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Stalingrad 3 Spartanovka

The third Stalingrad scenario played very simply. 2 Armies with 1500 points. Each unit across the river gets you a victory point. The Germans will launch a preparatory bombardment, while the Soviets can begin dug-in. The Soviets also get 24″ of trenches. The battle is on a 6×4 table.

Results
Both forces managed to get 4 units across the river. The Germans destroyed 6 units, while the Soviets only killed 3. However, the 3 units for the Germans were worth more points than the 6 units for the Soviets. I called this match a tie.
The scenario played nicely as a whole. The units were forced to flow and move rather than stand and shoot like in other scenarios. Target identification was crucial. The Germans were able to stick a couple of units of Veterans on the Soviet side of the river for most of the game, and they were truly impossible to move. I didn’t like the lack of realism; turns 5 and 6 were just a mad dash to get as many units across as possible, while for the Soviets, this makes thematic sense. The Germans were a little more careful with their manpower.

Army Lists
Germans Kampfgruppe Reinforced
Soviets Tractory Factory Reinforced

Germans1505Soviets1506
Leutnant Reg50Rifle Squad InexFree
Panzgrenadier Reg97Senior Lieutenant Reg85
Panzer IV B,C,D,E,F Reg175Militia Squad Inx35
Panzgrenadier Reg108Militia Squad Inx35
Heer Pioneer Vet124Frontnik Commisar Reg60
Heer Veteran Infantry111Arty Fwd Observer120
MMG Reg50NKVD Squad Reg113
Medium Mortar Reg60NKVD Squad Reg155
Sniper Reg50Naval Squad Vet119
Anti-Tank Rifle Reg30NKVD Squad Reg80
Medium Howitzer Reg85MMG Team Reg55
SDFKZ 250/10 Reg135HMG Team Reg80
Panzer IV Ausf G,H,J Reg235Sniper Reg50
SdKfz 250/1 Reg75Flamethrower Reg55
Tank Hunters Team Reg67
Medium Mortar Reg60
Medium Howitzer Reg85
M-42 Anti Tank Reg58
T-34 Inx Tractor Factory140
Truck Reg54

Based on the scenario, I felt like having the Germans with a few elite sticky units would be helpful. For the Soviets. Numbers all day long. The NKVD and Naval squad would be my crossers, set up as reinforcements.

Table and Deployment

The table was 6×4 with a small river running down the middle. There were three crossings: a railroad bridge, a central large bridge, and a small bridge. The Soviets had industrial cover and trenches, while the Germans had an assortment of residential buildings. The river to the bottom is the Volga, a significant feature in the battle for Stalingrad.

The naval and NKVD squads will deploy to the top of the table in an outflanking maneuver. In hindsight, I should have had them flank from the bottom narratively. The Germans had many buildings with high sightlines, which were great for artillery observers and snipers. The German’s goal will be to pick off whatever units possible and try and overload the bottom table edge. The Soviets are all about numbers, running as many squads as possible over the bridge at the last minute.

The deployed forces

Both armies deployed their units in as much cover as possible, with the German tanks taking up major sightlines.

Round 1 was mostly positioning and clearing the many pins that the predatory bombardment had on the Soviet forces.

The German’s began their assault on the undermanned Soviet defenses, eagerly waiting their reinforcements.

The Soviets fired back, pinning multiple units and destroying a mechanized platoon as it attempted to cross the bridge.

Round 3, the German tanks move into position. At the top of the image, you can see the arrival of the Soviet reserves, which were boosting their cause.

Rounds 4 and 5 were a mad dash across the river to grab as much territory before nightfall.

In the end, both forces took far more casualties than needed for a drawn engagement.

Word Bearers Army Opening

With my lack of painting progress on the Word Bearers. I found a really awesome eBay lot containing the following. Here is the box opening.

1x Lorgar primarch 

1x Erubus and Kor Pharon

1x Zerdu Lyak

1x chaplain

1x word bearers praetor

1x legion praetor

1x moritat with jump pack

5x cata terminators with chain fist

5x cata terminators with lightning claw

10x tatarus terminators

1x dead w/ 2 melta cannon

1x custom Mhara’gal dread made from a mostly a contemptor and a hell brute. 

