So i made a thread, thats now locked because it got derailed in to oblivion (which i, myself share part of the blame for!), related to weird gaming experiences. But that made me think of another topic, namely this one!

How much money do you guys spend on average on this unholy sinkhole we call a hobby?

Im a bit scared to try and add up my own numbers per month.


in the grim darkness of far future there is only... the destruction of mens wallets.


Edit: actually its a lie i already looked at last month. I used 840 bucks last month. But only because i bought a gargantuan Squiggoth i swear! Normally id probably use.. half that amount... ish.

I started out slowly, but then it decended in to madness and i started throwing a lot of money at models at a pace so fast i couldnt even keep it painted. My rule was, when i started 8 months ago, that i wouldnt buy a new model till the first model was complete. or package, what ever.

I completely failed at that aspect.

I probably spend ~£50 a month or so. Maybe more, maybe less.
TBH I don't ever think about it.
Not much on 40k though now, although I maintain my 40k army (hardly changed since 6th edition), new efforts are focused on other games - Necromunda, Titanicus, Legion, etc.
I want to love 40k, I still do love the models and [old] lore, GW just makes it really hard for me to feel anything positive for them and the game at the moment.

it costs a lot. I am using a 7 year old computer to write this.

 Manchild 1984 wrote:
it costs a lot. I am using a 7 year old computer to write this.

rofl are you actually serious right now oh no thats not where i wanna end up lol.

I just started out so i feel like i.. have? to throw a lot of money at the hobby. I bought so much gak just to get a 2k army lol

The thing with 40k is it has a high start up cost but afterwards you can generally just coast.
Theoretically the only recurring cost is new rulebooks and codexes (which can be obtained less than legitimately though). More practically you may occasionally need to replace units that were invalidated by new rules.
If I wanted to, I could run the same lists now that I ran five years ago, which is very similar to the lists that I ran eight years ago when I started.

I spend very little money on expanding 40k, almost all of my hobby squids go into adopting new games in my ever growing attempts to be able to regularly wargame without having to resort to 40k.

It varies a lot over the year but If I had to make a wild guess: somewhere in the range of 1000 € year. So ~100 € a month.

In the last 12 months I've spent around £300. Some of that's lock down boredom induced but £50~ every 3 months sounds about right.

I got back into the hobby just after the launch of 8th, and the start-up costs were a around a couple of hundred pounds (Dark Imperium, starter pain set, clippers and other modelling bits and pieces, Codex, hobby box for storage) so that was probably in the region of £200.

Since then I haven't spent that much in any single month. I've bought more paint brushes and paints, and the occasionally kit, never more than £50 a month I think, and certainly not every month. I got the ShadowSpear box and the Indomitus 9th ed box and some paint handles as birthday presents from the missus.

I still have a pile of unpainted and unbuilt models just since the launch of 8th, so don't see myself buying any new kits any time soon. If I had to put a number on it per month, I reckon since I bought Dark Imperium I've probably averaged £20 per month over the last 3 and a half years.

I'd say its not a particular expensive hobby unless you let it be. The initial outlay isn't even that much.

The most expensive starter box, a decent selection of paints and some basic modelling tools (brushes paint handle, knife etc) is significantly cheaper than a games console, and the model kits aren't any more expensive that a video game. I pay more per month for internet than I spend on the hobby.

Too much.

Armies I own (at least 1500ish points or so each): space marines, space wolves, ad mech, custodes, sororitas, cadians, scions, deathwatch, grey knights, dark angels, tau, craftworlds, harlequins, drukhari, tyranids, orks, and necrons. Yes, I own multiple differently painted/modeled versions of space marine. Yes, this likely makes me an idiot.

I drew a line in the sand: no chaos. Everything else was fair game, and... as stuff cycled into and out of the meta, I bought. Well, and the tyranids are there because the Christmas battleforce box was crazy value so I'm sitting on two of them and a start collecting for a rainy day. Eventually I'll get all this built and painted. That'll be nice. Then I'll die of old age, or homicide when my spouse has had enough.

I really have no idea, I don't have a budget per month. I've been in the hobby for 20+ years and a few times I paid several hundreds in a single day, sometimes small amounts per month, or even 0 euro for years. At the moment I haven't spent a single cent since 8th edition was released, other than hobby supplies (not from GW), and I'm playing with the same models that were good for 7th edition, only the buggies I've converted to represent the new ones.

I can roughly tell how much I paid for the hobby during my life and then make an average per month, but I don't think it would actually mean something.

After being a while in the hobby I like to invest significant sums in a single transaction and be good for years though, rather than investing smaller sums quite often.

Too much. And I find my self spending more and more with each passing year. It doesn't help that I play numerous armies and numerous systems, and not just from GW either.
So I can quite easily find something somewhere at a price that's too good to miss.

Propably way too much since lockdown last marchm probably around 2k last year, or something like 200-300€ a month. Then again, I spent basically all of lockdown painting and it was a real life saver for me. Could I have painted the same amount of time spending less and annihilate my backlog? Definately, but where is the fun in that? last three or four months I spent a lot of money on Lord of the Rings, driven by MtOs, FOMo that something circles out of production and the problem, that I want to start a lot of small lord of the rings projects "that are just something around 80-100 quid". But that sums up eventually too

But I am single, dont really like to travel and dont drink, so I have the disposable income and why not spend it on plastic. Iam totally serious with the life saving aspect. Painting kept me sane and occupied the last months and I am so much enjoying it. So I dont think I wasted the money. Well spent. Could be a lot less impulsive, buying stuff though

Beardedragon wrote:

 Manchild 1984 wrote:
it costs a lot. I am using a 7 year old computer to write this.

rofl are you actually serious right now oh no thats not where i wanna end up lol.

I just started out so i feel like i.. have? to throw a lot of money at the hobby. I bought so much gak just to get a 2k army lol

Well, I also don't want to buy too much stuff from China, and this device still does the trick.

I think it's been quite a while since i spent any money on this hobby. It's probably approaching an entire year now since I spent money on anything 40k related, and I'm pretty sure my last purchase was just some bits from ebay.

Quite honestly, even outside of the difficulties playing due to Covid 19, the general state of the game (and my own armies especially) has caused my interest in the hobby to dwindle.

