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.

Warhammer is not even that expansive compared to many other hobbies. For me, it's certainly worth the price.
Now can anyone here give me some more money?

I agree you have to ebay or find 25%+ discounts to consider the hobby.

If you consider the costs at 25% off to be too much, then I think ignoring fun or not, its too much.

These are models first and game pieces 2nd, they will sit and do nothing, until you can find a player to play against.

If you like the game, but can't play, I suggest buying some of the HQs and painting them for fun, as painting is an interesting skill to learn...but outside that, play a different game system.

thread started on specific ways to save $ on a guard army. Hope it help and that others are wlling to give you a hand as well. You may have to scroll down..

 cox.dan2 wrote:
If money is an issue Warhammer is not for you. To give an example, last week my drunk brother broke two squads of IG, a squad of Fire warriors, a squad of Chaos space marines, a hellhound, and a chaos lord (all painted and assembled). Over my 13 years of hobbying it pales in comparison to the amount I have. It made for some interesting and expensive terrain (pretty much a forest of impaled guardsmen).

Damn that really sucks thankfully I don't have to worry my sister doing that! How much does terrain normally set you back?

Considering you live in america, it may be worth playing.

If someone in AU asked the same question, and wanted to collect nids, it'd cost them $478AUD just for the rulebook, codex and force of nids to even start.

The game will only get more expensive, so I really cant say that its worth starting.

To The Max wrote:
How much does terrain normally set you back?

Unless you plan on building your own table, you really don't need much terrain in the beginning. The gaming stores I've played at have always had their own terrain, and if you're playing a more experienced friend he might have some. If you do want to make your own, start by looking in your trash: Computer/appliance boxes have cool-looking foam and almost everything these days comes in some sort of plastic tube/carton.

To answer the original question, it depends on how much you like 40K, and how much you'll be able to play. If no one around you plays, it's a terrible investment; but if you have a solid gaming group then you can get some use out of it.

Do you have books, CD and DVD cases, rocks from the garden and bots of paper? If so, then you can replicate any scenery that is required. Its nice to play over a lovingly crafted games table, but its definately not required.

The IG vehicle models are actually very nice. That being said, ebay, ebay, EBAY!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 cox.dan2 wrote:
If money is an issue Warhammer is not for you. To give an example, last week my drunk brother broke two squads of IG, a squad of Fire warriors, a squad of Chaos space marines, a hellhound, and a chaos lord (all painted and assembled). Over my 13 years of hobbying it pales in comparison to the amount I have. It made for some interesting and expensive terrain (pretty much a forest of impaled guardsmen).

Yikes. I usually have to rely on my own drunken clumsiness to break that many models that efficiently.

Guard is actually one of the armies I would recommend for a gamer on a budget. You really can't find cheap or decent Chaos Space Marine proxies for example, but what mini company doesn't make toy soldiers and tanks? The guard by its nature is an eclectic force. Since you're playing with friends, there's no reason you can't use a bunch of Wargames Factory infantry and just ebay/proxie/scratchbuild your vehicles. Like Orks, people focus too much on the volume of models rather than the fact that if you're not playing in a GW, there's no reason not to use alternate models. They can be dirt cheap and make your army look wholly unique.

Likewise, if you enjoy modeling, I'd recommend looking into the lost art of scratchbuilding. It's damn rewarding to watch a Leman Russ emerge from a sheet of foamboard, a bag of bits, and a roll of kneadatite.

 greyknight12 wrote:

To The Max wrote:
How much does terrain normally set you back?

Unless you plan on building your own table, you really don't need much terrain in the beginning. The gaming stores I've played at have always had their own terrain, and if you're playing a more experienced friend he might have some. If you do want to make your own, start by looking in your trash: Computer/appliance boxes have cool-looking foam and almost everything these days comes in some sort of plastic tube/carton.

To answer the original question, it depends on how much you like 40K, and how much you'll be able to play. If no one around you plays, it's a terrible investment; but if you have a solid gaming group then you can get some use out of it.

