"How to collect - in breadth, or in depth?" Topic

About 18 months ago I posted on this board about my dissatisfaction with my gaming getting out of hand – too many projects, lead mountain, struggling to get anything done under the weight of the modelling and gaming expectations I had imposed on myself.

After hearing other members similar stories I dumped all but a handful of projects onto eBay, as well as RPG's and boardgames I knew I wouldn't play again. I felt LOADS better, like a real weight had been lifted and started to really get things done again from a modelling perspective.

Right now I feel like I didn't go far enough, and I'm thinking about dumping EVERYTHING save 28mm dark ages. That's pretty ironic considering I finished basing a Frostgrave warband yesterday, and finished up an ACW Union force for Sharp Practice last week.

I remember reading a post on the Der Alte Fritz blog a long while back where he told the story of his younger self dumping all his projects except the Seven Years War so he could concentrate on "collecting in depth", meaning not just big armies but all the supporting cast too – civilians, camps, supply trains and so on. Anyone familiar with his blog can see how amazing his collection is because of that.

As much as gaming I enjoy building the miniature world – the buildings and terrain, and populating it with the civilians, livestock and so on, giving the armies a living breathing world to fight in. Similarly, I'm really getting less and less interested in skirmishy type games and scenarios – give me formed units any day. Sometimes I think the preponderance of skirmishy games is just a sign of lack of ambition in gamers (and I'm as guilty as anyone there).

Since there are only so many hours in the day, and gaming is only one of the many things making a claim on that time, I can't help but wonder if I should follow Der Alte Fritz's example and divest myself even of the reduced number of projects I have now and also start collecting "in depth" with a single period.

How about you guys?

(reposted after the bug sent my original thread mental)

Yep, going through that right now.

I've sold off some games and now some miniatures of things I'll never actually get to. Mostly factions for games (40K, WWII 15/28mm) I do play currently, but realize to go "deep" into the other factions I already have enough on the plate.

20 years ago I actually sold off painted miniatures and regretted it. I'm going to keep the painted minis, I already have, for the games I have played. I may still not get to play with them very much, but I'm not selling those right now.

Interesting thoughts. I actually get nervous when I think I have figures for too many periods. Right now, I have Dark Ages/Fantasy, Pulp, Retro SciFi, Cowboys and Interwar Colonials. There are times when I think about selling all, and re-starting the Spanish Civil War and doing it in depth.

I've started by focusing first on one scale/size (15mm) and have narrowed my periods (Napoleonic 90% complete, ACW 95% complete, WW-II basically complete, Cold War 80% complete and SF which mostly needs to get painted).

Hmm. You're interested in serious formed units and proper battles, not skirmishers--but you want to dedicate more of your money and time to civilians, livestock and suchlike? I'm not quite following.

My first thought is a compromise. Stop buying and painting all but one or two favorites until you're happy with them and can fight any battle you want. Then decide whether to do the same for another scale/period, or sell it off instead.

But yes, I've been trimming the many scales and periods while finishing up some myself. Phase 1 should be complete at Fall In--more or less a dozen projects discarded in three years. Phase 2 is already being planned.

I agree that you can ‘do more by focusing on less' so to speak. How much less is up to you. I wouldn't want to focus on just one single genre forever but I definitely limit myself to only a couple.

So go ahead and reduce further until you hit the level you want. 😀

I've done a big sell-off or two -- it was very liberating. That said, I am simply interested in too much stuff to drop down to one or two time periods. I think the rise in skirmish games is because gamers are ambitious and want to collect multiple periods. I can buy and paint 200-250 figures and have four or five nice sized skirmish forces for multiple time periods while, if collecting an army, that is just one part of one army

I used to go through this every once in awhile. Sometimes I would follow through and sell some projects which many times included painted periods. I always had a desire to get down to one one period. However my old interests usually cane back and many times I'd end up redoing the period.

