Limited Edition Models - Rip Off? Usable? Cool??

It's Thursday folks and I'm in the mood to write a fairly random piece for the Grotto. I've spent the last few hours spraying everything I've built over the cold couple of months so I'll sit back and have a typing session, one of my irregular chatty rambles!

With the release of the one-day-only 25th Anniversary Crimson Fist I ended up thinking a bit about GW's limited releases over the years; which I own, what I do with them and why, for some of them, I spent years hunting them down.

A few thoughts to follow...



I chose not to go down to GW for the Crimson Fist. My experience with Fincast over the last 12 months has been less than great and (even as someone not usually complaining about GW's prices) I wasn't prepared to pay £20 for a lucky dip on a single figure. In contrast I will be getting the Games Day miniature for this year's upcoming event, he's just too cool for someone who played Blood Angels in 2nd Ed. not to own!

No thanks.

Yes please!

So there's a couple of examples of GW's current 'limited' models. Over the last couple of years I've patiently fished around on eBay, waiting for some of my old favourites to become available at not extortionate prices.

The first one I picked up, a couple of years ago now, was Inquisitor Gideon Lorr:

Not painted by me

Apparently he became available for a short time again last year but he's once again vanished from the GW site. He is such a cool model. I saw one in the flesh in Manchester, never having known the model was Ltd Edition at the time. It was on display and I asked if I could pick one up from their shop there and then. Nope.

Two years of being beaten to them on eBay (I stick to my limits about what I'm willing to pay on there) I finally got one for about £15. A lot are on there 'Buy It Now' for £30-£50 which is ridiculous, I was pretty chuffed keeping it under £20 though.

Next up was a model I have wanted since his release, an event I couldn't get out of work to attend:

Painted by Santobell on DakkaDakka

Sergent Centurius!! I was gutted I didn't get this guy first time round and eventually forgot about him over the years. I finally picked him up about 6 months ago, again from eBay. Again I waited and avoided the ones going for silly prices, he came to me for less than £18 including p&p.

My most recent eBay win is the Warhammer Online promotional model of Grumlok and Gazbag:

Painted by Jakob Rune Nielsen for Ribers Corner

I don't know where exactly I first saw this dude. He's yet another example of eBay being expensive. Two or three options of him, some not packaged, all on sale for £30-£50. I found one that didn't come up in the original search for just less than £17. He arrived this morning and I'm very happy.

The trick with eBay is patience. Sure, you can jump on there and buy something for the asking price (if you have limitless funds then sure, go for it) but it's easy to get sucked in - an Eldrad Ulthran model, unpainted, sold for £18 last week. He's £12.50 new in the shop?!

Also, try obscure searches. I got Grumlok by searching 'Warhammer Online model' and the model I bought came up - he hadn't shown on the results under Grumlok. Keep an eye on bad photo's too. They draw less attention and are sometimes missed all together. Inquisitor Lorr was very poorly pictured, but I could see the shape so knew it was going to be him and it was described as complete and unopened so that meant all parts were there.

Models like this will often sell for half the price of Buy It Now and similar options so shop around a bit.

The only thing now, having acquired these models I've longed for, is to paint them. Right? Well...er...I'm kind of afraid to do that!

Silly huh? All that effort and I can't bring myself to do an average job painting them. I'm half tempted to commission them out, half tempted to go for it. I just have to build up to it!

As for the future, there's a few other models on my radar. Not all GW either. Kingdom Death produce beautiful models, about half of which are limited edition like the Flower Knight I bought on it's release:

I'd really like to add their sold-out Butcher to my collection:

One or two of these girls are also high on the list, though prices for them on eBay and beyond can get a little crazy:

Another by Jakob Rune Nielsen, he's good yes?

John Blanche's Femme Militant models are AMAZING. They're also very rarely for sale but I check every now and again, there's quite a few of them in total and some of them will be mine, oh yes, they will!

The trainers at the top of the article are a Nike Delta Force Quickstrike release I bought not knowing they were limited edition. To date they are my favourite ever trainers and have been worn to destruction. I found out recently how much a friend paid for a pair and wished I'd kept them nice and safe in their box! I don't like the proper collectors point of view though. All mine, at some point, will be out of their packets and see paint. The Inquisitor at the very least will also see the tabletop. Just as I wore out my favourite sneakers, they're much more fun that way!!

Anyone out there have their own favourite ltd editions? Comment away...