Despertaferres

Gamers: when is enough, enough?

Have you been stopped from buying you favourite over-18 computer game? Has your Visa or Mastercard declined your attempt to buy a game that features naked women or drug dealing? Will your Visual I. D. be safe and not stored in some account to be used for some nefarious purposes? And just who does keep…

redcaer1690
2–3 minutes

Have you been stopped from buying you favourite over-18 computer game? Has your Visa or Mastercard declined your attempt to buy a game that features naked women or drug dealing? Will your Visual I. D. be safe and not stored in some account to be used for some nefarious purposes? And just who does keep looking at this site for a five year old photograph of Lisa Ann? None of these questions will be answered in today’s post. Rather, the more serious issue of gamer ageing.

An artist’s impression of what it is to be sixty!

What started me off down today’s rabbit hole was Eastern Dice Stud, Rob declaring that he would no longer be purchasing miniatures after the age of sixty. I was askance, I was shocked and disbelieving of what I was hearing. Our wives smirked in unison, awaiting me to opine.

I stayed calm!

Was this really happening? Could it be true? Would this catch on with the other Dice Studz? A number of whom had been down- sizing recently i.e. selling their old miniatures. Was I intent on bucking the trend and not giving away my possessions in the last declining Dharma inspired years?

Would you like my old plumbing?

I have to admit I was shocked. I recounted all the benefits of continuing purchasing; what about all those unfinished projects? What would I do with my evenings and weekends? What would get me into a community when I did finally retire? Wargaming has become such a large part of my life, could I ever stop, or even reduce my consumption?

Stop! I’m not ready!

No! I struck a deal with Sid and purchased a second copy of Memoir 44, just in case I wanted to reenact D- day with the nurses at the retirement home. I went to the “ garage” and started to reorganise!

That’s better!

I made a plan, finish two armies in the next twelve months; Royalists and Bonaparte in Italie. It was salutary to at least consider that I couldn’t just keep amassing more “ stuff”. I would do that most uncharacteristic wargamer thing and actually use all my collections.

I set to work.

Wednesday 13th of August is the start of Hexweek: adapting all my collections to the games I really enjoy, namely Commands and Colors family, To the Strongest and SAGA. I felt I was meeting my audience more than half- way. I couldn’t commit to not buying anymore but “ tempos fugit!”

“Moments Mori” but not yet!!!!

15 responses to “Gamers: when is enough, enough?”

  1. Philip Mackie Avatar
    Philip Mackie

    it’s a worrying thing, aging. in 1990 I paid a visit to Terry Wise at his home in Doncaster to talk about all things Seven Year’s War. On both sides of every tread of his stairs there was a brown paper package about 6x10x5 inches. Terry explained that each contained 5 copies of The Army of Marie Theresa by Christopher Duffy, a book he’d just reprinted and accidentally ordered double what he meant to. his large first floor Wargames room also looked like it was full of brown paper wrapped boxes in a variety of sizes. I asked Terry what they contained as I could see addresses written on them for people all over the country and a few for USA. his answer was depressing: “My unpainted Wargames armies as I have realised I cannot possibly paint them all before I die!”

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      That would indeed be the worst case scenario; you can definately get over whelmed!
      Not quite as bad as returning to a dinner table to hear my wife not too discreetly asking a pal how much my collections were worth!!!!

      Names withheld to protect the guilty!

      Thanks Phil

      Liked by 1 person

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  2. John@justneedsvarnish Avatar
    John@justneedsvarnish

    You’ll be pleased to know I failed the stop-buying-toy-soldiers-when-you-get-to-60 test! You just keep on buying! 🙂

    And I’m sure the witches in the community think Hexweek is something different! 😉

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      Haha! I’m hoping 60-80 will be my most productive years!!!! Certainly loving painting more than ever!

      I couldn’t possibly comment on Welsh witches!!! My mum used to scare me to death with tales of the Bord witch of Pennard!!!!

      Liked by 1 person

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  3. TWR Avatar
    TWR

    This is all becoming terribly close to home and made worse when I hear of the deteriorating health of a good wargaming friend.

    My lead pile is well stocked and I continue to purchase more. I am now a little over 60. I tell myself that I need the lead on hand as my income will reduce when I retire.

    I take heart at one of my regular opponents who nears 80 and can’t wait for our regular Friday evening gaming evenings, though he has himself downsized his collection.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      I do hope your pal pulls through! I’m afraid we all reach the stage when we realise the clock is ticking…
      I really didn’t intend to bring everyone down, in fact I love your idea that you are preparing a retirement nest egg ( of metal). Not sure it would wash with my wife but I’ll try!
      Very best wishes!

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. TWR Avatar
        TWR

        My lead pile comprises 6mm, 15mm and now 1/3000th naval. Combined the space consumed is limited. I am pretty sure I will be well stocked when I retire, which is not too far away!

