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Looking to war-game on a budget? Check out this article for all the tips and tricks to guilt-free gaming. http://midwestwargaming.com/gaming-on-a-budget/

Dig it - all about the cheap side of gaming over here (as you can probably tell from our handle...)

Pooorhammerrrr




I kid, I kid.

The third fact is the deep dark secret about almost all “budget” activities – you’re actually just trading time for money... You’re going to spend time searching Ebay, clicking links on sites like Bartertown and the Reddit miniswaps, negotiating trades with people halfway across the country, and, most of all, waiting. Waiting for people to respond. Waiting for a counter offer. Waiting for someone to ship. Waiting for the models to show up. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

I hear that. Not just waiting, but stripping (then stripping again when that stubborn patch won't come off), repairing, checking bits sellers for replacement parts, etc.

But for some of us, it’s all worth it when you can field 50 points in 3 factions without looking at your collection and feeling huge pangs of guilt.

I hear that too!

Interesting article. Some very good points and I definitely resonate with the author's philosophy and methods.
I've been a cheapskate gamer for quite some time now. A few thoughts.

The article is clearly in the Warmachine universe, but the really budget wargaming comes when you start playing "indie" games. When you're not buying a couple of expensive rulebooks every year (or every month) wargaming becomes alot less expensive. I play quite a few different games but I probably spend less on my entire hobby each year than my GW-obsessed friend spends on rulebooks, codicies, Campaign books, sourcebooks, etc... Getting into 40k takes about $120 in books and that's a heck of alot of figures the way I buy them.

Further, when you're not having to buy your figures from one manufacturer your options (and chances for bargains) multiply exponentially. I've got a HUGE figure collection amassed largely from Bartertown, TMP, local game store auctions (we have a really good one twice a year around here) and super-clearances as well as some smaller miniature manufacturers.

When minis can serve in multiple games your cost drops even further as well as lessening your painting duties. My fully painted chaos fantasy army has seen action in Kings of War, Song of Blades, Of Gods and Mortals, and Dragon Rampant.

I do think the statement...
"The second fact of life is that you’re going to have an army/squad/fleet that looks like you picked it up second-hand."
...is a bit odd. I realize that Warmachine tends to have alot of bare figs on the table, but with a game that uses as few figs as warmachine, if your army looks second hand (mixed paint schemes, etc) you've only yourself to blame. Even if you're not a person who paints their minis, a quick coat of primer and your figs will be just as unpainted as anyone else.

No mention of proxies or scratch building/ conversion? otherwise good article

All of my gaming for the last 28 years has been gaming on a budget. A not unlimited budget. And I've never felt any guilt at all about it.

None of my gaming stuff has ever been as a familial birthday or christmas gift. It has all been purchased by me, from my own money, earned from a crap-paying job to start with.

(How crap? Not high enough to qualify for a credit card - we had minimum income standards here at the time for those - for many years of that.)

Even after I finally did manage to qualify for a card that I could pay off, and thus gain access to greater funds for purchasing of mandollies, the habits had been ingrained. Even if the wife says I CAN spend the moneys on something, I still question it ... I limit my spending far more than she ever would.

Even now, I blanch at spending more than $100 in one hit on a gaming purchase. I don't typically spend more than $50 per month, and more often, $50 a quarter. (This is in AUD, the "dollarydoo", the "pacific peso" also equivalent to any two flat rocks and a shekel. ). I haven't been able to afford a new retail GW product here for about 3-4 years on that budget - not that I've wanted many of their releases. Much of my GW stuff was purchased 2nd-nth hand for a pittance over the last 20 or so years.

No complaints about this approach from me.

Good article, which reminds me of a thread I did a few months back about best value for money wargames.

I mostly play skirmish games like Judge Dredd, Mordheim, Necromunda, etc etc

So it's easy to pick up models on the cheap, and build a small warband for peanuts.

