Is Warhammer getting too expensive? Or is it actually an affordable hobby?

[Lafarus]

When I was younger, I always thought Warhammer was expensive.  Having taken a hitatus from playing for a while and coming back to see the ever increasing prices which in some sense is normal I guess due to inflation.  But I just wanted to hear your guys thoughts on the price and how much you guys have spent in total.

 

On one hand when I was younger I always thought it was ridiculous we all pay this much for some plastic.  But on the other hand, it is a hobby that you can play for a really long time.  If you stuck around for a decade or even longer, it's actually a rather affordable recreational activity if you think about it that way.  

[Grotsmasha]

Moving over to Amicus from The Forge

 

 

"Expensive" is too situational I think. 

 

Personally I think there could be more VALUE in some of the boxes, anyone else remember when Cadians and Catachans were 20 to a box and the same price as a Tactical Squad? That was nice.

 

For me personally, the hobby is too expensive for me to buy the things I want with my own income, all of my hobby finances come from Commission painting, which in turn takes from my own hobby time. For example, The 12 Months of Hobby Challenge I run in The Forge has really suffered for my commission painting.

 

Also, my perseption/experiance is altered by the insane Oz tax GW charges down here.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Grotsmasha

[Warden-Paints]

I don't think GW products are too expensive, considering where they are produced. I also think they are good value, compared to other things I could entertain myself with for a similar expenditure. A box of Space Marines for example, will take me many, many hours to build and paint to a standard I'm happy with. 

 

Also, I've never met a war gamer that didn't buy far, far too many models. If I only bought what I was ready to use in the near future I think I would barely consider the hobby an expense at all. 

[Lysimachus]

I have definitely cut down over recent years, I do find GW very expensive, but there are still ways to enjoy the hobby without spending as much?

 

For me, things like Kill Team are amazing. Enough to scratch the 40k painting and gaming itch, but obviously only needing to buy 1 or maybe 2 boxes is much, much cheaper than building a whole army!

 

Also, a big part of the hobby for me is creative writing. We've become quite active down in the RPG and Play by Post forums, again it really scratches my itch for grimdark stuff. Spent many hours of hobby time on it, and it hasn't cost me a penny. (Well, except where I've been inspired to build minis for my characters, but that's relatively inexpensive too!)

[Closet Skeleton]

Its too expensive, but its still possible to just buy a single 2000 point army and get a lot of value out of it.

[Rik Lightstar]

The big thing that has changed really seems to be the expected model count for a game, back in 2nd edition Tactical Marines were around 30 points each with Guardsmen at around 10 points I believe and a 1250 - 1500 point game was pretty common. Now it's 18 points for a Tactical Marine and 6 for a Guardsmen with the "Standard Matched Play" game being 2000 points.

 

If we looked more at 500-1250 points being standard it would be far more comparable on model count and probably on cost too.

 

It isn't the price per model so much, that's mostly justifiable by inflation and improvements in quality.

 

When you look at the games they do other than 40k and AoS they're actually pretty reasonably priced compared to other games out there. For Bloodbowl, Kill Teams, WarCry, Underworlds and Aeronautica you can start a new Faction with a playable team/squad/warband/squadron for £25-£50 approximately. Titanicus is a bit pricier but still nowhere near the costs associated with a 40k army.

 

The Boxed/Skirmish games also seem to have less Codex creep and offer more variety between Factions.

 

The games are quicker to play which means you can play more games in the same time period which is better for gaming evenings and for tournaments.

 

TLDR: Play smaller or skirmish games and you'll find that the costs and model counts haven't really changed that much.

 

Rik

[our_baz]

It's all relative in my opinion, I'm very lucky where I live that I have a couple of FLGS on my doorstep where I can get up to 20-25% off RRP and I'm in a position where I have some disposable income to "invest" in the hobby so the costs for me are easier to weather. However, I'm lucky/fortunate but many will not be in the same position that I am and the cost creep will affect them more. I do feel that the some of the products could be better value yes, could some things be cheaper, well yes. End of the day this is a "premium product" that is for sure, and 40K requires a sizable outlay in cash in order to play at 2K points so yes it is expensive, but as a kid I always thought it was too. So nothing really has changed.

Edited November 25, 2022 by our_baz

[Grotsmasha]

Totally agree on the boxed games, Space Marine Adventure, for example, are great value.

