My mini fetish, or When is enough, enough?

I love the new D&D minis. As a DM who enjoys using the battlemat but has neither the time nor the inclination to paint loads of monsters, I did backflips of pure glee when I first heard about the plastic minis. Not because they were randomly packaged - that stinks. Not because of the character minis - those are uniformly terrible. No, because of the oogles of monsters I could gather to throw against my players. So I'd have the official(tm) monsters, straight out of the Monster Manual! So I could point to a mini and say "You see that! It looks exactly like THAT!! And there are twelve of them!"

Perhaps I've gone overboard. I now own close to 800 minis, mostly multiples of critters. I have 40-something hobgoblins, 20+ troglodytes, 30ish orcs. Five manticores. A dozen dretch. Four bone devils, to complement my quatrain of vrocks. And on and on. I'm completely obsessed. Whenever I see a cool monster come out, such as the hill giant, I say to myself, "I need at least two of those. No, wait, maybe three or four. Actually, I can imagine a scenario wherein my PCs face eight of these at least. Yeah, I better get eight." So I buy eight. Or twelve. Or forty.

I love my collection. I cackle with private joy over which minis I'll use each session. I plan out encounters using minis (which ones, how many) in detail. I plot for future idyllic (for me, at least) scenarios wherein I can use dozens of my minis at once. I scan messageboards weekly for any news on upcoming sets (anyone have the word on Aberrations yet? I hunger.)

My girlfriend worries. She says I'm obsessed. "Don't you have enough?" she often asks.

"No," I reply. "It's never enough. I will never fill this void. I must have them all. Except for the Human Commoner, from the Harbinger set, which was a waste of Chinese child labor that could have been put to more productive use assembling succubi or kobold sorcerers."

I suspect that I might have a problem.

Is your girlfriend about to leave you? Are you going to loose your job?

I wouldnt go that far, but it's your money and your time.

You may have a problem organizing, storing, and transporting them though.

Logistics is usually more of a problem than obsession.

Here you go: info on soft addictions. I think everyone on this board suffers from them, and not just with minis.

I'd say yeah, you are a crack fiend. But take comfort in knowing that you aren't the only one out there.

When I went to buy some GoL minis for the first time, I plopped down three boxes on the counter. The girl looked at me funny. " Just three huh?"
Seems that most folks are buying them by the case these days.

If you feel the need to kick your addiction by getting rid of all your minis, I'll happily take them off your hands.

ForceUser said:

"No," I reply. "It's never enough. I will never fill this void. I must have them all."

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Sounds like fun. I wish I had this kind of burning passion for something in the hobby. I'm still enjoying myself, but I yearn for those crazy days when I could not wait for the next release of a product. It does not sound like your addiction is a drag, it sounds like it is still inspiring you. That's a good thing.

If it's causing friction with your S/O you might come to an understanding about how much and when you will buy figs, but other than that - keep it going man!

I'm addicted to minis too

I too have fallen prey to this addiction. I find myself thinking I MUST have one of each mini, and multiples of each that I might possibly ever need. The addiction wouldn't be so bad if the rares didn't go for such a high price on ebay. I've spent hundreds of dollars on the minis this month alone. And what is worst, now that I have all these minis, I now MUST also have the Dwarven Forge rooms, passages, caverns, etc. to put my minis in. I just put in my first order and I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Now I MUST play more D&D to get use out of all this stuff.

zoroaster100 said:

Now I MUST play more D&D to get use out of all this stuff.

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Ain't that the rub. :\

Buying 8 hill giants? That seems like a rediculous waste of 'teh $$$.' I've bought a case of Archfiends and Giants of Legend, and a half case of Dragonseye and Harbinger. I'll likely buy half-cases of all the following sets. But I wouldn't be buying these if I was actually worried about getting some number of a certain mini. It's all about bulk content to me.

my hat of the d02 WotC minis knows no limit

and yet i have around 1000 of them

i have been buying less and less with each new set.

60 sets of Harbinger
40 sets of Dragoneye
25 sets of Archfiends

and i have 3 sets of GoL in the mail right now.

plus i won/ picked up a few at Gen Con last year. and bought a couple individual ones from a few sites.


at least it has calmed my dice buying habit.

The miniatures are great but when I moved, I lost a lot of space so I cut way back on the miniature buying until I can figure out a new plan of attack. (And I paint miniatures too so it's twice as bad for me!)