"Cashing in - hard but worth it" Topic

Come on man--the fact that you're still posting here totally undermines everything that you are saying. It's like a WoW addict going into the game to announce that he'd kicked the habit. I'd say that you are jonezing and this post is the only way that you can justify to yourself getting back onto TMP. How many other threads did you happen to read while you were here to post this? Did you cover your eyes when you scrolled past the news items, so you wouldn't see them? Delusions and denial my friend. I give you 2-3 months tops before you buy back all your stuff at more than you sold it for…

Good point, you guys have a good day.

GG, if getting out completely is what you felt was necessary for you to restore some joy and balance to your life, then kudos to you for having the gumption to do it and to heck with all the nay-sayers!

With all of these posts ahead of me, no one will probably read this. But here I go anyway.

I have been gaming since the early-mid 60's. I went through a period of probably 5-10 years when I did very little. I felt somewhat guilty as my father had made me a fantastic table, 7' x 15' that could hold 3500 lbs of sand and also had flat board tops to go over it if I did not use the sand. It has great storage with sides, doors, and a light.

I thought about trying to sell it all. Then I got back into it. Then about four years ago I went to my first big convention, Little Wars. I saw how things had progessed in the years and was hooked.

I am so glad I did not get out. I have upgraded my terrain, have greatly improved my painting and love it. I am semi-retired now and have more time to spend on the hobby. To me, board gaming could never touch this. In fact I sold all of my board games at a Little Wars flea market. I rarely miss an HMGS East convention. So, I almost went the way of getting out. I am so glad I did not.

Tom

@Garand: having two daughters myself, I can assure you that gamer-potential is there.

@grumpygamer: I think, based on all you have shared, you did the right thing for yourself. I recently moved, and with the realization that I hadn't touched the hobby stuff in two months and hadn't gamed in six, the lot of it went off to storage with the extra furniture. Now, I can invest a little more time in new Star wars RPG advenrtures for my girls, they would dearly love to start playing again…

we sound like a bunch of drunks trying to convince another not to go to AA.

we're terrible.

Its like any hobby with its ups and downs. Some stay active, some leave and some are semi-retired.

Dan

The point is that wargaming is about the journey not the destination.

For me, the hobby isn't just playing the games, although I love gaming, it's the whole preparation etc that GG frustrates about.

GG has fallen by the wayside. For me, the road goes on.

Wargaming is all about the imaginative process, if it seems to have become a toil then the magic has gone for you.

I hope you have found another pastime that gives you some joy!

Best wishes!

Grumpygamer's solution is extreme but understandable--I've culled a lot of stuff recently that would NEVER make it onto a table if I lived to 150.You can feel weighed down by all those never quite finished projects.
Ive reduced to a few core periods-probably still too much!--and have come back full circle to Napoleonics after many years.But I'm not going to pile up any more lead [or plastic]mountains.
It is very easy to be sucked by hype into yet another "fad".

The hobby has fragmented with the rise of computing. Years ago people who would really like to play online war games played mini gaming because what they wanted wasn't available. Now there are many online, or computerised alternatives, fewer people are in the hobby because they can't do what they really want.

There are positive factors for the hobby. Networking allows the relatively small number of people in the hobby to achieve great results in terrain, painting, rule design etc. We have seen great advances in the quality of painting, sculpting, terrain over the past few years. Display games at shows have improved vastly.

You can cheaply put together a ready painted army or get one painted for you. The cost of decently painted 28mm figures has come down to $2 USD a piece (including the figure.)

I predict that will bring people into the hobby who are actually dissatisfied with wargaming but can't be bothered to paint.

The hobby is relatively cheap. And you don't have to spend months beavering away figure painting before you can play a game.

I can't play at the moment because there are no gamers where I live. But I enjoy collecting and I'm playing a long game building up forces which will look splendid on the happy day they are deployed. I don't mind waiting because it is worth it to me.

I agree with axabrax. I think GrumpyGamer is trying to justify to himself that he did the right thing by getting away from it all and selling all his stuff. If he is so glad to be done with it all why is he here talking to all of us about it and looking for reassurance.

Its like calling up that crazy ex-girlfriend. It gets late one night and your sitting all alone at home. Before you know what you are doing you have picked up the phone and placed that call.

