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I have been collecting miniatures since my younger years and I have accumulated quite a lot. Thats pretty much the majority of us here so nothing new.
But have you actually accounted for all that you collected? I always avoided doing that since it will take weeks to sort things out and I really never wanted to face it.
Strangely enough I just started (baby steps) doing that once the Leviathan set was announced and I was thinking if I can justify getting 70+ more minis added to my pile.

On the few boxes I accounted for I quickly came to the conclusion that my collection is not healthy or positive for me personally. I was always proud of my minis and every single one of them I had plans to assemble and paint them nicely. Reality check moment here, if I live to 100 years I would still not have time to deal with this. OCD kicks in and now I kind feel stressed for having so much!

I decided to do something about this. I will fight my pile of minis by selling them. I dont take this decision lightly but I do not see any other way right now.
I will try each weekend
- check more boxes and account for more minis
- sell what I think its not going to get any love anytime soon.
- keep the things I like the most.

With this I aim to lift a bit of the stress of accumulating and maybe open space to odd one shot buys, of very few & selective minis. I dont intend to give up the hobby since its part of who I'am as a person but I need to do this now.

Immediate effect from today - Sold my Zombicide collection around 200+ minis.

Have you guys did a reality check and actually unboxed and accounted for your minis? How you deal with them?

Put (almost) all of them back in boxes but packed tighter to optimise storage (and tossed out mangled/crummy packaging from stuff that had no real value but kept it if the items might be 'collectable')

i did get rid of a small amount of stuff that i never really wanted when i first got it (stuff very cheap in sales, stuff bought to bring orders to free shipping or random gifts)

but generally i bought stuff i wanted and if i get rid of it i may well end up wanting again (and being unable to get), i know this from stuff i sold in the distant past both when had to and on the odd occasion when i could make too much to not sell something

but thats me (i've a vast collection of books too and even if ive not read something for 15 years i still might, and do, get in the mood to go back and read it again)

the one thing crazy downsizer Marie Kondo probably did get right is asking 'does my stuff bring me joy' and generally the untapped possibility of stuff i could work on/play with/read/paint etc does

If it just makes you feel confused (dont remember buying it, or why you bought it), anxious or overwhelmed slowly selling it off may well make sense (although i'd say put it out where you can see if for a few weeks to see in any interest re-appears)

I’ve not done a complete reckoning. I’ve got a fairly good grasp of what’s still on sprue. Almost no unopened boxes. If I stopped buying, I’d probably have a couple of decades of work to get through.

One of my goals every year is to paint more then I buy. I generally do OK for meeting it. While I could drop a lot of old sprues/kits to free up space, I’ve got room to store them, and don’t want to have to deal with finding them new homes/selling them.

A lot of old things that have been painted have a lot of emotional capital invested in them. I might never use them again, but can’t bring myself to part with them.

I moved house last year, so yeah I was reminded of just how much of this stuff I own.
I've got:
*Completed forces for numerous games, GW & otherwise - built & primed/base-coated at least (I paint very slowly/sporadically, so as long as the models built I count it good & get on with playing. The actual painting is it's own separate long term project)
*Works in progress
*Misc loose minis that've accumulated over the years. I've been slowly sorting this stuff recently & I've given some of it away.
*a # of kits in boxes that I don't have any current plans to use - but will someday & see no reason to pay even higher prices later vs now (ex: The Silent King & GWs annual price hikes...)
*Misc small kits/blisters that I've picked up over the years at gaming conventions. "Ooh, that's a cool mini...." Then I get home & somehow never get around to building/painting it..... Over time I've accumulated about 3 shoe boxes worth of such one-off blisters....
*and of course there's terrain of all sorts and a few boxes of misc stuff used in conversions etc

So that's why I made it a 2023 goal to build & prime/base-coat at least 1 thing from my backlog each week - in addition to whatever actual project I'm working on.
Since Jan.1st I'm up to having built & primed 49 kits (mostly blisters, & mostly random non-GW stuff at that) of a 52 target. These past 2 months have been extremely busy though, so only 1 major project got finished (getting a skaven army onto the table) & progress on the backlog stalled.
I WILL hit that goal of 52 by the end of the month. Then I'll see if I can do another 52 July -Dec.

