This weeks What if? Was inspired by a post on “The Miniatures Page” that led to this blogpost over on “The Renaissance Trolls” blog….
https://therenaissancetroll.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-end-of-era-and-hobby-knife.html
So are you sentimental? I know we all can be at times, but I what I’m referring to this week is are you sentimentally attached to items used in this weird and wonderful hobby of ours?
Now I’m not referring to the figures themselves, I imagine we all get a little (maybe more than a little) attached to some of our “little fella’s” for one reason or another, be it games they’ve won, painting that worked out particularly well, conversion work we put into them or even the fact that they were a gift from a friend or loved one.
No, what I want to know is like the “Troll” are you attached to any of the other items connected to the hobby?
Do you have dice or tape measures you have had for years and would be heartbroken if you lost them? Craft knives, cutting mats or 
snips you wouldn’t be without? Or even pots of paint and brushes that you have retained well past their useful life. You get the idea.
Personally I have a “baby juice” bottle that was my son Myles’ when he was tiny, that I have used to wash my brushed out in for the last twenty five years plus (he’s twenty seven now), it’s thick with old paint and a bit “manky”, see picture right) but I’d never replace it.
So am I and the “Troll” alone in this madness? Or are any of you lot what my father would have referred to as “Soppy sods” too?
As usual the floor gentlemen is yours….discuss.
Stay safe, and till next time, cheers Roger.
Rantings from under the Wargames table 
My water pot is the last of a set of glasses i bought as a freshman at uni. 25 odd years ago. Still surprised it has lasted since its mates have all died horrible deaths.
Brushes last about 2 months with me. So none are sentimental. though come to think of it several dry brushes and my wash brush are at least 10-12 years old.
Many of my tools are pushing 20 years old. A couple original x-actos had to be replaced when the threads on the make-the-blade-tight-dooohickey bound up or spalled. No real connection to tools, I guess.
Really good question, Roger. I’m attached to all of it, because I’ve used them so long. As far as sentimental though, I don’t know. There is a set of multipliers I’ve carried every day since Basic in the Army. If I lost those I’d have to take a day or three to mourn. They survived the Army and now 18+ years of my current career. Definately sentimental about simple Gerber tool.
Thanks harry, good to know it’s not just me, as you say brushes don’t tend to,last that long, i wouldn’t say I was attached to some of my bigger brushes (bry-brush, wash etc), its more the case of i don’t think i could buy replacements for some of them, that makes them “Special”.
Cheers Roger.
That’s the bummer, isn’t it? When a particular brush you are used to is no longer available.
Sure is!
Oh I just remember i was rather upset when my old circular sander died, it was a Bosch I’d had since we were first married, it was a cracking thing, I used it to sand down thick bases as well as all the usual jobs. Bought a new one but it’s not as good! ☹
Cheers Roger.
Interesting question ! I think I would say – seriously – paints. Specifically I have a dwindling supply of old paints to include Polly S, Armory, Deka Lack. All of these date from 1983-1987. They are in glass bottles, and I clean and save the bottles when I’m done. At some point I’ll recycle the bottles, but for now I probably have a dozen of the old soldiers that are used up. Stay safe Roger!
Thanks Mark, I get exactly where you are coming from mate, I have some old Horizon paints i picked up from a model shop in Manchester when they were selling off the remaining stock cheap, I’d never heard of them before, but they are fantastic paints, definitely my favourites, but I cant replace them…Dark red, pink burgundy, plum lavender, tan flesh, blue grey, shamrock and copper are all this make of paint, and ones I use all the time, I’ve already lost bright gold!
Cheers Roger.
Polly S paints…Those were the best. I miss that line a lot.
I tend to find I build very strong attachments to particular paint brushes and use them exclusively. Seems to me that some hold their shape better, or feel “right” in my hand. I will care for these for far longer than I should and feel a sense of loss when I finally realise it’s time to let go. Then I have to begin the hunt for a replacement, which is not always straight forward. Dont get me started on knives…..