[gideon stargreave]

I started the hobby in 1996. Back then a squad of lead models (let's not consider the horrible monopose plastics) would cost around 15 quid (sold in blisters with up to 4 minis). Nowadays let's say 35 for an infantry squad.  According to the office of national statistics that fits with inflation since then. What we seem to be missing are a few things that make the hobby seem more affordable
1. "pocket money" items. Things that cost less than lets say 15quid. This used to be single miniature blisters (like champions etc)
2. "single" centrepieces. A centrepiece model used to be just that. It was common to see armies with maybe a single dreadnought and maybe predator. Nowadays, I get the impression that one needs lots of big ticket items to play a competitive game.

 

GW have clearly noticed this, and launched the partworks series to support players (of course they are limited, subsciption, etc)

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think there's three parts to this question, really:

1. How the cost of the models has increased, relative to inflation
2. How income has changed, relative to inflation
3. An increase in model count (2nd Ed vs 9th Ed 40K, or the equivalent in fantasy)

I think it's fairly likely that the cost of models have stayed relatively static relative inflation (i.e. you need the same "purchasing power" to buy them), but a lot of peoples' income has not kept up with that increase, meaning that it is more expensive to them.

[Xenith]

1 hour ago, Rik Lightstar said:

Now it's 18 points for a Tactical Marine and 6 for a Guardsmen with the "Standard Matched Play" game being 2000 points.

 

Blame the US tourney scene for that one! UK GT's were always 1500pts, however our friends across the pond only liked playing with larger points, so had 2K as a standard. I think GW eventually realised that players willingly spent an extra 33% on their armies, so rolled with it. 

 

Let's see, in 1999, 4x tactical squads = £40, large vehicle = £40, dread = £25, 2 leader class characters = £12,  Rulebook = £25, 10 terminators (metal, not the ugly plastic ones) = £60. 

Total = £202. FLGS discount = unavailable. 

 

Contrast this with the AoD box, where you get all of the above for £180 RRP, or even as low as £117 in sales, so some models are actually better and cheaper than they were 23 years ago, if you look in the right places or take advantage of bundles.*

 

GW prices haven't actually increased dramtically compared to inflation and everything else. In 1999 a double cheeseburger was 89p, now they're £1.99, more than double, and will be going up again soon.

 

In absolute terms of materials, GW is very expensive plastic. However the mona lisa is also some very expensive knackered canvas and toxic pigment. 

 

5 hours ago, Lafarus said:

When I was younger, I always thought Warhammer was expensive.

 

I agree, it was also expensive for me as a kid, and I had to scrimp and save to get stuff - however I was 12 and didnt have a job. I managed to continue through university however, with a ~disposable income of £2000 pa after rent and car - ebay is your friend. 

 

That said, the last decades things have been getting less and less affordable as people have been squeezed from both ends (increased costs and decreasing wages) however this is 100% political and not a topic for the forum! 

 

1 hour ago, gideon stargreave said:

1. "pocket money" items. Things that cost less than lets say 15quid. This used to be single miniature blisters (like champions etc)
2. "single" centrepieces. A centrepiece model used to be just that. It was common to see armies with maybe a single dreadnought and maybe predator. Nowadays, I get the impression that one needs lots of big ticket items to play a competitive game.

 

Great points - there are no cheap items where you can get a model for your army in the £5-6 range, as there used to be. I could build up a squad over time with blisters. I guess this just means saving up for 5x the time, instead of buying in dribs and drabs. The game has gotten bigger also. A Land raider used to be the biggest and maybe scariest thing you;d see on the table. Now it's not, where we have knights and all sorts roaming the boards. 

 

*I'll admit that this is one excellent example of a good deal, and there are plenty more of models that have gotten more expensive, however I'd posit that it's all in line with inflation - weirdly GW was where I first learned what inflation was as an 13 year old questioning the price rises, and discussing with a store staffer. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Xenith

[Special Officer Doofy]

I find it to be pretty affordable compared to my other hobbies such as video gaming, magic cards, comics, boating, 4-wheeling, guns/hunting and what not. I mean it's expensive in the sense if you can barely pay for housing and necessities but then you probably shouldn't be spending money on plastic toy soldiers in the first place if that is your situation. 

 

I only buy from 15% off retailers here in the US online. I Play DG and Nurgle daemons, last kit I bought was in Feb of 2021 when the lord of Virulence came out. I still play but don't have to keep purchasing new kits to play because I have my 5,000pts of DG and 2,500pts of Nurgle Daemons already. Just buy a few codexes each edition and the main rulebook and I'm set.

