"If I Knew Then What I Know Now..." Topic

…what would you have done differently (regarding miniature wargaming)?

Started Napoleonics in 25mm instead of 6mm, then 15mm, and now 28mm!

Started Napoleonics in 8mm instead of 1:72, 15(18)mm and 6mm.

Also don't spend money to 3D milling machine but started with Centricast and white metal at beginning.

Started with acrylics instead of enamel paints.

More along the lines of "if it was available then" – 25/28mm and not 20mm for both WWII and ACW.

I think we have discussed this before because….had I known then what I know now then I would have only gamed in 1/72nd soft plastics, as everything I could have ever wanted has eventually turned up and to be honest at a rate far faster than I can keep up with painting them (I've almost given up painting as I'm so overwhelmed!).

One scale for everything also means one scale for terrain. So instead of dabbling in almost every scale under the sun and gaining terrain in so many different scales as well…with the storage problems this entails…

Yeah. Wish I'd known.

Not gotten married to my first wife, which put me on a 10 year gaming hiatus.

Found the "right" set of rules and single scale, then stuck with it. Instead, I've collected a bunch of rules and wasted time reading them but not playing them.

Done everything in 18mm. Switched over to acrylic paints from Enamel much sooner.

Two scales, I think, setting aside 30mm Napoleonics. Mass battles in 5mm and individual removal in 1/72. Of course a lot of things just weren't to be had--or no one knew--in 1969.

Would have never listened to the stories about GW cancelling the LOTR range, which led me down a dark and expensive path to thousands of unpainted LOTR and Warhammer miniatures.

I would have bought more miniatures when they were cheaper.

Gone for a lot less of everything and quit chasing the perfect rules set.

Stuck more to finished a couple of armies and started using washes earlier and stop worrying about excessive detail in painting

Some good advice on previous threads:

TMP link

TMP link

1. I would've absolutely still married my wife. She supports my hobby (though doesn't participate), but she also paints much better than I could hope to. She is so wonderful in many other ways as well, but this is supposed to be hobby related.

2. Learned that painting every detail is too much, example painting eyes on 15mm figures.

Tournament style games are not my thing.

Would have limited my "periods"…

Started sculpting 20 years ago

I would have switched to acrylics much sooner.

I would have primed and used acrylics on every mini painted. That would have save many reapplications of Testor's enamels to plastic figures.

I would have been the one to introduce the world to Wings/Sails of Glory…and X-Wing!

I agree with 20thmaine, I would have gone completely with 1/72 and stayed there.

I also wouldn´t have married my first wife, but that has nothing to do with gaming.

I would have always bought both sides. I have too many "orphan" armies with no opposition.

Dave:

Amen. I learned this once the hard way, and now when I start a project I make sure I paint both sides.

I have mostly stuck to one scale (25mm/28mm); although, for large looking battles I have come to enjoy 10mm in the past several years.

The only other exception is that when I started doing WWII skirmish gaming, the best scale (for availability of figures and vehicles) was 1:72 / 20mm. I wish that 28mm WWII had been available in 1985.

Buck

Would have purchased stock in GW when they started.

Wish I would have bought Minifig 2nd Gen 15mm Naps when they were in production.

I would have made a completely different set of mistakes.

@45thdiv: I wish I had bought Games Workshop stock in 1994, October 2000, July 2008, or March 2009: nearly 600% price increase since any of those dates.

@ etotheipi :

That's the real truth of it.

Maybe fewer periods/projects, maybe not. They've all been an interesting adventure whether they've worked out or not. Been gaming since 1970 and tried lots of different things and lots of thing I haven't tried. I'm not sure I'd do anything differently.

Never left the military to open a wargame shop.

All my battles from Medieval to Sci-Fi would take place on a desert planet!

Wish I know… probably be less cavalier in my approach at buying miniatures.

I would have created one Immagination (red) and one enemy (blue) and stayed right there building armies over time.

I would've skipped buying all those RPG minis and junk and dove right in to historicals!

Is there an aftermarket for umber hulks?

Is there an aftermarket for umber hulks?

No. There is, however, a decent market for "chitinous, cthuloid insect-demons".

Picked three periods, tops, and limited total purchase to no more than 6,000 figures all in (counting man, horse, gun, wagon as 1, etc.).

And waited until 10 mm was a BIG scale to start collecting since it is the ideal scale for ability to see and identify what is on the table in comparison to ground scale.

Oh, well, at least I stuck with one scale, 15 mm, for the 14 periods I do have (north of 30K figures) and made sure I always got both sides.

Live and yearn.

Bought every 15mm minifig that King's Hobby had on clearance.

I started with 1/72Nd scale
I then went to 15mm ancients
Then to 25mm D&D, 25mm Fantasy, Sci Fi
Then with scale creep to 28mm plus
Also 6mm Napoleonics

Then back to 1/72Nd scale WWII, 30 Year War, Napoleonics

I should have stayed with 1/72Nd scale for everything

Probably would have purchased less overall and would have foregone a few periods I have miniatures for altogether. Also, would have painted more for my key periods of interest when I could see better and had a steadier hand!

Complicated rules does not mean a better game!

I'm another who would have stuck with 1/72 knowing what I know now.

There's a lot of stuff I would have bought when it was in print. And I wouldn't have sold my Warhammer army.

Skimming through the offerings so far, I find that most of them I avoided in the beginning. Acrylic paints, check; 25mm (large 25s), and sticking to that one scale, check; no pursuit of fads, check; field both armies/sides, check; stick to my core period of interest, check; do not buy figures with future plans to paint them "someday", check (I have almost no unpainted lead); pursue rules goals that I can fulfill myself, instead of dedicating myself to a commercial set that keeps coming out with more editions, check and double check; stick with the same set of gamers, check.

Would I do anything differently, looking back, and starting over? (Isn't that called the gift of prophecy?) Nothing comes up. I'm happy with my choices.

Bought piles of rogue trader era space marine figures, left them in the packs and put them in storage so I could make a killing on ebay today.

I would have done more research and planning before I bought figures.