"Miniatures in Storage" Topic

In my latest editorial post on my blog I consider the growing problem of "Miniatures in Storage". Yes, that's right, a post about all those miniatures carefully painted and based over the years but not getting to the table.

Part of the problem the growing size of my collection. But what external pressures contribute to this terrible situation and more importantly what can be done about it?

My thoughts can be found here: link

I have things I've stored for years. I also have rules sets I read, but never played. I'm thinking perhaps I should try out some of the rules with solo games now that I'm retired.

Grelber

Grelber, thanks for your thoughts.

I haven't played many solo games but there are some rather inspirational solo blogs indicating that many players enjoy such games. I have previously considered developing some small WWII or Cold War scenarios to be played solo. Your comment reminded me of that.

I'm thinking about a solo Boxer Rebellion campaign to keep gaming, work out some tactics and develop a generic campaign framework for other periods. What'd be nice is tweaking rules without generating a lot of discussion.

I think we all have this "problem" to some extent. I know I do!

Jim

My general thought on storage is never rent a storage unit. As soon as it is out of sight it will be out of mind. You should have to look at and be reminded of it.

When you pack up something ask yourself: am I going to really use this again? Can I throw it out now vs storing it like a fine wine before throwing it out.

Will I use it in the next year?

If someone like and aging parent wants to give you something: tell we can either throw it out now or I can take it home and throw it out.

link

I am going through a re-think as well. A number of years ago I walked down to my basement, looked at all of the barely started and half started projects, and then I put them on ebay. It was pretty liberating. The Army Creep is working its way back in. I should probably just whittle it down to four projects that I can get on the table on a regfular basis. Maybe a couple of army projects and a couple of skirmish projects. That might work for a while. I wrote a piece for my local HMGS newsletter about "chasing the dragon."

@Louis, my brother and sister in law moved to a new house a long time ago and they put a number of sealed boxes in the attic of their new home. I went to visit them and my brother in law told me that he went up to the attic one day and saw the boxes that that not been opened in a year and threw them out. He said if he didn't need whatever was in the box for the past year, he wasn't going to need it.

It's getting worse for a lot of us, I think. Opponents die or have health issues, we keep building or inheriting armies, and the multiplicity of rules and basing systems is a mixed blessing at best.

For myself, I've drastically sold off and passed on since retirement, trying to set and maintain a storage space limit, largely to make sure that while I have enough while living, they don't get binned when I'm dead. I detest the waste.

But to address your problem. If you can adapt to and enjoy solo, more power to you. It's always been an obstacle to me. Otherwise, I'd say adopt a regular game schedule, and try to work through the games and armies you enjoy on some sort of regular schedule. People will often be agreeable for troops and rules if you do most of the work and act as host.

My last regular opponent and I had a set "campaigning season" fall through spring. He didn't drive, so between two set dates, I brought troops and terrain of a certain scale, period and rules to his place at least once a month--often enough to maintain familiarity with the rules. The next campaigning season would be a different set, working through all the troops in turn. The system worked well for six or seven years--15mm and 6mm Napoleonics, 6mm WWII, 10mm ACW and so on, his health failing right at the start of 6mm Classical World Big Battle DBA.

Worth noting that the more space needed for a game, the more time required for a game and the more complex the rules, the harder it is to keep the system in a regular rotation, unless that's THE game, and you play it every month.

Good luck, and if you find a good solution, please let us know.

Oh. Overall objective is three 28mm projects--Ren/fantasy, Horse & Musket and SF, all individually mounted--and ancient, WWII and horse & musket 6mm projects on fixed-frontage bases, with H&M divided into SYW, Napoleonics and ACW. There's an exception for 10mm ACW, with a few 2mm projects in large envelopes. Having that as the objective reduces the pressure to expand.

Some great discussion here, I'm pleased the article has achieved that.

I admit I have been considering sending some lead for projects I haven't started to our local equivalent of eBay. I haven't overcome the mental barriers yet.

As to games I generally host a game once a week with every second week being a multiplayer game. A popular system is 6mm Horse & Musket using Volley & Bayonet which we all enjoy. Awe work through SYW, Napoleonic, ACW and FPW games in an adhoc roster. The various Napoleonic campaigns getting a greater focus. Sometimes I provide all both armies, sometimes one.

I've come to the conclusion I just need to add in more periods progressively. This week we have a multiplayer Wings of War evening.

I have so many painted armies that the problem is getting to use all of them more than once every few years. May be time to start downsizing soon

The group I play with has started to make a concentrated effort to get our various collections of figures out on the table. Putting out an Army that hasn't been used in 18 years brings back memories of victories, defeats and the fun we had.