 

I find it hilarious when someone refers to GW as "evil corporate overlords" like someone did in the recently locked trade price increase thread. They are certainly not your friend and have some pretty nice profit margins, but calling them that is just about the silliest thing I've read on this forum and I tells me alot about the person that posts it. Their prices have been pretty consistent with inflation as some other fraters above me have pointed out. 

 

I recommend starting off with a discount box like the old start collectings, new combat patrols, Christmas boxes, faction release boxes, edition launch boxes and such. Even better if you can get them from a discount seller. The Nurgle start collecting was like $90 and came with a character, nurglings, Plaguebearers and drones. The drones alone are $65. I bought three start collectings at 15% off each and only had to buy a few other kits to go with it and was already at 2,000pts. I got two halves of the DG side of dark imperium new on sprue on ebay for like $45 and $50 when I came back to the hobby. Such a steal! 

 

And sidenote: I love 2,000pts games! Time is a more rare commodity for me than money. If I'm going to pack my stuff up, drive to my brother's or a buddies house (or for them to come to mine) which is about a 15-20 minute drive one way and a few bucks in gas, I want the game to last a little longer. It's another way to stretch the hobby dollar for me. 1,500pts or 1,750pts is a slightly shorter game, but not short enough to play two games in the time it takes to play 1 2,000pts game. I never found 1,000pts or smaller 500pts games even worth my time, and time is money!

Edited November 25, 2022 by Special Officer Doofy

[Xenith]

7 hours ago, Lafarus said:

On one hand when I was younger I always thought it was ridiculous we all pay this much for some plastic.

 

Everyone has different perceptions of value. In high school, lots of people condemned warhammer as stupid and expensive, and people still do now. However I have the same opinion of other activities that colleagues do - like £1000+ for parasailing paragliding gear. That's bad value and poor return for me...because I don't enjoy it. 

 

Unlike that gear that needs replacing every several years, I'm still rocking my original metal BA models from 20 years ago in games though. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Xenith
Mixed up parasailing and paragliding. 

[Halandaar]

Agree that the size of armies required is most of what makes 40k and AoS feel expensive these days. There are exceptions (the upcoming Custodes Battleforce looks like it will get you most of the way to an entire army for a relatively good price), but it has a lot to do with why my games are primarily played between 500-1000 points.

 

Warhammer Fantasy had the same problem of sheer scale; some armies had core troops that cost as little as single point each, at you had to have a minimum of 25% of your army made up of them. The idea of having to buy hundreds of Skeletons just to gain access to the good stuff is what stopped me ever playing Vampire Counts. Certain 40k factions can feel a bit like that too, especially if they play into an infantry-horde fantasy, but at least there are usually multiple options for how to build an army. And as has already been mentioned, the smaller-scale games like Warcry, Kill Team, Underworlds and Blood Bowl offer a much lower cost to get involved in the game, and limited/fixed costs for expanding into new factions. 

 

Personally, I buy minis quite regularly but I make that feasible for myself in a few different ways:

• Firstly, I always use discount FLGS for 20-25% off the retail price. I appreciate that not everybody around the world has access to these kinds of discount third-party sellers, but because I do there is absolutely no reason to pay more than I need to by going direct to GW. 
• Second, I tend to get a lot of my minis through bundle boxes like Combat Patrols/Start Collecting, Battleboxes, Christmas Battleforces or Edition Starter sets, because they are so much better value than buying the kits individually. If I was running on a £30/month budget for models, my view is that I'm almost always better off using that to buy a single bigger box for £90 and splitting it over 3 months with Klarna or Paypal or whatever, because that £90 box typically contains ~£150 worth of kits.
• Finally, I often box-split as a way of getting certain kits heavily discounted or even free/at a profit. For example, I bought Kill Team Shadowvaults and sold the rulebook, terrain and Necrons on eBay for a combined total slightly more than I paid for the entire set, leaving me with the Kasrkin for free. I did a similar move with the AoS Slaves to Darkness set, selling off the Chosen and the Battletome & Cards, leaving me with the new Daemon Prince and some Ogroid Theridons for a total spend of about £30. The demand on secondary markets for brand-new stuff is so high that this has become one of my most reliable ways of getting one-off kits for myself that I typically wouldn't buy otherwise.

