Many moons ago I used to play role-playing games and one of my favourites was the Star Wars D6 system. The universe was so well known that it was easy to get players and the system itself was dead easy to explain. That meant I could concentrate on the story and the characters rather than the game mechanics.
Anyway, I'm now selling all my Star Wars D6 books. They date back to the late 80's (1987-1989) but are in quite good nick considering they were so well used.
The auctions are here on eBay.
Showing posts with label Selling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Selling. Show all posts
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
NEW MODEL FUND: Sell, sell, sell!
As I've mentioned previously, my personal situation necessitates the sale of much of my gaming paraphenalia.
Since I last updated my New Model Fund in December I have made a healthy profit of £266.68. I achieved this with the sale of half a dozen old RPG magazines, my Imperial Strongpoint terrain, a load of Necromunda terrain, and several Blood Bowl teams.
I've got three auctions running at the moment - some crater terrain, old school Ork warbikers and a rare first issue of Adventurer RPG magazine.
It's just a pity that all this cash will be spent on practical stuff, rather than shiny new models! Maybe sometime in the future...
Since I last updated my New Model Fund in December I have made a healthy profit of £266.68. I achieved this with the sale of half a dozen old RPG magazines, my Imperial Strongpoint terrain, a load of Necromunda terrain, and several Blood Bowl teams.
I've got three auctions running at the moment - some crater terrain, old school Ork warbikers and a rare first issue of Adventurer RPG magazine.
It's just a pity that all this cash will be spent on practical stuff, rather than shiny new models! Maybe sometime in the future...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
General: lone pilgrim is dead. Long live lone pilgrim!
1&1 have shut down my original blogs and sent me my final invoice so I'm now exclusively hosted on Blogger.
I still haven't really been involved in any hobby activity other than buying a copy of Tales of Heresy and reading some of the short stories within. I plan to review the book on here when I finish it.
As I mentioned previously I'm pretty hard up at the moment so I've had to make some tough decisions about selling my Games Workshop stuff. The first casualties will be the things I haven't even got round to painting yet. I have boxes and boxes of unpainted models to sell before I get around to selling my painted stuff, but the first items I've put up on eBay are terrain.
They include most of the Planetstrike terrain I bought with excitement at the end of last year. It's heartbreaking but it has to be done. So if you're interested in getting some 'as new' 40k terrain check out my auctions here:
Planetstrike Imperial Strongpoint, Blastcape craters, Moonscape craters, crashed Aquila lander, Necromunda terrain
As you can see from the link, I'm also selling some Necromunda terrain, including over 100 plastic bulkheads!
Expect to see a blizzard of stuff from me on eBay over the coming weeks.
I still haven't really been involved in any hobby activity other than buying a copy of Tales of Heresy and reading some of the short stories within. I plan to review the book on here when I finish it.
As I mentioned previously I'm pretty hard up at the moment so I've had to make some tough decisions about selling my Games Workshop stuff. The first casualties will be the things I haven't even got round to painting yet. I have boxes and boxes of unpainted models to sell before I get around to selling my painted stuff, but the first items I've put up on eBay are terrain.
They include most of the Planetstrike terrain I bought with excitement at the end of last year. It's heartbreaking but it has to be done. So if you're interested in getting some 'as new' 40k terrain check out my auctions here:
Planetstrike Imperial Strongpoint, Blastcape craters, Moonscape craters, crashed Aquila lander, Necromunda terrain
As you can see from the link, I'm also selling some Necromunda terrain, including over 100 plastic bulkheads!
Expect to see a blizzard of stuff from me on eBay over the coming weeks.
Monday, November 30, 2009
SELLING AND PAINTING: Feeling Grotty
I've had a good root through my 40k Ork collection and made some final decisions on what to do with my remaining models. I will keep all of my 1st edition Rogue Trader models, Thrugg's Bullneck Raiders, for nostalgia. One day I will paint them up with matching RTB01 Space Marines just for fun.
I have decided that virtually all of my 2nd edition/early 3rd edition models must go. That includes my Goff slugga boyz, a unit of shoota boyz and some converted tankbustas. They are on eBay now.
The only models I'm going to keep from this period are a handful of metal Orks which need to be stripped, and my Grots. I have seventy or eighty of the little buggers kicking around in various states of completion. They are far from the best models in the world, and I would never use them in my normal 40k army, but they would be great in Apocalypse games where I could field a horde of models. This is where my plan gets so cunning you could stick some pointy ears on it and call it a Grot.
I know I am well behind on my painting points total for the year, but what if I got my Grots up to tabletop standard before the turn of the year? The dinky models wouldn't take long at all to finish - heavy washes all round - and they would contribute massively towards my target.
But first, I need to concentrate on my Imperial Navy Aeronautica Imperialis squadron.
I have decided that virtually all of my 2nd edition/early 3rd edition models must go. That includes my Goff slugga boyz, a unit of shoota boyz and some converted tankbustas. They are on eBay now.
The only models I'm going to keep from this period are a handful of metal Orks which need to be stripped, and my Grots. I have seventy or eighty of the little buggers kicking around in various states of completion. They are far from the best models in the world, and I would never use them in my normal 40k army, but they would be great in Apocalypse games where I could field a horde of models. This is where my plan gets so cunning you could stick some pointy ears on it and call it a Grot.
I know I am well behind on my painting points total for the year, but what if I got my Grots up to tabletop standard before the turn of the year? The dinky models wouldn't take long at all to finish - heavy washes all round - and they would contribute massively towards my target.But first, I need to concentrate on my Imperial Navy Aeronautica Imperialis squadron.
Monday, November 23, 2009
SELLING: Greenskins
Hot on the heels of my previous auctions, I have another batch of models up for sale.
Most of the new models are 40k Orks. As I go through my collection of Ork models I am deciding which ones to keep and which ones to sell. Although there are a lot to build and paint there are also a lot I want to sell, mostly the older models.
First up though, is the current Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka model fully painted. It might seem strange that I'm selling this given that I'm about to start an Ork army but I fear his existing colour scheme won't fit into my new scheme. I also have a second unpainted version which I'm going to keep.
The rest of the Ork models are old school models from the Gorkamorka period. There is a Trukk, painted to a tabletop standard.
A Wartrakk with twin-linked big shoota.
And everyone's favourite: Warbikers.
Last, but definitely not least, we have a couple of lovely Goblin cheerleaders.
I'm hoping my two batches of eBay sales will take me to that magic £750 target.
Most of the new models are 40k Orks. As I go through my collection of Ork models I am deciding which ones to keep and which ones to sell. Although there are a lot to build and paint there are also a lot I want to sell, mostly the older models.
First up though, is the current Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka model fully painted. It might seem strange that I'm selling this given that I'm about to start an Ork army but I fear his existing colour scheme won't fit into my new scheme. I also have a second unpainted version which I'm going to keep.
The rest of the Ork models are old school models from the Gorkamorka period. There is a Trukk, painted to a tabletop standard.
A Wartrakk with twin-linked big shoota.
And everyone's favourite: Warbikers.
Last, but definitely not least, we have a couple of lovely Goblin cheerleaders.
