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Hello Dakka,

My name is Josh, and I'm a Miniatureholic.

Over the 5 years or so of my hobby life, I've poured hundreds of pounds into the hobby, bought tons of miniatures, and have next-to-nothing to show for it. No coherent army of any kind. Heck, very few finished squads. And I hate it. I really hate it. The worst thing is...I just can't help it.

Take this year, for example. I thought I'd conquered shiny synrome once and for all, and decided to build up an Imperial Guard army. I went along and spent £115 or so on my first platoon and command HQ squad. I built it all, it look awesome, but had a break for a few days between building and painting.

Then Shiny Syndrome kicked in.

I was surfing through Pig Iron's heads and found some that'd be awesome for Chaos renegade heads, and bought them. I ripped all the heads off of my guard, and replaced them with the Pig Iron ones. The heads were awesome, but it just wasn't cutting it for me. So I ordered a torso and arm set from Forge World's renegade line, and hacked all the torsos off of my guard. So I know have one squad of Chaos renegades that look really cool, but are too expensive to continue further. Which leaves me with about 24 based legs and a bunch of wrecked torsos, arms and legs. £150 odd wasted.

It's clear I have a problem.

So, fellow dakkaites, who else amongst you has this problem, and who has overcome it?

I. NEED. HELP.

It sounds like you need to institute a rule: Before you buy anything new, or drastically alter an existing project, you have to spend at least a week thinking about it.
Also, keep track of what you spend. It helps to deter shiney syndrome!

Once the model is finished, you paint it.

Straight away.

And you'll spend a good bit of time painting it too, don't half-ass it.

I can guarantee that if you put your heart into painting the miniatures, you'll never want to strip them and hack them into pieces for some other project again.

I used to as a kid.

This time round i made sure i got a 1750 starter army and then played alot of games. without a force that works you are missing out on half the idea behind the miniatures.

Find, plan, research and save. Never make purchases that you didn't plan on as a possibility.

I was the same way for a few years. Finally my wife put her foot down.

Now the rule in my house is I can only buy something new AFTER the last model/box is completely finished.

Is it frustrating at times yep, but my and my wife's sanity and our checkbook thanks us.

Besides what folks said, you need to be ruthless with yourself. If your going to build an IG army, build it. sell off anything your not using or trade it away to fund it. I have 3 armies now after finally getting rid of amries I no longer play, or had ideas for or such- DA, orks and skorne. I keep getting ideas and their fine, but I dont deviate from those three ever. If I really want something else? One of the three need to go- sell off, trade off, or whatever to make room for a new project.

Paint what you buy is the best advice I can repeat.

Also, ask yourself, by buying this, what am I spending less time on? If you're dropping a whole army to start a new one, sell it off. I realized I had two or three armies I had no intention of working on or playing ever again.

I'm totally guilty of this, but I also set out with the goal to stockpile models. I have a shelf FULL of scale models of every type, from WW2 military stuff to super futuristic Japanese robots, and of course lots of miniatures, from GW and many other sources.

It's an addiction to be sure, but it also means I have a lot of variety to choose from based on my whims, which seem to change direction with the wind these days, lol!

I never had this problem.

At the beginning, I would save my money up until I could afford to buy something (so impulse buying never happened).

Over time, I got used to doing it this way. I would calculate my purchases carefully then when I had the money, buy it all.

Even when I eventually was able to afford to impulse buy, it was too late, the habit of not impulse buying was already ingrained.

Paint them.

Shiny syndrome cured!

If you paint them, you feel totally justified buying more.

True story.

I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other. While not necessarily effective at first, over time, Significant Other builds up a supply of a chemical known as "guilt." Whenever the Significant Other mentions wanting something, the standard response (assuming patient has correctly bonded with Significant Other) is to want to supply it. If the patient has spent too much money on miniatures, then the result will be Guilt. Fortunately, high enough doses of Guilt can reduce and, over time with proper behavior management, even eliminate Shiny Syndrome completely. In order to prevent relapse of patient, small doses of miniatures can even be planned for and purchased over time, resulting in a complete army that is larger and more satisfying than the scattered collection left in the wake of Shiny Syndrome.

WARNING: Significant Other may not bond correctly to patient. In the event of Significant Other rejection, notify a doctor immediately. Rejection may result in loss of dignity, independence, money, and limbs. Significant Other is not intended for those who are already using a Significant Other substitute (such as, but not limited to Fleshlight, high concentrations of porn, and combinations of peanut butter and golden retrievers) or for children under the age of 13. Possible side effects of Significant Other include: Tiredness, sleepiness, occasional irritation or boredom, arrousal, increase or decrease in appetite, (depending on cooking skills of Significant Other) weight gain, feigned sleepiness, children, hair loss, and being coerced into attending the ballet. Do not use Significant Other if you are already using a Significant Other product. If these products interact, they can have extreme and unpredictable side effects including severe bodily injury or death.

