Average Cost

Draugluin · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:11 am

Was going to put this in Off Topic but I figured it might be better here, just to let beginners have a look at the average amount of money people spend on LotR and other hobbies/games.

Anyhow, I was at a local hobby store that is primarily filled with Magic players, infact me and my friends are the first and so far only GW buyers that go there. A Magic player asked me how much I spent on LotR, saying it must be very expensive (he also made fun of me for being a virgin, until I pointed out where we were :lol:

) and it got me thinking how much I actually spent on my models and paint. I would say about $600 for all of my models, with about $200 worth of them coming from Christmas and birthdays, and that is over the past year and almost a half. I looked on Google and saw that most non-addict Magic players spend about $50 on cards, with addicts paying much more, which would be around $750 dollars in the same amount of time that I've been collecting my minis.

The reason I put this here was to get a list of what you all spend per month on LotR minis and how much you spend per month on other games, or how much people you know spend on those games, so that I can show potential players that LotR is actually a pretty cheap hobby. If you don't think this belongs here, just ask an admin to move it somewhere more appropriate.

I have spent (averaged out of course) $40 a month for the past 15 months.
Magic players about $50 a month.

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:43 am

Yeah but what do you buy in terms of quantity when you spend $40 per month? These days $40 will get you 1 small monster, a hero/command blister, or two common troops blisters, or 24 plastic troops.

My last purchase was $82 worth of used minis that included a handful of heroes + 24 uruk scouts and 6 uruk crossbowmen. Before that a month earlier I got a Finecast Dragon for $72+

During the course of last summer after Finecast was announced, I've completed purchasing of all the metal miniatures I wanted which ended up being around $300 worth of products if not more. Purchased a couple of siege machines, several troop blisters and several command blisters, paints, brushes, etc.

Before the Finecast/metal scare I regularly spent $40-$100 bi-monthly or tri-monthly. And before the major price hikes a long way back I used to spend $35-$60 a month.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:41 am

I'm not spending $40 a month, I'm placing an order of about $120 every 3 months or so, which comes out to $40 a month. Obviously it depends on where you buy, but I just wanna know average spending for people on here, especially compared to players of other games.

simmuskhan · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 5:28 am

Thanks to ebay I don't spend much, I like to keep my painting up to date, which means I definitely spend a lot slower than other people!
I found that $200-$300 a year keeps me done, but I'm not heavily into it and already have playable armies, having been collecting for years now.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:14 pm

Since US Dollars and Austrailain dollars aren't worth the same, you guys should be more specific. Also, I hadn't got a clue what "Magic" was until you mentioned cards, so I assume it is some form of card game?

Over the past year, I have spent (including presents on my behalf) approximately £800 (a £1 is somehing like twice a $1), although this is higher than previous years.

The Horde Lord · **Joined:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:58 pm **Posts:** 301

Maximum 400 USD a year, this hobby is really no more expencive than having a PS3/Xbox

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:14 pm

Easily £40 a month.
But I take some months off and other months double up... or tripple up... or quadrupple.... but it never balances out.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:38 pm

Magic:The Gathering is a card game that aims at older people than Pokemon or YuGiOh. US and AUS dollars are close enough to being the same, and the pound is about twice the dollar.
@Horde Lord thanks for pointing that out, I know a lot of people who buy a $70 game every other month or so, and many more who buy 2 or 3 a month.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:27 pm

Well I spend in £ sterling... and have been collecting GW LotR since 2003 approximately. And I have no idea what I have spent other than the last 2 orders placed recently. They were 25% or more off list price and that included the last hurrah for the proper 20/24 infantry per boxinfantry sets at the old prices.
Almost everything I have purchased has been at considerable discount, included the old Battle Game magazines - buy 2 of those and get the contents of a box of infantry for barely half price! And I bought the army expansion box sets like Valiant of Rohan... Mines of Moria... Nevertheless, I know the final bill is well into the thousands, but then so is my Backlog. :roll:

