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Does anyone else ever feel like getting rid of every model they own and starting over again?

I ask because my pile of shame is large and my interests change before I've even finished painting a unit sometimes.

I'd lose a lot of money getting rid of it all, but a refresh seems so tempting...

Make reeeeeally damn well sure you won't regret it, but sometimes it is helpful/therapeutic.

I've never thought that, mostly due to the time and energy I put into my existing armies, and I don't want to start from scratch again.

I don't tend to buy models though, until I've (basically) painted all I own, so my pile of shame is never more than a unit or two.

I do tend to have a rule of no more than 4 or so armies at a time, which helps cut down on how much stuff I have. If I start a new army, I'll usually sell off one I just don't enjoy or use.

No. Because scrapping my stuff just to re-buy it all would be insanely stupid. On all manner of axis.

I've always been able to buy & play faster than I can build (and especially) paint.
I deal with this by simply building stuff most Monday/Tue evenings.
Painting.... Barring commission work or some absolute need/deadline I'm a slow painter & this is just a hobby. I'm not in any rush.

Everything - no - something yes.


A year or so back I took a hard look at my unbuilt pile and collection and where I was wanting to take my hobby. It wasn't a fast choice, but in the end I decided to sell off the highelf models I had unbuilt at the time.

I reasoned that it was an army I'd never got around to building and wasn't one I was going to ever get to building. Plus there were other armies that I really wanted to build.


In the end I sold them on, made some money, cleared out a bunch of boxes and unbuilt stuff and used the money to buy some Ossiarchs. Indeed my Ossiarch army basically cost me £0 because of what I sold to buy into them. And you know because I wanted those Ossiarchs I built them.



A clearout is a very healthy thing for many of us and can be a great motivational event because you lose the guilt and pressure of all the unbuilt stuff sitting over you. Indeed that can sap your enthusiasm - you lose out on the joy of completing things (because there's so much more incomplete) and you lose out on the ability to make easy choices on how to proceed to tackle it. Plus you add guilt every time you buy something new.




THAT said don't make the choice on the fly. Even when I sold off my models I kept several that I wanted to hold onto because I still liked them as sculpts. You really have ot make the choice for yourself as to what you keep and what you move on.

Do consider things that are out of print, these can make more money when sold, but can be hard to impossible to replace later. Eg one of the things I sold was a Tomb King construct (the big one, I forget its name). It made a good amount, but I knew I could never buy it again new on the sprue (without spending ages and spending a fortune). However whilst I liked it, I've replaced it with other things I do like in an army I'm building and can use.






Other tips


1) Clear your workspace/area up. A messy workspace with loads of half built things and stuff all over the place destroys your ability to focus. A clear workspace lets you organise your tools and paints; it lets you have a clear work area and it lets you visually and mentally clear up - making choices and progress easier.
I find it also helps because in clearing up you sort things out; you find the parts for different things that got spread out; you finish a few off; you generally make progress.


2) Compartmentalise things. Not working on your Ultramarines, fine, box them up and put them to one side for now. You don't have to have the boxes out and at fast access, just put them to one side where they aren't in the way




Overall hobby management is a thing and its healthy to approach your collection and view it with a critical eye so that it doesn't overwhelm you and end up destroying your fun.


And remember you don't have to sell anything, the key part isn't selling or getting rid of things. It's managing and organising what you own and making the choice on what you keep and what you move on even if you decide to keep/sell everything in one go. Only YOU can make that choice.

What I would say is it can be good to pile up the sale stuff and sit on it for a little while; really think it over. Buying it back later can be hard and almost always more costly

Went thru a spousal encouraged purge of Warhammer Fantasy and 40k armies right around 4th edition.. got rid of it all..

Got sucked back in when the Ork reboot and Death Guard models hit and were sooooooo good. .. so have rebuilt the various armies I had, but BETTER.. lol

One thing I have learned.. Systems may change, editions may change.. but MODELS.. well, they can be used forever, even in a new system..

and its now an "investment" against GW raising prices again..

I understand your desire., its like spring cleaning and starting an army from scratch with out all the weird options and extras you bought.

"This time"you would tell yourself " this time I'm gonna stay focused and just do one army"...but its a lie...youll still buy other boxes of minis unrelated to your army and one day you'll be right back here again. On dakka..asking if you should get rid of all your stuff ...

Building and painting is such a huge part of it for me that I never have anything left unbuilt/painted.

I can totally understand tho as I have a problem with "overnight parts from Japan" and still have parts for cars that I haven't had for 10+ yrs. Now after selling my racecar 2yrs ago, I'm having that damn itch again.....

But total cleansing and purging/starting from scratch, I don't think I can do that.

Nah, not at all. I've sold stuff before and I regret all of it. Just box it up, store it and come back to it when you feel like it.

Have done so multiple times.

My old Ultramarine army was limiting, I was buying more stuff for it without getting any satisfaction. My old Genestealer Cults army was limiting, I was spending a lot of time scratchbuilding things that didn't have models.

There are a few individual items I miss - like old school CSM heavy weapons. Really liked their bottom-slung missile launcher.

But the value in starting over again lies in the possibilities. You can't stay interested in something that's lost the shine.

I'd reccomend never to sell anything you've fully painted. Odds are you'll regret it, and there's a lot of your time put into those models.

Unpainted and unassembled stuff, it's no big deal if you sell and later regret. It's only money lost. At least as long as it's not long OOP stuff you'll ha a hard time getting hold of again.

I wouldn't sell everything at once though. Sell some of your oldest stuff first, that you're unlikely to get started on.

I too have a rather big pile of shame, and I have felt overwhelmed by it. I know though that, in time, it will all get done. What helps me is planning out projects. Right now I'm painting my Imperial Fists to just over 2k points, which I am almost done with (I have a grav captain primed but unsure if I will paint now or wait as I don't think I'll use him anytime soon).

Once that project is done I'm going to do the same to my Black Legion Chaos (just over 1500pts are already primed and waiting to be finished) then go back and work on either Blood Angels or my Fantasy Ogre Kingdom (which is mostly fully painted already) depending if I'm burnt out on 40k or not by that point. Knowing I can take breaks from an army yet still field them fully painted at 2k is refreshing and actually has me motivated. Then I can go back and add little by little. Key thing though is I have stopped buying stuff. My last purchase was Indomitus when that came out and I'm not buying anything else until I get armies done and the pile small.