Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Dear All,
For those of us who don't have the disposable income of Simon Cowell or Tiger Woods (though possibly this will be halved in the near future!) , how do you carry on with the Hobby without giving all your Money over to the powers of Games Workshop Undivided.

The reason I ask is that i found a brilliant little stall at my local market ( you know the one that sells OAKEY Sunglasses, knock off Leather gear and football shirts) it sells lots of cheap DIY tools. For £12 and a bit of Banter with the stall holder, I got 2 x Pin vices and a 20 micro piece set of titanium drill bits, an articulated Model Vice with Crocodile clips and Magnifier plus a set of Micro G-clamps and set of Scalpels with spare blades result. Beat that for value GW...

Please post your triumphs of thrift and fiscal prudence. Let us prove that Warhamer 40,000 is not more expensive than Crack addiction!

Tip #1. Don't buy any hobby tools or supplies that are sold by GW. You can always find the same or better quality cheaper elsewhere.

Pin vice for $1 from a dollar store. Xacto knives also from another dollar place. Sculpting tools for $4 (the tools used for green stuff) from Harbor Freight. PVA Glue is regular old white glue which can be bought cheap at department stores. Hobby Lobby has a ton of terrain materials for cheap in the Train section. Green stuff or Kneadatite and Milliput from Hobby Lobby or Online Distributors.

The list goes on....

Card buildings and if you want to take it further...Paperhammer.

Get friendly with the manager of a local Asda or Walmart, their signboard are often plasticard or foam board, when they chuck it out you can get a load for free!

PLASTICARD from ASDA or WALMART......GENIUS!!! Paperhammer, that passed me right bye, bloody mental

Play other games?

I got a set of cheap files from a gun show I went to with friends... Same or better than most 'hobby' sets, and only a couple bucks.

I use brushes from the craft store. Good quality and affordable, especially when compared to the GW brushes. Also, my girlfriend is on the store's mailing list, and she gets coupons in email every week or two.

i knew this guy who photocopied, cut out and based an entire eldar army.
it wasnt so bad as long as you looked at the army from the front or back... =P

Well, depends on whether you're a hardcore gamer, or a modeller really.

Thinking about it, apart from the obvious, like line of sight, you could have a complete army made from Plasticard cutouts, coloured in with felt tips and mounted on more plasticard.....voila, a very cheap Space Marine army....if you make them 2D stand-ups, then the line of sight problem goes away.

Buildings could be simple floor plans, with the height of each building detailed in the middle. So when working out cover, etc, you simply lay a ruler on the base (vertical of course) and then you have your very own cheap city of death.

Vehicles could be constructed in the same way, or if you really want to go to town, why not build a plasticard Land Raider.....it only really needs to be a box of the correct outer dimensions, and lets face it, in terms of looks, it won't be far off the "real" thing.

Theres just a few suggestions.

edit# Damn you usernamesareannoying you beat me to it

Don't get me wrong i don't want to have a 2-D Plasticard Army. I talking about buying old stuff like space crusade at Car boot sales or Old badly painted miniatures and giving them a Bath in Paintstripper overnight.

I want all the Models and everything i just want everyone to share their ideas and ways they cut corners and still get a good deal/ good effect. I make Mini Storm Bolters by slicing BOLT Pistols down the left and right side and joining them with a tiny amount of green stuff in the centre and between the magazine, cheap uses and up all my bits. Double Chain swords and such look good on Characters!

In addition to making friends with stores that may throw out plastic sheeting, I've heard of people offering to haul away election campaign signs. After the campaign usually no one wants the things, so they're free for the taking! (Please ask first!) Good enough plastic for terrain, at least, I'd guess.

i guess this would qualify. i found an auction on Feebay that was just one big piece of styrofoam that was cleary used for packing (probably a med - small Television) that was turned on its side, spray painted, had 1 eagle added and 3 numbers painted on. and that's it. there had been no effort to texture or add any quality detail to it. it was a "Buy it Now" auction for like $35 USD. i did a search for it, but it isn't there anymore.

If you're in the USA, stores like Michael's sell hobby paint in two ounce bottles that cost less than the 1/3 ounce bottles that you find in game stores. And, before people start to talk about quality, I've been using the paints from Michael's for more than a decade, and the only color I have an issue with is the range of yellows.

