Anyone bitten the bullet and cleared it all out??

[jon_1066]

I’ve never had a clear out of minis.  Two main reasons:

1 Nostalgia.  How could I part with those badly painted figures from my youth that starred in the epic battles of yester year? 

2. Those ambitions of galactic/Old World dominance continue and thanks to Lion Rampant they can.  Also home brewed a Chain of Command and Rampant mash up that fits the 40k Oldhammer figures perfectly.

I’ve only added one (sorry two!) new period: 6mm Napoleonic (and Blood Bowl, whoops).  I have been tempted by many ooh shiny moments but apply the following.  Tot up all you’ll need, put it in a basket online, leave it a week and think about it.  Who will I play it with? Will I ever paint it? Is it compatible with my existing stuff?  Will it displace the existing?  Storage space is not an issue for figures as I have a large loft!

[AndrewBeasley]

Wow, big thanks to all that has taken the time to reply.


Over the last few days we (the family not royal) have moved 15 boxes of books out of the roof that have been there for four years untouched and a significant number of those came from the old house and had not been taken off the bookshelf their for at least another six due to the owner being at uni then her own place so it seems to be a family habit 


Other bits we uncovered have included knitting / material by the mile / pictures / empty boxes / a bed / two old desks and I've found a pair of my shoes I though I'd lost! Interestingly though I only had four boxes of wargaming bits - one was a 4l RUB and one a small carry case of 15mm figures (mainly painted but unbased).


One problem is the scenery materials - bags of flock, grit, glue galore etc. This seems to take more room than the figures. This is way larger than I expected.
A second issue is boxes - the RUB have a big frame around them to give strength but at a cost of space.
The last issue is a mix of sizes - I seem to have 2mm, 6mm, Warlord Epic, 15mm, 25-28mm and heroic (big bods 32mm+) That excludes the resin blocks and a box of card Ogre maps and counters!


Having tried to sell some book through clearance (Music Magpie etc) I now know that a clearance deal is not going to be self funding - maybe a Bring and Buy could be a better option...


Anyone had success at Bring and Buy (more aimed at the U.K. folk as that's where I am)?

[has.been]

Anyone had success at Bring and Buy (more aimed at the U.K. folk as that's where I am)?

Bring & buys have been a terrible saga of experiences for me. There are
lots of entries here on LAF to tell you I am not alone.
MUCH better are the 'Trade at Table'  events. I use the one at Hammerhead,
though there are a few at other places around the country.
I can:-
Look after my stock, strike any deals I fancy, and move items around the table
if I think some are being missed. I keep the (initial) pricing simple (e.g. £10 a box)
The box can be small or large depending on what is in it. 

An other choice are dealers in second hand wargames stuff.
I have had good results with these, but also the occasional bad one, so be careful.
Bear in mind they will want/have to make a profit so you will get less than if you
sold everything yourself. It is a very good way to:-
Find out what prices will be paid for what you've got,
clearing the bulk of what there is,
avoid all that hanging around on e-bay & the posting/packaging.

By the way don't forget us on LAF. One man's meat is another's poison.
What you might chuck out could be what someone else needs to complete
a unit/project. I, foe example am on the look-out for some 25mm Ancients
(Hinchcliffe/Garrison) to make a couple of DBA armies. Nostalgia, it ain't what
it used to be.

Let know how you get on

[Daeothar]

Back when I moved cities to go to uni, I sold my only Space Marine army over there, because as a student, one is always short on cash.

It was supposed to be book money, but the readers were delayed, and the bar didn't wait, so I ended up drinking most of it away.

At the time I wasn't too bothered, but only months later I ended up running with a crowd of avid wargamers and it was then that I began lamenting my impulsive decision of getting rid of them.

But being strapped for money, I could only afford the occasional blister or so, and I had only retained a box of a Necromunda gang and some other smaller items. So I ended up playing a lot of Necromunda in uni.

The rebuilding only came years later, when I had a steady job and my girlfriend didn't mind me creating my own little space to paint. It was then that I found out that I am in it mostly for the creating aspect; painting and converting. I take pride and joy from doing the best I can on my miniatures; actual gaming only comes second for me.

So to this day I regret selling of my enamel black Dark Angels RTB01 beakie army (complete with support units and vehicles)...

Recently, I had a major culling of my lead and plastic mountain (range), when I moved rooms in the house with all my hobby stuff. I was shocked at the amount I had accumulated over the years, and I just had good and honest look at the amount of stuff I had, passed each and every item through my hands and decided if I really 'needed' it, or that I could do without.

Turns out that I could do without a surprising amount of stuff, so I sold off what I could. Haven't missed anything so far.

But what I will never (again) sell off are miniatures painted by myself because the regret is real...

