Cold Hard Cash
Game WISH #48 asks
The price and availability of miniatures goes up as more companies leave the market. Wood costs lead to extended paper costs, and supplements and gaming systems are becoming a serious financial investment. Is this affecting your gaming any?
I’ve never had a huge collection of minis, and that’s on purpose. I probably haven’t painted in ten years, mostly for lack of time and dedicated workspace, but also because as much as I enjoy painting, it’s definitely not my strong suit. Money has always figured into it, too, even when minis were made out of lead very cheap. When they’re cheap, I’m tempted to buy more of them, which adds up, and that’s without even considering the cost of paint and good brushes. It’s the same reason I never allowed myself to get into comic books–it can be an expensive hobby if you let it, and I can only afford so many of those. (I enjoy reading comics, but I tend to buy the compendia rather than each issue as it comes out, because I’m in it for the story, not the collecting.)
That said, it probably doesn’t surprise you that most of my gaming expenses are in books. Ed probably spends more than I do on games, but between the two of us, we’ve filled an entire 6′ bookcase and then some. I tend to buy books with a specific campaign in mind, such as GURPS Steampunk and GURPS Mars for the Lunar Ellipse, but not always. I admit that I bought the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game on a fangirl’s whim…although since I bought it I’ve felt the germ of an idea kicking around in the back of my head. I’m also not averse to buying used copies of books, or delaying gratification a bit to get a discount from Amazon.com.
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