I'd like to think that the new DE codex will reverse my mood but given GW's history in that regard (and the fact that there are *still* no new models for a faction that's lost 2/3 of its HQ section) is seems akin to hoping Belgian chocolate will drop out of a cow's backside.

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

Armies I own (at least 1500ish points or so each): space marines, space wolves, custodes, sororitas, cadians, scions, deathwatch, grey knights, dark angels, tau, craftworlds, harlequins, drukhari, tyranids, orks, necrons

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

I think we got it the first time.

A fair amount.

Varies month to month, but usually at least £60 I’d say as a baseline.

If I’m buying a new army, that can jump tremendously. And once I get my current Necromunda scenery fully assembled and played around with possible setup designs, I may be dropping £200-£300 expanding that. This is so it can also pull double duty as ZM for 40K.

Not a lot really. My CSM army is really just in the coasting stage, and I'm slowly and casually building up my DE army. Really only buying the odd pot of paint at the moment.

As i just started 8 months ago its been quite a busy time for my wallet. And then a few months ago i found.. well i guess "found" ebay. I knew it existed, but i didnt know there was so much warhammer stuff there. I ended up buying way too much from there, so this month i tried to not buy anything.

I failed. But i have bought less at least.

But im also at a point where i have a decent army now. When one has to start, one just rushes to reach that 2k mark with different army compositions that makes somewhat sense so you dont have 2k points with a trash army. But i have a bit to work with now, so i think it will slow down a bit now.

at least i fething hope so

When I was young? Most of what I had that I could afford to spend on anything besides rent and beer.

Now that I am old? Much, much less.

Unfortunately I work a minimum wage job so I only get to spend about £40 or £50 every couple months once I've put cash aside. That's probably one or two boxes plus a book or paints. I do miss the days of 4th and 5th edition where I was able to spend around £100 a month on my 40K stuff.

I spent money, not counting rules books, on w40k, twice. So the avarge would be around 260-265$, depending on how much the dollar costs in any given moment.

In March last year I bought the Know No Fear set and over the first lockdown (March to June/July) I bought Indomitus, First Strike, and a box of still on sprue Blood Angels second hand. I’ve picked up the SM and BA codices and the old Start Collecting BA set for my birthday. Aside from painting supplies, I haven’t really been buying much else. I’m not buying anything else if I can help it (though I’ll probably buckle and buy the DG and Necron codices) until I have painted 1000 points of DG (nearly there) and 1000 points of BA (a long way off that). I also want to paint the Indomitus Necrons.

Hmmm. It really varies. A couple of years ago I went on a serious "Start Collecting Box Spree" and that racked up quickly into quite a lot of money.

But then last year I didn't spend anything at all for like 6 months, and then averaged I'd say 30 euro a month for the remainder of the year. This year I am similarly gonna try to avoid buying stuff and work on what I have. Sometimes if something is a bargain, something I had my eye on, and limited edition I will pick it up.

A big thing for me was not backing kickstarters any more. It's easy to throw money at a KS and then you get it down the line and it's an overwhelming amount of stuff.

It does mean I "miss out" on some cool stuff but I've got enough to be working on and don't need more.

About $300 per year, give or take.

Some years, no mandollies, just terrain stuff.
Last year, I spent most of it making terrain to replace older stuff that had just about given up the ghost due to age.

I got off the churn and burn 40k roundabout back in 6th ed, and my spending didn't go down much (After 6 editions of 40k, I had most of what I needed to play).

It varies for me based on releases of certain factions and the like. 2020 saw me spend quite a bit in a short space of time by picking up Dark Imperium and Indomitus in a week although I did make money back selling off the Deathguard and Necron halves from their respective sets. I also bought some second hand Tyranids and had a Mortal Realms subscription running for a good few months as well.

2019 was a bit of a wild one as I bought a lot of minis from eBay and from my FLGS, but also bought a lot of hobby supplies (airbursh, compressor, paint, thinners, wet palette, this list goes on) as I'd been out of the hobby for a few years. I also jumped on a few kickstarters but I realised pretty quickly that was a dangerous game.

This year I have bought Direchasm, a couple of scale model aircraft and a few bits from eBay so I am doing well so far this year as I want to paint more than I buy. I guess I'm spending less than £50 a month, being generous with that number as I don't come near it most months.

 vipoid wrote:
I think it's been quite a while since i spent any money on this hobby. It's probably approaching an entire year now since I spent money on anything 40k related, and I'm pretty sure my last purchase was just some bits from ebay.

Quite honestly, even outside of the difficulties playing due to Covid 19, the general state of the game (and my own armies especially) has caused my interest in the hobby to dwindle.

I'd like to think that the new DE codex will reverse my mood but given GW's history in that regard (and the fact that there are *still* no new models for a faction that's lost 2/3 of its HQ section) is seems akin to hoping Belgian chocolate will drop out of a cow's backside.

Exactly the same for me.

I bought Drazhar and five Incubi from a bits site when they came out, and some Crypt Horrors and other bits to make my own Grotesques, and that's about it.

I am quite demotivated hobby-wise because of the current state of the Drukhari, and if the upcomng codex is a disappointment, I'll probably take an extended break from the whole thing. If it's good, I will probablu splash out on some stuff I don't currently have, like Scourges, Hellions, or Beasts.

I’ve been tracking what I spend since I started blogging. Here are a few years worth. Note: This does not count all gifts. I’ve picked up some more stuff that way.

2017 Money spent on the hobby: $670


2018 Money spent on the hobby: $406.50


2019 Money spent on the hobby: $285


2020 Money spent on the hobby: $928.00

Probably $700-1200 per year since 8th.

This year I'm spreading it out to get the collector coins.

probably about 60-100$ a month, depending on the month. Definitely more in the before times, since getting into 3d printing the amount of miniatures I can get for 30$ has basically quadrupled.

I tend to engage with the hobby in waves of interest, for lack of a better term. Usually, I go months without spending anything and then I get hit by a particularly good new release or a sudden flood of nostalgia and drop around 200-300 bucks on various stuff within a couple of months.

After a few weeks I then sell off most of it at a loss, but at that point I've gotten several hours of enjoyment out of it. Clearing some some shelf space now and then also has a strange kathartic quality to it.

