"Between and betwixt. Higher prices for smaller scales. " Topic

While we have all seen the new plastics, and some really great sales on 25mm, I am really getting frustrated.

I have an extremely limited table space for wargames, and skirmish games are not my cup of tea. I want to be able to field fairly large armies, and the only way to do that is with smaller scales. 6 and 10mm is my only option. And that is the problem. I know OG has 10mm, but I cannot see dealing with them when there are no pictures avialible, I've heard of odd lengths of thier strips, and I've always had a tough time painting thier 15mm figures as opposed to other venders.

Baccus is a truley great company. Peter is someone I would nominte for furthering our hobby. However, he lives in England, and the excange rate is abismal. His U.S. distributer doe's not offer packs without command.
GFI recently raised thier packs of 10mm AIM by 2.00, citing the cost of increased metal, even though a pack only weighs slightly more than 3/4 of an ounce including the plastic bag.
So my question is: can we at some time see some reputable dealer who will offer smaller scales here in the U.S. at a reasonable price?

If you're not happy with those three, the answer is no.

Why don't you start a business doing just that?

picture
picture

Those are straight from their website.

Pictors; I would love to start a new business. Unfortuneately, I live in a 12x24 studio apartment after a divorce and feel somewhat hindered…

jtipp68
Those are some truly awsome pictures. I wish I could invest in that time period.

Now I'm confused, I thought you wanted affordable 10mm ACW.

Affordible 10mm acw. That is the goal. Never mind those rich people who cry about not being able to afford thier vacation to cancun. I haven't had one day off in over 2 years. And I sure as hell can't afford to eat at McDonalds.

It sounds to me like you don't have the money to spend on miniatures at all. Perhaps you should save and invest that money or spend it on more or different education to get a better job.

Low cost 10/12mm…
1,000 (foot) for $130 USD is about as low as I've seen (and that is our everyday price).

I know, no pictures on the website (yet) – but samples can be obtained (just ask for a few)…

If you want fasting painting, affordable 10/12mm ACW we should be able to cover most of your needs.

10mm isn't THAT expensive, at least its cheaper than most other scales (except maybe 6mm!). However, the cost differential for say Minifigs isn't that great compared to 15mm (rather close on a per-figure basis, differing in a few cents it seems), with OG giving the most bang for the buck (about half the price of 15mm). Really though, what this comes down to I think is popularity. Right now in Model RR, HO scale is king. N scale (smaller -- 1/87 compared to 1/160 for N) is only slightly cheaper. The reason? Volume. There will be lots more HO sold than N in any given period globally. The same thing may be happening with minis.

BTW, I'm not sure how you intend to base, but I find 10mm not really a saving over 15mm; the main advantage is one of appearance (you can pack more troops on a stand!). Same goes for 6mm.

Damon.

If you want cheap, play with 2mm, or with card markers instead. You can still get to play the games, but no need to spend so much.

I'm going to take a wild guess here, and advise you to stop buying DVD's, and spend the money on miniatures instead. (Sorry, its just that so many people who are strapped for cash always have huge DVD collections.)

Peter Pig's 15mm wild west rules 'Hey you in Jail!' are designed for big actions not skirmishes. Another Anglo manufacturer tho' sorry. don't know if US distribution is more reasonable.

No one mentioned Perrin yet. Infantry is $6.99 USD for 24 figures, but command figures are sold separately. Available from The Last Square and Strange Cargo Games.

If you really want to get into the period without too much cost you could download the "Honour and Glory" rules by David Marks for free (these are an excellent set of rules), and use paper troops as found at this site: link

This could be a good way to start up until you can get back on your feet.