On hobby materials, I will say this:

Why in the name of sweet baby Jesus do people buy sand and gravel for basing? Why? WHY?

I get sand for free from the beach, gravel is everywhere, and rocks are free for making terrain pieces.

Art and craft shops sell PVA glue by the gallon at a fraction of GW's prices, and acrylic paint is acrylic paint.

And buying textured paint. when you can pour sand in yourself? WTF is that all about?

I buy sand and gravel for basing. But when I do it's $6 for a 50 pound bag! I sift it out and get fine sand, a bit of cement for filler, two grades of gravel and of course sometimes I use it as is for a nice rocky soil.

Right there with you on Small games, Paint and PVA.

Small games (sometimes even popular ones) can be a great way to have a great game at a low cost and the low model count means that it's even easier to get them painted and have a great-looking game as well.

PVA is and should be cheap. Elmers or other brands of white glue are everywhere and if you want something a bit thicker Tacky glue (at craft stores) or wood glue are almost as inexpensive.

As for paints, I do think that the pigmentation and flow is better on many hobby-brand acrylics, but some of the better craft acrylics (Delta Ceramcoat is my favorite) are 90% as good and at $1.50 for 2 oz, they are at least TEN times cheaper ($.75 per oz for craft, $8 per oz for hobby) than the half oz hobby brand bottles that sell for $4. One of the best painters I know uses Americana brand craft paints exclusively and I don't even think those are necessarily the best of the craft paint brands. http://mdarrow.blogspot.com

 Eilif wrote:
I buy sand and gravel for basing. But when I do it's $6 for a 50 pound bag! I sift it out and get fine sand, a bit of cement for filler, two grades of gravel and of course sometimes I use it as is for a nice rocky soil.

Right there with you on Small games, Paint and PVA.

Small games (sometimes even popular ones) can be a great way to have a great game at a low cost and the low model count means that it's even easier to get them painted and have a great-looking game as well.

PVA is and should be cheap. Elmers or other brands of white glue are everywhere and if you want something a bit thicker Tacky glue (at craft stores) or wood glue are almost as inexpensive.

As for paints, I do think that the pigmentation and flow is better on many hobby-brand acrylics, but some of the better craft acrylics (Delta Ceramcoat is my favorite) are 90% as good and at $1.50 for 2 oz, they are at least TEN times cheaper ($.75 per oz for craft, $8 per oz for hobby) than the half oz hobby brand bottles that sell for $4. One of the best painters I know uses Americana brand craft paints exclusively and I don't even think those are necessarily the best of the craft paint brands. http://mdarrow.blogspot.com

I have no problems with people buying a giant bag of sand for 10 pounds/dollars from a builder's yard. That's value for money.

But those little tubs from GW or other companies at 5 pounds a time?

Makes no sense to me.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
I get sand for free from the beach

You might have to keep an eye out - it's prohibited in a lot of places. Though, granted, it's more to put off people swiping tons of sand for their garden or a building site, rather than a scoopful for wargaming bases.

Eilif wrote:I buy sand and gravel for basing. But when I do it's $6 for a 50 pound bag!

UK, local Early Learning Centre, £2.50 for 5 kilos. £4 if you want it in fancy colours. I think I still have most of a bag of it sitting around in the attic, somewhere. Been so long since I needed to raid it. I also have a bag of grit from a pet shop up there beside it, with these tiny sea snail shells in it. Thought it'd be cool for nid bases. Never got round to it!

But aye, thread in a nutshell is shop around for hobby materials.

(Oh, and the dried contents of a used teabag can make interesting soil/leaf litter material, even an alternative to coarse sand. Might want to make sure it's sealed, though.)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
But those little tubs from GW or other companies at 5 pounds a time?

Ah, well, now. To be fair, that's not entirely accurate.







It's 7 pounds.

