Feeling Contemplative about W@S

My intro into W@S was actually through the land side in 2008, a replacement hobby for more time and space intensive stuff that i had to give up (first kid on the way)

The last w@s i got was a few boosters from 12-7 after they were all out of print. I've got a couple of 3d bits since then

I value w@s for the simplicity of the system and the ease in which you can subsitute into other strategic systems or frankenstine them together.

Ive made some excellent mates along the way. Though its sad to see forumini shrinking and becoming less active.

I started getting into W@S about 3 years ago. I am lucky to own at least one of each ship. I love the history, the people, the ships, airplanes etc. it took a long time to get them all, which was not my initial goal. I’ve gotten lucky from time to time on eBay and here on the forum. Ultimately these will be passed down to my son and/or daughter. I’ve been teaching them to play in a much simpler manner until they age up a little more to understand the complexities of the game. I swill still buy a few here and there mainly to have spare pieces to enjoy with the game with others.

I was introduced to W@S from a good friend at the time back in middle school around 2010-2011 (both land & sea) and was very envious of him since he had almost the entire collection at that time and even enough rare pieces that he could repaint them himself. I made it a healthy competitive goal to acquire a collection bigger than his and eventually collected all of them. At the time I was really at a disadvantage since he lived a life where he could afford to buy boosters when they were sold at most retail stores and gaming stores and the fact that I could not afford it, even with how little they costed compared to now.

Eventually over time I started slowly collecting more and would play some games with my friend and at the Games Club my school offered after classes. If I'm not mistaken, I think the actual last time I played A&A minis was winter of 2013-2014. Moved to a new High School half way through my Sophomore year and over the course of time, I meet new friends who didn't play A&A and slowly lost contact with my other friend. Still kept an interest in them though and after getting a job as a teenager, stated collecting more.

Over 10 years now and collecting off and on, depending on current hobbies and relationships at the time, I've still not collected all the minis and at this rate with how expensive they have gotten and the countless scalpers that buy from those selling off their collection only to sell them back for twice as much or more is really discouraging me from continuing to finish off my collection. IMO its just not really sustainable for me to just collected them if I'm never going to use them again, but as of right now, I still collect. I'm just afraid at some point they just wont exist anymore. I might just push through and finish off the collection just to achieve a goal I set over a decade ago.

On a side note though, Im actually really grateful for this community and the Forumini expansions with the Shapeway minis as well. A good way to add some rejuvenation to a declining game. Even if for just a bit.