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Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: WuZhuiQiu on June 07, 2019, 02:29:20 PM
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I am sure that many others have also experienced a loss in interest in a period or in gaming. For those who have, how have you dealt with it, besides selling everything off? Have you kept certain books or figures, just in case?
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I've only ever sold one army, back at the end of the last century, and I still sort of regret that.
Interest in the hobby has waxed and waned over the years, but I always held on to my stuff. It might have been relegated to the attic/basement/boxes under the bed at times, but it always moved with me from place to place.
Nowadays though, it's a pretty permanent fixture of my life, and I have a dedicated gaming room to geek out at my leasure (and seclusion ;) ).
I did eventually burn out big time on 40K, where I was an avid player/collector/painter before. I didn't touch anything GW for a while after that, but I'm slowly being drawn back in, in selective fields.
Same thing happened with X-Wing; total burn-out when they switched to 2nd edition. For a couple of years, it was by far the major game we played around here, and I invested greatly in it, both in new ships, repainting them, my own builds, painting those, designing (new) cards, playing mats, gaming aids, you name it. But after I learnt I would be forced to spend upwards of €300,- just to keep playing the game with my collection of ships, I quit.
I won't ditch the models though and I'll happily play a game every now and then using the old rules, though the 'schwung' has gone.
And there's where the crux lies I guess. I've invested way too much of my money and, more importantly, my time into those miniatures and models that I am loathe to sell them off. It's not the monetary value per se, but the memory of the good times I had building, painting and gaming them. And storing them for a bit might actually lower your aversion to them to such a degree that you'll find yourself comfortable using them again, possibly using another ruleset or system.
It's all about fun, as this is a hobby (for most of us). It's leasure time well spent, but when it feels like a chore or you don't feel like it at all, put it away and take up archery or gardening for a while to change things up for a bit. And then come back to your miniatures, because we all know it's actually crack... lol
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Normally if I lose interest in a period I'll put it on hold, pursue whatever my butterfly nature is leaning towards and see how it goes. Normally I'll drift back after a while - or atleast rekindle sufficient interest that I don't just think 'meh' when I look at the stuff. Usually if It sits in a drawer and isn't touched or looked at for a year or two I'll eventually get around to selling it. Sometimes getting it all out and looking at it is sufficient to rekindle my interest :) Sometimes it's not.
There have been a few things I have sold and later regretted - although often if my interest drifts back its to a different aspect - so last year I revisited Victorian colonials 6 years after selling the last of my stuff, probably 10 years since I last played it... But I started looking at Canadian conflicts rather than the Sudan...
The flip side is how do you recover waning interest - and for me that normally involves taking a slight tangent into pulp silliness or watching a lot of films set in the period/revisiting whatever originally inspired the project in the first place
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I leave it rest for six months or so. If I don't miss it, I get rid of it.
I also don't tend to impulse buy any more. If something shiny catches my attention, I leave it for a few months … then if I still like it, I dip my toe (no huge spends), but if not I just leave it.
I've lost track of the amount of projects I got really interested in, only to abandon them a few months later when the novelty wore off - ECW Montrose, New Kingdom Nubians, ACW Rebs, Spartans, etc .. etc .. Don't get me started on the massive Conan Kickstarter I bought, only to flog it off pathetically over time for a massive profit of about £20 or so!
But some stand the test of time and, uncompleted though they almost all are, they still retain my interest. I potter along amiably with them and they're patient enough not to judge me because they're unfinished.
Don't let your hobby treat you like its bitch. If it weighs heavy on you, shed some of it until it feels like fun again.
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Interest in the hobby has waxed and waned over the years, but I always held on to my stuff.
Same. I still have my 40K armies for example even though they haven't been out on a table for 9 years. Some projects I have sold on of I started them but never got past a few prepped mins. My basement is full of painted minis, some of which have never been in a game.
I agree with this 100%:
Don't let your hobby treat you like its bitch. If it weighs heavy on you, shed some of it until it feels like fun again.
Really, this a silly hobby we do for fun and to escape the pressures of everyday life. It should never cause you grief.
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When I started with wargaming (napoleonics, WRG period) I painted more to get stuff on the table than for the painting itself. The painting was in retrospect quite bad. I still have some of it, but largely because it is there, not because I am very attached to it.
I lost interest in gaming for several yerars (I picked up roleplaying) and aven after that I was really loathe to get in again. Slowly I started painting WH models, at first just for the sole models, not the armies. I really uphold that I want to pay the models for enjoyment, not to get them on the table, and I usually succeed in sticking to that. I only paint models as slow as I want,when I feel like it. That means that I have maximum one ongoing project (currently risorgimento italians) an for the rest I only paint up my big fantasy stock one by one.
I lost interest in Bloodbowl after several scores of games. Although I liked the models by themselves, think it was the one game I only painted the models for the game, not for the painting (although I liked to paint the anyway). Whet I quit the geme, I quit the painting. I still have the stuff, in time I may want to part with some or all. That day is not today.
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I have a bunch of 1/72 stuff to move on and never get around to.
Namely ACW. Political stuff in recent years has made it unpalatable to me. I also won't go near real life modern/ultra modern either.
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I figured out years ago that, when it comes to miniatures, I have a shopping addiction. Had to learn to quit buying stuff just for the thrill of buying it, especially during periods when I didn't have a residence where I could paint or game. I have had some recent relapses though.
