"Stolen miniatures." Topic

Here in New Zealand our wargaming community is pretty small – even including all the Warhammer people (of which I am one).

I had a whole bunch of stuff stolen, some in dribs and drabs, over the last few months until a whole lot went at once and I discovered it. The culprit is someone I have taken in and given a home, supported in court during custody hearings and am the court appointed supervisor for his supervised custody which also happened at my place. I am so upset. For years I have been helping this guy.

I have managed to get back a lot of the stolen items and hopefully the most important part of the missing items will come home. I had a mate die last year and he asked me to get his massive Horus Heresy armies to his nephews in Australia. Last year I took over some primarch models and 25kg of hardback codexes, lore and novels. In a few months I am going over and was taking the armies. This is when I discovered that stuff was missing. The boxes were there but everything in them were gone.

I am gutted. The community has been good – finding items and coming forth with them, One guy even drove 3 hours to my place to bring back an old mostly metal 40K space marine army I had (and boxes of other bits and pieces). Another guy is out $1,200 USD and has already on-sold a bunch of stuff he acquired and is trying to get it all back. He will be out of money. Another friend realised he had acquired a bunch of stuff and is also out like $800 USD+.

I feel like

I have to confess I couldn't really follow your narrative as to who was whom and who had done what to/for whom. It is unquestionably a disagreeable state of affairs.

I'm not sure what we can offer in the way of suggestions, guidance or commiseration, but whatever is transpiring, I'm sure we all can agree it shouldn't be happening to anyone.

Sorry – the stolen items were lots and lots of wargame figures and so on. The person was someone I took in and he lived at my place. Another wargamer. And sadly, very talented painter.

WW – this story is both so truly awful & also so encouraging.

I imagine the thief had a reason for what he did – still inexcusable. What will happen to him?

But the community's response! Try to concentrate on what great mates you have. This must make up a lot for the betrayal.

I see lots of free figure painting as restitution for stolen items. Then restrict his access, if you decide to let him stay, to your wargaming stuff. Does anyone else know he's the culprit?

First off I applaud you for trying to help this person get on "the right path". I am not going to say that what he did was a "mistake" because this was something he knowingly chose to do. If he was selling this stuff, I am wondering if he was using the money for drugs or something else.

I'll be honest. He's broken your trust severely and has basically been proven that he cannot be left alone and unsupervised. Just be glad it was those items and not actual family/household items, antiques and heirlooms that you could never get back.

I do hope you get your stolen stuff returned. As for your future actions towards this person, I think your plans and mine would differ.

Also on another note…

You said that you "Feel like ****"….

Don't.

None of this was on you. None of this was your fault. This is you being forced to clean up someone else's mess that they knowingly made. If possible, I'd get a list of monetary restitution and let Mr. Sticky Fingers know that "he owes some people money"…

He has already stolen.

If you lie, you'll cheat.

If you cheat, you'll steal.

If you steal, you'll kill.

As the old saying goes …..

He has to go. He has stolen and violated trust. What is next.

Look to the positive, all these gamers who unknowing bought your figures, now out of hundreds if not thousands of dollars, but who are willing not only to return them and take the hit, but are out trying to find the rest. This is a hobby made up of mostly really good people.

You tried to help someone. Good for you. It is a failure on his part for betraying your trust the way he did.

Betrayal always hurts more than the same loss where you haven't extended trust. Glad your fellows are rallying around.

I would not advise figure-painting restitution, and monetary loss is for the courts. This is not someone you want to have continued contact with. When he wants to undo the harm, let him make the first move.

I'm really sorry to hear this story. Repaying evil for good is a very serious problem.

The culprit was obviously going through a lot. Something went wrong inside him. We all hope we will behave well and not badly when life puts us through the wringer, but apparently it was more than he could handle. While his behavior is inexcusable I'm just glad nothing has ever pushed me to betray people who have been good to me for material gain. That's a pretty bad place.

On the plus side, you have a community that you care about, that community was put to the test and rose to the challenge. That's actually worth a lot. You'll be playing with and seeing those gamers for the rest of your life and every time you see them you will know that they are good guys.

"No good deed goes unpunished" is a frustrating principle, but one we have to live with. At the end of the day day when all the minis are put away you will know that you helped someone when they needed it. If you can avoid bitterness you are still way ahead on the whole deal.