How I Continued Wargaming - The Transition to Lower Income Gaming.

At the start of last year I transitioned from full-time work to full-time study. I had been working full-time for nearly a decade and the change in income was significant. I went from having a large amount of discretionary income to spend on the wargaming hobby to almost none. Inevitable this  was going to necessitate a change in attitude and approach if I was to continue in the hobby. The simply reality is wargaming is an expensive hobby, even more so if you decide to play a number of certain games such as Warhammer or Warmachine. This post is intended to give you an idea of how I’ve managed to continue wargaming “on the cheap”, so to speak. It may be useful if you have had or are expecting a financial shock or to help coax someone new into the hobby.

Change 1 - Ditch Games Workshop, entirely.

For those engrossed in the wider wargaming world this might seem obvious. To those who’s knowledge begins and ends at Warhammer (maybe with some cursory knowledge of other games) it’s not an entirely intuitive idea. The simple reality is that Warhammer, while featuring some stunning miniatures, is the most expensive set of games in the entire hobby. It’s also surrounded by a high cost ecosystem of paints and accessories. With the change in Games Workshop’s approach surrounding the eight edition of Warhammer 40k, keeping up with the pace of rules changes has added yet more expense as the company releases as the game updates yearly, adds updates through “campaign books” and increases the pace of army book releases. A typical unit in 40k now costs around 100AUD – that can buy entire forces for other games.

On another note, after you’ve got away from GW for a while, selling off your old Warhammer is an awesome way to pick up a ton of new models…

These miniatures for Conquest are similar in size to GW's Age of Sigmar but are cheaper and still beautiful

Change 2 – Go historical

Straight up, this point is kind of iffy. Historical miniatures are usually cheaper but then you end up starting so many new periods and games it can offset it entirely if you’re not careful! But why are historicals cheaper than sci-fi and fantasy miniatures? The simple explanation is competition. Anybody and everybody can make a historical miniature. An example of this is models for Flames of War, a 15mm scale WW2 wargame. While Battlefront (the creator of the game) makes models for it, numerous other companies also have extensive 15mm WW2 ranges. These companies are all competing on price and quality, giving gamers more choice and keeping prices low. Sci-fi and fantasy games can lock players into a company’s ecosystem. If you want to play Warmachine, you’re forced to buy Privateer Press’ models as they own the intellectual property. That’s not to say there isn’t any cheap sci-fi or fantasy models – there are – but companies are able to dictate prices far more readily than those who make models for historical games.

New GW miniatures are typically priced around 100AUD for 10. 80AUD will net you 60 of these stunning Victrix vikings!

Change 3 – Go smaller scale

There’s no surprises here – smaller models are cheaper! I could collect WW2 in numerous different scales, from 54mm all the way down to 2mm. Typically the smaller the scale, the cheaper it is to get in. As a result you can often field far larger armies in small scales such as 6mm or 10mm compared to large scales like 28mm. In 28mm you might be able to put down a platoon’s worth or soldiers on the table while in 6mm you could play with an entire brigade of troops.

Have fun painting this much cavalry in 28mm without breaking bank or soul

Exploring the smaller scales has been a revelation in my hobby. While I had some experience in 15mm from Flames of War and By Fire and Sword (still my favourite wargame ever), moving into 6mm in particular has opened my eyes to the opportunity the smaller scales afford. I can paint bigger armies faster and cheaper and play larger, more expansive battles. It took dozens of players to play out Waterloo in 28mm last year in Glasgow – in 6mm it can be done by two players without enormous expense. The games often look stunning too. Smaller scales let you model rolling fields, villages and towns that gives the feeling of overlooking an entire battlefield not just a small sector. Things like weapon ranges become more realistic in smaller scales and you play those BIG battles on a standard 6x4ft table you just couldn’t do on a 28mm table of that size.

My 6mm Napoleonic Russian army (in progress). Cheap but looks great (in my opinion!) and a huge amount of models!

Change 4 – Paint more, buy less

Let’s face it, almost every wargamer has their cupboard of shame where previous projects are piled up, maybe assembled but almost certainly unpainted. I’m no exception. What’s changed in the past year or so is that I’m far more willing to pull out old boxes of miniatures and put some paint on them or failing that to put them up for sale. That random box that you bought on a whim years ago can provide a wonderful break from your main project(s). I’ve been painting some Dystopian Wars models I found in my cupboard recently to give myself a break from my By Fire and Sword Muscovites. It’s also inspired me to perhaps try and get a game in of the now discontinued Dystopian Wars. You don’t need to pull out entire armies from the cupboard and start painting them, just pull a box out here and there and put some paint on it instead of going to the shop to buy something new. The older and more forgotten the more exciting it can be! I’ll be honest though, I still buy more than I can paint, but at least I buy cheap stuff and to far less an extent than I used to. Change 4 is still a work in progress.

I pulled some Dystopian Wars models out of the cupboard and am having a tonne of fun painting them!

These changes in isolation might not save a tonne of money. Once combined though I found I was saving significant amounts of money compared to what I used to spend on wargaming. There’s things not listed here that are also effective strategies, such as buying second hand miniature (something done by a lot of players who play GW games!). Sometimes we simply can’t afford the game we want or that big new shiny model, but knowing that alternatives exist that hold just as much fun can enable you to continue your hobby when finances are tight or you simply don’t want to spend as much on wargaming anymore.

I hope you enjoyed the read. Upcoming posts include more in my series on By Fire and Sword along with painting updates on By Fire and Sword, 2mm WW2 and Dystopian Wars. Thanks!