Bargains

For about the last year I have been using trade-me quite a bit. It is a New Zealand Ebay equivalent I guess you could say. Last week I got two items I am pretty stoked about. Item one is a Monsterpocolypse starter kit a strategic war game with giant monsters. Whats not to love?

In all honesty I don't really know how to play but it is highly rated and comes with heaps of cool monsters and buildings and a map for only $30. I am picking it up at Call To Arms tournament in a weeks time. The second item is the Tantive IV which is a giant x wing spaceship. 

It is a beast.

I thought I would give some tips which hopefully apply to wider than just trade me.

1. Always ask for a better price. If you don't ask you will never know, and if they say no, no skin of your back! 
2. Create watch lists.  On trade me I have set searches for games I am interested in however don't feel any pressing need to get straight away. 

Here is a screenshot from my favourites,
I get an email if anything comes up every 3 days. 

3. Don't get it if you feel the price is to high, something else will alway come up. If the seller can't sell often they will re-list it with a lower price, I have got items this way a few times including the tantive IV.

I am sure there are other tips which are not on the top of my mind currently but you get the picture. Always ask questions, be patient, keep an eye out! If you have any other ideas put it down below. I guess I should share my major success story. Twilight imperium which is normally $150-$200 I scored for $29, bargain huh! I waited about 2 years before this bargain came up however I didn't care so much as its such a long game (looking at 8 hours) I knew it wouldn't get much table time. 

X-wing table complete

Last week I made headway on a space board to use for X-Wing. However to make it playable I had to mark out a 3 by 3 square. As it was already three foot wide I just had to divide up the length.

Marking the line. I was going to paint it white however I decided to go with blue in the end so the contrast wasn't so stark. 

I am happy with the final result. I preferred the table as solid space however the line had to be made for a game of X-Wing. Of interest, while cutting the wood originally I didn't think about size, so if you were to play two games of X-Wing at once, there would be one 3 foot side and the other about 1/2 a cm off. 

The table even looks good for an epic board game. My green felt however does provide an easier surface to use, namely when picking up tokens and cards. Here Dan, Alex and I are playing a game of Arkham Horror. 

It was nice playing Arkham Horror as it is truly a classic. The mechanic is very clunky although it is impressive that it manages to hold such a complex co-operative game and keep it fun. We didn't quite finish however I am pretty sure Shuddle M'ell would have consumed us and inevitably the whole world. 

Grr, I am Shuddle, call me uddle for short.