Affordability

I realize this hobby costs money, but it is not as prohibitively expensive as people think. I think that there are several ways to cut down on the cost. Planning ahead helps you get the most use out of your purchases. Customizing and converting looks cool and can save you money on those units. Finishing what you started makes sure that the unassembled and unpainted models don’t just stack up in your closet, costing you money and not getting you anything.

Plan Ahead

The first way is to plan your purchases carefully. Look at all of your options and decide which one would be most useful and in what way. If you can use it against many different kinds of opponents and it will fit your force structure well, it is probably a good purchase. Alternately, if it is not a good fit for your force structure, or you can only use it against a few opponents, it might not be worth the cost, since you won’t use it very often. You may also be able to buy units that can be used in multiple ways, thus allowing you customization and flexibility. (For example, I have made some Raider/Ravager conversions that are Raiders, unless I attach the armor and two gunners, in which case they become Ravagers. This allows me a lot of flexibility in how I use them, meaning that I get to use the models more often.) I would also recommend asking a friend if you can use a proxy unit to try it out ahead of time, that way you can actually see if the unit fits your force, as I mentioned above. This also gives you the time to save up the money, which reduces the impact on your budget. $240 is a good chunk of money to lay down at one time, $20 a month for a year doesn’t have anywhere near the same impact.

Customize and Convert

Many expensive units can be converted from less expensive units, by the addition of different weapons or equipment or a few other added bitz. If you can use plastic basic troopers (such as Dark Eldar Warriors) to form the base of more expensive models (like Sybarites, Scourges, Mandrakes, Grotesques, etc.) then you can get a lot more bang for your buck. Depending on your modeling ability, vehicles and other things can also be converted for relatively little as well. Some models are very close in appearance to plastic model kits out in the regular market, such as tanks. For reference, the vehicles in 40k seem to be somewhere between 1/48^th and 1/35^th scale, depending on the vehicle and the model. Conversions from a model tank to a 40k tank will probably take relatively little skill. With more skill and time, you can even build models almost entirely from scratch. Get good pictures of the model you are trying to build (from the GW website, from the books, from other websites) and get a good idea of what you’ll need to model it. Look around hobby and craft stores, as well as toy stores for bitz that you can use to build it. Maybe you can get the cockpit from a plastic airplane, and the body from a futuristic light tank or something. The idea is to find or make all the parts that you need. You may also be able to find articles online about how to convert the thing you are looking for, which means that someone else has done much of the research and recon for you. As an example, I’ve seen templates for Dark Eldar Raiders and Eldar Wave Serpents and Space Marine Rhinos. Just remember that it will be harder and take more time than assembling a purpose-built model from GW, so you’ll have more of a time investment in trade for the smaller money investment.

Finish what you start

One of the biggest expenses in 40k is unpainted, unplayed models. People have a tendency to go buy the latest, coolest thing, before they finish painting or even assembling the last Latest, Coolest thing. Alternately, if you only buy what you can put together and paint right away, you’ll get more use out of the things you buy, and you’ll be able to afford to buy what you need, since it’ll spread out the impact on your budget. The temptation will be hard to resist, but stick with it and you’ll find that it pays big dividends. Not only will you be able to afford more things, but you’ll get more use out of what you buy and you will have an incentive to assemble and paint those models. This obviously goes extra for starting additional armies. Many people have been bitten by the New Army bug, me included. Unfortunately, unless you finish the first army, both will probably languish partly completed for a very long time. That was the situation I was in, until I realized it and made myself promise to finish my Dark Eldar first (before the Tyranid Codex came out) and then not play them again until I had finished my Tyranids.

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