I'm hoping my two batches of eBay sales will take me to that magic £750 target.
Monday, November 16, 2009
SELLING: eBay model auctions
On Sunday I listed some more models on eBay. This is part of my final push to hit that magic £750 total for the New Model Fund by Christmas.
You can check out the auctions here.
I'm selling the Imperial Guard special character Captain Al'rahem, a Tanith Command squad including Corbec, Dorden, Milo, Larkin, and a plasma gunner, a limited edition Inquisitor Gideon Lorr model and a fully painted Goblin Blood Bowl Team including Ripper Bolgrot and three secret weapons.
I'm hoping to pull in something like £50 from these auctions, which would leave me about £35 short of my target. That would mean one more set of sales before Christmas and I'd be done.
Here's hoping.
You can check out the auctions here.
I'm selling the Imperial Guard special character Captain Al'rahem, a Tanith Command squad including Corbec, Dorden, Milo, Larkin, and a plasma gunner, a limited edition Inquisitor Gideon Lorr model and a fully painted Goblin Blood Bowl Team including Ripper Bolgrot and three secret weapons.
I'm hoping to pull in something like £50 from these auctions, which would leave me about £35 short of my target. That would mean one more set of sales before Christmas and I'd be done.
Here's hoping.
Monday, August 24, 2009
SELLING: eBay bonanza
I don't have any real news for you tonight so I thought I'd let you know about the eBay auctions I have running.
There are 36 items in total, ranging across several games systems.
Catachan Imperial Guard
I stripped my Catachans a while back with the intention of repainting them but I simply have too many armies already without duplicating the Imperial Guard. Therefore I've put all of the metal models up for sale. There are lascannon teams, mortar teams, special weapons and loads more.
Blood Bowl
I'm also selling several metal Blood Bowl models. These are all long out of print and include Dark Elves, Humans, Orcs, a Deathroller and a Treeman.
Sister of Battle/Witch Hunters
I bought a job lot of Sisters in a Games Workshop sale during the switch over from 2nd to 3rd edition 40k. Unfortunately I got several duplicates, so I'm selling the spares now. There are some Seraphim, Sister superiors and a Banner Bearer.
Odds and sods
The last model is quite timely; Skaven Plague Lord Skrolk. I am also selling two out of print Black Library books. The first is the Life of Sigmar background book by Matt Ralphs and the second is a limited edition (number 123) Darkness Rising background book, covering the Storm of Chaos campaign.
I'm hoping to add a fair amount to the New Model Fund as a result of these auctions. I'm not looking forward to packaging them up and posting them, though!
There are 36 items in total, ranging across several games systems.
Catachan Imperial Guard
I stripped my Catachans a while back with the intention of repainting them but I simply have too many armies already without duplicating the Imperial Guard. Therefore I've put all of the metal models up for sale. There are lascannon teams, mortar teams, special weapons and loads more.
Blood Bowl
I'm also selling several metal Blood Bowl models. These are all long out of print and include Dark Elves, Humans, Orcs, a Deathroller and a Treeman.
Sister of Battle/Witch Hunters
I bought a job lot of Sisters in a Games Workshop sale during the switch over from 2nd to 3rd edition 40k. Unfortunately I got several duplicates, so I'm selling the spares now. There are some Seraphim, Sister superiors and a Banner Bearer.
Odds and sods
The last model is quite timely; Skaven Plague Lord Skrolk. I am also selling two out of print Black Library books. The first is the Life of Sigmar background book by Matt Ralphs and the second is a limited edition (number 123) Darkness Rising background book, covering the Storm of Chaos campaign.
I'm hoping to add a fair amount to the New Model Fund as a result of these auctions. I'm not looking forward to packaging them up and posting them, though!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
GENERAL: Is this real or just a fantasy?
I've spent most of this afternoon concentrating on Warhammer Fantasy battle stuff.
I've written up the game I played against Gary earlier in the week and you can read it here. It was the first game using both of our new army books.
The game resulted in some damage to my models so I had to pin a weapon on my Champion in the large Warrior unit and do the same on my Charioteer. I took the opportunity to shorten his halberd as it was ridiculously large. Hopefully it will now fit in my carrying case a little better.
Speaking of carrying cases, I also needed to repair two of the foam trays in my Intersponge as my metal Warhound models had ripped the sponge walls from the base. I used a hot glue gun and I'm hoping it will do the trick.
My next WFB tasks are to read through my Warriors of Chaos army book and come up with a list for my next game and to find some answers to the rules queries that arose in my last game.
And finally, I've managed to put three more items up for auction on eBay. One of them, The Sabbat Worlds Crusade book, should be of interest to readers of this site as it details Dan Abnett's background to his Gaunts Ghosts series. The book is long out of print so I'm hoping it will fetch a good price.
My other auctions are for The ABC Warriors Khronicles of Khaos and Nemesis the Warlock book nine.
I've written up the game I played against Gary earlier in the week and you can read it here. It was the first game using both of our new army books.
The game resulted in some damage to my models so I had to pin a weapon on my Champion in the large Warrior unit and do the same on my Charioteer. I took the opportunity to shorten his halberd as it was ridiculously large. Hopefully it will now fit in my carrying case a little better.
Speaking of carrying cases, I also needed to repair two of the foam trays in my Intersponge as my metal Warhound models had ripped the sponge walls from the base. I used a hot glue gun and I'm hoping it will do the trick.
My next WFB tasks are to read through my Warriors of Chaos army book and come up with a list for my next game and to find some answers to the rules queries that arose in my last game.
And finally, I've managed to put three more items up for auction on eBay. One of them, The Sabbat Worlds Crusade book, should be of interest to readers of this site as it details Dan Abnett's background to his Gaunts Ghosts series. The book is long out of print so I'm hoping it will fetch a good price.
My other auctions are for The ABC Warriors Khronicles of Khaos and Nemesis the Warlock book nine.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
GENERAL: The first push
I'm interrupting coverage of my Daemonhunters 3rd edition 40k Vogen campaign to bring you my first 5th edition battle report. I decided to bust out my Blood Angels, despite the fact that I have very few models painted for them, and take on Gary's Chaos Daemons. You can read the full report here.
I've also taken the first steps in reducing my New Model Fund deficit. I've listed four items on eBay relating to the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, published by Games Workshop in the late 1980's. I've also listed my old laptop RAM. If you're interested take a look here.
I've also taken the first steps in reducing my New Model Fund deficit. I've listed four items on eBay relating to the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, published by Games Workshop in the late 1980's. I've also listed my old laptop RAM. If you're interested take a look here.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
NEW MODEL FUND: Limited edition skullz
I have posted some more gaming paraphenalia up for sale on e-bay. Some of it I rediscovered from previous auctions that didn't sell. I really don't have room to keep it so I dropped the prices and re-listed them. Anything I get to put toward future models buying is a bonus next to the lack of clutter in my games room. Some already have bidders so the sale prices obviously worked.
Here is the link to the auctions.
