More brains...

I just won another ebay auction, this one for a unit of 20 zombies on the sprue plus the extra bits from another set of 20 zombies.  I got it for a really great price of $8.73, with $6 shipping.  So for $15 I got 20 zombies plus enough bits to build at least another 20+ zombies, very nice!  If only the grave guard and crypt ghouls were this easy.

Two successfully raised units and 2 failed expiriments

Last nights ebay action was partially successful, but also had a few disappointments.  I won two auctions for 5 model Dire Wolf units, totalling $19.51 with free shipping.  So that's about 25-30% off retail price with tax.  A pretty decent price for that unit of models, not the best but certainly a respectable savings.

I lost out on two bids at the last minute though, one on a unit of 11 Empire Knights that had been hovering at $.99 for 6 days, and was at $5 two hours before it ended at midnight.  I went to bed confident in my esnipe bid of $17.00, but was mildly shocked to see that it went to a bidding war for $26 the next morning as it wasn't advertised as a Warhammer item on the listing.  Same story with the Empire Cannon Mortar set I was bidding on, I was the top bid at .99 for a week, and got outbid as it finally went for $9.50.  I didn't need that for my army and was only trying to get it to resell, so that's no big loss.  Same with the Empire Knights, there will be other units, hopefully ones that won't get caught in bidding wars. 

So after last nights auctions I now have an additional 10 Dire Wolves to add to my army list, but am still working on the Black Knights.  There is an auction for a box of zombies that I have hopes for tonight, but with the way it is looking it will probably go for over my max bid.

Dire Wolves & Auction Update

Just looked at the GW Dire Wolves in detail, and man are they hideous models.  I will probably buy some anyways because they are cheap and might be able to be converted into something good.  If my Black Knight plan w/ the Empire Knights falls though I might mount some zombies atop the wolves and turn those into my Black Knights instead.  Wish I had the money to buy 20 Gamezone Zombie Wolves, they are just fantastic, but a bit too steep to purchase outright.

Tonight is a big night on ebay, there are four auctions I am up for that are ending, and I hope my cap is enough to win them.  I'm sniping the bids to try and keep the prices down, and am hoping that the people who have already bid on the items haven't entered a high cap, and there are no other snipers.  The auctions are harder to find b/c the lister didn't describe them as well as he could have, so that works in my favor.  We'll see, and hopefully tomorrow I will have a good update to post. 

Rising from the grave...

It's been nearly 5 years since I have played a proper game of Warhammer, back in the days of 6th edition.  Now that 8th edition is out, and my daughter is old enough for me to start messing with the hobby again, I am jumping in fresh and building a Vampire Counts army from scratch.  I chose the VC because I really like the dead things, and their models by and large are pretty nice, and the style of play is different from the Orcs and Goblins and Wood Elf armies I already have.  I have no idea about the rules, so buying a rules book is one of the first things in the queue for me to do so I can start building a proper army list and moving on from there in terms of purchasing models.  I will be attempting to purchase all of my models at ridiculous discounts on ebay, and will chronicle my attempts successful or otherwise here on the blog.

I do have a few undead models painted and ready to go from my extensive Mordheim collection, and they include:

• 2 vampires
• 8 zombies
• 1 direwolf
• 2 necromancers
• 3 dregs (suitable as zombies)
• 3 ghouls
• 1 Cairn Wraith

Obviously this is nothing in the Warhammer scale of things, but it's a start.  Unpainted items in my possession include:

• 1 Winged Vampire Lord
• 20-30+ unpainted zombies 

I plan on using the bitz from my zombie sprues to make my zombie kits go as far as possible.  For every 20 models I want to get 40 zombies, which is easy to do when all you need is an arm sticking out of the ground.  I'll need to buy some more bases, but this shouldn't be an issue.

What I know I want for my VC army regardless of the armylist is a freaking ton of zombies and some blood knights.  I plan on having a horde of 80-100 zombies by the time it is all said and done.  They may not be at all effective, but the sheer spectacle of seeing a shambling horde of that size will please me greatly.  For the blood knights I don't like the look (or the ridiculous price tag) of the Games Workshop models, so I plan on using the Gamezone Mournful Knight models instead.  I just purchased the Mournful Knight Hero off of ebay for $12 with free shipping, which is a steal compared to the $20 minimum for a GW Blood Knight Champion.  Over the next few months I plan on buying the other 4 models to complete the set as opportunity arises.  Once I get them primed and painted I will post some pics to the blog.

I have been reading on the internet that I need lots of Ghouls and Grave Guard as well, so those are on my watch list on ebay also.  I plan on making some Black Knights by converting some Empire Knights with Grave Guard bitz to make a 10+ strong unit.  I don't like the Black Knights batwing helmets or skeletal steeds, so this conversion opportunity should be more visually acceptable and better fit the theme of my army and allow for some color beyond the usual black seen in undead hordes.

So that's where I am at as I start to raise the dead and create a proper VC army.  Stay tuned for more missives from the grave!