I have a ridiculously large pile of toy soldiers (think 100 old style double army cases or under bed storage boxes, including 10 scenery). I'll never finish painting & building but they DO bring me joy, so I'm keeping them. It's not a contest - well - not until they're on the field anyway... if yours stress you, then get rid, but make sure you're genuinely in need of getting rid.

Im finding it strangely liberating, almost like a weight slowly being lifted away. Im even looking at new models with a fresh mindset, with no ( do I really need more minis? ) question.

Its working so far and currently cataloging selling all my Infinity minis.

If the overall balance means less minis then Im ok with that.

Once you actually catalogue things you know exactly how much you have and that makes a big difference dealing with the future of your collections.

Glad it's working for you!

I've wondered about this once In a while, I don't get much spare time for hobby and I have at least a dozen project that have been brought but never touched. ( and by projects i mean whole armies or game systems)

But I'll get to them ONE day. It might not be until I retire at this rate but ONE day.

Even if I never do anything more with them than build/paint them then put them in a display it will make me happy.

and if the worse should happen before I get around to them, then the sale of them will be an inheritance for my kids. Classic models only ever seem to go up in price, at least for the oldhammer projects i've had anything to do with.

I keep a spreadsheet of my model inventory. Also been paring down every time I move (which, since I've been hopping around every year or three for medical training, has been often). I've been doing the Marie Kondo thing and have found that the more I streamline my collection, the more deliberate my purchases become and the less of a compulsive, FOMO purchaser I am. It's been liberating.

Of course, I'm about to create a 3D printing maker space, so once that happens all bets are off.

I think its very healthy with a major focus hobby to pause every so often and take stock.

I think that sometimes its better to box up and put some things into storage for a while and really make sure you do want to get rid of them. Just because any "buy back into it" will nearly always cost you way more (and sometimes some things will vanish outright or be very hard to source).


So I like to have a holding period of no set time where I put things aside to mull over if I really do want to get rid of them.


I also think that the healthy way to do this that often produces better results is to have an objective and focus for selling beyond just clearing stock or cleaning out. Those are GOOD things in their own right, but at the same time I think that if you have a choice to sell or not (ergo its not financial or other pressures); then if you've a good positive reason then that makes it easier to deal with the regret later or just to have no regret at all.



Eg I had a bunch of high elf stuff that I'd picked up to work with into a HE army before GW blew it up. I sat on it for ages and when GW announced the Ossiarch army I decided that as HE were dead and as the new Ossiarchs were so amazingly cool it was worth selling an army I was never going to build for one I would.




Of course it doesn't have to be more models; it might be paints; one big cool model; another hobby etc....
I don't always condone selling one hobby for another (our moods and desires change); but I think if you're having a hobby clearout then selling for a good reason works great.






Heck I'm sitting here considering doing it for my Eldar. Tyranids were my first 40K army and they are back in the lime light and whilst Gw has updated eldar a lot with some fantastic models; I can't deny that for me one of the draws were the FW models. However its also become clear that FW is being cleared out - seeing Greater Demons basically stripped out recently and even some recent stuff like the Diamichton and Malanthrope - it all just leaves me with a feeling that if I want the Eldar stuff I'd have to commit to it 100% and build a huge force of the FW stuff on panic-mode with the expectation that it would likely all be gone to legends before long.

Sure GW might replace with plastic, and they might not and they might replace 10 years after removing the model.

I'm worried about regretting anything I sell. In the end I decided organisation was the key.

I agree organisation no matter if you sell or not is a huge thing. Know what you have; sort it out; store it well.

