Grumbling On...

 

It occurs to me that Warlord Games have lost the plot when it comes to pricing on plastics.

 

They are asking £22.50 for 20 plastics, which is frankly ridiculous and is exactly what GW (no surprises then, given the people behind it) did after they convinced us that plastic was the future.

 

But that price gives you no encouragement to buy them. The saving is nominal against metal, there's a lot of building before you can get started on painting, and in many cases the re-issued Wargames Factory figures just suck when compared to other companies.

 

What's more, from where I stand, you are creating a lot more waste with plastic sets, as the amount of crap you have left over is amazing.

 

I am also at a loss to work out where all the second hand armies are these days...

 

You've always been able to pretty much find anything you wanted on the second hand market, and there have always been armies out there, ripe for the picking.

 

The few shows which still have bring and buys (an essential for a show in my opinion, otherwise you just have the same stuff to offer as any other show)  don't have many decent armies on offer, eBay is likewise not supplying a steady flow as you might expect, for the most part.

So what's happened?

 

Are gamers uncharacteristically hanging onto their armies, or does the new 'normal' of wargaming with a regiment and calling an army, beginning to signal a real change in the second hand market?

I do hope not.

My decison not to attend Fiasco this weekend, is simply because it will have nothing I could not get or see, at Partizan. Now, the smaller Recon show in December has a B&B and I have grabbed a few nice items there in the past. Alas, I can't get there this year as it clashes with the Human League playing Leeds. With 4 Scottish Terriers and a Westie, we'd have to race back from the show, feed and exercise them and then leave them again to race back up the M1, and frankly, that won't be happening.

So, are we living in times when armies are no longer armies, with those people who still have traditional sized forces hanging on to them, or is there now a secret underground market, I am not tapped into?

Perhaps 'Gentleman Wargamers' of a certain vintage will become the new Spivs, offering their WRG based armies from suitcases at the entrance to shows, smoking those forbidden pipes, and sartorially and olfactorily attracting those of us, tired of 'small battalions' and greasy haired, food spattered basement dwellers wearing the same clothes with the same stains as they did two years ago, rucksacks swinging as they waddle from stall to stall in search of the next pack of figures to build that new faction?

 

Speaking of the unwashed, the same guy who almost blinded me at York with his amazing B.O, was at Partizan. My wife was coming away from the cafe area, and he'd just passed me, and the wave as he approached her, hit her too. At 6 feet she actually retched, and when she got to me she said 'God, that was him and it's the same T-shirt.' I kid you not...

 

Sir, if you read this, please get in touch and I will gladly forgo a pack of figures and will instead send you soap, a comb and some decent quality deodrant along with a small pack of washing powder by recorded delivery.