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perezba7 wrote:So I have reached the point where I officially have more models in boxes that are not painted than models that are painted and finished.

Does this happen to anyone else? And what should I do, I feel bad because I got all these great ideas and projects in mind but pretty much no time to finish any of them.

So anyway I guess I'm asking at what point should you face the fact that you need to start selling because you can't finish them all?

Just start other game systems, and trade off some to change gears.

If not, then the answer is...

It is about miniature wargaming. collecting miniatures is the thing. You can paint them, sure, but there are more then enough out there that you honestly do not have to stop.

a couple of roads-
1. You can take your unpainted army by army and send them to a painting sevice.
2. You can hire a buddy or two to help you paint by number your rank and files- albet not as pricy as choice 1, but almost wholly effective.
3. Take a vacation, buy a new game system- and start from scratch with a new range. THEN you can pack up your other minis and not look at them, next year- OPEN the box for christmas, and say- geee, thanks for the present, me.
4. put the minis away, pull back on your painting goggles, and just paint a few units at a time, reasonably looking at a couple of months of work, and never buy another model again.
5. buy minis, paint what you want to, when you want to, and not ask silly questions as to when you should be stopping buying minis.


real answer is buy what you like, have fun, and do what you want to. you have to answer your own question by asking if your having fun... or not.

My opinion:

If you haven't painted/assembled/played with what you have yet then it is time to stop. Finish assembling and painting what you already bought before moving on.

That is the golden standard. The reason is this: when you buy that box of minis, you are spending money on it in exchange for a promise - that the purchased models will see GLORY on the table. If you have not assembled and painted them (and played with them) the promise is unfulfilled.

Buying and then not fully enjoying / experiencing what you bought is a form of procrastination. Don't dream of Someday. Experience the GLORY today!

Another way to look at it: why buy it if you are not ready to use it? It can sit on the gamestore shelf or it can sit on your shelf at home. Same thing. Except for this: if it is sitting on the shelf at the gamestore then you have not shelled out for it.

It isn't like the gamestore is totally losing out. You still have to buy paints, primers, brushes, and Greenstuff, after all.

Now if you feel that it is worth spending that $55 for the FEELING you get when you pull it off the gamestore shelf and take it home, well, that's fine. It's your money. But when the heaps of unpainted models at your home just grow and grow (buy 3, paint 1, buy 3, paint 1, buy 5 paint 2) then maybe it is a time to enjoy what you have. After all, you bought it, right? You earned the right to enjoy it, assembly, painting, playing, and all.

I never understand how people have models unassembled. I only buy when i know i haave time to atleast assemble them.

I leave a box of things unbuilt because if I dont feel like painting I can do something else.

I recently stopped so I can catch up on painting.. But i have close to 20K in orcs.. lol.. So I need to quit for a lil while lmao..

Stop buying? After my funeral!

I wish I had an answer for you, but unfortunately I am desperately in need of this info myself!

filbert wrote:
Myself, I have to consciously remind myself not to buy more stuff because quite frankly, I have enough unpainted stuff to last me several decades.

Same here. Ive had only 4 days off in the last 47 days. Needless to say the minis I bought just before this burst of work havent been touched. I constantly see new ones I want, but have been good about not getting to many more until I assemble/paint the ones Ive got...or store away the older ones. Out of sight out of mind...

As someone who just purchased 50 Death Cult assassins and 50 Crusaders for his GK army I honestly have no answer. Up until those purchases was doing rather good not buying anything but paint and foam. I've got enough models (including non gaming) at this point to paint until I die if I retired tomorrow.

I currently plan on getting all the GK auxiliary units done then working off the ~300 models I've primed/half painted all around the house. I've recently been able to up my painting output by settling for a "table top then wash" quality.

I'm going to start turning my usual GW spending back into paints and foam purchases, assuming I can stay away from the 3rd party models and bits sites.

I took all of my nids out of their cases today and totaled up what still needs to be painted.

28 termagaunts
16 hormagaunts
12 gargoyles

Partially painted:
1 Tyrannofex
3 warriors
8 genestealers

yeah i need to take a break from buying and finish this list first.

you should quit when you have in excess if 290 assembled unpainted ..... wait is that a DA legal flyer from FW........f it TAKE MY MONEY NOW...

never give up never stop buying

Hmm, Out of minis to paint.
See i have the opposite problem, not enough to paint.

hotsauceman1 wrote:I never understand how people have models unassembled. I only buy when i know i haave time to atleast assemble them.

They store easier in boxes.

This is coming from someone who is (I think) 80-90% painted.

Begel Dverl wrote:When it comes out in Finecast.

How very true Sir.

I know when to stop buying miniatures because... my wife tells me.

Hey guys thanks for the advice, I have decided to just stop buying, start painting and sell some of the boxed items

Look at what you have paint what you want. If you think you will get round to painting it keep it. If you don't sell it.

