I felt I had to hide these purchases from my other half which led to the argument. Anyway as a result of my ‘strike two’, ‘I am trimming the fat’ in my collection. I had a good hard look at what I own and drawn up a list of the armies/forces I will keep (the ones I will use frequently and have a current interest in). The rest (ones that I am quite positively not going to use for some time) will go. I am slowly selling them on eBay a bit at a time. Again, it’s not about recouping some of the money I wasted, but about having only what I need as a gamer. Plus there will be a lot more space at the back of the wardrobe.
So here’s who and what made the cut:

Dwarfs – GONE - I was never going to continue with the Dwarfs anytime soon and it was just a silly pipe dream. They were the first army I really liked and maybe one day I’ll make a good go of collecting my own throng.
Dark Angels – GOING – My first full army with a lot of time invested in them. A lot of good games as well were had. Both DA and Necrons both suffered a little under the new rules, but I think the Necrons will have more chance of being sorted out first.
Imperial Guard – MOSTLY GONE – It was a nice idea, but I don’t think I would really have gone for a full Guard army. I only would have used them as allies, but that would not have been too frequently.
Necrons – STAYING PUT – See DA
Ratskin Renegades and Van Saar – BOTH STAYING PUT – just waiting for the next Necromunda campaign at the club.
Yu Jing and Combined Army – BOTH STAYING PUT – Haven’t started this game yet, but will definitely do so once the current Warmachine/Hordes campaign is over.
Terrasaurs and Empire of the Apes – ??? – totally undecided about this lot. I would love to play this game some more, but would also just fancy keeping them as they look really great. This one needs some more thought.
Protectorate of Menoth – DEFINITELY STAYING – this army, and game, has really dug it’s claws into me.
Outcasts – DEFINITELY STAYING – Only just started!

This has a been a heart-breaking but cathartic exercise, but it feels slightly odd as all I’ve ever seemed to have done was horde stuff. I hope now that I can view minis in a more serious way. It’s great to have the flexibility in my forces, but most of the time it’s just surplus to requirements. I still feel the urge to splash out on a new unit or three, but know I have to be a lot more sensible about the hobby. Also, more discipline is needed when it comes to painting/modelling, I should have listened to my wife when she said I should only get more minis when I have painted the first ones! It is only a hobby after all and I can think of other things in my life that should take precedence over this.