10x ashen circle

5x gal vorbak

10x new possessed used as gal vorbak

40x tactical marines

10x assault marines new models not shown 5 built 5 new on sprue

5x recon squad conversions

10x plasma gun marines

5x melta gun marines

6x skyhunters with multi melta

10x heavy bolter marines

10x FW lascannon marines

5x rocket launcher marines

1x leviathan dread with 2 autocannons

1x leviathan dread with close combat 

2x scorpious launcher tanks treads separate for painting

1x land raider explorator

2x drop pods

1x land raider spartan

3x rhinos

Also you get the following items that are high quality 3d prints:

3d printed special terminators designed for word bearers

3d printed Zardu Lyak

3d printed Argal Tal

3d printed Librarian

3d printed Apothecary

3d printed dreadnought drop pod

2x 3d printed legion Sabres.

3d printed Word Bearers tatarous Praetor.

10x 3d printed tartarus cata terminators designed for Word Bearers designed by Napking.

a leather word bearers chapter banner custom made. 

word bearers red paint OOP

40 word bearers custom dice

extra word bearer shoulder legion badges

new word bearers transfer sheet

HH main rule book

traitor legion book

exemplar battles book

HH reaction cards

Ravenguard Army Showcase

To prepare for the Stalingrad Horus Heresy Campaign, I went to an eBay seller and purchased a vast collection of Ravenguard units.

15 Mor Deythan
2 Storm Eagle
9 Outriders
120 Tactical
30 Veterans
28 Heavy
38 HQ’s
3 Contemptor
7 Drop Pod
1 Fel Blade
3 Rhino
3 Javelin
43 Assault
10 Catphractii
4 Landspeeder
2 Predator
3 Rapier Battery
1 Sicaran
9 Recon
1 Basilisk
3 Land Raider
1 Corvus
5 Dark Furies
1 Fire Raptor

The Pictures are below.

Geonosis Terrain

This weekend, I continued my Hobby streak of 23 straight days by painting a box of 3D-printed Geonosian terrain, something I have worked on for a while.

All the terrain comes from Brander Roullette on Myminifactory. https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-star-wars-legion-geonosis-spires-and-terrain-188409

The large centerpiece comes from somewhere else. I’m not sure where I found it.

Everything was started with black PLA. I primed with a brown spray paint from WalMart.

I then hit almost everything with a dark red.

Then I finished on the top with some orange.

I am thrilled with how these turned out. I think it will be perfect for Star Wars Legion.

Horus Heresey and Stalingrad 2

Another battle in the books.
Overall, I was impressed by how much closer this one came out. If the Contemptor for the defending Word Bearers does not roll five consecutive failed saves to become destroyed. I actually think the Word Bearers could have pulled it out. Instead, the Ravenguard cruised to victory but with heavy losses. The scenario played much more evenly than in the Bolt Action version. An additional 500 points to the Word Bearers would have balanced the scenario perfectly. I have another lopsided scenario coming in the next couple of weeks, which will be interesting.

Battle Rules

This is another river crossing scenario. This time, the defenders are dug in and prepared for the enemy. However, the enemy has numerical and technological superiority. One thing that Horus Heresey plays much better at than Bolt Action is the addition of flying units.

The Ravenguard are attempting to cross into the city. The Word Bearers are holding. Teams get 1 VP for each unit destroyed and 1 VP for each unit on the Word Bearer side of the river.


Army Lists

Word Bearers1250
Legion Cataphractii Praetor135
Contemptor Talon w/ Graivtron Gun and Melta195
Mhara Gal Dreadnought240
Terminator Cataphractii (6)210
Despoiler Squad100
Despoiler Squad100
Legion Avenger Strike Fighter150
Predator120
Predators are the best tanks. The Strike Fighter punched well above its weight. The despoilers were used to fall back and shoot. The Mhara Gal was useless.
Ravenguard2500
Strike Captain Alvarex Maun/ Command and Drop Pod260
2x Contemptor Dreadnought with Graviton Gun400
Destroyer Assault Squad250
Rapier Battery65
Assault Squad145
Assault Squad145
Tactical Squad100
Dark Furies150
Javelin Squadron x3270
Fire Raptor Gunship315
Basilisk Squadron200
Vindicator Squadron x2245
I was delighted with the Rapier Battery. The Dark Furies did work to remove the dreadnought, but the Fire Raptor didn’t do much. Vindicators shouldn’t have been brought based on their range; I don’t think I even fired with them.