Tools are easy, many places do cheaper AND better, models are something else. Thers are card versions of most of main vehicles out there.

Go to a FLGS that has great discounts and the such.

Thewarstore.com

Great place for new things from GW that are 20% off.

Ebay is great too.

Don't buy any tools from GW, you can get them just as good or better for a cheaper price somewhere else.

Don't use GW paints, use Testor's Enamel or Vellejo instead.

Buy razorblades or Xacto knives at the dollar store.

Stuff like that.

Well, you could spend some time and energy, and learn how to sculpt. The Tools are inexpensive, and there are some really good tutorial DVDs out there for around $50.

Once you lean how to sculpt, theres really no end to what you can do. The only cost would be your green stuff and time. Trust me, I bought a 12" long strip of green stuff for under $10 on ebay.....the tools for sculpting are inexpensive....and, its a marketable skill to boot!

The other great thing, you could sculpt Marines as they should be, to proper scale and with realistic combat poses ( No fist in the air sydrome! )

This would be the cheapest and most effective way of building an army....IMHO.

If you take care of your brushes, tools, and make it a point to only buy what you need, and stay away from impulse buying, 40K only costs the amount that you need to spend.

For example- (And yes, I am only using the basic guys here. Orks or Marines, but it works for any other army, just the same.)

I want to start in on the hobby, and I either want a army of orks or marines.

I pick up a set of Assult on Black Reach, and trade one of my buddies the orks for his lot of marine gear.
I go over to E bay or Crags list, find some kid that is dropping off his marines for a song and a dance, ( Using someone like these guys over in the swap section, for instance.)
And I end up dropping about 50 bucks on marines. People actually think they are breaking the bank on E bay, but it is actually easy to get a good price and you can easily get in on some sweet deals, if you do your homework, and know what you want.

So anyway- I have from my box set the marine stuff and a set of templates, as well as a little rule book.

I write down the army that I want by doing my homework, deciding before I spend what I want, and following though with what I intend to buy, without getting dazzled with dimonds or baffled by BS.

So far, I have 2 squads of Space Marines, 2 dreadnaughts, 10 terminators, and 2 captains. I get me a couple of informed, deals, such as the 2 land raiders, and the rhino for as much as the cost of a new one, or the sweet bits deals from the five and dime guys.

I take the same amount that I was going to buy something like that battlaion boxed set, work my local FGS's and game clubs, and I come up with 3 times the loot for half of the hassle of buying from a GW Brick and Mortar store, (WHERE you are more or less going to get raped, anyway)

And I come up with a halfway decent army for my time and trouble.

I get me a basic set of four or five colors, and a good set of brushes. (DON'T skimp on buying the best brushes, or very good brushes. Crayola won't cut it.)
A small cap from a landry detergent bottle or an old plastic cup.
A rag or baby diaper.

After these introductory, maybe I want to get into some other army.


And with a trip down to my local Wallyworld, I come up with a lot of cheap assed hobby supplies. (X acto Knife, a small board to cut on, a ruler, a couple of sheets of styrofoam and plastic board, maybe a couple of sheets of heavy card board, a sheet of styroboard, and a couple of dowels, and a couple of cheap dollar toys, some plaster, or some cans of spraypaint primer and some bottle of tepra paint, or something like that.

If I have a Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or local hobby store, I go in, get me some hobby supplies, train supplies, and some odds and ends, and I go to work making a couple of buildings, embankments, forsts, ruins, rubble piles, etc.

On Line, there is the War Store, FRP, or any other take your pick shops that have sweet deals if you do your homework, and then there is the hobby sites, such as Dakka Dakka, where there is alot more then just campfire talk.

"Hey, buddy, I have a couple of marines, and I need some arms, can you hook a brother up? I have a ( fill in the blank) that I can trade you for, if you want..."

See, eventually, we all get ourselves a sweet ass bits box, and you really never know what ends up in there.

Between me and you, that list of things I dropped here couple easily cost you as much as 1,000. Bucks, or as little as 150.

Depending on how much preperation you do to get into the hobby, Most of these assjacks just run into thier local GW store, get sweet talked by thier local douchebag behind the counter, and end up with a "What just Happened" look whith a bag full of BS that they really didn't need.