As well as older stuff, I have put some new limited edition models up for sale. These were models I acquired during the Skullz promotion around the turn of the millennium (Y2K seems like a really long time ago). One is the Ultramarine standard bearer and the other is the 'Iwo Jima' Armageddon space marine diorama. Both are very hard to get a hold of nowadays so I hope to really add to my kitty over the next week or so.
One consequences of all my recent selling activity is a massive rise in my e-bay fees. The invoice arrived yesterday and totalled £13.44. Erk. That is more than the total of all my other invoices so far. Here is how the numbers look now.
Here is the link to the auctions.
As well as older stuff, I have put some new limited edition models up for sale. These were models I acquired during the Skullz promotion around the turn of the millennium (Y2K seems like a really long time ago). One is the Ultramarine standard bearer and the other is the 'Iwo Jima' Armageddon space marine diorama. Both are very hard to get a hold of nowadays so I hope to really add to my kitty over the next week or so.
One consequences of all my recent selling activity is a massive rise in my e-bay fees. The invoice arrived yesterday and totalled £13.44. Erk. That is more than the total of all my other invoices so far. Here is how the numbers look now.
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £290.86
- Less selling fees £26.07
- Less models bought £95.16
- New model fund £168.77
Friday, June 15, 2007
NEW MODEL FUND: Heavy Tau casualties but Blood Angel reinforcements
There has been lots of activity on the New Model Front over the past week. The auctions ended for several Tau units I had listed the previous and I had planned to put lots more Tau models up on e-bay but one of my regular buyers made me an offer for the rest. This saved me the bother of listing each auction and waiting for them to end, and it gave me a good boost to my kitty. It also completely exhausted my Tau models. I'll have a good warchest for the Chaos Renegade Militia later in the year.
Buoyed by this swelling of my bank balance I splashed the cash on some Space Marines for my planned Blood Angels army. I got 10 Tactical marines for £11.16, which represented a decent saving on the £18 GW price. They are new on the sprue, too.
Here is how the Fund is looking now.
Watch this space.
Buoyed by this swelling of my bank balance I splashed the cash on some Space Marines for my planned Blood Angels army. I got 10 Tactical marines for £11.16, which represented a decent saving on the £18 GW price. They are new on the sprue, too.
Here is how the Fund is looking now.
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £290.86
- Less selling fees £12.63
- Less models bought £95.16
- New model fund £183.07
Watch this space.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
NEW MODEL FUND: Tau, Tau and more Tau
Many apologies for not posting yesterday - my work finally caught up with me. It shouldn't happen again.
I've had a shed-load of Tau up for sale on e-bay for the last couple of weeks, mainly Fire Warriors, but I sold the tanks and crisis suits last week and that boosted my income very nicely. Here is my swag so far.
Upcoming auctions will feature more tanks and battle suits. The difference with these blighters are that they are painted. That's good news if you have an urban cammo paint scheme and need some quick reinforcements. I've also come across another dozen Fire Warriors which will complement the 48 I have already shifted.
I mentioned a while ago that I was considering selling my Praetorian army. Well, I'm putting that off for a while because I watched Zulu again the other day. It made me realise why I bought the army in the first place and I just can't bear to get rid of the plucky soldiers. Instead I have a hazy plan to utilise them as a matching army for the Chaos Renegade Militia (taking the place of the Death Korps of Krieg). I reckon I could paint them in a drab colour scheme (rather than the stereotypical red) and mix in some of the new Forgeworld goodies to simulate a WW1 era footslogger force.
Of course this will be some way off in the future. Now I need to dig through my collection and see what other models I can sell. My Skullz promotional mini's are an obvious start.
Watch this space...
I've had a shed-load of Tau up for sale on e-bay for the last couple of weeks, mainly Fire Warriors, but I sold the tanks and crisis suits last week and that boosted my income very nicely. Here is my swag so far.
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £188.05
- Less selling fees £12.63
- Less models bought £84.00
- New model fund £91.42
Upcoming auctions will feature more tanks and battle suits. The difference with these blighters are that they are painted. That's good news if you have an urban cammo paint scheme and need some quick reinforcements. I've also come across another dozen Fire Warriors which will complement the 48 I have already shifted.
I mentioned a while ago that I was considering selling my Praetorian army. Well, I'm putting that off for a while because I watched Zulu again the other day. It made me realise why I bought the army in the first place and I just can't bear to get rid of the plucky soldiers. Instead I have a hazy plan to utilise them as a matching army for the Chaos Renegade Militia (taking the place of the Death Korps of Krieg). I reckon I could paint them in a drab colour scheme (rather than the stereotypical red) and mix in some of the new Forgeworld goodies to simulate a WW1 era footslogger force.
Of course this will be some way off in the future. Now I need to dig through my collection and see what other models I can sell. My Skullz promotional mini's are an obvious start.
Watch this space...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
NEW MODEL FUND: As one army leaves another arrives
I've been mucho busy on e-bay over the past week or so, building up a war chest to finish off my Chaos WHFB army and my Blood Angels 40k army. I have put almost an entire Tau army up for auction and I still have quite few units to list.
Nevertheless I thought I'd update my New Model Fund with the results so far.
Now I just have to build and paint those last few models...
Nevertheless I thought I'd update my New Model Fund with the results so far.
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £102.33
- Less selling fees £12.63
- Less models bought £84.00
- New model fund £5.70
Now I just have to build and paint those last few models...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Fire Warriors for sale! And in other news...
If my posting has been erratic of late I apologise. I've been suffering with a heavy dose of 'manflu' and have finally raised the white flag and taken some time off work. You can make me feel better by buying some of my old gaming gear so that I can re-invest my cash into my Blood Angels army. You do want me to feel better don't you?
Here is the linky:
Tau Fire Warriors, Tyranid codex and Eldar Craftworld codex
While I'm recuperating I'm surfing the web because I can't be bothered to do anything productive.
I came across some interesting stuff, though.
Gav Thorpe has been posting on Warseer. I'll reproduce some of his posts below because they give some insight into Games Workshops' thinking on 'the hobby.' The link to the discussion is here. There are three separate posts here which are divided by many other posters comments in the discussion, so this may be a little disjointed. I'm sure you'll get the gist.
We've long been aware of the 'beer and girls' phenomena that hits young lads around 15-17, it's been the same for many years. It's important to consider, however, that these returnees may not have played or collected for several years, sometimes a decade or more. Although they have experienced the hobby before, the details of the range, stable access to the rules, where to get stuff is all as useful to these guys as it is to the 12-year old who picks up WD in the newsagents.
As to support for veterans, I have been working for GW for nearly 14 years and I have never had anybody tell me that we do not care about veteran hobbyists. Continuing to strengthen recruitment is not mutually antipathetic to established gamers. However, veterans are expected to be able to look after themselves for much of their needs – they're wily enough to find painting, collecting and gaming advice from peers and elsewhere. There is also a large and healthy global tournament circuit, which tends to appeal to more established gamers, as well as other events. Not to mention many, many websites and forums where veterans can exchange opinions and ideas. Much of this stems from a mature community that requires occasional support from GW, but would be hampered by too much control or interference.
