The Nature of the (Hobby) Beast - Alladin's Morning Coffee Smoothie Musings #3

Good morning to all my loyal followers referral bots!

Today I will ramble a bit about the nature of our great hobby and how it affects me. Specifically, about how our hobby elicits a surprisingly strong hoarding complex in me, whereas in most other parts of my life I act quite the opposite.

I got back into this hobby about a year and a half ago. I still had some remnants of my old stuff, but I was essentially starting from scratch. Today, I am faced with a closet almost overflowing with hobby-related product. How is this possible? Why do I keep spending? I wish I knew the answers to these questions. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be back in this hobby, and I do keep to a fairly strict budget, but they don't call it "plastic crack" for nothing.

I'm sure that, for those of you who are much more entrenched in this hobby than I, the following rundown of my insanity does not even register on your seismograph. However I look at it and can't help shaking my head a bit:

I started with purchasing the bulk of my WIP Grey Knights army (now at 1500 pts). This kept me going for half a year. About 6 months later I needed to order 3-4 paints online (no local hobby shops carried Vallejo where I lived at the time), and on a whim I also bought a Hive Tyrant and some Termigants, along with more paints than I actually needed. Last summer, after moving cities and jobs, I was faced with the prospect of lots of free time, so I bought a Dark Vengeance box (for the rules and the templates!) and a Imperial Sector box "to give me something to do." Instead of using this time to complete my main army, I not only bought a starter set with two OTHER armies, but an entire big box of terrain... and I don't even PLAY yet!

I also have a whole tool-kit of conversion supplies, plus a growing pile of painting aids, cleaners, glosses. To add to this madness, I signed up for the Arena Rex Kickstarter (cool range of models BTW, check it out!), then added MORE to my pledge via the pledge manager, and finally, when the new Tyranid Codex came out, I picked up the Swarm Box, a Tervigon and a Trygon kit. I will be purchasing a Harpy/Hive Crone kit and the new Warrior kit as well. (I also am very close to buying the Dropzone Commander Starter set, as well as very interested in Malifaux. Sigh.)

As such (and in line with my 2014 Hobby Resolutions), I have made a commitment to myself: Aside from fleshing out my 1500 pt Tyranid Army, I will make no more miniature purchases until at least one of my current armies is completely painted. So, no Dropzone, no Malifaux, no additions to any of my four 40k armies, until I can field a 1500 pt army.

The sad thing is, I am pretty sure I made this commitment after I put down hundreds of dollars on my Grey Knights. However I was always wavering between them and Tyranids the most out of any other army, and the rumoured release schedule for 2014 bodes well for me as I have no interest in the armies likely coming out this year.

So that's it I guess. Happy Tuesday!