Managing the collection

In the latest issue of Miniature Wargames (448, already added to the index), there's a column by Tom Holden about wargamers not only being gamers and painters, but also hoarders.

I guess this is familiar to most longtime wargamers. We have a tendency of buying stuff, storing stuff, hoarding stuff ... without ever using most of it. I recently saw a remark by someone on a discussion forum "If wargamers would only buy what they would actually use and play with, the wargaming industry would be in deep trouble."

But anyway, this hobby of ours indeed has a tendency of growing out of control at regular intervals. I guess every individual wargamer need to find the right balance.

Personally, I have culled my collection at regular intervals, often triggered by a house move. Since 2008, we live in our current house, and I am lucky to have my own wargaming room. But, I try to keep the room nice and clean, without collecting junk in there. After all, the gaming room serves as a gaming room, not as a storage space, and having a nice room helps in making gaming enjoyable.

I also have my "work space" in the garage, where I do my painting, and where I keep my "junk". In that space, things grow out of control now and then, so I regularly try to toss out or sell things I longer need: boardgames, materials for modeling projects I will never finish, etc. It really helps to prioritize, and to be realistic about things. E.g.:

• Games? Is there any chance I will still play the game in the next 10 years or so? If the asnwer is no, I bring it to the local gaming shop.
• Books? Is there any chance I will read the book ever again? If no, I bring it to the local charity shop, or put in the local "book exchange closet" (boekenruilkastje in Dutch, don't know how to translate it, but it's a box where people can leave old books for free and take some other ones for free left there by other people).
• Miniatures? If the miniatures are unpainted, I don;t have a hard time getting rid of them. Exceptions are vintage fantasy miniatures - I'm a sucker for those!

I'm still not ready to make really rational choices based on life expectancy though. I'm 53 now. Suppose I live for another 25 years - that's 25*52 = 1300 weeks. If we would play a game per week, that means 1300 games. Perhaps that's a bit optimistic, so what about a game a month? That's 300 games. What figures and rules do I need for those 300 games ... ? Nah, we're not ready for that sort of analysis yet!