"Any regret re getting rid of armies?" Topic

I have sold, traded, or gave away many armies in many scales. There are some I really miss and wish I had back.
1) 25mm Sudan and Northwest Frontier – with primarily Ral Partha and Frontier figures with some Minifigs. They were mounted on washers and terrained with sand and I painted all of them myself. They were purchased when Ral Partha and Frontier initially came out with these lines and I did a fairly good job painting them. I had a great time finding extras such as items from Richard Houston's lines. Organized via THE SWORD AND THE FLAME. I miss these most of all.
2) 25mm French Foreign Legion – with primarily Frontier, Iron Brigade and Falcon miniatures. Atley Turner of Frontier made me a FFL figure standing firing a Lewis Gun which was a great figure. I had a wonderful Fort as well as a large number of village buildings with removal roofs as well as die-cast vehicles I found. A wonderful collection.
3) 25mm Sikh War, Indian Mutiny, Northwest Frontier,and Second Afghan War – all Wargames Foundry figures. Beautiful collection!

Why did I get rid of them. Well, the Foundry Collection went because I decided to get rid of my 25/28mm scale projects. ?????????????

The FFL – I guess I got tired of it.

The Sudan/Northwest Frontier – because other companies came with what I mistakenly viewed as "better" figures……….

There it is. How about you?

Nope. I exited 25/28s a few years back. Sold off all my 20s. I'm now strictly 15 and 6mm with a few "stand alone game" exceptions. Glad to have the space/cash. Never looked back….

Yes. All of my Battletech stuff…the Clans ruined it for me and I'd assumed I'd never go back. I was wrong.

Nope, got rid of all my Games Workshop stuff….

Oh yeah. I'm a wheeler-dealer. Sometimes I wheel too much for my own good.

A few years ago I decided to sell off a big 20mm WWII collection. I just dumped them. A guy at a flea market blurted, "These are crazy prices!" and got out his wallet. "I just want them gone, at any price." I said. "Make me an offer. Insult me."

I never sold most of the collection…now I've got the bug again, so I'm rebuilding. Henh. Let me tell you, the days of finding shoe-boxes full of old Roco and Airfix for $.25 USD/vehicle are over.

A few weeks ago I offered to trade some old painted figures that I'd kept stashed away in a box for *at least* 15 years for someone else's stuff. Then I opened the boxes and saw what I was trading off, and Gawd he'p me, I wanted to keep them. After re-negotiating with my trade partner, I decided to honor my commitment and send him the figs. The stuff I got from him is really nice…

They're all just toys. I have more than I'll ever use. When I'm gone, they're going to the landfill. But while I'm here, I really like them.

I haven't gotten rid of any Minis aside from the occasional pieces from a half started project. But I got rid of a LOT of RPG books when I was preparing for a move several years ago. I had moved them into an attic 12 years before and they were still in the boxes I moved them in. I actually funded several minis armies with them.

While not a direct comparison, RPG campaigns take a lot more time to play than miniatures, I was worried that I would regret the sales. I get FAR more use from the minis I purchased than I did from the books I hadn't used in years. I funded 4 WWII armies from the sale of my Magic the Gathering collection!

I have also sold board games that I haven't played in a long time. I do consider the cost/times played when looking at boardgames (both to buy and to sell from my collection). I figure I have gotten my moneys worth from a board game if I can factor it down to about $10 USD each time played. It's cheaper than a movie! If I've played it enough to reach that ratio and I haven't touched it in years I won't feel bad about getting rid of it.

If I was moving again and found a box of minis I hadn't even touched in 5-6 years I would probably considering selling them to fund something I currently play. If it was something I use once a year or more I probably wouldn't get rid of it, I also probably wouldn't bother adding to it though!

Over the years I have sold one Eldar army, rebuilt it from scratch, and then finally sold THAT army. Regrets…no.
The one sale I do regret is my 25/28mm Space 1889 armies, Martians, Germans, British, and Americans.

And I am thinking about selling off some other odds and ends.

No regrets

Oh yeah Hal, a Frei Korp 15mm Moghul Army in my case.

That said I have two Blue Moon 7YW armies whose future is hanging in the balance. I'll either sell them or buy the artillery for them.

I regret selling off a lot of my old board wargames back in the 1980's and 1990's. I've gotten back into boardgames recently and wish I hadn't thinned out my collection all those years ago. I would now be playing a lot of those titles I dumped back then, especially the Strategy & Tactics games.

Miniatures-wise, the only ones I really regret selling were the 1:1200 Houston's Ships for the Austrians and Italians at Lissa 1866. I've long since replaced them all and then some with 1:2400 Figurehead ships, but I miss the old 1:1200 clunkers.

