The Dread of the Dead Leadhead?

I was aimlessly flicking through the channels the other night while the wife served up our dinner and I stumbled across an episode of Coupling - a sitcom from about ten or so years ago. I didn't really pay the programme much mind, initially, beyond the usual 'isn't Sarah Alexander really good looking?' contemplation. 

Then this little scene cropped up. Go on watch it!

"That Steve guy - how well do you know him? Are you close?"

"Close? We're porn buddies."

These words triggered something in my mind. I knew a Steve! And I also knew he was sitting on a collection of Citadel lead of incredible proportions (just like me) whose depths even he (just like me) had probably not yet fathomed. I also went as far as to predict (just like me) that he had told his 'significant other' a widely undervalued price tag on the said collection. 

I know that I have been guilty of this. Picture the scene. I arrive home from work to find a small mountain of parcels on the kitchen workshop. After a few minutes of blissful unwrapping, I am left with a pile of gorgeous lead figures, which may or may not contain models from the McDeath, Lichemaster or Orc's Drift scenario packs. Then wife walks in and I quote once more that enduring chestnut - 'don't worry love, each figure only cost me a couple of quid - honest!'

Does this little scenario bare any relation to your life? 

Return now to the scene in the video, and replace the stack of jazz Jeff refers to with a deep trough of ancient '80s lead. I mean, what WOULD happen to your collection if your were, heaven forbid, snuffed out tomorrow? Where would it go? 

Asking myself these questions, I would hope that my darling wife would hunt down one of my Oldhammer cronies and pass over my collection, so that another enthusiast could get to enjoy them as much as I. Financial reimbursement would be unnecessary. But the thought of my lead pile just being, well, chucked out would be a travesty. 

I once spoke with another Oldhammer gamer who told me a rather poignant tale. Back in the glory days of the late '80s, his mother had a work colleague who had heard about his interest in Warhammer. That colleague had had a son with very similar interests, but sadly he had died some years previously. So unbeknown to the Oldhammer gamer, this kind lady boxed up her deceased son's collection and passed it on to his mother, who in turn passed it to her son. Over the next couple of decades, he would periodically retrieve part of this collection from storage and enjoy the books and mags again, though in his head he always made a mental nod of recognition to that long gone (and unknown) gamer. 

A nice story, with a good sentiment don't you think?

So what do we do with our collections to preserve them for the future? Thinking about this now, I would hope that my family kept the painted part of my collection - as they are part of me I suppose - but sensibly dispose of the rest to some other enthusiast. 

Returning to Coupling as we conclude, do we need miniature-porn buddies? No! Forget that - it is an awful term. We Grognards require something more gentlemanly, surely? Someone to send the family to if the worst should happen, with the remit to enjoy whatever we retain in our collections to the full. 

"That Steve guy - how well do you know him? Are you close?"

"Close? We're Leadfellows."