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i have only been playing for 2 -2.5 years and yet i still got 10k of marines and other armies, it fills my room up soooo much!

By the way, I've been collecting for close to 25 years. I still have some of my old beakie marines and some dwarves from the original 60-figure box.

I've been collecting for 22 years and have a stupidly large collection, I dread to think how much money I have spent during that time.

At present I have the majority of my stuff stored in boxes under the bed, in the garage, at my mums place and in the conservatory which I have commandered as my personal gentlemans retreat. Even with all this space I find my collection not only in a chaotic organisational state but also encroaching into other areas of the house, much to the missus' disgust!

Both myself and the missus are avid collecters, for me it's my little toy soldiers and books, for her it is also books and dvd's. We have decided that when we come to buy our next house we will need a room for us, a couple of rooms for potential offspring, a guest room, a library, a cinema room and also some sort of man cave. With this in mind both of us have and will continue to work our arses off until we either win the lottery or an unknown wealthy relation karks it and leaves us small fortune.

Loving the responses so far.

Do any of you have pics of your display/storage solutions?

15 years for me.

malfred wrote:
Do any of you have pics of your display/storage solutions?

Have some of these:



And before someone asks(cause someone always does when I post that picture), no, I don't know where to get them.

I just get boxes for filing papers and put foam trays in them. They are stackable and don't take up too much space.

Big card boxes for collections...box for infinity, box for confrontation metals, several for GW etc... when it gets to crowded ( and it eventually gets that way quickly) I sell or give away some... Not the best option but hey I only have a lifetime and Im already packed with models for several lifes.

2nd bedroom in the flat, became my 'man-cave', plus a library for all the rpg's me and the missus have.

Part of buying the place was - Man Cave and living room big enough to host our 9 man regular d&d/rpg/board game nights.

Past year or two, I've been trying to slim down on model purchases and sell off a lot I don't or am ever likely to use - of course it all seems to get spent on more stuff I might use

Been collecting since 1987.

I have 5 Titans, including an Imperator, 40K scale.

30K in Marines.

I use my bedroom, and a 1 port Garage for the rest.

NEVER sell mini's - as you never know when you'll want to crack them out again!!

And Infurita - I LOVED the old Space Marines Box - All Green Beakies

Ive been in the gaming & modeling hobby for almost 20 years now.

The oldest thing I have is a model tank from about 17 years ago.

Back in the mid 90s I bought a bunch of 40k figures, mostly the CSM from that period. I have no idea what happened to them.

I had a huge collection of Battletech miniatures from the early-mid 90s...over 100 mechs. Many are now OOP and a good number were conversions. When I met my wife I figured my gaming days were over, so I gave them away. Huge mistake as a few years later i got back into gaming.

If I still had every bit of gaming product Ive ever bought I would have to rent a storage room for it all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Earthbeard wrote:
Past year or two, I've been trying to slim down on model purchases and sell off a lot I don't or am ever likely to use - of course it all seems to get spent on more stuff I might use

Dont feel bad, I repeat that same pattern frequently.

I have a few bits I want to get rid of but I just cannot bear to part with any of my core armies. Piss on that.

I think i bought my first box of Guardians back in 1998 iirc. Sad to say, i can't brag about being a collector, since it's been very much on-off...
- It's really first resently i i decided to pick up the hobby for good!

EDIT:
Learning that some people have been active hobbists for more than 20 years is kinda touchy! Hands down for you guys - really!

I have a small gaming room (just big enough for a 6 x 4 table, and model/book shelves), but then i have a gaming wife too (all flavours of pointy eared xenos). She's not as rabid as I am about gaming, but we play a game every now and then as time and kids allow. The game room is also the D and D (pathfinder) room, which is her rabid hobby focus

I think I'm on year 13.

I may get driven out of town for this, but in a fit of cleaning I threw large portions of my 2nd/3rd edition Eldar and Tryannids in the trash.

Some of my minis are in storage with other people, some are with me, and I expect one box is on a container ship crossing the Pacific ocean right now.