Significant Other, now available in both "Dude" and "Babe" flavors. Remember, when it comes to Significant Other, I'm not just a spokesperson...I'm a client.

malfred wrote:Paint them.

Shiny syndrome cured!

If you paint them, you feel totally justified buying more.

True story.

This man speaks the truth.

Now, if only I could fully implement this myself - though I'm getting better!

I suffer from this bad so I tie my money up into other things (Smoking, gas and a lady break you hard) then what ever money I have left over goes into the hobby

I buy more than I paint (or have done in the past hopefully), this is the natural way of things. If thats the case here just keep calm and carry on.

That said I have never bought a load of stuff and then destroyed it in the way the OP described.

That would seem to indicate that the OP can't make their mind up about anything they want rather than just the need to get more stuff.

I've always found that sort of behaviour is more common in women than gamers?

I feel your pain - I used to do the same myself.

I would spend loads on figures, stack them up wherever I could - and do absolutely nothing with them, but I would never get rid of anything - as it would, of course, come in handy one day.

Eventually my hand was forced as I literally had no more room to put stuff, so I sold nearly all of it - sad day, but my bank account was happy.

Anyway, seeing all the space I now have, I've vowed never to go there again. I still buy some stuff, but no where near the quantities I used to. Also GW's recent douchebag attitude & price rises has put me off buying stuff as well.

Jimsolo wrote:I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other. While not necessarily effective at first, over time, Significant Other builds up a supply of a chemical known as "guilt." Whenever the Significant Other mentions wanting something, the standard response (assuming patient has correctly bonded with Significant Other) is to want to supply it. If the patient has spent too much money on miniatures, then the result will be Guilt. Fortunately, high enough doses of Guilt can reduce and, over time with proper behavior management, even eliminate Shiny Syndrome completely. In order to prevent relapse of patient, small doses of miniatures can even be planned for and purchased over time, resulting in a complete army that is larger and more satisfying than the scattered collection left in the wake of Shiny Syndrome.

WARNING: Significant Other may not bond correctly to patient. In the event of Significant Other rejection, notify a doctor immediately. Rejection may result in loss of dignity, independence, money, and limbs. Significant Other is not intended for those who are already using a Significant Other substitute (such as, but not limited to Fleshlight, high concentrations of porn, and combinations of peanut butter and golden retrievers) or for children under the age of 13. Possible side effects of Significant Other include: Tiredness, sleepiness, occasional irritation or boredom, arrousal, increase or decrease in appetite, (depending on cooking skills of Significant Other) weight gain, feigned sleepiness, children, hair loss, and being coerced into attending the ballet. Do not use Significant Other if you are already using a Significant Other product. If these products interact, they can have extreme and unpredictable side effects including severe bodily injury or death.

Significant Other, now available in both "Dude" and "Babe" flavors. Remember, when it comes to Significant Other, I'm not just a spokesperson...I'm a client.

Now that's just funny right there!!!

Jimsolo wrote:I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other.

Significant Other worked for me! This is an actual testimonial. I am not a paid actor.

I had Shiny Syndrome for the longest time. Eventually I came to realize that I had neither the time nor inclination to get around to all of the projects I had sitting on the shelf. It took years of clearing out the things that meant the least to me as far as gaming goes but I'm finally getting the last of the things I really don't need out the door (or trying at least ).

In 4 years all I've bought is 2 kits; one to fill out a squad so I could paint it up, the other to be able to play without proxies for a tournament.

If you've got piles of stuff around, the best advice I have is to focus on one thing at a time. Assemble it, paint it and move onto the next thing, but don't buy one more thing until the pile of unfinished projects is gone. With any luck you'll soon realize that you have a bunch of stuff you have no use for, then you're well on the road to recovery.

Simple, only play with painted figures, and only play with people who also have painted figures.

It won't cure the symptoms, but it will allow you to enjoy the hobby and stop acting like a character in Sex in the City.

marielle- I believe he's referring to shiny syndrome as in "That's new and shiny, I need to buy it", rather than metal / non-painted models.

I think you just need to nail yourself down to a single project, and stick with it all the way before starting another... I have a milder form of this disease and thus limit myself to a single army per system. The problem is, I keep picking up new systems but it has worked OK so far! The other thing that has helped me and is helping me, is to register and pay for events far ahead of time, giving me a great goal to shoot for to finish projects. And because I paid for it, it has some weight to it and I feel the need to finish the project in time to use it there. So, you might give that a try

Using an army at an event goes a long way towards having it be "done" in your mind, and not letting you want to go back and rip it up / change the painting, etc... or at least, it does that for me!

