Dirge for the Fallen

[ElectricPaladin]

This evening, I left home with more than 1850 points of Space Marines, all of them painted in Blood Angels red, with shoulder pads I'd freehanded myself. There were lots of conversion pieces I was really proud of, from the terminator librarian's force axe to my techmarine's servo-harness, to the chop job I'd done to turn an ancient and tiny rhino into a modern-sized vehicle. Also in that box were my tape measure, my dice, my dice bag, my templates, and the mini Dark Vengeance rulebook I'd bought off eBay.

Now, all of it's gone. Someone broke into my car - smashing my window - and stole, of all things, my army. All I've got now is my land raider and my drop pod, which were in a different case, the stormtalon I'd just bought, and the storm bolter termie librarian and seven tactical terminators that I'd left at home.

You know, I think I wish it had been another gamer who'd stolen my army. I really do. I wish I'd left them on the table at Endgame and some jerk had walked off with them. That way, at least, I know they're not going to just end up in a dumpster.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide the best way to replace my collection, and I'd really appreciate your advice. I can't just go out and buy all the kids I've lost. That would be almost $400. I have about 125$ on hand - a windfall from work.

I think what I'm going to do is buy the Dark Vengeance set. That will cover the replacing the mini rulebook, templates, one of my tactical squads, and a librarian. I guess I can always use more terminators - with five more, I can field ten and still have options for which weapons to bring to the table with no magnetizing necessary - and I've been curious about playing with bikes. I can use the company master as a captain or chapter master, or hack him up and put him on a bike for a biker captain - I haven't decided yet. Shaving off all that Dark Angels iconography will keep me entertained for a while.

The Chaos stuff? I'll have to find someone willing to buy or trade for it. Does anyone know how much I can expect to get for the Chaos portion of Dark Vengeance, or have any advice for selling it?

Honestly, I'm just really bummed. Tonight was such a great night - I had a really fun game, my guy won the election - and this... really sucks. It's more than just the inconvenience. Those models meant something to me. They were art, and they were beautiful. I'm not saying that I'm a Golden Daemon winner or anything, but I'm proud of the work I do. I worked hard on them, and now they're gone - probably into the trash. I'm just going to be bummed about this for a while.

[Wolfshade]

Are you possessions not covered by your insurance?

[ElectricPaladin]

Are you possessions not covered by your insurance?

I don't think I have that kind of insurance.

We never got around to renter's insurance, but I don't think that would have covered things stolen out of my car anyway, would it have? And I have pretty cheap car insurance. And even if I had, I don't think they cover stolen possessions, either.

[eldargal]

Ask around, check local classified and ebay etc and you may get lucky if someone puts it up for sale. Horrible thing to happen.:(

[Wolfshade]

:(
I don't know how things works in the states, it is probably different for each one too.
I know for my home insurance all of my possessions are covered even when away from the home (if that is their normal storage location) and I think my car insurance also covers gadgets left in the car.

It does suck. I think you might have to hit ebay hard and do the demoralising repainting :(

[energongoodie]

I'm sorry BOLS chum. I really feel bad for you.

[alshrive]

truly sorry to hear of your plight! i genuinely feel for you

[OrksOrksOrks]

get in touch with your car insurance company, this should be covered

[Adra]

Although i think you may have some luck with the insurance its the kind of loss that money cant fully repay. I'm very sorry to hear you lost your army mate, thats got to be gutting. Its not unheard of for folks in my area to have their cases stolen as people mistake them for tool boxes.

My advice would be to start something new, maybe something you have been putting off because of your current army commitment. Dont try and re-do everything you lost because thats just depressing and you may end up resenting to workload. Maybe in some time you can go back and finish off the army but until then i say start something new or maybe continue an old project.

[Aegwymourn]

Wow, thats terrible. I don't know what I would do if somebody stole my case. You will want to double check with both your car and renters insurance. As a renter you fall under the umbrella of your landlord's insurance (he has to have the appropriate insurance to allow people to rent, which also covers them if I remember correctly). You might or might not have luck, but if you don't try you will regret it later.