        Liked by 2 people

      2. redcaer1690 Avatar
        redcaer1690

        I was just discussing this very topic with a pal ; we like a period and then can’t resist all scale options! Do like the idea of Renaissance galleys: yet another rabbit hole!!

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Philip Mackie Avatar
    Philip Mackie

    she doesn’t need to know about your retirement investment in metal ( or resin or plastic). Don’t however move house before you retire as I did. With 4 years to go we decided to upsize (a chap needs a wargames room/painting room) as it became all too clear how much I’d accumulated and distributed around the old home, garage and garden room 😬

    Liked by 2 people

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  5. Philip Mackie Avatar
    Philip Mackie

    she doesn’t need to know about your retirement investment in metal ( or resin or plastic). Don’t however move house before you retire as I did. With 4 years to go we decided to upsize (a chap needs a wargames room/painting room) as it became all too clear how much I’d accumulated and distributed around the old home, garage and garden room 😬

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      Haha! Great advice! My usual defence is, “ your daily mochachocalatte is four pounds and that’s eight minis( really it’s three!😭)!
      Keep up the fight! We need to make the next twenty years as good as our childhood battles!!!!

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. TinyPaintedHeroes Avatar
    TinyPaintedHeroes

    I’m 61 and definitely have felt the urge to be sensible and start selling off the stuff that I don’t play with or really want (it’s causes anxiety if I’m honest). Not to mention, I’m running out of space for it all. I’m still working a full-time job though, so I should have way more time during retirement to actually sell it then.

    That said, I still buy new toys for games/projects that I’m very interested in. I severely limit myself on buying unpainted lead as I have more stuff than I’ll ever paint, so I look for nicely painted stuff I can use for games immediately. Getting new things provides excitement and keeps you feeling like a kid, and you never want to lose that. As long as the money you’re spending on your hobby isn’t preventing you from addressing your everyday needs, then who cares?

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      Wise words; I’ve been quite good over last few years with regards to minis. Could actually get to bottom of lead pile. Then I intend finishing while armies so no immediate end to buying!

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. Guru PIG Avatar
    Guru PIG

    Ah, a fellow traveller on the long and winding road of wargaming, a path paved with miniature heroes and tiny tanks. I understand your plight completely. As a “Guru” not just in name but in spirit, a true old codger of 72, who has seen battles and bought battalions, no divisions! Dare I say armies?

    The first group in my collection isn’t just “stuff” – a wargaming technical term meaning “really cool shit”; it’s a living museum of life’s campaigns. Each model holds a memory, a testament to tactical genius (or glorious failure). That second cohort from the left? I can still remember the dust motes dancing in the lamplight as I moved them into position, the strategic weight of decision feeling as heavy as a real battlefield. It’s not hoarding, it’s a a personal hall of fame, a gallery of triumphs and “what ifs.” These are the figures I like to look at on the shelf even if I never use them.

    But wait there is another pile – the “games I play or might play”? That’s the beautiful, eternal optimism of the wargamer. It’s the belief that I will one day have that free weekend, that perfect afternoon, to finally crack open the box and deploy those perfectly painted miniatures. That pile is the promise of future glory, the ever-present temptation to add just one more battalion to the ranks, one more starship to the fleet, because, you know, this one’s different. This one will definitely get used.

    Then there’s the third pile. More “really cool stuff” that I know in my heart will never see the tabletop. That’s the painful but necessary act of an old general preparing for the great down-sizing. Selling AU$500 worth of stuff at “Victorious” this weekend was a triumph of will that deserves a medal. To walk into a convention and sell while not actually buying a single thing… that’s the kind of self-control lesser mortals can only dream of. You’re right I truly am a legend in my own lunch box! I’ve looked into the abyss of another purchase and said, “Not today, mate. I’ve got enough glorious deeds collecting dust at home.”

    And as for what happens when I “cark it”? Well that is the ultimate truth of the wargaming life. While your heirs are left to deal with a garage full of meticulously painted armies, you’ll be blissfully unaware, perhaps planning your next campaign in the great beyond. The worry of what happens to your collection is a burden for the living, a problem for people who haven’t yet learned that the joy is in the journey—the buying, the painting, the strategic placement on a shelf where it will be admired for a lifetime.

    It’s a beautiful cycle: buy, paint, display, and eventually, reluctantly, sell, all while knowing you’ll probably just buy more. It’s a testament to the fact that a wargamer’s work is never truly done, and that’s exactly how it should be. The adventure, and the “stuff,” will live on.

    What “She Who Must Be Obeyed” thinks, well that might be another vastly different story!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. redcaer1690 Avatar
      redcaer1690

      Guru: you are a true poet!!!!!! You are the Jordan Peterson of those who dwell in the miniature lands!!!!!
      Loved this reply!!!!!

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