Organising my collection – Downsizing/offloading junk!

So unusually it’s not actually a new years resolution to offload my junk, yet I’m looking at it in a serious way.  Oddly this all seems to have been spurred on by the possible changes to Warhammer forecast for 9^th edition.

For those that don’t follow the game the rumours suggest there will be drastic changes to how the game looks and plays in the next edition which is rumoured for the middle of 2015.  From 16 factions down to 6 (and there is already track record for this from the End Times books coming out at present).   So why should that really impact my collection?  Well it has been a long term goal to own one of every army for Warhammer.  But if the armies are no longer in existence do I really want to own them?  If they’re combined then what overlap do I have in my figure collection, what could I sell off vs keep without impacting me?

All of that got me thinking about the mountain of figures in my cupboards and how seldom some of them see the light of day.  For instance I have a 40k space marine army that hasn’tcome out the box in over 3 years I suspect.  It’s a battle company too, so not a small collection!  Then what about all the old games which I have stacks of figures for, will I end up playing them ever?

So I’ve begun the process of firstly carrying out an audit of what I own and the next step will be deciding what to do with it.

Warhammer – My biggest commitment, and the one with least certainty going forward.

Bretonnians – Full 3,000ish pts army, all models painted except 6 mounted yeomen but still needs based but that means I can match it with my empire to roll it forwards (it’s one of my resolutions to base it) HOLD & PAINT. SUBJECT TO FUTURE SELL ARMY.

Chaos Dwarfs – Big hat metals army.  These guys are money.  I paid a pittance for them as bought off someone that won the army in a raffle!  But I think I’ll paint them up and not just sell them off, there is something about an army that has been discontinued on multiple occasions that says holding them will only see the value increase. HOLD & PAINT

Daemons of Chaos – Chaos Legion will be one of the armies to exist in future Warhammer so no risk attached to these.  Already future proofed with my consistent basing scheme between them and my WoC.  Have a small selection of unpainted bits but only a handful of models, so should get them painted up so I can call it done.  Organised these recently into one place so can actually review what I have. HOLD

Dark Elves – Have a box full of stuff in my ‘to paint’ queue.  This is a tricky one, with the combination of the elf armies into one they are entirely redundant as I have painted WE and HE but on inconsistent basing.  Assuming 9^th makes them one army then anything in here must become duplicate with stuff in the other two books surely.  Consider selling? PAINT/SELL

Dwarfs – Massive army and a box of spares which are unpainted.  Unload surplus stuff barring things that are genuinely useful, sounds like army will cease to exist as a standalone but given a lot of what I have is 3^rd ed metals it’s holding value and desirable. HOLD & PAINT,  SELL UNWANTED figs

Empire – Bound to exist going forward in some form.  I’ve most of an army painted and plenty to expand with, these are the next army painting project, not too much additional unnecessary stuff to offload really. HOLD & PAINT

High Elves – Army done in 2014, still adding bits.  Have a box full of stuff I should just sell as of little value to me, but keep pulling bits from it to use at present, so loath to flog it quite yet.  Again the combination of the elf armies gives me some concerns over what to do with this stuff. HOLD, SELL UNWANTED, POSSIBLY SELL ARMY?

Lizardmen – Could be written out Warhammer based on some current thinking, personally doubt it but who knows!  I have a box of unpainted stuff but not masses so another one which I should just finish everything off and offload what is left. PAINT O/S, SUBJECT TO FUTURE SELL ARMY.

Orcs & Goblins – Army painted but very limited options.  Really should paint some more bits but also have a load of crap I should ditch. A staple of the GW universe, can’t see them going anywhere. HOLD, SELL UNWANTED

Skaven – already unloaded most of the unnecessary stuff, so just things I want to paint at some point left, army looks safe to exist going forward HOLD & PAINT

Tomb Kings – Got fully painted then bought a few more bits.  Get it all painted again! Becomes part of undead legion army, assume will exist going forward. HOLD & PAINT

Warriors of Chaos – will combine in UL, keep and paint what I have, some surplus stuff to unload. HOLD & PAINT

Wood Elves – Again elf legion problem, but have an attractive army that I like, so should be a definite keeper.  Have a box full of extras but a lot of it could find its way into an army, so think this is paint rather than sell, but a lot of it is metals which are replaced by new plastics.  Should I trade out? HOLD & PAINT

VC, OK, Beasts – These are the armies I don’t own at present. NOT AS STANDALONE ARMIES, ROLL INTO UL AND LOC, rumours suggest that beastmen are done for but hard to believe.  OK… combined with O&G, so an easy option to add them to what I have there.

Malifaux - Played 2 games of M2e which is now over 2 years old... Suggests I shouldn't really be too attached to it, but I've really enjoyed painting the figures so not about to sell it off, plus it's not exactly a huge model count I have.

Relic Knights - This is just a cool model range.  Again not a huge collection so I'm going to commit to painting up a force and stick with it for now.

Warmachine - This is probably the game I'm least attached to.  Played a few games a few years ago and it was ok, but since it's just sat in a box untouched.  I recently went and painted a few figs which I've rather enjoyed so might paint up the army but imagine just to increase its sale value.

Rivet Wars - never played, some of it still on sprue.  Basically on hold due to current life (small kids).  This looks like fun to pull out for a gaming afternoon when I get back to doing those.

Sedition Wars - Dead on arrival, get rid is the sensible thing, but at the same time I quite like the idea of the game and should paint it up for fun at some stage.

Necromunda - Did a good job of downsizing the collection last year, should continue to ditch this as it's just a waste of space.  Will keep 1 gang for sentimental reasons.

40k - Space marines should get offloaded, they're just dead space.  Eldar is a painting project that I want to get back to at some point, so keep those.

Infinity - Again no desire to play the game ever, should just shift it on.

Epic - I sat on stuff in a box for donkeys years and last year painted up a force, still never played the game but have a cool army ready to go when I get round to it, as had such fun doing it have actually picked up a bunch more stuff too.  Being sensible have a load of stuff I should get rid of, but enjoy painting it so gonna keep it and hardly takes up much room!

Overall I've basically got a load of stuff I should sell. But in reality I've so little reason to sell it I can't see myself offloading any.  Instead I'll just focus on painting the things I want and keep the rest hidden away in boxes!