>>>I would love to start a new business. Unfortuneately, I live in a 12x24 studio apartment after a divorce and feel somewhat hindered…>>>
I know just what you mean. I am divorced and I started my own business, and now I'm sculpting. It can be done.
Now back to the original problem. GFI, Perrin, GHQ, Musket, all make ACW minis in the U.S. for less than .30 per figure. Old Glory are considerably cheaper.
Are you planning to buy these figures in bulk and ship them to Sri Lanka for painting. If so it may be all about the money. If you are painting them yourself or having them custom painted, then it should be all about the quality. If you are building a quality collection, slowly, the price of the figures is the least important number. the time and materials to paint them is much more dear. A normal hobbiest who can go to work, come home and paint a 24 pack of minis a week is a better man than I am. At that rate your economic stimulus check should keep you busy for two years.
Also, you probably know that GHQ uses lead free pewter. Did you know GFI does too? I never see the wisdom in putting a $5.00 USD paint job on a 2 cent figure. Gamers like to game, I get that, but I still like it when I take out my figures at a convention and the other guys go "OOH".

moonhippie3,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. If money is more important to you than time, see if you paint for someone on TMP in exchange for lead. Some people would rather choose a local painter rather than send their figures to Bangladesh/Sri Lanka (especially for small jobs). Try putting an ad on the exchange board or mention your email in this thread.

Neil
reinforcementsbypost.com

Thanks chortle. a viable option, although I need to crank up my speed a notch.
Too many dvd's? are you serious? I don't even have a cell phone.
Pictors is extremely funny with his suggestion. Go to college when I am over 50 and can't even afford the gas to get there?

I do have more than 20 years experience in restaurants, along with a 2 year degree, but that is not an option. They prefer to hire kids that they can mould into what they want.
Historie figs: I will consider you as an option. I did get some greeks from you a few years back.

And another thing: I know I don't have the money, but it would be even more costly if I was not here. This hobby has truley saved my life. I can't tell you how many times I have stayed home to paint instead of going out to the bars and raising all kinds of hell. Give me a few shots of whisky, and I get downright mean.

In case no one mentioned it above moonhippie, with the small investment of $50 USD (I know $50 USD is probably a lot for you right now but hear me out) you can join the Old Glory Army club and all of the OG 10mm are part of the 40% off retail benefit of joining. So you get 100 infantry figures for $9.60 USD or 30 cavalry and the command packs give you 50 infanty for $5.70 USD and 9 Cav Command for $3.60. The 10mm OG line is very well sculpted and I have a Sassinid Army for Warmaster from them. Great figures to paint and I am someone who does not like to paint anything smaller than 25mm.

If money's that tight you don't really need figures. Just cut out stands from poster board and mark them appropriately. During my poverty days I took up 25mm Napoleonic wargaming; but there was no way I could buy figures. Soooo….my friends and I cut out the required infantry, cavalry, and artillery stands from poster board (red for Brits, blue for French, white for Austrians, and Green for Russians).

It worked great, and we each had multiple armies. At the same time we used construction paper for woods, streams, ponds, buildings, roads, etc. Ya' know what, we had some fun games, too!

Moonhippie, I was trying to make the same point as raylev. IF you liek horse & musket games, try downloading Phil Barker's HFG rules, for free, and making 2mm equivalent blocks from card or balsa. Paint them in the predominant colour of each nation, and you can play for pennies. Same with any period really, but using card to represent 2mm blocks looks less odd.

Good luck whatever you do.

Malc

Moonhippie3,

Sorry about your finances (Been bankrupt twice due to 'others' spending habits so I feel your pain…Explaining that every 5 years to security types is one pain you won't be having to deal with) but there are some great ideas above to reduce expenses.

Unfortunately this is a hobby and a luxury (and an addiction/habituation) but another possibility is joining a local group with common interests and sharing in their games until you slowly build up your figures.

Scratch build terrain/buildings and trade it for miniatures is an off the wall thought that may be of some value.

Based on your cross posts (ACW and Old West) I understand your interests in large forces for ACW but what rules would you use for large armies in Old West? How large a force are you thinking about for Old West?

Unfortunately I don't think (since ACW is not an interest of mine) I can help you with ideas, beyond those mentioned above, for the former. About the only thing I have left, even remotely, in that era is an old copy of Volley and Bayonet…

Gracias,

Glenn

Okay, I do have a question for you.

What are you calling "reasonable price" for figures?

Gracias,

Glenn

Many good options discussed.

