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so i find myself not playing and more so just collecting these days.
i was wondering what folk do out there that love the hobby but have no gaming opportunities?

i'm trying to convince myself to start painting but then what... put them in boxes, display a few?

play with by myself

i cant be the only guy in this boat... what do others like myself do?

Well, displaying your work is something many people around here do. Rather than focusing on one army, you can then select the pieces that appeal to you most and simply enjoy painting.

As a talking point in your home, you never know when a friend will see them and want to explore the table-top side with you.

On a more proactive note, select a game and make two small starting forces / armies. Learn to play on Youtube, and begin offering demos to prospective players -- if that sounds feasible and fun.

There are absolutely no stores or online groups for your area? No collection of players on Facebook, Discord, etc?

You can always explore the various solo games out there, designed for people without anyone who shares their hobby. Mostly they are miniature agnostic so you can use any minis from your collection.

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
There are absolutely no stores or online groups for your area? No collection of players on Facebook, Discord, etc?

stores, not sure.
i claim the crotchety old man excuse on discord and facebook... dont use em.

@Shadow walker - thats a good suggestion.

Yeah, like Shadow Walker said, a lot of solo-intended rules or solo add-ons came out in the past couple years.

You can check out Five Parsecs from Home for SciFi, or 5 Leagues from the Borderlands for Fantasy.

 infinite_array wrote:
Yeah, like Shadow Walker said, a lot of solo-intended rules or solo add-ons came out in the past couple years.

You can check out Five Parsecs from Home for SciFi, or 5 Leagues from the Borderlands for Fantasy.

To expand the list a little (some of them have solo rules inbuilt, some have solo expansions):
Fantasy: Rangers of Shadow Deep, Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir, Blood on the Blade, Forbidden Psalm, Sellswords&Spellslingers, Frostgrave, Nightwatch: Terror and Treasure in the Dark Corners of the World.
S-F: Space Station Zero, Zona Alfa, Stargrave, Space Weirdos.
There is also Brutality, which is a kitchen sink game where you can use any fantasy, s-f, modern, historical mini.

I would recommend starting by just painting the best of your figures that really appeal to you without concern of full units or game considerations. The goal being to enjoy the hobby on your own terms. During times when I was without a gaming group, the only painting I got done -and it wasn't much- was on stuff that "sparked joy".

A large contingent in most hobbies is folks who do the hobby privately in their own homes with no real involvement with others and collectors make up a huge chunk of that. Model Railroad companies estimate that 50% or more of the product they sell is NEVER run by the original purchaser. It takes a degree of self-motivation that I rarely have to be an active "lone wolf hobbyist", but I'm quite sure you're definitely not alone.

I understand staying off FB and I do as well. I would encourage you perhaps to try discord. It can be a way to find a community to communicate with and get hobby encouragement without the attached digital strings of FB/Insta/etc. A smaller group can be a nice outlet for hobby support. The "Tabletop Hobby Podcast" Discord channel is one such group.

Take all this advice with a grain of salt though as for myself, my hobby involvements (Railroading, Wargaming, Bass and Pedal Steel playing) all have a central communal experience so when I lose the social aspect of a given hobby, it mostly goes on the shelf for a while. Without a wargaming club, I'd probably still toy-bash terrain (my favorite part of the hobby) but I'd rarely paint a figure.

Best of luck and much enjoyment whatever path you take with the hobby.

I'm in the same boat. When I started off I expected to get around to play, but the guys I knew a bit and wanted to play against reconsidered. Afterwards it just didn't fit with my spare time so far.


In addition to what has been said I found a lot of joy in thinking up lore and background for my dudes and do kitbashes and conversions based on that. I have all my models in a vitrine and just enjoy looking at them from time to time

I enjoy spending time with my minis, coming up with background stories, absorbing the little details, and thinking about conversions I can make that add more to the story or really delve into the fluff I enjoy. I keep some minis around to hold when I’m on hold or waiting for something to load, or if I’m watching TV with the family and need to fidget.

