Little Temptations

Gaming, and wargaming in particular is a hobby which encourages the collector in one. You have to have a certain amount of discipline to collect, assemble and paint even one army. But this is rarely where it stops. How many gamers do you know have decided on a system, collected and painted their army and said "Right, that's me done!" Of course, with so many systems, eras, scales etc as well as a multitude of miniature and gaming companies on hand, this theoretical gamer would be very rare indeed. Most of us play a few systems and possibly have more than one army for each. But there's another level to this. The infamous lead pile.

Not all gamers, but a good few, this one included, have an insane amount of miniatures. Now, I have been at this lark for over twenty years, but I do possess enough lead that if melted down could make a full scale statue of me. On a horse. I'm not just bragging here, but the question I'm posing is why do some few gamers collect more than they could paint in several lifetimes? I know I often have every intention of painting and using each mini I buy, and the 'Ooo, shiny' factor is there for sure, but is that it? On top of this there is the 'must have' game/mini/whatever you're having yourself moments. You know what I mean. You see something that you simply must obtain, often losing all rational thought in the process of acquisition. I often wonder what flips that switch.

Anyhow, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, lucky you. For the rest of us, the next time you stare at your tottering tower of boxes of little lead and plastic fellows waiting their turn on the painting desk, spare a moment to wonder why DO you have so many ?