Many thanks for the comment.
I have to agree with you Darryl, some brushes and tools do just “feel” better than others, and I really cant explain why this is. though I don’t tend to get attached to paint brushes I do get annoyed when one loses it’s tip when in my opinion it should have lasted far longer!
Cheers Roger.
Nope. I’ve nothing I’m particularly attached to regarding tools to prep’, paint or play. They’re all generic and cheap, nor have any symbolic or emotional value attached to memories or events, so I can’t say I have anything. Same goes with my miniatures. Some of the best I ever painted were for Col. Bill’s display models, so I had to hand them over. Others of my best work, I sold on. All of the stuff I gamed with in the past, again, sold off. I can’t say I develop attachments to anything in the hobby.
Wow Roy! that is really cold, I can’t decide whether that is a good way to be or not, probably good to be honest, I think you remind me of my Dad in some ways he wasn’t sentimental about stuff either.That Japanese woman who shows you how to de-clutter your house would love you! 😁
I have passed on/sold on some of the figures I have been pleased with, but there are some that i just couldn’t part with.
Cheers Roger.
Possibly my lack of sentimentality could be something to do with autism? Emotional attachments fly straight over my head, I’m afraid. I’m just unable to understand them and have had to study others examples to try and grasp their perspective. Anyway, I’m not wanting to lead the discussion in a direction away from the hobby.
Probably the most important thing I have is a piece of the Berlin Wall. Something historically important. Not that I would be devastated if I lost it. But it is something that I’m more interested in keeping than most of the other stuff I’ve got. Mainly due to what it represents, historically. That being something I can understand. Bit of a strange thing to be attached to – a graffiti-covered bit of concrete – I’ve got to laugh about these things, as I come to understand how my mind works 🙂
We all have different grasps of normality, who is to say if one is better than the other.
In many ways you are lucky not to form too emotional attachments to things, it does stop your house becoming a bit of a hoarders heaven like my loft!
I admire your honesty here mate, my youngest was diagnosed in the Autistic spectrum as a child, though only mildly. So appreciate it.
(he does have an uncanny knack off remembering rules though, I can’t retain them for more than five minutes at a time myself!)
Cheers Roger.
I don’t have any sentimentality for wargaming or painting supplies, but when I first started roleplaying back when I was in 5th grade, my mother sewed a dice bag out for me out of an old bathrobe. Until last year, that was the only dice bag I ever used. I still have it…just have too many dice to fit inside anymore.
As far as hobby stuff goes, the oldest thing I have is a Testors plastic drop cloth with model building and painting tips printed on it. It came as part of a hobby set that I think they still make! That’s been protecting everything I’ve ever painted on since day 1. I got it when I was in 6th grade and joined a model-building club at school.
thanks Keith, that would definitely be a sentimental piece if i had a dice bag made by my Mum! I have a jumper (not really wargames related), that mine knitted for me when I was young and thanks to poor washing on my part it is so baggy it still fits me! I still wear it (just not at the moment it is sweltering here!!
We never had a model building club at school, chess club was about as exotic as we got.
Cheers Roger.
Here’s a good one for you Roger.
My blog feed states that this post, of yours, was posted two days ago, now, on the 20th of May. But according to this very blog post’s details, it was posted on the 16th of May. And, looking at the public blog feed on Dave Stone’s blog, this blog post was first shown “5 days ago”…
Have you been using Jez’s TARDIS?
Know what Roy, you are absolutely right (not about the Tardis thing sadly!), but yes all those dates you mentioned are there, I did however post this at lunch time on Wednesday the 20th, I might have written it on the 16th as I like to be a bit ahead with these “What if” posts (not sure though).
Weird that, well spotted! sorry don’t have a solution to the mystery though apart from WordPress has done a few odd things of late (but then again so have I 😁).
Good job I’m not using it as my alibi for a murder or something, eh.
Cheers Roger.