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So I've been into miniwargames for almost a decade now and it's come to the point where I don't really have the time or other players to actually play games anymore, in fact I've sold off most of my partially painted and assembled armies. But I've found myself really missing the hobby part of all this and I am strongly considering building a cohesive well built and painted force to put on display. However, despite the fact that I know I may never get to game with the force of my choice (which is still up in the air, I've been considering many factions from many different games) I still find myself having a hard time even considering buying things that I know are weaker in whatever game they are a part of, it's a strange thought process that I can't shake after all the years of having it.

Anyone else around here made this transition? How'd you go about it?

Dioramas. Thats how im gonna carry on when the gaming ends one day (if it does).

Gives you the hobby aspect with a sense of purpose beyond collecting.

Plenty of people just do modelling. It is a long standing hobby for figures and vehicle models too. Lots of support.

Zatsuku wrote:
So I've been into miniwargames for almost a decade now and it's come to the point where I don't really have the time or other players to actually play games anymore, in fact I've sold off most of my partially painted and assembled armies. But I've found myself really missing the hobby part of all this and I am strongly considering building a cohesive well built and painted force to put on display. However, despite the fact that I know I may never get to game with the force of my choice (which is still up in the air, I've been considering many factions from many different games) I still find myself having a hard time even considering buying things that I know are weaker in whatever game they are a part of, it's a strange thought process that I can't shake after all the years of having it.

Anyone else around here made this transition? How'd you go about it?

Then choose a game where OP unit/models isn't a big issue. If you really worred about playing someday in the unforseen future. Infinity a good bet and there a good amount more.

Infinity is definitely a game I have been considering, especially since a lot of the minis are well posed out of the box. And I have also been considering just returning to doing gunpla, but there's just something about having a force of soldiers you assembled on display that I love.

Collect and play smaller skirmish games while making dioramas is a great way to enjoy the hobby. It's what I plan on doing.

Collecting playable forces for games like 40k and Fantasy have kept me away from many ideas because money would be better spend on "another Rhino" or "just one more troop box."

Now I'm scheming ideas and I can just use eBay bits sellers to get the models I need specifically and go from there.

I'm still a gamer and collector, but moving to games with a "unit creation mechanic" makes it much easier to buy most any mini that catches my fancy. For example, in Song of Blades and Heroes I try to avoid stating my model just to game the system. I stat it up based on fluff and appearance but if it drastically underperforms I know that I can just go home and tweak the stats (which will produce a new points value) and try it again next week.

This way no model becomes truly useless or redundant. It also means that there's no reason to buy models you don't like just because they might be "good in the game".

I've now got what I consider to be alot of really cool models, many of which never had a specific game, or the game for which they were designed is now long defunct, and more than a few that are probably not great choices in the games they were designed for.

I started 40k out purely for modeling after being a PC gamer. The game for me started later just because it was possible. Then I realized it annoyed the hell out of me and I'm back to just collecting 40k, but moved onto playing other tabletop games of which there are many great options.

I know exactly what you mean re. purchasing things that are weaker. The beauty in things for me is in their effectiveness - it's why I collect(ed) tempered high carbon steel swords than what stainless steel ones. If I know models are ineffective in the rules, even if I don't play... it gaks me ; p I'm trying to break that mindset but it's hard.

Sometimes I do both!

The pieces that I use for dioramas are removable and I can just plop them on a diorama base and voila!

The man at Games Store said my winky would fall off and explode if I ever stopped collecting.

That was 20 years ago and neither of those things have happened. Of course I have a boss miniature collection.

A coincidence? I think not!

I am far more of a collector than I am a gamer. Normally I collect a line until my interest falls away. Then I normally sell it off and reinvest in another line. The nice thing about a lot of minis is, they gain value once they go OOP.

Currently collecting Inquisitor 54, and Earthdawn.

Zatsuku wrote:

Anyone else around here made this transition? How'd you go about it?

Honestly, I started looking at sites like frpgames.com and simply started browsing/buying the models that I liked based on the "Rule of Cool"

In a couple of instances, it has led me to start "playing" other games (such as helldorado), where the term playing is extremely loose, as the only person I know with models is me, and my only other opponent would be my wife


I have also starting DM/GM ing a bit more for D&D campaigns, so I'll look at random armies/models based on what I think I'll need for a campaign at some point (for instance, I recently bought some VC skeletons, as well as their skeleton HQ/king person)

If you're at the point where you don't plan on playing but want to keep collecting, there's no reason to care about the gaming value of a kit, or even what force it's for. There's a ton of cool stuff out there, just buy what you like.

For years I've been clearing out the things I've realized I'll never get around to. Right now, if it's not for my Ork or Necron army, it's probably slated for clearance, but I've got a Dreamer/Chompy-Bits box that I picked up despite having no plan to even play Malifaux.

The word gaming is no longer used at the gw starting homepage.

Gaming has connotations for gambling in the UK so that's understandable.