I just started 2020 May again and starting costs have been quite big since that. But that includes:

Blood Angels around 2650 pts
Death Guard around 2730 pts
Necrons 950 pts (Indomitus ones)
Folding Gamemat.EU gaming table
Three Gamemat.EU 6 x 4 gaming mats (one was for free, because they first sent wrong one)
Gamemat.EU two sets of terrain (Chemical and Fallout zone)
Lots of paints, sprays, basing materials, hobby accessories
Marine, DG, BA codexes

Totalling around 1900€ is close. Approximately Board+terrain+mats 600€. Books and hobby accessories around 300€. Models around 1000€.

Now I feel I have almost everything I would think for "good basic" gaming experience. In the future I will be only buying new model box once in a month or two. I have almost all except one Bloat Drone and Indomitus Necrons painted. Have had huge amount of painting and now decided that won't buy anything before all of those are painted. Planning to next have BA Combat Patrol and Nurgle Daemon Prince. Tend to get painting a lot because prefer to buy often those Start collecting/Combat Patrol boxes for savings. Now I feel I have most "core" units and can start to add units here and there instead of buying a bulk. That before I will start some extra army . Don't think money that much, but stress about time to paint more.


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Bago wrote:
Propably way too much since lockdown last marchm probably around 2k last year, or something like 200-300€ a month. Then again, I spent basically all of lockdown painting and it was a real life saver for me.

My story too. Without COVID I think I wouldn't have returned to hobby.

I spend 100-200€ about twice a year, always waiting for a big haul to get models I wanted, paints, magnets and whatnot at once. I have a budget just for 40k, which is about 20€ per month, plus unexpected money like gifts or when bills are significantly lower than expected. I started this habit when I had very little money available and just stayed with it.

Neither my DG nor my orks are "missing" anything major, most of my purchases are new releases or models I want to play and don't have yet.

Given that my hobby is miniature wargaming (not just GW stuff) & I've been at this for decades?
It's fair to joke "Too much".

ryzouken wrote:
Too much.

Armies I own (at least 1500ish points or so each): space marines, space wolves, ad mech, custodes, sororitas, cadians, scions, deathwatch, grey knights, dark angels, tau, craftworlds, harlequins, drukhari, tyranids, orks, and necrons. Yes, I own multiple differently painted/modeled versions of space marine. Yes, this likely makes me an idiot.

I drew a line in the sand: no chaos. Everything else was fair game, and... as stuff cycled into and out of the meta, I bought. Well, and the tyranids are there because the Christmas battleforce box was crazy value so I'm sitting on two of them and a start collecting for a rainy day. Eventually I'll get all this built and painted. That'll be nice. Then I'll die of old age, or homicide when my spouse has had enough.

Can you please repeate ryzouken ? I didn't quite hear the first few times (go to page 1 if you want to understand)

My #1 and #2 pieces of advice I give to new players when they're getting into the hobby is

#1: Don't buy a 2k list super fast to get up to the points value you see other people commonly playing at. Get 5-10 games in minimum and at least 2 squads/vehicles painted for each 500pts you add.

#2: if you started with a 2-army starter box, smash yourself on the head with a rock to FORGET YOU OWN THOSE MINIATURES when you're looking to select the army you want to play.

Seriously. I see so so so so so many people buy in way too fast with (space marine) armies they didn't want to actually play but bought into because they started out with 500pts of space marines from their starter box, they buy a super suboptimal 2k list because they have no idea how to play the game, and then they've sunk 450 bucks in, have an enormous pile of gray plastic to paint with little interest in the fluff of the army they're playing, and they can't win a single game because their list sucks and they dont' know how to play it.

This is why i hate the starter box structure that GW uses to get people into the hobby.

The core rulebook with what you actually need to play a functional game should be free as an online PDF, and every faction should have a discounted starter box with a few dice, wound tokens and a measuring doodad.

They're close with the combat patrol boxes,the partial rulebook for free and the 3$ a month army builder tool, but they're not there yet because only the 2-army starter set comes with gaming tools and it's marketed as THE single starter box, the thing you should buy to start.

They burn out a ton of new players because of that structure simply because people don't actually buy the faction they want to end up playing, they buy space marines and the designated baddies of the edition, and because space marines have broad general appeal and the box always comes with way more points of marines than not-marines people always default to starting with marines and they find some way to make marines *kinda* like the army they'd actually want to play.

Men's Wallets? I laugh in pocketbook!

Lets see.....if you average it all I spend around $200 a month or so for the last 3-4 years. I have a massive backlog of painting but I do honestly enjoy the building and converting. I have occasionally purged an army that just didn't do it for me so now im just getting start collecting boxes here and there just to get a feel for an army instead of going whole hog like I used to get and building a 1000k force before I even get a game going. Im finding myself getting things as a paint challenge or experiment moreso than anything gaming related.

I'm just grateful that im still employed through all of this COVID stuff and I actually have some disposable income these days! I can't really play much but I am finally getting some of that backlog painted, I even picked up a china cast Warhound Titan to scratch that itch I've had for years (thankfully my wife thinks he's cute so I get to keep him! =P)

It comes and goes in waves. Like a lot of people who have been playing for decades, I have a lovely little pile of backlog that needs attending.

However, sometimes I get inspired by SOMETHING and whoops there goes 500 bucks.

Doesn't happen that often any more, maybe once a year? Once every 18 months? I guess if you factor in all of the breaks I've taken from the hobby over the years, it's probably a lot less than that, but if feels like every time I want to buy something it almost always turns into several hundred dollars of something.

One of the better upsides of my particular mental state is that I'm effectively incapable of buying more miniatures if I haven't completed the paint on all the unpainted miniatures I currently own.

if I have a backlog of more than say 30 models I can't buy any more until all 30 are painted.

I could probably put a down payment on another house with my collection.

It’s definitely in the thousands per year.

Depends what I'm working on. There are long periods where I buy very little then massive spikes in spending. I've started three horus heresy armies recently and have spent thousands. I do wish that 2k wasn't the standard point level that people are told they have buy to play 40k though. Money aside, that's a lot of stuff to build and paint.

Beardedragon wrote:
So i made a thread, thats now locked because it got derailed in to oblivion (which i, myself share part of the blame for!), related to weird gaming experiences. But that made me think of another topic, namely this one!

How much money do you guys spend on average on this unholy sinkhole we call a hobby?

Im a bit scared to try and add up my own numbers per month.


in the grim darkness of far future there is only... the destruction of mens wallets.


