The Armory's Big Old Book of Lead Goodness

I went to the mailbox today to fetch my copy of The Armory's Buyers Guide to Fantasy Miniatures that had finally arrived. There's always that moment of dread right as I was opening the envelope - perhaps you know the feeling I speak of - Will it be trashed? Smell like an ashtray? Not nearly in the condition as described by the seller? Or even worse, just a couple of old Highlights magazines stuffed in there as a cruel eff you...

 Ah, but my unveiling was a happy one! The book is in great shape, there's not a hint of any strange odors, and the interior is more or less pristine, with just a few light pencil marks in the Ral Partha section that I've noticed so far. My $41 purchase was worth it, now that it's here in front of me and the condition actually meets and exceeds my expectations.

Now I know the Buyers Guide is readily available in PDF form from several locations such as dndlead.com and megaminis.com, so some might ask "Why spend money on something that is available for free?" Because I still love printed matter! I might use the PDF version more, because that of course does not wear out. But there is just something cool about holding this lead bible in my hands, gently turning the pages and enjoying all of the illustrations contained within. Mike Monaco has a nice entry about it over on Swords & Dorkery, so check that out too.

I'll have to do a follow-up post to this one, because I'm sure I'll find a few pics and items that catch my eye. I also have a few more posts coming soon, including the long-delayed next installment of the Lead Market Report. But first, back to the real work at hand - I'm almost ready to email in my article for volume II of the OSFMapa Journal! I'm just fiddling with the layout, trying to make it perfect to my eyes and hopefully to my fellow members as well.

Dear LEGO Group: I Hate You

That is to say, I still love you  - but now my bank account hates you. Seriously, Lord of The Rings LEGOs? You're KILLING me. Helm's Deep? Moria? Time to get busy purging the excess lead from the lead pile and earn some LEGO money. Reviews will be in order for any and all sets that I decide to buy. That is all. Move along, nothing to see here.

UPDATE: OK, well that didn't take long. My iron will crumbled and I ordered Gandalf Arrives from LEGO.com for $12.99 plus tax and shipping. Not a bad price considering what some of the greedy sellers on eBay are charging, and I get the free promo poster (ooh ahh). Shop smart, shop S-Mart!

Center Stage Miniatures Interactive Giveaway!

The good people over at Center Stage Miniatures are putting on an old-fashioned giveaway! That's right, Matt is going to give one lucky leadhead a big box of CSM minis - one of every mini they have currently produced, to be exact.

There are two steps to enter: You need to Like CSM on Facebook, and then register on the CSM forums and make at least 10 relevant posts there. The details can be found on the CSM forums here.

Don't be shy, go ahead and leave your comments on the CSM forums. You can ask questions about the current release schedule, read about their foray into resin casting, tell Matt what kind of minis you'd like CSM to produce, or just chat about minis. Come on, tell Matt you think there's a need for a Caterwaul mini! Or was it a Carbuncle? Damned Fiend Folio and their crazy-ass critters...

Oh, and if you're in a buying mood, you should take advantage of the current 20% off your order promotion running on Facebook - enter FACEBOOK100 in the coupon code box. Offer valid until May 15, 2012 and it does not apply to Secret Skeleton Miniatures.

See you on the CSM forums!

LEGO Designers: The Mad Scientists of Plastic Bricks

When I was a kid, my favorite toy was LEGOs. All you need are some bricks and your imagination, and your options are pretty much wide open from there. Now that I'm an adult, my favorite toy is still LEGOs. All three of my kids still play with LEGOs from time to time, but my youngest son is currently the one getting the most mileage out of our bricks. When he's sitting at the table with his Ninjago minions, he reminds me of myself at that age.

The latest addition to our LEGO collective is kit 9443, the Rattlecopter:

It's a very cool kit, and the Rattlecopter even has eyes and fangs! But the part that made me geek out the most was probably one of the most mundane and boring parts on the build. The engine:

Why the engine? Look at the cone of what I assume is the turbofan. Take it off, and you discover that it is actually a...

Knight's helmet! I can only imagine that the LEGO designers try to use as many existing parts as possible, to help keep costs down. Brilliant!

