Bargains Galore & Reminiscences

Well, as I close out 2019's gaming season I've been bitten with the Warhammer bug as well as a distinct need for some connection to my younger self on a cultural level.

As you know, I bought a rather nice and somewhat substantial Chaos collection on Saturday, but yesterday, I came upon a rather large and reasonably well painted Nurgle daemonic army which I won on a well known auction site for a measly £185.

I am pleased enough with the painting and will only be using a bit of gloss varnish on some chitinous carapace, and rebating them all over onto square bases as is right and proper.

1 x Daemon Prince

4 x Pox Bringer

2 x Spoilpox Scrivener

12 x Nurgling Bases

101 x Plaguebearers

9 x Plague Drones; a couple of missing hands, but I have that sorted

1 x Furculent Gnarlmaw

All in all, the unpainted value is around £450 - £500 so I am quite satisfied with the deal.

I also picked up both of the original Realm Of Chaos supplements for 3rd edition Warhammer for £135. I had been told by several 'fonts of knowledge' that I'd never get them for that price, but as you may have surmised by now, with very few exceptions, I know the value of any old school item probably better than most.

Both books are in great condition despite being 30 years old, and the first volume, 'Slaves To Darkness' is an interesting item, having a dust cover, something I've not seen before (and trust me these flinty and cynical old eyes have seen many. many rare and interesting items over the last 4 decades) so I am more than happy with the deal.

And then, last night, I was struck with the idea that I should sell my 'big box' Adeptus Titanicus which I bought the other wee. I had a paint issue with the two Warlord titans and had sold them, so I was left with essentially the same as the £35 set with a big box.

Well, I was able to sell the incomplete set for the same price as I paid for the complete game.

I immediately purchased the £35 rule set for £30 ( I will be buying titans to suit my own tastes) and then invested the rest in the 'Strontium Dog' skirmish game from Warlord.

Now, I was a lover of the S.D story in 2000AD when I was a lad and even today, they are still great stories,so the opportunity to fire a number 4 cartridge and blow a hole in the wall, take my electronux to the jaw of the guy stood just inside and then finish the battle with a well placed stasis grenade was so zarjaz that I vas as happy as der cucumber!

My younger brother turned up today with a box of freshly renovated Citadel pre slot Gangsters, having kindly agreed to give my recent purchase some TLC which should see them goof for another 3 decades of shoot-out on the mean streets.

I've been trying to be very disciplined at work, but I have so many things going around in my head in the form of ideas for games which I need to flesh out - the first being the creation of a 'living town' as outlined in a recent post.

However, first off, I need to decide whether I am going to proceed with my 28mm ECW plan. The house is filled with 810 of the little buggers, but I just don't have the time to base them.

So, I may offer them for sale or trade.

If you have a collection of any of the following, fully painted and fancy trading them for some ECW (Perry metal) then drop me a line:

28mm Medieval

28mm Early Renaissance

28mm Feudal

Pre slotta Fantasy

I've also been reminiscing about the days of Games Workshop's pre-Warhammer incarnation, games of Once Upon A Time In The West Country and Saturday morning visits over to Doncaster to Athena Books and the venerable Terry Wise's 'Wargamers Attic' with Darren, Simon and Roger (more so with Roger) as were always at each other's homes and always willing to go that extra mile for our hobby. 

I was thinking about how fast we could all paint back then. We could get 10-20 28mm figures painted on Saturday morning and by lunchtime, we'd be over at Terry's den swapping them for something from his shelves. I lose track of the stuff that we came home with, but it was always something interesting.

Terry's regular mailing list of secondhand figures were also a joy as you often found something obscure. 

when Terry called it a day, they guy who took over was obnoxious and the suspicious type who thought if you had long hair you were going to empty his shelves. He once made a smart arsed remark when I was out to do some serious shopping and I placed the 20-30 books I had in my arms on the counter and just walked out. He was no Terry Wise - people of that caliber are few and far between these days. The best examples I can think of are John Armatys, Tim Gow, Jerry Elmore, David Harrison and Dave Hoyles - gentlemen wargamers to a man and all a cut above the rest in my humble opinion. We need more people like this, in these days of plastic and big book rule sets.

Ah me - I am getting all teary-eyed.

TTFN