Put simply, other than cool toy soldiers and occasional pokes with different ideas such as Cities of Death or Mighty Empires, what exactly could GW provide to experienced, literate and confident veterans?
I'll start off by saying that the 'GW hobby' appears to have changed dramatically since I began playing in the 80's. Even when I was in full hobby mode in my mid-teens, I visited a GW store only once every few months (usually Luton, though sometimes we jumped on a train down to London). For the most part I bought my miniatures at a local hobby store (well, actually it started as a market stall, and the guy leased a store later!) and from Mail Order. All my gaming was done at home, with a group of mates from school. I contacted a local club, but they pretty much laughed at me when I told them I played Space Marine. Occasionally I would take Blood Bowl to a friend's house, but I wasn't going to lug my 5' table around on my bike! I bought WD every month to find out the new releases, read the battle reports and maybe get some painting or modelling tips – for the most part the rules they printed were really just lifts from books that I already had. Oh, and I would get up at 4 in the morning with my friend Dan and get a lift from my dad down to London so we could get the coach to Games Day and Golden Demon every year, and we'd blow all our money in the first 30 minutes and then spend the rest of the day playing as many different games as possible! I remember the coach or train journey back from GW or Games Day, as we'd open up everything we'd bought and lovingly fondle those miniatures
I would say, from conversations with many other gamers of the period, that mine was a fairly typical hobby lifestyle. So, that was my experience of becoming a gaming 'veteran'. These days three things have changed dramatically:
Finding opponents is a lot easier than ever it was, particularly the rise in the number of clubs and independent stores that have gaming facilities.
This has significantly altered the ratio of 'basement' games with friends compared to pick up games with 'strangers'.
The global communication allowed by the Internet has a twofold effect. Firstly, players can get great advice, tips, conversation and such 24/7. Secondly, they can discuss gaming and rules with a far wider audience with a much broader approach to playing games (and in many different languages). The scrutiny on rules has never been greater, and I think communication and pick up games is more the issue than tournaments per se. The demand for instant responses is high, but we have to maintain the integrity of those printed books as far as is possible. Officialdom and tournament-legal are concepts that have entered into the vocabulary of gamers in the last few years, and really it's a debate we would rather avoid - not because we're ducking the issue, but because it shows that we haven't done our jobs properly has far as presenting a single unified game system is concerned. Important lessons have been learnt in this regard.
The Internet also also the rapid exchange of images and experiences, so that for those who want it, there's a great deal of rumours, photos and so on for upcoming releases. On a personal level, I avoid most of this sort of thing – I don't like spoilers for TV shows I watch, I don't go hunting down every piece of news for a movie I'm looking forward too. Even when we first started working on LOTR I tried to avoid it as much as possible so as not to spoil my enjoyment of the movie! I prefer the full sensation of watching a show, seeing a film, reading a book, without any pre-judgement. I would imagine that if I were still a customer and not an employee, I would likely be the same – I wouldn't be hanging round on Warseer trying to snaffle up every tit bit of info. All of which is a way of saying that if people are going to go out of their way to get sneaky peeks and inside info, they can't expect GW to pander to it. We have a website, events and WD to showcase our forthcoming releases, if hobbyists pre-empt these media they have to understand they're not going to get the same buzz as they would if they were seeing them for the first time. For some people, knowing as much as possible as early as possible is what gives them their kicks, and good luck to them. For those who perhaps are missing a bit of that excitement you used to get each month with WD, I'd suggest spending the next 3 months avoiding all rumours and sneaky photos, and then look at WD in Aug/ Sep and see how you feel about it. This is the experience many of us had with WD when we first starting out, and it doesn't have to be lost forever.
WD is, as you've all heard before, an evolving beast. It had got out of hand, the idea of a variant army list pretty much every month was simply unsustainable, and towards the end was causing as much frustration as it was excitement - what's official, what isn't? Is it worth collecting? Etc etc. These began appealing to a niche within a niche, and although entertaining to read, very few people actually collect or game with those armies. Apologies to those who do, no offence is intended, but the fact of the matter is that compared to the number of Tau players, say, the number of Kroot Mercenaries players is very small. Is it better service to address these very small groups within the community, or to focus on the armies that the majority of players collect, paint and game with? We were very extreme, resetting the bench mark for WD to deliberately ensure it was focused on the miniatures people can actually collect and game with. Confident that we've now left behind some of the more awkward excesses of the past WD is restoring some of the balance and certainly will be including more gaming material in the future - the Blood Angels army list for instance, as well as some articles for Mighty Empires, in the next few months. There's no perfect mix, but we would like to get WD to a place where people will have their favourite issue, will check it out every month.
I shall finish this long-winded reply with a short summary!
I think it's sometimes easy to forget the infrastructure and community that has been grown by GW that exists beyond the company. That community didn't really exist fifteen years ago, and it's there that hobbyists can always find the greatest support. Clubs, tournaments, forums, all of these things are now possible to allow players to meet new people, play different opponents, exchange ideas and keep their hobby dynamic and invigorated. With the various tribulations involved in recreating the 40K codex range and the Warhammer armies range of books, it's been very hard for GW to find the time to create the sorts of supplements and products that expand the gaming available to players. We are now in a much better position, and with Cities of Death, Mighty Empires and many other supplements we have planned, we hope that we can continue to add fresh appeal to players who have been collecting their armies for many years and are perhaps looking to freshen things up. This part of the range will continue to grow over the coming years.
Thank you to everybody who has responded, it's far more than I was expecting (I suspect my post being cut out of the original thread sparked much more interest than it would have done!). We live in an age characterised by increasing cynicism and disenchantment, and I would hate for that to grip people's hobbies as well as their work (or school) life. I think it is a testament to the passion of players (and the lure of toy soldiers!) that such arguments and debates can take place. I would be more worried by apathy than misgivings!
The point of describing my own experience was not to say I share your pain or any other attempt at empathy, but pretty much the opposite. The conditions in which I became a hobbyist were very different to those today, just as the gaming hobby was very different when the likes of Rick and Jervis were growing up. It is because of this that perhaps I don't really sympathise with some of the issues being raised in this thread - not that they are not genuine concerns, simply that I have never found myself in a similar situation. I never had a venue other than my parents' house to play in. I didn't have access to a wealth of advice and discussion on the Internet. I certainly didn't have starter sets and army books to get me started.
These days an incredible amount of effort is expended introducing people to the principles of collecting, painting and playing with miniatures. Many of us take for granted what a wealth of knowledge we have accumulated over our years of gaming, and forget how little we knew when we started. Our aim is to remove as many obstacles as possible that stand in the way of people who are going to enjoy collecting, painting and playing with toy solders - what we call the 'hobby gene'.
For me, being a veteran is about being the controller of your hobby. A veteran has the experience and know how to own their own hobby and to know what they want from it. A hobby is a personal thing and miniatures are no different. A veteran knows what sorts of games he likes to play - competitive tournaments, wacky scenarios etc – and he understand his level of painting and modelling, the armies the collects, the types of miniatures he likes and so forth. Once a hobbyst has been introduced to the possibilities available, they will make their own informed choices. However, it's important for everyone to remember that a hobby is a personal journey, each person gets something different out of it, and it's not the place of GW or others to dictate to individuals what their hobby should be.