Edit: actually its a lie i already looked at last month. I used 840 bucks last month. But only because i bought a gargantuan Squiggoth i swear! Normally id probably use.. half that amount... ish.

I started out slowly, but then it decended in to madness and i started throwing a lot of money at models at a pace so fast i couldnt even keep it painted. My rule was, when i started 8 months ago, that i wouldnt buy a new model till the first model was complete. or package, what ever.

I completely failed at that aspect.

At it's highest, I spent about $600 in one month, and that was a product of a confluence of new releases for both one of my 40k armies and one of my Flames of War armies. Otherwise, I usually spend like $100-$200 per month right now.

In general, I would say that I've spend like 6 or 7 thousand overall on the hobby.



I wouldn't really call it destruction of mens' wallets. Besides the whole not-a-man thing, it's not really that much. Relative to other hobbies adults participate in, like skiing, surfing, golfing, vacations to tropical places, etc. wargaming can be downright cheap.

Been playing nearly 25 years. Over that time, thousands, if not tens of thousands.

Since 7th edition indexes, almost nothing.

Use to spend close to over a thousand USD per year on 40k. That was until 8th edition where my spending rapidly shrunk and from 2018 to now I don't think I spent anything on GW products outside of one time buying a bunch of Tau models from a FLGS during a market day of sorts. The current editions of 40k killed the fun of the game so I don't have any motivation to get more models or do any painting.

Not too much at the moment since there is no way to play a game.
Its about 50 to 100 € per month.

I set a budget of roughly £30 a month. The most I've spent is £75 for Blackstone Fortress but in the last year its been more like £40-£50 a month, squeezing in Mortal Realms and the odd White Dwarf.

Today is the first time I've called a time out and only spent £25 for this month's order. Lately I've been trying to focus on rules, materials and anything else that helps to get things completed rather than add to the pile of shame.

Personally, I find focusing on one hobby is good as I haven't been buying computer games, films and music anywhere as much as I used to. Before returning to the hobby( not just the "GW Hobby" ) I would sometimes go to the cash point to find that I had overspent and had to hustle to balance things out, but for the last three years thats not happened and now living with abundance.

If I could afford to spend $50/YEAR I'd be a happy girl!

My collection is mostly from my early 20's, when I actually had money because I lived with my BS family.

Also, ya, not just guys play/paint/collect.

For me, maybe $400-$500 a year. This past year has been more expensive for me, as I bought Indomitus.

I'd say it depends. 2020 I think I I bought less. I payed:

60 for Lt Cassius(?) the UM Lt
60 for the catachan colonel
40 for catachan Sgt
40 for Primaris techmarine
I think 90 for the marine half of Indomitus
100 for a impulsor
And I'm going to spend some on Saturday too at my Lgs to help him out even though I probably won't get it for months

Not as much as I used to, but that's because I have a vast collection now. Orks 8,000+ points, Necrons 5,000+ points, Tyranids 3-5,000 points, Guard 3-5,000 points - these I actively still purchase things for from time to time. Space marines, Chaos, etc. I have combined 10,000+ points, but I stopped purchasing units for those armies years ago. In 2020, less than $500 but so far in 2021, close to $500. I have spent more money in 2020-2021 on terrain and paint than models. It looks like our local gaming store is going to go under due to the pandemic, so I have been prepping tables for that day.

Blndmage wrote:If I could afford to spend $50/YEAR I'd be a happy girl!

My collection is mostly from my early 20's, when I actually had money because I lived with my BS family.

Also, ya, not just guys play/paint/collect.

At it's highest, I spent about $600 in one month, and that was a product of a confluence of new releases for both one of my 40k armies and one of my Flames of War armies. Otherwise, I usually spend like $100-$200 per month right now.

In general, I would say that I've spend like 6 or 7 thousand overall on the hobby.



I wouldn't really call it destruction of mens' wallets. Besides the whole not-a-man thing, it's not really that much. Relative to other hobbies adults participate in, like skiing, surfing, golfing, vacations to tropical places, etc. wargaming can be downright cheap.

Gotta have a little girl spending power in here!

I agree that over wargaming, when priced per hour compared to a lot of things isn't all that bad (ie time spent painting, building, gaming, etc). I think the perceived damage to ones bank account is that you have to spend in the $40-$50 range for a small chunk. I can't even imagine how much people pay to do hobbies like fishing, hunting, or golfing even at an introductory level.

This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

As someone fairly new to the hobby, it was couple of hundred per month, but since October I've adopted a "no new models until I finish everything I already have". So that has cut things down a ton, only spending on primer spray, new paints. So about $40 a month since then.

I'm about 75% finished my RG army, and will then start on the Tyranids that my wife purchased me for Christmas. So I'll probably start spending around April or May again this year to build up my hive mind army. When that happens, I hope to keep things to about $100 per month.

Sadly however, it seems that eBay, Gumtree and FB marketplace do not have the same preponderance of great second-hand deals by which to purchase nifty units on the cheap. I've found buying things second hand and re-painting them has saved me a ton of money, in fact I'd say more than 2/3 of my army is second-hand models or stuff that was NOS purchased at an awesome discount (e.g. 3 opened but complete boxes of aggressors for $120 AUD).



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TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

For some maybe, for others it might just result in a "hey honey, you know what, how about you get some nice new kit instead of constantly buying second hand stuff you have to waste time on stripping down?"

Sorry about the spam there folks. Was posting from mobile. Had connection issues. Hopefully a mod can clean that up.

Havent seen anyone else state this. But being on a fixed income, it is really important that I plan out my armies. Unfortunately it normally means I'll miss out on limited release stuff, not too chuffed about it.

I can randomly swing a boxed set once or twice a year, but it negatively impacts my purchasing power for normal kits. Altho i've sold some old stuff to fund major purchases & its worked out pretty well for me.

Currently I try to limit my spending to approx $35-50 a month. Normally I buy 1-2 pots of paint(not necessarily GW) & other hobby consumables(don't factor them in).

Came back to the game in 8th and have spent wayyy too much on 40k since. 9k Salamanders, 3k Metallica, 3k Flawless Host & 1k Bloody Rose with some random 500pts here and there.

