Buying in bits

I’m loving the ability to buy bits of figures. It’s easy and cheap to buy from GC-Minis. But I’ve gotten some models cheaper by buying in bits. It’s more work to keep at it trying to win all the pieces but, with a few sets, I don’t need all the bits for multiple models.

A Deff Dread from GC-Minis is the low price of $41.65 compared to the regular price of $59.50 from GW. My first one in bits cost me $21.53. My second one was $17.87. With another $11.14 in bits and the extra pieces from the other two, I can build a third.

My Stompa cost me $54.03 and my Battlewagon was $25.54 (compared to $52.15 at GC-Minis).

An Ork Truck from GC-Minis would be $27.65 and regularly $39.50 from GW. My first truck was $21.22, my second one was $15.06, and the third only $12.83.

Even if you factor in the exchange rate (GC-Minis are in Canadian and the bits are in US) and the shipping, that’s still some crazy good savings. It means I can buy more stuff sooner.


Then it’s just a matter of putting it together and painting it.

stompa bits

I’ve been picking a Ork Stompa in bits and pieces. A boxed set from Games Workshop is about $120. From GC-Minis it would be about $85 – much better, but still a bit out of my range.

From Horde of Bits, I’ve managed to collect most of the main pieces and it has only run me about $50. The last batch finally came in – the weapon arms. I’m really looking forward to putting this together. Plus when I have it finished and have the sizes, I can scratchbuild another one.

Codices times two

So, I heard back from GC-Minis about my double shipment. They thanked me for letting them know. They said they would beat the shipping trolls responsible for the error. They told me to keep the books and they hoped I could trade them for something I can use.

Keeners!

I thought that they were good people. This means that I can hard-use the sets I have and still have a nice set for the bookcase. Or maybe even give the Space Wolves rules to my son.

Mystery Mail - solved

For those of you following along at home. It seems that it was indeed a double shipment of my last codex order. So I have sent them an email informing them of their error and checking to see if they want me to send the package back to them.

mystery mail goodness

I’m perplexed and excited. I had a bit of issue with one of my orders from the end of last year – but that ended up working out fine. I had since placed another order for the first 4 codices and had received them fine as well. But then I had another delivery notice from them and I have no idea what it might be.

Did they double ship my codex order? Did they reship my January order? Did they ship me something nice for my troubles (which was certainly not needed)?
Tracking online shows it as being delivered so I am certainly looking forward to finding out what it might be.

GC-Minis delivers

I got my shipment from GC-Minis late last week. They were super-fast for shipping time.
I now have the new Warhammer boxed set and the new 40K boxed set. I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the figures included within. I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't an intro set of scenarios to follow like there was with the Battle for Macragge set. I guess I'll have to dig out my old Ork figures and see what I can put together for an army.
For the Warhammer set, I had a bunch of dwarves from before but I only really ever got around to painting the Slayers. The night goblins will help bulk out the old ones I have from the other boxed set. I also got some more spider riders online to give me 20 figures.

I'm going to be so far behind in my figure painting list.

GCMinis - Zaboo’d

With the word of a new Warhammer edition coming out next year, I wanted to make sure I got the 7th edition boxed set – Battle for Skull Pass. I also thought it was time to get the 5th edition 40K boxed set as well – Assault on Black Reach. Our good friends at Great Canadian Miniatures were so quick with the Space Hulk order (plus the 30% off) that I ordered from them again. I placed the order on Nov 12 but I didn’t get a payment request like I did the last time so I sent them an email on Nov 13. With still no response, I sent them another email on Nov 16 to their contact email. I even tried their contact number from the web but kept getting the message that their mailbox was full.

After more waiting, I sent another email on November 24 – to no response. Finally, on Nov 30, with help from the web, I tried to track them down. Their site mentions that they have a retail location – in the back of a bookstore. I was going to call them there to see if they had a different contact number when I noticed their mailing address for payments. A quick google search later, followed by a check of Canada411 and I gave them a call. Needless to say, the owner was surprised at my call and said that he would get the manager Kevin to give me a call back within the next 24 hours.

Within 2 hours, I got a call from Kevin who apologized saying that this was their busy time of year. He said he would send the payment request right away. I was glad to hear that they were still in business. I am looking forward to getting some more from them in the new year – notably some Blood Bowl teams and the Battle of Five Armies.


I understand that one can get behind, but it shouldn’t take almost 3 weeks from the time an order is placed to pay for it – it certainly didn’t the last time. Plus having a voicemail box that doesn’t seem to be emptied makes us shoppers a bit concerned. I’m glad to hear everything is still fine.

(If you don’t understand the Zaboo’d referece – watch The Guild.)

Space Hulk - you're going on the list!

So, my son and I went to the local Games Workshop store on Saturday to check out the new Space Hulk. Some of the pictures of the figures I had seen looked a bit goofy so I wanted to check it out in person.

It’s pretty.

The tiles and counters are very thick – perhaps a bit too thick for the counters. They had some of the genestealers painted up and they looked a lot better in person than the photos I had seen. The marines also looked pretty good.

The price is a bit much though. It lists at $90 US and it was $118 at the store. Even with a bad exchange, that’s crazy high. With taxes that’s over $130. The wife says we might see it in the states which would make it worthwhile to pick up.

I have added it to my list. Ahead of it is the new 40K set, and the Battle of Five Armies. It does come before Apocalypse and the new Warhammer set though. Our friends at Great Canadian Miniatures have it on sale so I’ll probably end up getting it from them. With it being a limited release, I’ll have to see if I can get it before they run out. If I can’t, I’m okay with it though.

It is bugging me that a lot of people are buying the set just for the figures and flipping the rest on ebay. I wouldn’t be so annoyed if it wasn’t for the limited release part.