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Eilif wrote:I've still managed (on modest means) to acquire 10 instruments, nearly a quarter million LEGOs, and 2 40k armies.

200,000+ lego bricks & minifigs? Holy !

Castle?

Or Star Wars?

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Eilif wrote:I've still managed (on modest means) to acquire 10 instruments, nearly a quarter million LEGOs, and 2 40k armies.

200,000+ lego bricks & minifigs? Holy !

Castle?

Or Star Wars?

At the risk of thread derailment
Castle, Starwars, City, Town, Pirates, Adventurers, Space, Indiana Jones, Spongebob, etc, etc....
I go to alot of resale shops! I also participate in a club. If anyone in the Illinois area wants to see some amazing LEGO shows: www.niltc.org

Are LEGO not toys?

If you had said Bionicles, I'd have had to reach may hand through the Internet and throttle you.

I'm a fan of Castle & Technic, with a little old Star Wars & random stuff on the side (Batman, Exo-Force, Power Miners).

LEGO bricks are definitely toys, and despite the fact that I make enough money playing out to make my gear more than pay for itself, I consider my bass guitars/amps toys as well.

I'm not a fan of Bionicle either. I have acuired a fair amount of technic pieces over the years, but I mostly use it for building interior structure and racks for storing/displaying minifigures.

Still off topic just a little bit. Eilif I am jealous! I've been drooling over the Star Wars legos alone, the super nice Milennium Falcon, the Star Destroyer, etc. Indiana Jones? Amazing stuff!

Back on topic:
When I started I dropped about $1750 on everything Space marine I could get my hands on plus a White Dwarf subscription, GW paints, GW carrying cases, ,etc. Then I got married and the spending tapered almost to nothing once I realized I had to not only assemble all those models but paint them too.

Nowadays, I budget what I can, buy used or trade (paint can be stripped) and enjoy the hobby part more than the gaming part as there are few players in my neck of the woods that aren't 50+ miles away.

As much as I love wargaming, it doesn't consume me. My priorities of family, employment, etc. are still priorities. I just make sure I have time for everything. But if push came to shove, real live people would take precedent over my little plastic men. At least until things calmed down enough for me to get back to my little plastic men!

Necroagogo wrote:I'll spend what spare cash I have on my kids without a second thought, but I get huge guilt pangs whenever I consider buying anything bigger than a blister for myself. The habits of years of being a tight-arse are hard to shake off.

This sums me up pretty nicely. Since the wife lost her job, my gaming investment has dropped off considerably, to nil in fact. While I elected to "participate" in the GW boycott, it was just a nice way to say I wasn't buying models because I couldn't. I don't consider acquisitions garnered through the barter system as purchases though, and this is how I've supported my habit recently.

To quote Nigel the pelican, "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat!"

I suppose I got very lucky with a job at the same time I started getting into 40k (only last year). As I am only 18 and attending the (relatively) cheap Junior College near by (general ed. etc. out of the way before I head off to university) and also still living at home and have a family car I am pretty "set" for now moneywise, but I really do wish I spent less.

In about 4 months I've got almost 1800 pts of Eldar and 500 pts of Orks, both of said codices, planetstrike, how to paint citadel minis, the little red book AND the big red book, at least 75% of the available citadel paints, 6 or 7 brushes, those clipper things, primer (white and black), greenstuff, and finally a sculpting tool. Oh and I'm planning on getting a couple of WLs and WWs in the next week or two.

This is in addition to buying games on steam quite often (usually only their super sales though) and the fact that I buy almost exclusively GW stuff (from my FLGS where I get a 10% discount, but still) because I apparently had no idea such things could be sold on ebay/etc for much cheaper.

So to sum it up I probably do spend WAY too much on this here 40k thing but I have lots of fun with it and I suppose if I buy it all now I won't have to buy it later no? Too bad I want one of almost every army and have to restrain myself from buying things because they look fun to paint/model. I have been getting better lately though.

I tend to spend my little bit of disposable income on miniatures or hobby supplies. I take my hobby pretty seriously and I've had to significantly curb my spending over the last few years, but that has led me to making smarter/better purchases. I've also learned to make do with my own situation by painting what I have, making conversions instead of buying character models, and gaming locally as opposed to driving for games.

Unfortunately I've had to sale some armies in the last year, but it has forced me to appreciate what I have even more. I still enjoy my toys, but I do so with a more conservative attitude.

That being said, if my wife made bank (instead of being a teacher) and I actually had a higher paying job then I would have an excessive collection. Hopefully if circumstances change I can say that it will be possible in the next year or so.

@OP: If you got, flaunt it. Enjoy your goodies.

I've noticed 40k (or fantasy) isn't really too expensive if you only stick with one army. It costs about the same as buying a new console to get a solid 1200-1500 point army, with an extra ~50 bucks thrown in for basic painting supplies.

Me, I am still working on my Dark Eldar army, I have about 1500 points if I field a foot slogging build, but we all know that doesn't work too well in 5th ed. So I need to get more raiders to flesh it out.

Once I have a solid 2k for a Raider-heavy force, I'm going to make sure my army looks pretty, and after that I'm only going to buy new bits/models for DE when the new dex is released. I refuse to start another army because frankly I don't feel like shelling out more money for this hobby than I need to. If I stay frugal and stick with one army I'll master it anyways, and we all know DE require a lot of finesse.

I might get into fantasy in the future, but I want to finish my Kabal of Reaped Flesh first.


I think what really rapes a lot of people's wallets are when they indulge in multiple armies. If you have the income, more power to you, but I'm a poor college student (and probably will only be on a 5 figure income for years since I'm a writing major) so I have to be frugal.