Finding a sustainable way to manage my collection is definitely an ongoing challenge that I've reworked a few times. The main thing is I keep track of my collection in a spreadsheet. I know what I've got and whether its painted.

Recently I moved a lot of my stuff into scrapbooking bins. The stuff I play a lot I've magnetized and started using the same bins for transportation. It's very simple to organize armies into them and grab them off the shelf as needed.

There is definitely something to be said for reflecting on what matters. Instead of chasing new shinies, find your favorite army in your favorite game and spending a few weeks dedicated to enjoying it. It helps give perspective and make it easier to let go of things that you bought because they were on sale or someone insisted were required to compete or you're just not excited to play. Offloading stuff is also just a great way to get new players, which is far more rewarding than unbuilt sprues that never see play.

It's interesting how relative this question is. I have more minis than I'll live to paint, but some members of this forum would find it absurdly large, while other members of this forum would find it very small. I guess what I'm saying is that "how much is too much" is definitely a sliding scale that varies from person to person.

But the key is, of course, how you feel about your own collection, and I can definitely empathize with how you feel about yours. I think it's a little harder for me to prune my stuff, though, because I love to kitbash, and even a miniature I no longer like often has elements I could cut up and use somewhere else. And it's hard to predict what bits you'll need in the future, because you don't know what inspirations and ideas will strike you.

At worst, that leaves you feeling paralyzed in hoarding mode, unable to liquidate anything. Downsizing your collection can give you a feeling of being more in control, but it also has the tangible benefit of freeing up space in your home, either for new minis you like better or other things. So the benefits are significant, but the peril is that predicting your own tastes ten years from now can actually be very tricky. For example, until about two years ago I avoided buying new metal miniatures like the plague; now I'm on an extended Oldhammer kick and loving working on the metal minis of my youth. I've soured a bit on resin recently due to its fragility, but it's entirely possible that in a couple of years I'll be excited about resin minis again, or even have a resin 3-D printer. Or not. Point being, it can be very hard to accurately predict your own mind and perspective.

Anyhow, it's something I need to work on. I am wary of selling off things I may want again in the future, especially older stuff that'll only become rarer and more expensive to acquire. But when I look closely, I can see fat that's safe to trim. I've never been a big armies kind of guy, for example, so if I have 6 identical sprues of a given unit, I probably will only ever need 2 of those sprues at most, even for kit bashing purposes. (While it's remotely possible I could change my mind and want a large army some day, the reality of how slowly I paint makes that extremely unlikely.)

Then there's the stuff like my untouched box of the last edition of Space Hulk. I've had it for about 5 years now, and I still haven't had the urge to prioritize painting it. I've never played Space Hulk and don't know if I'd like the game or not. But the minis are good, I like sci-fi, and the day might come when I really want to have a completely painted miniature set for a boardgame, something I've never done. So for now, it stays.

Anyhow, great thread!

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Put (almost) all of them back in boxes but packed tighter to optimise storage (and tossed out mangled/crummy packaging from stuff that had no real value but kept it if the items might be 'collectable')

i did get rid of a small amount of stuff that i never really wanted when i first got it (stuff very cheap in sales, stuff bought to bring orders to free shipping or random gifts)

but generally i bought stuff i wanted and if i get rid of it i may well end up wanting again (and being unable to get), i know this from stuff i sold in the distant past both when had to and on the odd occasion when i could make too much to not sell something

but thats me (i've a vast collection of books too and even if ive not read something for 15 years i still might, and do, get in the mood to go back and read it again)

the one thing crazy downsizer Marie Kondo probably did get right is asking 'does my stuff bring me joy' and generally the untapped possibility of stuff i could work on/play with/read/paint etc does

If it just makes you feel confused (dont remember buying it, or why you bought it), anxious or overwhelmed slowly selling it off may well make sense (although i'd say put it out where you can see if for a few weeks to see in any interest re-appears)

Hey! Stop describing me!

