My crisis haul

[petercooman]

Hey all!

Went to crisis today. Seemed less crowded than last year, but still quite some traffic. Only thing that bothered me a bit was the amount of 'resellers'. Lots of stands with bolt action, fllames of war etc..

Normally the balance between reseller/manufaturer is good, but this year it looked like a bit more towards resellers. Personal preference of course, just something i noticed. And i like bolt action so nothing against it! I just ordered mine directly from warlord games for pick up! naturally, in the second hall there was a stand with all warlord games stuff at -50%  

Another thing of note was the scales available. Lots of 28's, some 6mm (baccus and adler) and magister militium was present so 10mm and 15. Small scales really don't show up much.(and you can notice it in my purchases)

Got a good haul this year (again  lol ):



First off, the TSA limited edition set to go with the show miniature, Tijl Uilenspiegel. Very nicely presented in a nice box! The mdf bases were ones i had lying around, will have to search for some thinner ones to make the display base nice and flat.




bolt action stuff and freebie prussian landwehr from the goodie bags (my wife came with me so two goodie bags   )
got me more marines and japanese+ a 81 mm mortar for each + some more bolt action dice to go with the ones from the starter box.


Also got some of their nice walls



stopped long enough at the Perry stand for some imperial guard commanders (needed Friant for my grenadiers), and for the wellington blister/box (needed this one for Picton specifically, but the other two are welcome additions).In my haste i forgot to look for Napoleon on horseback  



My latest project are my papercraft ships that i want to use for some pirate gaming (with flashing steel by ganesha games). So about half of my crisis budget went to piraty things!

sarissa jetty set (and some bases)



Bunch of ship cannons from thomarillion (very nice and very good price!)


And last but not least a sizeable black scorpion order i had placed for pick up at the show.


Have been looking at these for a bit now and these are VERY clean sculpts, and very decent casting. Was a bit sceptical at first because i don't like resin that much, but after seeing these in the flesh i have to say they are absolutely great!

And also got a freebie goblin captain!!


some of the sculpts







Love the guy swinging the axe!


All in all a good day out, and very happy with my purchases!

Thanks to the guys of the Tin Soldiers for another nice show, and will see you next year!

[paulr]

Definitely another good haul

[petercooman]

Definitely another good haul

Yes It is! Although last year's haul looked a lot bigger, that One did include 4 big boxes. Pricewise i'm not that far off  

The black scorpion models and the warlord games stuff togheter took a big chunk out of my show budget though, at just over 200£.

[Steve J]

Some nice stuff there Peter. Interesting points with regards re-sellers and the smaller scales not being so evident, but then from my experience of UK shows, 28mm pretty much dominates, or at least that's my impression. Hence I tend to order online. Ditto rulebooks etc, which can often be had at around 50% of the price shown on the companies website.

[petercooman]

Some nice stuff there Peter. Interesting points with regards re-sellers and the smaller scales not being so evident, but then from my experience of UK shows, 28mm pretty much dominates, or at least that's my impression. Hence I tend to order online. Ditto rulebooks etc, which can often be had at around 50% of the price shown on the companies website.

I think the fact that 28 mm dominates is largely because we seem to have a big 'overload' of skirmish games lately. Don't take much time to play, only a few models per side etc...

Large battles are a bit on the decline, and the tables yesterday reflected that a bit. I am guilty at that myself actually. With the kids, I don't GE much gaming time, but sneaking in one of the ganesha games titles for a quick game has a lot more chances of succes as opposed to planning a big game.

About the discounts, there were some nice ones to be had on the show, so still worth visiting. Like the Perry boxes for example. 1 for 20, 6 for 100. Or foundry, who opted to use a conversion rate of 1£=1€.

[toxicpixie]

Those pirates are cracking!

I think uk cons are much the same - many resellers, all with a significant commonality of stuff. Lots of second hand minis dealers here - there many at Crisis?

Big (ish) battle 28mm might get a bump locally, I just realised how cheap the plastics are compared to 15mm's

[petercooman]

Aside from the bring and buy section, I only spotted col. Bill's. And some painting services of course, but I don't count those as second hand.

And indeed, the 28mm plastics are on the cheap side. If you look at my bolt action purchases, 26 gets you 30 models, wich is enough to get you started in the game. Add In a tank for about 20 and you have a good playable force. And that's straight from manufacturer at full price.

Same goes for napoleonics. If you take my 6 for 100 deal I mentioned above, 100£ gets you 6 boxes of Perry French infantry. I think they come over 40 in a box. You can never compete against that price if you produce the same in metal!

[toxicpixie]

Yeah, Essex 15's are now £3.75 for eight, whilst the Gripping Beast Plastics are £20ish for forty-ish.

45p per 15mm figure or 50p per 28mm?!

Granted there are cheaper manufacturers than Essex but not by much...

I think breadth of available ranges is the driver for 15mm cos these days it sure ain't cost!

[petercooman]

I must admit I never dabbled in 15mm myself. Only15's I have are from the great war board game. I. Went straight to 10mm for historical stuff. I'm only 32 though, so kind of missed the era where 15's dominated the historical scene.

And now with having so much invested in 10 and 28 mm terrain a switch in scale is not cost effective.

[toxicpixie]

I flogged virtually all of 15mm ancients (first "proper" wargames army I had was a DBA Pyrrhic in 15mm, then we got rather into DBM and onwards, let alone Napoleonics and WW2 and...) when I realised they'd been locked away for far too long with no chance of use.

Then new person at club suggested DBA and that she has a load of 15's, so ofc I've ended up replacing them... at least they're better painted these days, mind!

[Ace of Spades]

I stayed at home just because there would be so few small scale manufacturers. 28mm simply takes up too much space, both in figures and scenery so I'll stick to what I have in that scale but won't be getting in to anything new. Well; then there's really not much use in going to Crisis I fear... Better stay away from the temptation and keep my money in my pocket for some online purchases. 
10mm Pirates done by a certain firm starting with 'P' would be very nice though!

Cheers,
Rob

[fred.]

10mm Pirates done by a certain firm starting with 'P' would be very nice though!

These would be good. And could be based on the LoA ranges very to give a good start.

[petercooman]

I'm still waiting for That firm with a p to make WWII Belgians!

[Terry37]

It's always interesting what we come home with from a convention! I usually find I ahve a stack of magazines and books, a few figures I really need and a lot I think I need, and then just some that I know I'll never need! But it's so much fun!!!

Terry

[petercooman]

It's always interesting what we come home with from a convention! I usually find I ahve a stack of magazines and books, a few figures I really need and a lot I think I need, and then just some that I know I'll never need! But it's so much fun!!!

Terry

Most of the time I leave the books, unless I go looking for something I know I needed in advance. Big fan of the space saver that is the PDF! Leavies me more room for models!