I suffer from this if I don't strictly control my spending.

In 2nd edition, I could never pin down an army - this is mostly because I was young, impressionable, and I wanted to play so many armies. I had Orks, Chaos and Tyranids, and basically just grabbed whatever new was out for them. This mostly led to me only buying individual models, and never saving for a squad. Tyranids were the only exception, as I had about 30 Genestealers from various different sources, but never liked their models so they never got used. This led to me not playing much out of frustration.

When I got into 3rd edition, I set myself a goal of collecting a full army, and chose Salamanders. I stuck with them all the way to mid-4th edition, when I got a bit bored, finally got decent money, and wanted to try something new. This led to more shiny model syndrome. I was buying stuff to add to my Salamanders, the start of an IG army and the start of an Eldar army, nothing got painted, and I had no focus. This led to be quitting the hobby in frustration.

When my friend and I got back into 40k, I set myself a goal again. Pick an army, bring it to about 3000 points, preferably with some Forgeworld models. In no circumstances would I deviate from this until I'd reached the goal, unless I was starting a new game. I've stuck to this. I've only been buying Tyranids for 40k.

When I've branched out from Tyranids, it's been to start Fantasy, and I picked Vampire Counts. When I branched out of GW completely, I started Infinity and I'm grabbing only Haqqislam models. It means there's a considerable investment when I start a new army, which curbs the shiny model syndrome.

it's all about self control.

RiTides wrote:I believe he's referring to shiny syndrome as in "That's new and shiny, I need to buy it", rather than metal / non-painted models.

Yeah I know - nice attempt at humour though - and the cure for it is not buying more things until you have painted what you have, and not playing against people unless they do the same. That way you - and the people you play against - can fully explore your thought process in choosing the models/umits you have, and get the most out of their hobby.

Jimsolo wrote:I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other. While not necessarily effective at first, over time, Significant Other builds up a supply of a chemical known as "guilt." Whenever the Significant Other mentions wanting something, the standard response (assuming patient has correctly bonded with Significant Other) is to want to supply it. If the patient has spent too much money on miniatures, then the result will be Guilt. Fortunately, high enough doses of Guilt can reduce and, over time with proper behavior management, even eliminate Shiny Syndrome completely. In order to prevent relapse of patient, small doses of miniatures can even be planned for and purchased over time, resulting in a complete army that is larger and more satisfying than the scattered collection left in the wake of Shiny Syndrome.

WARNING: Significant Other may not bond correctly to patient. In the event of Significant Other rejection, notify a doctor immediately. Rejection may result in loss of dignity, independence, money, and limbs. Significant Other is not intended for those who are already using a Significant Other substitute (such as, but not limited to Fleshlight, high concentrations of porn, and combinations of peanut butter and golden retrievers) or for children under the age of 13. Possible side effects of Significant Other include: Tiredness, sleepiness, occasional irritation or boredom, arrousal, increase or decrease in appetite, (depending on cooking skills of Significant Other) weight gain, feigned sleepiness, children, hair loss, and being coerced into attending the ballet. Do not use Significant Other if you are already using a Significant Other product. If these products interact, they can have extreme and unpredictable side effects including severe bodily injury or death.

Significant Other, now available in both "Dude" and "Babe" flavors. Remember, when it comes to Significant Other, I'm not just a spokesperson...I'm a client.

It worked for me, I now just hand over my pay to 'Significant Other' and everything is right in the world. Thanks Significant Other

-Loki- wrote:When I've branched out from Tyranids, it's been to start Fantasy, and I picked Vampire Counts. When I branched out of GW completely, I started Infinity and I'm grabbing only Haqqislam models. It means there's a considerable investment when I start a new army, which curbs the shiny model syndrome.

it's all about self control.

...and that was 4 days ago before the new Tyranid images were leaked.
I used to be like you, all self-control over my love of Tyranids...

...then those pictures came out and I feel helpless...

I have a worse version of this problem... I collect a coherent army... and then decide to update it, repaint and rebase, etc. So I pull everything off the bases and strip it down and get about half way done, and then I get a case of the shinies and start collecting something new... so now not only do I have a new army that is hardly competitive (because I dont go out and buy everything I need in one go), but I have another army that I can't even use anymore...

