"Hypothetical: Disaster" Topic

Suppose a fire/thief/family/acid neatly wiped out all of your gaming/hobby stuff. Nothing left, not even an old Osprey, Men at Arms.

If you are new to the hobby, the loss may be minimal.

I've been collecting and painting for roughly 30 years. I've boiled my interest down to half a dozen periods but my collections (soldiers, books, tabletop accessories, paints, etc) are comprehensive and likely excessive. Years of man hours put in on the modeling, painting side. The unpainted stuff amounts to a whole additional lifetime of work, assuming I stop adding to it today.

How would you approach rebuilding, if at all? Do anything different? Commit to less? Abandon anything (scale, period) permanently? Maybe just fire up Clash of Clans on the iPad?

I think I would take a long break, then maybe just buy Blue Moon 15's with my 40% off card, Vallejo paints and stick to one or two periods at first, FIW, or Pirates, or Napoleonics. In truth, I would probably start it all again at the same pace I've always done it. I'd stick to historicals, never replace all the lost SciFi/Fantasy stuff. I'd rely on online resources instead of replacing the paper library.

I'd probably try to be more disciplined in my painting and really focus on completing a project before moving on to another. Fact is, I really enjoy the creative process so it's unlikely I'd just go play World of Warcraft instead.

Chime in …

I think that I would have a heart attack and die.

I'd become a Buddist.

I probably wouldn't start again. I'm in a situation right now where I'm not going to be able to take all my kit with me when I move, so I might just give it up.

Thankfully there is plenty of stuff I have loaned out, calling the troops home would give me a core to rebuild with.

I might not survive such an event. Another heart patient. But, if I did survive such. And if my home owners insurance would help defray the cost involved. I think I'd do my British Colonials in 28mm. Maybe. Otherwise I think I would do most of what I've done over again.

I'd take the money and run. I don't have the time to redo 30+ years of involvement with the hobby.

I would pick one period and concentrate on that.

I have made sure my collection is well insured. Still, I would be pretty upset. I too have over 30+ years of stuff. I would start over. I would also have the core figures painted for me and only work on the character figures.

It still would suck.

Money and time being available to rebuild – if that is already assumed as given – I'd likely wait until somebody/thing motivated me back into a period, then start painting the units I "need" right now. I would never try to reconstitute/replace what I had lost. In other words, I would start over as if everything was for the first time, and all the previous stuff was just a nice dream….

I already got rid of everything I had and started all over again in 40mm figures. Just focused on the AWI range in the beginning but also have two small skirmish ranges now of The Wild West and Robin Hood. I will keep the two skirmish ranges small but continue to add to the AWI. Oh ya, I also started an ACW range which will not be large either. All my new beginning's are 40mm. Everything else I once has been sold off.

I had a flood that wiped out a multiple copy and vast collection of Panzerblitz games/add-ons etc.
The loss got me into Avalanche Press Panzergrenadier system.
I got rid of nine cases of books when I had to move-donated to a historical society.
Gave most of my miniatures&rules to my nephew and grand nephew.
Life is change, I don't feel like I lost anything.

There's always a new way to enjoy this hobby.

I could probably live with losing all of the stuff I've bought over the years, but losing all of the game stuff I've designed/written would be the worst, because it would be almost impossible to remember or reconstruct from scratch. At least the bulk of my collected minis are unpainted, so I don't have to worry about losing that work/time…. ;-)

I'd be very selective and probably wouldn't rebuild everything. I'd take the opportunity to maybe rebuild older armies I was still keen on with newer nicer figures, better thought out OBs and of course my better painting style (I look at some of my stuff from 30 years ago and well you know…)

I'd have a cognac, and light up a Havana.

Flashman14:
This thread is the stuff of nightmares! I would do it all again and waste lots of money and thirty more years replacing and repainting everything lost (If I lived that long). This thread depresses me!
Moodily,
Rod Robertson

I think this is a middle aged thing. Looking back and thinking, I could have done this better. I do this myself sometimes, but then I snap out of it.

This is a hobby that I do for fun. I had fun doing what ever I did. So what if I got a bunch half finished projects. A great artist once said, "A work if art is never completed, only abandoned."

