045 - Ebay to the rescue!

SO it recently got to the point where gaming wise I hit critical mass. The gaming desk was full and the top of it was piled to the ceiling. I had also looked at the bank balance and saw how much I was spending. Extra things and no money? Ebay to the rescue!
So I was honest with myself. Was I really going to paint that 40k Space Wolves army? Did I even want a Rogue Trader Blood Angels force? Not in a million years says Mr Honesty. So on Ebay they go.
I had a big long thought about my limited edition models still in clam-packs. I have a Navigator and a Space Marine Captain from the new Forge World website. Both great miniatures but I feel I will paint the marine but not the Navigator so on Ebay he goes.
Tabletop Minions do a great video about not hording miniatures here. It's good advice and I definitely opened up some room on the gaming desk!
It also allowed me to buy this beauty!

With the money I made off the sale of my old models I wanted to get a big model like a Knight which is more likely a model which I'd paint. It's huge but I have more of a compulsion to paint this than two armies I'm not that invested in.

017 - Wolfacary

In the Legion Astartes Crusade Army List the Apothecarion Detachment consist of up to three Apothecaries as a single elites slot. However each Apothecary has to join a squad. The Apothecaries confer the Feel No Pain rule on units that they accompany. This addition to a large infantry squad makes them very durable.This is why I want some for my Space Wolves army. 

However the Apothecaries from Forge World only come with helmets which none of my Space Wolves are going to wear helmets and I am loath to chop up an expensive resin model for a conversion I am not really confident about. Also the Space Wolves Legion may not have Apothecaries in the army list when it comes out so I don't want to spend too much on possibly obsolete models.
So off to Ebay I trotted. After a little digging and alot of patience I got a suitable Apothecary figure for £2.50 including P&P. This is where it's really good to buy off Ebay when a model is slightly older and from a popular range such as Space Marines you can have alot of choice and get some real bargains.
To make this model suitable for my needs I needed to do a little conversion work. I clipped off the head and then ground the area down with an engraving tool. A little green stuff made the addition of one of the heads from the Space Wolves kit fit seamlessly. It had a long beard to cover some of the chest details as the Apothecary is wearing mk7 armour. I can explain this away as the armour looks non standard enough to fit in with the rest of the force.
I painted him up in the standard grey colour scheme and gave him grey hair to make him look old and wisened.
Here is a photo of the finished model next to the original piece.

Hopefully the Space Wolves list in the Prospero book will not get rid of the apothecaries as I am very pleased with this model and it fits in to the army brilliantly. 

009 - Ebay Tips

I have been buying alot of models from sellers on Ebay and wanted to share a few of my tips that I have picked up along the way. This is no means an exhaustive list of the best strategies that can be used they are just a few pointers I have picked up along the way.

First and foremost be patient! Unless you have a tournament coming up or another deadline of sorts you don't need that model. So if you don't get the item you want for the price you think is appropriate don't get sucked into a bidding war and if you don't get what you want remember it will always come back around.Even that limited run Skulls Mechanicus model will come back on sooner or later.

Be realistic with what price you can get. Chances are you won't get a Land Raider for £1 but you can get a significant saving. Don't be disappointed that you got out bid on an army when you only bid £5 for eighty models. I find the best way to not overpay is to put down what you think is worth for the model as your first bid and then not check it till the auction is over. This is stop you getting into a bidding war and paying more than you wanted to.

Don't be afraid to get older sculpts. Although they might be metal and a little smaller then current kits some of the older sculpts are perfectly good. Some of the older styles are a little dated but some definitely hold up to today's standard of production.

Instead of going for individual models, job lots are often model for model alot cheaper. You might spend a little more but you can get a whole lot back and if you are clever  selling some of the models you don't want can recoup some of if not all of the initial outlay.

Be clever about when you buy. Get in early for auctions. Use the filters on the searches to narrow down what you want. Put in misspellings on certain models to find cheaper auctions. There are so many different standard tactic to use you can use a little nous and save alot of money on you purchases.
Until next time!

007 - Retro Models

I have a confession to make. I'm one of those guys that spends his spare time on his phone, scouring Ebay for models. My search history is filled with terms such as "Metal Space Marine" "Retro Warhammer" and "Rogue Trader Job Lot". I love collecting models from the 1980s and early 90s.
So why collect old bits of lead? If I'm quite honest it's mainly nostalgia. The models may be goofy but have a certain charm. These are the models that I remember seeing in White Dwarf back in the early 90s and wishing I could own. However being twelve I only had a certain amount of funds.
They definitely have a an aesthetic about them. The designers seemed to have a distinct style as well which ran through all their designs. I find them a little easier to paint as they are not at poseable as the current plastic kits and the details are not as minute..
There is a big "Oldhammer" movement at the moment which is mainly about playing the older versions of 40k and Warhammer. I quite like the idea of playing Necromunda again as I have found the rulebook at the back of my cupboard!
I find that collecting the older models is a labour of love which can happily run along side my collections of the current 40k and Horus Hersey models. They do look great as a themed force of older models painted in the current grittier style. Just be patient and grab some Ebay bargains and you can have a decent sized collection in no time!