 

This approach means it's pretty unusual for me to build a whole army in a short space of time - the Eldar release this year was a bit of an exception (and something I've been waiting for for about 15 years), but on the whole I just acquire minis over time through combo boxes. The Chaos army I'm working on at the moment has been gradually built up over a period 10 years, starting with kits I got from Dark Vengeance back in 2012 and taking in stuff from Dark Imperium, Shadowspear and Eldritch Omens along the way.

 

It can also impact the way I compose my armies in terms of included units, and although that would probably be a downside for a lot of people it works for me because I'm not a competitive player by any means. I don't need to fork out full price for the direct-only units currently defining the competitive meta, I'm quite happy to build armies with what I have (or what I can get for a good price). 

 

Are GW products expensive? Yes. Do I think they are good value? A lot of the time, also yes - the amount of hours enjoyment I can get from building, painting and playing games with models feels a lot better than the equivalent I'd get from say going to see a movie or even buying most video games.

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Halandaar
Added stuff

[Emurian]

Warhammer 40K: Third Party Miniatures Are Ruining The Game - Bell of Lost Souls

I would say read the comment section on the BoL shill article that came out recently. It actually restored some faith in the community for me.

You can not convince me that 25E for a single character model is a good price if you can offer boxes with 10 miniatures in it for 45E. The rules in this game should be free. I see ZERO reason to buy a codex nowadays as it becomes obselete within a month when the first nerfs come in.

The thing that tires me out with this hobby is the constant flipping of units being viable or not. (and the amount of books ) As soon as a new dex/edition drops you are more or less pushed to reinvest in your army to make a new streamlined list.  Cashing out of this game also comes at a loss. The only exception I noticed where you might be able to flip some money is scenery.  Its not like MtG where you can take your cards and trade them for the new thing. I can not pickup my conscripts that have been deleted in the new dex and tell GW: Well take the Conscripts and give me some Karskin in return. 
 

[Kastor Krieg]

Not to mention that the purchase power of wages in UK have nothing to do with the purchase power of wages in Poland, for example. 

Our wages are worth about 4-5 times less (median net wage is ~650 GBP!), while housing is about as expensive, food cheaper and utilities almost as expensive as in UK. Imagine being in the hobby on that budget.

[pawl]

I think it depends on your situation, your expectations, and also your time frame.

 

By 'situation' I refer to how invested you already are in the hobby.

 

If you're brand new then it can be an expensive hobby to get into, although this is true of many things.

It probably needs a price update, but I wrote this a while ago about starting cheaply.

If you're already fairly well set up then it's more a matter of expectations below, but there are still overheads. Again, shameless plug that probably needs updating, but here's a link.

 

 

 

By expectations I refer to what you're looking to get out of the hobby.

 

If going forward you simply want to improve as a painter then the number of models you need to buy could be quite low (or even zero with a big backlog), and your expenditure could be mostly limited to new products like oils and enamels, better brushes, new paint lines etc. This can be a relatively cheap way to continue hobbying.

 

If however you want to have a 2,000 point army of whatever faction has just been released then you're going to end up spending money, because you need the models. This is obviously going to increase if you also want to add another 1,000 points to an old army, start a new game system, and then build a small fluffy allied force for your main army. The more you want, the more it'll cost, obviously!

 

 

 

And time frame? Well, exactly that! If you want a big Guard army, but you're happy for it to (never) be finished "whenever" then you can spread the cost out. If however you need 2k points of Orks for that competition in a month then the cost is going to hurt a little more.

 

 

 

Not mentioned so far, but also important, is willpower.

I just bought the Cadia Stands box. Partly because it's shiny and I'm stupid, partly because I want a mixed-model urban Catachan/Cadian army (to stick my old metal Catachan and Kasrkin models in, plus various other oldhammer bits). I could have waited and bought them when I was actually ready to build and paint, but I didn't. The box will save me money in the long run, but was a short term cost I probably should have avoided. Being clever with your purchases and knowing that most shiny new things will be available for a very long time (ltd ed models being an exception) will pay off!

 

This also comes close to the whole "don't have a pile of shame" idea where you actually paint what you own before you start buying more, but let's be realistic here! xD

[Xenith]

To get back to the actual question in the OP:

 

"Is Warhammer getting too expensive? Or is it actually an affordable hobby?"

 

We need to break that down a bit. 'too expensive' and 'affordable' are subjective matters which have different answers to different people. 

 

What we can say, and prove with evidence, is that in absolute terms, the warhammer hobby is getting more expensive, however so is everything else. In relative terms, Warhammer is roughly as expensive as it was in relation to other items 20 years ago - and to some people, it will always be expensive. 