[v_lazy_dragon]

Never cleared it all out - but had a couple of major thin downs (probably around 40-50% thinned out, a few times). The most recent one was solely a case of raising funds, done on on a vaguely Marie Kondo 'what brings the most joy' type approach.

Before that was the realization that some stuff was duplicated across three scales (20mm, 28mm, 40mm...) and I had lots of fragments of scenery/projects that didn't really go with much (2 Mexican houses, some part built sci fi scatter terrain, a small force of early anglo-saxons, etc).

The fastest way I found to get shot of stuff was a wargames table-top sale (E.g. The Lincombe Barn Wargamers table-top sale) but often you got significantly lower prices as everyone was out for bargains and there was a lot of competition.
The eBay website is a about as much fun as sitting on a cactus. The phone app on the other hand works really well and once you have had a little bit of practice you can list pretty quickly. eBay always seemed to get the best prices overall (sometimes for the most surprising things - but hey if someone wants tp pay £3.50 a figure for some painted 20mms I won't argue!). But also more obscure stuff tended to go for first bid/not go at all.
Selling through the LAF is a good option. Less faff than eBay. Better prices than a table top sale. Often better prices for slightly more obscure stuff.

You will eventually regret selling some things. I certainly have. Most stuff you will never remember having had.
Some stuff I have brought/sold several times over (looking at you Foundry Blackfoot Indians!).
The suggestions of some folks to not sell anything that you have painted is a pretty good one, atleast whilst you get the unpainted pile under control.
The suggestion of not selling anything that is out of production is also pretty good... but the way some wargames companies come and go can be very limiting!

[Orctrader]

Having tried to sell some book through clearance (Music Magpie etc) I now know that a clearance deal is not going to be self funding...

Books - I use "WeBuyBooks" if they don't want them I drop off at the local charity shop.  (Not much money in 2nd hand books now - Ebay 10 years ago, usually got 25 to 50% of new price.  Those days are gone.  Too many at it.)

Hobby stuff - Ebay.  (Please don't anyone shoot me for saying this BUT Ebay is still the only game in town.  Quick, easy and they have regular reduced fees deals for occasional sellers.)  If you have lots you want to get rid of, try the Forum first, and with either the Forum "Sales" or Ebay my best advice is "little and often."  Otherwise, if you have a mountain to get rid of it all becomes too daunting.  Much better to auction 3 or 4 items every week than listing a huge amount in one go.  And/or do "bundles" of related stuff.  I once auctioned a load of random single figures in one lot just to shift minis I didn't want to paint and didn't want to devote the time to individual listings.  They sold.  And the delight in shipping a load of unwanted stuff for a reasonable price is quite liberating.   

[AndrewBeasley]

Books - I use "WeBuyBooks" if they don't want them I drop off at the local charity shop.  (Not much money in 2nd hand books now)...
And the delight in shipping a load of unwanted stuff for a reasonable price is quite liberating.   

Just used Ziffit - part of World of Books but between three 'buyers' I've still got two full boxes to go to Oxfam. The main problem I have with Oxfam is that they have a good selection (it's a dedicated book shop) and I often come back with a couple, sometimes books we have given them before


Main issue with eBay are boxes - never seem to have the right size but I agree on the feeling - knowing bits are heading to someone who wants them is great.

[SJWi]

Some wise words and experiences I can relate to. I guess the only time I have ever had major clear outs was when I moved house or some other such upheaval and I came face to face with the metal mountain. All my fully painted 15mm ancient armies went on E-Bay. I now have a regular check on my stocks to (a) still see if I have an opponent/ opposing force....I have had several where my opponents have moved or sadly died and (b) if I have a good ruleset....I recently dusted off my 25 year old SYW armies when new rules came out plus (c) does the period genre still interest me. Under this rule my 40k forces are deemed surplus to requirements and large Catachan and Imperial Epic forces have gone to a new home.

[eilif]

I've had minor clearouts and quite a few lulls in the hobby, but I never got out entirely or completely restarted. I realized this year that this hobby and making music (bass and Pedal steel) are the two activities to which I continue to return and to which I think I want to pursue forever.

As for "clearing it all out" I did just have a friend who got out of the hobby entirely and claims he will never return.  I bought him out completely and am selling off the items I decided not to keep.  I kept enough however, that it's forcing me to do a MASSIVE selloff to bring my collection back to a merely-moderate-level of unmanageability. 

It's been a good time to abandon certain projects that will never happen such as a platoon/company sized medieval army for Dragon Rampant, Battletech, several minor games, pirate gaming and everything related to steampunk gaming.

It's also been a good chance to refocus on what I enjoy, which right now which is fantasy gaming with my son and daughter, 40k-by-way-of-Grimdark-Future with my son, and Kings of War with my gaming club.

All this to say, I've never cleared it all out, but I've know folks who have and I'm currently engaged in my biggest clear-out ever.

