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Made in ca
Wondering Why the Emperor Left





Edmonton, AB

Hi Dakka!

I hear pretty often that people sell old armies to help pay for new projects that they have taken interest in, and I wanted to know what factors you personally consider when you are deciding to sell an army.

For the purposes of this discussion, I'll say you are selling the army with the intent to turn that cash around into funding for a new project (disinterest in the game or financial need are obviously their own circumstances with their own reasons for doing so.) I always worry that, because I was once passionate about a certain project, I'll sell it in the moment and then regret to missed opportunity to work on that project later. However, many projects sit in boxes unused, banking on this "potential interest".

Is this something all hobbyists grapple with? When do you finally decide to sell an unused army, and what has been your experience with the aftermath?

Thanks Dakka!

cheers,
Jpog

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Made in us
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer





Mississippi

Sell nothing - buy more and find some place to store it.

Back around 2003 or so, I sold my High Elf army on e-bay. I got relatively little for it, and the money went into buying more hobby materials (I forget what, but I was primarily into D&D at the time).

About 2 months or so before the End Times came out, my brother and friend picked up WHFB, and I decided to pick up another High Elf army, having greatly regretted selling it (and a Vampire Counts army to boot). Even though WHFB came to a crashing halt, I have no intention of getting rid of the army this time - I may use it for Kings of War, Runewars, maybe even AoS or some other system down the line. Rules and system may have died off, but the minis can be used elsewhere.

It never ends well 
   
Made in us
Huge Hierodule





land of 10k taxes

I have army ADD, so I buy, build, paint, play until I'm board, then sell. Rinse and repeat.

was censored by the ministry of truth 
   
Made in fi
Fresh-Faced New User




Finland

Yeah I know what you mean - it's such a difficult decision! Honestly, I've also learned from my mistakes not to sell anything that you have put work into. I've got a nearly fully painted 4k Warhammer (8th edition) Dwarf army that has been pretty much unused for years. I sometimes think about selling it because I doubt I will ever do anything with them. However, that's thousands of hours of work for some little cash... not worth it.
   
Made in au
Regular Dakkanaut




Australia

 Stormonu wrote:
Sell nothing - buy more and find some place to store it.

Back around 2003 or so, I sold my High Elf army on e-bay. I got relatively little for it, and the money went into buying more hobby materials (I forget what, but I was primarily into D&D at the time).

About 2 months or so before the End Times came out, my brother and friend picked up WHFB, and I decided to pick up another High Elf army, having greatly regretted selling it (and a Vampire Counts army to boot). Even though WHFB came to a crashing halt, I have no intention of getting rid of the army this time - I may use it for Kings of War, Runewars, maybe even AoS or some other system down the line. Rules and system may have died off, but the minis can be used elsewhere.


I sold my Bolt Action Fallschirmjager army, immediately regretted it, bought a new one. The whole time I was filing mould lines and clipping sprues I was thinking, “goddamn, I have already done this!”
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






I sat on my half finished necrons and just knew I would never get around to painting them. I just didn't want to. Time to sell.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




It's a hard decision but basically when RL comes knocking at your door and you need money more than the gray loyal troopers waiting for their paint and spotlight.

At least selling them to other players ensures they'll get used instead of collecting dust.
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Lots of reasons

1) They chase the newest most powerful army (in their view) and play at the competitive end. To them an army is a tool to win battles, so they might well buy up a fully prepainted secondhand army; or build an army up out of offcial scheme painted models from difference source.
Or they might start from scratch each time as they also love painting and modelling

2) They run out of space - yep if you enjoy building and painting, but run out of space to store models (unless it means boxing them up in the attic or a container); so they sell off one army to make room for another.

3) They get bills/live pressures and have to sell stuff to pay for other things. Sure they won't get as much as the paid for it; and sure they will spend more in the long run if they buy back into the game; but in the here and now they have life pressures that require them to sell.
Moving house or country might also require them to dump a lot of stuff.

4) Running out of time/motivation. They started with good ideas and intentions, but for whatever reason they just never finished or got properly started with an army. So rather than let it collect dust its time to move it on

5) New army - something new comes out that's even better than something else; so drop the old get the new (often with the old helping to pay somewhat toward the new).

6) Leaving the hobby. For a variety of reasons they might just be moving on from the hobby; or just from one range of models to another. So if the old ones won't be used they dump them and move on.

