So, I had been waiting for the Despoiler upgrades for MkVI power armour for quite some time – since the new Horus Heresy was released actually.

They were destined for my Alpha Legion. I have been working on both Alpha Legion and Imperial Fist forces for the Pluto campaign, where the former are knocking over the space station of the latter at the edge of the Terran system. Very infantry-based, lots of tight corridor actions, focussed armies, Primarchs involved… brilliant.

Collecting all the models and painting them, I quickly whittled the list of things to do down to just two types of units – Despoilers for the Alpha Legion and Breachers for the Fists.

My idea here was that the Alpha Legion were launching a surprise attack and they would be going in hard and loud – lots of Terminators, lots of loud-bang type weapons, and a bias towards close combat. The Imperial Fists, on the other hand, would be a far more ‘standard’ garrison army, at least in the early stages of the campaign, so Tactical Squads would be a big thing to begin with and they would only get the cooler kit later on, gradually matching the Alpha Legion invaders.

Simples.

I was happy to wait for the last bits and pieces I needed, and contented myself by adding a few new characters to each side to flesh things out. Finally, the Despoiler upgrade was announced – not a brand new plastic kit but a resin upgrade… however, you know what, fine, I was cool with that. After all, I wanted two squads of Despoilers for the Alpha Legion and just happened to have 20 plastic MkVI guys going spare. It all seemed to be coming together.

The pre-order went live… and I saw the price.

£19.50. To kit out five guys. And I was going to be needing four of those.

Now, it ain’t the money, strictly speaking. Financially, I do okay and anyone who comes here regularly knows new models pop up all the time (they fall onto my desk accidentally, I swear). But £80 to do my core units for the Alpha Legion (we’ll ignore the cost of the actual MkVI plastics, as I can do enough mental gymnastics to convince myself there is no cost there because they were already in the collection…)?

I just… don’t want to pay that. Could. Don’t want to.

And as for the Breachers needed for the Imperial Fists? I think you might as well call on the fairies .

It is not that I am impatient (though I have been waiting a year). I have enough armies that I can add to them here and there while I wait.

It is not that I am unwilling to drop money onto a hobby.

I just don’t want to spend £80 upgrading a couple of core units. With a few arms. That is it, just a few arms.

And now I am pretty sure I no longer want to do the Pluto campaign. Just kinda had the wind sucked out of those particular sails.

So, decision made. I am going to sell these two armies (they are at least half-decently done, so there will be a good return), and find another campaign to dive into. Something small and focussed. No idea what as yet.

Maybe the old Age of Sigmar Blightwar campaign, but with Astral Templars instead of Hammers of Sigmar as the hunters. Been wanting to see how they would react with the Slapchop method and, as my Daemons of Nurgle force is quite… extensive… it won’t take a massive effort to get all the models done for that.

And the Blightwar is something I have been meaning to get round to for six years now…