Of note, while I definitely believe there's a lot of value in getting rid of excess, I'm not really suggesting you get rid of everything you don't need. For all the things I have gotten rid of, I don't think there's a game system I once played that I haven't retained at least 2 functional armies for. If its painted and you've got a place to store or display it and you love it, by all means do so.

Just make sure you organize your storage in a way you can find things. Piles of models in boxes just aren't ever going to see use. First and foremost though, the stuff to consider is the unpainted pile. If its been 6 years, its worth asking yourself if you really think you're ever going to paint it. If you are, make it a priority and if not, strongly consider letting it go. One of the changes I've made in the last year that I've been really happy with is deciding not to buy anything unless its going directly to the paint table ahead of anything else on my queue. Really helps keep the backload down. If its somehow not available 6 months down the line.... probably a good thing I didn't buy it.

Pretty timely topic. Covid and a FLGS relocation destroyed my gaming group, went from weekly gaming to maybe once a month. Plus I'm doing less videogaming and that's a LOT of extra time spent looking at more toys to order and start on, but without the push of "finish painting to game with it on Saturday". It's been building up faster than I'm using it and most of it is half-finished projects that I lose interest in because I'm not really gaming much. "Paralyzed in hoarding mode" resonated deep in my bones, and I'm finally actively paring down after years of procrastination and half-measures to get organized.

What you need to do is ultimately going to vary by personal situation. If I had a larger house or garage, I wouldn't be looking at ditching anything. But at some point, you just need to take a step back and look at how much you're using and how much you're just storing and whether you'll ever actually get back around to it. Also, whether it's worth giving away, selling, or just accepting the loss and tossing it.

Amazing feedback Its cool to check how everyone handles the logistics of a huge collection.

Organising is really important specially if you have things in storage boxes out of sight. The more boxes I open the more I realise that I should really have done this sooner.

Was mentioned and I love the idea that someone else will give the deserved attention to my sold minis.

I do have some non negotiable collections and I will catalogue them too and take pictures etc, I may even organise them by Project alpha, Beta etc

Another positive thing I found out is that the long time and forgotten projects I will keep, once catalogued, they are bumped into my ongoing projects. Reborn from the ashes.

Pictures, pictures, pictures! It will motivate you to paint and go through your collection, make sure to finish each batch of minis to the fullest before going on the next. The most common thing I see is half finished work, thus giving them a bad value as people will most likely buy them to strip and repaint. Prep your models before painting, and use super glue, NOT GW citadel glue as its trash plastic glue, giving you less wiggle room and bad value for sale if people want to strip and repaint.

Start a Plog and post your model with links like Imgur for constructive criticism to help you.
Here is an example from my post/collection: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/767743.page

This and family photos... but be careful. I said the same thing, sold a lot of Old Hammer, and now I regret it.

Just don't sell the wrong things, I'd say.

I know I am the odd one out. I have no models in my pile of shame. 0. Everything is painted and in rotation.

Here is how I do it. Each year, I determine a "project" that I am going to work on. This typically culminates in a big "demo" battle with what I have painted and built for the year at a local location.

I create a scenario for the demo battle, and often times a ruleset as well. This is schedule for early spring the following year. I then buy only the forces I need the scenario and just enough for a little variety. I tightly budget each project to be about ~$150 per side, or $300 total.

I order the project parts in late spring. Then, paint them for the remainder of the year. I am usually done by the end of the year. I then build or gather anything I need for the terrain set-up until the projects comes to a head in the demo battle.

Through the rest of the year, I typically do not buy or paint models for any other project until the one I am working on is complete. If I finish early, then I might squeeze in some individual or small squads for ranges I all ready have.

I play games through out the year using my existing ranges I have completed in previous years.

Rinse and repeat each year. I have been doing this for about 6 years now to good effect.