I don't have a number on hand, but too much. I sometimes get bored of a project lineup and just buy a handful of things to change things up, or buy models from different ranges to see how they look in person. That said, the spending comes in waves, and last money I spent on models (for myself at least) was a good 3 months ago. On the plus side, I currently have a decent variety of kits from various makers that I can shuffle projects at will without having to buy anything, on the minus side my backlog makes me a bit sad...

In gaming in general, I try and sort of hold off on impulse buys. For various reasons have spent more and plan to spend more on video game type games for the current future for reasons I am sure I don't need to explain.

Though if I had to guess for GW stuff I only do 40k, but I'd say maybe $300 a year give or take. Mostly for the random unit or new drop. Though some years I've avoided spending anything. I will caveat my words and say I try and support my FLGS so sometimes I do get more than I should to just do my part for a place I love.

In what time unit?

 DarknessEternal wrote:
In what time unit?

Parsecs of course.

0 money on 40k two years. Some bad 40k experiences put a lock on my wallet. But I still have plenty of collected minis waiting around for paintjobs. And my 2 40k armies are not going anywhere.

I have bought some other brands and scale of minis. I spend roughly 50-100$ every 6 months on stuff like that and hobby supplies.

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

Ok, boomer

I don't need to hide my spendings from my wife and I am responsible enough to not spend money we don't have.

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

40k. It costs your time, it costs your money, it costs your life (wife).

I started keeping track during the Pandemic, as for a while modeling was my sole source of well, anything resembling me accomplishing a task.

Over the last 12 months I've averaged nearly 380$ US per month spent on the hobby.

I've ended up reselling over half of it because I made the decision in the Fall to quite 40K and play AoS/Titanicus instead. I'm not happy at all with the direction 40K is going.

Warhammer will cost you your soul, wife and life! ONLY FULL DEDICATION TO KHOR- er, THE HOBBY IS ACCEPTABLE! Paint for the paint throne!


On a side note, i think the warhammer franchise has helped a lot of people out of maybe depression or otherwise, during the lockdown. Im so happy i started my warhammer trip. Ive always loved the universe, and i used to collect warhammer like 15 years ago when i was like 14. Then i stopped because im a Dane and i dont speak english natively, i didnt understand the rules, i was an absolute doughnut so i ended up stopping collecting.

Back then it was warhammer fantasy battle i collected, namely Chaos. Ive always liked warhammer however, i just played it on my computer with different games like Dawn of War.

I found my old figures when Corona had been around for a bit of time (8 months ago) and my miniatures were god ugly painted, but finding them on my parents attic just made me start again, although with the 40k setting since fantasy battle was discontinued. AoS sounded weird to me, and the 40k figures were ugly back 15 years ago so i didnt collect it back then. The premis of orks with guns sounded stupid (yet here i am collecting orks now).

So yea thats that for me. Since i JUST started around 8 months ago, and starting out means a lot of spendures not just on figures, but also on all the damn paint i needed and such

 Jidmah wrote:

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

Ok, boomer

I don't need to hide my spendings from my wife and I am responsible enough to not spend money we don't have.

Ok, judgy person

while the "take my wife, please" trope is cringy you have to realize that this is a sadly very American cultural thing and less of a generational one. Im a lesbian and my wife and I have repeatedly fallen into those patterns subconsciously. Plus you have to take into consideration other factors as well. My wife grew up desperately poor so despite the fact that we are doing alright for ourselves she has a strong compulsion to hold on to every dime we have because of her past trauma. As a result we have a system where I simply buy what I want within reason (she trusts that I won't spend away our savings) and I do not tell her how much I have spent. Everyone is happy in that arrangement but it does give the appearance of dishonesty.

Plus let us not forget that some people are not able to control themselves and their spending as much as others and need their spouses to reel them in from time to time. This usually culminates in the aforementioned remarks about spending as an excuse to deflect their own personal failings and save face with their male friends because it represents a lack of control. Something that in American culture represents a great deal of failure when a man is not fully in control of his spouse (despite that being a terrible relationship goal).

But what am I doing in a thread about hobby spending? We should talk about how I preordered a new Space Marine speeder and the guy talked me into getting a Sylvaneth starter box because ive been wanting to experiment with contrast paints and I've been quite enjoying their audiobook antics in Blacktalon. I also spent about $100 buying paint racks and drawers to finally clean up my paint desk and have it look presentable, or at least organized.

Hidding spending from wife seems to be a not just american thing to do. And I know that, without even having a wife. And GW prices from the stend point of some countries are not even resonable, if all one buys are recasts.

It comes in waves. I spent a bunch last July, then very little until November when I spent a moderate amount, then nothing again till mid-January when I spent a bunch more on some OOP stuff.

Probably about US$200-250 per year. I'm a very slow painter, and don't often have the time.

I also only buy new models once I've finished painting every thing I own, so there is no pile of shame here.

Currently have 5 Warriors and a Reanimator left from my Indomitus box to go before I decide what to get next.

 generalchaos34 wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

Ok, boomer

I don't need to hide my spendings from my wife and I am responsible enough to not spend money we don't have.

Ok, judgy person

while the "take my wife, please" trope is cringy you have to realize that this is a sadly very American cultural thing and less of a generational one.

Agree with Karol, definitely not an American thing. A generational thing though? Bashing your spouse in front of others is definitely more accepted by older people than by younger ones.

Im a lesbian and my wife and I have repeatedly fallen into those patterns subconsciously. Plus you have to take into consideration other factors as well. My wife grew up desperately poor so despite the fact that we are doing alright for ourselves she has a strong compulsion to hold on to every dime we have because of her past trauma. As a result we have a system where I simply buy what I want within reason (she trusts that I won't spend away our savings) and I do not tell her how much I have spent. Everyone is happy in that arrangement but it does give the appearance of dishonesty.

Sure, but essentially you are just saying the same as I was. Your wife trusts you to not toss out your money and you don't abuse that trust. You also don't make fun of her on a hobby forum. You know, like people in a relationship should.

I don't think it's really making fun of your spouse to joke that they don't see the same value in tiny plastic soldiers that you do - if anything, that seems more self-deprecating than spouse-deprecating - though there's certainly some sexist stereotypes underlying the general schtick.

You would have to be a pair of twins, living without any other family, to be close to assigniing same value to anything.

Karol wrote:
You would have to be a pair of twins, living without any other family, to be close to assigniing same value to anything.

...that's simply not true.

