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20 years worth of work lost after thieves target vehicle

BYLINE: Daily News

It was a Father's Day present Chris Middleton could have done without.

The father of two left his Mount Dufferin home Sunday morning and found the passenger's side window on his Ford Bronco smashed out.

He said a tense feeling filled his gut as he peered inside and saw the holes where his stereo amplifier and subwoofer used to be.

Even worse, three black Games Workshop cases of painted miniatures making up 20 years worth of painstaking work are also gone.

The cases contained one army each -- space marines, orks and demon hunters -- for the game Warhammer 40,000.

"I've been working on those since about 1986," he said.

There are hundreds of pieces that took Middleton thousands of hours to put together and paint. He doesn't even want to think about how much it cost to buy the sets.

Some of the miniatures were special ordered from England and are one-of-a-kind. Middleton considers these to be the biggest loss.

He took up the game as a teenager. As he got older, he became more involved in playing and running tournaments.

He's introduced his two sons to the game, making the hobby a family affair.

"I built the ork army for my youngest son to use. We all play together or my kids will have friends over to play," he said.

The cases look like something a person stores power tools in. Middleton is sure the culprits thought they were getting something else. That's why he and wife Lei-Anne Compton have offered a reward for the miniatures' return with no questions asked.

He suggested returning the cases to High Octane Comics and Collectibles on Third Avenue or "just drop them off in my driveway at midnight."

"I just want them back," Middleton said.

 

And now a random fact about Vin Diesel . . .

Vin Diesel is credited as the founding father of the horrorpunk music genre, but this is not commonly known since he went by the name of Danzig at that time.

 

Wow, that sucks...

Most gamers leave their toys in the car.

I take them in and out of the house each time I go to the FLGS. Might take more effort but at least I won't lose my stuff if my car got broken in.

Yeah. That's rough. I keep my cases in the house too, even if it is a little more inconvenient.

I've left my mini's in the car lots of times...I'll have to re-think that now...

It's been in locked trunks for me.  I get real paranoid about things that take me a long time to do (money isn't such a consideration).

Friend of mine keeps his armies in hardshell gun cases (so do I). One day he came out of his apartment in time to see a guy taking the cases out of the back seat. The thief tried to tell him "I'm just getting my pistols out of my sister's car". He was told a) that's my car, so you're busted. Then he knocked the guy down and sat on him, while calling the police on his cell phone. When the cops arrived, the thief tried to sell them the same story, so my friend told the cops to ask him- what is in the pistol cases?. Guess what, loser: b) that's not guns in those cases, oh and c) no, we don't think you are telling the truth.

Now my armies always go into the trunk.

i had two cases stolen when my house in amsterdam was robbed...i believe the thieves also thought they were gettin' guns...unfortunately, they got all my black library limited minis, and all my games day minis...i'm still tryin' to replace that damn orc...
 the worst part was they took my hand-made 4 foot skateboard...one of the last hand-made ones, signed and numbered, with an old 50's hawaiian dress for the print under the laquer, and hawaiian beach sand for grip...it was wicked, and had rode me over many miles, includin' a trip around the whole country(the netherlands) on the bike paths...i spent the next two years just waitin' for the dude to ride by so i could bust a flyin' kick to the head...no such luck though...

jah

I wouldn't even keep them stored in the trunk of your car. Back in the mid 90s, I had gone to my FLGS on a Thursday and put a lot of terrain and my Chaos fantasy army in the trunk of my car. Now, I usually take all of it out after I get home, but that particular night I was very tired and didn't feel like making several trips back and forth from the car to the apartment to unload all the stuff.

Anyway, a couple days go by and I still haven't unloaded my warhammer items from the car. I come out to go to work, and notice that my entire car is missing. Some low life(s) had stolen it. A few days after making a police report, the police call me and tell me they have found my car. Along with all my CDs being stolen from inside and damage to the vehicle from an apparent joy riding session, the crooks had popped the lock on the trunk and taken all the warhammer stuff. Terrain. Army. All gone. Needless to say, I unload all my stuff from the car as soon as I get home now.

a friend of mine kept his stuff in a gun case too, and his car was broken into and his entire army stolen.

Another friend with a huge eldar army, including titans, set his stuff down outside our game store, he left his keys inside, ran in, came right back out, all of it gone.

The crappy thing is that most guys who take the stuff (at least around here) are bums and junkies who have no use for it and probably just throw it away. it is a shame. all the hours of time and energy just gone, it must be such a demoralzing feeling.

Hey Tazok,

Where'd you find that story?