One of the things we are looking to do is make sure that we continue to support all of those possible choices in a better fashion. We'll run GTs and other events for players that like that sort of thing, but we'll also still have Golden Demon for the painters, Black Library for the background-lovers, Forgeworld for the treadheads, and so on. What we've identified as being a gap in recent years is the 'non-Codex' gaming side of things. We recognise how popular Kill team was in the 40K rulebook, for instance. We have a number of supplements planned that will give gamers more variety - different game types like Cities of Death, campaign tools such as Mighty Empires, large free-for-alls in Apocalypse, and others. We're also dedicating some time to purely collectible miniatures as part of our direct sales offer. Over the last couple of years there has been lots of talk about the 'veteran offer' in the Design Studio, and it is an area we're seeking to address, so it pains me to see people claim that 'GW' doesn't care about veterans.
On the suggestion about the evolving storyline, this has proven to be impracticable. The Warhammer and 40K background exist as settings in which players can create their own armies and battles, write their own stories and invent their own characters. They serve as a backdrop, not an ongoing narrative. To overlay too much narrative onto this background will again start to restrict the choices players can make. Have Grimgor leading your Orcs army? You can make up any number of storylines for him. However, if we followed through on Storm of Chaos any longer, for example, players would have to wait for GW to tell them what their 'army' is up to. Although we create the background, we've come to realise it is a shared part of the hobby as much as anything else, and it's not there for us to hijack away from players.
We've managed to get into a position where officialdom and dictating the hobby to players has created a great deal of restriction about what people collect, how they paint, how they game, and how they interact with the background. Our aim is to release hobbyists from these constraints so that they are again free to enjoy toy soldiers in whatever way the like, without GW (or the community) having to endorse it.
I hope that makes my position a little clearer.
Much food for thought. Whether you agree or disagree with Gav I'm glad he's at least putting his point of view out there.
Here is the linky:
Tau Fire Warriors, Tyranid codex and Eldar Craftworld codex
While I'm recuperating I'm surfing the web because I can't be bothered to do anything productive.
I came across some interesting stuff, though.
Gav Thorpe has been posting on Warseer. I'll reproduce some of his posts below because they give some insight into Games Workshops' thinking on 'the hobby.' The link to the discussion is here. There are three separate posts here which are divided by many other posters comments in the discussion, so this may be a little disjointed. I'm sure you'll get the gist.
We've long been aware of the 'beer and girls' phenomena that hits young lads around 15-17, it's been the same for many years. It's important to consider, however, that these returnees may not have played or collected for several years, sometimes a decade or more. Although they have experienced the hobby before, the details of the range, stable access to the rules, where to get stuff is all as useful to these guys as it is to the 12-year old who picks up WD in the newsagents.
As to support for veterans, I have been working for GW for nearly 14 years and I have never had anybody tell me that we do not care about veteran hobbyists. Continuing to strengthen recruitment is not mutually antipathetic to established gamers. However, veterans are expected to be able to look after themselves for much of their needs – they're wily enough to find painting, collecting and gaming advice from peers and elsewhere. There is also a large and healthy global tournament circuit, which tends to appeal to more established gamers, as well as other events. Not to mention many, many websites and forums where veterans can exchange opinions and ideas. Much of this stems from a mature community that requires occasional support from GW, but would be hampered by too much control or interference.
Put simply, other than cool toy soldiers and occasional pokes with different ideas such as Cities of Death or Mighty Empires, what exactly could GW provide to experienced, literate and confident veterans?
I'll start off by saying that the 'GW hobby' appears to have changed dramatically since I began playing in the 80's. Even when I was in full hobby mode in my mid-teens, I visited a GW store only once every few months (usually Luton, though sometimes we jumped on a train down to London). For the most part I bought my miniatures at a local hobby store (well, actually it started as a market stall, and the guy leased a store later!) and from Mail Order. All my gaming was done at home, with a group of mates from school. I contacted a local club, but they pretty much laughed at me when I told them I played Space Marine. Occasionally I would take Blood Bowl to a friend's house, but I wasn't going to lug my 5' table around on my bike! I bought WD every month to find out the new releases, read the battle reports and maybe get some painting or modelling tips – for the most part the rules they printed were really just lifts from books that I already had. Oh, and I would get up at 4 in the morning with my friend Dan and get a lift from my dad down to London so we could get the coach to Games Day and Golden Demon every year, and we'd blow all our money in the first 30 minutes and then spend the rest of the day playing as many different games as possible! I remember the coach or train journey back from GW or Games Day, as we'd open up everything we'd bought and lovingly fondle those miniatures
I would say, from conversations with many other gamers of the period, that mine was a fairly typical hobby lifestyle. So, that was my experience of becoming a gaming 'veteran'. These days three things have changed dramatically:
- A lot more GW stores.
- A lot more players, meaning a lot more clubs that play GW games, as well as tournaments and other events.
- T'internet.
Finding opponents is a lot easier than ever it was, particularly the rise in the number of clubs and independent stores that have gaming facilities.
This has significantly altered the ratio of 'basement' games with friends compared to pick up games with 'strangers'.
The global communication allowed by the Internet has a twofold effect. Firstly, players can get great advice, tips, conversation and such 24/7. Secondly, they can discuss gaming and rules with a far wider audience with a much broader approach to playing games (and in many different languages). The scrutiny on rules has never been greater, and I think communication and pick up games is more the issue than tournaments per se. The demand for instant responses is high, but we have to maintain the integrity of those printed books as far as is possible. Officialdom and tournament-legal are concepts that have entered into the vocabulary of gamers in the last few years, and really it's a debate we would rather avoid - not because we're ducking the issue, but because it shows that we haven't done our jobs properly has far as presenting a single unified game system is concerned. Important lessons have been learnt in this regard.
The Internet also also the rapid exchange of images and experiences, so that for those who want it, there's a great deal of rumours, photos and so on for upcoming releases. On a personal level, I avoid most of this sort of thing – I don't like spoilers for TV shows I watch, I don't go hunting down every piece of news for a movie I'm looking forward too. Even when we first started working on LOTR I tried to avoid it as much as possible so as not to spoil my enjoyment of the movie! I prefer the full sensation of watching a show, seeing a film, reading a book, without any pre-judgement. I would imagine that if I were still a customer and not an employee, I would likely be the same – I wouldn't be hanging round on Warseer trying to snaffle up every tit bit of info. All of which is a way of saying that if people are going to go out of their way to get sneaky peeks and inside info, they can't expect GW to pander to it. We have a website, events and WD to showcase our forthcoming releases, if hobbyists pre-empt these media they have to understand they're not going to get the same buzz as they would if they were seeing them for the first time. For some people, knowing as much as possible as early as possible is what gives them their kicks, and good luck to them. For those who perhaps are missing a bit of that excitement you used to get each month with WD, I'd suggest spending the next 3 months avoiding all rumours and sneaky photos, and then look at WD in Aug/ Sep and see how you feel about it. This is the experience many of us had with WD when we first starting out, and it doesn't have to be lost forever.