7) Improving skill. We all start bad and get better over time; sometimes the early army is chock full of mistakes that become more apparent as one becomes more skilled. It can reach a point where it would take longer to strip - remove mould lines; repair; repaint and even then some will be posed badly. So sell off the old and buy brand new to get an army that looks even better and reflects possibly years more learning.

8) Game/army abandoned by producer. Yep if the army is foramlly dumped (squats) or the manufacturer stops production there is a period of time where the game will survive; but without new recruitement and new models and rules updates many games will often dwindle down to nothing. Varies a lot club to club as some clubs will hold out for ages if there's enough local interest.
Some will jump early right at the game vanishes formally; others will hold on (heck some even quickly start buying up dumped/secondhand stock at that time - esp if they can envision building two or three armies so always being able to teach someone and get some games even if just with all their own models); others will wait some time until the game is really dead locally before selling off.

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Made in gb
Dakka Veteran





I sold armies/gave them away to try and entice other people into the hobby, only worked once in the long run.

I've been playing a while, my first model was a lead marine and my first White Dwarf was bound with staples 
   
Made in gb
Steady Dwarf Warrior






I’ve only ever collected one army - Dwarves! So it just keeps getting bigger. No need to sell them.
40K on the other hand has no (supported) dwarves, so I’ve tried nearly every army, usually they end up being swapped for something with a mate who suddenly needs a whole bunch of orks/guard/necrons and some get converted. Space wolves look quite good if they defect to Khorne and paint their armour red!

Klinka na Karak! Grund a na Grungron! Az a na Ankor!
‘A pick for the earth, a hammer for the anvil, and an axe for everything else!’ 
   
Made in gb
[SWAP SHOP MOD]
Yvan eht nioj






In my Austin Ambassador Y Reg

I found getting rid of a load of 40K stuff was very cathartic. I had a massive and ever growing pile of unpainted models to the extent where it was a detriment to my ongoing hobby enjoyment - I would look at said pile and become immediately disillusioned with the size of the task. Shedding a load of stuff helped me focus on what I really want to use and focus on the goals that I want to achieve.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/07 14:04:28


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Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

I decide to sell when I find the army in boxes instead of on shelves. I give it a few months, and if it doesn't come back out, I sell it.

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Made in ca
Deathwing Terminator with Assault Cannon






Going through the armies I sold:

Ulthwé - Needed money for school. Ended up collecting another Eldar army years later.

Tyranids - Wasn't happy with painting outcome.

Dwarves - Found boring to play with in-game.

Skaven - Wasn't happy with painting outcome.


I have Empire, Wood Elves and a ton of Firestorm Armada stuff sitting in a bin in my storage room, but as I don't need the money imminently, so I'm pretty much OK with having it sit there. I don't think I could will myself to sell a fully painted army since I'm a slow painter to begin with.

I found boxing them up and taking them off my "Models to Paint" list about as cathartic as selling them would be. I don't feel any obligation to return to them, but they're there if I change my mind.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/07 14:16:33


 
   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar




Frostgrave

How likely am I to use it again?
How much space does it take up?
Will I get much for it?
How hard will it be to replace?

If it's something I'm not likely to use again (half a dark angel army) which takes up a bit of space, and I'll get enough to make it worth the hassle whilst being easy to replace later, then I'll sell it.

If it's something rare or OOP, then I'll raise the bar much higher (hard to replace). If it's not worth the hassle of selling I'll give it away.

If you think you'll regret selling it, then keep it. If you forgot you had it, get it on ebay.

I've been fairly ruthless, being that I've stopped gaming until the kids get big enough to give me time / join in, by which point the meta will be hugely different (like I'll have probably skipped 4 generations of 40K), so it's been pretty easy. Kept the fully painted factions and skirmish games, whilst dumping all the half-completed projects.
Before the hiatus I had a massive clear out and the GW stuff funded my hobby for a good 2-3 years.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/07 14:24:40


 
   
Made in us
Brainy Zoanthrope






West Bend WI.

My wife tells me you don't play with those anymore have your friend sell them on eBay!

8000pts.
7000pts.
5000pts.
on the way. 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter






I sold off a ton of my older space marine models because i got sick of stripping and re painting it over and over. as well as my like 200 cadian IGs

i kept the nicer stuff that i want to redo for the sake of keeping but i dont regret it at all

i used that money to actually finish an army and im happier for it

next on the chopping block is like 50 sisters of battle and possibly a giant chunk of my tau.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
 Scott-S6 wrote:
And yet another thread is hijacked for Unit to ask for the same advice, receive the same answers and make the same excuses.