I came across this article on NPR.com about the newest and youngest Master Model Builder. Make sure you watch his application video. Also, if you've never seen it before, make sure you check out Nathan Sawaya's website. Simply amazing stuff! The Iwo Jima Replica and Starry Night are just two examples to single out, but you really need to see everything to fully appreciate Nathan's ability to use LEGOs instead of more traditional art mediums.

Phaerimm, the evil teleporting windsocks of Faerun

Session Recap 3/10/2012

 Winter has set in at Relkath’s Foot, and it shows on the faces of the inhabitants. Cloaks are drawn tighter, scarves cover faces up to the eyes, and gloves are on, all to ward off the frigid winds that blow in from Thay to the east. The guards and patrols are even more vigilant, because they know that some creatures will become more brazen and desperate in their search for food as the winter months drag on.

 The heightened state of vigilance seems to have overcome Nikola, as the patrol he set out with returned without him – it would seem that my ranger brother was either restless or on to something, because he insisted on staying out. The rest of the party heads back to Nikola’s last known camp, aided by the patrol members. We fan out and search, and eventually track him to a menhir ring. I cast analyze portal and determine that the portal has several properties: two-way, not creature-only, not password activated but instead elf-activated, and has two destinations. The most unusual property is detected by Callum when he employs his detect evil and discovers that the portal itself detects evil!

 Our efforts to activate the portal are for naught, and scrying fails as well. We return to Relkath’s Foot and seek counsel from my father, who in turn consults with the local portal magic scholar. The scholar returns with us to the menhir ring to see if he can help us activate it. Things seem to be going well when the portal scholar takes an arrow in the neck and one of the ½ elf rangers is killed! The now-familiar voice of T’see Larak is heard to ask “Where is my brother?” – is he talking about me [Garrity is ½ drow] or just messing with us? In any event, the wounded scholar activates the portal and we jump through. The surviving ½ elf ranger stays behind to care for the scholar.

 We land near a massive tower in Anauroch, across the Sea of Fallen Stars and well northwest of the Yuirwood. There is no visible entrance, so we head to the top of the tower via spells, potions, and the always-useful ebon fly. The top of the tower is the lair of a most unusual creature – so unusual, we can’t identify it or even attach a name to it – the thing has a head that resembles an octopus, a large beak, and several tentacles. Oh, and it seems to be able to summon lightning from the clouds above. We manage to defeat it, along with the three wights who were prowling around the corpse of a black dragon that the tower guardian was picking over. We descend into the tower and work our way down.

 Along the way our cleric and paladin get a chance to unleash their holy wrath on some undead who cross our path. Real wrath of the gods stuff, if you know what I mean. We eventually re-acquire Nikola (via scrying, I believe) and find that he has left the building. Fortunately, he is not far from the tower, and we track him to a smallish keep or outpost that is in disrepair. Unfortunately, Nikola is the captive of two phaerimm, who appear to be negotiating with some vampires and their undead minions – not good!

 With my brother in sight, we spring into action. The undead are tough, but we are tougher! Our blades and spells are able to vanquish them after a pitched battle. The phaerimm prove to be a bit more of a challenge, though. My disintegrate spell succeeds in vaporizing one of the phaerimm, but the other one teleports away with Nikola. In hindsight, we should have tried to grab Nikola during the melee, but we were so caught up in the action that we didn’t even think about that. Our redemption comes when we succeed in our scrying attempt, and we teleport into a tunnel the phaerimm is attempting to escape through. The lone phaerimm decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and flees once again – this time without Nikola.

 So we are once again a whole party, although the intrigue that seems to follow us around is even murkier and unsettling than ever. Hopefully Nikola has learned his lesson that heading off on his own, even in the relative safety of the Yuirwood, will never EVER be a good idea.