I don't like people who jump on shiny new codices because they're fotm. It reminds me too much of the people in WOW/TF2/whatever that flock to whatever is focused by the devs that month. Stick with an army or two and master them, I say. Rules change with the winds of Chaos, models are eternal.

Archon Sarubel wrote:I think what really rapes a lot of people's wallets are when they indulge in multiple armies.

Really? I hadn't noticed!

And what about large armies of 5000+ pts?

Or armies for multiple systems?


Still, since I've switched from M:tG to minis, I've spent much less monthly.

I have been wargaming for a number of years and for the last decade or more have mostly played boardgames. I got back into the miniatures aspect last August and promptly built a Tau army. I am not sure what I am going to do next. It is a toss up between a FOG or Tyranid army.

I really enjoy the modeling aspects as well as the social aspects of the game. My biggest problem is where to put everything. I have had several sales now to make room and I am back to capacity again. My library is in worse shape as I am stacking books 3 deep.

I also want to not waste money and I am concerned that you can spend well over $1k on an army and it end up being a dust trap. This is one reason I have cut back a lot.

It is a hobby which can consume a lot of time and effort. My thinking is that if the hobby gives you satisfaction and enjoyment, then it is money well spent. Many people play golf and think nothing of paying $500 or more for one golf club.

I probably spend more on lunch than I do on wargaming. the difference is that the wargaming hits are larger and less frequent.

Whoever dies with the most toys... still dies.

I took the decision a while back that a closet full of unpainted model was a complete waste of money (one that I could afford, but still a waste) I now only buy stuff when I know I'm going to get it painted, and I only paint stuff I know I'm going to want to game with soon.

Since having done that last year, I haven't actually spent a single penny on new models. Although I have bought a couple of new rulebooks for WM, CAoR, FA and BE:WAW.

As I'm married with 3 kids, that means all the more is available to do stuff that really matters - like go on holiday as a family, go out for dinner with my wife, get a better car, improve the house, donate to good causes, etc.

To me gaming is just something I do to stop me getting bored when there isn't something more interesting to do with my life, so my money is prioritised accordingly. At the age of 42 I am well aware that gaming is never going to deliver ultimate satisfaction so it is good to keep it in proportion and make sure I allocate my scarce resources (mainly in my case time, rather than cash) on stuff that is worthwhile.

(And in case I get pulled up on why I do something as ultimately pointless as posting on a wargaming message board, I can say that I'm at work and even trawling dakka and posting in trivial threads is more interesting than actually getting on with what I'm paid to do!)

Osbad wrote:
(And in case I get pulled up on why I do something as ultimately pointless as posting on a wargaming message board, I can say that I'm at work and even trawling dakka and posting in trivial threads is more interesting than actually getting on with what I'm paid to do!)

Haha yeah I usually don't even go on dakka unless I'm at work! (or in a fun fun argumeent with someone)

Kilkrazy wrote:I probably spend more on lunch than I do on wargaming. the difference is that the wargaming hits are larger and less frequent.

QFT

This thread inspired me to look at my spending the past few months in detail. Being a recent college grad with a modest, salaried income, low rent, no dependents or other obligations beyond my cheap car payments, I have a relatively large amount of cash for how much I make.

Looking at what I've spent in past few months, I spend way too much eating out and going out to bars. Far eclipses how much I spend on 40k. Eating out is almost completely unnecessary, at least the amount I do. Same as going out to bars.

This thread has inspired me to become more fiscally responsible, so I can spend more cash on the important things (saving for grad school and wargaming) than on trivial things like going out. Plus I'll have more time to paint!

Thanks dakka

Gonna jump in on this one with my own input.

Ive not even started back into the hobby yet (after a good few years out of it), but Ive already had to look at how Im going to be purchasing materials, books etc.

I don't have a huge amount disposable income(due to a wife, baby, house, bills etc - the usual!), and so will only be building an army a unit/squad at a time. What Im hoping is that this will allow me to plan a force, and also allow me to dedicate a good amount of painting time to the models.

It might just mean that building a force takes me longer than some!

We can only afford to spend what we can afford to spend on our 'toys' no matter what they may be. There will always be someone who can afford more no matter what, there is no upper limit.

I must admit that the disposable income has come a bit short of late.
I tend to make big kits these days to justify the cost of particular models and then try to cast the rest as needed.
Generally heads, shoulder pads, specific weapons etc.

I find the high cost of the game itself the biggest aspect to get over becasue I have ample time to game/paint/model wach week.

It all depends on what I want during the month.
If I've been watching out for a new game then I'd get that and leave the soul grinder untill next month..

Again, I do not want this to come across as fishing for information or as an attempt to brag. I simply just want to know if I have a problem or if anyone else out there spends way to much money on games =)

bah! youz just rubbing our noses in it!

Am a late comer to the gaming world and only really on the margins. Since i am on benefits - well nuff said about finances
My other hobby has taken up the what disposable funds I have, but the stash of plastic kits has got as big as it needs for the time being.
It is a bit of a shock seeing how little one gets in a Warhammer kit compared to an aircraft kit of a comparable cost.
Would be interested to know how big a production run there is of say a dreadnaught and a similar priced Airfix kit

The same sorts of discussions come on modelling forums about expenditure on the hobby, up and ultimately as long as it is disposable income and not the money needed to pay the bills - don't see the harm.

if I had loads of free dosh to slosh into gaming it would be good to set up a local club.
Some kids at the library where we are now warhammering are really into it but aren't allowed to collect, because of the prohibitive costs. It is really nice that they can at least get involved in a small way and have some fun.