"What's the stupidest thing you've done in our hobby?" Topic

Worst was recent, sliced my thumb to the bone trying to pry off a base I 3d printed that got stuck to the bed. Turned out it was the wrong size to boot. Two months later and it is finally healing up, but still not back to normal.

Owning (painted) ACW armies in 2mm, 5mm, 15mm, 20mm and 28mm at the same time.

I'm better now, just 15mm and 28mm

robert piepenbrink said:

I told my son that when I failed my saving throw, he was responsible for troops and terrain actually in the house--2's 6's and 28's--which I estimated would go in a rental van, and left names, phone numbers and web sites/e-mail addresses with the funeral instructions. I promised that if he did that much, I wouldn't haunt him for anything done with troops in the garage.

But it's taken a bit over seven years of retirement to get to this point.

This topic is for stupid things. You're violating the rules of decorum by posting wisdom, Robert.

I went to retrieve my box of Renaissance troops one day from basement storage and found someone had knocked it over doing a fair amount of damage. After several months of repairs, repaints and re-basing I put them back away in basement storage, making sure this time that the box was sitting on the ground so nobody would have a reason to knock the box over. Next time I went to retrieve them guess what I found.

I'm sorry, Yellow Admiral. I thought the point that it's taken me seven years of flea markets and eBay sales--not to mention the truck to get the 30mm Napoleonics to safety--earned me a little slack.

Should I list all the armies I started to build, only to discover that critical elements or opponents weren't manufactured as a penance? I could add in all the projects which foundered because, while the wars were interesting, the battles weren't.

I have several times dropped an almost completed figure into a pot of humbrol enamel. Then knocked over the paint whilst trying to get the figure out

"basement storage, making sure this time that the box was sitting on the ground so nobody would have a reason to knock the box over. Next time I went to retrieve them guess what I found."

Lemme guess, got flooded…?

What is the opposite of enjoying reading these, cring worthy?

Buying things that interest me instead of what is actually going to get used.

Began my miniatures hobby using Testors glossy paints for want of anything better at hand or awareness of alternatives. And sticking to that for like five years!

Selling so many vintage or collectible items at game conventions in the mid-1980s for pennies that are now worth hundreds and thousands of dollars. Who knew??

"Began my miniatures hobby using Testors glossy paints for want of anything better"

piper909, if you still have them, and want to repaint them:

TMP link

;-)

My troops of 40 years are all painted with enamel Testor paints, that's what I used doing plastic models so that's what I had.
All seem to have held up well.

My wife and I were about to go on a date for our 35th Anniversary when I just had to prime some microarmor before we left.

Did I mention I was wearing a shirt that was a favorite of hers?

As others have noted, always make sure you know which way the spray nozzle is pointing before pressing.

At least she was good natured about it.

Had been painting 15mm FPW for months, hundreds of figures. I was going to use them in my first FPW game. I had them in two boxes lined with sheets of magnets to hold down the metal bases. I was very excited and took both boxes at once, instead of setting the boxes down on the dryer next to the door to the garage.

I thought it was a good idea to open the door while holding them really tight and they somehow jumped out of my arms and the figures went everywhere. Behind and under the washer and dryer. Took me a little over a month to find and repair everything, although some were beyond repair.

"Began my miniatures hobby using Testors glossy paints for want of anything better"

When I started doing miniatures back in the 8Os, I started painting with Testors paints. That was bad enough but no one told me I had to prime them first!