 

In my above double cheeseburger index, in the early 2000's, the Ronald burger was 0.89, and my tactical squad was £12.50. That's 14.04 burgers per tactical squad. In 2022 the tactical squad is £32.50 and the cheeseburger hamburger 1.49, so 21 burgers per unit. roughly an increase above what McDonalds has increased their prices by. There's also the fact that the 2022 tactcal squad is a recut sprue and very different to the 2000 sprue, so there's additional costs there. So yea, maybe they're guilty of above average rises, however factor the types of business into account - GW is a high end hobby equipment manufacturer with essentially no competition, while McDonalds is a cheap fast food retailer with a lot of competition. 

 

So prices have increased steadily over the last forever. We know this, so onto the second part "is this affordable?"

 

And the answer is, it's increasingly unaffordable for the average UK (and US?) citizen. From a UK perspective, for things to remain the same price/affordability, salaries have to increase in line with inflation. This has not happened however, so while Warhammer has increased in cost as the cost to make it increases, the ability to purchase has relatively declined, as incomes have not increased. 

 

In the UK again, the spending power of the average british person has plummeted over the last decades, and I think we were overtaken by some post-soviet european countries recently in terms of quality of life. So absolutely: Warhammer is becoming increasingly less affordable for the average UK hobbyist. But so is everything else. 

 

The reason for this is, of course, a political choice, and therefore not board appropriate, however further reading is below. 

 

Spoiler

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/13/average-uk-household-8800-a-year-worse-off-than-those-in-france-or-germany

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/17/obr-confirms-uk-enters-year-long-recession-with-half-a-million-job-losses-likely

 

[Khornestar]

It’s expensive, but not so bad. We (my family) cook our own food, brew our own coffee, stream movies instead of going to theaters, and are generally extremely frugal. 40k is the only hobby I spend what little disposable income I have on.

 

I almost exclusively buy on eBay for the 15% discount, and often sell things I don’t really use or care about any more (older kits that look awful to me, such as firstborn marines). Sometimes I’ll buy on Amazon so I can split up a purchase into smaller monthly payments with no interest.

 

I’m very selective with what I buy. Only 40k. I tend to save money for months by putting as many general purchases as I can on my credit cards that have 3% cash back. 2-3 times a year I use that money to fund buying the more expensive kits (like vehicles). I’ve been saving and saving in anticipation of the World Eaters release. I should be able to buy Angron  and another kit with that cash back, and then stagger the other purchases over time.

 

[Halandaar]

49 minutes ago, Xenith said:

In the UK again, the spending power of the average british person has plummeted over the last decades, and I think we were overtaken by some post-soviet european countries recently in terms of quality of life. So absolutely: Warhammer is becoming increasingly less affordable for the average UK hobbyist. But so is everything else. 

 

And on that note, the rate at which Warhammer prices are increasing is way lower than the rate at which the price of everything else is increasing.

 

The previous closed thread on prices was regarding a 5.8% increase to trade price of GW products (likely to represent about a 3% increase to consumers). By comparison UK inflation is running at 11%, I've just been told my rent is going up by 14% in January and my energy bill has gone up over 100% since April, and likely to get even worse next year.

 

Warhammer is feeling more expensive to me not so much because of it's own price increases, but because my disposable income is being drastically reduced by other factors.

 

[Domhnall]

Time for my overly long personal examples on this!

 

On a value basis, one comparison I have for the cost of this hobby against other is with Lego. 

I recently bought a largish lego technic kit for the reduced price of £35. So comparable with a box of marines. 

So from my personal perspective, that probably took me about less than 5 hours to build. So for pure cost/time, that's £7/hour hands on, then it'll sit on a shelf looking nice (because I don't rebuild lego, that's just madness). 

Let's say I am painting quickly, so a box of Primaris Marines are £36 for 10 figures. I'd be looking at 3 hours per model (clip, build, clean, undercoat, paint). So that's 30 hours I'd be spending on a box of marines (it's not, I'd take longer). Then they'll sit on a shelf and look nice. 

So that works out at 80p/hour hands on value. That's better value than the price/time to actually go to the shop! 

 

However, as others have said, there is a difference between expense and value. 

80p/hour might be great value, but if I don't have £36 to spend, then I can't get that value. 

 

 

As for is it getting more expensive, probably not in relative terms. Back when I started in 1994?, a box of 10 tactial marines was I think £15 (maybe lower, maybe higher). At the same time, a twix kingsize (first released) was 32p. 