Yeah I’m in the middle of that now. I’ve had a massive pile of shame for a many years and I started fixing that after I moved into my house a couple years back. I ended up getting rid of a lot of models for games that died off in my area or I just never ended up playing. I really only play 40K and Blood and Plunder so it didn’t make sense to have four other games that never get played. I have lots of ideas for what I have left but I’m not sure I’ll live the next 400 years to finish it. So there might be more on the chopping block.

 Easy E wrote:
I know I am the odd one out. I have no models in my pile of shame. 0. Everything is painted and in rotation.

Here is how I do it. Each year, I determine a "project" that I am going to work on. This typically culminates in a big "demo" battle with what I have painted and built for the year at a local location.

I create a scenario for the demo battle, and often times a ruleset as well. This is schedule for early spring the following year. I then buy only the forces I need the scenario and just enough for a little variety. I tightly budget each project to be about ~$150 per side, or $300 total.

I order the project parts in late spring. Then, paint them for the remainder of the year. I am usually done by the end of the year. I then build or gather anything I need for the terrain set-up until the projects comes to a head in the demo battle.

Through the rest of the year, I typically do not buy or paint models for any other project until the one I am working on is complete. If I finish early, then I might squeeze in some individual or small squads for ranges I all ready have.

I play games through out the year using my existing ranges I have completed in previous years.

Rinse and repeat each year. I have been doing this for about 6 years now to good effect.

How are you still alive? It’s a well known fact that gamers die when they run out of minis to paint. Undead? Are you a vampire? Demonic pact?

Makes not sense...

Haha

I think it's a good lesson in life generally, not just with wargaming stuff, having a 'spring clean' and getting rid of stuff that I have not used (will never use) definitely makes you feel better for it.

I have a rule that if something has been pile-of-shamed (still in box) for 2 years and hasn't been touched in that time then it goes. I sell it, someone gets some minis they need at a cheaper price, I have funds for more minis.

Painted army wise, although it's less of an issue now that my painting has slowed right down, I never have more than one completed/painted army for any one system. As soon as one is completed, the previous one goes on sale. For skirmish games that doesn't apply, although I still try and limit to how much I have in the collection (one system per carry case for example).

I like to think selling completed armies means one extra painted army out in the community, although reading some of the comments above I guess they probably go straight into a paint-stripper bath!

Interesting thread,
I go through periodic sell-offs. Like many, I tend to acquire future projects in large lots and often I loose interest before the project comes to fruition. This on top of a magpie-like-attitude toward deals on minis that interest me has grown my collection well beyond what I can reasonably paint.

So, I have have tons of gaming stuff and I should purge it more often but hosting a twice-monthly game club that plays a wide variety of games makes it unhealthily easy to justify keeping things.

Currently getting ready to sell a bunch of oddball stuff for myself and friends. I think I've just about steeled myself to sell off all my Battletech and Mechwarrior Novels and maybe even the LoTR models that I'll probably never get around to painting.

I'm keeping my future pile of shame in .STL format.

If I want to paint it *then* I'll print it. No more grey mountains sitting around.

It's great having a collection potential sitting there without it being clutter, ready to print whenever the urge hits.

This reminds me about that Will.

I have a ~1m³ limit to my wargaming collection. It's the most practical approach I've found so far.

 Nevelon wrote:


How are you still alive? It’s a well known fact that gamers die when they run out of minis to paint. Undead? Are you a vampire? Demonic pact?

Makes not sense...

Well, I was never really alive in the first place, so......

The diet is in full force now, Im getting some space back and Im seriously organising things so that all is accounted for.

Out of my collection and 100% for sale is, Zombicide, X-Wing, Infinity and Spacehulk... Probably more.
Theres still a lot of work ahead and after the minis I will go for the Paints and man oh man it's going to be messy to organise them. Looking into ways on how to store them better than in bags, maybe foam.

Another type of Diet is not buying things you dont want 100%. Example I love some minis on Leviathan but not all of it so not committing in getting more minis for the sake of being a good deal if Im only after a few.

This can be a dangerous thing too because you may get too addicted on selling. I need to identify more things I will NOT sell.