Set-Up

We are on a 4×4 Table with an impassible river directly down the middle. There are heavy woods on the Ravenguard side with some hills. There are hills and some fortifications on the Word Bearer’s side.

Deployment

Not much to report. The Furies, Assault Squads, Destroyer Squads, and Strike Captain are all in deep strike. The flying bases indicate the flying machines. I knock them over too often.

Turn 1

Turn one involved a lot of shooting. I gave the Word Bearers the first turn. I didn’t think there was actually going to be a game. I thought the defenders would get wiped off the table right away. The Strike fighter gets solid hits all game long on the Raven Guard heavy units.

Turn 2

More shooting; a Javelin was destroyed, and a couple wounds to a Contemptor from the Rapier battery. Cover saves doing work here.

Turn 3

The Ravenguard strike. The entire deep strike force hit hard. Many casualties. The despoilers on the bottom left were destroyed, as was the contemptor. The Dark Furies did not miss a hit or a wound, which was ridiculous. Then, the Contempor missed most of the saves. It, of course, took down many furies with it. Enormous casualties on the Ravenguard.

Turn 4

I thought the bearers would pull it off at this point. Multiple Javelins down, the terminators were unkillable. Then, the Rapier destroyed the Mhara Gal, allowing free reign to kill the Predator.

Turn 5

The Raven’s slayed the enemy warlord with the multiple assault squads and the command squad on the Word Bearer side of the river. The Ravenguard took the minor victory at 9 VPs to the Word Bearers 7 VPs. Honestly, if the Rapier does not take down the Mhara Gal. I think the Word Bearers pull this one off. The Mhara Gal would have destroyed another Ravenguard Unit and saved their Praetor, which gives +3 to the Bearers and -3 to the guard. Plus, I think the Predator tank lives.

Below is a glimpse at the next engagement, Stalingrad 3. The table is ready. I need to paint about 30 units.

Stalingrad Scenario 2 Dawn Crossing Battle Report

My second scenario, Dawn Crossing, was a complete disaster for the Soviets. The first scenario was a near run, and the last throw of the dice was a thrilling encounter. The second was over by turn three. Turn one, I thought the Soviets would do well despite being outgunned 2:1. 60% of German boats were destroyed. Turn two saw tremendous luck, where basically every German artillery unit that could hit did hit. Destroying or pinning essentially every Soviet Unit.

I didn’t particularly like this scenario. The openness on the Soviet side of the board meant there was very little maneuver, and it was just sit and shoot, in this case, get shot. I thought there was a little more depth that could have been added as far as reinforcements.

Final score, six Soviet Units were Destroyed, and 3 Units on the bank for 9 VPs for the Germans. The Soviets had 3 VP.

The Rules Basics

On a 4×4 table, the Germans are attempting to cross a 9″ river. Every unit on the Soviet side of the river gains 1 VP; additionally, every destroyed earns them 1 VP. The Germans get twice as many points as the Soviets. The Soviets should have between 500 and 700. The Soviets could begin the battle dug in and in heavy cover. Germans may start with a preparatory bombardment.