 On the lighter side of gaming, I really need to get myself a can of Unicorn Meat. When I attempted to read the description on the back of the can out loud, I failed. It was just too goddamned funny! Look, I love my pets and animals in general, and believe I will one day see them again across The Rainbow Bridge – but when I was reading about these poor unicorns and the DOUBLE Rainbow Bridge, I lost it. My stomach hurt from laughing, and I am always glad to provide some wheezing, laughing comic relief at our sessions. Best unintentional comedic line came from Dino who declared “I am going to eat the fuck out of that pizza!” – the poor pizza never stood a chance! I love my friends, and I know they love me. At least they treat me like the younger, dim-witted brother they are thankful they never had.

Lead Market Report - March 2012

Well I finally managed to get the March LMR out the door, just in time to start work on April. When will I end my procrastinating ways? Probably when I end my lead-buying days. Not gonna happen!

BROADSWORD: I usually don't pass up vintage giants, but for some reason I didn't bid on these big fellas: the Stone Giant and Hill Giant, both for only $7.50 each. I've actually owned and sold these previously - what was I thinking, selling off giants?

CITADEL: As I previously mentioned, I finally bought my first Citadel AD&D monsters! The same seller had a Troll, Owlbear, and Gorgon for $20 each. I missed out on the Troll, but picked up the other two before they were snapped up. This Owlbear sold for just over $20 for comparison. Also on the block was the Ranger set ($19) and an Ogre ($24). The C28 giants also made a splash at $38 and $31.

DARK HORSE GAMES: I was too old to get caught up in the TMNT craze back in the day, but I didn't escape totally unscathed. I played my fair share of TMNT games when I worked at Nintendo, and now I find myself pondering the wisdom of collecting the four 75mm turtles...hmm. Like this Michaelangelo for $23 and this Raphael for $16. Or if I go all in, I should expect to pay prices like $47 for this lot.

DRAGONTOOTH: It's good to be king. Or it's good to be the seller of the Tomb of The Dwarf King for $336!!! Wow. For $215, you could have partied in Ye Blind Cyclops Inn. And for "only" $125, there was the Dwarf Armory.

FORGE WORLD: Here's one I haven't seen before! A large-scale (54mm) representation of Asmodai, Interrogator-Chaplain of the Dark Angels. A very cool sculpt, but $178 is a bit out of my range I'm afraid. You can see some pics of the other FW 54mm models on this thread.

GAMES WORKSHOP: This metal LOTR Cave Troll didn't last long at $15.

GRENADIER: This complete run of Grenadier's LOTR box sets was just too good to pass up at $32, so I bought it! I have to imagine that not using 'Grenadier' anywhere in the listing probably helped keep the price down. If you're looking for these, let me know - maybe we can hammer out a trade or offline sale. Isengard has already been claimed, but the other four are available. And I had not seen these Warrior newsletters before - always cool to see things I didn't know about! Issue 4 (July/August 1993) $8; Issue 5 (September/October 1993) $8; Issue 6 (November/December 1993) $8; Issue 7 (February/March 1994) $8; Issue 8 (April/May 1994) $13; Issue 9 (June/July 1994) $12; Issue 10 (August/September 1994) $8; Issue 11 (November/December 1994) $14; Issue 12 (February/March 1995) $14; and Issue 13 (April/May 1995) $14. There were also two Grenadier catalogs that came and went, the Temporary Catalog Update for $15 and this green-cover catalog with both the US and UK addresses for sold for...wait for it...a buck! My kind of deal, if I had been the buyer.

I'm always on the lookout for the Giant's Club sets, and they continue to sell right around the $10-$20 range for the most part. I picked up the Fire Giant for $13, and the same seller also moved a Stone Giant for $11, a Dwarven Giant for $14, and a Forest Giant for $17. There was also this Dwarven Giant in shrink for $13. Moving on to other boxed sets, there was a Dungeon Raiders for $26, King Arthur in shrink for $27, Osric the Wise for $42 (haven't seen prices like that on this line recently, so perhaps Osric is uncommon/rare), Fantasy Warriors Juggernaut for $23, and the Battle Giant for $33. This unboxed Goblin War Giant tallied $60. The seller of this mail-in only Dragon Lord was asking $90, but ended up selling for $75. Looks like the original packaging and documentation, so it was probably worth it to some Grenadier completist.

