Relative value and not pre-ordering Space Hulk

I didn't order Space Hulk in the end and I'm pretty much writing this post because the last week rather suggested I would end up building, painting and reviewing the thing. Well, I'm not and the only interesting thing to say about that is a short digression on the notion of post-purchase value:

Most Games Workshop miniatures I buy are for practical purposes. I buy the odd character model just for the pleasure of painting them but the vast majority of them are bought for the express purpose of using them in games. I'll drop a tenner on a character I just think looks cool but £75 for admittedly cool Terminators I probably won't use, Genestealers I never will and a bunch of other stuff that is no use to me since no one I know wants to play Space Hulk...?

I might even have still gone for it if not for the fact a better deal came my way:

Big Finish does a lot of weekend deals and this weekend they were offering the season season of their Fourth Doctor Adventures for a grand total of £38.50 and I will get far more pleasure out of those seven stories that I can confidently assume I'll list to a couple of times a piece than out of twelve Terminators I will paint, put in a draw and forget about.

And if I'm honest, now that I have professionally shot 'Eavy Metal images to look at again, my memories of those Terminators was a bit rose-tinted. I think they are better than Wolf Guard Terminators but I'm not now convinced that they beat out Deathwing Knights and I have a nascent Guardians Of The Covenant army I'd rather expand than start a Blood Angels army I'm not too invested in.

Yeah, I said this wasn't going to be interesting, right?

Space Hulk: The Self-Justification Phase

I'll say this for being a wargamer: its honed my sense of buyer's guilt to the point that I feel it BEFORE I've made the unwise purchase. On the one hand this is good and has prevented me from starting literally dozens of armies I didn't actually have the requisite time, cash or inspiration for. So yes, having geeked out for a bit over the possibility of Space Hulk being re-released and the re-release having been confirmed by leaked images I'm now having this running debate in my head:

“Yay! Space Hulk is coming out again and I've just been paid at my fairly steady, safe job so I can afford it now like I couldn't in 2009!!”

“Yes, but aren't you concentrating on your Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts at the moment?”

“True, but its a limited release so if I want it I have to buy it now or never (or wait five years, possibly).”

“You never play 40k anymore.”

“Dan's getting back into it so I might do soon.”

“What, with Tyranids? With Blood Angels?”

“I might.”

“You can't get a grip on Tyranids because you like writing characters and you hate the Blood Angels with their stupid colour-coded helmets.”

“There are successor chapters.”

“Yeah, there are three you like but a) there are bareheaded Terminators so they can't be Angels Sanguine; b) they're too blinged out to match your vision of Flesh Tearers; and c) you've never found a way to paint Lamenters you liked since they stopped making Tau Sept Ochre.”

“Yeah, that does still rankle.”

“You could always paint them purple and call them Soul Drinkers.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Yes.”

“Look, bottom line: I've spent five years wishing I'd been able to scrape the doubloons together to buy this every time I see a picture of Sergeant bloody Lorenzo and his awesome cape. Quite besides, this might all be moot: I'm getting out of work at 7 tomorrow and it'll take me twenty minutes to get down to GW. It might even be sold out by the time I get there. Let's say I'll buy it if the ineffable machinations of fate allow me to and be done with the debate.”

“You realise you're going to have to spend an extra tenner on round bases, right?”

“So be it.”

“Angels Encarmine?”

“No way, I'd have to paint the Death Company white.” 

Sometimes the universe just gives you stuff

So two days before a house inspection is a great time for your shower drain and bathroom sink to both clog. Add in a few work issues and having to cancel a trip I was really looking forward to but then the internet just out of nowhere delivered me two really, really great announcements:

ANNOUNCEMENT ONE: Gail Simone's super secret post-Batgirl project is a Secret Six relaunch! Not entirely the old team, it seems, but the Comicbook Resources article name checks Catman and Black Alice and since Simone is apparently incapable of writing a series without Ragdoll turning up I can but hope.

It could go wrong, anything can go wrong. Maybe DC will have put some creative fetters on Simone when the last incarnation of the series thrived on editorial distance. Maybe the law of diminishing returns will strike as it often does when an author returns to one of their great works a few years down the line. It must be said, thought, that DC has been making real improvements ion the not-fucking-up stakes this past year so I feel positive about this announcement. If this had been announced in 2012 I'd have very little faith in it. We shall see.

ANNOUNCEMENT (-sh) TWO: a teaser video on Games Workshop's blog that (please please please) points to a Space Hulk set coming to pre-order next weekend. It shows a Space Marine being strapped into Terminator armour with flashes of Genestealers spliced in.

I can't begin to think of another interpretation of putting those two images together. If it is Space Hulk then I'm in. I was completely broke when the last set came out in 2009 and it sold out on me in about a day. Those Blood Angels Terminators were gorgeous and even after five years have never been bettered: not by Wolf Guard Terminators, not by Deathwing Knights, not even by the Forge World sculpts.

Whether its a new set (I am kind of hoping for the “other” Space Hulk Terminators: Dark Angels Deathwing) or just a re-release of the 2009 set I am absolutely, definitely putting money down for this.