But lore and kitbashing are my two favorite parts of the hobby, so your mileage may vary.

I turned my attention to making the games I wanted to play, with the miniatures I had, and the players I wanted to play games with.

For a while, that was me, my wife and my daughter! Therefore, I did not need elaborate, life-style games at all.

This was a very freeing experience.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
so i find myself not playing and more so just collecting these days.
i was wondering what folk do out there that love the hobby but have no gaming opportunities?

i'm trying to convince myself to start painting but then what... put them in boxes, display a few?

play with by myself

i cant be the only guy in this boat... what do others like myself do?

I have coupled tabletop gaming with photography. So when I do a solo-game then I also do a battle report of it (ca. 300 pics per scenario).

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
so i find myself not playing and more so just collecting these days.
i was wondering what folk do out there that love the hobby but have no gaming opportunities?

i'm trying to convince myself to start painting but then what... put them in boxes, display a few?

play with by myself

i cant be the only guy in this boat... what do others like myself do?

The number of miniatures in my collection exceeds the space available to display them.

One closet in my basement has 4 shelves. The miniatures I want to display sit there. The miniatures I don't have room to display sit in cases below.

Occasionally, models on the shelves are swapped for ones in the boxes.

The explosion of options in the gaming field led me to simply shut down for a while. It is not possible for me to keep up. With 5 trillion systems it may be difficult to find people who like the same games.

Then there are some other factors. I prefer narrative games that are fun to watch unfold, while many seem to want to watch the story of how they tabled the enemy in seconds.

And finally, there is covid. I have a heart issue and work from home. Therefore I made the choice to not get the vaccine. This seemed to be as popular as having leprosy and eliminated any possibility of face to face gaming.

One day I found a youtube channel about solo gaming. Geek Gamers is the creator. Since then it is solo gaming for me.

I find making a battle report post or video is a lot of fun.

And I do have the occasional option to play a game with an actual opponent or game master a game for others. Those are nice too.

There are no options for me to game in a store anymore because I do not play things they sell.

Due to Coronoa lockdowns, I've largely switched to solo games. It really started with Rangers of Shadow Deep that they came into light, and now there's lots of options to choose from. Core Space, Five Parsecs, Five Leagues, Elder Scrolls: CtA, Spectre Operations... along with various board games that are are played against a KI like KDM, Zombicide, Conan, Batman, Darklight, etc.

I get up once in a while to play BFG and AoS against other players, though.

lots of good suggestions here, thank you guys.

Solo is a great suggestion. If you go that route be sure to check out Two Hour Wargames (THW). They have been doing solo games for quite a while for every genre and scope, most based on variations of their "reaction" system. Even a couple basic free rulesets to try out.
https://www.twohourwargames.com/

Rangers of Shadowdeep is single player or co-op; you can get kids or a spouse to play it

Could just keep painting and get into Golden Daemon/competitions or Dioramas

That's tough if you have no one around (or can't find anyone) to play with!

I'm finding more and more, it's the painting and the hobbying that I really like. Games are great, but I can't play that often either!

So I find I've taken friend's games (folks who don't live near me, or don't have kids, etc) and I paint those! I get the joy of painting, someone else gets the joy of playing (and sometimes I can escape my family to play too)

Good luck finding your hobby sweet spot.

Thanks to CoVid and two elderly parents, I've been playing solo miniature games and have a spare room for a gaming area. That means I have the time to paint whatever miniatures I need for a game, the current game is my display area, and I can stop the game to look up a rule, then either play or have a break.

Still collecting miniatures and boardgames at online sales and KickStarter, though!

i think lack of space kills my mojo a bit... having to setup and tear down every time i want to paint/model is a pain.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
so i find myself not playing and more so just collecting these days.
i was wondering what folk do out there that love the hobby but have no gaming opportunities?

i'm trying to convince myself to start painting but then what... put them in boxes, display a few?

play with by myself

i cant be the only guy in this boat... what do others like myself do?

