Some of the wargamers might appreciate this...
So, I've had Turning Point: Stalingrad for some years now. I went to get it off the shelf...and somewhere along the line I lost the board. God only knows how. I searched the other boxes assiduously, but no dice. (Or board.) I had all the pieces...the rules...but fat lot of good it'd do me.
I went on eBay, in the hopes that there would be "parts" copies out there. Again: No luck. And TP:S is one of those sought-after games, you know, so they weren't going cheap. I knew, though, that right now I had basically a box of random pieces that were useless, so I should keep an eye out for a full copy.
A week ago, I found a copy for sale. It didn't show a board in the picture. The seller didn't seem to really know what it was she was selling. Someone asked if there was a board--indeed, there was. (Good.) Someone else asked if all the pieces were there--and the seller refused to count them!
This is great news for me, since most of the buyers would be scared off. Since I'm looking for a parts copy, though, this is golden. I watch it, and pick it up for well under the market value for a known-to-be-full copy.
It came today. I open it up, and think "there are too many counters here." I count 'em up...and lo and behold, it came with the expansion kit, which sometimes sells for as much as the full game! If she had bothered to take the time to count the pieces, she'd have tripled the price she got...
And I'd have been left without a copy of a great game and an uncommon expansion.
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