"Best That I Can Afford" Topic

Do you generally purchase the most expensive figures or models that fit into your gaming budget?

Absolutely not. I buy the figures that I deem to be of the highest quality. I derive a value from that and if it is at or below my willingness to pay I get them.

No not really.
Being a historical gamer, there are no "special" figures that cost more.
A Perry Napoleon or Washington come in a pack with the same number of figures as "regular" cavalry, or infantry. Competent, even superb or excellent generals cost no more than atrocious ones.
Again, being a historical gamer, my figures are far less expensive than "other" genre figures.
If I want a unit of "unique" figures, like Lord Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland made by Perry, they aren't all that much more expensive than Old Glory.

So, with me, expense is not an issue. I'm certainly nowhere near paying $25 USD for a single plastic Ultramarine Librarian. You can if you want to.
That's a whole order of magnitude higher than an expensive AWI colonel.

As for my Flames of War armies, I'm certainly not paying old Battlefront prices of $13 USD per tank when it has no perceived qualitative advantage over an Old Glory tank at a third of the price. And their plastic prices aren't that much better either, compared to PSC or Zvezda.

+1 Private Snafu

Nope my hobby budget is not very big almost everything I buy is bought to get best value for my money. I'll occasionally splurge on a special model but generally, through necessity, I'm a cheap skate.

As I buy off ebay, The Marketplace, Bartertown, or when there are sales at manufacturers, I look to get the most bang for the buck.

And when I buy figures from manufacturers during sales it is usually to fill in figures for armies where I have acquired figures previously off of one of the other sources.

I have preferences for certain manufacturers whose figures I like and therefore keep an eye out for them. Fortunately the figures I tend to like are not the expensive ones.

I want to put armies on the table – not plop down the latest most expensive figure.

+2 Private Snafu

I really haven't run into anyone in historicals who specifically goes out of their way to find more expensive figures (the converse--going out of one's way to find cheaper figures--is very common though). So, the question asked doesn't seem particularly useful. Over the past year or so, I've moved to trying to find figures I enjoy painting (Robi Baker Gripping Beast, Murawski, Calpe), although after that, the highest-quality figures I can find, I buy. If my budget gets strained, I focus on painting what I've got.

I buy figures I like the look of for periods I want to play. If two companies made figures for the same period I would buy the figures I liked regardless of cost.

I buy the figures that I consider to be the best in my opinion. Not the necessarily the most expensive. Best for me typically revolves around how enjoyable the figure will be to paint.

+1 Private Snafu

No.

I convert and modify most of the stuff I buy. My price point and quality methodology roughly equates to the model of shopping for entrails at the abattoir to make sausages.

I buy what looks good to me, but there isn't much I need any more, and often there isn't a lot of choice: it's not often different manufacturers make something I need in compatible scales.

I do try to avoid complete ripoffs, as in the $6.50 USD (each!) Wookiees I turned down yesterday. There's a point at which the price becomes an insult.

No, with a couple of exceptions I'm a scrounger. eBay, Bartertown, trades, etc. are all my friend.

I go for the look I want combined with the lowest price I can get. An expensive figure is not a draw for me at all; quite the opposite.

I buy the figures I like.

+1 goragrad

i used to just buy the models i wanted.

then i went to the scrounger method.

after spending to much money the first way, and not getting the models i wanted or in the condition i wanted the second way, i am much more careful to do a lot more research and rarely buy anything that's not planned out or on sale for what i need.

yes, its gamer logic in reverse, but the scar tissue acts up when i even think of impulse buying.

I'm looking to buy the figures I need to complete my projects, not to be cheap or to spend the most money. Generally it's Old Glory or Perry for me. I also used to accumulate lead piles in anticipation of projects, now I'm strictly a buy as you go guy.

Being an army painter, I need figures which average < $5 USD per figure (fantasy gamer). Recently found some figures which would work as Gnome Cavalry: the expensive ones clock in at $15 USD/figure (20 x $15 USD = $300 USD; 30 x $15 USD = $450 USD… "Code Blue!"); the less expensive clock in at $8 USD/figure (20 x $8 USD = $160 USD; 30 x $8 USD = $240. USD Ouch!).

Considering I need 20-30 figures for my Gnome army, I am sitting on the sidelines. That is too rich for me, as I am closing in on retirement, and I can get a lot more mileage out of spending that money on other hobby items… YMMV. Cheers!

The price of the figure does not guarantee a " better or inferior figure!!"
I don't care what any of you say -- I have fell for that to many times --- it's your money.
Quite frankly, the price of some figures today has no bearing on actual costs other then some people are willing to do it ?????
Regards
Russ Dunaway

I buy the best figures on the market, regardless of price.

Ping Pong +1

I don't believe anyone is saying that price and quality correlate--in fact, the opposite.

I love a great sculpt as much as the next guy. I buy the figures I like. That being said, I will not pay a silly price for a figure -- no matter how good I may think it is sculpted -- why, you may ask? Just because.
On the table the figures are not that recognized anyway.
Also, I consider the pose of the figure more important then the surface detail.

Regards
Russ Dunaway

No… I look for figures that fit with my existing collections; although price is a consideration, higher price doesn't make a figure usable.

Manufacturers who specialize in product differentiation or vertically integrated monopolies generally don't get my gaming dollars.

The painting time/cost is the greatest element, so why apply it to a substandard miniature?

No.
Cost/expense reflects many things, rarely simply quality or aesthetic.
I buy what I like.
I can think of several 'top of the range' figures in terms of cost that I would happily melt down and use to produce kriegsspiel blocks.

It really depends on the figures, etc. But since I'm retired … I can basically buy what I want with what I get every month.

I buy the figures that I think are the most appropriate for my project.

I guess I have about ten projects and can only think of two where I have chosen the most expensive figures.

I used to work very hard to find cheap figures that met the needs I had. At the time I was trying to field armies of AWI figs and SYW figures. I got tired of the grind and constantly churning out the next unit. I kinda switched to skirmish gaming without consciously trying to, but now I buy a figure if it catches my whimsy, without really worrying about the cost. I can also find the time to paint an unusual figure here and there without interfering with the goal of constant production.

So I guess I don't really consider price anymore. I don't seek out expensive figures, but if I like it I buy it.

Like Private Snafu, I buy what I like. If it's above what I'm willing to pay, I don't buy it -- or I just wait for it to show up at a flea market or eBay or clearance sale.

I save money on terrain, which is either salvaged and repurposed materials or purchased at flea markets. I approach vehicles similarly.

I buy like the army parades, Mcauslins in the rear ranks.

I buy what I like. Sometimes that is the most expensive range for the project, sometimes the least expensive. Usually it is somewhere in the midrange.