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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).



Automatically Appended Next Post:

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).