"What have we learned?" Topic

OK! You have been given an opportunity to communicate with your younger self, but only as regards miniature warfare. You can't change history or even suggest he buy Amazon stock. What can you tell the kid to do or not do which, looking back, should improve the ratio of hobby-derived pleasure to frustration, money spent, time wasted or other negatives? I'll go first:

1) Think more about storage and playing area. This means mostly 6mm for mass battles and 25/30 for skirmishes once you start on your travels.
2) Try for constant-frontage basing as much as possible.
3) In buying and building terrain, think of replay value and storage. A European walled farm generally shows up on a lot more tables than The Alamo.
4) Never sell the microscales.

If I'd stuck with that starting in 1975, I'd be more or less where I am now, but it would have taken me a lot less time money and frustration to get here.

Only – and I emphasize "only" – purchase the miniatures you will paint over the next few months. Curtail at all costs (pun intended) the "oh shiny" urge, and the impulse to go all butterfly.

Having a mountain of lead that will never see the business end of a paintbrush sucks the fun out of the hobby, and just leads to "inventory reduction" issues in the future, usually while incurring significant financial loss.

Just because those new Dark Age Picts look irresistible today doesn't mean they will be just as attractive in 6 months or a year as they linger on the mountain.

Never use superglue to attach lead figure to sheet metal!

Never buy more figures then 2000 pt. armies.

Never lend figures to friends leaving the area.

"only" – purchase the miniatures you will paint over the next few months." so very true.

Buy two copies of all your RPG books and sets. Only use one. Put the others in a safe space.

Buy HeroQuest.

Buy Man-O'-War.

Buy the Battle Masters Expansion sets.

Go to GenCon before you're 30.

Don't be intimidated by other people's paint jobs.

Hmmmmm guess I clearly haven't learned anything in 56 years!! If I stopped buying/printing miniatures today I would need to live at least another 100 years… But I'm having fun!!

1) Play more games, you dummy!

2) Buy pre-painted minis or Legos, or farm out to painting services. (see point #1)

3) Spend more time looking for a local club or make one, then attend regularly (see point #1)

Don't buy 2 25mm Sassanid Persian armies. (You'll never play with either!)
Don't buy 2 15mm British Napoleonic armies. See above.
Don't buy a 25mm Aztec army. See above.
Don't buy a 25mm New Kingdom Egyptian army. See above. 🙄
Don't buy both sides of 25mm Trojan Wars. 🙄
Don't buy WRG armies that can use every single troop type. For example 25mm Renaissance Polish. Or Seleucid.

This is more depressing than I thought? Particularly since the Young Fool would never pay attention to the Old Fart. So, why bother?

Old me: "Choose one period in one scale and do not deviate. I have spoken."
Young me: "Pfft!"

1. Pick only one or two historical periods.

2. Don't try and paint the entire OB.

3. Farm out more painting.

4. Don't jump into a period just because everyone around you did.

5. Don't ever attempt airbrushing.

6. Stop buying board games you will never play.

The journey is more important than the destination.
…..it doesn't matter what you buy or don't buy, what you paint or don't paint, game or don't game.

It's a hobby. have fun.

ochoin +1

ochoin +2.

I have always done what I wanted with my hobby.
Keep doing that.

Mike

1. Recognize that you are mortal. However many years/decades spool out before you, your opportunities for hobby enjoyment are not infinite. Don't get too much into anything for your first 5 years. At the end of that time, reflect on one thing that offered you the most fun and still held your imagination. FOCUS ON THAT. Don't get distracted in 20 different directions by each year's shiny new toys/rules. Be that guy who comes to all the cons and runs the same game/period with the same rules you've worn smooth. Better that than the guy with 20 projects, none of which ever saw the light of day.

2. Recognize that a considerable percentage of humanity are opinionated A-Holes, who enjoy nothing more than bending your ear with suspect notions on history and criticizing your rules and scenarios. Cultivate patience and affability. Remember, never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and it annoys the pig.

3. If your significant other starts in on your hobby as a waste of time and money, get some magazines on bass fishing and leave them lying around. That should nip that in the bud.

