It's been awhile since I did a hobby write-up so, here we go!
Today, I didn't set out to get any Warzone, but apparently that what I ended up buying. Initially I only set out to buy some magnetic basing from Gale Force 9. I've had a chance to try out the magnetic basing from GF9 on some other figures, and I must say, I have been convinced! And I've decided I need them in mass quantities to rebase all my Starship Troopers figures.
Damn you Gale Force 9, with your far too useful yet costly magnetic bases!
Don't get it? I don't blame you.
Like terrain, basing is one of those things that gamers just can't seem to be convinced to pay money for. Sure we'll shell out four to twelve bucks bucks for a single freakin' model, but when it comes to spending twenty-five cents per figure to have an army that is laughably easy to store and transport, I say thee NAY! Gamers just sort of lock up and have an aneurysm when it comes to pony-ing up that fat twelve bucks for 25 bases.
So my predicament is this. I have 32 half-assembled, MI - torso and legs glued to a base. I used the super-special-awesome glue meant for gluing ABS plastic together. You CAN break the models off their base, it just takes considerable force, and takes a thin slice of the base with it. wSince the bases from MP aren't anything special, I could, in theory, rebase everything.
But wait! There's more!
I
also have 32 more fully assembled models, and most of them have sand glue to the base. I can't imagine it would be a problem, but... *reverse hiss*
So my predicament is, is buying enough magnetic bases and breaking off all the models from their base and rebasing them on magnetics the best use of my time and money? In addition I have a few more, along with some characters, but those should be a problem, as they haven't been glued down yet.
I eventually I caved to the fickle winds of Gamer OCD and decided to base up my figures on magnetic basing which leads to me to my next point:
I need a ****ton of magnetic bases.
And no one local carries them.
Sure I could get them online, but hey, it's been awhile since I made the trip to Brookhurst Hobbies, and that's
always worth the trip, right?
Okay, gas up the car, and head out to Brookhurst Hobbies. I've talked about what a great store this is before, what a great gamer Mecca it is... etc. And like Mecca every gamer in California should visit this store at least once in their lifetime.
In short, these guys carry
everything.
One hour later, I'm at the store... and... they're sold out.
What the Christ? I can't tell you what a buzzkill it was.
I swear baby, this has never happened before... 
I mean, they're just dorky little plastic-and-magnet bases, but
damn! I really needed them and I really looked forward to picking them up.
Ugh...
To add insult to injury, the store informed me that the ship times are real dodgy. Sometimes orders take only two weeks to arrive, other times it takes three months for them to get to the store.,.
Wow.
I can't imagine what goes through the mind of the owners of a business have such little regard for the vedors of their products.
Which makes an interesting point. I'm burning a quarter tank of gas, just to make a trip to a store I really like shopping at, but can't make the trip out there due to the distance. And when I
can make the trip, they're sold out of the one thing I
do want.
So, why the **** am I not just ordering online?
What they
did have, coincidentally, is a ****ton of Warzone blisters, at half-price. So the trip's not a total waste.
These were ancient blisters too. I mean, an old metal model blister of the Mercurian Maculator, etc.
Ancient! After rifling through their blister box, I decided to take home the following:
$24.95 - Death Angel - nothing says badass like a religous go-kart with a statue strapped to the back!
$7.95 - Dark Legion Nepharite of the Demagonis #2 - this model was just so odd-looking I knew he was coming home with me.
$2.95 - Sons of Rasputic Standard Bearer - I don't even have a unit to attach this to, but it's so awesome-looking, I just had to have it.
$2.95 - Lutheran Patriarch - I hope this guy is an army leader and not just a standard bear, but he looks kewl. And at 50% off, either way, I'm happy.
$2.95 - Crescentian Propeht - I don't know if this an unpopular figure or what, but I keep seeing him everywhere.
$3.50 - Brotherhood Mystic - Generic looking guy evil cultist. With poor sculpting detail and a massively oversized head, its not the best figure , but one that has a charm all its own.
$2.95 - Crescentian Martyr - Hm, I thought I tossed this figure back, but apparently it decided that wasn't good enough - it apparently wound up in my buy pile. Weird...
At half off, the total came out to only a bit over twenty bucks. Not bad! I spent almost as much taking my father out to Starbucks yesterday.
Done with my purchase, I thought I'd hit up The War House in Long Beach on the way back. I knew they probably wouldn't have it, but hey, as long as I'm out...
Long story short, they didn't have it.
What they
did have was a ton of ancient Warzone. Including a Deathdroid, but as I asked for 25% off, the retail grunt said I'd only get the discount if I bought a ton of it.
Um... what?
Uh, look pal, in case you hadn't noticed this game was effectively discontinued, oh, I dunno... about
a freakin' decade ago! And it's been on life support ever since.
You should be
thanking me for taking this peg-warmer off yer hands. In fact you should get down on your knees and practically
fellate me in gratiude for clearing out this dead inventory, freeing up some money for you to put into other, more profitable game lines.
Needless to say, I passed on the purchase. Especially since another one of the store's employees knows it's a dead game and will give me the discount, no questions asked, since I drop so much cash there.
Anyway, I was so annoyed at that, I even passed up on buying the extra conversion bits I needed. Enh, **** him. If he doesn't value my business, I can always get them online, at a discount, and shipped straight to my freakin' door.
What I'm surprised at is that fact that out of the two stores I went to,
both were sold out of what I wanted.
Again,
why am I not just ordering online?
And this is the big issue, right here. Brick-and-mortar stores are
so concerned about losing sales to online retailers, but they don't have the product in stock. I don't buy much Games Workshop anymore, I have damn near all the gear I could ever want, and most of what I do want is miscellaneous stuff, add-on bits like magnetic basic or scenery.
And not only
that, but let's not forget that online store often have a brick-and-mortar storefront, so buying from them
is buying from a local store. It's just not buying from the one that local to
you.
So yeah, I'm up a ton of Warzone figures and down the magnetic bases I wanted to base up my Mobile Infantry for Starship Trooper and Battle for Skull Pass for Warhammer Fantasy.
Probably explains why I don't have a problem with online retailers - they're the only ones that have what I want!
Okay so...
15) Are buying Crescentian Propehts just a complete waste of my time? Cuz they look so awesome, I'd hate to find out they suck, or that you can only take a few of them. In that case, they may defect to my Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Space Marine army as Chaos Sorcerors or something
16) How good is the Death Angel and in what quantity? Is there a limit to how many I can take and if so, what is that limit? Are they rare? As in, is finding one in a blister difficult?
17) Same as 16, but about the Eradicator Deaddroid. Good/useful? Army limits? Hard-to-find?
--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com