I'm easily distracted or I get bored/ burned out-- it's good to have alternatives at hand. In the last month I've worked on 25mm Mithridatics, 1/72 AK47 Republic, 15mm Renaissance, and 10mm Great War. Many projects are in progress, even if not (or ever) completed.

Hal,
I've re-dome periods I sold many times over the years. Very frustrating. I am now thinking about selling the Interwar Colonials I just recently finished painting!

I think collecting in breadth is what will work for me. I like collcting and painting different periods. I try not to sell off painted stuff. There are a couple of periods that I want to have everything for it, buildings, figures, accessories. Other periods I'm happy with a core force and a few scenic items.

There's too many great miniatures and differnt rule systems to lock down on just one or two.

I'd say pick the one period to be you main focus and do in depth and then select several other periods to do but put a limit on how much you'll collect for those.

I don't collect. I buy things that I want to paint and put on my gaming table. The things that I have wanted to play have changed over time, so I have things that I haven't used in a long time, but I enjoy looking at them from time to time.

I do both but I keep the scale constant. By that I mean I limit myself to 60mm 1955 to 1965. 1/2400 scale for naval WWII to end of Cold War. GI Joe from D-Day to V-J Day, no paratroopers, and no SS.
The rest is 1/72nd scale & HO, US Army and enemies from the first muster of English militia in the New World in December 16, 1636 to the near future and enemies. I include civilians, and the enemies.

But no 15mm, no 28mm pulp, no 32mm fantasy, no 6mm NATO.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
link

I am cut back on the mish-mash of interests I have collected over the years and moving toward just three periods in depth: ACW, Napoleonic and 1/1250 Pre-Dreadnoughts. I have been selling everything else for the last two years.

I decided two years ago to narrow my focus and specialize on one period. Over the last two years I have gotten rid of 80% of my miniature collection (I have found Noble Knight Games very helpful in facilitating this process), and now focus on the 19th century (with a little spill over into the the Russo-Japanese War, the Mexican Revolution, and Banana Wars). I cover the entire period from Napoleonics through the Boxer Rebellion. I still collect figures for Historical, fantasy (VSF) and Role-playing games -- as long as they fit in the 19th century. This option allows me to have a great variety of gaming options, but still provides me with a clear focus.

I have made many "oh shiny" purchases over the years. The one thing it has taught me is try to pick periods that are different but often share the same general appearances so the vast collection you have is inter changeable. As an example, early 20th century, if you do the Mexican Revolution in 28mm than do the Spanish Civil War and the Rif War in 28s. Many figures can be used or subbed in the periods. The terrain and architecture is similiar. Some rule sets can be used for several periods with minor adaptations. By doing it that way you can switch back and forth and keep your hobby fresh.

I ran the idea past a friend of mine last night and he said something that made me think (after he offered to buy all my WW2, of course) – Jimi Hendrix didn't learn to play the french horn, the piano, the viola and the bagpipes too, he just stuck with the guitar and got awesome at that.

Big Red Bat Cave – another chap for whom focusing on limited things has paid dividends.

New job, less time, less space and being 55 next birthday means I'm going back to where I started – 15mm DBA. Look out for some nicely painted 28mm small Dark Age/ACW armies on Ebay soon. Everything 28mm is going eventually, some stuff I've only recently finished, a lot of unpainted minis and even my 28mm scenery.

Depth? Well I've now got 2 DBA dark age armies on the go, will build another 2/3 for the same period, before branching into biblicals which I've never attempted before. Hurrah for the 50 piece army!

Collecting in depth for SciFi is collecting in breadth.

A little purge now and again is good for your closet space, good for whoever picks it up in a flea market/online, and good for you so you can focus on completing one of the multitude of projects…and bringing the completed project to the gaming table.

Of course, if you have vacant closet space, see something good in the flea market or online, and a new interest…

Space is a major consideration for me. Literally, I have to sell off something to make space for new figures I've painted. Because of that, I have cut back on the breadth to concentrate more on depth.