Let's talk for a moment about the Colorful Tide. (Wow! Look at how much darker that bunker looks in this photo.)
A lot of miniature painters will often joke about their piles of shame. i.e. The unpainted miniatures that languish in their collections, sometimes for years, even as they continue to accumulate even more models. These piles of shame can accumulate for a lot of reasons. Sometimes we buy a new model out of fear it won't be available again in the near future (fear of missing out), we might lose interest in a half-finished project because it's tedious or not turning out as expected, or we abandon one project, temporarily I'm sure, in favor of something new and exciting, and sometimes we just buy new models without thinking of all the unfinished projects we have at home. (I have bought duplicate models on accident, forgetting it was already languishing in a box back at home.)
What I don't see being discussed is what we actually do with our completed projects. Ostensibly these models are going to be used for gaming or perhaps put on display, so the answer seems quite obvious, but if you paint for long enough you're going to face a tsunami of color. What do you do when space becomes an issue? What do you do with miniatures for a game you're no longer interested in playing? Obviously you could just sell them or even give them away, but I'm finding it difficult to do that from a psychological point of view.
Like a lot of other hobbyist, I started painting because of gaming. First with those old Ral Partha models for
Dungeons & Dragons, then with (Ral Partha again) mechs for
Battletech, and continued with a lot of games like
Warhammer, Warzone, Clan War, and likely a few other games I've forgotten. For me, the primary hobby was gaming, and having painted miniatures the ambiance. Over the years though, I've come to the realization that I spend more time painting than I do actually playing any particular game, and even though I use my models for games, I'm primarily painting just for the sake of painting.
I'm running out of space. I've got a not-so-fancy metal shelf festooned with painted miniatures, a nice cabinet filled with miniatures, and I've even got a few miniatures on display out in the living room (my poor, poor wife). That's not even taking into account my pile of shame. As far as gaming goes, there are probably miniatures I'll never use again. I haven't played a game of Warhammer 40k since 2022, and I can't keep up with the constant rule changes, so it's unlikely I'll ever play again. And not to be too morbid, but I'm closer to the end of my life than the beginning, and I can't in good conscience burden my next-of-kin with stuff they won't want.
It's time to pare down my collection, which is simple enough but I'm finding it difficult to do. I've actually thrown away a few rather low quality miniatures from my pile of shame I knew I'd never paint, but I haven't been able to get rid of anything I've painted. The way I see it, I poured a bit of myself into every model I painted. My Imperial Knight didn't just cost me a bit of money, I spent time figuring out how I wanted to paint them, I worked on my technique, and I ended up with a complete army. This is always going to be a problem whether I'm selling, giving away, or even throwing my miniatures in the garbage.
My FLGS has a miniatures "swap" meet where other people buy your miniatures and you get store credit. I think I'll start paring my collection that way. I've got plenty of Necrons and Imperial Guard that someone will snap up. I'm not unrealistic, so I'll price them below retail. I'm also going to start finding more reasons to start giving away miniatures to other gamers. Maybe when I run a game for strangers at a con I'll just surprise them all with a miniature each. Unless I want to down in a tsunami of minis, I'm going to have to send them somewhere downriver.
Does anyone else have too many miniatures? I'm sure this might be a problem for others when it comes to books, dice, or any other part of their gaming hobby.
