When do you give up on "the hobby" - see page 2: NEVER.

[Harry Faversham]

Give it up mate, it's a lost cause. But don't sell all your stuff, give it all away to a needy charity, that way you'll feel really good about yourself... shall I pm you my address?

[grant]

Thanks all.

I think I'll just do some smallish projects - Naps and WW2 are my passions, in miniature or otherwise.

I have some odds and ends that would make good in-betweener projects, some for Harwood; perhaps I'll do some of those and leave my massive AB project for a month.

Harry - no PM sent. Sorry

[armchairgeneral]

Maybe take a break but, as said above, have a think on what you most enjoy about the hobby and focus on this? The pleasure of the hobby can so easily be sapped by getting committed into grinding out a large army.
I have seen how great your painting is. Surely there is satisfaction and pleasure from doing something you are  good at?

I had been thinking of quitting due to lack of gaming opportunities but if I am honest I do enjoy the army research and creation side of things as long at it is at my own (very slow) pace and I have two or three different armies on the go to get frequent painting variety.

[LeadAsbestos]

I'm beginning to think that I don't want to play a game at all. The problem is, I've always excused my lack of painting talent by claiming to be a gamer, not a painter!😉

I'm agreed with the folks who say to make the hobby about what you enjoy about it, be it painting, terrain making, or even just hoarding. Asong as you keep enjoying yourself, it is all good.

[grant]

Time for a break buddy!  You've had quite a stressful time lately and can see how that would shake things up.  Put your stuff away for a while - I think you'd kick yourself later if you sold all your AB Naps! 

I will however continue to tempt you with pictures of the new hotness.   

I know you will tempt me! You are evil. 

I would have a hard time parting with the AB. And it has been. A crap time.
A break. That's probably the best answer. 

[Elbows]

A hobby should, for the most part, be something you enjoy...and something which helps you relax (not to say that various hobbies won't include stress with regards to challenges etc. - you may enjoy mountain biking for example!).

Whenever that enjoyment or relaxation ceases, I'd ferret out the cause and ditch that part of the hobby, or the hobby altogether.  As with anything, set stuff aside and give yourself a cooling down point to ensure that you're not taking out stress from another part of your life on something you enjoy.  Like others I've had many "sell it all" moments and regretted some of them.

There is a reason that a hobby becoming a job is often dangerous.  That relaxation and enjoyment can be completely destroyed by stress/reality/etc.  If the route of your stress is people you've identified, time to switch gaming groups or partners/friends.

[Legion1963]

Indeed. Around 1997 i stopped with the hobby as a result of other preoccupations. The stopping was a gradual thing as is most what i do .... or don't ;-). As the years progressed the hobby stuff disappeared into crates and boxes and sometimes i almost totally forgot about them. Almost ..... if not for a recurring dream about 'the little men'. I have told about that before.

And then i moved to another house and found the time, inspiration and space again to pick it up. There are no words to express the joy i experienced when i found everything just the way i had packed it carefully away. Everything was right there except the stuff that i had painted. That was gathering dust in somebodies attic and that needed some effort to get.

So what am i sayin'? Firstly, be sure about the reasons you want to stop. Maybe you need some or a periodical time away and do other things. My hobby-time is mostly late autumn, winter and early spring. The other months i spent a lot of my time outdoors. ;-)

[Charlie_]

I don't know if you are more into the painting or gaming side of the hobby, but something I have always considered doing if I get find myself disillusioned with the 'army building' and gaming side is to work on one-off dioramas.

I'm currently working on a big army-building project. One day soon I might need a big break from it, and during that break I think I'd enjoy dioramas.... A combination of modelling, painting and scenery building, with no need to worry about 'gaming issues' (basing, force composition, etc), could be as small or as ambitious as I feel like, would tell a story, could depict a historical event,..... Would combine my interests in history and painting/modelling, without the need to explain to people what wargaming is and yes it is sort of pushing toy soldiers around, I prefer the term 'scale miniatures', blah blah blah.... Something to put on the shelf, with no need to explain what it's all about, or ask myself "what's it all for???" Just, I made this. Something to be proud of and for people to hopefully admire. No explanation or deep thought necessary.

[eilif]

Thanks all.

I think I'll just do some smallish projects - Naps and WW2 are my passions, in miniature or otherwise.

I have some odds and ends that would make good in-betweener projects, some for Harwood; perhaps I'll do some of those and leave my massive AB project for a month.

