(a million bonus points for anyone who recognises the Belle & Sebastian reference)
We were talking the other day about the cost of our hobby. On a Thursday, all of the contributors on this blog drive to Warhammer World, have a couple of drinks and more often than not something to eat. Add to that the price of petrol and it's somewhere in the region of £10-15 a week to play toy soldiers. That's without even adding in the price of all of the plastic crack we buy. For me a tenner a week isn't too bad a price to pay for a hobby I enjoy. This did get me thinking though, if I was just starting the hobby today how much would it cost me to put together my current list from scratch. All of the following prices are direct from the GW website so it would be possible to save some money on-line. I've tried to avoid getting too many extraneous models and I've assumed that you can get hold of the weapons choices you need (Meltaguns, Missile Launchers) through swaps.
Codex £17.50
Space Wolf Battleforce £50
Space Wolf Pack £22.50
5 x Razorbacks £100
(NB Rhinos & Razorbacks are both currently listed as £20)
Dreadnought £27
Wolf Guard Terminators £27
Wolf Scout with Meltagun £8.50
Rune Priest £8
2 x Land Speeders £36
2 x Space Marine Devastators £40
Vindicator £27
A grand total of £355.50!
Even with the bonus Drop Pod, 4 Terminators, Wolf Scout with Plasma Gun and 3 Space Wolves it's still pretty pricey. Looking at those prices I'd almost certainly drop the Lone Wolf from the list for something cheaper.
It does drive home how expensive a hobby it can be when you consider that this doesn't include paints, brushes, basing material etc. If I was starting from scratch I would have to think long and hard about some of the choices in the list not just from a tactical point of view but also from a financial one. Since I'm planning on starting a Dark Eldar army I really had better start saving. More than that though, it's a warning about not buying units that you don't need. My new motto could well be "test, test, test, then buy"
Its certainly an expensive hobby. I'm currently trying to set up a school club without funding which means I am funding it and its hard. But its also an incredibly worthwhile hobby for nothing more than its literacy and numeracy basis for kids. I don't understand why GW don't push it more in schools. If I were in charge there I would be trying to hook kids at school.
ReplyDeleteI now have 4k of wolves, 4k of eldar, 3k of tau. I don't wanna know how much I've spent! Bear in mind I've used dark sphere with 25% off and some eBay but still!
ReplyDeleteAll they'd need is half a dozen guys each with half a dozen copies of Isle of Blood and Assault on Black Reach visiting a different school every night. I guess they must be doing well enough with kids going into the stores so they feel they don't need to go out and get them.
ReplyDeleteI think I must own about 4K of Wolves and I dread to think how much it must all have cost.
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