006 - When is an army completed?

I have been dry brushing Leadbelcher Metal onto Chaos Space Marines for over a year now and it needs to stop. I have about 2000ish points worth of models in my Iron Warriors army and I'm asking myself, when is it competed?
"Never!" I hear you cry.
But bare with me. Some people will only ever collect one force whilst some people will collect army after army. the multiple armies are more of a trend now that allies are firmly entrenched in 40k. Unbound armies have the potential for people to collect more than one army due to buying just one unit for a new force and then another till lo and behold you have the skeleton of new army.
However there are many obstacles to having multiple forces. The main constraints being cost and time.
This is a really expensive hobby and starting a  new army does cost alot. A small legal force can still easily cost the thick end of a £100 for a HQ and a couple of troops. This goes almost double for Forgeworld models! A solution to this are second hand armies that can be a bargain on sites like Ebay and can sometimes be painted and a decent size for a lot less than if you have collected it yourself.
I'm a really, really slow painter. So the issue of time is a big thing for me. I am so jealous of people who can knock out a great army in a few months while it takes me over a year to get a scrappy looking one. The time issue also stops any chance of getting an army which is the hot new thing because by the time it is done a newer shiny army has come out!
People can finish an army for different reasons. It can be the end of the project, for example an army for a tournament or event. Some people have a list and when they have every model in the list the army is done and they only go back when they the codex is changed or refreshed.
Speaking of Codexes if an armies rules are completely out of date and non-competitive such as Sisters of Battle players stopping using their army. This can also happen when a Codex is new but not that good such as the recent Tyranid Codex and the Chaos Space Marine book. There is also the issue of armies being "squatted". This refers to the Squat army that was written out of the universe and hasn't had rules since 1993!
People can get bored with their armies and get their groove back by starting a new one. This can be when they have started with an army that doesn't lend itself to the player's play style. For example someone trying to sit back and shoot with an Ork army when maybe they should have started with Tau.
The reason I want to get another army is that I want my painting to get to the next level so the way I have done my Iron Warriors is very simple and I want to challenge myself.
I can always go back to my Iron Warriors, besides that Khorne Deamonkin Codex is looking quite tempting. Having a few Deamons squirming through Iron Warrior plate is quite appealing!

005 - Dreadnought Bargins

I'm a big fan of 40k Dreadnoughts. I have three painted  Helbrutes for my Iron Warriors and a couple to go. I also have  a standard Dreadnought to go with my Grey Knights contingent.
I have always liked the Rogue Trader Dreadnoughts which seemed mystical and come from a far off time when I started in the hobby. I remember the model in the second edition books being totally different to the standard one which we all know and love.
Hunting around on Ebay for a few months and my patience finally paid off. I got 5 metal beaky marines, a Rogue Trader attack bike, a few Terminators and a complete metal Dreadnought for just over £20. As the Rogue Trader Dreadnoughts go for more than that. I thought I had got a right bargin!
I had a look at some old scanned in White Dwarfs and these guys used to be £3.50 for a complete model when they came out! Not quite the same as £28 for a plastic kit now!
They do need a bloody good scrub but I feel like I did well out of this. Better get the Dettol out!

001 - Retro Model Rampage

I love the older style of 40k miniatures. Anything from the 1980s madness of Rogue Trader to the mid 90s trend of red weapons on everything!
I've had a good go on Ebay searching out for decent deals for older models. It pays to not "Buy it now" but to take your time and have a go on auctions. After all if you have waited 25 years to buy a model another couple of weeks won't hurt! I have slowly amassed a decent space marine army consisting of two squads of the second edition boxed set tactical marines, a squad of RTB01 style marines, a squad of 1989 Space Hulk terminators, a Rogue Trader metal dreadnought and one of favorite sculpts of all time, the Librarian in terminator armour.
These are the models I fell in love with when I was about 10 reading White Dwarf for the first time.
I saw some really good blogs on collecting retro marines and I am definitely going to get these guys painted up! Thanks to the ongoing popularity of space marines I can field a legal force that is still really characterful. Although I will have to paint them up now!
Stay tuned for updates.