Thursday, November 29, 2012

Flames of War -Trademe madness

I love it when you pick up an awesome deal, 2000 points worth of Germans for $35 plus shipping. I got the package yesterday and there are a whole lot of damaged krauts and I think a bunch of smaller scale vehicles.

1x Konigstiger,
2 x Tigers
5x Panzer IVs
6x 7.5cm guns
1x 8.8cm gun
2x Hummels
2 mortar teams
2 HMG teams
about 70 infantry
and some support trucks/transport in 2 scales.

A lot of the stuff is gonna need rebasing/stripping, I think some of the glue used was supposed to be for shoes.

That's not all. For $NZ130 shipped, I have some Plastic soldier company figures coming form UK (130 infantry, 60 Infantry w/ heavy weapons and T34's).  When they arrive I can put up maybe 1500-2000 points of Russian Strelkovy with Tank and infantry heavy weapons support at about 300 models. When you compare the amount of models in both armies,  it's quite striking to understand the difference between German quality and Russian quantity. I'm also brushing up on the History of World War II which I must say is a fascinating read on the overall war as I've only read about parts of the war previously. And I'm looking at tank websites...So sad.

I could have spent twice that on Hobbit boxed set at NZ$245 or $145 on 4 resin infantry figures and been less than satisfied. But I digress, I don't care about LOTR/Hobbit games that much but the prices are enough to make you weep. I had a chat with someone about regional trade embargoes and why GW stuff is so expensive because retail/trade/publicly owned nature of GW and regional considerations and licensing. I understand the angles of why they're trying to justify the prices but it's blown out of proportion. It's like the housing bubble, GW are having a hobby pricing bubble and they'll end up killing themselves out of the hobby.

7 comments:

  1. Great to see your 'Hobby haul' and news of more to come! :-)
    WWII is always fascinating, theres just so much to it! I must admit I find the greater 'European' conflict more interesting than the Pacific theatre...
    I certainly hear you on the GW topic!
    I presume you suffer the same financial kick in the bollox having to buy your 40k/WFB stuff here, than getting cheaper abroad?

    I have managed to source my Hobbit 'crack' from contacts in the UK thankfully :-)

    I can only assume they think they are strong enough with the IP on their 40k and WFB such that it will not diminish and maybe see The Hobbit as a cash cow?

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    1. Looking for some bitz for a replacement tiger turret as one of them is missing, and ahve to do some repairs. nothing beyond my skills though. The paint is messy though.

      As to sourcing my GW stuff, Bitz services rock. can get stuff at 45% cheaper including shipping from overseas, it's mind boggling how expensive it is compared to other countries even without discount. I guess GW AU.NZ profits are driven not by miniature sales but exchange rates.

      I think the LOTR miniatures seem better than the Hobbit ones for me.

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  2. Ah all good, I'd hate to think you were getting stung here - makes you wonder if anyone really buys much at the GW stores here then?
    I'll have a look at Bitz...

    Must admit thus far I'd agree with you, as regards the figures...

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    1. Yep.

      had my first game with my russians versus Michael's German's last night. Popped my FoW cherry. It was pretty good fun and I was surprised how similar to 40k game mechanics it is.

      I must say I love my T34's... and Komissars... Komissars are awesome.

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    2. Thats excellent news , well done that man.
      Yeah FoW has been likened to GW games, in that if you can understand and play those, you'll be fine with FoW...
      What was mission, and who won?

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    3. The Mission was no Retreat and we ended it after 2 1/2 hours at about a draw. We could have played for longer but most of my guys were dug in and he couldn't kill enough infantry.

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