This blog is about the world of gaming miniatures, as seen from my perspective. I've been collecting and painting for over 30 years now, and while my primary focus is miniatures for D&D, I also enjoy many other games that use minis, so we'll be covering those as well. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Orcs Found Hiding Magic Shop & Ye Blind Cyclops Inn

Half-Orc (?) Apprentice
We'll get to this little fella in a bit.

For lead collectors, you never quite know what you're gonna get when you buy from a seller who is not a leadhead. Regarding large lots of boxed sets, words like "They appear to be complete..." are also known as famous last words. But I like to gamble once in a while, especially when I think the odds favor me at least a little.

So I took a chance and ended up winning this lot of Grenadier boxed sets. At the very least, that's sixteen partial boxed sets for $3.25 each ($4.19 each when you add in shipping), which really appeals to the miser in me. There was plenty of last-minute bidding, but I'm still pretty surprised the final price wasn't significantly higher. I'll count myself as fortunate and move on.

Anyhow, they arrived in short order and I unboxed my haul. Basically, I bought this lot hoping that the five Lord of The Rings boxed sets would be complete or at least mostly complete. Everything else was an added bonus. Lo and behold, four of the five LOTR sets were complete with inserts! Only Sauron's Dark Ones was incomplete, missing three minis and the insert. But I was able to Frankenstein that set with minis already in my collection, so hooray for me, I finished my Grenadier Lord of The Rings boxed sets in one fell swoop!

Going through the rest of the boxes, only three out of the remaining eleven were complete with insert. Another six were mostly complete, missing only a figure or two. Encounter At Khomar-Lolth only had two minis plus the insert, and Orcs of the Severed Hand was box only, no insert. Oh, and there were also about 50 loose minis, mainly Citadel mounted adventurers, some pack animals, and some Dungeon Dwellers. Along with some other rather interesting finds...

Remember how I said Orcs of the Severed Hand was totally incomplete? It's true it was missing all the Grenadier miniatures. What it contained, instead, were DragonTooth miniatures! I guess I should have noticed the writing on the box cover in black ballpoint ink that said "MAGIC SHOP" - my bad.

That's right, what I had were most of the metal parts of City of Magic Kit 001, The Magic Shop by DragonTooth. Going by the pic on the Lost Minis Wiki, I am missing the three character miniatures in the top left corner, along with one table leg, and three of the four magic books/scrolls in the bottom right corner.

Food and Unlit Torch (x6)
How the hell do you even sculpt stuff this small? Very carefully...

But wait, there's more! Mixed in with the loose minis and in the Khomar-Lolth box are a bunch of small bits & bobs, and eight or ten character minis. These turn out to be most of the metal pieces of City of Magic Kit 003, Ye Blind Cyclops Inn! Missing items include the Blind Cyclops table leg, the sign, and two character minis going off the LMW photo.

Half-Orc (?) Exotic Dancer
After a few tankards, this chick is hot!

I snapped some pics and added them to my DragonTooth album on Photobucket. I'll try to fill in the missing blanks on the LMW when I get a chance. Needless to say, I'm a very happy camper with the outcome of this lead haul. Oh, and the seller also threw in a complete and unbuilt vintage Airfix model kit of British Crusader tank. Sweet!

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