"Too many Good things today?" Topic

The question came up in conversation –

Is there such a varied selection (scale/era/genre) of miniatures that it results in people being attracted to so many possibilities that finishing a project culminating in multiple games on the tabletop is hindered?

Is the solution just a matter of personal focus and self discipline?

Does the wealth of choices today fragment a person's efforts by overload of options?

Are we affected by this because of our cultural bent towards instant gratification (I bought it so I feel good until I realize it never will get painted/played and I go out and buy more miniatures to assuage my neurosis?)

Can there be too many good things or is the problem our response to a "Golden Age" of miniatures?

"Golden Ages" always seem to pass – will we kill our hobby abundance by our actions or lack of action?

To limit the possible diversions of the discussion let us leave out the varied rules choices for now please.

Nah!

95% of the stuff coming out has zip interest for me. I'm not going to spend one dime on "The Chaco War" or "The Boxer Rebellion" just because someone comes out with a new figure, or all my friends go into it. I have my favorites,
Renaissance, Thirty Years War, 18th Century, Civil War, and Between WWI to early WWII and that's it. I have complete armies in those and work on the projects there. If my friends want Chaco Wars or Boxer Rebellion, they can build the armies and I'll play with them when they do.

The operative words are "When they do." 95% of the time they get one or two units and their interest burns out.

Been caught too many times by the "Let's all build up a few units in 'The Pugachev Rebellion and have a campaign!" The Literal translation of which is "I'd like to do XXXX, why don't you guys build up the armies and terrain so Ican play. Don't worry in four weeks, I'll want to do something else!

As Otto says, most of what comes out isn't of interest to me. I just collect the periods and scales that I would have done anyway!

It's a lesson many of us learn the hard way, stick to one project at a time and do it properly.

My interest drives me to purchase certain items from what is available in the scale I enjoy painting and playing. I neither make a purchase simply because it is available nor in a different scale, but in my interest period. With that said, I am interested in multiple historical periods, which leads me to having multiple miniature ranges and tackling multiple projects in the same year. Why? After painting 200+ SAGA figures in a single month, I'm tired of seeing them. Instead of putting my brushes away, I would rather pick up Wars of the Roses figures and paint those and later switch back. I am working towards multiple game systems and it might take a little longer due to the split focus, but I will get to play multiple games in the end.

For me, having choices are better than being stuck with too few or no options. Yes, there is a level of personal focus and self-discipline that I have to practice due to the abundance of choices for historical miniature gaming, but focus does not necessarily mean a single objective for me. Multitask!

When I am periodically affected by the newly released/latest lovely miniatures in my interest period that I just have to add to my mountain of lead, it is not the fault of my culture – it is me. It is my fault that I experience moments of weakness. I am taking personal responsibility for my hobby insanity totally and am enjoying the ride.

I think some of the questions and thoughts shared in the OP are simply social and cultural issues impacting the hobby, along with a growing hobby population and market place evolving with the hobby.

When I got into the hobby, everything was work. Just finding that miniatures existed was a struggle. Then finding sources for them, researching, painting, finding rules, making terrain, etc. was all work. There was no internet, few hobby publications, few hobbyshops and rarely with any miniatures, poor resource materials at the library and books of with any substance were very hard to find for sale. Every step was a search for the Holy Grail.

Now, with mass marketed games and the internet, not only can those afflicted with instantaneous gratification syndrome get involve; but those who simply aren't quite as crazy/obsessed/crusading as some of us old farts were, can too.

The hobby population has grown as the hobby manufacturers have catered to a greater range of the potential marketplace. A huge segment of today's hobby population couldn't have participated in the old days, but now can. And with that new segment come new ways to embrace "their" hobby, and with varying levels of passion and investment.

If there is a "problem" with the hobby as result of this growth and evolution, I think that it is simply that the social struggle within the hobby also evolved. In the old days, it was very hard to find other gamers, particularly miniatures gamers. Now there are lot more gamers (of all types), and the challenge is finding gamers that share common interests and embrace the hobby in a manner that is compatible with yours.

Wow ! Im very inpressed by everyones focus and discipline here. I sort of feel like Im admiting Im a drunk or something . While I do have my favorites that have have gotten the majority of my focus . I do sometime react like a dog with a stick . Chaco War, Paraguyan War,Plains Wars,Sino-Japanese War etc….. gives me a knew era to research that often times connects with my main intrest .Long and short of it shiney new things do make me happy !

The current Golden Age really is a double edged sword for me. I've always had wide ranging interests, many of which have been kept in check by the poverty of offerings. For some of my more esoteric periods, there simply weren't any figures, or nothing approaching a usable range. For more mainstream eras, I was often frequently disappointed by the sculpting (even by the standards of the day) and ranges falling well short of being comprehensive.

Now, the level of sculpting is breathtaking, the number of obscure conflicts catered to is astounding, and manufacturers are increasingly dedicated to "finishing" their ranges. It's a beautiful but sometimes terrifying thing. I don't so much worry about finishing all the projects I've started; I fret about never getting to all the things I want to do!

Yup, definitely a problem for me. Of course, I have a lot of interests, so I tend to bounce from one project to the next without making much progress in any of them. It's a hobby after all, so I do what I like when I like.

Agree with most of the above … 95% of what's coming out these days is of no interest.

