Reply To: Why do all our wargames rules have to cost the bomb?

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

The cheapest way in to most war-games is the starter sets. Whether it be the one player battle group (Warmachine & Hordes for example) or two player starters (Warmachine & Hordes, the GW mini campaigns like Shadow and Pain, Sisters vs Drukhari etc.)

The above have cut down rules with the basics to get you started playing and some lore if needed.

Wild West Exodus also do a ‘gubbins box’ which has the essentials to get you going. I’m sure there are others too.

All of these are the ‘cheap’ way to get people into the hobby. Tempt them with plastic (often push fit to get the minis on the table quickly) and a few scenarios that they quickly get bored of and crave new experiences… resulting in more purchases.

Those full colour rules are not really needed and the a ‘special edition’ cover is just a ploy to get you to spend more.

My biggest gripe with war-games is the cost of miniatures. Why does a leader model cost as much as a unit of troops when there’s a fraction of the plastic (I’m talking normal sized leaders… not the monsters, dragon riders etc) in the box? Just because something cost more points to field in battle does not affect the cost of production.

I was going to buy the new Dominion box set for AoS… despite not having chance to play Soul Wars yet. I realised that I have too much stuff that I haven’t used and don’t need more to assemble and leave unpainted for years.

Could be a little bit of depression affecting my decision making, but for the time being I’m stepping back from buying and going to focus on using what I have…. which means painting… and ideally gaming with the stuff.

Sorry… wandered slightly off topic… but yes… books are too expensive and the constant release of new ‘fluff content’ with new units and army books that have only minor changes is just another financial burden…

Those minor changes are caused by bad design (get the stats right before you release them) that makes units over powered (or underpowered).

And the tournament circuit cause lots of trouble. If you’re playing a friend… it doesn’t matter that your rules are a bit out of whack… but in a tournament they have to be up to date.

Do you really need to be winning to have fun? Isn’t the point of gaming to have fun? To enjoy the wins and losses? You’re playing a person, not a computer. Winning is less important than fun.

And I’m off topic again… sorry. Rant ends.