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Here are some tips I have for getting things painted:
http://adventuresinminiaturegaming.blogspot.com/2016/06/painting-tips-for-rest-of-us.html

I still need to eliminate a massive backlog of miniatures that I will never paint, but what finally stopped me from continuing the clutter was two maxims:

Just because a model is cool doesn't mean I need one. Not only would I buy a cool model because it was cool, I would try to figure out what army to build based on letting me take that cool model. I finally forced myself to recognize that I don't need to buy a model just because I like it.

Pick a favorite. At one point, I had (just for 40K) Necrons, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, Iyanden Eldar, Space Wolves, and IG. Despite the fact that I liked (and still like) a lot of those armies, I decided what my favorite was (orks) and stopped buying anything for any other army. It is arbitary, yes, but it has worked. Even my game store owner knows that if it's not Orks, I'm not buying it.

If you are a fast painter, or a small army collector, you might not need either of those. If you just buy to assemble and paint, they may not even be meaningful. But they helped me stop the cluttering (and I'm starting to winnow down the existing clutter).

 SpinCycleDreadnought wrote:
Guys, I appreciate the feedback but I'm after advice that leans towards not hoarding, how to determine what I want to keep and so on rather than ploughing through a project. I just plain don't have enough time to paint through and play everything. Really want to declutter, downsize and not OOH SHINY!!! impulse purchase on minis/projects that's lead to this happening. Gotta minimise the mountain rather than turn Mount Grey Plastic into Mount Painted Plastic. The video link Zedmeister linked is exactly how I feel ^^;

Currently have sitting around to...sit around:

40k: Space marines and some chaos
Infinity: Pan-O, Nomads, N3 rulebook and 2nd edition artbook
Mordheim: Witch hunters, Sisters of Sigmar, Amazons
WHFB: Huge chaos army
AoS: Some of the above chaos
Random minis from multiple ranges.

And that's just off the top of my head

Given that it's almost the Christmas season it's probably not the best time to try and clear stuff out, but I'm leaning towards a huge clean out in the near future or check out the dakka swap page. Something anyhow.

I don't know, I'd figure Christmas is a good time to get rid of stuff - gamers tend to buy presents for themselves because other folks don't seem to "get it" and give them socks and stuff.

Everything in that "Random minis from multiple ranges" - sell it; if they're not important enough to you to note the game system/range they're for, it sounds like you're not extremely attached to them and they should be first on your list to purge.

As for the others, I would suggest keeping maybe one or two armies per game at most. Go back and review what you have played in the last year. If you haven't actually used it, strongly consider purging it. That goes for individual models/units as well as armies.

As the others have mentioned, keep only your current project in arm's reach and in view. For everything else that's still gray plastic, put it in low-cost plastic bins or other storage containers in another area. Possibly stacked in order with the next project on top on downward. Put a date on the bins; if they get to be a year old or more before you get to them, consider purging that particular project.

I just bought more plastic crack. :( Thing is I bought another Overwatch box set since I am thinking I might not be able to get another copy in 2 or 3 months from now, so bought so I don't have to buy the Genestealers separately. So it's more pre-emptive savings.

I've gotten rid of everything that doesn't light a fire in me to build, paint, and play with. That's helped to alleviate the overwhelmed feeling that I used to get and I enjoy working on my models when I have the time.

Recently I have found behavior at the local FLGS rather supportive with this issue:

- The guys are actually "excited" to see my progress each week (late night game night Mondays), so-far I am the "fastest" guy getting an army built and at least block-painted (no shade or edging as of yet).
- They ask me what are the next model(s) I will build / paint further and are looking to see it come Monday.

I am both gratified for the interest and it is a challenge to not disappoint expectations.
I am rather confused on who I am doing this work for...

Besides being "new blood" for this one game, the guys with the insanely well painted armies are actively wanting to play me because progress is being shown so my models are great in their eyes. Funny how human nature works.

The problem is addressing the plastic crack in back-log with a less supportive player-base.
Needless to say, the "two games a year" armies start getting dust on their storage tote.

Do as I did, give it all away or sell it. If that fails you can always just toss them out, no point in having heaps of plastic just laying about

You could also consider playing a game in a smaller scale. I mean, it does absolutely nothing for the number of models (it probably means more models actually) but they *do* take up less space.

Hey guys, I've done a bit of cataloguing (and tried to offload some of the smaller lots to no avail - stupid holidays grr ) but I've managed to narrow down what I want to keep:

-AoS ogres. Not counting gnoblars it's 28 miniatures. Unsure on gaming but at least it's a great way to practice skin tones and I'm enjoying painting them, so they'll be kept for now.

-WHFB orc and goblin army. Most of this is still on sprue, but Mork (and most definitely Gork) have a special place in my hobbying heart. Once I get a dedicated hobby space, I'll assemble and paint them all to be a display army.

-All my Malifaux. I play regularly and enjoy all aspects of the game- background, minis, rules. Painting it coming a long way too and my local henchman has "fully painted crew+ summons" raffles to encourage painting. There is stuff I don't use, but there's a newbie-friendly tournament soon so I'll donate that stuff if it gets new blood into the game.

While I made recent purchases for 30k stuff, it's not lighting a fire anymore. I feel a tad foolish for getting stuff that I know I'm not going to use, but thems the breaks I guess. A learning experience in army project management. Might as well get some money back as opposed to no money back. Definitely was going to be a 'two games a year' army. Everything else can hit ebay in the new year as it's getting too close to holidays to muck about with shipping (plus it gives time to hold onto boxes and the like).

Paint it.

Or do what I do most of the time...shove it in a cupboard and forget it exists.

