"What happens to old miniatures?" Topic

My goal is to live to the age of 99 when shot by a jealous husband, hopefully I have a few years left. However, I have 15,000 AB Napoleonics, my friends have 3,000 Hinton Hunt and thousands of additionals, and none of our grandchildren, though history bent, appreciate miniatures in favor of computer games. What it to come of these stalwart companions, venerable playthings and artistic endeavors?

That is why I am trying to sell off figures that are not being used. Especially for periods that do not play well solo.

I've got about 10K extremely well-painted figures.

Although I have left instructions on how to sell them off, my guess is that 10 years or so after I'm gone, they'll end up in a landfill. I'm ok with that – it means that my kids are living busy and productive lives, and don't have time to deal with them.

In my will I leave mine to my old gaming club in upstate New York…

I gotta find someone who will appreciate two, 3 drawer, Craftsman tool boxes full of 15mm SYW, Austrian, Prussian, French, and Allied.

You can do like the first emperor of China with his terracotta warriors. And someone two thousand years in the future may accidentally stumble upon them and appreciate them.

Mine will go to my local game group to sell, swap keep or toss.

I won't need them anymore.

If you had a really large collection with nowhere else to go, I wonder if a local game store could take it, and let customers use it?

Give all the miniatures to me, I just recently came to an agreement with the devil, I live forever and he gets my soul….sucker!

If you have an active group or at least younger members, that's where they go. If not--

Well, that's why I keep raising Cain as HMGS keeps attriting away the flea market. I'm selling off as much as will fit in the hatchback. The objective is that by about age 70, everything I have left will fit in a rented van so my son or one of my grandsons can make one trip to a shop, club or convention and sell or give away the lot.

That said, you know if there are no younger historical miniatures players, eventually a lot of our toys are going to have to be recycled. It happens. Lots of famous wooden warships became furniture and building components, and steel warships are now rebar and razor blades.

Maybe donate them to a museum that could use them, as another thought.

While only just above 5,000 really have no idea where they may end up. While my painting is good enough for identification someone may want to have at them in their own style. But if you happen to get them please at least keep a unit as is

I've a feeling the market may become flooded with miniatures and related stuff in a few years or so. Some will just end up in storage for another generation or so, many will be trashed with a few being sold of for pennies on the dollar.

I feel that the younger generation of gamers will pick these inexpensive minis up and the hobby will see a resurgence as people crave more analog hobbies.

"May become flooded?" Dan, it's flooded now. I could put my hands on 50,000 30mm Napoleonics within a two-hour drive, and that limit is chosen because a two and a half hour drive would add even more five-figure collections. All of them owned by wargamers 65 and up, and no younger generation worth mentioning. If anyone wanted them, all he'd need to do is leave his phone number or e-mail address and offer with widows a quarter a casting for painted figures. He might get them for a dime each.

In about ten years, the same thing will happen to 15mm, and probably 28mm ten years after that. And you think our heirs will fill barns, garages and basements with them for a generation?

If the founder of our gaming group dies before the rest of us cleaning up and selling everything will be quite a task. Several of us have shelving units filled with stuff at his house and his collection dwarfs all of the rest of ours. If I go before him he will keep my stuff and game on.

Sadly couldn't ever get my kids interested in miniature gaming.

Robert P --- spot on and it started some years back.

That's why I'm divesting myself of excess figures & books. My painted figures aren't top notch so I imagine they will be trasdhed.

I'm not that pessimistic about the future: there's a generation of gamers in their late 30's/40's who maybe played GW stuff in their teens, forgot it as soon as they discovered alcohol and women and who are now returning to the hobby as their kids become more independent, they are financially better off etc .

A lot of these discover historical gaming for the first time because it's now a lot more accessible/less cliquey than it used to be, and those are the prospective purchasers and users of those collections, provided they're good enough, of course!

One idea towards this long ago but rarely done was date the unit when finished. Did redo a unit finished 10 years ago but like many have them from getting near 40 years old.

I will bequeath an army to each of my club mates, whts left to be sold.That way they still be used (hopefully)

Be nice if you were right, Basha. But people have been telling me about this next generation of historical gamers who started out as fantasy and SF gamers since about 1995. If they existed, they'd be starting to think of retirement by now.

In reality, they're bigfoot or UFO sightings. If people want to believe something badly enough, they take three isolated examples and imagine them to be a trend. But the year this wave of younger gamers shows up at Cold Wars, I'll be happy to sell them miniatures.

There are old miniatures and Bold miniatures but there are no Old Bold miniatures. Most of mine are Bold miniatures they fight about 40 battles a year, death comes to metal miniatures quicker, broken (dropped or stood on) or bits lost, paint comes off and they get battered and are scrapped.
So far the 3D pring miniatures have done better, they tend to bounce so they last a bit longer but they all die eventually in the heavy fighting so there will be few to return home, hopefully (I hope to keep playing as I get older).

They fade away.