40K: Don’t Trash Your 7th Ed Stuff
New Editions mean saying goodbye to our old toys – but doesn’t mean you have to trash em.
8th Edition is just around the corner and that means a very special time of year is here.
The time everyone dumps their old stuff on ebay. I guarantee you it’s already begun. If you go look on ebay you will already see folks starting to get rid of the common items like 7th Edition Rulebooks, and Space Marine Codices.
Cycle of Gamer Life
It’s all part of the gamer lifecycle. Maybe you’ve experienced it. It goes something like this:
Phase 1 – RUMORS “OMG YOU WONT BELIEVE X about Game Y!”
Phase 2 – CONFIRMATION “Oh man – it’s really happening!
Phase 3 – DUMPING “I sold all my crap on ebay to get me some cash for the awesome new stuff. I sold off 2 OOP armies and 17 books – got a cool $24.75 for em!
Phase 4 – BINGE PURCHASING “ITS OUT ITS OUT! I’m eating ramen for a month but I’m buying one of everything!”
Phase 5 – STANDARD EDITION LIFECYCLE “Faction X is overpowered and faction Y sucks!”
Phase 6 – Goto Phase 1 of Next Edition
Breaking the Chain
But you don’t have to be like that. I’ve seen all levels of Phase 3 Dumping when game editions change. Some people just throw away the books. Some people throw the baby out with the bathwater and sell of their no longer tournament worthy armies. In general I’ve found this affects those who come into the hobby and build up a specific armylist. Once it’s not top of the meta – they dump it and build another.
I see this the behavior least in those who enter the game for the hobby or background. Folks who own giant armies of Eldar because they love the Eldar weather the storm of editions changes without batting an eye. They just reformulate new power armies from thier giant collection when the new rules hit.
Still kicking ass for the Master of Mankind!
So I’ll give you all the advice I give every edition.
Your armies are part of you.
You chose them
You painted them
You loved them
You won with them
You lost with them
You made friends with them
Don’t sell your babies. Just put them into a tupperware box and slide them under your bed. They may be awesome in a few weeks when the new edition comes out, or it may take a few years. But they will rise again. Once sold – they are gone forever.
Selling old rules is personal choice, but if you hold onto your hard earned tomes, one day you will have a grand gamer library to entertain you long after the dice have stopped rolling.
~Do you collect and care for your old editions, or want only the newest shiniest toys?