Army Lists

Germans127513 Order Dice
Leutnant50
Heer Veteran Infantry981 Soldier, 1 LMG
Heer Infantry1003 Soldiers, 1 LMG
Artillery Forward Observer100
Heer Pioneer Squad106Vets, 2 Soldiers, 5 SMGs
Panzergrenadier Squad159Regulars, 5 Soldiers, 3 SMGs, 2 LMGs
Heer Pioneer65Veterans
MMG50
MMG50
Heavy Mortar75
Sniper50
Medium Artillery, Howitzer85
Panzer IV B,C,D,E,F175
Sturmboot 39’s (2) 52 (26 Each)Regular
Schlauchboot 3m (3)60 (20 Each)Regular
Soviets63711 Order Dice
Free Rifle Squad011+Banner
2nd Lieutenant421 Attendant Inexperienced
Light Machine Gun Squad50Regular
Veteran Squad1462 Soldiers, NCO SMG, 2 LMGs, 1 Panzerfaust, Tough Fighters
MMG50
HMG70
Anti Tank Rifle30
Medium Mortar35
Zis 3 Divisional Gun80

My Strategy

The Germans deployed first. I wanted all my units to hit the river immediately and force the Soviets to divide their fire. I did use the preparatory bombardment to try and pin some of their Veteran. I wanted to use the mortar, howitzer, and tank to soften their center.

For the Soviets I placed machine guns covering the most dangerous rafts, I used my veteran unit with two LMGs to cover a third boat. I put my two regular units farther back to cover where the Germans might penetrate. I wanted my militia squad to hold their side well. I placed the AT gun where it could cover the opposing tank as it hit the wooded area.

Turn One

The prep bombardment didn’t go well. All the German artillery strikes were misses. The veterans and two machine guns were able to destroy both boats and a raft, leaving only two rafts left. This stranded the German MMGs on the opposing bank. The Soviets inflicted solid casualties.

Turn Two

How quickly a game can turn on a few dice rolls. The German artillery observer did work on the center. The Mortar Hit, the tank approached the tree line, giving the Germans four machine guns to inflict damage and pin markers on the Soviets. Both Veterans could land on the Soviet side of the bank and survive. The other units provided cover fire, pinning most of the Soviets, who took heavy casualties. The reserves tried to move forward and were quickly gunned down as they couldn’t make it to heavy cover.

Turn Three

At this point, the game was basically over. The Germans were inflicting tons of casualties and taking very few. Most Soviet units were hopelessly pinned down. The raft returned to the German side to attempt another pick-up. (It was probably against the rules.) A German Sniper killed the Lieutenant.

Turn Four

More Soviet casualties as they lay in their foxholes. The AT Gun was able to put the German panzer on Fire. More Germans land on the bank.

Turn 5.

I did call the game here. Exactly one unit was able to complete an action, the AT Gun. As a side note, this was the only turn in which the Sniper did not kill anyone.

Competitive Wargaming and Rules Bloat

One of the items I struggle with more than anything in wargaming is rules bloat. What do I mean by rules bloat? When you go to play a game such as 40k or Bolt Action, you are all excited to play. You start playing, and the opponent starts saying things like, according to supplement 12 on page 98, cross-referenced to supplement 18, I can kill this. Or my army can do such and such. Whatever it may be, when you need 15 books to play a game, the rules are bloated.

Companies like Games Workshop (the worst) and Warlord Games make millions from simple rules bloat. They are often inconsequential things that take minimal development resources; they can use pre-written lore, stock images that didn’t make the cut in other books, and tada, a new $70 supplement every player must buy to stay current with the rules. Add in codex and army books, and you’re suddenly required to take half a dozen books to play a simple game.

From a business perspective, I 100% understand where companies come from, namely, free money. GW profits from people buying their products. It generates more sales if their products are mandatory to keep using their other products. The only downside is that we push out casual/new players. It is something that happened to MTG. The game is too complicated for new people. The tables are too toxic with competitive players. It isn’t fun if you haven’t played for a few months.

It’s one of the reasons I really enjoy historicals. General De Armee has one rulebook, Black Seas has two books, DBMM has one book of rules and one or two armies. Star Wars Legion and A Song of Ice and Fire are brutal because the rules change with the units.

I fear that rules bloat is where all commercial wargames are going. The bloat makes me fear for getting new players into games.

Selling out of Magic the Gathering A Journey

I started playing magic with simple drafts during Alara Reborn. I was hooked. I was 20, relatively late to start a new game, and broke and in college.