A primaris box is £36, a twix eXtra (king size equivalent, but now smaller) is 85p. 

So that's a 2.4 times increase in price for primaris, and 2.6 times for a twix. 
Pretty much the same for our purposes. 

Again, as others have mentioned, because of slower wages increases; increased costs of living; rent/mortgage payments etc, the amount we have to spend on such things may not be what it used to be.  

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Midwinter minis did a video a few years ago comparing them prices to ‘97 prices.

the price increases are almost 100% even with inflation.

 

characters and a couple vehicles have gone up even after taking inflation into consideration.

likewise several units have gotten cheaper after accounting for inflation.

 

but yes warhammer is an expensive game.

 

it’s hard to say for sure if it’s getting more expensive outright because there are no accurate ways to compare the price of aggressors to any other previous kit and price. But when it comes to their new kits i do think it’s getting more expensive. $60 for 3 dudes is ridiculous.

[Firedrake Cordova]

1 hour ago, Kastor Krieg said:

Also, I do not believe GW annual price increases are below the threshold of annual wage increases even in UK and the US

The Office of National Statistics has some pretty comprehensive analysis on it, if you're interested.  (although I would say public-sector workers - e.g. healthcare & education - have seen fairly large real-terms decreases in their earnings)

Edited November 25, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[Bryan Blaire]

On 11/25/2022 at 6:12 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

The Office of National Statistics has some pretty comprehensive analysis on it, if you're interested. 

I’d be concerned if anyone’s not interested/just ignores actual data showing possible incorrect understanding.  It is an interesting study to read (and makes me wonder about any similar ones here in the U.S.)!

 

Also, because he’s still pushing the issue, everyone should take Kastor Krieg’s posts about oppressive capitalism with the caveat that he himself is a commission painter that should be (given what it typically means) earning funds for his work - i.e. he’s a side-part of the capitalist GW machine he decries so vociferously, making money (conceptually, being what a commission painter is)  for services rendered, producing works from their products that others purchase (basically the definition of capitalism, since he’s a private entity making money, not the state).  So he’s in the “profitz naow” business (or he should be, unless all his work is pro bono), so maybe he should tone down the rhetoric and the rest of us take his rants in kind… take a look at his post in the Hall of Honor for proof of this status where he talks about his latest commission.  He does pretty good looking work too, so consider giving this good capitalist a shot if you are in need of some commission painting on a project!

 

As far as “is the hobby expensive or affordable” - that’s really going to depend on who you ask, what their values are, what their disposable income is, what their living situation and savings abilities are, their general interest in the hobby, etc. - in other words, it’s not a generally answerable question.

 

For me, I’m being extremely careful in my choices on what to buy and spending the majority of my time painting up (using mostly non-GW paints, because they last me longer and do as good/better job for me) what I already have, as well as having found love again for alternate game systems I used to play with cheaper minis if I really need and can afford that plastic crack fix.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Xenith

[Rusted Boltgun]

I'm 12 months back in the hobby having left in the early nineties. I think plenty has been said in terms of affordable / expensive that I can't add to but I have to say that as a newbie I'm impressed with the value gained from what I have bought.

 

I have shelved my previous hobby - RC cars - after nearly 10 years. It needed more time (in the garage) than I could dedicate and I had run out of storage space. Costs (cars, parts and electrics) had also increased significantly and the fun running time was restricted to a handful of days a year.

 

Diving into 40K, I bought too much too quickly with a Strikeforce boxset, HH 2.0, Kill Teams Octarius, Moroch, Into the Dark and Shadowvaults. I realise now that I should have stuck to KT.  I have however, really gained in several areas... 

 

'Making' time - I have really enjoyed dedicated hobby time cutting, prepping, glueing and finally painting. I can do a little most evenings.

 

Gaming time - I played my v.1 Space Hulk with my son and since then we've been playing a simplified Kill Team. We fit in a game once a week. We have plenty of room to grow the game into full on KT as he gets older.

 

Media time - I found B&C (which has been great!), discovered YouTube and signed up for WH+ (I watch battle reports and painting vids with my son), bought HH novels for my Kindle and most recently an audiobook bundle which has been great!

 

The fun I have had playing the games, the satisfaction with (some) of my painting results, the time in my headspace planning projects, the experience on here seeing inspiring the work of others...

 

...the value has been fantastic. Worth every penny.