"Limits! Aaagghh!!" Topic

Ok, my wife is cool with me setting up a wargames table in what is basically an office/library/man cave. She has good ideas as to how to make use of existing space.
I need space to paint as well as space to set up armies etc. All this should work except for the fact that I still have the urge to complete a few periods by buying more figs. I have mostly 1/72 plastic and already have several plastic tubs filled with bags of figs. I know I will never paint all of them and that was never the intent. I have this desire/problem to complete periods with some if not all of a particular manufacturers line. For instance I have more than enough Zvezda Napoleonic figs but I keep wanting to buy more. And I see other figs coming out and I get that Ooh shiny! feeling. Even though it's plastic haha!
I'm sure others have had this conundrum at times – what to do? I plan to play games with my buddies at some point so I will have to get cracking on painting but I need to curb the endless collecting or at least set limits.
Any advice, stories, thoughts?

Pete

One bit of advice…….

Give up. You can't recover from "oooh shiny". It is incurable.

I think you're right.

The acquiring of new figures is an enjoyable and legitimate part of the hobby. If it brings you pleasure, and you can afford it, there's no point in thinking of it as any less valid than playing a game, or painting, as a facet of Wargaming. Do not let the guilt of not painting everything you buy, spoil the enjoyment you get from the pure act of purchasing figures. The purchasing itself is a part of the hobby.

I understand that but I need to set limits on purchases – think I'll complete what I need to complete and start painting more.

Anais Nin wrote "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

For me there came a time when I had to stop collecting so I could play some games. I still collect figures, but not at the rate that I used to do so. The satisfaction of collecting was replaced with the satisfaction of painting, building terrain, and playing the games. So for me it was a good trade off.

That sounds like what I need to do. My primary interest is in 19th century conflicts – Napoleonics, ACW, Crimean War, FPW and colonial. Need to really focus on getting armies painted up.
Also, I think part of it is concern that some figure lines will disappear before I can complete them. Zvezda comes to mind again.

An approach I've been contemplating is to spend my money paying somebody else to paint the figures. That way, there will be no money (well, actually, less money) to buy new things.

One thing I have done is to not purchase figures for a year, and spend my money on rules and scenery. This is my game, so I leave myself a few loopholes to add limited numbers of figures to my collection.

Grelber

Make a gaming budget say 20 to 30 $ a month and stick to it. Make it a habit and you won't spend more than you should. Maybe we gamers need something like AA.

Welcome To Little Man Collecting Anonymous

I rather think we all enjoy collecting, however there is a difference between the amuont of collecting you need to do when starting a new period and 'filling in the gaps' decades later.

Don't worry about figure lines ending, there is ebay, there are other manufacturers.

How to deal with it partly depend what motivates you. I am a task oriented list type person, so I work out what units I need for a decent game (do both sides), then buy the stuff needed and paint it. Focussed on that task, ooh shiny bites less often.

Move on to the next manageable chunk then rinse an repeat.

Doesn't work for everyone and some people just like the thrill of buying stuff and panic if they don't have a huge pile of unpainted things.

As mentioned above, a budget helps. Less of an issue for wargaming, but for re-enacting I have strict monthly budget as that really isn't a cheap hobby and takes up huge amounts of space.

My attempt was to start nothing new this year. However this meant I could "add" to existing armies, a valid clause I thought. Don't you?

Mostly worked, right up until I was convinced that an army for In Her Majesty's name would be small, hardly any figures. (All still unassembled and unpainted) And FoW came out with their WW1 figures…. very shiny (these are actually being painted!) But WW1 is or is not covered under a WW2 army? (tough call!) And of course I can use the WW1 terrain items under my "add" clause so that wasn't an issue. Terrain is virtually unlimited usage. Right? Oh yeah… I already played Dust and have some Axis and Allies, so joining the kickstarter could be covered under my "add" clause…. thankfully 2014 is almost done and I can continue my plan to start nothing new again in 2015!

You can institute a budget, stick to it, and set up a 1:1 ratio of painting to purchasing. That's the easy part, the difficult part will be achieving those goals. However, when I have not had the money to buy figures, I have found it VERY useful 1) to avoid going to manufacturers websites, 2) never click on links that advertise new figures from any company, be it here on TMP or on any website and 3) indulging only the desire to purchase terrain, which is, for some, an acceptable substitute for purchasing figure and generally eases the withdrawal process from the buying addiction.

You sir are a product of countless evolutionary years. You can no more curtail your instinctive desire to hoard than the squirrel can cease burying nuts for some unlikely use tomorrow. Just give in to it, explain you simply can't help it and enjoy yourself. Someone can always pick up where you left off… You know… When you run in front of that car while eying that big acorn on the other side of the road…. God forbid!

Thanks everyone for your comments. Some good advice there. My wife has offered to even help out with painting so that's a very good thing.
What she doesn't get is all the figures taking up closet space.

I started doing what Gelber said, paying someone (Nick Nascati, he does great work) to paint my figures. The goal is to have figures to play with, thats why I bought the figures in the first place..

Hmmm..maybe I will look into having someone paint up some of my armies…

Of course if you want help at reducing your pile….I have some left over birthday money and 1:72 Napoleonics is what I play (or collect).