Can I Even AFFORD this hobby anymore?

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

The new Grey Knight releases are looking brilliant. I want some. But can I remotely afford them? Unlikely. Let's see - £20.50 for five Grey Knights. I'm thinking I'll need at least 20, so that's £82. Terminators? Probably squad of Paladins and standard ones, so that's £55. Total so far? £137.
Then Dreadknights? Well, two of those at £33 is £66. We're at £203. Character models? Well I have a perfectly good Stern, but then there's a £13.80 Lord Kaldor Draigo. £216.80...

Ok, so I know there will be budget versions of this army - hell, I've already got some of the old minis, but why are these models so very very expensive? I just think ok, you gotta make a decent profit on your investment GW, but if you maybe made them a little cheaper (especially the character models, they really take the biscuit), then you'd sell even more?
I just can't afford any new minis - it'll be Xmas before I start a new army of Grey Knights.

[Grailkeeper]

I can't afford it either- so I'm mostly internet based these days. I do play necromunda as all you need is the equivalent of a squad

[Gir]

Don't complain. The army you showed is $575 Australian, which is the equivilant of 356 pounds.

[Lemt]

The new Grey Knight releases are looking brilliant. I want some. But can I remotely afford them? Unlikely. Let's see - £20.50 for five Grey Knights. I'm thinking I'll need at least 20, so that's £82. Terminators? Probably squad of Paladins and standard ones, so that's £55. Total so far? £137.
Then Dreadknights? Well, two of those at £33 is £66. We're at £203. Character models? Well I have a perfectly good Stern, but then there's a £13.80 Lord Kaldor Draigo. £216.80...

Ok, so I know there will be budget versions of this army - hell, I've already got some of the old minis, but why are these models so very very expensive? I just think ok, you gotta make a decent profit on your investment GW, but if you maybe made them a little cheaper (especially the character models, they really take the biscuit), then you'd sell even more?
I just can't afford any new minis - it'll be Xmas before I start a new army of Grey Knights.

Buy at Waylands, Maelstrom, or any other online shop with high discounts over the normal price. It's what I do.

[RedWidow]

Start playing at smaller points level...the idea that you have to go buy 2000+ points the day you start the army is (however common) not truth. Most will argue that the game is not fun at 500 points (I disagree) but 750 points is actually a fun and relatively quick game.

I am excited to star them. I just want to build and paint a dreadknight!

[Sinnis]

Sell one of your kidneys maybe ?

You say that you already have some "old" models but you seem to want to buy all the new ones. Why ?
A nice thing about old models is that most never get obsolet. A base size is sometime needed but that's all most of the time. Ok, maybe a weapon swap or two sometimes.
Stop being an "I want them all right now" and learn to compose with your available budget...
See the difference between building (slowly, one piece at a time, with thinking put in each buy) and buying an army in one go to be part of the bandwagon of the trend of the day.

[Whoop!]

I too look at an army as a slow build. If you buy, build, and finish paint each unit before buying the next it is not too expensive. Sometimes we can not have all we want right now. You can always proxy other units until you have all of the army you want.

On the otherhand it is free to play, and fills so many hours with enjoyment that I think it is a worth while investment. $500 for a years modeling and painting and many years of kicking my friends teeth in? Priceless!

[RebelGrot]

Ah, the joys of falling foul of the new shiny models (literally in the metallic GK case).

I've finally managed to get a bit of control over the urge to buy everything at once and have a vague monthly 'limit'. There's some good advantages:
*You can afford it without having to sacrifice food/rent/beer
*You can play through some smaller games, as mentioned above, and learn what units work well and what you need to add. That way no wasted ££ when you realise you've got to much PAGK or something that you don't end up liking (no harm in some proxy testing)
*You are much more likely to manage to have a painted army - you don't get painting burn out.

If the points costs seen so far are correct then you might not even need to go all out that much. I have 10 old PAGK's and an Inquistor and Retinue - I'll be using that as a base and working up the other stuff over this year. Release day I'm getting the regular Grey Knight box and they're becoming a Librarian and Honour Guard for my regular army, hopefully that'll sate my cravings for the time being too.

Failing all of the above, go get a second job, sell anything which isn't essential in life and get saving!

[Wolf Brother Hellstrom]

I would start small also. Buy and paint a sqaud at a time. that way you dont have hundreds of minis to paint and get bored from the painting for hours and dayd on end. I inherited about 5k orc army and have yet to paint a single modle and just the thought of painting all those models makes me wanna punch my own face

[mathhammer]

more like the joy of being in a country with a weak currency.

welcome to the next 25 years