Also, DO NOT buy terrain from GW. It's hilariously less expensive to make your own table. All you need is a large foam board and wood. Anything else from their is optional equipment to make whatever you want (lakes, rivers, forests, cities, etc) can be bought at your local art store. And what you make will probably end up looking a whole lot better than GW's terrain.

For a fraction of the cost of a 40k army you should be able to buy 2 or more from other games without helldrakes or riptides in their rules.

If the only game in town is 40k.And you will play 40k just because you want to play a game with your friends and they will only play 40k.
And you can afford it.Fair enough, make the best of a bad situation.

But there are free to download rules that a re much better than 40k s,(in terms of clarity , brevity and intuitive rules.)And subjectively better, and objectively cheaper minatures available.

If you want a fun table to game that is great value for money, do NOT buy in to 40k.There are much better options.

If you're playing and paying for 40k just to play the game associated with it, it is not worth your time. The game is incredibly frustrated, bogged down with a gazillion rules, has tons of gaping holes in rules applications (just look at YMDC and any thread over 3 pages), there's always THAT ONE GUY who has all the time and money in the world to spend on an army you'll never beat and isn't even remotely fun to play against and he's always the only guy who isn't in a game...

Look, I think the game is tremendously flawed.

However, I still have no problem shelling out money for more models, even though GW ones tend to be pricier than a lot of other model manufacturers. I believe in the quality of their products, and love the universe. The hobby aspect is really fun, and anyone glossing over it is selling you short. Thursday (so, you know, last night) is my FLGS Warhammer night, and I just showed up with my painting table and worked on units while people were playing. Chatted with friends in the downtimes waiting for washes to dry and the like. Totally had a blast and I didn't roll a single dice.

I would suggest not getting into WH40k or tabletop wargaming in general if you don't also enjoy the hobby aspect of it. Let's face it, you will spend a great deal more time with your models, assembling and painting and just decorating your room, than you ever will actually playing the game against people.

I'd recommend reading some fluff first. This game does have issues with ballance but the fluff is great imo. If you like the fluff - go for it without doubt. It's not the most expensive hobby out there. But it's rather time-consuming.

Never buy that gak battleforce, rofl.

All you get is some bloody infantry which you can get 4x cheaper and with cooler looking models, just look into one of the zillion threads dedicated to this topic.

buying IG infantry directly from GW is like buying Jack Daniels in a 3 star michelin restaurant-plain stupid, unless you are a millionaire with bad taste

Jokes aside-ebay that gak.

I love the lore, and some of the models (though decreasingly so) but the game's rules are absolutely terrible and have been since I started playing, really. So, it's only "worth it" if you're willing to endure the lousy, poorly written rules.

As mere game tokens the models are obviously expensive, but if you're into modelling, then it's easily worth it. I think the game itself is fun enough, and considering the insane amount of time and effort I've spent converting and customising my models, I definitely feel that I've gotten my money's worth of entertainment out of GW kits. And if you have friends willing to play smaller games, there's no need to rush; just get a new kit now and then, expanding your army as your time and budget allows.

To The Max wrote:

 cox.dan2 wrote:
If money is an issue Warhammer is not for you. To give an example, last week my drunk brother broke two squads of IG, a squad of Fire warriors, a squad of Chaos space marines, a hellhound, and a chaos lord (all painted and assembled). Over my 13 years of hobbying it pales in comparison to the amount I have. It made for some interesting and expensive terrain (pretty much a forest of impaled guardsmen).

Damn that really sucks thankfully I don't have to worry my sister doing that! How much does terrain normally set you back?

You have to remember, that is nothe fault of the game. it is up to you to decide whether others who break your stuff make good on it.

Terrain, it depends on how much you wanna put into it. growing up, we used paperback books, toy cars and cassette cases.
I made some nice stuff out of scrap insulation boards I found in a dumpster (insulation foamboards are very handy and can use a whole sheet to make a base from to carve out rivers and such. The big buildings and all GW sells look great, but really arent needed at all..