Oh my god I'm becoming martel.
Send help!

 
   
Made in us
Heroic Senior Officer





Western Kentucky

Usually there's a lot of drinking and tearful goodbyes followed by instant regret combined with abysmal return for your investment. It's almost always better to just hang onto the army and find money elsewhere to fund the new project.

'I've played Guard for years, and the best piece of advice is to always utilize the Guard's best special rule: "we roll more dice than you" ' - stormleader

"Sector Imperialis: 25mm and 40mm Round Bases (40+20) 26€ (Including 32 skulls for basing) " GW design philosophy in a nutshell  
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

When it has been years since it has seen the table top.

My two cents,

CB

   
Made in us
Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch





ft. Bragg

For me it's the over whelmed feeling. I have a collection that spans 25+ years and I could paint every day from now till I die and not finish. So it was time to start downsizing. I started basically when GW transitioned to the catastrophy that is AoS. Fortunately I know what I want to sell and have no issues waiting till the iron is hot. Alot of people try to sell an army when it no longer competes well on table. But at that point no one wants it, or they want to pay pennies. If you know you want to get rid of an army, commit to that and when a new book drops and there is some hype.... Sell. Don't talk yourself out, there was a reason you put them on the chopping block to begin with

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/08 00:08:00


Let a billion souls burn in death than for one soul to bend knee to a false Emperor.....
"I am the punishment of God, had you not committed great sin, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you" 
   
Made in us
Repentia Mistress






You wake up one day and realize you just have too much stuff. Then you do mental math on some of the armies you have been collecting for 20 years and realize it has a street value of like 1200$.

:|


 
   
Made in us
Hurr! Ogryn Bone 'Ead!





I've had seller's regret many times, especially with my old Beakie Boys and my entire Epic collection (which completely filled a 4x8 table...)

To do over? I'd have kept at least 1 squad of Beakies, just for sentimental reasons, and 1 army from my Epic collection. I sold my Epic stuff because I thought I'd never get to play again, which turns out it's making a comeback in my area and if I'd kept it, I'd be able to teach the kids the joys of Epic battles in the brand-new GW Warhammer shop that opened in my town. Never thought that would happen.

Sell the crap you just don't have attachment to. Learn to recognize the stuff you should keep and sell maybe in 5 yrs, 10yrs. Sell stuff in a controlled manner to pay for new projects, but don't sell off stuff just because. Minis are rather an investment and selling them at the right time and not just because your wife is nagging you to clean the garage will help ease your decisions.

The Emperor loves me,
This I know,
For the Codex
Tells me so....

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Made in lt
Longtime Dakkanaut






I recently sold my IG, that I was very excited about back when I started collecting them. Why did I sell them?

*General loss of interest in 40k.
*Loss of interest in the models. I had a case full of models just sitting there and I knew I wasn’t going to paint them anyways.
*Epiphany, how terrible GW guardsmen actually are.
*I’ve made a lot of mistakes while assembling them, they weren’t perfect and I knew that I just wouldn’t be happy about them.

At least they made the person who bought them happy

   
Made in us
Member of a Lodge? I Can't Say





Philadelphia PA

*General loss of interest in 40k.
*Loss of interest in the models. I had a case full of models just sitting there and I knew I wasn’t going to paint them anyways.
*Epiphany, how terrible GW guardsmen actually are.
*I’ve made a lot of mistakes while assembling them, they weren’t perfect and I knew that I just wouldn’t be happy about them.


These are much the same reasons I sold my Chaos marines. I think one day I was painting up a bolter marine and just thought "this guy is just a glorified extra wound marker for my plasma gunner and sergeant, the hell am I doing with my time?"

It just wasn't satisfying anymore really.

The other times I've sold stuff has been for different reasons that did result in regret - when I sold my Hordes Legion minis because I was having trouble coming up with a good paint scheme and way to make the army unique I ended up regretting it.

Same when I sold my Warhammer Fantasy stuff.

So to me that's the difference - it's whether the problem is internal motivation or external factors.

I prefer to buy from miniature manufacturers that *don't* support the overthrow of democracy. 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

Once I'm sick of a game's rules and I decide to "downsize", I just go through what I've got and pick out key models that got me into that army.

If I have multiples of the same vehicle, I keep one and move the rest to the "sell" pile. Troops, the same. Then I put together a "lot" and sell it as one thing for a reasonable price.