What you really want to do, if you MUST go to these stores is to go in and suck it up for the first couple of times. The guy behind the counter HAS to push product. They arn't thier for thier health. You can pay the man and get in on thier "Boot camp" crap, or you can go in and just hang out with your stuff, get a blister or two once in awhile, such as a las cannon, or a special weapons guy for example, and get in with your mates and just enjoy your stuff.

Most of the times, I see stupid MILF's droping little johnny off with a "see you later, honey... don't spend too much." and then little johnny is getting hosed when the neckbeard behind the counter practicly shills him into thinking that they need 3 battalion sets, 4 land raiders, and a special character, when the poor little swine doesn't even know he likes fantasy better then he does the 40K.
So instead of going in and making an informed choice, Mommy MILF comes back, cries a little about the price, and buys little johnny all that love, and little does she know that that stuff is just going to end up on E bay, padding MY bits box for a fraction of the cost that she bought her kid.


Seriously? It takes about 100.00 in miniatures. 100.00 in supplies to start and 10-50.00 to maintain. And about 50.00 in books.
All together, around 300.00. And that is just being generous.

You get 1 squad box. a command model, and something like a heavy weapon, or a vehicle and learn to paint, put together, and play. THEY you go for the rest.
this works to your advantage to get you into the basics of everything in this game.
Hobby, Painting, Putting together, Modeling, conversions, Your interaction with others that like to hobby and game. You get to interact with douchebags, and experienced players alike, eventually you can get your solid core of gamers, or your regulars or join an already established gameing group.

The cost to you is basicly minimal. the gain or "What do I get for my money..." is priceless.

@ You do know what MILF means right? Are you sure you want to use this term here? If so, I need to shop where you shop, and buy me some love as well!

The number of cheap, high quality plastic historicals that came out in the last 2 years is amazing.

Check out Warlord, the Perry's and Wargames Factory for cheap and cheerful Romans, Celts, American Civil War, Napoleonic, Zulu, British Colonial and Vikings.

More than enough to do a human Fantasy or 40k army.

Delephont wrote:@ You do know what MILF means right? Are you sure you want to use this term here? If so, I need to shop where you shop, and buy me some love as well!

Stay on target there, Red leader.

The point that I'm making is that we see an awful lot about how we B!@# and Moan about the price, but when you see the Pee-Wee's getting in on the wargaming hobby, how much of a service are we doing ourselves letting them get shafted, when they don't even know the first thing about what they are getting into.

The situation is reality. The reality being that these ... people are dropping thier kid off and using the GW stores as an ad hack babysitter. Then we get to hear people cry about "Oh, HOW much does that cost again?" ( If you don't like the MILF example, use what you use in your local area. Drop me the word and I'll change it, its really not important to me.)

The importance is that people are getting the shaft, then cry about the price when they don't even know half the time whet they are buying. They are only buying what little johnny drops in the basket, which was in turn shoved into his hand by your frendly assjack company man.I'll be the first one to tell you that I hate kids, but... These kids are the future of the hobby, maybe it might not be a bad idea oncve in awhile to pull them aside and give a little adive now and then, and actually teach these crumbsnatchers about this hobby thing of ours.

Is there any wonder that people cry about how much the game costs? This game is cheap, compaired to other hobbies.

Seriously, The conversation is about how much and how to keep the hobby within cost. I was going to be a smart guy, but as I'm sitting here thinking about this issue, I'm harkening back to the days of yor BEFORE GW stores, when we went down to our LGS's and just hung out, shot the bull, painted up some guys, and just hung out.

It was never about the cost of the models. It was about the time spent with your buds down at the store, or playing the game in general.

We have lost something in this hobby along the way, somewhere.

+1 to what Kyoto said.

Also: get the old hotness rather than the new hotness. If you go to places like Chaosorc (or to FLGS that are clearing out old product) you can get older figs that still work for the army you want even though they're not 'current'.

That's assuming you want to play any of the GW games. You may want to look at ways to play with your existing models in a new way; there are a lot of free games out there like No Quarter, No Limits and Chain Reaction that are quite good and skirmish level, allowing you to do different fun stuff with what you have.