WD is, as you've all heard before, an evolving beast. It had got out of hand, the idea of a variant army list pretty much every month was simply unsustainable, and towards the end was causing as much frustration as it was excitement - what's official, what isn't? Is it worth collecting? Etc etc. These began appealing to a niche within a niche, and although entertaining to read, very few people actually collect or game with those armies. Apologies to those who do, no offence is intended, but the fact of the matter is that compared to the number of Tau players, say, the number of Kroot Mercenaries players is very small. Is it better service to address these very small groups within the community, or to focus on the armies that the majority of players collect, paint and game with? We were very extreme, resetting the bench mark for WD to deliberately ensure it was focused on the miniatures people can actually collect and game with. Confident that we've now left behind some of the more awkward excesses of the past WD is restoring some of the balance and certainly will be including more gaming material in the future - the Blood Angels army list for instance, as well as some articles for Mighty Empires, in the next few months. There's no perfect mix, but we would like to get WD to a place where people will have their favourite issue, will check it out every month.
I shall finish this long-winded reply with a short summary!
I think it's sometimes easy to forget the infrastructure and community that has been grown by GW that exists beyond the company. That community didn't really exist fifteen years ago, and it's there that hobbyists can always find the greatest support. Clubs, tournaments, forums, all of these things are now possible to allow players to meet new people, play different opponents, exchange ideas and keep their hobby dynamic and invigorated. With the various tribulations involved in recreating the 40K codex range and the Warhammer armies range of books, it's been very hard for GW to find the time to create the sorts of supplements and products that expand the gaming available to players. We are now in a much better position, and with Cities of Death, Mighty Empires and many other supplements we have planned, we hope that we can continue to add fresh appeal to players who have been collecting their armies for many years and are perhaps looking to freshen things up. This part of the range will continue to grow over the coming years.
Thank you to everybody who has responded, it's far more than I was expecting (I suspect my post being cut out of the original thread sparked much more interest than it would have done!). We live in an age characterised by increasing cynicism and disenchantment, and I would hate for that to grip people's hobbies as well as their work (or school) life. I think it is a testament to the passion of players (and the lure of toy soldiers!) that such arguments and debates can take place. I would be more worried by apathy than misgivings!
The point of describing my own experience was not to say I share your pain or any other attempt at empathy, but pretty much the opposite. The conditions in which I became a hobbyist were very different to those today, just as the gaming hobby was very different when the likes of Rick and Jervis were growing up. It is because of this that perhaps I don't really sympathise with some of the issues being raised in this thread - not that they are not genuine concerns, simply that I have never found myself in a similar situation. I never had a venue other than my parents' house to play in. I didn't have access to a wealth of advice and discussion on the Internet. I certainly didn't have starter sets and army books to get me started.
These days an incredible amount of effort is expended introducing people to the principles of collecting, painting and playing with miniatures. Many of us take for granted what a wealth of knowledge we have accumulated over our years of gaming, and forget how little we knew when we started. Our aim is to remove as many obstacles as possible that stand in the way of people who are going to enjoy collecting, painting and playing with toy solders - what we call the 'hobby gene'.
For me, being a veteran is about being the controller of your hobby. A veteran has the experience and know how to own their own hobby and to know what they want from it. A hobby is a personal thing and miniatures are no different. A veteran knows what sorts of games he likes to play - competitive tournaments, wacky scenarios etc – and he understand his level of painting and modelling, the armies the collects, the types of miniatures he likes and so forth. Once a hobbyst has been introduced to the possibilities available, they will make their own informed choices. However, it's important for everyone to remember that a hobby is a personal journey, each person gets something different out of it, and it's not the place of GW or others to dictate to individuals what their hobby should be.
One of the things we are looking to do is make sure that we continue to support all of those possible choices in a better fashion. We'll run GTs and other events for players that like that sort of thing, but we'll also still have Golden Demon for the painters, Black Library for the background-lovers, Forgeworld for the treadheads, and so on. What we've identified as being a gap in recent years is the 'non-Codex' gaming side of things. We recognise how popular Kill team was in the 40K rulebook, for instance. We have a number of supplements planned that will give gamers more variety - different game types like Cities of Death, campaign tools such as Mighty Empires, large free-for-alls in Apocalypse, and others. We're also dedicating some time to purely collectible miniatures as part of our direct sales offer. Over the last couple of years there has been lots of talk about the 'veteran offer' in the Design Studio, and it is an area we're seeking to address, so it pains me to see people claim that 'GW' doesn't care about veterans.
On the suggestion about the evolving storyline, this has proven to be impracticable. The Warhammer and 40K background exist as settings in which players can create their own armies and battles, write their own stories and invent their own characters. They serve as a backdrop, not an ongoing narrative. To overlay too much narrative onto this background will again start to restrict the choices players can make. Have Grimgor leading your Orcs army? You can make up any number of storylines for him. However, if we followed through on Storm of Chaos any longer, for example, players would have to wait for GW to tell them what their 'army' is up to. Although we create the background, we've come to realise it is a shared part of the hobby as much as anything else, and it's not there for us to hijack away from players.
We've managed to get into a position where officialdom and dictating the hobby to players has created a great deal of restriction about what people collect, how they paint, how they game, and how they interact with the background. Our aim is to release hobbyists from these constraints so that they are again free to enjoy toy soldiers in whatever way the like, without GW (or the community) having to endorse it.
I hope that makes my position a little clearer.
Much food for thought. Whether you agree or disagree with Gav I'm glad he's at least putting his point of view out there.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
A bitsbox of gaming
I've been up to lots of game related things this weekend. I haven't finished my Marauder horse yet, but I've added the metallics, horsehair and fur. I'm going to break out the foundation paints soon to paint the flesh.
The latest issue of White Dwarf dropped through my letterbox on Friday. I was really looking forward to getting my mitts on this as it had part one of the Blood Angels codex update. There were no points costs listed, just some background material, the Blood Angels special rules, a wargear section and the stats and unit descriptions of the models unique to the Blood Angels. The full army list will follow in the next issue.
I noticed a few things right away. Some rules are as per the Dark Angels codex - all models now come with frag and krak grenades and ten man veteran, tactical, devastator, assault and scout squads can be split into combat squads. I haven't really thought through the implications of this as I don't play Dark Angels, so I don't know if it is a good or bad thing. It fits the background of the Marines, though, so it can't all be bad.
Assault Marines are now Troops. This is a relatively unexpected development (for me at least) and means a big change in background and army play style. I can't really imagine many people investing in Tactical marines now. My own plans were for a mechanised force so I don't know how this change will affect my planned army. The loss of Furious Charge across the whole army makes them slightly weaker, but I still expect most BA armies to contain lots of these jump-packers.
The Death Company look nasty. They come with two attacks basic, fearless, feel no pain, furious charge and rending. Ouch. There is no confirmation of the rules on acquiring the Death Company, so these must appear in part two of the codex.