My first box was a simple booster, Magic 10; I think it was a fat pack, not an entire booster box. I needed basic land. It came with a handy box to put my cards in. I continuously purchased one booster box per set until Battle for Zendikar in 2015, when I upped to a booster case. As my finances improved, I improved my position. Dual lands, restricted lists, complete sets, power 9. Fast forward to Modern Horizons 2 with multiple booster cases. I had acquired over 180,000 cards, and it was an inventory and storage nightmare.

My wife and I had a hard discussion; I had too much, and it had to go. At this point, I hadn’t played a game of paper magic in three years. I still purchased four of every standard set upon release, as well as every commander product and collector case. I spent over 25k in a single year on MTG. I wasn’t even enjoying it; it was pure fear of missing out and what else I should do.

I committed to selling everything I wasn’t using. My goal is to get under 10,000 cards and two boxes. I might keep 10 odd decks lying around, 1-2 in every format (vintage included), but what do we sell?

Step One: Deciding its time to sell

Questions to ask yourself.

  • What do I want from Magic?
  • Do I still enjoy collecting?
  • Space requirements?
  • How much is it worth?

This is by far the hardest step: realizing that part of your collection no longer brings you joy or value. I had over 100 booster boxes lying around in my attic. I called my FLGS and sent him a list. He picked them up, and $24,000 later, my journey of selling the collection began.

Deciding to sell your precious cards, usually at a major loss, is a hard choice, especially for me. I have always been a collector. If you follow the full blog, you know I can field every 40k Age of Sigmar, Old World, 9th Age, Star Wars Legion, Star Wars Armada, Star Wars X-Wing, A Song of Ice and Fire, Black Seas, Flames of War, Bolt Action, Blood Bowl, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Necromuda, Lord of the Rings, Kill Team, War Cry, Shatterpoint, faction. Just that list is exhausting.

I also have massive forces for historics, napoleonics, ancients, battle tech, American Civil War, Dead Man’s hand. I like to collect. Magic was no different. I made the decision as I aged and had less time I wanted to be able to play any deck whenever I wanted. It started with standard, then modern, legacy, vintage, pioneer, and commander. It was awful. I was no longer playing; I just inventoried all day long. The fact that it took the threat of divorce from my wife to clean up my act was a wake-up call. I enjoy wargaming and hobbying far more than the gritty ness of magic; I love the universe, and love the game, but to stay current is a full-time job.

I wanted magic to be fun and relaxing. It just isn’t anymore.

I used to enjoy collecting. Saying I have every card from modern and up is tremendous. It also brings a burden. Suddenly, you are the supplier of decks. Every local player would ask if they could borrow a card and would get butt hurt when I always turned them down. I always bought the cheapest version and four of them. I never understood how cards would get returned with Cheeto dust.

I didn’t care about bling until one day, I did. I blinged out Modern Humans, the most expensive version of every card in the deck. Then the Cavern of Soul’s Boxtoppers and the inventions were released. It just kept getting worse.

I have already discussed space, so let’s discuss money. My wife and I would rather pay off our house than have 180,000 magic cards, which could tank in value any day. So that’s the goal. For you, it could be a car, a credit card bill, or a new TV. I asked the hard question: What is it worth?

How to sell?

There are many articles covering this very topic. Sell the whole collection on Facebook or eBay or to Cardhoarder or your FLGS? Piece it out? I used Cardhoarder to get a bottom valuation of $180,000 for everything. But it had to be sorted and ready to go; otherwise, the value was $115,000. I knew I personally could do better than that. A few people offered in the $140,000 range on Facebook, but as the process of selling, the collection became more real. I realized I did enjoy my black lotus and her 8 friends. What were just the items I didn’t want to look like? I decided to sell on TCG. It gave me control, and I could evaluate each card as listed.

A new seller gets 100 listings. I listed 100 premium box toppers, foil, and full art cards from various boxes I ordered. Within two weeks, I was a level 4 seller with unlimited listings. I determined I wanted to do no more than 30 to 40 orders per day, so I kept my inventory small in the 3000-4000 range.

How you want to sell your cards weighs in three factors.

  • How much time do I want to spend listing and selling?
  • How fast do I want the funds?
  • How much value do I want?

