Painting Summary - all my 28mm miniatures

I have been buying miniatures for nearly half a century now and I have amassed quite the collection. Unfortunately, like most gamers, I am subject to the "ooh shiny" syndrome, and buy far more than I should do, and rarely get to use or paint them before the next impulse purchase comes along. That said, I have bought relatively few miniatures in the last few years - the vast majority in my collection are well over a decade old!

Goblin Raiding Party

So, over the last few days I have been going through my hoard (or should that be horde? 😉 ) and listing them on a spreadsheet in order to see what I have got, and what does or does not need painting. The numbers have spurred me to get my paint brushes out and begin working on them - I would like to get two sides for each theatre of war, so I can play my sons when they come over or at least have two factions for solo gaming.

Here is a break down of the figures that I have catalogued so far. This is not the full total as I have a few more in bags and packets that I will either sell as they were freebies from gaming shows or magazines, or throw away as they are broken and cannot be cannibalised for parts...

• Romans                          283      (192 of which are painted)
• Britons                           180      (43 painted)
• Roman-British               71        (45 painted)
• Anglo-Saxons                88
• Vikings                          89
• Runequest                      18        (18 painted)
• Undead                          45        (38 painted)
• Frostgrave                     96        (7 painted)
• Other Fantasy                96        (2 painted)
• Old Skool Stuff             569      (357 painted)
• Rohan                            175      (60 painted)
• Isengard                         212
• Gondor                          207
• Harad                             52
• Rhun                              85        (22 painted)
• Dwarfs                           77
• Goblins                          58
• Free People                    119

This gives a grand total of (gulp!) 2520 miniatures, of which 784 are painted – a 31.1% completion rate. That is an OK tally, but I am going to have to pull my finger out to make the total more respectable. I will start by getting paint onto some of my Midgard : Britannia troops as they are still fresh in my mind from the campaign. I know it is a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, but it will get me started, and hopefully inspire me to continue onto the Lord of the Rings stuff and so on.

I guess my concern now is ROI (Return on Investment); I would like to get some play out of them all in a fully painted state. As each faction gets completed, it will mean I can play more games in that era/setting and I can then do some whacky cross-over stuff like Romans versus Undead or make up Frostgrave or Rangers of Shadowdeep bands from Lord of the Rings factions etc.

Over the coming months, hopefully, I will get more of the pile of shame reduced and some more games played with my "newly acquired" miniatures. Midgard, Dragon Rampant, Rangers, Frostgrave and 5 Leagues are all calling out to me, as well as some return visits to MESBG and general skirmish fun using very old home brew rules.