1. I like Historifigs. Not as detailed as other brands, but they have an old school miniatures look to them, are affordable and look good painted.

2. Some mention of paper. You can get free ones at juniorgeneral.org

3. My favorite option, especially for a small space and low price, is 2mm. Stands are like 3D board game counters, which some people don't like. However, I think they give the best depiction of a battlefield, as ground scale can be much closer to actual figure scale than other scales.

Moonhippie3, I've been in your spot but not divorced! You want the moon but it will never happen. You have to lower your sights just a bit. I speak from experience. In 2000-2001 we were eating at food banks due to negative income (wife's illness). That is why I made paper counters for all the fantasy armies in Warmaster and then ACW, Roman, and Barbarian counters for WM variants. You can download the Warmaster rules for free from Specialist Games then join the Warmaster Historical yahoo group and download my ACW counters plus the ACWarmaster variant. I played many games using them and still have them.

I seriously debated 10mm v 15mm. I have to say that 15mm Battle Honors is still a better deal than anything in 10mm. They are a joy to paint, much nicer than Old Glory, and the same price. I mount 3 figures to a 1"x1" stand for a total of .75 a stand. A pack of 50+ figures cost $15. USD I play regimental games where units are 3-7 stands each. It doesn't take many infantry packs to do an army.

Nice thing about the ACW is that it doesn't need cavalry, which saves money. You can always use paper counters for artillery batteries. Heck, you don't even need them for regimental games.

You are going to have to make sacrifices and slowly build your armies. If you keep complaining that you want to eat steak on a hamburger budget, you will do nothing but drive away everyone on TMP.

OK, after just opening some packs of Battle Honors I have changed my mind about them as I mention in my other thread. :-( Maybe 10mm is so bad an idea!?!

I live in Ct., one of the most expensive places to live in the US. My income is not that large($28,000 a year net), I live in an apt. and have to budget like everybody else. Yet I have successfully purchased extensive armies and terrain for 25mm, 6mm, I wargame six different time periods including Civil War(in two scales), Zulu War, AWI(in two scales), Napoleonic, as well as fantasy wargaming. And I've personally invested in all the materials and accessories required to build four full-size gaming boards, as well as numerous smaller skirmish boards and folding tables to place them on. I've probably invested over $10,000 in all these wargaming endeavors and time periods over the past 15 years. But I've always made it certain that I would have money for them.

I guess it comes down to choices. If you have an interesting in gaming, and a particular scale, you will make it happen if you so choose to.

Personally, I think the prices for 6mm Baccus are very reasonable. I mean think about it. If you put your mind to it, and can over the course of several months, save as little as just a few hundred dollars – you can get a HUGE amount of stuff from Baccus! For a few hundred dollars, I mean you can cover an entire war with two major armies, flags, terrain….then it's just a matter of putting together a table top for yourself. Which for 6mm doesn't ever have to be bigger than 6x4 feet, and you can make lots of terrain fairly quickly in 6mm scale, basic hills and trees. Buy a couple folding saw horses or a few modular folding tables, with a board placed on top.

Whenever I read these kinds of posts, I always think about how many times in life a few hundred or a few thousand dollars keeps people from doing the things they want to to do in life. Sometimes it seems like things are insurmountable, when it comes to finding $500 USD or $1,000 to do something you love, and yet we smoke, drink, eat out, gamble, and continuously throw away money $50 USD and $100 USD at a time without even blinking. It comes down to really prioritizing what you really want. If wargaming a scale you love is more important to you – then you will reprioritize your money.

I'm not trying to diminish or invalidate anyone's personal financial struggles or personal struggles, God knows we all have them – but I'm just saying that it seems to me if you want to do something bad enough, especially wargaming a scale you love – you will find a way to do it, and in the end you will find that with some discipline and patience, you can get the money necessary to do it right.

Just my thoughts,
Mike

Why don't you try Irregular's 6mm. Buy what you like, from 1 base. Command available separately.
I have Corps in this scale and like them

You can always go for the 2mm route. Huge armies, even lower cost than 6mm.