The best way to get the most value is to sell piece by piece yourself on a medium like Facebook or to your local group. You can typically get 95% of TCG with very little fees. It is also by far the most time-consuming.

The fastest way is selling the collection in bulk as it sits to whoever takes the risk. It is also the worst way to extract value from your cards. Expect 50-55% of TCG.

Buylisiting is a medium where you sacrifice more value for convenience, 60-65%. TCG is on the other side of that medium with more time but also more value, 70-80%.

I chose TCG because I was already spending 4-5 hours per week on magic. It should work out if I took the same time to list and sell it. If you have less than 500 cards to sell, I would strongly consider a buy list of FLGS. I don’t see online working well for you. The more cards you have listed, the more people are looking at your inventory and the higher chance you have of a sale. If I drop below 2,500 cards, my sales and views drastically drop.

What to Sell?

There is value in every card in magic. Tokens and basic lands; you name it, and you can sell it. How much is it really worth? Most buylists don’t go under $2 unless there is a solid staple. Think fatal push or swords to plowshares. Local game stores typically offer a bulk rate of .15 per rare under $2 and $10/1000 of common and uncommon.

I primarily sold my collection on TCG. I listed about 2,000 cards total when I realized there was a threshold of what I wanted to list. It was about 20 cents. I typically round to the nearest nickel.

I had listed a bunch of .05 cards, and I hated selling them. When you sell one card with shipping, I made about .07 after fees and shipping. If I sold the card for .05. I could do 30 orders in an hour, so when these cards came up, I made $2.10/hr. Completely worthless. At .20 a card I could make between $14-$15 and hour and they sold. It also reduced my inventory, my total number of orders, and how long it took me to fill orders because I wasn’t constantly thumbing through crap cards.

You can really make money with .02 and .03 cards. There is a market for those cards. I didn’t feel it was worth my time, but it’s up to you. Several YouTubers push bulk.

I had very negative experiences selling foils online. If you think back to my first 100 cards listed. These were pack fresh, I opened myself, doublsleeved into toploaders. NM/M cards. I had complaints about the quality of 17 of the 100 orders. People care deeply about foils, and if you are dropping $200 on a force of will foil, you want it to be pristine, minty mint. Anything else, and the buyers just wanted them as damaged. I took the rest to the FLGS, which gave me 60%.

I also had a negative experience with my sealed product. Every person seemed to think I “case mapped” and gave them the shitty box out of a case. Especially the master’s boxes. After three complaints in 5 orders, I took the rest to the FLGS, who gave me 70%.

Inventory Management

I think most people selling on TCG as small sellers struggle here. Knowing where your cards are selling and what you have is vital. Typically, if I have an order of 5 cards all .2 and am missing one, I just cancel the whole order. In my limited experience, if you are missing a card from a shipment, the buyer wants the shipping refunded. TCG has a tool that optimizes your cart to the lowest price at the condition you select, including shipping. If you are ordering those five .20 cards from the same seller on TCG. It is unliking that seller is the lowest listing, however they are the only seller with all 5 cards listed and paying $2.21 for one package is cheaper than $4.50 for 3 packages. That said, people must order an additional card and pay the full shipping fee if they are missing one. They don’t want to pay shipping twice and will complain if you do not get a refund. If you decide to ship those 4 cards you have, expect a loss on the order.

I organized my sell box as follows,

  • By set
  • By card number in said set

I use one 5k box. If you need more, you are pushing yourself timewise to still have a life and job. With my 5k box, I spend about 90 minutes per day shipping and listing. The set number is automatically organized by color and alphabetically.

Pricing.

There are dozens of ideas for pricing your cards. I wanted a fair price, so I rarely undercut the lowest TCG listing. Instead, I would go .05 to .25 higher than the lowest listing. This would allow me to move most of my inventory very quickly.

To decide what to sell, I would open where I kept my card inventory, deckbox.org. You can see pricing based on edition which based on how I organized my collection (by edition) worked out nicely. I would scroll through their pricing and only look at cards over .20. I would add them, price them to my inventory, and put them in my to-sell box. I could do a complete set of 4 of every card in a complete set in about 30 minutes. Then, as they were put into my sell box, they were already organized.

