"Oh, Shiny"

Wargamers are a fickle lot.  they will start a new project before finishing an old one.  They will buy figures when there are plenty of other figures to paint in the infamous lead mountain.  They will change rule sets even though they have to rebase an entire army to do so.  A wargamer will even start a game in a new scale despite the fact that they have the same armies in another scale.  If  a wargamer even finishes a project, it is not unusual for him to sell it off and start from scratch with a completely new project.

This is known among gamers as the “oh, shiny” syndrome.

I have been guilty of many of the “crimes” with the possible exception of selling armies after completing them.  I have sold a handful of 15mm DBA armies that were painted over 15 years ago, a minifig 15mm Napoleonic French army (my first completed army - using second generation minifigs), and a large WWII micro armor army.  I have never sold a core army, even if it has not been out of its boxes for 5 years (15mm SYW, 15mm Napoleonics).

I have often entered periods that I had no intention of entering.  My extensive 3 army 28mm Napoleonic collection began when a friend game be some blisters of Foundry French figures.  I couldn’t let them go to waste because Foundry figures are excellent castings.  Also, they are very expensive.  I now have approximately 1500 painted Foundry, Old Glory, Sash and Saber and Crusader figures.  I wish I could say that this was the only incident of its kind.

For many of us, the “oh, shiny” syndrome fades with age.  At some point, we realize that we will not get all the projects completed in our lifetime.  It is time to focus on those that give us the most satisfaction.  Then the liquidation starts with stray blisters, incomplete or discontinued figures, rule sets too old to play and terrain we will never use.  Everything gets sold at flea markets, to other members of the club, and to total strangers on www.ebay.com, www.boardgamegeek.com, and bartertown.

I am about halfway through my personal liquidation project and it is liberating.  There is a weight of unfinished projects that just disappears.   I have sold terrain, painted and unpainted lead, rule sets, board games (that were going to be used for that great campaign we never started) and other hobby miscellany.  It has been slow going because, like many who have accumulated stuff over the years, I don’t want it to go to waste.  However, the end is in sight.