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I played/collected Warhammer/40K a few years ago (2006 there or there abouts) and have recently got interested in getting back into it. I was looking for a job at my local GW (having been unemployed since graduating uni) and completed a speculative application. I'd be most interested in collecting (rather than playing) Space Marines and probably creating my own chapter. Has anyone taken a substantial break from collecting before? How difficult is it to get back up to your previous standard of painting? How has the game/hobby changed?

Thanks in advance.

I had a very long break, quiting during 2nd/start of 3rd and got back into it 3 weeks ago, I have gone mad on the buying side and currently have around 2 and half companies of marines!

Never really did much painting before so totally new to that side but the gaming, well the basics are the same from 2nd, even more so then from 06 (4th or 5th i would guess?). And with everyone learning 6th it is probably the best time to get back into it

I took a long break from GW, beginning of 3e all the way to the middle of 5th. When I came back, it had been almost ten years since I had painted a miniature. If anything my painting skills came back better and fairly quickly. I had 2 horribly painted models and an okay one before I was up and running again. I'd say that I can paint at the pro level now, but I'm really slow at it. Before, table top level was doable, but was a push.

 Lobukia wrote:
I took a long break from GW, beginning of 3e all the way to the middle of 5th. When I came back, it had been almost ten years since I had painted a miniature. If anything my painting skills came back better and fairly quickly. I had 2 horribly painted models and an okay one before I was up and running again. I'd say that I can paint at the pro level now, but I'm really slow at it. Before, table top level was doable, but was a push.

I had a similar experience. After taking a long break (missed pretty much all of fourth, and some of 5th), my painting skills increased dramatically in a shorter amount of time. This probably had something to do with me having been around 13 when I started, and I really didn't care about how they looked.

Haha Gimble I'm in the same boat. I didn't understand the concept of thinning my paints at 12.

To the OP, the basics are the same. If you are just interested in collecting, I would just suggest planning out what you want and making purchas one at a time. Or start with the battleforce.

It's really tempting to buy everything you want but then you have a bunch of unnassembled or un painted minis laying around and you can feel overwhelmed. If you got what you want one at a time you can take your time with them and fit it into your schedule without feeling like you have a mountain of hobbying to overcom.

I took a break of about a year and a half and I found after two models, I was back to my old standard of painting. In fact, after all those months, I think I was able to break some of my bad habits and start painting better than I had been before my break.

Setting manageable goals has helped keep my motivation high. I am doing this thing where each month, I pledge to complete at least one unit of Dark Angel-related models to complement what I had purchased in the Dark Vengeance set. One month is plenty to complete one unit, no matter what your schedule looks like, so I'm adhering to it well. When you get to see the progress you have been making, it helps inspire you to finish more!

I dropped out of the hobby completely just before the end of 3rd edition. I had no intention of even getting back into it - I lived a good 90 minute drive from my old regular opponent, who also quit at the same time, and my brother and another friend who live closer stopped playing as well.

About mid 5th edition, I decided to check out GW's website and see if any new Tyranids had been released (I played Salamanders in 3rd because I was unhappy with the visual direction they took Tyranids in), and my jaw dropped when I saw the new plastic Carnifex, Raveners and Gargoyles.

I immediately called my old friend and asked if he wanted to get back into 40k. Luckily, this was about the time the Dark Eldar were being leaked, and he had a small DE army in 3rd and disliked their visual direction as well. So we both restarted with armies we actually wanted back in 3rd edition.

Then I found out my brother and friend closer to me never stopped playing, so I immediately had 3 opponents.

If you have a large disposable income it's a great time to get back into the swing of the hobby. More new units, new sculpts, new rules, flyers in core rules, a lot of fun changes.

If you don't have cash to burn you might want to reconsider. Prices have only climbed while you've been gone.

As far as painting goes I found after my many years break that I came back at about the same painting level and have improved from there.

What are you doing? You got clean and now you you want another round of plastic/ resin crack?!? Hehe!
But seriously, if you have the money, time, desire, and support to do so. At least its now right on the heels of 6th edition being released and several codex in the quick march pipeline.
Quality new sculpts and the like, good as time as any to rejoin the war effort.

ClownPrince wrote:(having been unemployed since graduating uni)

Welcome to the real world...

ClownPrince wrote:Has anyone taken a substantial break from collecting before?

I've taken a few largish breaks. As in, I'll quit halfway through one rules edition and then pick it up halfway through the next. Usually my breaks are a bit shorter than that.

ClownPrince wrote:How difficult is it to get back up to your previous standard of painting? How has the game/hobby changed?

It's not. You'd be surprised how much of it is more or less muscle memory.

The hobby has changed a fair bit since 2006. For one, most metal models have been converted over to the inferior-quality resin of finecast (still look for the metals where you can get them), with the rest of them upgraded to much nicer plastic kits. They're more expensive, but, as mentioned, they're better, and they tend to come with a lot of bitz. Meanwhile, painting has gotten way, way easier. Back in 2006, you had the choice of painting everything by hand, or resorting to gooping the hell out of everything with dipping. Now you've got these things called washes that allow you to basically make an army that looks better than whatever you were able to paint, and have it done in a weekend.

Also, GW has started to get into using 3D modellers for creating new minis. The detail on some of the new models blows everything away.

The game has also changed in this time. Since about the time you left, the tournament scene has exploded. There were always tournaments, but they tended to be sparse in attendance, with relatively few of them, and they were often rolled into something else (like the 40k games at gen con). GW really pushed the tournament scene in 5th ed, and encouraged players to take it as a more serious tactical exercise. The end result, though, enabled a new breed of withering douches to float to the top and, thanks in part to the internet, has changed the way that people approach 40k.

It got so out of control that, well, you have 6th ed. GW made absolutely zero reference to tournaments in the rulebook, while also playing up narrative games. They're now making a conspicuous effort to bring 40k back into the world of the casual, beer and pretzels world again.