I would agree with Arda, don't try to replicate what was lost first. Get something going to take your mind off of it. And I wouldn't make a decision in the next couple of days.

[magickbk]

That is awful. I've never completely lost an army in that fashion, although I have had catastrophic damage done to my armies before, so I know that nauseous feeling you get when you realize how much work that has been lost.

Usually when cases are stolen from vehicles, it is people looking for guns, and mistaking the figure cases for gun cases.

[ElectricPaladin]

That is awful. I've never completely lost an army in that fashion, although I have had catastrophic damage done to my armies before, so I know that nauseous feeling you get when you realize how much work that has been lost.

Usually when cases are stolen from vehicles, it is people looking for guns, and mistaking the figure cases for gun cases.

Well, there were guns in there. Just not the kind he was looking for... :D

I'm actually very confident that I want to forge ahead with replacing this army ASAP. Maybe it's stupid, but I think I'd rather look back at my collection of minis, some of which aren't exactly what I wanted, and know I got back in the saddle right away then sit around staring at my hands, feeling sorry for myself, and missing game nights (or having to bring my Tau or my Blood Angels, neither of which I'm particularly into right now). If I get Dark Vengeance, I'll have a tac squad and a spare HQ option. If I can manage to trade the Chaos bits for at least a single tac squad, I'll be playing games again.

It all comes down to this: I think I'll feel better if I'm fixing things, even making mistakes, then I would be letting things stay broken and screwed up in the interests of making the "right" choice.

[magickbk]

It's hard to go wrong with the Dark Vengeance set, and you should be able to do an even swap for the Chaos stuff if you can find someone, so that you can double up on the Marine stuff.

I would recommend getting started...

[Defenestratus]

Welcome to the new America. Where people feel that they're entitled to what you've worked hard to obtain and cherish.

Of course theft has always been around - however its never been this popularly approved.

I am sorry for your loss.

[imperialpower]

When I had my Landrover stolen my insurance company tried everything they could not to pay out until I took them to court and explained to them what insurance was and then they paid up, it's never a nice fealing to have anything stolen but the best thing you can do is not dwell on it and get started with a new better army.

[Kevin48220]

i agree that you should double check any/all insurance policies you have, to see if they will cover any part of your loss. Don't ever assume that they will or won't. In particular, look to see if they cover what you actually paid for the item, or if they cover the replacement value. That could make a difference, as what you actually paid for the models way back is likely far less than what it will cost to replace them, and your policy (assuming it will cover theft losses) may cover the replacement value.

I'd also say that even if it appears that the policy doesn't, talk to anyone at the insurance company you have a working relationship with--an agent, a salesperson, whomever. They might be able to point out options that aren't obvious from the policy language or point you to a department that may help.

I wish you well in getting a new army together. I think it's great that you are focusing on rebuilding and reclaiming your army, and hope you are up and running with it soon.

[inquisitorsog]

Welcome to the new America. Where people feel that they're entitled to what you've worked hard to obtain and cherish.

Of course theft has always been around - however its never been this popularly approved.

I am sorry for your loss.

I used to live not very far at all from the FLGS E-Pally is talking about. The store itself is in an ok area, but there are nearby areas that are lousy with crime and have been lousy for a _very_ long time.

[ElectricPaladin]

I used to live not very far at all from the FLGS E-Pally is talking about. The store itself is in an ok area, but there are nearby areas that are lousy with crime and have been lousy for a _very_ long time.

Yeah, that's the way it often is. Some ***-bucket came wandering in from a nearby neighborhood. It happens. Honestly, there wouldn't have been anything in my car to steal, except that I had dropped my army back in my car in order to lug the orks I was selling over to the store and not have to carry everything back at once.

In a lot of ways, I'm lucky. They didn't bother to grab one of the two bags, so I still have my rogue-trader era land raider (and my drop pod, but whatever). They didn't grab the orks or eldar I'm selling for a friend - I'd be fully screwed if I had to replace those. They didn't grab my brand new stormtalon box sitting in the back seat.

