Wargaming: Is It A Hobby Or An Obsession?

Background

I used to run small wargames business here in the UK. I ceased trading in April 2021, and began, what I hoped would be, a serene and relaxing retirement playing toy soldiers.

Naturally, it didn't turn out that way. Moving house didn't help. Now that's over, and I've finished the bulk of the decorating required, things have improved. I've now got more time for painting toy soldiers and wargaming.

Retirement goals

My wargaming dream is to play in half a dozen Art de la Guerre competitions a year and make inroads into my small stock of unpainted miniatures. That's it for my hobby: nothing more ambitious.

Therein lies the rub ¹

When I retired I looked at the practicalities of achieving my goal and realised I had a problem. Specifically, I only have armies for the late medieval and feudal periods. This excluded me from many competitions, because I didn't have a suitable army.

To rectify this I have painted three armies since I retired; two of which are for completely new periods. I now have a Muscovite Russian army (Medieval/Feudal - old habits die hard), an Arab Conquest army (Dark Ages), and a Late Macedonian army (Classical period).

The last two armies also form the core of many other armies with the addition of one or two extra units. Of course, I have bought the figures for these units thereby adding to my stock of unpainted lead (& increasingly resin). Not what I had planned.

Decent painting output yet ...

The three new ADLG armies have all been used. All three have featured in the Northern League. The Arabs and the Macedonians were used at the King In The North (KITN) events of 2023 and 24 respectively.

Yet despite, what is for me, a prodigious output I still have more mini-projects outstanding than I had in 2021!

To give you an example: I have plans to adapt my 2024 Macedonian army so I can field a Phyrric army (elephants, heavy cavalry & hoplites required). I also have some Galatian infantry to do. From 2023, I still have a batch of beautiful resin camel riders to do for my Arabs (thankfully not too many).

So far so normal (for a wargamer).

Hobby or obsession?

Since 2022 I've attended the KITN competition in York and my wife and I have made a weekend of it. It's been a really nice break towards the end of the year. However, this year things were a bit stressful.

I first problem I had was the choice of figures, especially pikemen. Who'd have thought it would be difficult to find a decent range for the Hellenistic period? To start I bought some packs from Essex Miniatures (infantry) and Forged in Battle (infantry & light cavalry).

Then I bought samples from Lancer Miniatures and Ancient & Modern (Donnington) for the pike and commanders. The former are very chunky. The latter are showing their age and I didn't fancy painting lots of their pike. They made nice command bases though. I also bought a few Fighting15s and Xyston (both for cavalry).

The biggest problem was the pike units. In the end I bought half a dozen packs from Essex. In late August, I received a kind donation of three packs of discontinued Essex pikemen from Nik Guakroger. These enabled me to finish the 48 pike I needed for York (thanks again Nik). The surplus created another mini-project.

So in addition to the need to paint a whole army, I added the extra hassle of finding suitable figures from multiple manufacturers. Throughout the year there were multiple occasions where I wasn't clear what figures I was going to use. Most unusual for me.

Despite having nearly a year to paint an army, and having a borrowed army as a fall back option, I felt under increasing pressure to finish my own units. The closer it got the more pressure I felt. I didn't enjoy this and was truly glad when I finished the last unit of pike.

This was all self-inflicted and therefore my own fault, but other factors were in play too.

Real life intervenes

The logistics for the trip to York were complicated. The B&B we'd used previously was set to close in 2024. It wasn't clear when so we waited, but eventually we had to book somewhere else.

Booking a B&B was far harder than I thought it would be. Some of the prices were shocking. This wasn't a major issue. It just took longer than it should to resolve; yet another thing hanging around on the "to do" list.

Add in domestic issues like the landscaping of the front gardens (not as posh as it sounds), a leaking pipe, new batteries in a beeping smoke alarm at four in the morning, and you get the idea; lots of plates to be kept spinning.

Glad it's all over?

With the trip to York looming ever closer it gained in importance; almost to the exclusion of anything else. This wasn't right.

However, I finished painting the last unit ten days before the KITN and breathed a sigh of relief. I then relaxed and looked forward to the event: until we spotted the leaking pipe that is.

Thankfully the trip to York went well and a good time was had by all. So it's all been worth it. After the event I've felt a little burnt out. I certainly won't be painting a new army next year. Time to do some of those mini-projects.

Things left undone

In the weeks after the event I started to realise just how much pressure I'd put myself under. Perversely, I'm now a little listless; I have no need to paint every day and no focus. My 2024 routine is broken. I seem to be at a loose end more often.

Furthermore, I've spotted lots of little things I postponed whilst I was painting figures. I'm now in midst of lots of small DIY jobs; the household maintenance you hate but have to do.

Closing remarks

On reflection things did get a touch out of hand this year. It's meant to be a hobby not a burden; something pleasant to pass the time not something that comes to dominate your life. Dominate is too strong a word, but I think a little exaggeration adds emphasis to my point.

On the plus side, my painting has developed nicely and I have gained a little speed. I intend to take these positives into next year, but I will only be working on mini-projects. A better balanced hobby, more variety, and no deadline pressure.

Footnotes

1. At this point I'd like to apologise. Once I'd written the title for this post I realised I'd written one of those clickbait titles you see on YouTube channels (alongside weird photos of the channel owner complete with staring eyes and an "ironic" zany expression). Sorry! ↩