Sheep Impact (A Charity Shop Adventure)

No, the title of this blog entry is not the long-awaited sequel to that awful disaster movie with a meteor colliding with Earth... What was that called...? Oh yeah, Armageddon.

Sheep impact just sort of sums up today's exciting charity shop purchases.

It's been quite a while since I wrote about charity shop finds here on Always Board, Never Boring. That's mainly because I haven't found anything good. I always look in charity shops for old out of production board games, but it really is getting harder to find anything worthwhile at a reasonable price. There are several reasons, of course. Most importantly, charity shops have got wise to the true value of things. When a load of games turn up in store, one of the staff hops on the internet and figures out which bits are worth anything, and then jacks the price up accordingly. I don't really mind that. It means a charity is making a bit more money, which is no bad thing.

The other major reason that charity shops don't tend to have a lot of good stuff is because of bloody eBay. Nowadays, when parents clear out their children's toys, they don't give them to charity; the toys end up being sold on eBay. Only broken crap, or stuff that parents don't realise is valuable, will end up in a charity store.

So, most of the time, charity stores are a complete bust. I really don't need a copy of Carol Vorderman's Sudoku in my games collection. However, occasionally (and these times are precious to me), I will find one of those things that has value, but didn't get pushed onto eBay (either because the person who gave it away didn't realise is was worth anything, or because that person simply couldn't be bothered to go through the process of selling it).

While I can't say my finds today were Earth-shattering, they were definitely the best things I have found for a while. Definitely worthy of a blog entry, anyway.

First up, the sheep...

I herd this was pretty good... (Man, I kill myself sometimes.)

Saw this copy of A Shepherd and His Dog and had to grab it. Tape monkeys had been at work, but the tape on one edge of the box had peeled off, so I was able to look inside. The game was complete - five fences, five plastic sheep, one dog, and Freddy Krueger.

Seriously? This guy will give me nightmares. I feel sorry for the lamb...

Okay, probably not the greatest game in the world, but the pieces are cute (with the exception of that bloody-faced shepherd), and it's classic Spears. I couldn't leave it on the shelf.

Next up, the impact...

Dinosaurs with guns. Barney's gone bad.

Anyone who has spent any time on my blog will know I'm a bit of a theme junkie. I love a good theme, so there was no way on God's green Earth I was going to leave behind a game about dinosaurs with guns fighting oil rig workers in the desert. Why that isn't already a movie I will never know.

Impact, The Battle for Wolf Ridge, is pure plastic goodness. Four three-dimensional plastic boards, 16 excellent pre-painted figures, and spring-loaded guns that really fire missiles at each other. Colour me excited.

Dinosaurs. Guns. How can this be a bad game?

So there we have it: A successful trip round the charity shops. Expect reviews when, you know, I actually play the games.

Oh, and one final thing: Impact was published by Drumond Park. That would be the same company that published Carol Vorderman's Sudoku. I guess I'm getting a little closer to buying that game after all.