"Lead Mountain Reality Check" Topic

In the last year, did you paint more miniatures than you purchased?

Yes – My mountain is shrinking.
No – The mountain grows ever taller.
It was a wash – I am in hobby equilibrium.
I don't paint – I buy pre-painted or pay for painting services.
I don't buy – I only paint what I already have.

Yes and yes again.

Not only getting the mountain well under control since I retired in 2018.

I have also sold much more than I purchased.

No! And I swear I'm trying but I added a new period 18months ago and I'm balls out into building forces so keep adding bits and pieces. About to hammer OG with a 22Bag order which will be the "last" purchase of the year.

Less added then shrinking

Yes – the mountain is shrinking

So far since January painted 61 and finished some terrain, bought zero figs

No. I don't have a lead (or plastic) pile.
I haven't bought miniatures for over a decade.

Never has happened, buy, paint, buy more

Yes, but the mountain doesn't seem to have shrunk.

"Miniature" is not a useful unit of measure across a variety of scales, and the question takes no account of sales--or painting for other people. But unpainted volume and surface area continues to shrink.

My lead mountain is currently in remission

Still growing, and I do not like to paint.

It ebb and flows. Yet there is so much more to paint.

I do not have a problem (twitches a bit while turning head).

No. But! When I finish painting what's on my bench now, I'm going to start getting organized, which will include getting rid of a bunch of stuff I know I'll never get to.

Yes shrinking.

Yes.

I can say that over the last year I've painted more than I bought. I've been tracking this for 10 years as of last year I was 369 figures over what I bought. In points based on the Analogue Painting Challenge 2,016 points. There were 2 years where I was in the red for bought vs painted.

Recently I started to inventory all my figures. Rough guess I'm half way through the collection. Roughly 20% is unpainted.

Roughly at equilibrium for buying and painting. However; the mountain of opportunity was greatly reduced in the past year by selling items and giving some away.

Progress

ROTFLMAO
Hee hee.

Wait, you were serious.

Well, No.

Yes, I did paint more than I bought, though only by a dozen or so. However, I also sold off some of my unpainted figures. Still not lots of empty space where the lead mountain has receded, but it is something.

By the way, I once did an inventory of all the unpainted figures, which turned out to be incredibly demoralizing. I decided I won't do that again!

Grelber

I think I'm in equilibrium for painted-unpainted.

Technically yes, it's shrinking. I can paint a lot, but I also buy a lot. I was up by around 100 figures last year.

Yes, but only because I bought so few and gave a hard look to my Mountain. (It has become very small, now.)

My lead mountain is becoming a range…..

No.
The mountain continues to grow. I still have some empty storage space.

Up by $1,000 USD dollars worth. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Yes.

I'm at the point where I need to focus on painting what I have. I have thousands of painted troops and artillery, and more cavalry than any cavalier could wish for. Paint what I have, get more trees!

Definitely bought significantly more than I finished last year – and that was a GOOD year for painting but hope to paint many of those this year. No point in tracking it on that basis, knowing I was ahead or behind wouldn't affect my buying v painting figures. Lack of room is my limitation and I do still have a bit more space unoccupied.

sigh, my pile gained about 75 pounds of 15mm WW-II

I think painted more minis than I purchased, but at the same time, I picked up more space-consuming terrain and buildings that nullified the space savings. Also, painted minis take up MORE storage space than boxes of un-assembled, unpainted lead!

I painted more than I bought (or acquired – a good chunk of last year's acquisitions were a gift), but I'm not sure if that's indicative of a trend. For the past decade, painting has exceeded acquisition every other year or so, but the overall net is mountain growth.

It was a wash – I am in hobby equilibrium.

Never.

cavcrazy said,

Paint what I have, get more trees!

I bought $70 USD worth of plastic trees, of 3-4 varieties, mail order from a cake decorations company which had a minimum order of $60. USD I offered to share with my gaming group, at cost. It worked out well for everyone.

When mounted on a decorative base, they look good enough to game with. Your opinion may vary.

Cake decorator trees are affordable, if you can get past a minimum order value. They work for 15mm+ sized figures. Cheers!

Yes. By quite a bit.

The last few years are the only time I have actually had a static backlog. Usually, I buy, assemble, paint, and field.

No

No on last year but yes on the previous 2 years. and I ae with piper909, storage space or painted minis is a lot more. I am having serious problems finding space

Lead mountain remains huge. Gonna try to paint an hour every day to see some progress. Have some Olde projects and I've realized I'm not getting any younger. Shocking, I know.

Serious advice to anyone who truly wants to reduce their lead pile…

Use the tools available to speed up your painting: Army Painter Speed Paints; use assembly line painting techniques; use Magic Wash or The Dip Technique; use combinations to maximize throughput and efficiency. The alternative is to continue your present Status Quo… Cheers!

Can't say that using speed painting techniques during recent years has prevented the lead mountain from growing …

Yes, though I can't give you hard numbers. I try to paint 50-60 figures a month. In the Smyth calculus, a figure is a ship, is a plane, is a tank regardless of scale. I haven't bought any figures in 2026, though I don't promise that will hold for long. I have plans but have resisted. I've "inherited" large piles of figures painted and unpainted from two of my recently deceased friends, so it feels like I don't need to purchase many--but they do contribute to the size of the mountain.