My Plains Indians wars collection, it was an amazing collection all painted by me.
A SYW Russian Minifig army that was painted by a friend of mine with all hand painted metal flags.
And an large collection of Ral Partha Zulu war figures, they were not painted, but I wish I had them now because I have a desire to paint Zulus!

Can't say so. Nope.

I sold off a 120+ piece Rogue Trader era Space Marine Army to help pay for my wedding. I recently replaced the collection, this time almost entirely with the metal figures. My bank account truly wishes I had held onto the figures but, since I am going on 21-years with my better half I guess it was all worthwhile (as long as she does not see the bill!)

I have only sold a DBM Anglo-Norman army very well painted in 15mm made up with Two Dragons figures.
I didn't want to but I wanted to show my wife that painting model soldiers could be a profitable business.
I regret that choice and I swore to myself I would never sell anything again not even raw metal figures.
Marco

I do not allow myself to regret anything I have sold off.

But then there were the…..

I still have figures from the 1970s from my Lord of The Rings MiniFigs phase!

Only sold one army, minifigs TYW 15mm Swedes that I don't regret, now have most TYW armies by Testudo, and the other modern makes.

Regret selling my 28mm Skeleton army as I am wandering back into fantasy, a little!

Tally Ho!

No regrets.

I later regretted selling every batch except 1. My first Napoleonic units were 2 battalions of Minifigs French Dragoons painted in 4 enamel colors: black, white, green and brown. No flesh, metal, etc. A guy gave me $25 USD for them back in the 80s.

Nope. No regret whatsoever.

I'll routinely get rid of stuff I don't play with or stuff that hasn't seen the table in a couple of years or so.

I've sold well over 20,000 painted 15mm figures in the last fifteen years. My collection is now down to less than 10,000 painted figures.

I think the thing is not to get rid of anything until you're absolutely sure you can part with it. If in doubt, don't do it.

No regrets. Sold off all my 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, 28mm & 54mm armies over the years and have settled into 40mm and am quite content!

Hal, those sound like great collections. I'd have told you to go lie down till the feeling had passed. I very much regret selling my collection of 15mm SYW, Prussians, Austrians, and French; all professionally painted. Because of that – and the fact that my dear, lovely better half reminds me of it – I'm very reluctant to part with another collection. I've mumbled occasionally about selling my unpainted 54-60mm Alamo collection (very large and comprehensive) but when I do so in earshot of my wife she shoots me a withering glare.

@Fat Wally,

You mean you have owned more than 30,000 painted 15mm figures?! OMG…

No regrets for anything that I have sold, although once in awhile I find myself organizing a game and thinking, "boy I sure could have used That Unit in this game."

Wait… people get RID OF ARMIES?!

WHY????

I've been careful about my buying. My only misstep was early on in the mid 80's, I collected a number of 15mm Minifigs War of the Roses – way before I knew what my real preferences were in Horse & Musket periods.

I painted but based them all generically. Never had rules for them, never replaced the wobbly lances and pikes. I did resurface the bases for aesthetic cohesion purposes but I've never gamed with them. Not even sure what side they are on … just knights, met at arms, pikes, archers, odds and ends.

Everything else that I've acquired is still game after 30 years of collecting.

I might abandon Desert War WW2 but still have lingering hopes I'll get to it sometime.

Thinking of a Dutch Lancer Unit and a FFL/Arab set of forces – other than that – not really…

Now looking to sell some stuff in the coming months – 1/72 plastics and 15mm Crusades to make room for more TYW – so we will see…

Yes, several years ago I sold off my 25mm Medieval collection. Then wouldn't you know it, our club starting playing Medieval games. I re-gretted selling those figs for years, when at a game convention there was an auction held to sell wargame collections. Yea! you guess it. I brought back my Medieval collection, and I still have them.

Some stuff I sold I deeply regretted, mainly my 15mm British desert army (whyyyyyyy….. especially given the number of conversions I did to build it), and some books and games which I subsequently spent decades re-buying.

Other stuff, good riddance.

If you've got the storage space, there isn't any real need to sell anything.

Sure, two right off the top of my head. My 28mm DBA Renaissance armies made from GW plastics, and my 28mm Olg Glory Anthony Wayne figures.

I have been very fortunate. Despite listing multiple SF armies over the years I have not sold one of them. A few odds n ends but not complete armies.