Did not have a problem unloading cardboard games. Sold a mass of those in the early 1990's, and another mass of them earlier this decade. Started trimming down the miniatures collection this.decade. sold off some WW2 Russian tanks in 1:72 for a lot less than I paid for them. Sold off all my Wings of War planes. Traded away my 28mm unpainted AWI. About to unload my 1:300 WW2 aircraft (if I play WW2 air combat, I prefer computer simulation). Have thought about selling my painted 15mm SYW (beautiful, but too small for me) and my unpainted 28mm pirates (just not sure when I'll get to them).
Just acquired a residence where I can game and paint and store minis & terrain. But still won't have time to paint all the figures that I bought when I was foolishly buying masses of figures at a time for grand dream projects. When I sell or give stuff away it won't be out of lack of interest in the minis. The figures & models of airplanes, ships, canon, and vehicles still thrill me. But when I unload stuff it's out of a sense of realism, understanding that I just collected too much stuff (especially unpainted stuff) just for the thrill of collecting it.
One area where I do lose interest or fail to develop interest is in miniatures rules. I have almost universally found miniatures rules to be inferior to the rules for cardboard wargames. The one clear exception I've found is Pulp Alley. If those rules had been on my table 20 years ago, I would not have collected so much stuff, because fewer figures and things are needed to have a good Pulp Alley game.
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Several years back I got heavily into pirates, so much so that I bought the entire Foundry range, along with some Black Scorpion and others. After painting a couple of groups I came to the realisation that I had no scenery for them, and the space and time to store and paint scenery wasn't something I was willing to take on. I put them in at a bring and buy last year, and haven't yet regretted getting rid of them. I have some of the books I bought at the time, but others have gone to charity shops.
In the last few weeks I've had a sudden urge for Ancient skirmish. Fortunately I still have loads of books on the subject, so haven't bought anything yet. The urge is fading quite fast, so I'm quite glad I hadn't bought any figures.
The constants in my hobby interests are modern, science fiction and fantasy. I know that well enough to generally avoid temptation into other areas. Generally, but not always... :D
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I have painted figures for so many periods that when I get bored with one period I just switch to another.
There are some figure collections that may not get used for a few years, but eventually I'll decide I want a WW2 naval game, or an ACW game, or a gladiator game, and the figures are there. I've only sold stuff when replacing it with better figures (e.g. all my old 20mm Napoleonics and Ancients replaced with 28mm a few years back)
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I've just put some figures on shelves in the New Emporium by the Seaside that haven't been used for years...
doesn't matter that I've (temporarily ::)) lost interest in 'em. They're Veterans in every sense of the word, Airfix Napoleonics, from the sixties and seventies!
:-*
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A few years ago I sold off a lot of my Games Workshop Armies. I regret selling some, but not all of the stuff.
I do have. A few aborted projects I really should get rid of. I've got a load of early war British and Germans for WW1. Its not a period I can ever see myself actively pursuing and the stuff is all just in a box somewhere. I really don't think there is any downside in me selling them, if nothing else it gives me a bit more space for stuff I actually do want.
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Personaly, more than projects, there is rules I lost interest into.
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I have gotten rid of stuff occasionally. Games I'm not interested in anymore, armies painted to a standard I'm not happy with today.
When I stopped playing Warmachine (it's a competetive game, I used to be top 20 in the country) I kept one force where I really liked the models and sold everything else. Haven't touched them in four years but they take up three shelves in one of my book shelves. Doubt I'll ever play them again, at least not in that game.
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I usually just put the figures away if I have lost interest. This is usually because of a current interest in something else.
I try to take my time and think carefully before I embark on a new project so if my interest does wane hopefully it is only temporary.
Like many, being time poor, if I have invested time and effort in painting figures, I am loath to sell them as it seems like that precious time has been wasted.
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I've given away or otherwise got rid of models for a few games I lost interest in. I gave away all of my 40k stuff to a friend when I realized I hadn't played in over 10 years and really had no use for the miniatures. Similarly, when I stopped playing Warmachine during Mk3 I sold the smaller of my two armies to a friend who still very much enjoyed the game. In both cases I looked at it more as giving one of my friends something they would actually enjoy, rather than letting it sit unused in a drawer. These days I keep a couple different army or warband sized projects going at a given time to keep things fresh and try to avoid burnout. So far I feel like it works well and helps me keep interested and motivated in the hobby.
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I am sure that many others have also experienced a loss in interest in a period or in gaming. For those who have, how have you dealt with it, besides selling everything off? Have you kept certain books or figures, just in case?
I just sell everything off and then buy back what I might be newly interested in, sell that off, and repeat. It’s a great way to piss my money away!
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I just sell everything off and then buy back what I might be newly interested in, sell that off, and repeat. It’s a great way to piss my money away!
I was telling the missus you do that all the time! You're never one for the 'dip the toe' approach, you're more like a 'balls out, dive-bombing into the deep end' kind of guy.
Hail to you sir, hail to you.
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I’ve painted different figures from different periods just because I liked the minis at some point. As I lose interest, I sell them. I seldom sell figures from what I call "my own collection".
Even though I can lose interest in a period, I find out, with time, that I always come back at some point… when it happen, I’m always glad I didn’t sell them.
My collection is relatively small, or rather, I still have the place to store all those different minis so that’s not a problem… so far ::)
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It happened to me, until I realized that this is a hobby not a job. Once I got relaxed, I started to enjoying my hobby once again.