This seems wise to me.
Nothing wrong with packing most (or all) of the hobby stuff away if you have storage space for it.  I never got rid of everything but I've taken multi-year breaks from the hobby at various points in my life and I've always come back. 

A break is a good chance to get rid of projects that you've lost interest in.  Then when you dive back in the only stuff on your plate will be things you really want to do.

[Cubs]

Look mate, I told you that file of photographs I sent you was an error. I never forced you to stare at pictures of my naked form for hours on end. That concentration of sheer glandular trauma was never meant to be absorbed by a single person, but would you listen to me?

You still painting for commish? I find that interesting painting jobs or a new book will often draw me away into a bit of the hobby for a while. I only paint maybe one or two models for myself a month, but still enjoy painting other people's things. You do the small scale stuff (and shagging superb it is too), so that's a little different, but the principle holds. Don't force yourself to sit at the desk if you're not in the mood. Just pootle about with the brush for fun when you fancy it. And stop abusing yourself over indecent images of me.

[grant]

Look mate, I told you that file of photographs I sent you was an error. I never forced you to stare at pictures of my naked form for hours on end. That concentration of sheer glandular trauma was never meant to be absorbed by a single person, but would you listen to me?

You still painting for commish? I find that interesting painting jobs or a new book will often draw me away into a bit of the hobby for a while. I only paint maybe one or two models for myself a month, but still enjoy painting other people's things. You do the small scale stuff (and shagging superb it is too), so that's a little different, but the principle holds. Don't force yourself to sit at the desk if you're not in the mood. Just pootle about with the brush for fun when you fancy it. And stop abusing yourself over indecent images of me.

Your collection of hairy Welsh back pics is framed above my nightstand - it's a prize, I say...

I do still paint for GHQ, and I've given up on other people. I like the relationship with GHQ, they're almost like a 2nd family to me, and I think they will keep me in if nothing else.

When I wrote the first post I was: 1 month separated, living in a 500sft condo (she got the 2300sft house, but I got paid, whatever...) - basically my hobby room was bigger than my new digs. I was depressed, and feeling down, and sometimes change can bring me out.

Inspiration is what I needed. So I booked a trip to Europe - I'm going to follow the route my regiment took from Juno Beach to Falaise, on foot - 85km of walking over 6 days. Not that terrible. Plus a day in London (Cubs, you should come in ...) at the IWM, and a day in Paris because I missed Montmartre when I was there last.

And I said fuck it, and booked first class into Heathrow. And then to get to France I'm taking the overnight ferry, getting into Caen at 0645. It's about as real of a D-Day experience as I'll get. I've got a bag of my regimental tunic buttons, and I'm leaving them at the memorials and gravesites that I come across. I have little planning other than a general route, war diaries with locations, and towns named.

So I got off my ass and opened up Harwood's box of unpainted goodies, broke out the airbrush, and am finishing his commission - my last non GHQ one.

After that, I'm doing Canadians and Germans for Normandy from GHQ. I have 50 packs on the way. Go big. And I can alternate with my AB Naps for variety.

Screw being depressed and moping. I'm a painter and a gamer, and I love making terrain. I have no debts, no worries, and no wife. What more could a gamer ask for? It's not what I've lost but what I've gained: freedom to do anything I want.

Goddamn rights.

Stay tuned for pics of it all.

[Cubs]

Canadian soldiers have always been numbered among the bravest in the world. A nation whose national sport is kicking the shit out of each other on a frozen pond deserves to be treated with respect.

Let me know the dates when you're in the UK and I'll see what I've got on (activities wise, not oversize lingerie wise). I doubt I'll be able to get out of Cardiff (which is much nicer than London if you fancy a visit) but you never know.

It's good that you're keeping things ticking over with the toys. They're always loyal. Unless you loan them to someone in a game and they beat you. In that case you need to take a blowtorch to them, 'pour encourager les autres'.

[jon_1066]

That's good to hear. 

We took that ferry two years ago.  At that time in the morning you can motor along the coast, buy some croissants and sit on the beach eating them for breakfast watching the lines of cockle pickers making their way across the sand.  Very evocative.  Incredible to think of the mayhem of that morning seventy odd years ago and the tranquility you can find there now.

[vodkafan]

I am late with this one..Grant it seems you have already picked yourself up after your low point. I had a similar situation when my marriage broke up. Put all the little men in boxes and didn't look at them for 5 years..until this year. I am selling stuff now but that's only because my interests have changed and I want to focus on a couple of projects and see them through.
Good luck!

[grant]

Thanks all.