and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ctDX1GzMY&feature=related

Spent around $400 dollars on warhammer 40k so far, Starting to think about starting a chaos army.

Sometimes the ideas of battle games draw me in but i lack the patience, will to learn or income to utilize it.

“Monk – add some psionic ability and they’re damn near impossible to stop!”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Check out the D&D forum section for more info.
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As for the WH topic, this is one of those games that look expensive at first glance, but could really be pulled off at a fraction of the cost.

My main force (and still a work in progress):

-Abaddon, Kharn, Fabius, Cypher, Doomrider, Ahriman
-3 Chaos Lords (1 Terminator)
-1 Sorcerer
-10 Terminators (metal)
-10 Bikers
-32 Berzerkers
-10 Raptors
-10 Possessed
-10 Plague Marines
-30ish Marines (give or take w/ special weapons)
-2 Obliterators
-2 Land Raiders
-2 Rhinos
-1 Dreadnaught
-1 Defiler
-1 Daemon Prince

-20 Bloodletters
-10 Flesh Hounds
-1 Bloodthirster

-30-40 Kroot Carnivores
-10 Kroot Hounds
-3 Krootox

This is a 4000+ point Chaos army, plus Kroot to allies and loose daemons, that cost under $300 to build.

Go to the site, and make the math of how much this would run. Most everything, sans the Oblits and some special weapon marines, was bought over ten years with incredible patience, gaming contacts, and some ebay trolling. I am currently looking at a Vindicator, another Dread, Lucious, Typhus, Huron, plastic Termies, more Plague Marines, another Prince, more Raptors (new), and another Oblit just to “complete” my chaos marines.

With the daemons I have, I am also in the process of expanding their numbers to have a full Daemons army.

I don’t plan to spend more than $100 in all of those additions.

Now consider this.

I have built up to 10-15 different army lists with this force at varying point costs, and I have countless other lists to try with some shuffling of units. That is with the total purchace of this force, I have an immesurable margin of replay value over “one” purchace.

Now look over your video game library (including old consoles and computer). Make a total and see how much you have spent on that hobby over the years. That should include old consoles, games, and even computer rigs if you built them just for gaming.

Lot more than $300, right?

Now how much of that hasn’t been used in years?

This is not even the worse hobby comparisson. Sure, admin is correct that you can play D&D with just $30-40 bucks, but the sheer amount of material available for these sort of games usually begs for your money to be spent on the more exotic books. I know that my D&D gaming would be nothing without the Psionics handbook or the many Dark Sun campaign books I own.

Lets not even get started on my Werewolf: the Apocalyspe books. Those dwarf my D&D collection.

I have easily spent over $800-$1000 in RPG books in the same time period it took me to gather that chaos force.

Then there are the Colectible Card Games. Now THAT is a waste of $.

I played Magic: The Gathering on and off. I also tried different games within this genre (Star Wars CCG, Pokemon, Rage, Wheel of Time) and they all got EXTREMELY pricey when compared to their returns. These games play on one fact and one fact alone; randomness.

The point of these games is to build decks that can be competitive enough to defeat your oponent’s decks. The “only” way to do this is to buy the various booster packs ($3-4 dollars ea) and randomly get cards of varying rarity. If you are a compulsive individual, this is THE worst type of game you could ever explore.

You will buy pack after pack just to get the number of copies for that one very rare and powerful card your deck needs. Then there is the fact that you might want numerour rare and powerful cards in your deck. This adds up very very fast, but that is still not the worst part of these games.

The worst part is that once the next expansion for the game is released, most of those old cards are obsolete as you must start this cycle all over again just to keep up with your competitors.

See what I am getting at here?

Like I said. Warhammer might look out of reach at first glance due to the high price ticket on new boxes of minis, but once you start punching those numbers you quickly notice that it will never be your most expensive hobby.

…unless you make it so, that is.

With some hobby savvy, Warhammer (or any miniature game of the kind) could be one of the longer lasting and more rewarding gaming hobbies you will ever venture into with just a fraction of the money you would spend later.

Just an addendum to Matapiojo’s post; playing Warhammer 40K is also usually cheaper due to the fact that Games Workshop stores usually have less than lackluster security, making them literally easier to steal from than the proverbial baby.

Whilst I’m not proud of my illicit youth (Even fools are young once) and have distanced myself from my formally loutish demeanor and past misdeeds (Which I’m publicly apologetic for), I now have an impressive Tyranid Army sitting in my old bedroom in Kent waiting for me when I return.

All for the low price of five fingers.

- – -

By court order I am to read the following: Don’t steal, take drugs, drink or have unprotected sex.

“By court order I am to read the following: Don’t steal, take drugs, drink or have unprotected sex.”

Unless it looks to be to your advantage to do so.

In seriousness, Warhammer is cheaper than it seems. You get a lot more uses out of £40 worth of Warhammer than you would £40 of games. With the rare exception of course.

But remember Mata, I have no real income beyond a pittance that my mother occasionally sees fit to give me for my own personal use. Plus there are no retailers around here that sell Games Workshop products, but a local shop carries all manner of D&D material and doesn’t make you pay the higher Canadian price regardless of the current exchange rate so long as you buy a $20 per year membership (It’s worth it as they carry rarer European editions of books and supply me with imported gaming magazines).

“Sell sperm.”

Don’t you have to meet some pretty strict criteria for that?

“It helps if you’re carrying a sack of A-grade product.”

I’m a little bit tempted to buy one….

“I’m a little bit tempted to buy one….”
Your child will be incredibly intelligent… and a lurker.

“Your child will be incredibly intelligent… and a lurker.”

Well, provided that is if I know the donor…..

“………….wow”

I am hoping for a strong chromosome……extra chromosome(LOL!)