"where to stop" Topic

Do ya ever just sit and think, im gonna stop buying anything new for a while and sort,organise and paint everything u already got going, but then always see something else new and buy that….

That, my friend, is the curse of all Wargamers, methinks!

If you can do <pick favorite battle> at 1:5 it might be time to stop that period

Not where, but when, next year looks good,

Tally Ho!

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, let me catch my breath, Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !"

Yeah, every time I stop and think of selling a collection thats not going anywhere, it just inspires me to buy more.

I always find that when to stop is when the money runs out.

I enjoy bringing order from chaos, so I buy what I need, paint it, then move on to the next thing. Huge piles of unpainted stuff I find extremely oppressive, so I don't do it. Other people may approach things differently.

If you enjoy buying lots of new stuff, then just go with it and don't worry. It is a hobby not a job after all.

Life's too short to worry about such things. If you want to be the king of the lead mountains, sitting in a gilded lead throne, surveying your half painted armies, crack on. There's always something you can add to a project.

I have, in theory, 'STOPPED'.

My wargaming buddy died a couple of years back and I have spent most of the time since clearing his 'lead mountain' and also any bits of my stuff which matched his.

I did aim to restrict my own purchases to completing existing collections.

Then along came Pendrakens Warband rules and I started to buy more of their figures on the premise that I would use the same figures for Warmaster which was still an active ruleset for me.

I have just bought Digby Smiths book on the American Revolution so I expect I will be buying some AWI figures soon. I have never done AWI before.

So, the theory is fine, it is the practice which is difficult.

I would just echo Cavcrazy………….I have many projects………some nearing 'completion' ( an impossible state!) And many in semi/half/partially started….some are just in the acquisition/ hoarding stage!

… stop when you get to the end …

Can I add something, a bit rambling, but slightly relevant!
I'm currently nearing the end of a massive sell-off, I'm emigrating to the States, lost my job, selling my house, so nearly everything went, 10,000+ 28mm Napoleonics, My massive 1/35 WWII collection, buildings and all, over 600 1/32 Romans, and Cathaginians, for Trebbia, Even 40+ 3foot square terrain boards. All I have left is my Space Hulk, Some WW1 planes, and my 1/32 Zulu war set-up, which may also go under the hammer!
Its kept me solvent for 5 months, made me a small fortune, actually, and I've actually enjoyed unloading everything, lead mountain an all. Its very liberating!
BUT, when I'm buried in deepest Kentucky, I'm sure I'll start again! with that best of things, a clean sheet! the wargaming world is my lobster!

John

I've sort of done this twice, for a year at a time. Actually, I'd identify a few figures that were needed to complete a force, and they would be an allowed exception. It does let me to cut down the size of my lead mountain some, but never as much as I would hope. Of course, it doesn't help when the figures I order in December of the previous year don't arrive until February of my no-buy year!

Grelber

3 years ago I made a promise "Not to start another project till I have completed the ones I have already started and to reduce the lead and plastic mountain I already have".

I have to say it's going rather well (I am felling rather smug about it).

It has not stopped me buying stuff, but I have to think and justify the purchase (just being beautiful is not good enough).

My mountain of stuff is now just a small hill.

I decided to take the situation in hand and developed a rule set that has a campaign set attached to it. The campaign set is rudimentary but it had in it the concept of "Stratetgic Units." A strategic unit was a bundle of table top units. There are two strategic units, an Army and a Brigade. They have no connection. Armies are not made up of brigades or capable of being broken down into them. The brigade is not a sub unit of an army.

All armies in the game are identical to each other with the same number and style of table top units. A brigade has about one third of the table top units of an army, but are of different types so you can have infantry brigades, elite brigades, cavalry brigades, Militia Frei Korps etc.

In any one battle you may have only TWO strategic units. The possible combinations are.

Army and a Brigade
Army
Two Brigades
one brigade.

This forms a handy means to make not only generally equitable sides quickly, but for any country's force, a menas to know how much to build and when to stop without the folderal of force pools, points systems etc. You simply figure out what are the most numbers of each table top unit you need for a specific contry and build to that. Once you're there you can move on to another country. Example. An army has one regiment of dragoons. Most brigades also have one regiment of dragoons. As the most you can have is one army and one brigade, you need two regiments of dragoons. An army has two light guns and two heavy guns. An Artillery Brigade has (among other units) two light and two heavy guns. So for any army you need four light and four heavy guns.

Of course if you are using Imagi-Nations, you can use mix and match regiments and once you have all the troops for two armies and two brigades, you can move on to another period.

So for example, An Army has five infantry units. An Infantry Brigade four. Once you have 18 line infantry units you never have to build another one. This may get a little frating if you're a Nappy Player and you use your Austrians for Russians when fighting French, but in the 18th century you can breeze through it.

I don't do that and have about four armies completed. I also use equivalencies. So for example line infantry in one army is line infantry in another. Grenadiers are Grenadiers in the Bad Zu Wurstian Army, but in the Ikean army (Imagi-Nation Turkish) the Jannisaries have the stats and abilities of grenadiers. Dragoons are dragoons in the Saxe Burlap und Schleswig Beerstein Army, butin the Ikean army, horse archers.

I've not stopped totally before but a change in job with double the commute time derailed the hobby for me in 2012. Although I've had a few career changes since then I've never got back to my pre 2012 output and 2014 was my worst ever year only finishing 12 figures. However, the reduction in hobby time has made me more selective and I have only small bumps rather than lead mountains waiting to be done. Very focused at the moment on completing what I have and then having a major splurge at Salute and starting all again in new projects. It never stops – it's the end when you think there's nothing new to collect. When you finish the minis, what about some nice terrain or a new ruleset…

Wot Cavcrazy sed. . .

We don't have to stand for this sort of dirty talk, you know!

Yeah – I keep saying that, especially as I no longer have enough space to leave up a gaming table. But I find myself buying "just this once" a new game or kick starter. I'm glad I'm the same as everyone else!

I have started sorting and basing up one of my oldest projects,
15mm French revolutionary army.
Dug it out and I have over 50 battalions (3 to make up demi brigades) with 18 fig in each battalion, there is cavalry and artillery as well.
Felling a lot less smug now.

I've tried to stop but I'm beginning to realise there is no end. I'm working really hard at the moment and have no energy for the hobby so there's little sense of progress. But none of that matters – it's there for when I want it to be.