Hannibal advice from wargamers/collectors

Okay, I've been itching to play Hannibal for quite some time now. The game is currently between printings from Valley Games. In the meantime, I had been trying to work out a trade for someone's.

Instead, I stumbled into a large trade with a user on BGG and one of the things I got was an AH copy of Hannibal (along with Fire & Axe, finally I can mark that off my list.)



Thing is, the guy said his was in "pretty good shape". What he didn't say was that the box has slight fading but is otherwise in fantastic shape, and the entire friggin' thing is unpunched. Completely. The stands for the generals are still unseparated and in their original shrink. The cards are in shrink. The tokens are in their sheets. The boards are completely mark free. This game has never been used.



Here's the dilemma. #1, from a gameplay perspective, I think I still want the new Hannibal. Mostly due to the way the names of the areas are easier to read on the new map. But I certainly can't justify having both!


Also, punching the damn thing scares me. Here's a 12-year old game that besides some slight rubbing on the box edges is in ridiculously great shape.


I know the old version was worth mega-bucks before the reprint, and I know the value of it has come down considerably.


Anyone with play experience with either the old or both versions...any tips? Should I try and flip this thing into a new copy of the Valley version? Is the Valley version actually the more desired one now? Should I just say "fuck it" and start punching?

I have the old version. I have no complaints with how it plays. There are very few times you'll actually need to find a location on the map that isn't already obvious. Other than being available, I don't see the new version as that big of an upgrade. Unless you can sell the old one for more than you can get the newer one I probably wouldn't bother.

-MMM

If you think you still want the new version I would try to trade and or sell the nice AH copy you have. Perhaps one of the fellas at ConSimWorld marketplace would be interested. As for actual gameplay either version works perfectly fine. The VG version has a more user friendly rulebook but that's the only major difference in my book.

-Will

I say punch it and play it. There are still collectors that would still buy it if you chose to sell it down the road.

Bulwyf wrote:

If you think you still want the new version I would try to trade and or sell the nice AH copy you have. Perhaps one of the fellas at ConSimWorld marketplace would be interested. As for actual gameplay either version works perfectly fine. The VG version has a more user friendly rulebook but that's the only major difference in my book.

-Will

Ebay will net you the highest price on this one in that condition. If it were me selling, I'd put it up at a $49.99 minimum bid and an $89 or $99 buy it now. Someone will bid the $50 [negating the BIN] and a European AH collector will probably run it up to $75-$80 minimum, possibly to something closing in on $100. With the VG edition being hard to find at the moment, it may actually be the best time to sell. Hell, I moved a copy of Memoir 44, Winter/Desert Board, and Terrain Pack, all in shrink, 2 weeks ago--right after the reprints of the W/D Board and Terrain Pack were announced--for $108 [to a local guy who sniped, but the price was driven through the roof by a couple of eastern europeans]. It helps further that it doesn't appear that a copy of the AH edition has popped up on ebay in a while.

And, one of my LGS's still had the VG Hannibal on the shelf at whatever the MSRP is--$65?--as of 2 weeks ago. If you're that interested I could pick that up for you if it's still there and send it your way.

I don't know if you're an active ebay seller or would be interested in this, but I've got a ton of good sales feedback, including a slew of recent wargames sales, which will help draw the guys willing to spend collector money. I would be happy to list the game for you with a batch of various wargames I'm about to list [send me a variety of pictures of everything and I'll put a listing together; you'd be responsible for shipping to the winner--USPS Priority flat rate box to anyone in the US, though it's fairly likely it would be to an international winner. If you haven't done that before, I can walk you through how it works; it's easy using the free USPS priority mail boxes and printing postage through USPS.gov].

Let me think about that, Dog-man.


Ultimately, I just want to play Hannibal. If Octavian is correct, I don't have to jump through any more hoops.


I would have never thought much about it if it weren't unpunched. If it's only worth a little more than the new version these days, it really isn't worth all the hassle.

You could maybe just try to organise a game without punching it and punch it if you get a game before the new version comes out. This would only be worth it if the old version is still worth more than the new version.

Personally, I can't resist punching a game as soon as it comes through the door.

I am also very jaded about trading and selling games. I have been trying to sell an out of print game for about three months. It is in pretty much as good as new condition. I am selling it at half the price it cost me. However, I have to spend vast amounts of time responding to people who want to buy it from me at a price where I would be making a loss on the postage or trade it for games that would cost me less than the postage or asking me to look at their trade list that has nothing but mass market tatt they picked up at thrift stores. I am close to just sticking it in a charity shop.

I own the Valley Games version, and I've played someone else's copy of the Avalon Hill edition. I like the new edition more, but that's a personal preference. Some people prefer the look of the Avalon Hill version.

If I was in your position I'd just punch and play the damn game. It's not like the old version is absolutely hideous or anything. If you end up getting the new version anyways, you'll have the pleasure of playing your copy in the meantime instead of it just gathering dust on the shelf so that you might get ten bucks more or whatever for selling it. Be a playa, not a collecta.

Citadel wrote:

You could maybe just try to organise a game without punching it and punch it if you get a game before the new version comes out. This would only be worth it if the old version is still worth more than the new version.

Personally, I can't resist punching a game as soon as it comes through the door.

I am also very jaded about trading and selling games. I have been trying to sell an out of print game for about three months. It is in pretty much as good as new condition. I am selling it at half the price it cost me. However, I have to spend vast amounts of time responding to people who want to buy it from me at a price where I would be making a loss on the postage or trade it for games that would cost me less than the postage or asking me to look at their trade list that has nothing but mass market tatt they picked up at thrift stores. I am close to just sticking it in a charity shop.

Wonder if I can guess the game...Talisman 3rd ed.? Ebay will almost always be your best price and return--and buyers pay shipping. The BGG marketplace is a useless endeavor unless you're not that interested in selling or just lazy. I've got a couple of games listed for sale there that won't ebay particularly well and I don't care if they stay or go.

I had an exchange recently with one trader who has the Kremlin Revolution expansion listed who came back asking for about $300 worth of games for the thing. I pointed out that I can buy that expansion from a Troll & Toad-like company for under $100 (and can usually get it when one comes up for auction at ~$100 wiht the base game or $60ish on its own), and am happy to pay or trade that value to him rather than fork over that cash to a T&T-type seller. However, it's far easier for me to simply sell games on ebay, take the cash and buy whatever it is that I'm looking for and pocket the difference than to deal with traders with an overblown sense of value or are trying to get in on the cheap.

I will say that the BGG "ebay auction" links have been the greatest boon for sellers. I know I get a lot of traffic to my stuff off that site and have even sold a few games to people who previously offered me peanuts in trade but were suddenly willing to buy that same copy of the game for $75+ in cash [Breakout Normandy being the most recent example. A BGGer actually offered me Pylos and Runebound in trade for a copy of AH's Breakout Normandy in shrink (and off to ebay it went) but then bid $100 for the same game when I had it for sale. I didn't quite get it....

No idea why it double-lists the text like that. When I try to edit, it only has it in the edit box once...