Everything that didn’t go into the sell box went into the bulk boxes to be sold to the FLGS at $12/1000.

Your pricing strategy is up to you. If you need the money and just want the cards gone, pricing 5% below the lowest is a surefire way to a quick sale. Remember that it takes about 2 weeks to get your funds from TCG. If you need the cash that badly, FLGS or Buylist are your options.

Many people use the market pricing tool which bases your pricing on the most recent card sold. This tool is nice and generally gets you more money for your cards but less overall sales. It doesn’t take into account people who offer free shipping or other promos.

Packaging

I actually found very few good resources not in Youtube on packaging your cards. My method of filling orders is as follows;

  1. Open all the orders that day in individual tabs
  2. Place my to sell box on my lap and being pulling cards from each order while going through the tab. So I fill each order as I open the tab, place the cards in a penny sleeve and stack on my desk.
  3. Copy and paste the address to a label template to be printed.
  4. Do as many orders as fill a label sheet (30) and stop.
  5. Switch back to the first tab and begin packing orders.
  6. All cards go into penny sleeves up to 6, and then that penny sleeve goes into a shipping shield. I put a maximum of 18 cards in a plain white envelope. More than 18 get premium shipping. There are lots of people who claim to put 60+ cards in a PWE. I don’t risk it.
  7. I tape the shipping shield shut with scotch tape.
  8. I put the order in the envelope.
  9. Put the label on the envelope.
  10. Stamp the envelope
  11. Mark as shipped

I use the following supplies for 95% of my orders.

  • I order prestamped windowless envelopes
  • I use Avery labels from wal-mart
  • I use card board shipping shields
  • Penny Sleeves
  • I buy stamps 10 rolls at a time.

More expensive orders ($25) get the special tracked shipping.

  • Cards are placed into top loaders
  • They are sent in a 5×7 envelope with USPS ground Advantage Shipping
  • Shipping is purchased through USPS click and save
  • I use a Polono 60 laser printer to print 4×6 labels

I hope this helps

I have spent about 6 months and am 70% of the way though selling my collection. It has been a lot of time and effort, but well worth it. I have recouped about 74% of the collection value based on the deckbox.org tracker.

Selling your collection is an emotional moment. I have also found it liberating. For some reason people have a strong attachment to possessions. I am one of those people. Hopefully this allows me to sell some of my excess Warhammer stock.

The End of Star Wars Armada and Xwing

I was surprised yesterday with a livestream from Crabok. He reported the end of Star Wars Armada (imminent) and Star Wars Xwing.

Armada didn’t surprise me. While it was one of my favorite games for a very long time. There hasn’t been a new ship released in years. I still intend to realize my Outer Rim Sieges campaign at some point. I have many of the rules written. It is just disappointing to see it end. The most shocking bit is that Atomic Mass Games purchased the game from Fantasy Flight and then did nothing. The same thing with XWing.

I wonder if the creativity wasn’t there? They blamed things on COVID, but that doesn’t jive. Xwing was pretty well covered, as far as cannon ships go. They could have gone in many more directions with legends or new pilots. I remember Xwing being one of the best-selling games for years. I know there was money there. It is just a disappointing kill for games.

Armada, on the other hand, had tons of options and places they could go. I can think of 10 ships that played a major role in the Clone Wars that were not instituted. Lucrehulk, of course, diamond corvettes, the federation ship that was a ball split in half, stealth ship, Naboo class frigate, and a couple other cruiser-style ships for the republic, just around disappointing.

The hardest part is I know Armada wasn’t selling well. You couldn’t just attend your FLGS and buy expansions for it. Getting new people into games is hard if you can’t see them on shelves. The same thing is happening with basically any non-GW game right now. You could buy X-Wing at Wal-Mart during its peak. The game was immensely popular, and there were many competitive events, just ugh.

Maybe a group of 20 could get a Patreon and restart the games? Buy the license for just those two games. It seems to me like money could be made there.