Reply To: Anti Shiny Syndrome League

[phaidknott 7023xp 2]

To add to this, not sure if it’s due to the pandemic but……..

How many project/periods do we have where we’ve finished the “hobby” side of things, only to put them on the shelf/storage as “finished” but then hardly play games with them?

I’d say that easily about 50 percent of my collection rarely gets used on the table (sometimes for want of an opponent, sometimes because I’ve done a period/theatre that no-one else has any interest in). I feel no urge to sell any of these, but I just get a curious sense of satisfaction from just “owning” them.

I wonder if at the heart of things that most wargamers are just hoarders (or we could say “collectors” if we don’t want to be so harsh to ourselves). I think part of the issue is the sheer range of miniatures and rules available. Back in the 80s we had one or two sets of rules for Napoleonics, and just two figure scales (15mm and 25mm, 25mm if you were rich) with a figure ratio of 1:20. And now it’s 6mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13.5mm (Warlord), 20mm, 25mm, 28-32mm, games are anything from “Grand Tactical” to skirmish. So it’s a lot harder to find a “community” of gamers who all do the same thing, perhaps this is why we “collect” more then we used to (and “game” less with them).

So perhaps we need to join the Anti-Shiney Syndrome League not because of the amount we’re spending, but rather we’ve just run out of storage space 😀