James wrote:I've had a look on Ebay for some Chaos plastics, and it does seem like there is a saving of a few quid to be made on most things (plus no travel expenses, as you say). There is even the odd super-bargain where someone is auctioning off complete vehicle sprues starting at about 99p. Just got to be there at the right time!

On the other hand, I do think I will need to go into an actual store if I start up again, mainly because I want to see exactly what colour paints I will be getting (I plan to get around 15 colours).

yeah i agree,when i started to get back into it i went in the store a couple of times in nov/dec just to browse/buy/ask questions etc.but yeah,when i first got back into it,i decided to visit the store for the first time in 11/12years(i was all excited and nostalgic)
i went in the store a couple of times in nov/dec just to browse/buy/ask questions etc,but havent been there since january.

for my first visit last novemeber i bought the hobby starter set/brush set/undercoat and a few eldar aspect warriors,i also went there a few days later after the initial visit(after gluing/filing/spraying a few,i had decided which models i wanted to paint)for the appropriate paints i needed for the scorpions which were listed on the box.
the only downside to ebay is you gotta wait for stuff in the post.
so when it comes to essentials and not models i would visit the crawley store if i wanted more glue/a new brush/undercoat etc.

ebay is so cool for the older models though ie:rogue trader era and some of the late 80s/early 90s range.
and a decent amount of all the discontinued stuff can be found in the "buy it now"/ebay "stores" sections.

Fucking hell, I just discovered another really annoying thing about Games Workshop nowadays - you can no longer order individual components on their website or by phone!!! So if I wanted a particular weapon or head I would now have to buy the whole model, whereas before you could just order particular segments.

Also this means my 'Collector's Guide' book for Chaos is now virtually worthless, because you can't order any of the OOP bits any more!

Totally lame.

in store they have a huge bits catalogue or in some stores an order point(bit like argos).
either way you can order loads of bits and pieces from these catalogues and then have the store ring you to collect them when they have arrived.
so check it out or alternatively type in "chaos bits" on ebay.

Yeah, but when did you last see one of those catalogues? Because apparently they haven't made seperate bits available since January. I know they used to have the catalogues, but I suspect they have stopped that as well now.

Ebay is good, but it is pot luck whether it will have the bits in question.

i last saw the catalogue when i visited the store last nov/dec time so judging by your post James,im guessing that they stopped doing bits orders starting from Jan 08.
probably because the citadel 2008 catalogue in full colour is now the main ordering source catalogue wise.
you can keep an eye out on the GW online store for "bitz packs" as well as the "classics and collectors section" as the range is continuing to grow and expand from 2008 onwards.

but ebay is probably still the best bet.

Yeah I have my eye on a 10 man Chaos Marines squad on Ebay, Buy it now of £11 plus £2 postage - in the shop the box is £18 and I would also need to travel there!

I'm just waiting for an answer about whether they are the latest versions with the add ons sprue included, and I will probably get them.

P.S. I see what you mean about the Goff Rockers now. Class!

u serious! tht box used to be 12 quid in the shops, arnt games workshop nearly going bankrupt?

Yep, £18 for 10 Chaos Space Marines! A RHINO is £18 too! I have no idea how their business is going, but things like stopping the components orders must piss a lot of potential buyers off!

But then again there were rumours that they were going bankrupt when Pokemon was really popular, and yet they are still here, the money-grabbing scum.

zurabmelua wrote:u serious! tht box used to be 12 quid in the shops, arnt games workshop nearly going bankrupt?

there are still "grand openings" with new stores popping up everywhere.and if you do flick through the back pages of a recent white dwarf mag you will see that GW is rapidly expanding all over the world.

i think that the prices havent dramaticly changed in the last decade.look at video games/mags,everything just goes up in accordance.
the only problem with GW is that theyre a lot stingy-er when it comes to deals or bulk purchases and they dont do the "featured army" deals which used to co-incide with the latest mag battle report,thus saving you quite a decent chunk of cash.

the battleforces/batallions or army boxes seem to be the only products of significant saving.if you bought all the contents seperately its usually £10-£20 more.but still i think at £100,the large army boxsets should include more models.

why is it only electrical retailers which seem to be the only ones who do a bit of a deal/discount if youre buying lots of stuff?
you dont see clothes shops throwing in a belt if you buy 2or more pairs of jeans or sumthin
and its the same with GW,they dont consider throwing in the odd model when youve just bought a few boxes of whole squads.
they dont even do buy 2 get a 3rd(the cheapest of the 3)free kind of deals on blisters/boxsets.

even at dixons "tax free" we still knocked off money to do a deal.and it wasnt just for more comission as most always think,as we had a discount allowance of 1% a day so if we went over that we would actually be losing a few pence when it came to payday.

i think gamesworkshop are more than capable of knockin off a few quid as the profit margins on the models,especially the plastics is probably huge and wouldnt really be effected if they took off a pound or 2.

