TRADING ONLINE, A NEW WAY

So have been selling on ebay for ages never had a problem,  apart from rip off fees,  till recently.

I sold items got ripped off,  lost models I put a complaint in to ebay,  they came back saying I had to repay money to buyer, 

Wait, what.  I get screwed over by buyer,  I complain and I have to refund him wait what. So I am down the models and the money, awesome thanks ebay,  as I still had to pay listing fees,  brill.

So I have bumped into a new way to buy, sell and TRADE, yes trade it's on Facebook. 

Search WARGAMING TRADING, it's an open group,  all you do after you join is postwar you are wanting to buy, sell or trade, people will reply,  you exchange details,  pay and send. 

Payment is done by PayPal, cheque, postal order,  cash or bank transfer,  you choose. The best bit no listing fees,  no selling fees. They even have a list of folk to avoid,  or they are gd people to trade with etc. 

Take a look, it's refreshing to receive every penny you get,  rather than ebay skimming off top.

My first go at making homemade snow effect

So not really liking GW snow effect powder,  I was asking the guys at our place of choice for all things gaming and painting The Outpost, about how to create a great snow effect. They recommended Baking Soda mixed with PVA glue.

So I tried it, I was unsure of mix ratio of powder to pva, but it appears to be add to your hearts content, lol.

It's easy to mix, Also its quick to make and apply, the longest part is waiting for it to dry.

Look for yourself in these pics, drop your thoughts & or comments below

Y-Wing Down!

The Beard and I had a game of X-Wing yesterday, in which for the first time ever, he managed to destroy my Y-Wing!

It was quite spectacular too! The R2-D2 equipped Y-Wing had already taken two points of damage, but when the Beard managed to manoeuvre a TIE fighter directly behind it at range band one there was only one target it was going to go for. It was also the only target, but that's semantics! All three dice landed as critical hits and the Y-Wing went on to fail on its single dodge die. The first crit blew away the single point of shield it had left, leaving the two remaining crits to deal a whopping four points of damage, taking it's total to six. As the Y-Wing only has a hull rating of five, we felt it sufficient to say it exploded into a burning inferno of death and destruction!

I lost the game but don't mind the slightest as it has proven that Y-Wing can be beaten - the Beard had been complaining that it's overpowered. I am inclined to agree, but who knows, the TIE interceptor might change that when we get one!

New Generation of Toy Soldier Enthusiasts

So from the 10th till the 20th, my (getting taller by the day) son & my 2 princesses (that are growing up to quickly) came to visit.

My son is dabbling with 40k, as back stabbing, untrustworthy Eldar. Also he is getting to grips with his painting. He is 16, my girls are 12 and 14, they just like painting figures, at the moment, maybe so they ain't left out, who knows. The youngest paints each part and/or detail of model a different colour, so is yet to find her painting way, or get bored of it, lol. My eldest girl is trying to go semi realistic, she has some potential tbh, I might be able to train her up to do my stuff, unless she gets bored of her Dad's silly hobby. My son well he is the same, in the fact of trying to be neat and get realistic looking models,  but he (due to eagerness to play) may be a "table top standard" painter, he may prove me wrong.

This is all got me thinking, about All aspects of our wonderful hobby of "toy plastic soldiers", what's right or wrong to teach the new generation, obviously beardiness is something to be avoided,  but is cheesiness, good or bad, or is it the situation that makes it ok or bad.

I know I will teach them my mantra of "winning is all well and gd, but having fun is the key", that said if you are obviously in a tournie, the winning is kinda important, but not at the cost of fun, for you and more importantly your opponents. I feel a loss is a good thing, as you learn more about your gaming tactics & army.

Should there even be a Short list of what to teach/inform the next generation of? That's a doozy of a question, hmmm, I have hurt my brain.

GAMES WORKSHOP & COPYRIGHT, AND HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED

So things are heating up, in and around all things  Games Workshop. I remember, when said company was free thinking and open.  When they looked to outsiders to expand and grow,  when money and profit wasn't the be all and end all.  When the staff in shops where called "Sales Assistants", then they decided to cash in, They either listened to FAT CATS, or they just got greedy. You could say they gave in to the whisperings of Chaos, Money, for the Money God. The said sales assistants got ironically renamed "Hobby Experts", they became over protective of the products, they stopped people using anything but Games Workshop parts in models for Golden Daemon,  the true "Open Category" disappeared.

It gets worse. Now they are trying to stop people using a phrase they didn't invent "Space Marines", How can they you ask, "stop people using a name they don't own the copyright on". It's  Simple, they are using MONEY & SCARE TACTICS, this is a disturbing turn of events. It's weird to think that a company so against copyright Nazis (see the pic below, of a white dwarf article), could go one step further and police things they don't even own. 

I can see them struggling to hold the old school gamers, if they insist on going along this road, as I sense from what I have heard and seen is a large number of older gamers, bailing on the company they have grown up with. Many gaming buddies have been dropping GW as prices rise and value for money seems to get thrown out windows,  over profit margins,  I mean they don't have a monopoly in the market any more, to many companies are able to compete with them.

I think we are going to have to watch this space I guess. To see which path the company decide to go down and if the gaming community follow on regardless.

OMG I am missing my paint station

It's been a while since I last painted. I have a bad back from a car accident, it requires meds to control pain, lots of meds. Since May I haven't been taking them due to the government, but that's a different post for different blog, lol. This has stopped me from painting.  Well I now am able to afford/take meds, but what I call the gaming room,  the missus calls it the dining room, (silly woman) is being decorated. So my painting station is out of order. As painters will know, you can get burnt out, lose fresh ideas or just get "CBA syndrome", but atm I am eager to get a brush in my hands,  stuff is stacking up and it's annoying me. I feel a paint frenzy coming on. Is this just me or is it common to go through painting highs and lows.

Is kickstarter damaging the relationship between creators and retailers

So I have been watching a few things on kickstarter,  I won't list them as this is not about those companies or developers but the relationship of kickstarter and retail outlets. 

This may at first seem a random thought process, but I will explain. Hopefully.

A games developer be it independent or big company used to go to banks or rich folk to invest.  But a new trend started to appear, that being fan creations and fan financing. I have always thought this is brilliant, we can show our fondness of a film, game or whatever. Kickstarter is an expansion of this,  but maybe it's gone to far.  As a fan its amazing the amount of input we can have  or hands on we can get. 

But look at the other side of the coin,  the retailers, I am thinking more of independent or small chains, not large chains. I fund a project, my donation gives me maybe a free copy of rulebook of the game. If I fund enough I get rule book and complete army or 2 teams etc.  For me that's brilliant, but if I have my rules and models, I don't need to buy them. Here lies the problem, talking to an independent retailer, he was saying that he can't be seen to encourage people to kickstarter as it takes away vast sales. Recently a new product should of flown off shelves, yet it didn’t he was left with too many copies, all because his customers all donated on kickstarter. Surely there is a way that kickstarter can work to help all parties,  the developers, the consumers/fans and the retailers. Because independent retailers are struggling as it is, without the consumers cutting them out of the equation for initial sales.

Maybe for your investment you get limited edition items and then only a voucher for so much off your initial purchase of rules and models.

Just a thought,