Friday 19 December 2008

The Final Countdown

I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people on The Miniatures Page (TMP) after posting a link to my blog and outlining my mission. It seems that a lot of others out there wouldn’t mind clearing out their backlog of games unplayed and minis unpainted. While on the subject of TMP, if you haven’t read it, I’d pay it a visit. It’s the best way of keeping up with the new releases and various happenings in the world of gaming, as well as forums which can acts as a fantastic source of advice and inspiration.

It’s now time for my final countdown before I begin. The next time I post I’ll be a frugal gamer.
So what have I done in my last few days of freedom? We’ll I’ve done a bit of last minute stocking up. I received some early Christmas money and invested in a mould from Hirst Arts. Due to the fluctuations in the pound recently, these aren’t quite as cheap as they used to be (they’re imported from the states), but they still represent good value for money in the long run and I’ll review them as I use them later on next year.

This mould was bought from Hirst Arts UK, (run by Andy Slater from Terragenesis, an excellent site that I’ll also be reviewing in a future post) and arrived within days, great service and highly recommended.

I’ve also started planning how to bring in a little money. At present, this has taken the form of sorting out some old games and figures for a bring and buy sale in February. Not much, but a start.

And of course, I’ve been casting a critical eye over my unfinished projects, deciding which are first on my hit list and which can continue to gather dust for a few more months. One of my first few posts in the new year will be a stocktaking exercise to see once and for all what I need to get finished and that I need to get rid of. I’m expecting an emotional day.

So why not try the same? Have a look at the contents of your cupboards and see what can go and what needs a bit of attention to finish off.

That’s all for now, have a great Christmas and I’ll see you all in the new year!

9 comments:

Jackson Pope said...

Hiya Dave,

Admirable. After years of living in a tiny flat and having no room for more games, I'm moving to a much bigger house at the beginning of the year - so filling the
new place with games is something I'm going to have to try to avoid. :-)

We should get together in the new year and play some Necromunda, and you should go back to making and selling scenery - you did a great job and I'm sure you've got all the ingredients - so it's effectively 'free'.

Cheers,

Jack

Dave said...

He he. Cheers matey! A few games of Necro sounds pretty good, you'll only be four and a half hours away in the new year, so games nights could be back on ;-)

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the year and forgive me for stealing the idea :-) I have added the rule paint two buy 1 'part' to help reduce the lead count as well while getting those odd bits and pieces such as glue / paint.

Having sold off 1/3rd of my 'to do' pile I found it helped to create list (as per Matakishi http://www.matakishi.com/) to focus on. Now to find a home for the remaining bits I cannot do anything with.

Dave said...

Please steal as many ideas as you like! I like the 'paint 2, buy 1' scheme. I might well use it myself ;-)

Ruaridh said...

Hope you have a good Christmas and good luck with the frugal gaming. I shall be watching your progress and hopefully drawing support and inspiration from it.

Cheers,
Ruarigh

Anonymous said...

I had planned about the same thing as you, less buying, more painting, more playing...
My main expenditure in the near future will be gaming mags subscriptions and that's it. The magazine shops still charge 8+ euro a pop, while with the weak pound they'll cost about half that if I subscribe.
I'll be keeping an eye on your blog, best wishes for the frugal year.

Anonymous said...

Best of luck to you!

One thing you might try is "trading up." I took a headless Reaper figure, painted it up as a ghost, and traded it up for about $60, which got me the 5th edition 40k rules. It requires some dedication, but you're already setting yourself up for that.

Felbrigg said...

Good Luck for the coming year. Might I suggest ( and self promote ) that you listen to the Print and Play podcast, many of games reviewed are FREE!

http://PrintAndPlay.co.uk

Dave said...

Consider yourself promoted!