And I have Ebob and Majesticbear and Thomarillion and Hasslefree and other items that fit into the Middle-earth setting very elegantly.
Average cost for what? Mumakil? (I have 4 of those...) Cavalry? (Guessing at approximately 500 of those) Infantry? Oh God... (ball park 3500... but could be more - every now and again I stumble upon another box with more of them that I have forgotten about). Balrogs? (3 including the "about to lose to Gandalf version") Trolls? (Err... let's say a dozen but it could be more) Ents/Tree Giants - (about 8 or 9 of those). Fellbeasts? (2 - but I suspect there is a third one...) Assorted catapults, bolt throwers and siege towers - some scratch built. And 2 sets of the GW resin Walls of Minas Tirith and one Helm's Deep.
I am contemplating getting some Gripping Beast Saxons and Vikings to add to Rohan and Dunland forces.
And then we come to December 2012. The Hobbit. Here we go again... :sad:

Draugluin · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:31 pm

You have a serious problem. :lol:

MeatBoy1994 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:02 pm

He laughed at you for being a virgin? What, like Magic players are super studs...

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:30 pm

If I ever spend £20 for a piece of card for any game I am into, I will know it is time to quit and grow up.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:51 am

MeatBoy1994 wrote:

He laughed at you for being a virgin? What, like Magic players are super studs...

Exactly

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:56 pm

I don't have as many models as Dorth (who has?) but I've about 1400 minis, with a few hundred of those being metal.

Nearly all were bought through eBay or, in the early days, through the magazines (bulking up my armies of orcs and uruk hai).

If I tallied up what my collection would cost new at GW prices then it must be well over £1000.
I didn't pay that though! I reckon about a 3rd to a half of that. Say £500 max over 8 years. That works out at £62 a year, which breaks down further to £5.20 a month as an average spend.

I guess that's about it, but it could be a bit more or a bit less.

Years back I bought some huge lots on eBay and sold all the models I didn't need at a profit, which enabled me to keep lots of models for free! I like that kind of deal.

FIGWIT · **Joined:** Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:19 am **Posts:** 32

All prices in this post are USD.

Luckily for me, I work at a game store so I paid significantly less than the msrp prices I'm about to quote. I currently play LotR, Magic, WoW TCG, Malifaux, and Warhammer 40k. In the past year I would say I've spent ~1900 on LotR, ~500 on Magic, ~200 on WoW TCG, ~200 on Malifaux, and ~600 on 40k. Granted, I only started playing LotR, WoW, and Malifaux this year(with 40k getting started only a year before that) so clearly start-up costs of non-skirmish miniatures games are much higher than CCG's. My estimates however, show that I won't have to spend any money this year on 40k(unless they come out with my freakin codex). This also doesn't include basing or painting supplies but my guess on those for the year is probably ~200(primer really adds up).

Ring_of_Gyges · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:59 am

You can spend rather a lot if you go nuts, but a decent sized army can be had for a very reasonable sum. A main rule book from the Mines of Moria box tends to go for about $20 (US) on Ebay. A box of shiny new command models is $40, though cheaper options are available second hand. Then a box or two or warriors will run about $50 and that's an army. You could get away with $100 an army.

Personally it would take me a couple months to paint all that (I paint slow...) so $50 a month would be ample for me. In reality I spend more than that, but I'm a old fart with a decent income so I can fund a huge backlog of unpainted stuff. If money is tight, $100 can get you an army which you could play for years.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 3:37 pm

I can be unreasonable, have been accused of indecency and hence The Backlog :-D

I can spend my declining years painting minis and playing absurdly large games.

Telchar · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:51 pm

Spending over 150 euro's a year, a WOTR Isengard army costs over 3 years to collect (speaking from experience here) if done purely GW.

HRM · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:33 am

I've probably spent around $2,000 Canadian on my Rohan WOTR army. I hate buying things used, I hate proxying and I hate converting, so I've bought basically everything new from Gee-Dub. I have all-metal Outriders, all-metal Sons Of Eorl, all-metal Royal Knights...

Gee-Dub loves idiots like me.

Telchar · **Posted:** Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:19 pm

HRM wrote:

I've probably spent around $2,000 Canadian on my Rohan WOTR army. I hate buying things used, I hate proxying and I hate converting, so I've bought basically everything new from Gee-Dub. I have all-metal Outriders, all-metal Sons Of Eorl, all-metal Royal Knights...

Gee-Dub loves idiots like me.

Ehm, GW doesn't need sponsoring

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