just think,they probably cost sod all to produce and then they sell some of them at silly prices due to the models stats/abilities etc.i know the GW studio has to pay the design teams wages but to sell characters such as eldrad ulthran at £12 when he isnt even a larger scale model is just a rip off.

anyway another example at dixons tax free is that they buy ps2 games in from sony at between £4-£8.
they then sell for £34(£40 in high street with vat).so they usually make between 300-500% profit crazy.
so even if we did a game half price just out of goodwill there will still be plenty of profit.even after giving sony thier cut.
thats why game and gamestation are even more generous with thier bundles compared to currys/comet etc.

anyway enough boring y'all with some facts.

basicly GW is GREEDY.
the only way they may lose money is by refusing to match an ebay store sellers"buy it now" price(only on current range items though/and not on auctions)

mind you saying all that,the plastics have come a long way in ten years.
in the plastic squad sets,i remember in most cases they used to all be the same model in apart from the captain and heavy weapons models.
but now they have improved and come a lot more varied,due to them being in anything up to 10-15 parts to put together.so you really end up with a varied squad full of individual non-identical models.
worth the extra few quid id say.
as for the lead/metal ones you seem to be paying £3-5 more and in some cases seem to get half the models you used to get.

still its a joyous hobby and once youve built and painted a few,you dont really care about what you spent on them as they are just so cool.
also if you look on ebay some people are selling crappily painted models at ridiculous prices.claiming they are "professionally painted".maybe of interest to kids under the age of 10years or people who have had thier own hands cut off.

1 or 2 arent bad but i think to buy the decent looking ones is just lazy and cheating.how can you be as proud knowing you didnt do them yourself.
shameful,unless you are buying them just coz you want to get a fully painted army on the gaming table and cant be arsed with the modelling side of it at all.

radioactive rik wrote:they sell some of them at silly prices due to the models stats/abilities etc.

This is EXACTLY right! It is so obvious that they make plastic terminators five pounds EACH simply because in the game they are formidable units! Same with things like the £25 dreadnoughts - why should Points value equal cash value?! Imagine how cheap that amount of plastic or metal is in real life.

But it's not just the models, but all the equipment too. I saw a bottle of super glue in a local handyman shop the other day that was £3 and literally twice as big as the £3 GW superglue I have here at home. And the tools as well, they charge nearly a tenner for a set of three files! A plumber or someone would laugh them out of town if they tried to charge that outside of the hobbying arena.

I have to say though that I think £2 per paint pot is quite reasonable - I was expecting to return and find them at least £3 each, but two quid is alright as they last a long time. I've just gone through an old box of paints I had, seeing if any were salvageable. There were four of them that were fine after a bit of mixing, but the rest are totally crusty and dried up. Still, they are at least 5 or 6 years old, so surprised that any of them have survived!

radioactive rik wrote:mind you saying all that,the plastics have come a long way in ten years.
in the plastic squad sets,i remember in most cases they used to all be the same model in apart from the captain and heavy weapons models.
but now they have improved and come a lot more varied,due to them being in anything up to 10-15 parts to put together.so you really end up with a varied squad full of individual non-identical models.
worth the extra few quid id say.

That is another good point - I would have no interest in painting a squad of those snap-fit troops who all have the same pose - half the fun for me is posing and converting them in unique ways, and the present day kits are really flexible in that sense.

I really hate models which are just standing there on both feet with a weapon in each hand, that look is so dated now! Here is an example:



What a totally shite pose! He looks about as menacing as a pensioner.

Though not as rewarding as putting them together and painting models, Dawn Of War and Total liberation games are cheaper, you don't end up arguing about rules and its a lot less hassle.

if you ever get an army case you should get the official one.i bought some shit custom foam/strong card case off ebay for £15 and it was absolute crap.
the GW cases are sturdy and made to measure and its minimum hassle to tear the foam between the section to fit in the larger models.
that hobby starter set aint too bad.your right with the tools though.i wouldnt buy those files or pliers seperatly so it was only a good deal when they are in the hobby starter set.
also with glue,i have tried 1 or 2 other brands but prefer to "stick":-) to the GW glue as its designed to perfection.
and its a pound or 2 cheaper on ebay.i know what you mean about the quantity though and i agree it is pretty a pretty pathetic amount if youve got a whole army or some larger models to build.

I would never spend £50 on a plastic box with foam inside it though! But I have spotted some people selling their second hand ones on Ebay for under a tenner, so that's where I'd go when the time came.

Oh, another thing, look at this:



That is TWENTY POUNDS!!!!!!! Surely they can't be serious?!?! It's a few pieces of wood, and it doesn't even look that good! Anyone who buys that is a total moron (you didn't buy it did you Rik? )

The paint starter sets are a good saving, but the thing with them is you cant choose exactly what colours you want, and that is an important decision depending on what you're painting.

if you are going to quote me at least correct my spelling.