While sorting through my old miniatures during the basement clean out, I had run across some old vintage metal rat men from back in the day. I think I picked them up when I was playing Mordheim. The minis were from a variety of manufacturers including GW, Heartbreaker, Grenadier, and Harlequin. I really loved the sculpts on the Grenadier “Rat Scum” and the Harlequin “Ver'men” figures.
I hopped on the internet to see if I could find any more of them to use as unit leaders or characters for my army, since Kings of War doesn't restrict players to using any specific brand of minis. That was how I stumbled upon Noble Knight games, located in Fitchburg, WI. Noble Knight has tons of old vintage stuff from the 1980s and 1990s, and it is all cataloged and listed on their website. It was there that I found a complete regiment of vintage Ver'men Nest Guard.
“Yes yes...”, whispered my fat hooded rat, “Old school, metal figures minis... yes. Heavy infantry strong big...”
“But Boss,” squeaked the little grey rat named Soup, “How can hwee pay buy these?”
It was a valid question. I'd almost exactly broken even now, between what I made selling old surplus figures on ebay, and what I spent on the new Mantic boxes.
The fat rat wheeze-chuckled, and uncurled one claw like a tiny road sign directing my eyes to the corner of my computer monitor.
“Look, read.”
Noble Knight buys used gaming books, supplements, minis, and boxed sets for cash or store credit!
“Welp. Here we go again.”
Instead of digging into my miniatures collection, I took a good look at my book shelves this time. After picking out some old gaming books and RPG boxed sets that I could live without, I followed the directions on the website, and submitted a list via email. Within 48 hours, Noble Knight replied to my email and made me a store credit offer. It was more than I expected to get, so I accepted it, and added a bunch more vintage rat minis to my wishlist.
Because I am reasonably local to Noble Knight, I drove out there to make the trade in person. They gave me $150.00 in store credit, which I immediately spent on 70 out of production metal rat miniatures that I had selected from their website ahead of time.
So the biggest financial investment of the hobby was complete. I had the minis for ALL the troops that I wanted to include in my army. Most people are hundreds of dollars in at this point, but somehow I had managed to get here without spending anything at all. This entire army was raised by selling and trading other hobby related stuff that I had been sitting on for many years. It was stuff that wasn't doing me any good, or bringing me any enjoyment. As hobbyists, we can very quickly and very easily amass collections that outgrow our involvement in our activity. As an airsofter, I collected over 25 airsoft guns, several modular loadout vests, and probably half a dozen different helmets, maybe a couple hundred various accessories like pouches, belts, slings, uniforms, boots etc... And you know what? Of all of that gear, there is literally just one loadout harness and one helmet that I use. Of all those guns, I only ever really play with three of them. That's it. But we are hobbyists. We collect these little pieces of material serotonin, and we horde them away in our basements or garages, like dragons nesting deep below a mountain. We think that we need them, because holding onto them is holding onto the fleeting happiness that we felt when we obtained them.
A couple of years ago, I took an entire station wagon full of airsoft gear to a swapmeet at a local field, set up a tent, and made my own little airsoft dollar store. I literally sold everything I came with. It was 150 items. I know, because I had $150.00 cash in my hand, and my car was empty on the trip home. The people who bought my stuff were mostly young kids, new to the hobby. Unlike me, they will actually use that gear. They will actually enjoy it. In fact, the very next time I played at that field, I spotted a kid playing in my old flak vest and PASGT helmet, both in Gulf War chocolate chip camo pattern.
The same goes for my old out of print Bretonnian minis, still on the sprues, never assembled or primed for painting, languishing in my dungeon for maybe 15 years. What good were they doing me? Surely, I will never build a second Bretonnian army. I already have one. So, I set them free. Finally, after all these years, they will be assembled, and painted. They will be a source of pride and joy for a fellow hobbyist.
Letting go of things is important, if we want to make room for other things. Wargaming and miniature hobbyists often joke about how big their “pile of shame” is. It seems that everyone has minis sitting around in boxes, that they just aren't ever going to get around to assembling or painting. Maybe they lost interest in that particular army, or game system. Maybe they only bought them on a whim, or because it was a really great deal. If that's you, consider cleaning out your nest, and finding a new home for those models.
Many of the rat miniatures that I picked up from Noble Knight were still sealed in their original packaging. The Grenadier Ratscum figures are 30 years old. They had lead warnings on the packaging. 30 years is a long time for a little rat to be stuck in a box, waiting for someone to take them out and play with them.
****************************
If you are interested in selling minis, old gaming books, or supplements, or if you are shopping for things that are rare or out of print, I have had great luck with both of these websites.
nobleknight.com and rpgrpgrpg.com
In my experiences, these websites are responsive and have great customer service. Both of them gave me what I felt were generous offers for my old used gaming books when I was trying to thin out my bookshelves and generate a little hobby cash. Just follow the directions on the websites, get an offer, accept it, and they will send FedEx shipping labels to you. All you have to do is box up the items, slap the labels on them, and drop them off at the nearest FedEx location. That was what I did for my sale to rpgrpgrpg.com, earlier this year. They were courteous and promptly paid me via paypal as soon as they received my package. Noble Knight offers the same option, but in their case I elected to do an in store drop-off and pickup, since they were local, and since I would be immediately picking up minis from them, rather than getting money. Besides, I wanted to check out the store!
Add comment
Comments