That fine story came from the "Kamloops Daily News (British Columbia)"  Doesn't everyone read that one on a daily basis? 

It seems alot of people armies get stolen out of vehicles.

I recall half a decade ago, a very active poster at dakka then was proud to have his very heavily converted and masterfully painted celtic styled space wolves featured in WD.

The army was stolen not long after that.

Because of that story, I am very careful with my stuff. It basically never leaves my side, atleast not until it gets home.

Sad thing is, I dont even trust the folks I game with. My dark eldar army disappeared once, in the middle of a crowded game room full of 30 people and no one saw anyone pack away a dark eldar army... Yeah...

So now when I go out for a smoke, I cart my ...well... cart full of miniatures with me.

hearing about stuff like this saddnes me. I know the culprits probably arent even into GW games, but its so very sad to hear about.

i always leave a few cases in my car boot as i do not have any space left indoors. Its usualy the older armies that i have better and newer painted versions off stay indoors.

Not miniature related, but theft related.

This story should help cheer you guys up, sometimes justice does exist.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/9013/message/1182392328/I+was+robbed%21

sorry that story hans has way to much cop ass for my liking

There was a guy here that had an incredible Tyranid army in which he had converted every single model to represent bugs that had been captured by the Adeptus Mechanicus and fitted with harnesses and mind control devices. Everything about this army was a jaw dropper from the conversions to the paint jobs and the bases, all total Golden Demon caliber work that took months to complete. He had everything in hard shell boxes and after getting home late one night and very tired, decided to leave the army in his car and bring it in the house the next day. He came out late the following morning to find someone had broken into his car, dumped the minis on the road by the car and had stolen the boxes. After a morning of being run over by cars, there wasn't a single figure worth trying to salvage. I hate thieves with a passion, but I hate stupid thieves with no idea or care of the damage they do even more.
Whenever I hear or read stories like this I think about the thief I had to wrestle down and hold after he pointed a gun at me. People told me they could hear his screams of pain from a block away. When the police arrived, the bastard found that his legs didn't work very well anymore, so he had to be carried away.

It always brings a smile to my face.

Posted By Relapse on 06/25/2007 10:03 PM
Whenever I hear or read stories like this I think about the thief I had to wrestle down and hold after he pointed a gun at me. People told me they could hear his screams of pain from a block away. When the police arrived, the bastard found that his legs didn't work very well anymore, so he had to be carried away.

Did he sue?

yeah the bastards can do that now.

Not in Florida.  Of course, you have to kill them, but it's a small price to pay.

(Don't you love our legal system?  It's far safer to kill someone, legally, than to let them live).

OK, this is OT.  Let's wrangle it back....

Homeowner's or renter's insurance (or even car insurance, in these cases) should cover the loss of the minis, and you may be able to get compensation for your invested time, provided you document what you have beforehand.  These little guys DO go up in value if they're nicely done, and this can be measured, to a degree.  You won't get your time back, but you will get something for it.

Posted By Iorek on 06/26/2007 5:33 AM
(Don't you love our legal system?  It's far safer to kill someone, legally, than to let them live).

Well of course.  That's lesson #1 in evil overlord school.  If you let them live then they can come back to cause you all kinds of hassle.  Just ask Thulsa Doom.

hahahahah, that was hillarious, don't mess with the Govenator!

Posted By Abadabadoobaddon on 06/25/2007 11:32 PM

Did he sue?

  Nope, not after pulling a gun at me he couldn't.  The legal system in New Orleans figured he'd earned the long minutes of pain I inflicted on him while waiting for the police to arrive.  After all, he pulled one gun on me, how was I to know he didn't have another that he'd use if I'd have let up? 
 
  At his trial the defense attorney was asking me all manner of nonsensical questions about where the fight took place,  the hotel camera systems, etc., while the assistant DA just sat there like a lump.  Finally the judge had enough and started yelling at the defense lawyer, asking what these questions had to do with the case.  The defense lawyer said he wanted to prove his client was smart enough to walk into the hotel, at which point the judge retorted that the guy must not have been too damn smart since he pulled a gun and tried to rob the place.
   The judge then turned to the prosecutor and straight out  said he couldn't understand why the guy wasn't placing any objections.  All this was done in best angry southern judge accent.  I felt like I was in a movie with the way the trial was unfolding.  In the end, the guy copped a plea and ended up in the clink for a while.
 

 Sorry about the OT direction I took, but those kind of stories piss me off to no end, and I had to share a bit of happy news about
what happened to this thief.