 Vermis wrote:

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
I get sand for free from the beach

You might have to keep an eye out - it's prohibited in a lot of places. Though, granted, it's more to put off people swiping tons of sand for their garden or a building site, rather than a scoopful for wargaming bases.

Eilif wrote:I buy sand and gravel for basing. But when I do it's $6 for a 50 pound bag!

UK, local Early Learning Centre, £2.50 for 5 kilos. £4 if you want it in fancy colours. I think I still have most of a bag of it sitting around in the attic, somewhere. Been so long since I needed to raid it. I also have a bag of grit from a pet shop up there beside it, with these tiny sea snail shells in it. Thought it'd be cool for nid bases. Never got round to it!

But aye, thread in a nutshell is shop around for hobby materials.

(Oh, and the dried contents of a used teabag can make interesting soil/leaf litter material, even an alternative to coarse sand. Might want to make sure it's sealed, though.)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
But those little tubs from GW or other companies at 5 pounds a time?

Ah, well, now. To be fair, that's not entirely accurate.







It's 7 pounds.

Seven quid for a tub of GW sand!

I think I'm in the wrong industry

I think an element od skirmish games that is also overlooked... and has nothing to do with money, is the quality time (oh well maybe it does after all) that you spent actually playing the game, instead of collecting and painting.

Now I'm all about the painting, but lately, I've been craving the social aspect of the game more than the lonely eveing at home.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I think an element od skirmish games that is also overlooked... and has nothing to do with money, is the quality time (oh well maybe it does after all) that you spent actually playing the game, instead of collecting and painting.

Now I'm all about the painting, but lately, I've been craving the social aspect of the game more than the lonely eveing at home.

Very much agreed. I've been gaming with mostly the same guys for almost 6 years now, mostly playing small skirmish games. It's the most I've ever gamed and definitely the longest time doing gaming without a break. The social aspect is definitely what's kept my participation up so much.

Deleted, sorry don't know how this wound up in the wrong thread!

Hey you leave GW sand and PVA glue alone: I have those!

Albeit the sand was bought about 15 years ago and is sti going strong and I got it free with a paint set. It has a really good mixed of grains up to small stones and good variance in colour to the extent that my guard have plain sand on the base, no need for paint I felt. Of course it costs more because it's washed, small bag and GW but I digress.

If you really want budget gaming then the smaller scales are where it's at. At 1/72 or 20mm you are paying pennies per man and tanks can be had for a fiver. Avoid big companies like BF and there loads of value out there as well as many long standing and excellent rulesets.

 notprop wrote:

If you really want budget gaming then the smaller scales are where it's at. At 1/72 or 20mm you are paying pennies per man and tanks can be had for a fiver. Avoid big companies like BF and there loads of value out there as well as many long standing and excellent rulesets.

Small scales can be an amazing money saver. It's not just 20mm historicals either. If you go down to 15mm there is a huge amount of stuff available for sci-fi and fantsy gaming. The price per fig is a more than plastic 20mm (fifty cents to a buck each), but the selection of minis and vehicles is huge. Even better, there's some real growth in the sculpted quality of the minis. Would you believe that this figure...

... is only 15mm tall? No surprise it's sculpted by Tom Meier.
This one too.

Of course you don't have to paint them that detailed, 15mm stuff looks great with block colors a touch of drybrush and a wash or dip, but no longer are well-sculpted 15mm figs few and far between. Two companies (among many) worth checking out...
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/index.html
http://www.splinteredlightminis.com

 notprop wrote:
Hey you leave GW sand and PVA glue alone: I have those!

Albeit the sand was bought about 15 years ago and is sti going strong and I got it free with a paint set. It has a really good mixed of grains up to small stones and good variance in colour to the extent that my guard have plain sand on the base, no need for paint I felt. Of course it costs more because it's washed, small bag and GW but I digress.

If you really want budget gaming then the smaller scales are where it's at. At 1/72 or 20mm you are paying pennies per man and tanks can be had for a fiver. Avoid big companies like BF and there loads of value out there as well as many long standing and excellent rulesets.

