Thinning the Ranks

I spent a little time this week sorting through some of my unpainted lead. I've been meaning to have a sort out for some time but never seemed to get round to it. The catalyst for action eventually came from an unforeseen direction... from my 4 year old daughter.

We've done some painting together before and I realised I have lots of models that might be better employed training the next generation of painters. Its certainly got to be a better fate than sitting in a dusty box for years with no hope of ever seeing the light of day. The thing is when I sat down and sorted through my models - grouping them into similar categories (Halflings, Dwarves, Bowmen, Elves etc) - I found a significant number of 'doubles' . I clearly liked the look of certain models, so much in fact that I bought them again or bought a different model that looked very much like one I already owned. This is the sort of behaviour you see in compulsive shoppers, buying a dozen variations in the same pair of shoes for instance. The biggest shock comes when I think about how much all this unpainted lead must have cost me... eek! Here are a few of the Halflings I found. I'm keeping these guys a) because I like them and b) because they are too small for little hands to hold & paint anyway.

So what did I donate to my daughter? A load of GW elves for a start (what was I thinking when I bought these?) and a selection of beasts and monsters. In total I weeded out about 20% of my models for the kids to paint which I consider to be a significant step in the right direction. Even the ones I kept are unlikely to be painted by me, but I'll hang on to them for now - one step at a time.