"If I Only Knew Then...." Topic

…what I know now, I would have/would not have ……
What would you have done differently if you had known what you know now when you first started wargaming? I'll start it off with a few…
1. been more focused.
2. been more focused.
3. If unsure, refer to #'s 1 and 2!
How about you?

What kyoteblue said!

John T

1.I would have painted much smaller Napoleonic armies, paint up a corps for each country instead of trying to paint an entire army.
2. I would look to my first rule if ever I got to feeling like painting an entire army!

Too many things too often.

Current option is one of the few I've ever managed to treat as a whole project rather than lots of individual things clumped together.

+2 kyoteblue

Of course 15mm seems to have more choices now than 3 decades ago.

Also, I would have limited what eras/genres/sizes/companies I bought from for my reduced armies.

D: Bought six of every miniatures and sold them on EBay ten years ago.

Bought all the Apple / Microsoft shares my pocket money would allow

I would not have sold ANYTHING. And put the games in watertight containers.

I would have gone with Wargames Foundry Napoleonics figs especially Austrians in 25 mm and planned for skirmish instead of big armies with small figs.

Sold all my wargaming figures and invested in 54mm toy soldiers. You seen how much those things sell for???

Not bought as much spur of the moment stuff and stopped and had a thought before purchasing figures I never had a use for.

Bought every Minifig I could carry when they went on clearance.

Been more focused.
Not "overbuy" when it came to so many figures.
Would have looked more into 15mm.

Bought all 6 of the Mithril M16 female ranger in my local hobby shop, rather than just the one! Also made sure that I got all of the Ilyad range…well, I could go on and on.

Bought as many bitcoins as I could when they 1st came onto the market.

Learned to sculpt back in the 70's/80's.

I would have bought a ton more of the Dragontooth Saurian and Amphibian figures.

I overbought several subjects over the years. This compels me to put together lavish sets and games which are unwieldy and hard to end. I loved my 15mm WWII American army for example. I have over sixty Shermans. I just can't use them all. I would like to sell some and add other subjects. This is not as easy as it sounds. Most people have all the Shermans they will ever need.

I would have grabbed more of the Jeff Valent AWI figures from a friend of mine who offered to split them with me. I held myself back because I didn't want too much to paint in our joint project. Now I wish I had more than I do.

There was a good go at this topic a few years ago with some interesting answers: TMP link

I would have started going to conventions earlier in life. I did a lot of things that I don't do any more -- paint with enamel paint, make things from other eras, that sort of thing -- but I would not have skipped those things. I enjoyed them and learned from them, and my path through the hobby grew and evolved.

Zippee for the win.

+1 gamertom--enough saurians for a Tactica army(or two). Really, a lot more Dragontooth everything--including the orcs that were too big back then,but would be just right now!

Sigh. . .

The only thing I would have done differently was not gone into Napoleonics. It would have spared me four years of gaming with the most awful people ever.

I have two Saurian Behemoths, named "Sophie" and "Esmerelda" much loved mouted for the Harradrim Army with Der kriegspielers men of Harrad. I use them all the time instead of war Elephants. Much loved. The Orcs that came with them long went into the solder pot.

I wouldn't have sold anything, ever.

I would put up fewer shelves, as I've realised that the amount of stuff I buy is solely determined by available shelf space.

I would have bought those HaT WW1 French cavalry whileethey wer still in production.

I would have got an airbrush sooner and saved myself countless hours.

Don't believe the hype! Mostly about rules, and always if it's the designer telling you how great their rules are. I can't believe how many try that crap on.