You said on the EU thread that you worked in the building industry, so why are you even buying sand?




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Eilif wrote:

 notprop wrote:

If you really want budget gaming then the smaller scales are where it's at. At 1/72 or 20mm you are paying pennies per man and tanks can be had for a fiver. Avoid big companies like BF and there loads of value out there as well as many long standing and excellent rulesets.

Small scales can be an amazing money saver. It's not just 20mm historicals either. If you go down to 15mm there is a huge amount of stuff available for sci-fi and fantsy gaming. The price per fig is a more than plastic 20mm (fifty cents to a buck each), but the selection of minis and vehicles is huge. Even better, there's some real growth in the sculpted quality of the minis. Would you believe that this figure...

... is only 15mm tall? No surprise it's sculpted by Tom Meier.
This one too.

Of course you don't have to paint them that detailed, 15mm stuff looks great with block colors a touch of drybrush and a wash or dip, but no longer are well-sculpted 15mm figs few and far between. Two companies (among many) worth checking out...
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/index.html
http://www.splinteredlightminis.com

Very nice miniatures

An interview with this fellow Joe Mclaren got mentioned on the poorhammer thread.
http://www.ohiohammer.com/counter-chargeccx/2015/11/26/ccx-34-hobby-time-with-joe-mclaren
The podcast episode is rather long, (I'm only halfway through) but he seems to have alot of very well thought out ideas about gaming on a budget, games, ways to paint minis quickly and effectively, etc.

Very much in line with the kind of gaming that I do.

A couple other mentions for cheap gaming tips.

-Toys can -usually with some conversions and paint- make excellent and affordable terrain. The pre-textured nature of most toys means that you can often spend alot less time converting/building/greebling and more time painting and playing.

-Spending time to aquaint oneself with the miniatures of past games can unearth some real bargains. Whether it's hunting down old figs on ebay, or looking at companies like EM4 or Scotia Grendel who still make figures from other defunct companies and games. The fellow in the podcast made virtually an entire army around the formerly Grenadier-brand plastic dwarves that EM4 sells. Having worked with them myself
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-rank-of-dwarves-for-450.html
I can attest that they're cheap and easy to work with. Far more than their price (about 30 cents each) would suggest.

Who pays for sand?

OK, so technically, TAKING sand from local beaches is illegal, but the stuff that collects in your shoes, gear and crevices whilst at the beach is fair game.

I had an entire Star wars clone themed SM army, based with "geonosian" beach sand (certain exterior shots were filmed at Stockton dunes, north of where I live) - those being the closest sand dunes to the Sydney filming location. All this sand was collected from several trips to the beach as accidental stuff. I didn't intend to take it, it just refused to fall off me when I left the beach surrounds.

 chromedog wrote:
Who pays for sand?

OK, so technically, TAKING sand from local beaches is illegal, but the stuff that collects in your shoes, gear and crevices whilst at the beach is fair game.

I had an entire Star wars clone themed SM army, based with "geonosian" beach sand (certain exterior shots were filmed at Stockton dunes, north of where I live) - those being the closest sand dunes to the Sydney filming location. All this sand was collected from several trips to the beach as accidental stuff. I didn't intend to take it, it just refused to fall off me when I left the beach surrounds.

People seem to be under the mistaken impression that I turn up to a beach with a bulldozer and drive off with 10 tonne of sand!

I fill up a tiny tub once per year. Not exactly breaking the bank!

On this subject, I must reccomend Paperhammer: the art of crafting your own 40k-vehicles from cut cardboard! An excellent way to change time and very cheap materials into models. It was all the rage a couple of years ago. fortunately when I was broke and had a lot of time...

There are a bunch of blogs and websites with patterns to print and cut.

http://thegrimcheapness.blogspot.se/
http://40kpapercraft.weebly.com/