4. Remember, figures are a purchase. Books are an investment.

5. Accept that it is possible for the hobby to go cold. Waning interest, alienation from friends and lack of motivation can all set in. If you find that you're just going thru the motions, don't. If you're standing in the middle of a convention feeling like it's all passed you by, try to find something else. What's the point of hedonism if you aren't having any fun?

So far, we seem to be in agreement that the Young Me would have paid no attention to the Old Me.

Does anyone really think that Laertes paid any attention to Polonius in Hamlet?
"Sure, Dad. Sure. 🙄 Good advice." Is there an emoji for a stifled yawn?

(This would be about 1975…)
1) Get a job.
2) Buy lots of the early minis/games that were made.
3) Get better jobs so you can even buy more stuff.

(I'm more of a collector than anything… ;-)

"Young Me. Here's a lust if games that will be considered Collectible in my time…"
"Wait? WHAT???" I can't give that kind of advice?"
BLORP

Can I add-

Never, ever discuss politics with your gaming pals. You'll find out you're gaming with weirdos & extremists & you don't want that.

Ditto, religion. Or anything divisive not connected with gaming.

Ignorance is gaming bliss.

I did this at length on my blog: part 1 link and part 2 link

For me, personally, summarized:
1. Concentrate on a few periods, both sides: 6mm for big battles, probably 15mm or 20mm for 1914 onwards skirmishes, 28mm before that. But include appropriate naval and air stuff too.
2. Those periods should be an ancient/medieval; horse & musket & WW2. Or if 6 then Ancient (Romans versus someone, probably Carthaginians); Medieval (English versus French); Pike & Shot (Royalists & Parliamentarians; Napoleonics (French versus Peninsular Allies,or just Austrians)*; Colonial (British versus Mahdists or NW Frontier); WW2 (Germans versus British or Soviets).
3. Proxy & bathtub & re-skin.
4. Don't sell painted models.
5. You need far fewer rules and books and magazines and paints etc. than you think you do.
6. The same applies to boardgames. Be content.

*although current me is somewhat drawn to having WSS (Allies versus French) instead of the ECW and Napoleonic stuff.

I agree with Robert P on his 1,3 & 4.
I agree with Extrabio 1947.
I agree with Parzival on Heroquest, Man'o'war & not being intimidated by other people's painting
I agree with Stryderg on 1 & 3.
I agree with Old Contemptible on all points.
I agree with HMS Exeter on 1 & 5.

But I also mainly agree with Ochoin, it mostly doesn't matter too much as long as you are having fun. And also his warning, just enjoy the shared love of games.

1. Washes are your friends.
2. So is varnish.
3. Glue metal to metal.
4. Stick to 2-3 projects at a time. (Not just one, because you need variation to maintain motivation.)

Oh, and I'm glad I didn't stick to buying only what I'll paint in the next few months. Buy enough to have a playable army, and you won't end up with a half-done project and desperately searching eBay when the company went bust. If it takes a year or three to paint the army that's fine.

Only three things really.
1. Plan what you need to buy for a viable force. Buy it, paint it.
2. Always paint both sides.
3. Time and effort spent on terrain is rarely wasted.

Buy both sides and at least enough to play a large skirmish game.

Clean and Prime figures as you get them or as soon as possible. That way they'll ready to paint when you are.

Buy Osprey's when you see them for a good price. Eventually you'll end up considering that period or actually getting into it.

Nice as they are don't buy those Friekorps15 AWI figures because the Perry's will make a range in 28mm although you may want to wait for the Fife and Drum to come out.

As soon as you realize you didn't listen to the buy both sides buy them because they're going to go out of production.

Knowing a younger me, I wouldn't listen to advice anyway….so why bother.

I'm not sure that I would give my younger self any advice about wargaming. It's all worked out well -- not perfectly, for sure, but really well.

I agree with Ochoin:

It's a hobby. have fun.

and with John the OFM:

So far, we seem to be in agreement that the Young Me would have paid no attention to the Old Me.

I think Ocho's largely right on both posts. A couple of hedges:

1. I don't regret the fun, but I think if I'd been a bit more clever there could have been less money spent on the hobby and so more available for family things without diminishing the fun. (Maybe more fun, actually: more playable armies at certain points.

