Economy
Not the global or national economy, not economy of force, as you often see in tacticas, but your personal economy. Right now there is an economic crisis going on, not just in one area or one country, but pretty much globally. This generally translates into not having as much money as normal to spend on our hobbies. A potential secondary effect is that we may not have as much _time_ to devote to our hobbies, either. (Perhaps because we've gotten second jobs or are having to work harder at our jobs to either make more money or to ensure that we still have jobs.) While this sounds (and can be) very grim, there are some things we can do about it. We can use what we already have, we can save up and plan our purchases carefully, we can get other people to give us gifts and we can use our hobby itself to save money.

Use what you've got
If you already have an army, the cheapest route is to use that one. Most armies can be played in more than one way and allow for a certain amount of customization. This keeps your excitement going and allows you to cheaply continue your hobby. In addition, sometimes you can use just a few new models to completely change the way your army plays. This lets you play something very different without spending a whole lot of money. If you already have a shooty Space Marine army, you can probably convert to a mixed army by adding in a few powerfist-models and putting a few squads in rhinos. That simple adjustment will drastically change the way your army plays, if you feel the old way is getting a little stale.

Plan ahead
Save up. Try before you buy, look at your options and the expense. Try proxying models or borrowing them (be very careful with other people's models, please.) Find out exactly what you need before you lay down that hard-earned cash. Also start looking at getting more use out of the models you have or that you are going to purchase. Maybe you can use one model in multiple ways. I've seen Rhino/Razorback conversions, and it wouldn't be too hard to do with a Whirlwind, either. There is at least one, and probably several places online that will sell you parts or bitz separately. In addition, you may be able to trade or buy bitz from a local player that has what you need without having to buy the whole model. For example, my Dark Eldar Raiders can add a bit of armor panel and a couple of gunners to become Ravagers instead. That way I can use them as troop transports in most of my games, but if I really need serious firepower, I just make the swap. Keep your options open. Magnetize. While the magnets do cost money, they cost very little compared to the price of multiple models. You can often trade for bitz from other players and you can also order them online from some places. By buying just the bitz you need to convert one model into another, you can save a lot of greenbacks. (For example: my Crisis/Broadside Suits.)

For that matter, if you save up and are willing to wait a little bit, sometimes you can get the models you want more cheaply (try ebay, for example, just watch out for shipping prices) or you can simply spread your purchases over a period of time. A Dark Eldar Raider costs $35. If you want 5 of them for your army, that's $175, which isn't exactly pocket change to most of us. On the other hand, $35 a month or even $17.50 per month is pretty manageable for a lot of people. That gets you your army in 5-10 months without breaking the bank. If you are doing this, planning ahead will help make sure that you've got a small army that you can play now, while you are waiting to be able to afford the rest of it. (As opposed to just having 1 Commander and a tank, but having to wait a couple of months until you can actually buy some troop squads.)

Gifts
Remember that you aren't the only one that can buy models for you. Birthdays and various holidays can involve people buying you stuff. They will often want to know what you want, and giving them a wish list is a great way to take care of it. One thing that I like to do with wish lists is to put more things on it than I would expect to receive and tell them that. That way they can make a choice for you that they know you will like, but there will still be some surprise because you won't know which of the things they got for you. There are two important things about wish lists, however. The first is that you don't want to be pushy about them. These people are giving you gifts, after all, so make sure that they _want_ a wish list from you. Often the best way to do this is to ask them what they want (if it's a holiday that has reciprocal gift-giving) and going from there. The second important thing is to make it easy for them. We've got a hobby with a lot of strangely-named models, many of which sound or look very similar to someone who isn't familiar with Warhammer 40k. Give them the full name of the model, preferably with an item code and where to find it. If they are likely to shop online, list the website link all the way to the specific item. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to find exactly what they are looking for. The easier it is for them to find it, the more likely you are to get exactly what you want. The harder it is for them to find it, the more likely you are to get socks.

The Hobby's the Thing
One saving grace of this game in dark economic times is that it's a hobby as well. Even if you can't buy new models, there are other things you can do to keep active. First off, play games! After that, though, explore the rest of the hobby. Make your own terrain. It's very rewarding and can be a lot of fun, without costing much. Trying to find objects that fit into the theme of your army, or figuring out how to make the objects fit into your theme is great. I've seen great bunkers made from the pressed paper drink trays that fast food restaurants give out. Just put on some hatches, a radar dish and some paint, and you've got some neat terrain or a cool objective. Along the same lines, try repainting your army. Doing this allows you to work on your hobby and have something you can be proud of for very little (the price of paint.)

You can also try your hand at kitbashing and converting models. You can often make adjustments to one model so that it can act as another. One example might be using Space Marines as Assault Marines by creating jump packs for them and giving them chainswords or other close combat weapons. If you don't have spare chainswords, it's fairly simple to make swords and knives and things out of spare sprue material, just be careful you don't cut yourself. Or let's say that you want to use Chaos Space Marine Terminators and you've got some loyalist terminators on hand. Instead of springing for new models, you can add spikes and skulls to your existing models and maybe file off or deface the Imperial Eagle on your (formerly) loyal Terminators. Early on when playing my Dark Eldar, I didn't like the Agonizer claw that my Dracon model had, it looked too big and bulky, more like a Lightning claw than something the Dark Eldar would use. So I took the blades from several long knives that were part of the DE Warriors sprue and glued them on to a hand that I then attached to the model, giving him a glove with extremely long, sharp blades. I have also modified weapons of one kind to be another. (The easiest conversion was probably Dark Lances into Disintegrators, which was simply modifying the tip of the weapon and some of the feeds.)

Have Fun!
Ultimately, what you do is up to you. The point of it all is to have fun with a game of toy soldiers. If this article helps you do that, then I'll be pleased, and perhaps we'll be able to get together some time and play a game. May your economics improve, and I'll see you on the gaming table!

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