I used to see a period or rather army I liked and would simply buy it without a thought if anyone else was interested in the period that I gamed with or if I even liked the historical opponents of the army I was collecting. With a growing interest from my club in historical wargaming I've begun looking at armies asking if anyone else likes the period I'm interested in. Also I ask what they are interested in and see if that works for me as well. This has influenced my collecting quite a bit of late.
The other factor is my hobby room where I have started to put on games in it and plan to do more on a progressively more frequent basis. With this in mind I've realized when collecting a period I should collect for both sides in which I'd happily play either side so when I have guest I have an army they can use or add to their existing forces for bigger games.
I also want to be more focused on my large army projects in narrowing the periods and leave the skirmish games for multiple periods. Easier said then done I know, but I have begun to put this into effect with some success.
I'm not saying I will never collect an army again that only I like, but I for sure will think about it first before I buy it which will help me not having useless armies occupying space like for example my:
Trojans- Great looking army, but limited historical opponents which makes finding players having a Mycenaean army of their own rare and also if I built one myself finding someone to play it difficult which in the end made this not a good choice and what's even more sad is it's completely painted!
ECW- Living in Germany has made local interest virtually non-existent. If they are interested in the period it's usually the TYW which I'm not interested in!
Imperial Romans- I collected and yes painted it for a quick army starter and have discovered I just really don't like Imperial Romans and like the later ones in particular Romano British arghhh!
Early HYW English- Really like the army, but not at all interested in collecting their opponents and nobody around me wants to either.......:-(
Assyrians- Great looking army to collect, but again no interest in collecting their traditional enemies and nobody else is either. I may still paint them up, but with so many other projects that will get used makes this unlikely.
Aztecs- Not much interest around me, but I still may stubbornly do them as they are just flat out cool!
As always, focused doesn't mean one period with me as I need room to jump, but rather a narrowing of periods. As they meet the criteria of club interest and I like both sides these periods look like they will get a lot of attention from me:
ACW
AWI
WWI & WWII
Naps
Crusades
Samurai
I will be doing more of course, but the above look to be big on the list. I'll give a project list for the new year later as usual. Just thought I'd share some of my recent hobby thoughts.:-)