Why so many figures?

[Elbows]

I mean, I'd argue...all of the above.

I've finally become the rare breed: I actually have a small "lead pile" (all resin and plastic these days), and I only open a box when I'm going to build and paint it - so even my "lead pile" can be cut to nothing if I abandon a few smaller projects I've amassed but haven't started.  For example, knowing Star Wars Legion could disappear, I snagged 10-12 boxes of their minis because I think I'd like to do a Star Wars skirmish project.  All sealed in box.  If I change my mind it's nothing to flog them on eBay or locally and make back 90% of what I paid.  It wasn't a huge investment, nor have I unboxed and half-assembled/half-painted everything, etc.  It's just there if I decide to proceed.

However, despite my rather large collection of painted miniatures (some thousands at this point), I don't have more than I can put on a table, nor do I collect for collecting's sake...and I don't have any collections that I don't game with at least 2-3 times a year (some far more often than that!).

If I don't use something or paint replacements...I sell or give away that replaced stuff.  I don't keep it for nostalgia sake.  Heck, I sold a combined 13,000+ thousand points worth of nicely painted 40K stuff when I realized I was done with that game.

My shelf space dictates how many projects I can maintain mats/terrain/minis for...and I simply don't start a new project unless I have space to store it.

It was driven home to me how weird this hobby is as I attended another convention this weekend...and watching the flea market tables sell almost nothing (people pricing their old miniatures as made-from-gold), and damaged old Avalon Boxed games that would have covered the weekend (the ticket, the gas and several nights at the not-inexpensive hotel)...I am half convinced these people don't even want to sell their old huge piles of stuff.

Some guys I've seen running vendor stalls with the exact same product (old used magazines, white dwarfs, board games) for the last..8-10 years?  I don't think I've ever seen him shift a thing, but I did laugh hearing one of the prices he gave to a shocked person perusing his pile of water-damaged file boxes.

[zemjw]

Do I have more figures than I will ever paint? Absolutely.

However, I am fairly settled in my areas of interest, and mostly now it's just adding things that take my fancy, so the pile is increasing more slowly.

Retirement is in the not too distant future, so I may as well buy while I can afford to, even if it will be a while before I get to them.

[syrinx0]

Historically I loved planning new projects and collecting everything I needed (or wanted) to finish the project.   
Being retired now, I definitely paint more than I game these days so I am not sure I have more figures than I will ever paint anymore.  Once I am done with a game, I tend to sell it off to fund future projects. That said I have quite a few painted figures on my shelves.

[mikedemana]

My thing that makes me buy more miniatures when I have hundreds of unpainted ones is the periods. For example, I've always been interested in one day doing Vietnam wargaming. I decided this year to pull the trigger, so had to buy figs for it. Yes, I still have plenty of Ancient, Medieval, F&I War, Pulp, Modern, Post-apocalyptic, and Sci-Fi figures. I will still run games with those figures, and only buy a pack or two if there is something specific I need for a scenario.

Also, as I take a break from periods, I may still have dozens of figures left unpainted for it. Should I have to paint all my unpainted 20mm Modern figures (which I am kind of taking a break from) before painting any of these new 28mm Vietnam ones that I want to run games for this year? No, that would be silly to paint just "to finish." In general, I paint what I am currently playing. If a period goes on hold, the painting of figs for it goes on hold (and add to the "Lead Mountain."

That said, I *do* pay more attention to it. Last year, I painted about 30 more figs than I acquired (which includes ones people simply gave to me because they thought I might want them). This year, I will also track my acquired vs. painted for terrain and scatter. I think the overall goal of being more mindful of acquisitions is good. You just can't simply say, "No, you can't buy any more figs till you paint all these." That goes against the spirit of the wargaming hobby, I feel.

Good discussion!

Mike Demana

[Cat]

And because some days, we can declare a strategic victory, like today!
 
Did a bunch of painting this week for The Silver Bayonet, and flocked them today.  The giant bats and spiders have been in the stash for 30 years since Warhammer Quest came out in '95.
~ , ~
 
Other bits from that game have been painted over the years for various projects.
 

[SteveBurt]

I currently have no unpainted figures. That’s been the normal state for a few years now. I buy figures for a new project (most recently 02 Hundred Hours) and paint them. Then I start a new project; next will be Medieval stuff for Saga Age of Chivalry.
My problem is that I have so many painted figures that many of them don’t get used for long periods. It’s not that I have too many to put on the table, it is that I have figures from so many periods of history that it may be years between say, ACW games, or bronze age ones, or  WW1 air combat or whatever. I do find that sometimes I will play one period a lot (often prompted by new rules) but then it may get neglected.
I don’t know what the solution is; I like playing lots of periods as that way I never get bored. At some point I will have to start downsizing and find homes for some of this stuff, but at the moment I have space and motivation,so I keep them

[warwell]

For me it was what I call GADD - gamer's attention deficit disorder.
I just couldn't pick a period and stick with it. I jumped all over the place.
For example, I began the year on an ancients kick. But I watched Red Dawn over the weekend and now I want to do Cold War battles.