Friendships and relationships can be, and are, built on shared values and beliefs. It might not be about *everything*, but why on earth would you be in a relationship or friendship with someone who you didn't share a majority of values with?

Majority? Possibly, but sometimes the minorities can be well out of whack. ‘Opposites attract’ is a thing, here - what about there?

My spending is generally low (benefits of being in the hobby that long), but recently sold up my RT Orks + Marines (pension plan) and dropped about £400 out of the proceeds on the ‘New Model Waaargh!’ Mostly second hand, but with new Grotz, Boyz, Nobz and Trukk boxes for bitz. Don’t envision further spending ‘till these are painted. . .

Not much anymore. My last purchases were a few second hand models, codex and indomitus. Next will be dark angels supplement. Then probably nothing for 6 months...
Technically. I've spent a bit on till for terrain making recently but most of those tools have a use in general life too.

I spend way too much. Doesn't help I am engaged in several of GW's outings. Been tapering down as of late and checking other games.

@Jidmah,

Do you actually believe that my spouse does not know what I spend on 40K? Or that I hide it? Or that I was actually worried my spouse would read this thread and say "I had no idea 40K could be expensive?" My big 40K acquisitions are gifts from my spouse on special occasions. But anyway. I am honestly not sure how you take my post, which was indeed in jest, as making fun of my spouse on a hobby forum? I think you read a little too deeply, even launching an ironic generational insult along the way. Saying "bashing your spouse" is way offside.

Having said that, spending on luxuries that only benefit one member of a couple can indeed be a source of stress (finances are a big cause of marital discord), and my making a jest about it was itself insensitive. For that I do sincerely apologize to you and all forum members.

Regards,

T2B

Right, my wife knows what I spend on 40k.

She also makes fun of me for said 40k spending. As it boggles her mind as to why any sane person would spend as much $€£¥ on toy soldiers.

If you can't poke fun at the person you're in love with...maybe you're not...in love with them?

It is like my mother always used to say, Love is like a lotus, it only grows in mud

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

Karol wrote:
You would have to be a pair of twins, living without any other family, to be close to assigniing same value to anything.

...that's simply not true.

Friendships and relationships can be, and are, built on shared values and beliefs. It might not be about *everything*, but why on earth would you be in a relationship or friendship with someone who you didn't share a majority of values with?

Men and women have different set of values by sole fact of being different gender.

And the other part, can be done for many things. Money, influance, more or less all kids get told to be friends with kids of important people, when your at university it becomes even more important, because the people that will be your friends will determinate the group of people you will build a power base in your 40s and later on. Half the political parties work like that, and at least in my country, parties are a big determinant if you can or can not have a job. Say wrong thing in wrong place, take in a demonstration that goverment doesn't like, and you end up like the public persecutors, the state doesn't like their off time activities so they got a 24h order to move out of big cities, to be sent to 10k towns 400km away in a middle of pandemic.

Is this a joke question? Because I am not the smartest socially, but I still get the fact that people do ton of stuff they don't want to just to get through school, get a job, get married right in to the right family or sometimes just to not pay for renting a flat when you are 3 to 5 years at an university.

Relationships are complicated.

40k is simple - keep buying more Stuff :-)

But how much is ‘too much’? If it comes under the heading of ‘disposable income’, there’s no problem for me. It makes more sense to spend on 40k than buying drink, then watching it go down the toilet ;-)

The question is how much do people spend on average. The answer is it depends.

Length of time in the hobby seems to be one big factor. Anecdotally, my experience has been the longer someone plays, the more they tend to take advantage of deals. It's easier for me to remember times I got a really good deal on something than it is to remember what I spent when. Another factor seems to be the faction being played - elite armies seem to be cheaper by comparison.

Examples:

- My Black Legion army has cost me around $6k. In 5th edition, it started as CLs, DPs, CSMs, Berzerkers, Bikers, Havocs and Rhinos and all those were bought new. After that, I got a lot of second hand models off eBay and by buying other people's armies. Also includes some Forgeworld, total points is around 12k. I 'm just a sucker for Chaos.

- My Grey Knights army cost $300 initially, I bought a collection off Facebook consisting of all metal models - HQs, strikes and Terminators - plus some Land Raiders. After that, I bought 3 Dreadknights and a Storm Raven to round it out, other pieces (like Dreadnoughts) were things I already had. Someone gave me a Voldus when he came as part of a boxed set. So total I may have spent $500 to get to ~ 4k points.

- My Chaos Daemon army has around 400 models. The only things I paid for were 2 Bloodthirsters, a Great Unclean One and the Wrath and Rapture boxed set. Everything else came from trades for stuff I wasn't using, people are usually looking to get rid of Daemon units. I think I spent around $380 total, but it feels like I'm forgetting something.

- My Chaos Knights army was "free." I got 2 of the Renegade boxed sets for painting a store army, received 1 Chaos Knight as a gift, and got 2 War Dogs from someone who didn't see a use for them.

- Currently working on a Deathwatch army consisting of Firstborn and Primaris Marines. Paid for some Aggressors, about $160 for 9 of them. Everything else is stuff that's just been sitting around - bits from Veteran sprues left over from commissions, Land Speeders / Bikes / Dreadnoughts / Terminators that accumulated over the years, Intercessors people gave up on when they were new and the rules sucked. At some point, I ended up with Kill Team Cassius, assembled and stripped, in a plastic bag. No clue how it got there, but now it looks good.

- I did spend $125 on Indomitus recently to get the 9th edition BRB. I also spent about $90 to get Codex Space Marines and the Deathwatch Supplement. About to buy the DG Codex. Annually, I probably spend about $200 on books.

- I did spend about $100 on bits recently to get side sponsors for a Land Raider Crusader, Frag Cannons for DW Veterans, and some other odds and ends. Annually, I probably spend around $200 on bits.

- I did spend about $80 recently on paint and thinner (Vallejo.)

So the amount someone spends doesn't seem linear and it would be hard to come up with an average. There's upfront costs to start an army, then you figure out how to take advantage of opportunities and that usually involves trades (instead of cash.) Then there's these other costs that creep in, like books, bits and paint.

Not loads.
Averaged out probably £20 a month at most.
2019 I only got some Conquest, and a cheap WHUnderworlds bundle.
2020 I don’t remember anything except three or four warbands.

