Collection digression

I should have some Convergence test pics up later today, but in the meantime. . . .

This is from a facebook discussion, where the original question was asked:

Discussion topic: How do you guys decide it's time to part ways with an army? Have you felt that you have too much stuff, and it would be nice to have less, or use excess stuff to fund another project? How to choose, how to choose? Do you follow any personal guidelines in turning over your forces for something new?

My answer (predictably, as the Army Altaholic) was:

I see those words, but do not understand them. Kidding aside - until I give up on WM/H entirely, I am not giving up any of my armies. I've done it before, and then a mere 6 months later, decided that I wanted to play [X] again, and had to start from scratch. (I have pared down my GW stuff, but I keep some in reserve, in case of a move, since it is slightly easier to find a GW game and WM/H)

 A bit later, I clarified, because someone asked how I decided which GW armies to pare down:

For GW - for 40k, I kept Marines, Orks and (b/c they came in the last set) Chaos. All three are staples, don't change so much that my figs won't be any good, and all should stick around with edition changes. For WFB, I have Skaven and Orcs for the same reason, and though I don't now that Ogres will stay in future editions, it's a small model count army, so if I ever start painting them again, it's easy to finish, and a nice change from the other horde armies.

 The consensus was that, in general, you should get rid of an army either when you know that you are unlikely to ever play that army again in the future, or when you divest yourself of a game system entirely.  For example, when I got rid of my Chronopia stuff last year, I got rid of all of it.  Everything that I could find, all in one fell swoop.  It is possible that I have a rulebook or something still floating around, or perhaps an odd figure that I missed, but I tried to get all of it.  I might do the same thing with another game or two that I have - ones that I have not played in over a decade, and am unlikely to ever play again, since they pretty much require an already-existing group of players.

I have toyed with the idea of getting rid of a couple of Malifaux crews - ones that I did not paint, and have thought about stripping.  I'd be trading them for different crews - essentially, an army swap.  I do that from time to time, but mainly at the battlebox level - once I have a certain critical mass invested in an army, it becomes a lot less likely to go.


Comments from any of my (irregular) readers?