"What “failed project” do you most regret?" Topic

I've bought, painted and sold off a lot of armies.
The one I most regret was my Trojan Wars project. But mortgage, taxes, food…

What is yours?

Waterloo. Had to do some trimming, Waterloo tops the list.

No regrets.

I have not "failed" projects. I have "delayed" projects, though.

Mostly what B66 says, though my early 20mm plastic AWI/Napoleonic war projects bit the dust when the availability of the Airfix figures became hard and just before the second age of plastics arrived. I often wonder if I would have made the jump to 15 and 25mm if that had not happened.

28mm HYW – Don't like 28mm – it cost a lot and stalled quickly – it would be finished by now if I'd gone for a smaller scale.

Selling a 1/2400 Napoleonic naval collection, that I hadn't gone far with. If I could recall which make of models I went for I suspect I'd buy them again and start over.

War of 1812.

I bought a ton of figures, when Guernsey Foundry had a big sell off, 15 or 20 years ago. I bought some Old Glory
packs, because the 1812 line is among OG's best sculpted figures.
I have other lines mixed in there, too.
All of these got painted and are not yet based.

In fact, I even have 250 odd plastics, that I bought fully painted, for about 75 cents each from a guy getting out of the period. Victrix I think?

And year after year goes by and nothing gets done to organize units, build terrain or even base the painted figures.

One of these days……..

10mm Ancients. Started about 6-7 years ago painting and basing Romans and Carthaginians, still haven't finished. My enthusiasm for the project waxes and wanes, so I still hope to finish someday

Elizabethan Irish War 15mm. I kept what was painted but sold the rest. I don't really have enough for a game even a the scale of One Hour Wargames.

Not failed, just really slow. My Infinity project, I've already invested approximately $3,000 USD into it…no turning back now. That includes figures plus terrain from all corners of the globe. Experience has taught me that MDF is expensive to ship.

Gates of Antares. Mostly painted, stalled, and I just cannot get into it.

Relic Knights – Ditto

Super system – all painted, probably never see the table

None.

Projects that I lost interest in have been (or will
be) sold off to fund other projects.

I enjoy painting more than playing, so if an army never makes it to the table, that's no big deal.

Space 1889 in 25mm. I loved the sculpts and story line, but a shift to 15mm WW2 relegated them to the "sell" pile.

I still pine for them on occasion . . .

If we are talking about regrets on what I sold (as opposed to what I have that I regret buying), then:

- my 1970's Bakshiish Uruk Hai
- Space 1889 fleets
- 28mm Sudan
- 1/600 Napoleonic ships

I am not willing to admit any "failed" yet.
Just some that are in limbo waiting to be completed.
I am working on at least 3 different projects right now. May even eventually finish one.
Or maybe I'll start a new one so I can add to my in limbo pile.

I am in the same mindset as VCarter mentioned. I find I enjoy painting (and assembling) armies more than I enjoy sending them out to do battle. I am trying to transition into an actual wargamer, but seems to be a slow gradual process.

15mm martian metals fantasy figures
15mm napoleonics
On days – shifting from 25mm to 15mm with Colonials

Depends on the definition of failure.

I had a nice set of 5mm WWII Middle East/North African armies at stand=platoon, sold off cheap because I had no opponents and was broke. I'd pay dearly to get it back.

I have a very nice set of 25/28nn Barsoomian figures. Fought a skirmish or so, but they really call for 4-6 players, and I don't have them. My hobby failure which stings the worst is hauling them 500 miles for a battle which didn't come off. I don't admit to losing yet, but the way forward isn't obvious.

Starship troopers 28mm

Gripping Beast El Cid and Andalusians project. I shudder to think of it tbh…

20mm Vietnam

Not really wargames, but I failed hideously on the Revell Constitution ship model. So much work with so little to show.

15mm Napoleonic armies. I have a Russian army about 75% complete. A French Army 50% complete. Prussians about 25% complete. My favorite period to game, now I'm trying to buy bits & pieces already painted to fill out the ranks. Then I find out two of my game buddies don't really like Napoleonic gaming.