"Oldhammer" is a thing where I am, and people climb over their grandparents for older rulesets as well. I toss those in as freebies.




I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

I try to stick to maximum one force for each system I play, usually the latest one I have made. If I haven't played a system in a few years and don't feel inclined to, that can probably go as well.
I lose a ton of money (not to mention the time that was spent) when I sell, but it keeps storage down and I think it means at least it will get some use rather than gathering dust - it might be someone who doesn't have the money or time to make and paint their own force and it's another painted army out there in circulation.

Definitely agree with the comment above about clearing out being cathartic. It can be difficult to do, but I think can actually help you a bit in focusing on current projects (not to mention justifying another project - especially when you have a shared household that might need some convincing! )

quickfuze wrote:For me it's the over whelmed feeling. I have a collection that spans 25+ years and I could paint every day from now till I die and not finish. So it was time to start downsizing.

I know completely what you mean I've actually known of people who have almost had all of the free storage space in their houses and garage/attic etc. completely full of boxes of unpainted games and miniatures.

 chromedog wrote:
Once I'm sick of a game's rules and I decide to "downsize", I just go through what I've got and pick out key models that got me into that army.


I tend to do that as well. When I sell, I'll generally keep a special piece or character to remind me of that army (and it goes in the display cabinet).

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/02/09 00:16:56


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Made in gb
Worthiest of Warlock Engineers






preston

I have only once managed to successfully sell an army, that of my Necrons, and the only reason I did that was because I had been given them but decided I did not want to invest in making them better.
Selling armies, or indeed parting with mini's is not something I can do easily. Some of my stuff has been in storage for years (even a decade) and yet I still cannot bare to part with any of it.

Free from GW's tyranny and the hobby is looking better for it
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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Portugal

I've noticed how really, really hard I feel to part away with anything, be it miniatures or any other thing. I also dislike the idea of facing the hassle of ebay problems and all that.

BUT, in a very slow but steady way, I really feel the need to get rid of some stuff:

- Still have a sealed Burning of Prospero box, bought it for the pretty models, but AoS won me over.
- Several blisters of heroes, from a different range of factions, I bought because I wanted to paint them (*sigh*)
- Special editions like the 25 years marine
- Lots of assembled plastic space marines

Overall, because I have an enormous interest in the new AoS armies and a lack of space, I'm really trying to force myself to part away with stuff.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/02/09 09:36:46


"Fear is freedom! Subjugation is liberation! Contradiction is truth! These are the truths of this world! Surrender to these truths, you pigs in human clothing!" - Satsuki Kiryuin, Kill la Kill 
   
Made in fi
Locked in the Tower of Amareo





I used to sell often. Generally I have found I have regretted those. So these days any big army I flat out won't sell. That's why I still have 40k IG and ork armies. If I sell them it's only fraction of original cost and there's always possibility of 9th ed actually not being piss-poor rules that the 8th ed is.

Now many of the armies I have sold in the past are super expensive to buy or even impossible. Gee. Smart me...NOT!

Only things I consider selling are small start of armies which would cost lot more to get into usable level. Tyranid force I sold was good example. Useless as it was needing hundreds of euro's more stuff to be useful for me, not too big that rebuying in the 0.01% chance I want tyranid army after all would hurt me.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/02/09 11:10:31


2024 painted/bought: 109/109 
   
Made in gb
Furious Fire Dragon





Midlands, UK

I've never sold an army or even any models and I don't think I could bring myself to. I'm not somebody who parts with things easily anyway, particularly not things that I've put time and effort into.

I suppose the only things I'd consider selling were kits that I had sitting around that I'd never built, but even then I don't think I could be bothered to go to the effort of listing them, packaging and sending etc. for the relatively low return I would get.

So loads of my hobby stuff I've gathered over the years has built up, mostly in boxes in cupboards and under the stairs. Several WHFB armies, BFG etc. It's hidden away in the dark, yet I somehow feel better for the knowledge that it's there.

   
Made in us
Experienced Saurus Scar-Veteran





California the Southern

I've gotten into an odd habit of accumulating models for the sheer purpose of building an army in order to sell it.

It's quite enjoyable. I can take my army ADD and let it run wild, and end up making a fair amount of profit to fund projects I'm more interested in.

It probably helps though that I waste a LOT of time looking at what other people are buying, what's hot, what's coming up, and what's getting dogged on and seeing major reductions in price.

Poorly lit photos of my ever- growing collection of completely unrelated models!

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