Make a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to buy anything until your current project is finished. It doesn't matter what you see for sale, it's not worth anything if it's just going to sit in the box in your house.

Egyptian Space Zombie wrote:
Make a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to buy anything until your current project is finished. It doesn't matter what you see for sale, it's not worth anything if it's just going to sit in the box in your house.

actually my stuff sits in tubs, and oh so much to build and paint.

Egyptian Space Zombie wrote:
Make a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to buy anything until your current project is finished. It doesn't matter what you see for sale, it's not worth anything if it's just going to sit in the box in your house.

One of my yearly goals is to paint more then I buy. It’s less harsh then an absolute ban, but in theory keeps the Pile of Shame shrinking, rather then growing.

My big problem the last two years has been the Heresy boxes. Last year I was well on track for my goal, but Betrayal at Calth dropped onto my lap late in the year with an extra 38 models. I probably could have pushed enough stuff across my bench to make the goal, but felt that it would impact the quality of my work, and decided to take it slow and enjoy the process. I haven’t crunched the numbers for this year yet. Burning of Prospero might have sunk me again, but on the other hand, I’ve been painting a lot faster this year, so might be ahead of the game.

Another problem with the “There can be only one!” idea is the process pipe. From the time I decide to buy something to when it can be painted is not instantaneous. Do they have it in stock at the FLGS, or will it need to be ordered? (a week or so delivery and me getting there to pick it up) Then I need to dither on how I want to build it, cut parts, clean mold lines, magnetize, etc. But the big wall for me is I spray prime with a rattle can. So if a project is not built, primed, and ready in to to-paint pile by mid-fall, I might not get a chance to paint it until spring. So I need a pile of stuff squirreled away for the winter. And it might take over a month for me to get from “want to buy” to “ready for the brush"

Egyptian Space Zombie wrote:
Make a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to buy anything until your current project is finished. It doesn't matter what you see for sale, it's not worth anything if it's just going to sit in the box in your house.

I tried that. Then I saw an Overkill boxset, $150 Canadian, couldn't pass that up since I wanted the leaders again and was not willing to pay $70 Canadian just for those 3 minis. So bought the box set for future savings. And now I know I have four more aberants (spelling?) and not worry about missing out on them as well.

What i feel works for me is to only work at one project at the time and not move forward from something half finished. This means i had to throw a few half painted plastic minis that probably never would get done. The metals i cleaned.
So now i only have either unpainted miniatures or 1 working project. Nothing half.
I also started viewing the unpainted miniatures as a collecting thing that does not decrease in value but usually stay in value and sometimes increase.
So now i have all my collection packed away, sorted in boxes, out of sight, except what i am working on.

 chromedog wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
I won't play with stuff until it is painted...

I did the same thing but it just led me to not playing a game for about 3 years straight while I was getting an army together

I just played smaller games.
With 40k - you can play kill team at small points. It's one unit for the most part, from what I understand.

Otherwise, it still took me about a year to get that first force painted. Buy unit, assemble and paint (and DO NOT BUY MORE until this step is done).
You have to establish a working method first. Do that and it all falls into place like jenga ...

Yeah part of my problem was I sold the first army which was painted poorly. The 2nd army I just started by painting the things I liked. Took me a few months to paint a unit of Gargoyles, a few months to paint a Trygon, got bored and took a few months break...

...before I knew it a couple of years had passed and I still hadn't painted a legal Tyranid army (no HQ and only 1 troop choice)

These days I've mostly given up trying to paint a new army. The few armies I had each took several years before they even hit the table top.

I'm the worst though, I paint slowly in terms of time it takes to finish each model AND I'm impatient and get bored after painting more than about 5 of the same model, not really conducive to getting an army done

I decided I wasn't going to buy any more models until I finished my Space Hulk set, that was over a year ago now and I've only completed 3 Terminators and 1 Genestealer

Sell it or stop buying it until you've actually completed projects is the best way I reduce clutter.

Social painting nights also helped me get through a lot of stuff relatively quickly. It helps to be encouraged as you go.

If you don't need to money and you have sufficient storage space I would suggest simply keeping your stuff. You never know when that project that you half finished 10 years ago suddenly piques your interest again, even for games that you don't play anymore.

I keep all my stuff for this reason and I really regret getting rid of my Ork army with all its 2nd ed and RT models....

As for managing the pile the only way to do that effectively is to only buy what you will actually use and buy in batches small enough that you paint them before you get any more models. I only field fully painted models as well.

Whatever you do don't buy an entire army at once!

I used to have a hoard of unpainted models but at the moment all I have are 4 grey plastic vehicles for my Bolt Action Germans (I have just finished painting the infantry) and some Dropfleet PHR which I have currently half finished. Whatever you do don't buy an entire army at once!

Put a beer in the fridge.

When you have listed 10 boxes on ebay, drink the beer.

Repeat daily.

stroller wrote:
Put a beer in the fridge.

When you have listed 10 boxes on ebay, drink the beer.

Repeat daily.

Not dissimilar to my technique.

Put 12 beers in the fridge.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Forget miniatures exist.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Drink a beer.
Repeat Daily.

 Easy E wrote:
Social painting nights also helped me get through a lot of stuff relatively quickly. It helps to be encouraged as you go.

Good shout - can you drop into a local games store / cafe and do some painting? I might try and get some lunchtime painting done soon.

I've always found a good way to do it is to try and ignore new shiny model syndrome. 99% of the stuff that comes out will be available for years. Put a 2-3 month wait on what you want and finish other stuff first. If you still have that desire after that time, you know you'll want to get involved and work on that project rather than it just being a flash in the pan and ending up with more sprues dumped in the wardrobe somewhere.