Editorial - Paying The Scalpers

I am normally not a big fan of the limited edition stuff that GW puts out. The limited edition, collectors, three different covers Codex is still just a Codex. I don't see me paying twice or three times as much for that.

What I get even less is paying more to scalpers. If GW produces 100 of something in a limited edition, then there will be 80 people buying them up in the firs few seconds. These people are not fans of the army. They are not collectors. They frankly do not give a damn about this item but they know that you do. They are going to pay $150 knowing that you will pay $200 or more later.

Not everyone can run down to the GW store on Friday morning to get the new releases. Hell, some of us can't be bothered to hit "buy it now" from our phones while we are waiting for the bus to work. And if you are like me, you are about three months behind the new releases. I didn't even know that there were Deathwatch Dice until after they were sold out. I didn't even know that I would want Deathwatch dice until after I had read the Codex, build and painted some minis and played a few games.

So there I was with some extra money from overtime work and was looking through eBay for a deal or to fill some holes in my collection. I saw the Deathwatch dice were going for $25 to $40 each. For the love of the glorious Emperor, that is crazy. They retailed for $20 and someone would pay $40 plus shipping? I threw out some best offers and eventually was lucky to get two sets for $32 each with shipping.

Better believe that I put my GW dice in a PP bag. 

I know that I would have been over-paying even at $20. Chessex will get your custom dice for $1 each and there are places that will do it for less. I could have gotten the precise images that I wanted on the side I wanted. I chose to pay out the nose for all the different Chapters. It would have been really expensive to get all the Chapters of Deathwatch on dice.

In the end, I am very happy with my purchases. The only thing to complain about (aside from the price) is that the icons are on the 1's side. I want a little celebration when I see that Chapter symbol come up not say something like "Ultramarines? Guess I over-heated and died."