The Furioso Dreadnoughts can now upgrade to Death Company Dreadnoughts. This is great news for me as I had modelled a Furioso to represent Chaplain Blackblood, an old hero of mine since Rogue Trader days, who had been mortally wounded and placed in the dreadnought while gripped by the Black Rage. The movement rules probably make it not so great in the game, but at least I can play the model 'correctly.'
Speaking of vehicles, the over-charged engines are much better. You now roll a d6 - on a 1 the vehicle stalls and cannot move, on a 2-3 it moves normally and on a 4+ it moves up to 18" as a fast vehicle. This will make a massive difference to predators with heavy bolter sponsons in particular, as they could move 12" and shoot their main weapon and secondary weapons. Baal predators are therefore very nasty indeed. I already have a predator destructor painted and ready to roll.
Mephiston has lived up to the pre-codex hype. His statline is excellent and he can cast all three psychic powers per turn, and can even use them in the opponents turn. He is a close combat monster, hitting with 6-8 attacks with a Force Weapon. His only slight weak point will be no invulnerable save and a probable high points cost. Still, I expect to see him on a lot of table tops.
Two rules queries came up immediately.
1 - Mephiston. His Lord of Death special rule says ...Mephiston has all three BA psychic powers powers, and can use each one of them and his Force Weapon once each player turn... Does this mean he can use Wings of Sanguinius to fly around in the other player's turn? The implications are huge.
2- Over-charged engines. Can you try to use these on the turn you enter the table from reserves? If so, what happens when you roll a 1 and can't move?
If anyone has any ideas I'd like to hear them.
The new Blood Angels codex has really stoked me up and I want to build an army of the bloodthirsty protectors of humanity. In order to do that, because of my vow to only buy models with the proceeds of sales of my gaming gear, I need to sell a lot more stuff. To that end I dug out all of my Tau stuff. All laid out it looks quite impressive.
Here is the full list of models.
Tanks
In future posts I'll let you know how what BA models I already have and post some pics of the finished models. I have also begun to flesh out the background of the Imperial fleet for the Skolarii Sector. I've also been ruminating on a master plan for collecting and painting future armies and using or losing the models I currently own. When I've decided on the details I'll post it up here.
The latest issue of White Dwarf dropped through my letterbox on Friday. I was really looking forward to getting my mitts on this as it had part one of the Blood Angels codex update. There were no points costs listed, just some background material, the Blood Angels special rules, a wargear section and the stats and unit descriptions of the models unique to the Blood Angels. The full army list will follow in the next issue.
I noticed a few things right away. Some rules are as per the Dark Angels codex - all models now come with frag and krak grenades and ten man veteran, tactical, devastator, assault and scout squads can be split into combat squads. I haven't really thought through the implications of this as I don't play Dark Angels, so I don't know if it is a good or bad thing. It fits the background of the Marines, though, so it can't all be bad.
Assault Marines are now Troops. This is a relatively unexpected development (for me at least) and means a big change in background and army play style. I can't really imagine many people investing in Tactical marines now. My own plans were for a mechanised force so I don't know how this change will affect my planned army. The loss of Furious Charge across the whole army makes them slightly weaker, but I still expect most BA armies to contain lots of these jump-packers.
The Death Company look nasty. They come with two attacks basic, fearless, feel no pain, furious charge and rending. Ouch. There is no confirmation of the rules on acquiring the Death Company, so these must appear in part two of the codex.
The Furioso Dreadnoughts can now upgrade to Death Company Dreadnoughts. This is great news for me as I had modelled a Furioso to represent Chaplain Blackblood, an old hero of mine since Rogue Trader days, who had been mortally wounded and placed in the dreadnought while gripped by the Black Rage. The movement rules probably make it not so great in the game, but at least I can play the model 'correctly.'
Speaking of vehicles, the over-charged engines are much better. You now roll a d6 - on a 1 the vehicle stalls and cannot move, on a 2-3 it moves normally and on a 4+ it moves up to 18" as a fast vehicle. This will make a massive difference to predators with heavy bolter sponsons in particular, as they could move 12" and shoot their main weapon and secondary weapons. Baal predators are therefore very nasty indeed. I already have a predator destructor painted and ready to roll.
Mephiston has lived up to the pre-codex hype. His statline is excellent and he can cast all three psychic powers per turn, and can even use them in the opponents turn. He is a close combat monster, hitting with 6-8 attacks with a Force Weapon. His only slight weak point will be no invulnerable save and a probable high points cost. Still, I expect to see him on a lot of table tops.
Two rules queries came up immediately.
1 - Mephiston. His Lord of Death special rule says ...Mephiston has all three BA psychic powers powers, and can use each one of them and his Force Weapon once each player turn... Does this mean he can use Wings of Sanguinius to fly around in the other player's turn? The implications are huge.
2- Over-charged engines. Can you try to use these on the turn you enter the table from reserves? If so, what happens when you roll a 1 and can't move?
If anyone has any ideas I'd like to hear them.
The new Blood Angels codex has really stoked me up and I want to build an army of the bloodthirsty protectors of humanity. In order to do that, because of my vow to only buy models with the proceeds of sales of my gaming gear, I need to sell a lot more stuff. To that end I dug out all of my Tau stuff. All laid out it looks quite impressive.
Here is the full list of models.
Tanks
- 2 Hammerheads
- 2 Devilfish
- 6 Stealthsuits
- 9 Crisis suits
- 3 Broadsides
- 8 Pathfinders
- 24 Kroot
- 60 Firewarriors
- 31 Gundrones
In future posts I'll let you know how what BA models I already have and post some pics of the finished models. I have also begun to flesh out the background of the Imperial fleet for the Skolarii Sector. I've also been ruminating on a master plan for collecting and painting future armies and using or losing the models I currently own. When I've decided on the details I'll post it up here.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Out of the red and into the black
A while back I worked out my new model fund and found I had overspent my budget. My remedy was to sling as much stuff on e-bay as I had time to list. The auctions are over and my finances are looking a little better.
My new model fund now looks like this:
My next purchase will be a single Knight to bring my cavalry unit up to six models. After that, my last purchase for the army, to bring it up to 2000 points, will be Marauders.
Speaking of Marauders, the next unit on my painting table is the Marauder horsemen. I've already blocked the base colours on the horses and I really want to get them up to table top painting standard by the end of today.
Those Blood Angels are still on the horizon...
My new model fund now looks like this:
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £81.26
- Less selling fees £8.28
- Less models bought £59.00
- New model fund £13.98
My next purchase will be a single Knight to bring my cavalry unit up to six models. After that, my last purchase for the army, to bring it up to 2000 points, will be Marauders.
Speaking of Marauders, the next unit on my painting table is the Marauder horsemen. I've already blocked the base colours on the horses and I really want to get them up to table top painting standard by the end of today.
Those Blood Angels are still on the horizon...
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Decadence and exile - selling the Eldar
I had a rummage through my Warhammer 40k model collection and found a cache of Eldar models to sell. These were given to me by my sister a while back, I think, and so the painting quality is not up to my normal standards. Still, most of them are painted to tabletop standards and virtually all of them are metal so they would be easy to strip.