Go online and you'll find lotsa cheap stuff that looks decent

Go to the toy section of a store and look at stuff that it the right scale.

go through the trash and use your imagination. Sturdy boxes, TP rolls, I've been saving the lil mini crates that my dad;s clementines come in to take apart for the lil boards.

craft store, balso wood and other oddsand ends the list is endless.

I would always recommend new players to table top gaming in general to try out several other games before committing to any one in particular, doubly so for 40k.

So is it worth it? For 40k, I'd say the value isn't as great as many other games available. For the cost of even a 1000pts army, I could have over 3000pts of Firestorm Armada (a normal game is 800-1200), as one example. Most other games will be cheaper to buy into initially, and cheaper to expand or buy more than one army to completion.

Granted, one of the bigger factors would be what games are played in the area, but if there's other games played, I'd give those a shot first. Play some demo games and read about the game.

Overall, I'd say it isn't worth it. If GW was still supporting BFG however, that'd be a different story for a 40k universe experience.

Again thank you for everyone's input on both sides of the topic! Also if anyone has any recommendations to other games please tell me. I am like a chicken with its head cut off looking for games when it comes to looking for them!

Not to pimp a product, but Tablescapes by Secret Weapon Miniatures (google/look on kickstarter.com) look like they're going to be fairly priced for a board.

If premade terrain is something you've gotta have. Still there are other options like game mats. Forget who did a high quality set of those...but google aughta set you right there.

Plastic buildings and that sorta stuff can set you back, but really brings out the game.

A board at it's basics can be as easy as two 3x4 foot pieces of plywood, two pairs of folding banquet table legs, and a 4x6 foot piece of green or grey felt. About $20-30 US and the time it takes to screw the legs to the plywood. It's what I did and now I have either two small tables or a single large one.

It's really hard to put a value on something like 40k. As a game, I think 40k is pretty crap value for money. It's an excessively convoluted game that isn't well balanced. Models, for the most part, I think 40k is pretty crap. For what they are, they're quite expensive. Every time I build an paint a 40k vehicle I can't help but think my money and time could have been spent better elsewhere. So based on that, you'd think as a gamer or as a modeler, 40k isn't a great investment.

However, what keeps me collecting 40k is the armies and the universe and the fact I'm kind of already invested. It used to also be the case that 40k was the easiest for finding opponents, though that's slowly changing. In a given month most the game nights at local clubs and stores were 40k game nights, now sometimes they go entire months without a single 40k game night.

i think it's worht it. my first year was a big investment, but now i've got everything i need and i've bought not a single model the past half year

I think.... if I absolutely knew I'd want all the parts of a battle force, I'd buy the set.

But I'm not a player and I didn't want the whole lot.

I would say it depends on the buyer and how they see their money flow from their pockets into the hands of GW. If you would see money being blown on a habit like drinking and smoking then that's a lot of cash given into thin air if you add costs over the year. I'm sure if you were to spend the same amount on minis you would have an apocalypse army in less than 6 months.

Myself as a hobby collector ( not so much player) have only bought a very few items in my life from GW. I bought a oop dreadnought and a few metal characters to with my first edition space crusade ( which I lost over time being young and stupid) and apart from paints and brushes every now and again (now found cheaper places to buy even those now) do all my buying on eBay.

Patience and the ability to snap shoot a deal which friends of sellers are not regularly rigging to help boost sales some great prices for stuff does sometimes come your way. For example my estimated budget from hardcore searching and patiently winning bids has come to about £140 - this includes a brand new storm raven (bought for £40 from a discount shop) and about £40 worth of paints and brushes. That means my 3300 point army cost me approximately £80 (£16 of that was for a brand new space hulk) which I picked up from a private seller). So it's a 3300 point army plus the space hulk terminators all for £80/90. For me very very worth it - retail price as some folks have speculated will be over the £600 mark easy if not more

I can tell you I did buy a brand new

Depends how long you plan to play. I have miniatures dating back to the late 80s, and I've played off and on for 25 years. My ROI is pretty good.

If you plan to play for a year and then give up on it, no, it's probably not as worthwhile.

Nothing GW sells is worth buying unless it's 50% off.