/faceconcretewall

Absolutionis wrote:

-Loki- wrote:When I've branched out from Tyranids, it's been to start Fantasy, and I picked Vampire Counts. When I branched out of GW completely, I started Infinity and I'm grabbing only Haqqislam models. It means there's a considerable investment when I start a new army, which curbs the shiny model syndrome.

it's all about self control.

...and that was 4 days ago before the new Tyranid images were leaked.
I used to be like you, all self-control over my love of Tyranids...

...then those pictures came out and I feel helpless...

I never said I stopped collecting Tyranids when I branched out into Fantasy and Infinity, just that I stick to Tyranids in 40k. I'm also planning a good order for some new Tyranid beasts, but that doesn't mean I'll jump on a different 40k army if they got some awesome model (Necrons tempted me hard, but I stayed clear).

Jimsolo wrote:I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other. While not necessarily effective at first, over time, Significant Other builds up a supply of a chemical known as "guilt." Whenever the Significant Other mentions wanting something, the standard response (assuming patient has correctly bonded with Significant Other) is to want to supply it. If the patient has spent too much money on miniatures, then the result will be Guilt. Fortunately, high enough doses of Guilt can reduce and, over time with proper behavior management, even eliminate Shiny Syndrome completely. In order to prevent relapse of patient, small doses of miniatures can even be planned for and purchased over time, resulting in a complete army that is larger and more satisfying than the scattered collection left in the wake of Shiny Syndrome.

WARNING: Significant Other may not bond correctly to patient. In the event of Significant Other rejection, notify a doctor immediately. Rejection may result in loss of dignity, independence, money, and limbs. Significant Other is not intended for those who are already using a Significant Other substitute (such as, but not limited to Fleshlight, high concentrations of porn, and combinations of peanut butter and golden retrievers) or for children under the age of 13. Possible side effects of Significant Other include: Tiredness, sleepiness, occasional irritation or boredom, arrousal, increase or decrease in appetite, (depending on cooking skills of Significant Other) weight gain, feigned sleepiness, children, hair loss, and being coerced into attending the ballet. Do not use Significant Other if you are already using a Significant Other product. If these products interact, they can have extreme and unpredictable side effects including severe bodily injury or death.

Significant Other, now available in both "Dude" and "Babe" flavors. Remember, when it comes to Significant Other, I'm not just a spokesperson...I'm a client.

Exalted this one ^_^

As others have said, between my SO and lack of money, I've overcome Shiny Syndrome. I started working towards goals instead of randomly buying models, no matter how cool they are and what a good deal I get on them. I recently finished my 2400 point High Elf army, and am starting on 1000 points of Skaven. After that, it will be 1000 points of Empire, then 500-600 points of Orcs and Goblins. If nothing changes rules/points-wise, the only models I'll need to buy are some unit leaders, that's how many unpainted/unassembled minis I have laying around.

Once I've done all that, I'll permit myself to purchase more to bulk out my armies, but only one unit at a time...

Jimsolo wrote:I find that frequently, patients with Shiny Syndrome are incurable when left on their own. While, like any chronic condition, the Syndrome can be managed, the symptoms never truly go away. However, there is a new miracle drug that works in 90% of cases.

Introducing Significant Other. While not necessarily effective at first, over time, Significant Other builds up a supply of a chemical known as "guilt." Whenever the Significant Other mentions wanting something, the standard response (assuming patient has correctly bonded with Significant Other) is to want to supply it. If the patient has spent too much money on miniatures, then the result will be Guilt. Fortunately, high enough doses of Guilt can reduce and, over time with proper behavior management, even eliminate Shiny Syndrome completely. In order to prevent relapse of patient, small doses of miniatures can even be planned for and purchased over time, resulting in a complete army that is larger and more satisfying than the scattered collection left in the wake of Shiny Syndrome.

WARNING: Significant Other may not bond correctly to patient. In the event of Significant Other rejection, notify a doctor immediately. Rejection may result in loss of dignity, independence, money, and limbs. Significant Other is not intended for those who are already using a Significant Other substitute (such as, but not limited to Fleshlight, high concentrations of porn, and combinations of peanut butter and golden retrievers) or for children under the age of 13. Possible side effects of Significant Other include: Tiredness, sleepiness, occasional irritation or boredom, arrousal, increase or decrease in appetite, (depending on cooking skills of Significant Other) weight gain, feigned sleepiness, children, hair loss, and being coerced into attending the ballet. Do not use Significant Other if you are already using a Significant Other product. If these products interact, they can have extreme and unpredictable side effects including severe bodily injury or death.

Significant Other, now available in both "Dude" and "Babe" flavors. Remember, when it comes to Significant Other, I'm not just a spokesperson...I'm a client.

Past the excellent humour there is a great portion of truth in there!