It's like going through an old photo album.

I'm firmly in the hold on to armies camp. I've given away units and unpainted figures I knew I wasn't going to develop into full armies, but I'm patient and optimistic about gaming in the future.

As a teenager, I built a 25mm Latin Ally army with Ral Rartha figures and used it often. Being the kid, I was always the Latin Ally, not the Republican Romans. I joined the Army, went to university, went back into the Army: demanding career, family, kids, mostly overseas, constantly moving, the whole nine yards. I did some painting (largely as therapy), but very little gaming during those years. After I retired (from the military), I eventually settled, found a local gaming group, and started gaming, again. I recovered the games and figures I had in storage across the country. I started routinely battling with the Latin Allies I had stored for decades against a local gamer with Seleucids. I scrounged and begged for more old Ral Partha figures to fill and round out units and essentially rehabilitated the whole army. It's done, and now, I'm painting the Romans to go with it. I've gamed with that old Latin Ally army on the tabletop more than any other army I own.

I expect things will be different if/when I'm 80, but in the meantime, I'm going to keep building armies I'm interested in and holding on to them even if there's no obvious opponent. Sometimes, life changes for the better. :)

pjm

That's an inspirational story with great determination from those Latin Allies.

As noted by FusilierDan, deploying old armies is indeed like opening old photo albums.

I don't have all the miniatures I once had but I have most. Some of my Arab-Israeli miniatures date to 1980 and my Mike's Model's 15mm New Model Army dates to around 1982 and is still occasionally seen on the table.

There is a trend in my group for playing single-based skirmish gaming. Not the occasional TSATF games which are great fun. But a wholesale replacement of the traditional Napoleonic, ACW, SYW, and so on battalion-level gaming. I am not a real fan of skirmish gaming. I let myself get dragged into Bolt Action skirmish WWII gaming and I regret it.

I think the reason skirmish gaming is so popular is that they are smaller games that last just a few hours and then it's over. Time to take a nap. I am caught between people who have kids and careers and don't have time and those senior players who can no longer play a 6 to 8-hour game in one sitting.

I enjoy big battles with teams of players on each side but alas that style of gaming is fading away.

RE: selling figures and the like.

I started on that path about 10 years ago. I don't view it as selling as much as trading thing I no longer want for something I would nor buy with real money.

As an example, one of my first sales went to buy the team from Predator. The figures are great and I could not have justified the purchase without using fund from "The War Department".

I've also found that all those old games (many unpunched) can be converted to store cash with Noble Knight. I've sent off two boxes that have funded my 100 year's war project.

I sent five boxes of games to Noble Knight. Bunch of SPI, S&T, and other games. Kept my favorites. Also sold off a miniatures project that I had abandoned. I didn't take store credit I had them send me a check. After negotiating, they paid the same price they initially offered in-store credit. It has help fund my new Napoleonic project.

I have a shelving unit which was originally used in a cafeteria, to hold food trays (48-inch 'yard stick' leaning against its front, for scale): 3-4 inches between trays, so enough for most 28mm fantasy armies I own. I supplemented the original shelves with plywood cut to size. I screwed this shelving unit to my crafting room wall, behind it, for stability and safety. This unit is almost filled to capacity with painted miniatures.

I found two shelf units at the local Salvation Army Store, donated by a medical facility (again, the 48" 'yard stick' is shown for size). They were designed for sheet metal inserts, which I did not have. I bought some L-brackets from a local DIY store, drilled holes, and screwed them to the inside, to create brackets to hold plywood shelves cut to size. The units are screwed to the wall behind, as well, for stability and safety.

My crafting room is inside my furnace/storage room in the basement of my house. They don't need to look pretty, they just need to be functional. My dedicated game room, is outside, down a short hallway. I bring out trays of figures for players to unload and organize, as shown below.

The good news, is that I am only buying filler figures, for niche desires. I am down to around 200 figures to paint, yet. I am nearly finished collecting, and that is a great thing.

I ran a huge game almost, two years ago, fielding 1,000+ of my own figures; a friend brought some of his little-used armies over, as well. It was a blast to see my two tables, end-to-end, filled with figures, with 10 players around them, pushing the figures across the tables. Epic game!

Really sucks that Life has prevented me from playing the sequel battle… Hoping to run the sequel in February 2024, which will be two years since the last one. Hoping to get all 10 players back for that, as well. All voiced interest, but not sure I know how to contact all of them again.

Storage is not really an issue for me. My biggest challenge is scheduling a game everyone can attend! Cheers!