2. We can (and should) downplay politics, but at least for historical miniatures, we're never going to escape it altogether. How many TMP arguments over the American Revolution or the French First Empire do you suppose we'll have this year because, to the dispantants, they represent different presents and futures we still hope and fear? Sometimes Faulkner's right: the past isn't over. It isn't even past.

JMcC, my use of point systems never got past CLS II. Are they so standardized now that we can talk of a 2000 point army as a size regardless of period and rules used? Or was there an unspoken assumption I missed?

Don't get distracted by lots of little things, so that you put off buying and painting the big projects.

I can think of several really large projects I wanted to do, but put off until I had finished the 15 mm War of Jenkins' Ear project, and the 28 mm Greco-Turkish War, and the 25 mm Maniots and Turks, and the . . .

Even if you can't bring soldiers to the game, people want you to turn up and play. You can provide figures later on as you have a chance to purchase and paint the figures, if you find you like the period.

Historically, do your best to be correct, but don't get totally wound up over the actual shade of parrot green for those facings.

Grelber

Interesting minis graab the attention in miliseconds. Interesting scenarios capture the attention for hours.

Avoid false granularity in rules. Details without significant impact on decisions are busywork during gameplay.

There is no such thing as two parts of a uniform being the same shade of khaki. (Actually, I learned this from wearing khaki uniforms, but I strive to apply it to how I paint.)

EDIT: Never delay until tomorrow what you can blow off entirely. (Broader applicability, but still relevant to wargaming(

Time is your most precious resource.

When you're young, you have more time than cash. Later in life you will have more money than time. After you retire, if you are lucky, you will have both cash and time. However, you will become aware the your time will have an end.

Buy what you want when you want. Companies will close and buying vintage figures will be at a premium.

Dead end project can be sold or, as I like to think, traded for credits on new projects.

Don't sell that 15mm Hun army young man, you might need it one day – like in two weeks' time when you find the university games club you just joined specialises in 15mm ancients.

Don't be a jerk. Everything else flows from that.

Don't give away all your RPGs, wargames, and miniatures from the 1970s and early 1980s. There will come a thing called the World Wide Web and eBay. Sigh. And I had the original D&D white box. Double sigh.

"Spend more time looking for a local club or make one, then attend regularly "

That one stands out for me.

I did always try for that, but could have tried more.

I would not have wanted to curtail much -- I have more regrets about figures/ranges that I missed and are no longer available than I regret bins of unpainted lead waiting their turn. Even if that turn never comes, I can sell old minis easier than old paint or old terrain. I'm happy to have lots of units and armies on hand should the need arise, or new opponents appear. I could never restrict myself to only one or two periods but I envy those who have that discipline.

Oh -- I'd tell my younger self to quit using those horrid cheap Testors glossy model paints and switch to proper matte hobby paints and techniques like washes and dry brushing long before he did. Those were some wasted years out in the nowhere land of South Texas.

I have more regrets about figures/ranges that I missed and are no longer available than I regret bins of unpainted lead waiting their turn.

Which figures/ranges do you feel you missed out on?

And I had the original D&D white box. Double sigh.

I've got one. Had two, but donated it to a school before it became a resurgence popular item.

My oldest unpainted army is British Napoleonic. But I remember that, after I bought these, I soon discovered that other countries had been in the Napoleonic wars! And they fought huge dramatic battles! A lot of them…

But when I think about the money I spent and wasted on dozens of other things, miniatures and gaming is a drop in the bucket. It was always a world I alone controlled and the therapy it provided was priceless, going back to green army men in the 50's, Marx figs in the early 60's, and then the miracle world of Airfix and beyond.

The narrative drama of history was recreated for me by all this and it led to much reading and thinking, all in the context of play, where heroes, villains, glory and fate were almost real. A world of my own when I have needed it.

Don't give away all your RPGs, wargames, and miniatures from the 1970s and early 1980s. There will come a thing called the World Wide Web and eBay. Sigh. And I had the original D&D white box. Double sigh.

You're absolutely right.

In I guess the early 2010s, my nephew generated his college beer & pizza fund by selling a couple of banker's boxes of my 1980s RPG stuff, much of which was duplicates that I had acquired for nearly nothing. We split the proceeds 50/50. He did all of the work of listing and mailing the stuff and tracking the money. Worked out well for both of us.