If only…

Then I could refocus on one primary period and one or two subsidiary and much smaller periods. Well, maybe one more. Or, maybe two more. Or…

Wife wouldn't mind, get all that space back. But only if she suffers a similar disaster – get all THAT space back.

Considering I've had a lot of this stuff for years, not just miniatures and paints, but rpg stuff, I'd be really unhappy. A lot of my stuff is out of print and hard to find, unless I shell out a lot of cash at eBay.

Since I currently don't have a lot of money, I wouldn't get any new stuff for now. I would use the extra space for other stuff I have in storage.

I'd simply start over and do it right this time.

I'm 66 so it's not like I have all the time in the world, but this is me, this is what I do.

I recall what Clemenceau said to a gardener who was planting trees around his home. When the gardener said that the trees will not be mature for a century, Clemenceau said to him "Then you haven't a moment to spare.

I'll be dead two weeks before I realize I have to lay down.

Otto

Gasp! I still have figures I bought 50 years ago when I was a child.

I would approach the rebuilding in a selective and disciplined manner, buying a few figures at a time from just a couple of periods and completing the painting before moving on to more.

Who am I kidding? Within five years I would have an unpainted lead pile the size of K-2.

It would give me a the opportunity for a new scale and new period. New toys to paint.

Phil

If I had to start from scratch, I would probably try focusing on Perry Miniatures 28 mm models.

And I would try to keep the collection small and focused…

I'd probably take up tiddlywinks. :O)

Without trying (and failing) to be humorous, if it was my armies, I'd be sad but would survive although I wouldn't start rebuilding again.

If it was my 1/1250 scale ships though, the tears would be as rivers… but I would definitely start again, and in a much more organised way.

Considering I've recently found out I can paint probably 3 medium sized armies worth of 28mm miniatures in a year and I recently got promoted, I'd probably be ok with it. Never play with half the junk I've got anyway.

I'd probably try to be a bit more selective. Try and fail I have no doubt.

I'd stick to 10mm Peninsula Napoleonics and Pre-deradnoughts

Couple of years and I'm back in business.

A couple of jiggers of bourbon, good Kentucky bourbon….. Shoot 5 or 6 musket balls thru the display case, Take a long nap. Next week get the insurance money and start war games foundry Crimean War. Beyond that , I can't see myself doing anything other than Perry Sudan (metal only).

Probably be really ticked off for starters. Already lost one or two of my best painted WW1 1/72 aircraft(got wrecked when my carrying case fell over while riding a bus.)Rulebooks and such,even more so.

If it was stolen, jokes on them. My mini's look terrible :)

I'd probably just keep buying random 6mm and 15mm stuff once in a while. I'd be upset about losing my RPG books since some of them are pretty hard to find again.

So on the RPG front, I'd probably not track it all down again. Pick one or two simple games and stick with them.

Wargaming? Putting together some platoon sized 15mm forces is not expensive so I guess I'd just try to paint them nicer the second time around.

What a depressing thread. Hopefully this "disaster" only affected my minis and not both minis and my boardgame collections. There is no way I can repaint all those 15mm figures.

I have thousands of 15mm ACW and thousands of 15mm FPW, all painted and based. My 28mm Boer War collection has to be one of the largest in the country. Then there is my FFL collection. Losing my 28mm AWI collection? I don't know if I could cope with that.

It's not just the figures, all those buildings and terrain. If I lost all my Geo-Hex, I would probably find another hobby.

I would have to use the insurance money to have everything re-painted. At my age my eyesight just doesn't cut it. Even 25/28mm is becoming a problem to paint. Plus I am a slow painter and I don't have that many haircuts left.

I would probably just focus on a few periods and build them in a more organized way. Probably rebuild my AWI collection with only Perry and Foundry figures. I may start a new period, maybe SYW.

I would probably be apt to writing my own rules for each period, which I would have never contemplated when I was younger. I guess in some ways it is a fresh start. But it is horrible to contemplate.

Its not the amount, its the painting time.

I've actually thought about this many times and decided I would pretty much be done with collecting, although I would still play with others' stuff. And it is a VERY depressing subject!!