Today I bought a Sisters of Battle Squad box -- you know, the one with 10 Adepta Sororitas minis, your basic "troops" unit for a Witch Hunters army. I finally gave up on finding any decent deals on Ebay and/or Bartertown and just decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and that's support my FLGS by purchasing the models through them. That way I'll get exactly what I want, when I want it, and I won't have to waste any of my (increasingly precious and limited) hobby time stripping paint of minis I got in the "aftermarket".While I'm certain I'm going to drop more cash on this project doing it this way, I find myself asking this question (in a sort of TCO/ROI way of thinking), "Just how much is your free time worth?" By this I mean if you decide to purchase some stuff off Ebay (and I've done it shamelessly and will continue to do so for other projects) you pretty much KNOW you're going to have to spend extra time prepping the minis that you wouldn't have to spend if you just bought new models. Sometimes the time it takes to do all these extra steps -- paint stripping & model cleaning being the major time bandits followed closely by any repairs you have to make, etc. -- can quickly escalate into a pretty significant time investment.
When you add it all up, the man-hours you had to spend doing the extra work will more than likely offset any savings you got in buying the models "second-hand" (as it were). For me it's a simple overall test: I take what my approximate hourly rate is from work and multiply that times number of hours spent doing the second-hand model pre-painting prep work and that gives you a reasonable dollar amount that you add to the price you paid for the "second-hand" minis. If the total of these two numbers (price you paid for minis + dollar amount associated with spending your precious time doing the extra work) is higher than the retail price of the squad/blister/box/etc., well, you screwed yourself and you'd have probably been better off buying new stuff in the first place. :)
[...and holy crap on a pogo stick I just realized I spent a ridiculous amount of time explaining why I had purchased new minis. Ha! Me, a longtime CMBS victim, explaining to a virtual room full of fellow CMBS victims why I...bought...more...models. Talk about "preaching to the choir", huh?]
Anyway, so I get these shiny new models home and give a little show-n-tell for the wife, showing her the few models I'd managed to score over several months of scouring the Auction Hellmouth for bargains). I also explained to her some basic fluff ideas I had to the army...
...but I have been vetoed.
The Wife has informed that I shall not, in fact, be naming my new Adepta Sororitas force "Order of the Glistening Black Iris" (think Georgia O'Keeffe painting here, people -- I'll attach a .jpg of the painting to the bottom of this post so you'll know exactly where I'm going with this one...)
Oh, woe is me, I have been repressed and my creativity has been stymied!
Hmmm...thinkthinkthink....
Yeah, I'm guessing if "Order of the Glistening Black Iris" didn't make it through, I'm pretty sure "Order of Our Holy Pink Tacos" won't, either, and that means "Order of Our Raging Premenstrual Princess" is definitely right out.
What disappoints me most about the Black Iris Ban is I think the painting's color palette would look fantastic on a Sisters army. Not that I can't use that color palette, I suppose, but it just won't be the same. Oh well, I'm sure something will come to me.
So, any suggestions you'd care to share?
Has YOUR creativity ever been stymied? Have you ever had good ideas just sort of "die in committee"? If so, how'd you deal with it? Or...how about sharing a tale or two of heartbroken hopes and desolate dreams -- truly good creativity aborted by some outside force or agent?
Lastly, as promised, I present Georgia O'Keeffe's "Black Iris":
Image Credit/Citation:
"Georgia O'Keeffe: Black Iris (69.278.1)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(...see what I mean?)
