As part of the pre-move house tidy, we've been getting rid of stuff that we simply don't use, or won't use in the new house. For may part, I've been going through the many crates of stuff I shipped here when we moved from Burghfield Common. I had a huge amount of stuff that had simply not been touched in a decade or more. I've ended up sticking a fair number of items on eBay...I assumed that most of it would go for pennies, however I've had a few stand-out blinders.
Forgeworld Models - when I was deep into 40K gaming, I did some initial purchases for a "Phase Two" of my T'au Army. I bought some models from Forgeworld, which is the more niche and high-end version of Games Workshop. I bought these on one of my trips to Warhammer World, which is a sort of Geek Mecca...you can play wargames, drink in a Dwarven brewery, and look at all the minatures that have been shown in 'Eavy Metal. Buying directly from the Factory, so to speak, means you can buy them cheaper, and no postage-and-packing. The biggest "win" here were 3 Broadsides, of a design that has been completely discontinued. Bought for £20 each, the unit of 3 eventually sold for £167!! They are going to a guy building up a complete Forgeworld T'au army, where they will be the centre-piece.
Boardgames - I decided to get rid of about half my boardgames. The selection was made based on;
- Is the game rare or out of print? - there is literally no point selling games like Catan, Carcassonne, Pandemic etc, as everyone already has them and the values are on or near zero
- Is it realistically playable? - Some games require a big investment in time, or a strong player base. Examples are living card games (Netrunner), Descent, Blue Moon. Some games have such a long set-up time that it's simply better played in other formats...Dominion, Arkham Horror and Small World being good examples
- Did I actually like it? - There were a number of regret purchases in my collection, or games that I acquired by accident (for example I have a copy of Star Trek:Expeditions...which is sorta dull, but I won a copy at Baycon years ago from the playtest).
There were a couple of surprise winners here. One is still going...Gears of War : The Board Game is the first. I bought this to take to a Baycon. We had a couple of plays, and decided the difficulty curve was way too random. RNG could decide if you won or lost alone, and it's been gathering dust ever since.
The other is Space Hulk : Death Angel, which is a hard-as-nails solo card game. In both these cases it seems the license and limited print run has meant the game has accrued value, and appeals to a bigger audience. Surprising as both are games that general boardgame geeks tend to dislike...it's very notable that Ameritrash games have better resell value than Euro-style games.
The next big surprise was Gill's Nintendo DS. She was just going to bin it, however I said I'd check to see if they still had value. The console itself...less so...however there were 2 games. Let's just say I'm glad I peeled off the £29.99 Gamestation Sticker off this before I took the photos. I spoke to the buyer after the auction, and apparently it's considered the "best" version of the game...he's building up a collection of old offline games, as he's sick of online playing and just wants the clean simplicity of older titles, which I really relate to!
Some other random items that I chucked on for a laugh but made money were;
Some torches I used to use as bike headlights 10 years ago
A phone I was offered £25 for on a "We Buy Any Phone" style website
The random spares off a load of Games Workshop sprues I'd used
The slightly-too-small DM's I wore on my wedding day
Some random IKEA grow lights that were a failed hydroponics project
All in all it's been a worthwhile process. I've shipped, or am about to ship, about 7-8 boxes of stuff out of the house...and that's all stuff we won't have to pay to have moved up north for no real reason. What's also been helpful is the ability to get packages picked up from the house (I'm now on first name terms with both the local Evri guy, and the UPS chap). We finally relented and bought a printer during lockdown (as we could no longer print from our offices), and that's been super-useful in printing postage labels.
I still need to get rid of Ogre:Designers Edition, which is very heavy (10kg), and actually not that fun to play or valuable. I have a feeling the shipping on that will be more than I get for it.
I've kept some "maybe" stuff back. I still have my copy of Starcraft:The Board Game, which sells for big money (I also have the Brood War expansion). I have a copy of Wiz War as well, which seems to sell well. Both games are ones I'd like to play again at some point. I have a load of Forgeworld models that are partially assembled, which was the start of a project to build a Badab War Charcharadons army, using Horus-era Forgeworld kit. I'd had custom pauldrons printed up, and if/when I get back into wargaming, that will be my gateway project. I've also obviously got my 5 complete 40K and Fantasy armies, and I'm planning on having them displayed in the new place.