eBay...the ups and downs.

*Vreep* Greeting fellow commanders... Yes, yes, eBay truly is a wonder of the modern world! No doubt created by the great Horned Rat (Hallowed by Thy Name) to assist warlords-in-waiting to put together a verminous horde! However, to truly benefit from this most wondrous of resources, Skaven cunning and sneaky speed are essential! Being new to eBay myself, the things that I found most exciting about this powerful site are: + Lots of wargame and WFB related content. + Good deals abound (if you are careful). + Some sellers will ship internationally if you ask them. + Lots of "Bitz" for sale. + Fun to browse. + Really fun when you win something that you have bid on at a price that you wanted. + A well developed system with a relatively long history (in internet terms) and good infrastructure. ...and some of the most annoying things are: - Many of the photos posted by sellers are terrible so it is difficult to see what is on sale. - If you like "Fresh" (unassembled) models choice can be limited. (A lot of the secondhand items are already assembled or painted.) - If you get a couple of good deals it can be addictive - resist brothers and sisters - RESIST! - PayPal can be confusing and frustrating to use at first. - It can be pretty depressing to lose out to another bidder at the last second, especially on an item that you feel you really need for your army! So, is there anything useful that I learned from my first forays into the eBay battlefield of bidding? 1. Be true unto your Skaven heart and ye shall WIN! - Bide your time...watch the bidding carefully and strike at the last moment! - Watch and wait from the shadows...search regularly, and then search regularly again. You never know when something might turn up on the scavenge pile. - Wait until your (financial) strength is gathered. Don't bid at a level you can't afford. - Forget about it when you lose - it must have been a deliberate fault in the system engineered by your (Skaven?) opponent? The road to world domination is looooonnnnggg...but we have time... - Research carefully before getting involved. Is this EXACTLY the model you want? This is particularly important with so many different generations of Skaven models around. 2. Use the tools that Clan Skryre engineers provide you... - If so inclined, approach eBay with all the electromechanical assistance that your devious Clan Skryre engineers can muster...a variety of tools exist to help you sell and bid. (Note, I have never used these nor can I recommend them as fit for purpose. Some - but not a true Skaven - might call them cheating.) - Your mobile phone isn't just for signaling your lieutenants or arranging skirmishes...install a decent eBay app on your phone to keep yourself in touch with what is going on... 3. Research the merchant you buy from... Those eBay seller ratings are there for a reason. A healthy dose of skepticism is important but hey, they are better than nothing. 4. Respect the merchant you brought from... Who knows when they will have something for you in the future! And isn't the world a better place when people are polite? (Not a very Skaven-like attitude I know...) 5. Winning is only half the battle... Think through the process mentally from start to finish, what do you need to do to ensure that the goods you have won appear safely at your underground lair? -Does the seller ship to your part of the world?(Ask unless they specifically say they DON'T ship to where you live.) - Have you provided full contact details? - Does the shipping method include tracking? (It can be worth it for the peace of mind...) - Will the final price actually be better than buying locally? As I said, I'm only a novice - any tips from others out there on how to get the best out of eBay? Comment below! *Squeeeeeeeek*

The adventure begins...buying a furry horde of death-dealing rat men!

*Neek!* After searching the deepest (online) caverns and plundering the nearest (man-thing) towns for allies and troops to bring to my warbanner, my initial force is as follows... x1 Skaven Battalion Box. (new, via eBay) x2 boxes of Plague Monks. (new, via eBay) x1 box of Stormvermin. (new, via eBay) x1 Screaming Bell/ Plague Furnace box. (new, via eBay) x 50 (Approx) Skaven slaves/ Clanrats. (used, via eBay) x1 Warp Lightning cannon. (Games Workshop store) x1 Warlord/ Chieftain. (Games Workshop store) x2 Ratswarm blister packs. (Games Workshop store) x3 Jezzail units. (Games Workshop store) x1 Warpfire Thrower. (Games Workshop store) x1 Skaven Army Book (new, via eBay) x1 Warhammer Fantasy Battles Rulebook (new, at Games Workshop) Not bad, but no force for world domination! ...nevermind, every scheming evildoer with world domination in mind needs to start somewhere, and this initial force should allow me to play games of between 1,500 - 2,000 points. (I'm guessing anyway - I haven't led this force in anger yet, so making a full list isn't something that I have done!) Now, I should say that even as a grown man with an income of my own, I found purchasing this amount of models and packs expensive, and that was even after using eBay ended up with me paying approximately a third of RRP in the country that I live in. In future posts, I'll come back to my experiences on eBay and what I learned as an eBay noob, but suffice to say that for any would-be commander or convert to Warhammer, checking out eBay can be well worth the effort. Why did I choose the items above? (trust me, the Skaven have a ton more that it was difficult to resist in their ratty evilness...) The key thing to purchasing any Skaven army (or indeed any Warhammer Fantasy Battles force) is reading your Army Book carefully and getting a good sense of what units are essential to an army (your "Core" units) and how many you might need of them. For Skaven, it would be the following: -Clanrats -Skaven Slaves -Stormvermin -Nightrunners -Giant Rats -Rat swarms ...the key point being LOTS OF THEM! Skaven units are cheap (in terms of points) so outnumbering your opponent is (apparently) essential. So, getting hold of these guys seemed key. The Battalion set gives you x40 Clanrats/ Skaven slaves (the models can be used as either), while eBay usually has ALOT of older Skaven models from prior incarnations of the game that are dirt cheap and can be used as slaves or clanrats in friendly games. Got to slink off to bed now... *Mreep*