"Skinflints" Topic

Wargamers are notorious skinflints when it comes to…

Anything.

Webster's Dictionary:

"A person who would save, gain, or extort money by any means."

Probably not the extorting part but the rest, sounds about right. Wargamers are the cheapest hobbyist I know of.

…everything. You run three polls on this very subject that illustrate my answer well.

Yup. Cheapest group of people I have ever had anything to do with. It's appalling sometimes…

I'd prefer to describe my purchasing rationale as 'price sensitive'. I didn't have much spare cash for the first 15-20 years in the hobby so just got used to ignoring the expensive option.

Now I can afford to splurge a bit sometimes I still don't feel justified in spending large amounts on a hobby (of any sort).

I have acquaintances who happily spend £2,000.00 GBP on a new set of golf clubs over and above the astronomical fees at the club. They do earn 2 or 3 times what I did when I was working but that kind of hobby spending is, and has always been, out of my league.

Why should anyone pay more than they want to for stuff ? Just paying what the market asks when it isn't worth it to you is stupid, not mean !!!

I'm with GF on this. Famine then feast but habits are formed.

Are you suggesting that my recollection of the price of stiffly-posed 25mm Minifig with telephone pole spears in 1971 is not a useful guide to the appropriate price of a 28mm character figure in 2016?

If it's really nice, I'll go up to 75 cents. Or eight shillings and elevenpence.

I think there's reasonable and there's unreasonable.

Fighting because a bag of figures that you will use every week for years is 3 dollars vs 4 is dumb, I think.

But deciding whether to play War Machine (which is about a hundred bucks to get started) or 40K (which can be 3-4 times that) is something that's a sound decision.

In the end, everyone is different. I know people who'll burn 500 bucks on a game they aren't even sure if they like, and I know kids that are gaming on a 20 dollar a month budget.
There's options for both, so whatever goes.

But don't let others (or myself) influence you to do something you don't feel is a good fit for you.

Agreed, to the "price sensitive" aspect.

These days a new period/game is close to $200 USD to get a playable force. Fortunately, you don't have to pay annually for all the periods/games. Even as an adult (or because I'm an adult) more than $300 USD a year is hard to justify. Through in a Con or 2 (@ $500 USD to attend with hotel/food/transportation) and it makes sense to watch what you are buying.

And MJS has the right of it, 25/28mm singles should be @ $1.25 USD

I have no problem with people trying to save money. The one issue I have is the pompous asses who feel it is their solemn duty to ridicule and insult the asking price of a painted miniature. The funny thing is, it's almost always the non-painters who make the comments. FWIW, people who paint miniatures for pay, most likely average about $5 USD an hour or less.

I'am with Grunt1861. If your not interested in my price for something go away. I know people with 10,000's of painted figures, who still fight tooth and nail for .10 discount.

A lot of retired folks from what I've seen in polls and I can't fault anyone exercising reasonable financial sense on a personal level.

That said, these are toys and anything spent is discretionary. You do not HAVE to have anything in this hobby and if you can't afford it, tough. It is not the job of any trader to make your life easier, it is his job to make a profit, ideally as much as possible.

It is also not required to be a rectal orifice about prices or providers. I once witnessed a fellow gamer standing in front of a trader bragging that he made his own X,Y,Z terrain and that his fellow gamers would be stupid to spend on that trader rather than build their own for a fraction of the price. Being an insensitive bore is not in any way connected to frugality, it is just being a tool.

Well, at least so far, no one has trotted out the old excuse my wife won't let me spend that type of money. So far!

I'm not a skinflint, but I am frugal. Comes from not having two nickels to rub together for a very long time as a teacher, and now that I have discretionary cash I am loath to part with it. My wife and I joke that we never left the 80s thinking financially, but there is some truth to it. However, $5 USD-$20 for a chunk of naked metal is BS and I won't pay it. I don't care whose label or endorsement comes with it. But how I spend my money is nobodies business but my own so long as I stay within the confines of social propriety.

I get annoyed at people who offer far less than your asking price and act like they are doing you a favor.

Frugal here but not a skinflint. I only have so much in my budget for gaming. It is the main reason I shifted to 15mm and smaller scales.