Admit it GrumpyGamer you are having second thoughts!!! :0

its a hobby, they are supposed to be FUN first.

Absolutely. If your heart is not into it, best to go on to something else, life is far too short.

Mind you, in my opinion, it sounds like grumpy had way too many periods on the go! I've been wargaming for more than 35 years if you include my pre-teen years and modeling for more than 40. Yet the only period I am really involved in is WWII in 1:72 scale (I have a side interest in ACW naval and age of sail, but very little done, especially with the latter).

It does indeed take a long time to build stuff up and if you don't enjoy the ride (ie the building, painting, terrain making) then don't waste precious moments of your life.

Just because other folks enjoy something, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you because you don't enjoy the very same thing.

I say good on grumpygamer that he was able to do this. I don't think his posting here is counter-productive or indicative of regret – it's probably more of a purge.

All the best, grumpy, here's hoping you find something that you enjoy and that makes you smile,

Take care,
--
Tim

So what IS your new hobby; spending lots of time talking about hobbies you no longer have?…

Miaow !

I'm glad you were able to make the decision to do that, if it makes you happy GG.

Personally, I enjoy the hobby, so can't see myself doing the same.

No doubt, other hobbies I might take up to replace it would be less satisfying, and more costly. Trust me, I know, since I have a variety of other hobbies and interests.

"Playing a game according to the rules and not being subjected to the constant judgement calls of range, movement distances, line of sight etc."

Just what I experienced playing the GBACW series and various tactical WWII board games. The old SPI LOS graphs weren't the clearest way of determining whether or not you could see another unit. I largely gave up board gaming because I much preferred the 3D aspect of miniatures.

Different strokes for different folks.

Given grumpygamer's various posts, I dearly hope he stays away from ASL.

I gave up for … um … 20 odd years between university and middle age.

Now, thanks to the internet, DBA, Asian painting services and enough money to do things properly I am hooked again.

You can have my miniatures when you pry them from my cold dead hand.

I don't have a problem. I'm fine! I can quit anytime I want…

Who am I kidding?

There are plenty of people who just like painting miniatures,without all the angst associated with trying to build up armies.Typically these would be individual fantasy or SF models.The artwork is an end in itself,though there could be a set of skirmish rules lurking in the background.
If painting is however no more than a pre-game chore,then yes you will always be chasing rainbows and may well no longer be enjoying the journey.
I've never been involved in a wargaming club but I can see that you could spend a lot of time and energy on less satisfying group preferences and projects.
I rather think that Grumpygamer,while on a starvation diet,can't help walking past the sweetie shop…

Really you should have got into 6mm, would have solved every issue you had :)

2mm fig's look good instead of boardgame counters

Sounds to me like you fell into the "style over functionality" trap. Not every game has to be visually perfect, not every detail has to be just so. Or perhaps, if the process in itself doesn't give you any pleasure, then perhaps this hobby wasn't for you to begin with? I enjoy boardgames as much as tabletop, so I understand completely what you mean when you talk about being able to play without any hassle. But that's just the thing – with miniatures, the game in itself is just end product of a very long process. If you don't take pleasure in all parts (well, at least some parts, basing figures is a chore and always will be), then you should absolutely stick with the only part that actually gives you some gratification.

Minondas wrote:

well, at least some parts, basing figures is a chore and always will be

Basing figures is just behind playing the game as my favourite part of the process.

Interesting thread.

This is a great time to be enjoying boardgames. We are in a period of high production standards and a trend towards the shorter, more fun end of the complexity scale.

Over the past 15 years of so, there has been a huge 'bleed off' of boardgamers, with companies surviving on low print runs that have largely been pre-paid for by subscribers (the so called P500 system).

I think the sentiment you describe is a two way thing as there are boardgamers moving across to figures and there are gamers that play both – also there is a growth in the area of boardgamers actually using figures as game pieces and of figure gamers adopting hexes onto the gaming table.

One advantage that figures have over boardgames is that once you have your army and rules, you can game virtually any battle – while the boardgamer is lucky to get 3 or 4 games in a series and is continualy having to read new rule systems for all the different games they come into contact with.