I've only been in the hobby a short time, but like everyone, i've had the crazy urges to slash out on something new.

When i see some fresh inspiration or get an idea for a new army, i'll start planning it out (rules, what units i like, some background, colour schemes)

BUT! I wont buy anything. I'll force myself not to. I wait, and wait, until the enthusiasm fades. Only if and when i get that enthusiasm back, will i buy models.

For example, I started with GW by buying some Eldar. Played them some, painted about 50%. Started getting the urge for a sisters army. Didnt buy anything. Lost interest. Got my Eldar mojo back. Then the sisters poped up again in my mind (afew months later) So i splashed out on it. Thats how i tell if i'm actually interested in something.

Impulse buying was an enemy in my past. I've learnt from it =) If i keep coming back to idea's, i know it's not just "OOOOO SHINY" syndrome.

That's just me =)

Selling armys is bad mmmmmmkayyyy.
Look I still have some squat that I cant use but I keep just for display and use them for ratlings if im bored of the standard rattling squads I use. To sell a whole army is a hard thing because you put time and effort and are not getting that back. Sure you will get mabye a little bit of the money back but your time and effort wont be back. If you have extra models I suggest getting some orks and doing conversions for fun or just converting in general. If you just dont want to use them in the current setting just try apocalypse or special game rules. We do what is called slingshoting and split four thousand point up between my friend and I and by the twenty minutes and I was his reinforcements. The other guy we face starts off with all his units for example. anyway getting off track, but things like this really help you remeber what was so special and armys are always being upgraded and down graded because of codex releases even if it is not there own codex. Go down to you game store play your armys as much as you can in many diffrent game types and just try to have fun on it. For unfinished models however just simply put thrity minutes a day into painting and by a month you will be finished with alot of work. I did this and ended up from 10k chaos daemons and plague marines to 14ish thousand points of chaos daemons and plague marines.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

perezba7 wrote:Hey guys thanks for the advice, I have decided to just stop buying, start painting and sell some of the boxed items

What dont sell it all D:

Painting a unit/kit a month I have enough models to keep me busy till January 2014........

Yet I still buy more each month.

It's a serious addiction. I need help.

When you have too much stuff to fit in your apartment, get a bigger one. When you outgrow that one, get a house. It's like being a hermit crab outgrowing its shell, but with tiny plastic men.

Brother SRM wrote:When you have too much stuff to fit in your apartment, get a bigger one. When you outgrow that one, get a house. It's like being a hermit crab outgrowing its shell, but with tiny plastic men.

Don't say things like that. It rings a bit too true. I was talking to my wife about why we needed to move house the other day, and one of the reasons was that we needed a room just for my minis and her craft stuff. Worrying...

I personally don't stop. Ever. I'll always have unbuilt kits so I can switch it up when I want to. Something's always going to catch my eye. Last week it was RagingHeroes, last year it was Avatars of War, last night it was about $220 USD in Forgeworld.

When my last GF said she thought I loved miniatures more than her I politely reminded her that she was the one batting me away when I was "bothering her" when she was trying to read...and she spent more on books then I did on minis...and more time reading than I ever did assembling/painting/playing. Last GF was a total feminist, women's lit, book nerd....so...much...Jane...Austen. Even BBC weekend festivals.

The spending won't always be obscene, but it'll always be around. Don't stop till you drop!

I thought this phenomenon may be well explained using memes...



This is pretty much my approach to buying and painting minis

Tibbsy wrote:I thought this phenomenon may be well explained using memes...

Spoiler:

This is pretty much my approach to buying and painting minis

lol sir roflmfao

I stopped buying when I realized I had no floor space to the right of my bed. Time to assemble, paint and stack in smaller boxes. When mySM company was almost done I had floor space again so I got orks...now I need to get them going to get the floor space back

It's a wonderful cycle.

perezba7 wrote:So anyway I guess I'm asking at what point should you face the fact that you need to start selling because you can't finish them all?

perezba7 wrote:So I have reached the point where I officially have more models in boxes that are not painted than models that are painted and finished.

You answered your own question.

But it's not quite that simple. If someone is just starting and only has one squad painted and three unopened, then I wouldn't say they need to stop.

However, if someone has 3000pts of Space Marines, of which only 1500 are assembled and only 500 of that painted, I would say you probably shouldn't buy any more models.

However it is ultimately your money and your life, so, do what you will. Just don't bitch when your wife leaves you.

After you have foolishly sold your army and used the funds to make yet another.

Alas. I'd have two CSM armies, a Imperial Guard army a Dark Eldar army, a Dwarf army and a small Warrior's of Chaos force. On top of the three armies I have. Not counting my Khador, which i've retired.

All varying from 2000 to 800 points.

Ok so I actually haven't sold anything yet and probably won't, my collection still fits into five small boxes, but you all motivated me to get a long standing project rolling, check out my landraider proteus