The same seller who cashed in on three DragonTooth sets (listed above) also sold this lot for $55, which included the smiley-faced Have A Nice Day beholder among other minis (including the well-endowed version of the RP Balrog 01-003).

HERITAGE: A small batch of John Carter Warlord of Mars blisters hit the market and made a splash - the recent John Carter movie probably wishes it could have done as well, no doubt. Check out these prices: 1504 John Carter mounted on Thoat with Deja Thoris and Woola for $272; 1522 Orovars - Horz and Lotharians with Bowmen for $162; 1517 Black Pirates of Barsoom - the Firstborn for $84; and 1528 Plantmen of the Valley Dor for $65. On the bargain end of the spectrum, there was this lot of 8 Fantasy Fantastics plus 1 D&D blister for $37.

This complete-looking Caverns of Doom sold for $112, moving back up the price charts. And this Barsoomian Battle Manual still sold for $25 even though it was missing a chunk off the front cover.

LEADING EDGE GAMES: "Yeah man, but it's a dry heat!" Aliens - talk about a flick just chock-full of memorable quotes and snappy one-liners. And the minis just keep on selling, like these, uh, Xenomorphs (aka the Alien Warrior Boxed Set) for $66. If heavy equipment is more your thing, then you probably bid on this Power Loader Boxed Set (with 4 Sentry Guns) that sold for $46. The Alien Queen Boxed Set went for a respectable $36, while the Colonial Marines Set #1 ended up at $31. And I would have bought this $22 blister for the name alone: the "Game Over" Pack!

MINIFIGS: The VFW (Valley of the Four Winds) minis seem to be some of the more sought after minis produced by Minifigs, and one particular seller sold several lots as follows: VFW 42, the aptly-named Cart Full of Skulls & Bones, for $29; what looks like VFWM10 Wheel of Torture (Pat Sajak NOT included), a pair of demons, and 4 hellhounds for $72; VFWM6 Spiked Fire Wheel, the Spirit Monks set, and World of Greyhawk 55 (fire elemental) for $27; and VFW73 Wind Demon & Ornate Chariot for $46.

RAL PARTHA: As I mentioned in the last LMR, some BattleTech collector decided to Go Big (as in go big or go home). The winner of this particular auction spent a whopping $342 on this carded Phoenix Hawk LAM. I noticed the same seller is currently peddling two in the same auction for a $100 starting bid and a $370 BIN. We'll see where that one ends up. For loose Mechs, you could have picked up this Rifleman with a FREE display case (dice box) for $11. Or this one for $13. Or this one for $16. The Warhammer still commands attention and prices: $35, $15, and $21. BattleTech lots, as usual, do very well - 6 for $86; 10 for $73, 5 for $61; and 20 mechs and 9 tanks for $143.

This Limited Edition Dracolich is still on my want list, thanks in no small part to prices like $123. Great if you are selling, not so much if you are buying. If you want a great deal as a buyer, how about this Limited Edition Golden Dragon of Chaos for under $28? That has to be THE lowest price for a NIS LE boxed set I have ever seen. And this LE Great Red Dragon for $66 also qualifies as a bargain as far as I'm concerned. $41 for Huma's Silver Dragon is about average. This Griffin Chariot in its NIS glory sold for $41 (this seller and this seller should take note if they ever expect to move theirs).
$20 for the Elf Chariot is a good price, and $20 for Riding the Cold Wind is even better!

11-Series: The Driders usually go for decent prices, such as these 11-518 Male Driders for $24. Their drow masters also do well, especially the uncommon 11-517 Drow II set for $17. And as someone who is after the 11-Series Birthright minis, it's encouraging that the Personalities boxed set has dipped down to $34, and the blisters are right around $10-$15: $13, $12, and $11 respectively. And a mostly-complete (missing one) Powers of Law for $28 works for me, if you have the patience to track down the missing Gruumsh.

Finally, there was this Troll advertised as a possible alternate sculpt to 11-408. Joe was kind enough to post a pic of the hallmark, which is unlike any RP hallmark I've ever seen. Makes me wonder if this is instead a casting of prototype that wasn't released? Anyone else out there ever seen this troll kicking around?