Both figures and boardgames require an investment in time – something that many of us appear to be lacking. My kids are grown, but I am working longer hours than ever before and at home, I spend too many hours on this computer – I could do with liberating some time.

I have 2 ACW 10mm armies just waiting to be painted and though in my minds eye, I can see them on the table now – charging across the stream towards Burfords dismounted cavalry at Gettysburg – I just can't seem to get motivated to paint them …. but neither can I get motivated to remind myself of the rules from any of my gettysburg boardgames – and get a game going !

My next project is to paint some 1/2400 ships for the Battle of the River PLate – but I have just picked up my Sicily boardgame – which looks lovely and short rules and nice peices …. oh what to do next, It's easier just to come here and chat, is that part of the problem?

Anyway, I love my military history and my wargames and my photography and I am doing some oil painting ….. just got to try and do things as and when.

You have clearly found moving away from figures 'liberating', so for you the decision to quit seems to be the right one at this point in time. I'm sure there will be times when you wish you still had some of your figure bits, but that's just human nature – there are so many good boardgames about that you will still be getting your wargame fix for many years to come.

This bears some resemblance to an April 1st posting a few years ago.

"This bears some resemblance to an April 1st posting a few years ago."

Nope…its true…Grumpygamer is good friend of mine…I can attest to the fact that he has "offically" cashed out…

Thanks for the comments guys, the helpful and not so helpful.

Of course Im having second thoughts. I was really passionate about my minis gaming (part of the problem Im seeing now)and to let it go was as tough a decision as stopping smoking. Yes, one of the reasons I posted here was simply to revisit a site that used to be bring me hours of enjoyment, a bit of nastalgia if you will. Silly maybe but it was nice to browse through the posts again, even if they no longer had any real application anymore.

As to ASL, played it for the better part of 10 years. It was my main interest right up until I got into miniatures, wherein I sold the entire collection to generate revenue for the new interest. Go figure!

My new hobby? Bellyaching about the one I dont have anymore? No – (Kind of a dumb comment there Doug) I believe I mentioned I was looking into returning to conventional wargaming and boargames, but Ive also returned to reading (something long neglected when minis were ever-waiting on my painting table) and plan to delve into my painting again (thats oil on canvas, not miniatures) which has been neglected even longer. Neither of which will probably gather any interest here, hense my post on leaving the hobby instead.

Several of you have hit on my lack of focus being the real problem, and I wont deny that upon reflection you may be right. I absolutely loved painting and prepareing for a game but damn, with 3 or 4 major switches a year it was exhausting. Often I would love my initial enthusiasm before the actual game was even ready to play. I sold unused painted armies on Ebay constantly to fund the NEW urge. Not a good way to do business, in the end it just killed it for me. But hey, when you have a short attention span, a group that hops around a bit and limited funding, you dont really have much choice.

Again, thanks for the support and no I dont believe this to be a momentary hickup. If I had any doubt at all about my decision I wouldnt have gone through with it. Years from now? Well sure, who knows but no time soon.

I think who you play with matters the most. I probably would have gotten out of Warhammer 40K if my friends who got me in it weren't still involved and I hadn't made good friends playing it. I can go months or even years without playing it. I haven't played WFB in like a decade but I still try to get my army painted every now and then. Same goes with Necromunda or Bloodbowl.

When I moved to Ottawa they played some different games so I got into Silent Death. I haven't played that in half a decade but I bought some new rules for it in PDF form.

I keep buying rules WFB, Great War, Through the Mud and the Blood, GW Historicals Cowboy game, etc. etc. We also like boardgames. Boardgames are more female friendly and take less pace and preparation time. But I own many board games I've never played or haven't played in a decade.

Who you play with matters and hosting matters. My current appartment isn't so great and my friends are scattered. But maybe in the new year if I get my job sorted and buy a place I'll host. Either that or we all meet in New Westminster as Dave is willing to host boardgame nights and he's willing to try Through the Mud and the blood and I think he'll love Bloodbowl.

So I say who matters more than the game or even the hobby. When we run Junta or History of the World there is like a waiting list to play. People alter travel plans when I used to host those games…

Muskie are you still in Ottawa? If so the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers has a fair amount of WWI going on.