My real regret is that SWMBO is on my case to get rid of all the crap I have in the garage and basement. If I had sold a lot of this stuff she would not be on me about it.

never had regrets. i sell off stuff that i don't game anymore with, for example 15mm WWII soviets, but kept the germans and the americans and all the normandy terrain.

most things that i sell off are unfinsihed projects that have stalled for whatever reason. these include:
28mm romans and guals (went dark ages vs ancients)
28mm FIW Brits and French / indian; found out that in my heart i really wanted to do AWI.

28mm WII germans and americans: already had everything in 15mm, why did i double up?

All my GW 40k IG.

found it all quite liberating and helped clear out room for stuff that I am really into and am acutally using. whats the point of having bare metal miniatures just sitting around in drawers?

No regrets … never really did it

Phil

I've parted with an awful lot of 15mm figures over the years. 15mm ancient and renaissance armies and WWII miniatures. I don't regret them too much. Definitely thousands of figures.

I think the only figures I've ever regretted virtually giving away are my 25mm Sudan figures. Mostly stuff I collected in the 80's before the good 28's came out. Ral Partha, Minifigs, even some Hinchcliffe. Organized for Imperialism by Lynn Bodin. Still, wish I still had those, sigh.

Oooh, and one more thing--Had some gorgeous 1/1200 scale WWI and WWII ships by Navis and Neptun I bought when the exchange was relatively low in the 70's Sold 'em for a song when I was poor. They'd cost a mint to replace now.

Regrets? Not really, though I have only sold 2 small collections. I sold my 1/1100 ACW ships and rules about 25 years ago because even though I like ACW games and I like naval games, I found the combination to be dull. The other was my 1/300 scale WWI planes which I got rid of around the same time. I just didn't really like the figures that much, so I dumped them in favor of the 1/144 scale Blue Max/Red Eagle miniatures (which I still have).

I miss EVERY SINGLE model, book, stray bit, box, and packing insert that has disappeared from my life, either through, sale, gifting, trading, or loss.

I am a hoarder. It is an illness.

Wargame miniatures are like adopting children, they are a lifetime commitment.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Wargame miniatures are like adopting children, they are a lifetime commitment.

It's not hoarding if the boxes are labeled.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Only my 15mm feudal armies, 50 mounted knights with a matching dismounted version in which I had to mostly convert quite a few of them to match up. men at arms, bowman, crossbowman & foot soldiers numbering in the hundreds mostly painted up in livery to match the Baron they fought for. I sold them to a friend at price that was a steal for him.

Many moons ago, at high school a gang of us were assembling and playing 15mm ancients. I painted up an army of Huns.

The gang drifted apart as we went to different universities. One weekend at a trash and treasure market I bumped into a guy selling off his 20mm Airfix naps and 25mm ancients odds and ends, he had a huge collection, mostly unpainted and bits broken. He was selling as he was moving to the other side of the continent.

We did a swap, my Huns for all his stuff.

A week later I made contact with my university club, I walk into the meeting to be told 'we are all 15mm ancients players here.'

David F Brown

Yes but personal economics required it.

Hal, you're bringing back memories. I bought a lot of that Foundry colonial stuff many years ago. Sadly I ended up parting with the Indian Muntiny some years later to help my wife with nursing school. Your NWF stuff is still soldiering on mostly in their barracks, but occasionally they get to take the field. Sold a lot of painted stuff over the years and only really regret selling my Fiekorps Maximillian in Mexico armies and maybe my AWI collection.

No but I've sold very few miniatures over the years. Hard to part with. Even though I know I will most likely never play with them again.

Yes Hal. 25mm Northwest Frontier Sikhs and Pathans. They were Ral Parthas when they came out and I had just picked up Featherstone's Solo Wargaming. Painted 180 Pathan Infantry and a company of the 15th Sikh infantry with a platoon of Ghurkas and a troop of Bengal Lancers. Great figs and were my first foray outside 15mm ACW. Oh well.

I have only sold three armies and it was at a steep discount to kids of my gaming friends. Two still play occasionally so no regrets there. One sadly came back to me when my friend passed away.

Hal, I see you didn't mention the F&I War collection that you sold me. One of my favorites, even if not yours.

Regrets, I have had a few,
but then again too few to mention!

I regret selling my Warhammer Empire army. It was painted reasonably well, and I can never get back that time painting it. And all classic metal figures too.

No regrets selling my barely painted plastic Space Marine army though….

I gave my very small ACW forces to the chap I game with as I only ever used them alongside his, I wasn't that keen on the period and I didn't have room to store forces big enough to be worth using – In spite of this I still regret it – these are the only things I'v ever got rid of…

Roger (Leadjunky) – did I really sell my NWF figures to you?

And nnascati sold his Wayne's Legion to me. That was a wheel in my favor – ain't giving 'em back, no, nope.