The only question that matters

[me_in_japan]

So, I got to thinking.

When do you have too many miniatures?

A simple enough question, I know, but seriously, when is enough enough? Has anyone else got to the point where you just think "hang on a minute. I already own (insert huge number here) minis, so what the hell do I need these ones for? I collect more games systems than I have time to play, I have multiple armies for each system, and yet I'm still eyeing up that new (insert name of game system) expansion pack. What gives?"

I ask because I think I just reached the end of my own personal rope. Not in a deeply traumatic way or anything, I'm just feeling a bit philosophical with a sunday evening baileys, is all. (That, and I just bought 3 Rackham minis off ebay. Lovely, lovely models, but do I need em? No, hell no I don't. They still cost me money, though. Do I need that? Yes, hell yes I do. There's an imbalance here that needs to be rectified, no?)

So, where is your own personal line in the sand?

*edit* ps Battle for Alabaster doesnt count. I shall be getting that for my birthday. That's not real money, and doesn't count

[job]

When you have miniatures that are unpainted, possibly unassembled and you can possibly realistically imagine not having them painted in the next 2-3 years.

Something like that, but I'd never draw a definite line because life can change suddenly or minutely. Your schedule, time, interest, space, ability, limitations, goals can all change suddenly.

[me_in_japan]

When you have miniatures that are unpainted, possibly unassembled and you can possibly realistically imagine not having them painted in the next 2-3 years.

Dude, I have stuff in blisters that have been sitting in my closet for near on 5-6 years. BUT I dont always buy to play with. I sometimes buy to paint, and in that case the minis are better off in their blisters to keep the dust off until the muse strikes.

meh, I know - just making excuses, now... *sigh*

[Spevna]

When you have enough to;

- play the games you want.
- allow variety when you pick/choose a force.
- make you think "hold on a mo, that's a shitload of minis".

[Primarch]

You know you have too many minis if you hear me say "Wow, thats a lot of minis" to you.

Personally I think everyone has their own limitations, whether due to time/space/money/wife etc. I think that so long as you enjoy having them then you are ok. E.g. the minis in blisters that MiJ has been keeping. Sometimes it is nice to have a model and think 'Someday I'm going to paint that' or whatever. Buying stuff just for the sake of it does wear thin after a while. When the Alabaster thread started up I was halfway tempted to buy a box, but then realised that I would never ever use it enough to make it worthwhile. I am making some effort to get through some of my massive backlog this year and my model buying has slowed right down. Maybe once I feel I have made some headway I will buy more, who knows.

I guess what I am trying to say is that you should have enough models to feel comfortable, when you look at thevast piles of minis and dont feel comfortable, it is time to do something about it.

[Admiral-Badruck]

What can we say we are addicts I would say there is no upper limit on models I would buy but I would also say as much as you can keep should be the limit

[The Other Dave]

My personal line is "when you have no place to store them once you've painted 'em," a line I hit (and proceeded to stumble across) some little while ago.

[job]

When you have miniatures that are unpainted, possibly unassembled and you can possibly realistically imagine not having them painted in the next 2-3 years.

Dude, I have stuff in blisters that have been sitting in my closet for near on 5-6 years. BUT I dont always buy to play with. I sometimes buy to paint, and in that case the minis are better off in their blisters to keep the dust off until the muse strikes.

meh, I know - just making excuses, now... *sigh*

Well, I didn't word it all that well, but I guess what I want to also say is it is subjective to what you think is realistic down the road.

I try to legitimize what I buy and store in respects to as what I can paint within the next 6 months. Invariably somethings get shuffled off to the side and some forgotten. Those things I look at time to time and wonder if I need to part with them. I also have a backlog of things I keep looking at on the FOW, GW, Napoleonic sites and others. But I have to keep staving off the urge to buy them. Usually I tell myself that it is incentive to get to painting what I have. Also I like to only play with things painted or soon to be painted, so I don't like the idea of having models with the want for attention.
Oh course, this is just my way of looking at things, certainly it isn't meant to be a model for you or even remotely suited for your situation. I think you're planning to be here in Japan longer then me, isn't that correct? You've also got a family now, so that provides allowances with how much inventory you have in the "unpainted" stock. (A family man can always say "There are things I want to accomplish, but they have to wait until the children get older (etc., etc.). So in the mean time...")

I throw the what I want to collect or paint things in with the same rationale. If I want it, I've got to free up space in the painting schedule. This of course has invariably meant I missed out on some things.

Oddly, your question was about how many minis, but in the end I've never felt I approached that upper limit of amount. I've always been far more concerned with the number of unpainted/unused things, so I feel this has in part kept my collection in a manageable size.

[ashmie]

For me it's when you have more unpainted minis than painted ones. That's when you know your hobby has gone out of control. Like with my recent MERP collection, that was collecting for collectibles sake as I have a whole other host of things to paint as well as that. More Prussians, more FOW, more 40k, Romans etc I think a way around feeling bad about it is not to invest in any new armies when you already have 3 or 4. I've got an Ultamarines and an Orc army, a Wood Elf army, A Prussian army and a FOW army so I feel buying the odd mini here and there to boost those armies is ok or to buy just for paintings sake.
I've reached my peak with the models now the MERP is done and have moved my spending habits to buying RPG books but even that is winding up now. Need money for nappies, wine and the finer things in life.
I'm enjoying just kicking back with football, beer or some TV lately. Plus I've just read the Hobbit again and have loads of other books I want to read. It's good to have a break from buying models and allow yourself to stand back, smell the flowers and paint the ones you already have. Give yourself some time to catch up.

[ashmie]

When you have no room for clothes to hang as the models are taking up the wardrobe space and poking through to Narnia on the other side.