[modelwarrior]

Had one giant clear out about 10 years ago when I moved from 15mm to 28mm. Got lucky selling a few bits on fleabay and the buyer asked if I had any more stuff to sell ? To cut a long story short he bought everything off me ,so I did really well.
 I still have mini clear outs regulary and would do it more often but the pain of photographing,preparing for postage and time wasters puts me off. Saying that the stuff I have bought and sold on here has been really easy.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Got lucky selling a few bits on fleabay and the buyer asked if I had any more stuff to sell ? To cut a long story short he bought everything off me ,so I did really well.

Same here, one crazy guy bought all my 40mm moderns - figures, scenery, vehicles - painted/unpainted/unfinished conversions. Man that was a big box.

[syr8766]

First of all, totally feel your pain!

I haven't done 'everything all at once' but I have done a few major 'dumps' of figures over the years. Entering grad school, I gave a number of figures away (mostly Warhammer) to friends who were collecting them at the time, or to teens looking to start their own armies. Later on in grad school I sold away a number of figures, including Squats, some 'unseen' Battletech figures, and a number of rulebooks that I figured I'd never get to. Then, when my son was born and fourth edition 40k was transitioning to 5th, I was just terribly overwhelmed and sold off a lot of my 40k stuff (though I kept my Eldar and Valhallan armies) and used that money toward Warmachine, which I was more actively playing at the time.

Some stuff I've regretted getting rid of, and found myself replacing them. Some I haven't had a second thought about. Some, especially given away to kids to As others have shared, the creative piece is probably the most important aspect of the hobby for me. And now that my son plays (mostly historicals) that's given me a new outlet.

Most of my stuff is 28-32mm (historicals/fantasy/science fiction), and other than some outliers like Battletech (my first love) and Flames of War I've been pretty well behaved.

Thankfully my health is good and I'm not too old (mid-40s) and I imagine my son will want some of the stuff once he's on his own (he's 15 now), but I have various plans to whittle the collections down or get rid of them entirely "before the time comes" so my family doesn't have to figure out what to do with all the stuff!

At the risk of sounding Marie Kondo about it, what of the stuff are you not just using, but makes you happy? Hold on to that, even if it ends up being odds-and-sods. The rest I'm sure can go to new homes. and if you find yourself wishing you'd kept X, well, it's an opportunity to start over!

[Easy E]

No, but I have always had pretty tight control of the "input" side of the hobby so less need to "dump stuff" later.  I have never really gotten rid of anything, but I also am not swamped with minis yet either. 

[George1863]

Yes. I had a complete clear out about 20 years ago, for a number of reasons. The miniatures that were top of the range 40 years ago are now attractive only for reasons of nostalgia; my painting has improved vastly in the same time and I find re-painting utterly soul-destroying; over 40-plus years my interests have genuinely changed (colonials, fantasy and WW2 genuinely no longer hold appeal).

I also faced life-facts: the army-collecting clock is running. It might take 3-5 years to collect a sizeable, well-painted army. I reverted to type in the last 20-odd years of life to the periods that inspired me in the first 20-odd. My first love was ACW in 20mm, a Union army I am recreating in 28mm at least for the next couple of years. After that, it will be French Napoleonic c.1812-15, probably in 15/18mm (the one I had in the '80s was in 25mm).  I won't go on, but I don't see 'clearing it all out' as remotely negative. I see it as rejuvenation, if not redemption in many ways. Surely there comes a point when gaming with figures that annoy you defeats the object of gaming in the first place? 

[NotifyGrout]

Late to the party but I have not cleared anything out...yet. Sold and traded a few items over the years, but almost nothing sold. It doesn't hurt that until Kings of War I never had a true army of anything; prior to 2013 I had nothing larger than a Blood Bowl team, Necromunda gang, or the contents of board games like Heroquest, Siege of the Citadel, and Dark World.

I went nuts with Kickstarters in the 2010s and probably need to cull a lot of my Kings of War stuff, not to mention Malifaux and some others too. It gets hard sometimes, though, because some of the models have strong emotional/memory attachments to them (my small collection of RTB-01/Rogue Trader/early 2nd Edition Marines aren't going anywhere).

The advent of minatures-agnostic games like Frostgrave has breathed a new life into some of my old models, which adds a new complication- why buy more when I can grab some old stuff that I still like but haven't been able to use, and use it?

That said, I have a fair amount of stuff that is unlikely to ever be completed, so I need to sell it.

The mental health struggles mentioned above hit me hard (thank you for sharing- it is helpful to know I'm not the only one that has had them adversely affect my hobbies.). I have friends who got out of the hobby because it was a net negative for them, or they lost the motivation to paint, or their lives got too busy to have hobby time. I've had periods where the hobby was more of a burden than a joy, too. I'm still working through my mission of "finished is better than perfect" for painting models.