What a week! Between suffering with a cold, trying to get an essay written for my OU degree, and computer problems from hell, last week was quite the week… But the essay’s in, the cold is gradually leaving me, and so far my laptop has been behaving after a bit of help from a chap called Jeffrey at Microsoft. So there we go!
So, what have I missed?
Well, first things first, my planned game day blog didn’t go out, which is weird. I usually write these things a day or two in advance and schedule them for Tuesday, but something has obviously foiled me on that one! As such, my Dark Eldar learning blog will be coming out this Tuesday, which I suppose is fitting, given my current love affair with the space pirates!
While we’re getting some wonderful new Eldar miniatures this weekend, it seems like the Stormcasts are back in town, with the new battletome coming out to support the Vanguard Hunters. I was initially planning to get some of the new models when they were first previewed, but now that I’ve seen them – to say nothing of seeing the price! – I’m having second thoughts… £37.50 seems a bit steep for 10 miniatures, and I’m just confused as to why this is happening to the hobby. There’s an excellent theory I subscribe to from Adam at Tabletop Minions about how GW work out their pricing, based on how many boxes of the models they think you’re likely to need for your army. Basic troops are the bulk of the models you’ll be fielding, so they cost less than the fancy troops, of which you might only buy one box. That makes sense to me, but we’re now seeing the Liberators, the tactical marines of the Stormcast line, at £37.50 for a box of ten. You can get tactical marines for £25 on their site, just for comparison’s sake. They were never exactly cheap, at £30 for five, so I suppose this new pricing structure is actually a saving (while a bit of a slap in the face for folks like myself, who spent £60 when they bought two boxes of Liberators in the past). Whereas I was planning to get some of these new dudes to sprinkle some diversity throughout my army, I’m now having serious misgivings about the whole endeavour…
But speaking of Age of Sigmar, I have read the new City of Secrets novella. It took me long enough, considering how short it is! The story is actually quite interesting, if a little join-the-dots Warhammer Fantasy style. We have a conspiracy among the ranks of the city guard of Excelsis, and the plot really kinda weaves through some very standard beats as a lone guardsman teams up with a Witch Hunter, they go to his powerful friend only to discover he has turned traitor, and escape with the help of a flamboyant pirate, before looking to the defense of the city against the hordes of gribblies. It’s pretty standard fayre, but I did find myself enjoying it all the same. Mainly because it feels so much like an old Warhammer Fantasy novel, I suppose. That sort of story has been lacking from GW for far too long, now, and while it was a bit predictable, I think it’s nevertheless an important development for the setting, and I hope we get more stories like these in the future!
I’ve also finished my first unit of Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors, which has excited me immensely! I say “finished” – the bases still need a little work, but in the main, I’m excited! Back around New Year, I decided that I wanted to set myself the goal of painting one unit per month, as a minimum, and while January didn’t really feel like I’d succeeded – I mean, sure, I painted the Alpha Legion Apothecary, though he was just one dude – I’m now well on the track to success, I feel! Let’s see how many more of these folks I can get painted by the time I write up my February progress blog!!
All that said, I am kinda hoping to take a little step away from Warhammer for the next few weeks. After finishing The Beast Arises, and all the Dark Eldar stuff going on, I do feel a bit like saturation point has been reached. I’m still going to paint and whatnot, of course, but I think I’m going to once more look outwards among my various hobby bits, and see if I can broaden out the content on the blog here.
So stay tuned for that, anyway!!
spalanz.com 
Whilst it’s not a cheap hobby, the average price of things like the liberators etc. is going down, which I think is a good thing. I think with the Start Collecting boxes etc. the prices have fallen steadily over the last year. The books have all fallen in price too – the Bloodbound book is for instance £35, and the BeastClaw and recent books are £15.
You can also easily get 20% off from somewhere like Element Games on all GW stuff, and other websites give 25%, so it’s never really necessary to pay GW prices, so things like books are barely over £10.
I always find it interesting, with so many places offer a discount on GW stuff, how are GW stores surviving? I have a GW store nearby, as well as a couple of game shops close enough as well who offer their stuff with at least a 10% discount. It just makes me wonder how these stores stay in business, you know?
I wonder the same. I assume the business idea is that they generate interest and get people into the hobby, so they are ‘allowed’ to turn over very little/nothing as they bring people into the hobby?