Here are the e-bay listings:
On the painting front, I managed to completely finish the four War hounds and I made good progress on the Marauder Horsemen. I got the base colours on the horses (three shades of brown and an ink wash) and they just need their manes and tails tidied up before I move on to the riders. I'm really hopeful I'll have them finished before my next game.
Here are the e-bay listings:
On the painting front, I managed to completely finish the four War hounds and I made good progress on the Marauder Horsemen. I got the base colours on the horses (three shades of brown and an ink wash) and they just need their manes and tails tidied up before I move on to the riders. I'm really hopeful I'll have them finished before my next game.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Tick, tock, tick, tock...
I plan on posting quite a lot today. I have a day off work and about nine hours to concentrate entirely upon gaming. Huzzah!
The clock is ticking because I have just received the latest White Dwarf which confirms that the Blood Angels are getting a codex 'refresh' over the next two issues. The Blood Angels were my first army in any game system and if ever I am asked which army I play in 40k I always say Blood Angels even though I have owned and played virtually every other army in the game. The only problem is that I haven't used them since the early days of 3rd edition and the models I was using were a mix of RTB01 and 2nd edition 'static' poses. Not very inspiring.
A while back I started investing in the new Space Marine vehicles so that I could create a mechanised Blood Angel force, but something always seemed to crop up before I could start the army (my Warhammer Chaos Horde just the latest). I also felt wary because the mini-codex was so old - the third in third edition, while we are now well into 4th edition. In fact the BA codex is copyright 1998 so it is almost 10 years old. I could never be sure how Games Workshop would update the rules. There would be nothing worse than investing an extra £100 and eight weeks of painting into an army that would never be used.
Now I know I am just two months away from having the new book in my sweaty paws I am salivating at the prospect of fielding my red-armoured marines. But...
I still have at least three units to finish before my Warhammer Chaos army is complete. And I have no money. Minor problems.
My plan, so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox, is to draw up a 2000 point Chaos army, including all the units I need to finish, and paint up all the models over the next eight weeks. Since this will involve buying some new models for my fantasy army and buying a whole heap of models for the Blood Angels, I need to get busy on E-bay. In fact, I am reluctantly considering selling my Praetorian Imperial Guard army as a way of generating some decent cash. I have never painted most of the models and I am just coming to the conclusion that I never will.
So today I plan to write up my final 2000 point Chaos list and post it here. Then I want to construct and paint as many models as possible. I also want to post some models on E-bay.
Wish me luck.
The clock is ticking because I have just received the latest White Dwarf which confirms that the Blood Angels are getting a codex 'refresh' over the next two issues. The Blood Angels were my first army in any game system and if ever I am asked which army I play in 40k I always say Blood Angels even though I have owned and played virtually every other army in the game. The only problem is that I haven't used them since the early days of 3rd edition and the models I was using were a mix of RTB01 and 2nd edition 'static' poses. Not very inspiring.
A while back I started investing in the new Space Marine vehicles so that I could create a mechanised Blood Angel force, but something always seemed to crop up before I could start the army (my Warhammer Chaos Horde just the latest). I also felt wary because the mini-codex was so old - the third in third edition, while we are now well into 4th edition. In fact the BA codex is copyright 1998 so it is almost 10 years old. I could never be sure how Games Workshop would update the rules. There would be nothing worse than investing an extra £100 and eight weeks of painting into an army that would never be used.
Now I know I am just two months away from having the new book in my sweaty paws I am salivating at the prospect of fielding my red-armoured marines. But...
I still have at least three units to finish before my Warhammer Chaos army is complete. And I have no money. Minor problems.
My plan, so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox, is to draw up a 2000 point Chaos army, including all the units I need to finish, and paint up all the models over the next eight weeks. Since this will involve buying some new models for my fantasy army and buying a whole heap of models for the Blood Angels, I need to get busy on E-bay. In fact, I am reluctantly considering selling my Praetorian Imperial Guard army as a way of generating some decent cash. I have never painted most of the models and I am just coming to the conclusion that I never will.
So today I plan to write up my final 2000 point Chaos list and post it here. Then I want to construct and paint as many models as possible. I also want to post some models on E-bay.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Redressing the balance
Having gone into debt to buy my latest batch of models I thought I should redress the balance by listing some more items on e-bay. Here they are:
I aim to post tonnes of stuff over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for a bargain.
I aim to post tonnes of stuff over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for a bargain.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Get there fastest with the mostest
Following my completion of the Exalted on Daemonic Mount my attention has now turned to the last 500 points of my army. The natural unit choices are Marauders, both on foot and on horseback. A unit of each would mean I would own every single core mortal choice in the list. This would be a good thing, I think, because I would have a wide variety of units to play and practice with. It's maybe not the best choice in pure competitive terms, and it plays into the Dark Elves hands to a certain degree because they will be excellent targets for those wicked bolts and arrows, but it will help me to learn the Warhammer game by including a broader range of units.
The Horsemen will add light cavalry to my force. Having seen the Elven Dark Riders run rings around me in previous games, it might be nice to give the Druchii some of their own medicine.
Similarly, the Marauders will give me another dimension; fully ranked infantry. Coming in at just 6 points per model I can get a unit of 25 for well under 200 points. These guys should thicken out my army nicely.
Another source of cheap units is War Hounds. I had always meant to add more of these doggies to my army but their sheer cost put me off. The models are lovely, easy to paint, and the cheapness of the unit in the game, along with their sheer utility, are only rivalled by the fact that they cost almost £1 per point. 5 Knights may cost £25 but at least they gobble up nigh on 300 points of my army.
So, after reviewing my finances I have spent some cash. I've invested in 5 Marauder horse and four War hounds. That comes to £39. Other deductions are my e-bay fees which are £3.68. On the plus side I've managed to sell something on e-bay for a whopping £0.99.
So my new model fund now looks like this:
I really need to dig out some more stuff and list it on e-bay to generate more income. Not only that but I need a further £36 to buy two boxes of Marauders for that ranked up unit.
The Horsemen will add light cavalry to my force. Having seen the Elven Dark Riders run rings around me in previous games, it might be nice to give the Druchii some of their own medicine.
Similarly, the Marauders will give me another dimension; fully ranked infantry. Coming in at just 6 points per model I can get a unit of 25 for well under 200 points. These guys should thicken out my army nicely.
Another source of cheap units is War Hounds. I had always meant to add more of these doggies to my army but their sheer cost put me off. The models are lovely, easy to paint, and the cheapness of the unit in the game, along with their sheer utility, are only rivalled by the fact that they cost almost £1 per point. 5 Knights may cost £25 but at least they gobble up nigh on 300 points of my army.
So, after reviewing my finances I have spent some cash. I've invested in 5 Marauder horse and four War hounds. That comes to £39. Other deductions are my e-bay fees which are £3.68. On the plus side I've managed to sell something on e-bay for a whopping £0.99.
So my new model fund now looks like this:
- Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £61.98
- Less selling fees (so far) £8.28
- Less models bought £59.00
- New model fund -£5.30
I really need to dig out some more stuff and list it on e-bay to generate more income. Not only that but I need a further £36 to buy two boxes of Marauders for that ranked up unit.
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