[Michael Adam Hockenbarger]

I've had decks and collections stolen from my card games. It is impossible to just replace it on a budget. Not to mention the blood sweat and tears you've already put into the painting and building. Trying to precisely duplicate what was lost will be significantly more depressing than a new project.

[Regnir]

Ask around, check local classified and ebay etc and you may get lucky if someone puts it up for sale. Horrible thing to happen.:(

^^^ This.

Here's a funny, but true story.

One of our local gamers many many years ago had two amazing WHFB armies stolen out of his car in much the same manner right in the parking lot behind what was then our local gaming shop. The community did some searching, but never ended up finding the minis.

Years later the owner of that LGS closed up shop, and one of his employees opened a place not too far away. We've spent several years gaming at this shop.

Not too long ago, an older guy came into the store with a few cases, cracked them open, and asked the employee working the counter if they would be interested in buying these figures. The guy didn't know what they were for, but knew that the shop sold them. The employee didn't know the figs, but thankfully one of the regulars was hanging out down there painting and immediately recognized the two armies that had been stolen many years ago.

Anyhow, he brought it up that those armies had been stolen. The older man seemed to genuinely not know about it. He said that many years ago his daughters boyfriend was living with them. When he finally kicked the boyfriend out, a lot of his belongings were left behind including these cases that the older man had never bothered to look through.

In the end, he gladly gave the cases over with many apologies, and our friend was reunited with both of his long lost armies something like 5-6 years after they had been stolen.

So, don't lose hope and do some ebay and craigslist searches over the next few months. You might be surprised to find it.

[wittdooley]

Hey EP: Can you provide, to the best of your knowledge, and Itemized list of what was taken?

[ElectricPaladin]

Sure - what the heck:

• 1 foot librarian w/force axe & bolt pistol
• 1 terminator librarian w/force axe & storm shield
• 1 kit-bashed techmarine w/bolt pistol, power maul, and servo-harness
• 5 thunder hammer/storm shield terminators
• 10 power armor models painted as sternguard (white helmets), 3 of them with combi-meltas
• 20 power armor models painted as tactical marines, 2 of them sergeants with power weapons and bolt pistols, 2 with plasma cannon and 2 with plasma gun
• 1 hellfire dreadnought (the arms are removable, but only the lascannon and missile launcher arms were taken).
• 2 landspeeder typhoons
• 1 predator with magnetized heavy bolter sponsons and both kinds of turret.
• 2 unpainted rhinos, one of them a distinctive 2nd-edition rhino rebuilt with a larger chassis (it looked kind of like a repressor).
• Old-school (yellow) template set
• Mini rulebook
• Dice bag & dice (including scatter die)

Except where noted, all models were painted khorne red with bone and dark metal accents.

[wittdooley]

Sure - what the heck:

• 1 foot librarian w/force axe & bolt pistol
• 1 terminator librarian w/force axe & storm shield
• 1 kit-bashed techmarine w/bolt pistol, power maul, and servo-harness
• 5 thunder hammer/storm shield terminators
• 10 power armor models painted as sternguard (white helmets), 3 of them with combi-meltas
• 20 power armor models painted as tactical marines, 2 of them sergeants with power weapons and bolt pistols, 2 with plasma cannon and 2 with plasma gun
• 1 hellfire dreadnought (the arms are removable, but only the lascannon and missile launcher arms were taken).
• 2 landspeeder typhoons
• 1 predator with magnetized heavy bolter sponsons and both kinds of turret.
• 2 unpainted rhinos, one of them a distinctive 2nd-edition rhino rebuilt with a larger chassis (it looked kind of like a repressor).
• Old-school (yellow) template set
• Mini rulebook
• Dice bag & dice (including scatter die)

Except where noted, all models were painted khorne red with bone and dark metal accents.

PM me, please, if anyone sees these on any of the usual sites, or if you have any other thoughts/ideas