I don't see much use in holding onto finished minis I don't intend to use or don't expect to make money selling. But for some reason I can't drive myself to throw away unused bits. I probably have as many bits as I have finished models at the moment.

Its been about 15 years for me. I had 6 Space Marine, 3 Imperial Guard, and 1 Ork army all at least 3000 points. The Crimson Fists were an entire Battle Company with extras. I had Orc, Empire, High Elf, and Dark Elf armies, same size as 40k. I have every 40k codex since 1st edition and rule books. I have most WFB codices. My collection filled 2 floor to ceiling book cases, You dont want to know about White Dwarf magazines. My wife forced me to sell off all my "little guys" before I could by new ones. The hell of it is, Ive never played a game in my life.

Before I was married, I had 2 filing cabinets that were sized for computer punch cards.. Something like a dozen drawers in 6 feet of height, and each drawer contained an army. I had 7 WHFB armies, 6 40k armies, plus a couple of Lego Knight armies.. terrain, Battlemechs, etc..

ALL unpainted. Some primed.

Met my future wife, and when she didn't run screaming from the masses of minis, knew she was a keeper.

Then she put her foot down and told me that I would be "allowed" to continue collecting them when the balance had shifted to 50% or more completely painted. Right there that alone got me to thin the collection down to one army per system, and only now, after 15 years married, am I about at the original quantity level.

Wish I still had the file cabinets though..

But.. I have been a gamer/collector since mid-80's at least.. lets say 23 years or so..

-P

JOHIRA wrote:I may get driven out of town for this, but in a fit of cleaning I threw large portions of my 2nd/3rd edition Eldar and Tryannids in the trash.

Why? A lot of those are trash compared to what they have now.

the second edition stuff, maybe. like the warriors, yeeech! but a lot of good bug models came out of third. the beetle back carnifex, current warriors which were probably the single biggest aesthetic upgrade in the history of models. even the gaunts were all a huge increase in the models for third.

I've been going since '93. I've collected 15 different armies, and sold 7 of em. That comes out to like an army a year almost, but most of those armies were just a few units that I got to paint thinking I'd build a big army around and decided I'd never get to it so I sold em.

So right now I have like 8 armies, and I get to play maybe 2-3 times a year

But, as far as model management goes... I live in a 1 bedroom condo so space is kinda a premium, but I have some big built-in closets in my living room. One of them has my modeling/painting table inside it so I can close off the nerd stuff when company comes over. I store almost all of my models in army transport trays so I have very few models just laying around, and when I do play I can pretty much just grab the trays for my army and go.

So I think if you're having trouble keeping things organized and don't have any cabinets to display stuff in, invest in one of the foam bag transport options out there and stick to it, store all your trays on shelves or in a closet. I'd have probably done battlefoam if they were around when I first started, but I have everything in sabol bags now and that's what I'll stick with.

40kFSU wrote:Its been about 15 years for me. I had 6 Space Marine, 3 Imperial Guard, and 1 Ork army all at least 3000 points. The Crimson Fists were an entire Battle Company with extras. I had Orc, Empire, High Elf, and Dark Elf armies, same size as 40k. I have every 40k codex since 1st edition and rule books. I have most WFB codices. My collection filled 2 floor to ceiling book cases, You dont want to know about White Dwarf magazines. My wife forced me to sell off all my "little guys" before I could by new ones.

The hell of it is, Ive never played a game in my life.

Yikes. Meet some people and play a game, man!
____

malfred wrote:

JOHIRA wrote:I may get driven out of town for this, but in a fit of cleaning I threw large portions of my 2nd/3rd edition Eldar and Tryannids in the trash.

Why? A lot of those are trash compared to what they have now.

The old Nids were pretty goofy, but the 2E / 3E Eldar really weren't bad. I'm still quite satisfied with mine.

I have converted several bookshelves to hold models. It is enjoyable, I think, to be able to see what you have on display. Inspiring!

Platuan4th wrote:15 years for me.

malfred wrote:
Do any of you have pics of your display/storage solutions?