I check out the second hand stuff when a new wave of releases comes out - to see what I can get the older versions for.

I've picked up METAL SM dreads (that look the same as the plastic ones), complete with most of the same weapon options, for under 30-50% of the going price of the new ones.

Use the older models where possible (they still use the same rules). Use other manufacturers stuff.

In short, do everything that we older players had to do when 40k started. If you wanted vehicles other than the metal speeder, or plastic rhino and land raider, you had to build it yourself or find a suitable model elsewhere.

Older Models, E-Bay, etc.

Another thing you can do to keep this hobby pretty cheap is to play around 750-1,000 Point games. The less you need to actually buy, then the less you spend!

Hot Dog!

Most of the times, I see stupid MILF's droping little johnny off with a "see you later, honey... don't spend too much." and then little johnny is getting hosed when the neckbeard behind the counter practicly shills him into thinking that they need 3 battalion sets, 4 land raiders, and a special character, when the poor little swine doesn't even know he likes fantasy better then he does the 40K.
So instead of going in and making an informed choice, Mommy MILF comes back, cries a little about the price, and buys little johnny all that love, and little does she know that that stuff is just going to end up on E bay, padding MY bits box for a fraction of the cost that she bought her kid. GROT 6

My first favourite post of 2010, words fail me, the rapier wit of Churchill and Mark Twain combined

But GROT 6 is absolutely right, think of how much Kids and teenagers spend on Consoles, Games, Online subscriptions. Recently i saw the light and realised that i am getting nothing from Computer Games, i play them once and i feel constrained. Even the sandbox games like the Original Operation Flashpoint were fun for a while but they are rare. At least with this you learn how to model, sculpt, paint, it takes discipline and steadiness, planning and commitment. And if your very lucky you will have model so stunning it will stop even non enthusiasts to Say (Stewie voice)"Wow, that is amazing, you built and painted THAT! no way, seriously, i'm not buying it". Plus you then get to knock down your opponents on the battlefield.

p.s now got MILF on the brain

Another idea occured to quite a few people at warhammer world. They are doing the battle brothers tournament, the idea is 'what can you make from one battalion box?'

The wife went for wood elves, some inventive use of sprue later and she has a 2000 point army from one box!

Use your brain as the best money saving tool you have!

If your going to sculpt you could also invest in casting stuff, then you really can build an army on the cheap! (but feth me that is going to take some serious time and effort....)

If I had the time however that would be a good way of doing that truescale marine army dream!

If you make good friends with FLGS owners, they might give you a discount. Because I'm buddies with the guy who runs a certain store, and because I started up 40k gaming there, I get a discount on all GW stuff, and free White Dwarfs.

While this might not be feasible for everyone, there are some other good ways to get stuff on the cheap. Flea markets are absolutely amazing. The one at Historicon has managed to get me 1500 points of Orks for under $200, and cool old models like Rogue Trader dreadnoughts for as little as $8. It's sometimes good just to pick up stuff like that then put it up on the Swap Shop, eBay, or a site like Roguemarket, and get money back or more models for something you're interested in.

As for supplies, you can get them just as cheap. My mom was able to find a huge toolkit of knockoff x-acto knives and blades for next to nothing at a flea market about 2 years ago, and I'm still using it now. I'm still a long ways away from running out of blades, while for the same price I probably would have gotten a knife and 4-5 blades at a hobby shop.

And old carboot I used to go to many years ago had a guy who sold knock off forge world scenery, not brilliant stuff but dirt cheap :-)

I've always been a cheap gamer. (Well, cheap as possible)

Black reach marines, Used mephiston predator and rhino (50ish CAD altogether), then bought some assault marines and scout marines new, decent sized army that was alot of fun. (Blood angels codex is free!)

Traded that army for a 1k nids army (everything had been magnetized!)

4 Months later I dig out my old black reach orks, buy another set of reach orks, find a used land raider terrain piece someone never finished and salvaged it for a 5 dollar battlewagon. 2 Boxes of Lootas/Burnas, used leftover bitz to create 8 lootas out of reach boyz.

Altogether I currently own around 2500 points of 40k, and have invested no more than 350 bucks into my man dollies.

I may be cheap, but the rent still gets paid.