Different hobbies have different cultures.

When I walk into a fly fishing shop, nobody is standing around complaining about the price of their gear. They will be comparing quality of their gear, and arguing the merits of their favorite rod. But price is rarely the topic of conversation.

In miniatures gaming, price is always a topic of conversation. To me, it is one of the least attractive aspects of this hobby.

It is not a matter of price but a matter of scale. My brother has one set of golf clubs and is a member of a golf club (annual fees). I have about 1500 1/300 scale WW2 aircraft and have painted over 900 of them over 10 years. My rough estimate is I have over 30,000 figures and buildings acquired over 45 years. When I grow tired of one period I switch to another and X years later the old period is new again.

Fine to be frugal with one's discretionary income, but when it carries over to all other areas of life it can come of as simple meanness. Soap, grooming, treating waitstaff/ service employees well, kindness, charity, encouraging other's work, lack of jealousy in other's purchases, having shame in sponging particularly when one has the means, are still worth their weight in gold. I think this antithesis may be the model skinflint we picture rather than someone who doesn't have $200 USD to drop without a thought and thinks about what she/he can afford or be comfortable spending. I think attitude rather than the particular practice is what counts.
If you're happy saving money and still enjoy your hobby without regrets that's what's important. You can still be a gentleman/woman and be poor of means. Begrudging others their enjoyment is just boorish.

When I was young and poor I painted my own figures. My current huge ACW collection I painted myself. As I have gotten older my eyesight started going down hill fast.

I could still appreciate finely painted figures but I could no longer do them justice. It is actually painful to do. But fortunately the stupid college degree of mine finally started to pay off.

Now I can afford to have them professionally painted. The thing is I don't hardly mention it because other gamers actually get angry with me for having figures painted. Hey it's my money and I can spend it how I like. They don't complain when they use them in my games.

I have seen guys who I know can afford nicely painted WWII tanks, spend hours and hours repairing old forsaken vehicles they find in the bargain bin. They brag about it. I don't get it but to each his own. Hey, it's their money and they can spend it how they like and I don't complain when I am using them in thier games.

Another reason for having figures painted is time. I have only so many haircuts left in this world. If I am going to achieve my goals in this hobby I don't have time to do all the painting.

Brucka, on this topic finer words were never spoken. It's not what you have or what you don't, it's how you treat others that separates someone being smart about money from those who are skinflints, etc.

I don't mind how stingy people are with their wargaming purchases. What I don't like are the ones who are first in when the pizza is opened, when beers are being handed out, or when there are two bits of cake left and six people in the room, but never bring a bag of chips or a six pack or are always somewhere else when it's time to chip in for the pizza.

As long as people contribute their share I don't care how stingy they are in other respects.

EDIT: well said Brucka!

I love it when buying, hate it when selling.

Rallynow--people actually get angry about professionally painted figures? Wow,that's a new one. Where do you think that attitude comes from?

Just look who complains about entrance fees for a gaming convention and the hotel prices.

I don't know exactly. But I have overheard "the only reason he has nice troops because he can pay for it" or "you're not really in the hobby because you don't paint figs." or they think you are crazy for doing it.

Like the painter is scamming me and I am stupid to fall for his "diabolical scheme." Sometimes it is more of a vibe. But the resentment is very real.

Some gamers complain about the cost of buying 500 castings at once when they are only painting 20 a month whilst gazing at a few hundred or thousand others in their lead pile.

You guys really know some nerds, don't you. I have very, very rarely come across people who display such appalling interpersonal skills.

Even when I come across figures painted so badly I assumed they'd been done by a chimp in a blindfold I would NEVER be so tactless and hurtful as to say that in their presence – and nor would any of my wargaming mates.

I paint 'professionally' – in the sense that I make part of my income from painting figures for other people. Practice has improved my results a lot and I produce a good standard. Why would I or any of my customers look down on someone who painted their own figures to a standard that met their needs, how ever well or poorly they had been painted ? I just don't see that at all.

Well, at least so far, no one has trotted out the old excuse my wife won't let me spend that type of money

That's because they are still awaiting permission from their wife to answer.