But then also, whenever Indomitus was I got it, but like with a lot of things I’d get, I sell off what I don’t want.
So the box cost me zero for the few bits left I was keeping (4 individual sprues of characters, the Assault Intercessors and that mixed marine sprue of whatever they are Blade guard and such.)
So I don’t know if stuff like that counts as a spend anyway?

I got some stuff from the wife for Christmas (10 paints and the Space Marine Heroes 3 set).
I will however buy Cursed City when it comes and the Vampire and Idoneth Warbands. That’ll average £15 ish a month to start.

Being in the hobby so long, you just have a lot of stuff to be working on

 Jidmah wrote:

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
This is a very dangerous thread. If a spouse comes across it on the net we are all in deep trouble!

Ok, boomer

I don't need to hide my spendings from my wife and I am responsible enough to not spend money we don't have.

Cool story zoomer, needs more dragons

I don't know how much i've spent on the hobby in the past year. I've never really tried to keep track of it. I know it's probably a pretty scary number. What is even more disturbing to me though is how many of these projects are sitting unfinished. I might be hitting a point where it's simply not possible for me to finish everything I have.

 Thargrim wrote:
I don't know how much i've spent on the hobby in the past year. I've never really tried to keep track of it. I know it's probably a pretty scary number. What is even more disturbing to me though is how many of these projects are sitting unfinished. I might be hitting a point where it's simply not possible for me to finish everything I have.

I've found that setting small steps for a project helps. Right now I am focusing on basing all my painted models in my RG-successor army. That's it. Just basing. In the last week, I have gone from about 1/4 of 3,500-4,000 points worth of painted models being based to about 85%

Once that is done, my next goal is to paint all the models I have primed - probably another 1,500 to 2,000 points worth. Then once that is done, I will base them.

My next step after that is to prime the models I have built (only a few to be honest), paint them, base them and then, and only then, will I move onto building the boxes of models I have that are unopened, including those that my wife got me for Christmas

I find that setting small goals, and giving myself deadlines really helps me move things along. It works for me. Either way, I really hope you can finish everything you have off

This, the buying and not putting together, i have never done in my 8months of warhammer. There are things i havent painted, however, theres nothing i havent put together.

Its pretty fast to put things together, so i dont know why i wouldnt do that.

Beardedragon wrote:
This, the buying and not putting together, i have never done in my 8months of warhammer. There are things i havent painted, however, theres nothing i havent put together.

Its pretty fast to put things together, so i dont know why i wouldnt do that.

Sometimes you get kits in bundle boxes that you either don’t need (like the necron half of the Indominus box most recently for me) or are low priority (the big ‘Nid battleforce I got last Christmas included more genestealers then I need right now). Eventuality they might get built or traded away, but for now they linger in the Pile of Shame.

Other times rules shift. I bought centurions near the end of 7th. They were rules-hot at that point, and I had seen enough people mod the kit that I figured I could build them in a way that wouldn’t make me vomit every time I fielded them. They got hit HARD with the nerf bat in 8th, which sucked all the wind out of that project. The rules got a little better, so I got around to building them.

Sometimes it’s limited hobby time. I’ve got a deep pile of stuff that is primed and waiting for paint. I need to chip away at that more then I need to add to it. But only so many hours in the day.

To the OPs question....way to much!! it went in bursts for me. back between 3rd and 5th i built all sots of 40K armies, when 6th hit it killed the game for me so i went really heavy into other systems, i was mildly interestd in 7th, used 8th as a template for epic and totally walked away when 9th came out to the point i don't even care about the game anymore since our group has gone back to playing 5th, that's just with 40K if i had to tally up ALL the miniature wargames i play the numbers get pretty stupid. But then again i think that would be true of any hobby you love including the ones i used to do before i became focused on wargaming

I estimate that it is to the tune of well north of 10k in US dollars in minis i have built along with all the related material.

(40K)
a tyranid army*
.a dark angels army
.a deathwing army'
.a ravenwing army
.a sisters of battle army*
.a salamanders army
.a tau army *
.a smattering of odd models i like including a macharius, doom hammer, tech priest dominus etc...
then
(BFG)
.chaos fleet
.grey knight fleet*
.necron fleet*
(epic)
.DKOK armored company
.elysians
.cult mechanicus
.salamanders
iyanden eldar
Non-GW games
(B5 wars)
.earth alliance fleet
.narn fleet
(star wars conversion mostly armada ships)
.imperial fleet
.rebel fleet
.smattering of clone wars ships
(star trek conversions using attack wing ships)
a bit of federation, klingon, borg, jemhadar, romulan
(infinity)
a sizable haqqislam force
(DUST 1947)
.axis heavy grenadier force
,allied heavy ranger force
.SSU steel guards force
(battletech)
lots well over a hundred minis, easy to do with classic battletech
(heavy gear)
a sizable grel force
(1/32 scale WWII battle tactics)
.germans
.russians
(flames of war)
.british mid war desert recon force*
(warmachine)
75+ points of khador
(victory at sea-using axis&allies minis)
.japanese fleet
.british fleet

+ about a dozen terrain mats

*-armies that were sold or given away as gifts

Granted that's over 20 years worth of time so putting a yearly figure on it varies wildly dependent on my income at the time. i have spent most of the last few years just buying up really nice terrain in 28mm, 15mm and 6mm. . about the only minis i am willing to get now are the DUST Fallschirmjäger infantry when they premiums come back in stock since they are all fully assembled and nicely factory painted. bonus being as it is a skirmish game i really only need 3 of the 5 man specialist squads to finish off the army. my terrain buying is pretty well done now as well. so my future buying is going to nearly zero for miniature games...not like i need anything else.

.

I love to see all the history in some these buy lists, well done. Makes me think I'm not alone as some one with way too many small models.

when I was young before 2007, my grandparents had a lot of money, and I was absolutely buried in them. I would probably buy $1000 per visit. so, maybe around 1 tac squad or fire warrior unit a trip

it doesn't help GW store managers are grifters by trade after their training

I bought an entire black orcs army at one time after their big showoff sets and never finished even modeling them. After 2007 that changed a lot though and I became a lot less spoiled, and I also learned I hated the game itself but really enjoyed painting. So I would buy one or two units of the most interesting to paint models and paint some nice things. My favorite and probably most expensive was corrupted sisters of battle, with a greater daemon of nurgle modified from a st. celestine with wings all decrepit and such. Looked great

Those metal SoB probably cost me hundreds alone for 200 points of sisters...

