NEW MODEL FUND: The model crunch

The fourth and final instalment of my New Year introspective concerns my New Model Fund. It has been the one part of my gaming life that has been an unqualified success.

Plastic crack
I began the fund in January 2007 as a way to control my spending on models or 'plastic crack' as they are sometimes known. I had an absolute stack of unpainted models already so I pledged to only buy new models with the money I made from selling stuff on eBay (and the money from my penny jar). In the two years the fund has been running I have generated an income of £626.67 and spent £537.12 on models, leaving me with a healthy profit of £89.55.

I still plan to put two items up for sale on eBay per week in 2009 but my new pledge is to refrain from buying a single model in 2009. Impossible I hear you cry (and my inner geek whimpers in sympathy).

I'm sure there will be many models released in 2009 that I would really like to own - the plastic Stompa I already know about and loads of new Imperial Guard models are rumoured - but do I really need them? Couldn't I just add them to a wish list while I get on with painting the models that have been hidden away in boxes for years?

If I can keep this crazy resolution it should have three major benefits; it will save me money while the credit crunch bites, it will reduce my painting 'to do' pile significantly and it will help me keep focus on painting the models for the armies I want to play.

My plan on the painting front, as I have mentioned in an earlier blog, is to paint up 2000 points of Blood Angels and then start my Ork army. I already have all the models I need anyway - I just need to knuckle down and paint them!

If I can resist the impulse to buy the Shiny New Thing in 2009 I will hopefully appreciate the models all the more when I finally buy them in 2010. And I'm sure some of the 'must have' models will drop off my list as the novelty wears off and other models are released.

Another way to decrease my 'to paint' pile, and boost my income to boot, is to sell some of my unpainted models. Obvious initial candidates are my Praetorian Imperial Guard. I've been dithering about selling or keeping these models for as long as I've had my blog but I really need to get them up for sale. Am I really going to paint them up when I already own Cadians and Renegade Imperial Guard? Not likely. I'll probably offload my Catachans for the same reasons.

I plan to keep the money in my New Model Fund to one side, at least notionally, during 2009 so that I have a healthy profit for 2010. This could open up the possibility of some serious spending like splashing out on an entire new army or buying some big Forge World kits (Reaver Titan anyone?). At the absolute minimum I want at least £500 in my New Model Fund for 2010.

Of course I might be so taken with my pledge that I might carry it on for another year...

Imperial Guard battle report
The games keep coming thick and fast. This was a game against Jamie's well painted and modelled Eldar Ulthwé Strike Force army, an army that is now defunct (it was originally released as part of the Eye of Terror codex). Scope it out here.