Phil

Yes, I am one of those people with so many interests that I have a number of unfinished projects and buy more regularly.

As a friend of mine laments, I really envy those who only game one period.

I find that the number of options available these days, along with the rise of rules such as Bolt Action (platoon level games) allow one to do a lot of different areas of WW2 for less money and time expenditure than before. This is really a plus, in my book.
I also enjoy the greater variety of British Colonial figures on the market now. And the many options for pulp style games that can be gotten so easily.
If one is truly worried about focusing on one project, well, that's something the individual must contend with. To my mind, it's a much nicer situation than the old days of frustration due to lack of available material.

I don't have enough time for all the stuff that is IN the periods I am interested in, let alone expand into new periods :-)

First, I think its very cool that so many manufacturers are addressing these interesting and obscure topics. I do have more projects than I would like, and at age 60 don't see myself spreading any thinner than I already am. Another poster used the term golden age for the present wargame period and I think they're right on. Lots of possibilities, but I just don't going beyond my current interests.

My solution, which I've had from the beginning, is to stick to virtual methods and not be tempted to spend money on anything, except maybe rules if it's absolutely necessary. My love of gaming has little to do with collecting or even history (and nothing to do with painting or building, though I've made some beautiful virtual tabletops) and everything to do with the game itself, in terms of design, balance, replayability, storytelling, and especially fun. I can play completely different games in totally different settings without spending a dime, thanks to many online resources and my own imagination. The one limiting factor is the difficulty of determining LoS in the third dimension, which is often a problem but can be overcome.

I don't mean to come off as a pompous ass by writing that, but I do think that virtual innovations can help to keep the hobby alive. People don't need to spend lots of money or take up any space, and I'm proof of that over three years of continual gaming using many types of rules, including a few of my own design. It really depends on what you love most about this hobby, I suppose, since it seems many get into it for the love of modeling more than playing games.

Also, I'm trying to increase my presence on this site a little, so I'm trying to post something whenever I have a thought.

No such thing as too many choices.

I'm old enough to recall when there were no choices at all, for a lot of things (rules, miniatures, terrain, etc.), so prefer the present situation considerably more.

There are still plenty of things missing in various scales, e.g. 1/600th Russian bombers and some fighters (Bear, Backfire, Bison, Su-30MKK or MKI, Russian stealth jets – T-50, etc.), F-101 Voodoo, F-106, F-35, XB-70, Rafale, etc. I'm looking for metal miniatures, not Shapeways resin/plastic prints.

No 1/1200th scale Viggen.

No UFO/SHADO aliens, Moonbase personnel, SHADO Control security, Mobile troopers, SkyDiver crews, etc., in any scale.

No 1/144th scale M-114A1E1 Cavalry vehicles for the US to stave off the Communists in Western Europe (none in 1/100th scale either). No 1/144th scale BMDs for the Russian/Soviet paras and their allies/proxies. No 1/144th scale early Marder IFV variant, or Jagdpanzer Kanone and Rakete for the West Germans. No M-103 heavy tanks for the US Marines in 1/144th scale.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Lots of stuff to still be produced in these, and many scales.

Kickstarters for `the next great range` of figures are 12 a penny now just wonder how many that succeed are still doing well.
I really don`t see a point to buy anything I don`t expect to play. We make mistakes like that any learn from that.

Given that just some 2 years ago i said medievals were boring and I'd never do it. Now I've painted feudal troops and crusaders, and wanting to do HYW.

When i started 8 years ago. I thought I'd only do 15mm napoleonics. 6 months later i started with 28mm AWI.
It spread fro 18th century backwards to 30yw, then vikings, the up from napoleonics to acw, ww2, moderns vietnam. Even ww1 (another period i had declared boring in previous years.)

the only things left that i still declare boring and unintresting, are. Bronze age, anything in Europe from year 0 to 700 AD. Verious asian wars except sengoku, English civil war. French and indian wars. Colonial and armored warfare.

Too many choices, not enough money. ;-)

A couple of years ago, a local model shop began stocking loads of Warlord, Perry's etc – not just the boxes, but blisters too. Since then I've began getting into periods out of sheer whim and novelty. In the past I had to mail order, and didn't impulse buy.

I now have a huge lead/plastic pile of stuff I may not ever finish.

I wish I had a local hobby shop. Still managed to create a lead mountain of immense proportions.

I am slowly selling off collections that I haven't used and trying to focus down onto a few periods that I will play more often.

Basically I am reducing duplication – so only one skirmish period with guns, etc

Mike

Never have there ever been so many incomplete lines in so many scales from so many manufacturers!

We'll strike gold when lines get completed. While GW charges a fortune for individual characters historical manufacturers simply do not make figures for rarer units for historical ranges we would like to see.

Yea, still need a 1/600th B-58 Hustler as well.

Black Hat Miniatures, the problem I am having is selling off the unused miniatures because people saying how they have too many periods/scales currently. It was these comments that lead me to the OP.

Yes, certainly, I look on in frustration as my mates here chase after the latest "thing" I dived into Saga, love it, working on three factions, finished the Saxons, but everyone else did their 6 points and moved on to sigmar smegma panzer bolt thrower X wing flames of 1.943K hammer. So I got my saga armies, 15mm crimean war, and commands and colors and shake my head in bewilderment