Thinking back to contribute to these history posts and to shame myself on my first post before I can be allowed to post links in the swap forum to images

first army: battle for macragge. I had some space marines. they looked stupid to me. i played protoss in starcraft
finally I got tau and THEN i started having a blast. sort of. anyway I bought more tau. and more. and more.
I had around 4000 points of tau, two hammerheads, 4-5 sets of battlesuits, and not enough fire warriors. that's when they were melee fodder and not 48 shots a turn monsters for a while

i bought IG, then I bought some eldar, then I bought space marines. black templar!
then I bought some tyranids!
then I bought more tau
then I switched to fantasy and got an orcs + goblins army, test battled with it, they all murdered themselves in the first round from animosity so i didn't do that again
back to tau
I became enamored with farsight stuff and wrote a backstory for my commander. around this time I was also buying sisters of battle. they were like space marines only they had character

when daemons came out... I bought the army set. subsequently scattered on summoning into rocks, and instalost. didn't do that again

took a break. came back to tau being overpowered. yes! my chance has come.
found out no one likes to play with you when you are overpowered.
then I bought some skitarii, sisters, and fire warriors to paint, and that was that. never again

Karol wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

Karol wrote:
You would have to be a pair of twins, living without any other family, to be close to assigniing same value to anything.

...that's simply not true.

Friendships and relationships can be, and are, built on shared values and beliefs. It might not be about *everything*, but why on earth would you be in a relationship or friendship with someone who you didn't share a majority of values with?

Men and women have different set of values by sole fact of being different gender.

Oh that's a yikes. Yup, not worth carrying this on.

I think he may have been referencing biologically driven behaviors that are scientifically documented VS say political "sets of values" you adhere to.

It is the same thing that engineer from google got fired over when he sent the email about why there were so few women interested in STEM careers.

Beardedragon wrote:
This, the buying and not putting together, i have never done in my 8months of warhammer. There are things i havent painted, however, theres nothing i havent put together.

Its pretty fast to put things together, so i dont know why i wouldnt do that.

It happens.
Three examples from my own shelves;
1) Necrons - back in 6th ed(? I think it was 6th) the Necrons got a new Codex & alot of new kits - Ghost/Doom Arks, Night/Doom scythe flyers, Tomb Blades, Tri-stalkers, the command/anihilation barges, etc.
I was playing alot of Khorne demons at the time, but I do rotate wich of my armies I use. So I picked up several of anything that struck my fancy planning to build it & then shift to Necrons.
Well, I got one Doomscythe put together & painted up & then 40k fell out of favor in my circle. It happens. We play alot of different minis games & 40k had been slipping for some time in favor of more & more WWII (I am OK with that )
So several hundred dollars worth of Necron stuff got put on the storage shelf awaiting 40k to cycle back into favor. I'll use them eventually.
And there they stayed until Sept 2020. 8e had revived some interest in 40k, but 9e (even with a pandemic) brought the game back in a large way in my area/circles and I decided to use my Necrons in our Crusade. So I dug out NIB kits with 10 year old price tags & got to building. (+ spending a fortune on 2020's new stuff )

2) Genestealer Cult
Early in 2020 (like Jan.) we had some plans for a campaign at the shop. I decided to use the GSC. The campaign ended up not happening (largely due to everything shutting down due to the pandemic) & now I have about 500 pts of GSC still in boxes on the shelf.
I strongly considered them for our Crusade, but all those new Necrons were just too tempting.
There are other, more important, projects in the queue atm than getting these guys ready. So they wait. Hopefully not as long as my 6e Necron stuff did....

3) Primaris SM
The SM 1/2 of the Indom box + several of the new kits (mostly vehicles) to flesh that out to a whole army.
It's currently 3rd in the queue (it was up next after Necrons but got bumped by two other projects). So assembly probably around June at this rate. Not a big deal as I've got other Marines to play. My major hurdle here is just deciding on a color scheme.

Maybe $1k to 1.5k.

More if you include tournaments and travel.

Really varies year to year, like last year was almost zero. This year has been 600-700 so far given I got a job and finally can start my sisters army(which required replacing some paint that had gone bad).

I spend about 500 usd a year anymore. I have two solid 40k armies. It will probably go up this year since I'm rehabbing my old fantasy orcs and goblins for AOS and an old feral army list for 40k. My son got me a copy of Star Wars legion. I want to complete the starter before buying anything else. I got two piles of shame I don't need to start a third. Come to think of it the original number will be going up.

Probably about 200/400 USD per month for about 6 straight years. Before that much less. Roughly 20k....

Beardedragon wrote:
This, the buying and not putting together, i have never done in my 8months of warhammer. There are things i havent painted, however, theres nothing i havent put together.

Its pretty fast to put things together, so i dont know why i wouldnt do that.

There are other ways of going about it. Personally I'm not a very good painter and cheat every chance I can get! Painting stuff separately makes things easier with high contrast paint jobs and when there would be tight spaces. Painting troopers with no arms and then attaching the arms is something I do often. Not always, depends on the kit and paint scheme.

I do about $1k a year, give or take. This year less than usual as a few of the things I was looking at were sold out near immediately with no restock. Chaplain on a bike is the new roll of toilet paper.

spam link obviously dont click it gang.

 Slowroll wrote:

Beardedragon wrote:
This, the buying and not putting together, i have never done in my 8months of warhammer. There are things i havent painted, however, theres nothing i havent put together.

Its pretty fast to put things together, so i dont know why i wouldnt do that.

There are other ways of going about it. Personally I'm not a very good painter and cheat every chance I can get! Painting stuff separately makes things easier with high contrast paint jobs and when there would be tight spaces. Painting troopers with no arms and then attaching the arms is something I do often. Not always, depends on the kit and paint scheme.

I do about $1k a year, give or take. This year less than usual as a few of the things I was looking at were sold out near immediately with no restock. Chaplain on a bike is the new roll of toilet paper.

That is exactly why I don't assemble first. A lot of painting these days begins with airbrush work which, in many cases, is much easier if not fully assembled.

Over the course of 30+ years in the hobby, I've spent thousands for sure. These days, I still spend $100-$150 per month as a rough estimate. It's been a bit higher the last few months as I purchased a new army.