1/72 WWI aircraft. the smaller scale stuff available now is so much easier to game with but I have a lot of the old kits to build and paint. OOP issues mean that certain aircraft are singles in the game, and others not available.

The only projects that I have completely given up on (and sold off) were Starship Troopers in 28mm and 10mm ACW.

Others like DBA I have worked a deal with a buddy to paint 2 and we each get one. They had been sitting for longer than the SST and ACW projects but I used to play DBA a lot so I hung on to them.

Seven Years War.

My 6mm WW2 western desert project. Built up some decent British and German armies, then lost interest and sold them. A couple of years later regretted it.

But good news, visited a shop, saw my armies for sale – augmented by an Italian army and lots of extra bits – for less than I sold them for, so a win :)

And yes, I did buy them :)

With more than 20 years of painting time for the lead-up, failed to have Waterloo ready for the bi-centennial.

Good story!

1. 25mm Ral Partha and Frontier Sudan. I painted all of them. 2. 25mm French foreign Legion from Frontier with scratch built fort and village. 3. 25mm Hinchcliffe ECW. Traded for painting services.

Not buying more Eureka Seven Years Picnic Teddy Bears before they became unavailable! I have three lonely units of them

I sculpted over 40 10mm greens for a medieval Scottish army, then lost interest before I finished or cast them. Maybe some day I will be inspired to finish them, but I would call that a failure of sorts…to complete it anyway.

Ah, so many, so many!

Painted a large Front Rank SYW Russian army, traded them off as no one in our group had another army.

Mine are mostly in boxes waiting to be painted and used

28 mm Russian Napoleonic army- had one, sold itp 25 years ago. Started another 10 years ago, everybody was playing 15 mm, so sold that! Also had a nice Wars of the Roses 25mm collection, sold because no opponents.

More than I can count. With the op n heart surgery, my ability to focus is severely limited. So I have dozens for projects from 95% to 50% competed.

Bought into 40k back in the mid 90's and added to them over the next few years. Never really played that much. Still have them all, but should probably part with them for something I might enjoy.

My WWI 1914 on the opening months of the war with each unit being a Corps. After painting all the units, writing rules and making the map, the 1st play test went so bad I gave up. Still think somewhere in there is a good convention game, just can't bring myself to try again though.

No failures, just long delayed successes

Likely moderns, specifically the Falklands. I had a lot of plans, got some things together and it never really got off the ground. In the end I am re-assessing if I like post gunpowder anyways but I suspect that is a case of finding the right rules.

War without end
No remorse, no repent
We don't care what it meant
Another day, another death
Another sorrow, another breath
– No Remorse, Metallica

When I was in college I spent much of the little money I had on GW Space Fleet models. Didn't have a lot of time to paint them, let alone get a game on, and by the time I was ready GW had binned the game and no one was playing it. Found a guy who was moving to Detroit who had some guys there that were rabid about the game so I sold it all to him.
..then a few months later out came BattleFleet Gothic, and Specialist Games. I soooo wish I still had all of those models and WD issues, et.al….

I'm actually looking for advice on this. I've got a couple of 15mm WWII forces that I used for FoW (Late War British, all painted and in foam, and Late War Germans, unpainted and on the shelf). I checked my blog and saw that the last time I played a game was back in 2015, and they haven't been used since.

Barring the use of 15mm with a local group I haven't had the chance to meet up with, I'm considering selling them off and potentially going to a smaller scale, like 6mm or 3mm. Or should I keep them on the shelves and hope that the Great Wargaming Wheel eventually turns back to them?

Or should I keep them on the shelves and hope that the Great Wargaming Wheel eventually turns back to them?

Yes. Paint up the Germans (or get them painted) too so you run a complete game yourself.

Don't sell painted armies unless you need the money or the space.

15mm scifi I bought a footlocker worth of stuff for skirmish gaming and the players could not identify the miniatures because they were to small so now my stuff has sat unused for 6 years.