UPDATE: Thanks to the sharp eye of cola55z, I now know this is NOT an 11-408 alternate sculpt, but rather a 15mm Battlesystem mini from 11-954 Trolls of The Claw Mercenary Company. The troll linked above is seen on the far right of the pic on the LMW.

This lot was an absolute steal at $46! The Grenadier boxed set can sell for that much alone, so it's like the 9 RP boxes were free! Why am I using so many exclamation points?!? And this doesn't look so much like a poster as opposed to some sort of printer's proof sheet (sorry if I cannot recall the correct term), but for less than $7, it's still an interesting piece of RP ephemera.

REAPER: The Gauth boxed set sells for $100 at the Reaper online store, so even with the free shipping they offer on purchases over $25, the buyer still got a great deal at $51.

STEVE JACKSON GAMES: This Ral Partha Mk. III OGRE sold for $38, just to demonstrate that vintage OGRE minis continue to hold their value and then some.

WEST END GAMES: It's fairly uncommon (if not downright rare) to pick up a near-complete run of the Grenadier boxed sets in one lot, but someone did for $250. At just over $20 a box, it wasn't a steal, but then again, it wasn't a bad price either, and the buyer did get a great collection in one fell swoop.

LOTS AND LOTS OF LOTS: 200+ minis for $200 (down from the asking price of $300) is still a good deal for the dedicated reseller and/or collector. This lot of boxes and blisters was $158 - LOTR blisters, Wizzards & Warriors large boxes - neat stuff. I wanted the Superior Swamp Demon in this $78 lot (top right), but the VFW crew quickly pushed it way out of my reach. This very much old-school Orcus helped push this small lot to $44. Who mixes giants and undead??? $41 took these big and dead guys home. This $44 lot was a great, great deal at just over $2 per mini. And this $123 lot was an eclectic mix of DragonTooth, Grenadier Dark Crystal, Minifigs, and others. Finally, this $153 lot was something old and something new. That is to say, the new stuff was some of the older Reaper DHL line.

ODDS-N-ENDS: If you are an AD&D completist or a paint kit afficionado, perhaps you saw this Polly S AD&D paint set, complete with a Grenadier wizard. It sold for $9.99, which is only $1.02 more than it sold for at Toys-R-Us. And this is a rather neat-looking dragon of unknown origin (it looks older, like Minifigs, Martian Metals, Asgard - something along those lines) that sold for $23.

Codex: Rogue Trader (For Retail Rogues)

Before my stint at WoTC, I managed a brick & mortar gaming store in Bellevue, WA - the now-defunct Games & Gizmos. I should note that Games & Gizmos still lives on down the road in Redmond, but I think the owners are not associated with the previous incarnations of G&G. In any event, it was a fun job with a neat little store and a good crew. It was also my introduction to Games Workshop and their products, as well as their approach to the hobby and the business.

One of the items that I still have from those days is the black folder pictured above - Codex Rogue Trader, otherwise known as "Games Workshop's Consummate Guide For Independent Retailers." It's a very slick, well-made binder with 23 double-sided pages (4 of which are glossy divider pages) packed with info on how to help your store sell GW product. There are also two laminated sheets that are for running quick and easy demo games of WHFB and 40K.


Immune to both Mt. Dew and Cheetos dust.

The binder is divided up into four sections: the Business Section, the Hobby Section, the How-To Section, and the RT Resources Section. Overall, it's an interesting look at how GW encouraged retailers to attract new players, keep existing ones, and yes, sell GW product. I won't go into a section-by-section breakdown of the binder, but I will say they put a lot of importance on the quality of store staffers. That, and store owners should (if practical) engage customers to help run events like Painting & Terrain Classes.

I have no idea if a current version of Codex Rogue Trader exists or not, but it would be interesting to compare the current version with mine and see how much or how little things have changed in the past decade plus since my binder was published. GW seems to be one of those love 'em or hate 'em companies, yet they have managed to endure for over 35 years now, so they must be doing something right.