Indeed.

My first few years of involvement in this hobby were like that. I come from a rural area. Nearest civilisation is a small town. There was no gaming community aside from me. Even if there was, as a schoolkid with a... bike and very limited public transport (none out my way) and finances, my ability to game was very limited.

Basically I had to look forward towards college to actually game. Big college city will Foster a community. And it did. When I went home for the summer I had to wait for the next semester.

But specifically to your situation - when I didn't game what did I do? I painted. I collected. I converted. I modelled. I read. I engaged with the community online. And honestly the people matter to me more than the game.

These days I play once a week with friends in a garage.garagehammer, homebrewing and house ruling all the way. There is a group trying to put together a gaming group in the town I live in now that I will check out too. But 'gaming time' is small and with a small community and I don't mind. I still paint/collect/display, even if it's just for me. I found with the covid pandemic having a non-screen hobby was extremely valuable for my mental health.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
i think lack of space kills my mojo a bit... having to setup and tear down every time i want to paint/model is a pain.

This really kills my painting drive, too. It makes something that is not my favorite into something forbiddingly tedious.

Assembling is much easier. I can use a cutting board, Xacto and glue on the counter next to the stove while I cook, for example.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
i think lack of space kills my mojo a bit... having to setup and tear down every time i want to paint/model is a pain.

This really kills my painting drive, too. It makes something that is not my favorite into something forbiddingly tedious.

Assembling is much easier. I can use a cutting board, Xacto and glue on the counter next to the stove while I cook, for example.

and if youre not careful it adds that little bit of needed flavor!

For those with limited painting space, is a compact painting tray a possibility? I used to keep a food service tray with brushes, water a couple paints and some figures in a closet. Could quickly bring it out to paint while watchint TV or somesuch and put it back away with minimal effort.

Having it close at hand makes it much more likely to get done, even if only painting in small spurts.

I generally keep all my painting stuff in a long, rubbermaid tub. I pack it away and pull it out every time I paint.

I have actually found this helps me, as when I could just leave a bunch of stuff sitting around; that's what it did. It just sat around.

Now, when I pull out the painting stuff I have committed to doing it.

I sculpt and convert. Trying to focus on things I can possibly sell, so I don't end up with too much clutter, gathering dust.

Currently pondering about finishing up some small forces, just on the offchance.

 Eilif wrote:
For those with limited painting space, is a compact painting tray a possibility? I used to keep a food service tray with brushes, water a couple paints and some figures in a closet. Could quickly bring it out to paint while watchint TV or somesuch and put it back away with minimal effort.

Having it close at hand makes it much more likely to get done, even if only painting in small spurts.

This is what I do too. Tray with the most commonly needed paints, water pot and palette. I can whip it out, paint a little and then tidy away in a few moments before it causes a domestic.

Quite a few people I know do likewise as many don't have the luxury of a dedicated hobby space, and it's a good alternative to having your crap scattered all over your living area!

I know a lot of people in this scenario like to take on busts as a new challenge once they're tired of painting figures.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
so i find myself not playing and more so just collecting these days.
i was wondering what folk do out there that love the hobby but have no gaming opportunities?

i'm trying to convince myself to start painting but then what... put them in boxes, display a few?

play with by myself

i cant be the only guy in this boat... what do others like myself do?

I come up with unique solo player missions and record the game via digital camera.

Fallout I have heard has got a really great solo mode. Reading about it you can almost recreate the video game as a sort of RPG, and there are pretty solid rules for playing as the opponent/environment as you are exploring as your wanderer, settlers, Brotherhood of Steel or whatever.

 LunarSol wrote:
I know a lot of people in this scenario like to take on busts as a new challenge once they're tired of painting figures.

Yes right. Plastic kits can be a good one too, especially if you keep them small (1/72 scale aircraft etc) they can be pretty neat to build and not need too much mess. Stay away from those giant WW2 battleship kits and the like though