Dear Lord what have I done?!!!

Exhibit A:

If it's second hand and cheap it can't be wrong - can it?

I feel somewhat dirty. I had sworn off purchasing from the Evil Empire (TM) but the boxed set for the Battle of Skull Pass came up second hand for $30 (NZD) and I just couldn't resist. Jabba the Hutt would refer to me as a weak-willed fool, but I think I could defend myself in a court of law and not feel too unprincipled.

It isn't as though I dislike the GW product. When I got back into wargaming as a grown man that should know better, it was through the prism of Warhammer 40,000. As late as 2010 I had bought a Chaos army for Warhammer Fantasy. But I was already totally disillusioned with Warhammer 40,000, which I felt was ruined beyond redemption with the release of the third edition of those rules. I played it a little and then sold off all of my armies. After playing Warhammer Ancients quite a bit, I was bitten by the bug and decided to do some fantasy gaming. I ordered most of my stuff through Caliver Books who gave a discount, free shipping and offered UK prices which after exchange were considerably cheaper than NZ prices.

Then GW decided to help out local retailers by imposing trade restrictions. Fair enough, but then they kept the NZ prices at astronomical levels regardless of the exchange rate being fairly stable at 2 NZD = 1 GBP. Today if I want to buy a box of Empire Knights I could buy them locally for $60, when it would cost me $35 if I was in the UK. And let's be clear, if the pricing was comparable, or even a little more expensive, given shipping, then I would be buying. As it is GW don't have me as a customer, and until they change their pricing, they won't.

But I guess that doesn't stop a bit of second hand purchasing, and I really like the Skull Pass set with all of its character. I'm thinking I'll get the Mantic Orc army to bulk out the Gobbos, but I don't like the Mantic Dwarfs. So it will either be second-hand purchases as they appear, or maybe I'll take advantage of a Black Tree sale and get some Harlequin Dwarves instead. The other thought I had was to build an Empire Army out of Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses figures. Not a perfect match, but still cool figures that can be converted up (using the Swiss head options they offer).

I won't get to these until I've got through a bit of the Roman project, but I am really looking forward to them, and might just paint a few trial figures...?

One little plea before I sign off. The box was short of ONE Night Goblin spearman. Does anyone have a single Night Goblin Spearman they would be willing to sell me?

Nate