Have some of these:



And before someone asks(cause someone always does when I post that picture), no, I don't know where to get them.

Taxes will be back in a week or so and I will be on the hunt for a decent display cabinet. SOmething like that would be good, but Im thinking a bit bigger. I dont want wall mount. Must be glass/clear front though...keep the cats away from my stuff.

Mad4Minis wrote:Taxes will be back in a week or so and I will be on the hunt for a decent display cabinet. SOmething like that would be good, but Im thinking a bit bigger. I dont want wall mount. Must be glass/clear front though...keep the cats away from my stuff.

Buy a China cabinet - available at furniture stores everywhere...



This is a 10' mahogany china cabinet - available immediately. I wouldn't mind one like this for my stuff...

JohnHwangDD wrote:

40kFSU wrote:Its been about 15 years for me. I had 6 Space Marine, 3 Imperial Guard, and 1 Ork army all at least 3000 points. The Crimson Fists were an entire Battle Company with extras. I had Orc, Empire, High Elf, and Dark Elf armies, same size as 40k. I have every 40k codex since 1st edition and rule books. I have most WFB codices. My collection filled 2 floor to ceiling book cases, You dont want to know about White Dwarf magazines. My wife forced me to sell off all my "little guys" before I could by new ones.

The hell of it is, Ive never played a game in my life.

Yikes. Meet some people and play a game, man!
____

No kidding, thats what the guys at my local GW store are always saying. Something always seems to get in the way, maybe one day.

40kFSU wrote:

JohnHwangDD wrote:

40kFSU wrote:The hell of it is, Ive never played a game in my life.

Yikes. Meet some people and play a game, man!

No kidding, thats what the guys at my local GW store are always saying. Something always seems to get in the way, maybe one day.

Dude, get a 500-pt list together, and just play a pick-up game against one of the redshirts or just someone who's cool to talk to.

19 years and counting... sticking stuff in boxes is a good start, as is leaving all the stuff i dont really want at my parents house.

Selling stuff on e-bay works too, although not if you then re-invest it in more models!

Lots of shelves, I like to decorate according to army each shelf so that it matches or gives the illusion of background. No pics alas I am in between projects at the moment.

Also when a game dies I try to keep the minis but eventually it gets frustrating carrying minis around I will never use so into the dumpster they go.

examples:
Vor
Clan War
Magic
Chronopia

ahhh the list can go on and on and on

Hmmm, let's see now. I think I've been going strong for 33 - 34 years now. Still have some of my very first D&D figs from WAYYYY back in the day! Most of my stuff is in foam trays that are then stored in plastic storage tubs. I think at last count there were about 12 of them (16 playable armies, along with LaTD & 131th Company - somewhaere in the neiborhood of 8000+ figs, as well as titans and superheavies) and I currently need more foam and another tub or 2. I tape lists to the outside of the tub, so that when I want to play a particular army, I can find it quickly, pull out what I want, put the trays into my Sabol cases or GW cases and roll. Works pretty well.

Started in 1981.
Been collecting guard since
Was insanely into Space Marine and Classic Epic.
Has been into FB off and on (and sold it when in off mode).

The fine things are in a 5 case barrister bookcase, the works in progress in my art studio (I fine-art draw and paint, also).
Completed stuff is boxed and on shelves in my basement.

Prior to becoming the 2nd ex-MrsCommodorePerry, back when she liked me, she made me an awesome carrying case for my guard tanks 4X2X2 with carring straps, custome cut foam etc. The tanks only leave that when playing.

Commodore Perry.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Mad4Minis wrote:Taxes will be back in a week or so and I will be on the hunt for a decent display cabinet. SOmething like that would be good, but Im thinking a bit bigger. I dont want wall mount. Must be glass/clear front though...keep the cats away from my stuff.

Buy a China cabinet - available at furniture stores everywhere...



This is a 10' mahogany china cabinet - available immediately. I wouldn't mind one like this for my stuff...

These or some of the Ikea Lighted Cabinets. I don't have any, but the Transformer collectors on Seibertron swear by them.