Not sure what to ditch.

[Just a few orcs]

Hi Joroas,

I do agree that getting rid of painted armies can be a wrench, but they do raise the most cash. No one here has actually suggested what to get rid of, or why. So while all have given good advice none have answered your question.

So IMHO I would do the following

Two Samurai armies (Dixons and Old Glory/Perry) painted and based

These are ready for the table, if you have a rule set you are happy with keep them.


Two Perry WOTR armies untouched

Lot of work here with the heraldry etc. Sell them

One painted Essex New Model Army Painted and based
Two ECW armies (Warlord) untouched

Assuming these are the same scale - Keep the New Model Army its ready for the table. From the Unpainted stuff pick out an army to oppose it and  sell the rest. You then have the incentive to paint the unpainted stuff

Two Front Rank SYW (British and French) armies untouched
Sell them, If you want to paly SYW you have 15mm armies ready to play with.

One Minifigs Austrian SYW army painted and based
Two 15mm SYW armies painted but unbased

Get the painted armies based, you then have a lot of options for gaming SYW

One Minifigs Franco-Polish army painted and based

If you don't have an opponent for them sell them

Two large Perry Napoleonic Armies (French and Prussian) Untouched

Again quite a bit of work here - sell them


Two large (Perrys) ACW armies, mostly painted and based

Finish these off


This leaves you ready for the table

Two samaurai Armies
Three SYW armies
Two ACW Armies
One ECW Army

Projects

One 25mm Royalist ECW army to paint
Two 15mm SYW armies painted but unbased (Minor project)
ACW armies to finish off

Sell
Two Perry WOTR armies (unpainted)
One ECW army
Two Front Rank SYW (British and French) armies untouched
One Minifigs Franco-Polish army painted and based
Two large Perry Napoleonic Armies (French and Prussian) Untouched

This way you keep the stuff you can use right now. You have a couple of projects to keep your interest. You can raise a fair bit of cash with the sale of the other stuff. The cash could be used to get some of the other unpainted stuff professionally painted rather than sell it, or the painted un-based stuff based to your requirements

[joroas]

Thanks again.

Just a: I was thinking to ditch the WOTR next, I got taken in by the shiny of Perry, but the thought of making up tons of plastic figures is daunting, as is the painting of quartered jackets and house badges.  I am minded to keep the SYW Front Rank, as they are already painted, I will let all the Napoleonics go, too much work and is there that much difference from a SYW game? There is a rumour of Saga Napoleonics, at which point I might do some small British V Franco-Irish games with Trent Figures.  The upshot is masses of plastic out and a smaller quantity of lead in.  The ECW Warlord figures, easier to put together than Perry, I will keep as a Royalist Army.  I will then have money to spend on the later Sudan Campaign, easier to paint, that I have longed for.

[Belisarius]

I am thinking of downsizing houses, and am dreading the thought of letting go the books, magazines and figures which I,ve amassed over the years. I,ve thought of keeping one force in each genre, i.e. Ancients, Horse and Musket and Colonial. My interest ends at WW1 and all my figures are 25/28mm. I saw your figures on E Bay and recognised your moniker.  My missus could show us how to do it  , judging by the way she culls her wardrobe , every season, leaving room for new items .......

[joroas]

Well, that raised around £1000, so far.  My wife says that I ought to buy more stuff, but I explained that that was the reason I had such a large stash to begin with!

[joroas]

Cheers, I still have stuff to shed, but am in no rush to buy.  May just look for a few painted armies.....

Do we, as wargamers, really need more than two opposing armies per time period? A tough question that I have previously dodged.

[Elk101]

Cheers, I still have stuff to shed, but am in no rush to buy.  May just look for a few painted armies.....

Do we, as wargamers, really need more than two opposing armies per time period? A tough question that I have previously dodged.

It depends on the period. For example if it's ACW then one per side is usually ample, but if it's WWII then there's a temptation to go with forces from several nations.

[joroas]

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a period.  Is there a lot of difference between the Napoleonic Wars, the Carlist Wars and The Crimea, for instance, that means you do multiple armies?  Is my samurai much different to WOTR? VBCW or SCW?

[Elbows]

I think there are some periods which are absolutely different.  Eight different Napoleonic armies?  Meh.  While they marched at different paces, had different unit frontages and preferred different classes of cavalry or artillery...realistically they used mostly the same tactics and technology/equipment.

Science fiction and fantasy - they're normally quite different but very dependent on the rules set you use.  A rule set like Lion Rampant may not differentiate between Orc spearmen and English Yeomen...other rules will.  I think the depth of the rules you're using will determine how differently units play in any given setting.

[joroas]

Well, WOTR is next to go.  The ECW I will keep for the moment and look at Pikeman's Progress.  The Napoleonics will go after I see what they do with Napoleonic Saga.

Now, must avoid shinies!!!

[joroas]

Well, so far I have sold off:

Gladiators
WOTR
Victoriana
Vietnam
Necromunda

with no appreciable lowering of stock.

will next be selling

Two Napoleonic Armies
Frostgrave
Warhammer Quest
Mordheim

The good news is that I no longer go to shows and avoid any shinies!

[warrenpeace]

Joroas, a couple of questions:

1. Do you only collect for and play mass battles? I collected a huge number of figures for such things in the past, but demotivated myself through the sheer weight of lead. Now I'm having fun with Pulp Alley, and it doesn't need many figures or much terrain.

2. Do you want to store terrain for 28mm ECW and 15mm SYW? That's probably OK, except that if you just used 28mm you could collect terrain for Europe in only one scale. It could be used for ECW and SYW, and could be useful for small skirmish or role playing scale games such as Pulp Alley. I'm struggling with the possibility of having terrain for Europe in 3 different scales, 28mm for my WSS, 15mm for my SYW, and 20mm for my WW2. Not such a good idea. Terrain takes up money and storage space.

By the way, I also started the process of trimming down my collection. Sold a lot of 20mm WW2 East Front vehicles for maybe half what they are worth. Sold 30 FFL figures that I wasn't going to paint. Sold 35 Pulp Figures that were in excess of my needs. Next year I might sell a lot of Wings of War (Glory) airplanes. A friend wants to buy my 15mm SYW, but not sure if I'll sell them.

[joroas]

I have two sets of terrain, 15mm and 28mm, for Europe and North Africa, so that works well for me.  I have a lot of Pulpy stuff and cowboys, so skirmish games are okay...


I sold my 15mm armies years ago, and replaced them with 28mm, thinking that when I retired I would crank them out quickly. Three years on this hasn't happened and the weight of lead is depressing, I have sold loads, with no intention to add to the mountain, but now realise that my cull wasn't deep enough.......

[Charlie_]

Do you play games much? If so, is it at a club, or at home with friends / relatives?

I was just thinking that having two painted Samurai armies is pretty cool. Don't sell them! It's a bit more unusual / interesting than ANOTHER Napoleonics, or WOTR collection.... If you have two armies ready to play, it seems like something to hang on to, in terms of offering people interesting games.

Look at it this way - if a mate of mine said "want to play another Napoleonics game?" I may or may not be up for it.... If someone said "Hey wanna come over and play a Samurai game? I've got two forces painted and ready to go!" I would instantly be more interested, simply because it's not something I've had a chance to play before, or see much of.

[joroas]

Hardly game at all, tbh, hence the clearance and lack of interest in visiting shows.....

[Yankeepedlar01]

Hardly game at all, tbh, hence the clearance and lack of interest in visiting shows.....

Sell the bloody lot and take up bird watching or get your arse into gear and do some gaming with what you've got!