I solved my dilemma by quitting miniatures wargaming. Instead, I created a batch of generic counters that I use for my games. My red heavy infantry counters can be Roman legionaries one day and Redcoat regulars the next.

[Kourtchatovium104]

My passion for history leads me to the hobby. That's why, at the beginning, I've bought a lot (mainly late Romans and RCW, some still waiting to be painted) with enthousiam.

Then, the lack of storage space makes me much more wiser! I only buy the few I can paint now. 

[dwbullock]

https://youtu.be/SSUXXzN26zg

Because for me, I see things online that make me go 'That's amazing! The conversion uses this bit and this bit and that bit ... I should get those bits.  eBay is expensive for bits, so it winds up being cheaper to buy the box they came from...'  Boom.  I have a box I don't need.

These days, I try to go for 'cool model I want to paint one day' and 'Only if this item can be used for The Project (tm)'  That still leaves me a lot. 

Finally, I try to visit game stores when I go on vacation.  When I'm there, I feel like I need to buy something just to support local stores, even if they aren't my local store.  And quite often, their selection varies from what I can get at home.  My wife thinks I have an addiction to collecting crap.  Deep down, we're all a little bit of a hoarder, right?

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I solved my dilemma by quitting miniatures wargaming. Instead, I created a batch of generic counters that I use for my games. My red heavy infantry counters can be Roman legionaries one day and Redcoat regulars the next.

Hold on there! Let’s not do anything quite so hasty as that.  ya might as well play a block game. Heresy.

[black hat miniatures]

I think the answer is because there is a lot of history!

After 30 years since I restarted wargaming in 1995 I have collections covering:

Classical Ancients
Dark Ages
Medievals
Renaissance (just starting)
18th century (x2)
19th Century (x7)
20th Century
Fantasy (x 2 )
SF (x2).

Plus a handful of historical skirmish periods (x4)

Most of the periods are complete and I sold off all the unpainted extras for them a year or so ago. About 3 are just getting started.

I have around 7k painted figures and probably around 3.5k unpainted  (which is mostly 40mm AWI and Epic TYW).  But I think I have reached the peak in collecting and from now on I'll just finish everything needed to play the 3 periods not yet done (in depth) and maybe add an odd unit to the others.

I am really enjoying building scenery at the moment and have spent more time doing that recently than painting figures.

[HerbertTarkel]

This thread inspired me to return two of my recently acquired collections 

Only to start another one - but one that I have someone to actually game with!

So go thread.

[mikedemana]

And because some days, we can declare a strategic victory, like today!

Congratulations, Cat! It's always nice when you finish a project and are in the "Now, let's play with them!" stage!

I started and finished my zombie project in 2024, so it does happen for me, too. I have all of my Star Wars factions painted up for the upcoming Sci-Fi skirmish games. Of course, "finishing" doesn't mean I won't paint the random batch of miniatures to complement the project now and then... 

Mike Demana

[Inkpaduta]

The squirrel comment definitely speaks to me. I can have no playing to do a given period or conflict and
then wham! Squirrel! I see something I just have to play it. Start buying figures, research ect when just two days
ago I had no plan to do this period. Sigh.

[Ran The Cid]

Like so many here, the planning is a hobby unto itself.  I generally have 1 project "hot" on the painting table, a second project that has work being done periodically (perhaps swapping with project #1 as the hot project), and 2-3 that I'm thinking about. 

I prefer to buy second hand lots.  At its best, I can collect figures at 25-50% of retail.  However, this does lead to a few issues with collecting models/units that will never be part of a project, as they were part a larger bundle.  It also leads to buying for the "thinking about" projects when a good deal comes up without having a solid plan for what's needed or when it will be worked on.

Exacerbating these issues is that I focus on Ancient/Medieval games with a lot of figures.  This often leads to situations of, if 200 figures is good, then 300 will be better!  It also leads to issues where I have part of an era, but not all of an era  i.e. I have Saxons and Normans, maybe I should add Vikings.

Recently I've run into 2 new contributing factors in figure collection.  Kickstarter - not that I must have the new shinny, but that fewer companies are producing new figures in metal.  I'm in a financial position to help, and if I want to see the hobby continue (without 3D printing), I'd better spend some money on the companies still working in metal.  The other issue is the opposite - Aventine is closing (or moving to new ownership).  I've seen too many opportunities go away, and I'm not going to let them fade away without filling up my backlog.