Yep.  That’s it. Wrestling control of our hobby spending back from the flashy lights of the big companies and their psychic mind control techniques is a key to happiness in the hobby I have gradually realised over the last few years.  I still buy stuff, I still paint and play stuff, but its on my terms, and have a cleansing period a couple of years back when I just stopped myself from buying anything at all for a while, until I worked out what was going on, I have gradually started buying again.  But this time, I’m not accruing piles of crap that were purchased in the heat of the moment, but are carefully considered and purchased because I know they will bring be me joy.  My “rules of purchase” as I call them have been refined to:

NEW RULES
Rulesets are only bought if a) they are pretty so I get joy from the fluff and eye-candy, and/or 2) there is a real good probability of me getting a game with my mates over the next few months.  The latter is a harder call as things can change, but I don’t sweat it, at least not when its just a rulebook as I can always flog it off on ebay if things don’t pan out.  Or just stick it on the bookshelf.

NEW MODELS
New models are only bought if I KNOW I will paint them up in the next few weeks.  I have a huge POO, so I don’t actually “Need” anything more to paint, as I could live two lifetimes and not finish painting the boxes of plastic and metal in the loft.  BUT the key is that painting is the bit of the hobby I enjoy the most.  So if something calls to me and I want to paint it up just for fun as a pallette cleanser, then I will do.  If there is a great new game out that I know I want to get to the table, and I have a mate who also wants to join in and it needs stuff I don’t have, then provided the painting can be done over the next few weeks, I will buy it.  Otherwise its a pass.  However pretty, cheap, novel and interesting it may be.  I used to be a sucker for sales – Warlord’s November 50% sprue sale was a killer for me.  I am over accruing stuff just because its a bargain, and I’m gradually weeding out my POO to sell or give away stuff that I bought because it was a bargain at the time, but realistically I’m never going to use because I don’t think it will be fun to paint.

QUANDRIES
There is stuff that doesn’t fit neatly in those pidgeon holes though.  For instance, new “game systems” where new genre models and rules are released together.  A case in point is the ABC Warriors set coming out from Warlord.  I really like the models, for nostalgia reason, and would love to buy them to paint up, but the game system which comes bundled with it is of no interest to me – I played the Slaine variant and it just doesn’t work for my tastes.  Its competent enough but just not my bag.  BUT >£100 for a handful of models that will get no use is a bit silly in my view.  I’m unlikely to get anything back selling the rules off on eBay as the games are just not popular enough to attract a buyer. So do I go for it, or not.  I was thinking not, but then I had a game of Xenos Rampant at club the other night that I enjoyed (love the Rampant rules), and thought the rules would work perfectly fine with ABC Warriors.  So its still a lot of money just for the models, but at least they’d likely get a gain as finding opponents for XR is easy enough in my club.  I’ve not pulled the trigger yet, but… maybe…