Six Months of Frugal Gaming

Hello all, it’s been a good gaming week. Even though I haven’t actually been gaming I've got plenty of painting done and finally finished off some terrain I've been working on (pictures next week). This week I'm having a look over the past six months, as I'm now halfway through my Frugal Mission....

Spend less
My first aim was to spend less on gaming and I've done pretty well. I've done well on this aim as I've tried to not buy more until I’ve got all my current miniatures painted and projects finished. It’s not been perfect, but I’ve severely reduced the backlog and I feel that when I’ve spent the money, it’s been on the things that I really wanted.

Surely the best way of spending less is to get things for free, and I achieved this by trading away some of my old and unplayed games via BoardGameGeek this is a great resource, and I’d highly recommend you check out the trading functions. Trough these trades I managed to get two full Blood Bowl teams, a copy of Power Grid, some Necromunda terrain and various other bits and pieces.

Game more
My second aim was to play more games. My stats for the year so far are:


This is a total of 41, compared to a total of 52 from the first half of 2008. This is obviously a decrease on my gaming from last year, though some of the games that I’ve been playing this year are slightly longer than those from last year (more Necromunda and 40k this year, compared to Memoir '44 last year), so I’ve probably spent more time gaming. This is partly due to a change on the way that I've been playing. I've recently started attending gaming clubs and haven't had many games nights at home, due to work commitments amongst myself and my friends. I enjoy attending the clubs, but I'm also keen to get my friends round more often.

Making money
The ultimate goal that I set myself was to make some money. This is the holy grail of any hobby, getting your pastime to pay. My main effort in money making was to sell terrain which I enjoyed, but it was a lot of work, for little reward. I managed to break even on my costs, have a lot of materials left over for future projects and even acquire some new toys (my air compressor). It was quite an experience running a stall and it gave me a new respect for people that do it for a living, it was also really nice to meet people who’d read the blog.

At the start of the year I had great success with the Bring and Buy stall at the PAW annual show.

However, when I went to Legionary at Exeter, the results were not so good. Only a couple of my items sold, though I did pick up some very cheap plastic Orcs for Blood Bowl! Pretty mixed results really, though I’ll definitely keep putting item in for sale in future Bring and Buys.

The best way that I’ve raised funds for gaming this year has been through the magic of ebay. I realised early on in my mission that there were certain figures that I’d never get to paint so the best thing to do was to sell them on. A lot went on ebay last week, and I was quite surprised. I’d picked up some old Citadel Empire figures a couple of years ago for a few pounds, I was planning to use them for Mordheim, but I decided to get rid of them as I suspected I could get my money back. I was surprised when I listed them all individually and I managed to make about TEN TIMES my purchase cost back. I was very happy (and very surprised) about this but I’m still not very happy about selling individual miniatures in ebay. It can get you great results as a seller (try it!) but it’s quite frustrating as a buyer.

Summary
So far, I think I’ve done well with spending less, and that it hasn’t affected either the quality of amount of my gaming which shows that Frugal gaming is possible. However, I’m gaming less than last year, not more. I need to get this sorted out! More games nights with friends and more attendance at Games Clubs are definitely on the agenda, this does mean that I need to get my Dark Eldar force painted (or at least assembled), so that's my next objective.

The past six months have been great and I’m enjoying my gaming a lot more, without the annoying feeling that I’m throwing money away unecessarily. The next six months will see more gaming, less spending and perhaps even making a bit of money from the hobby!
All the best, happy gaming!

Let's go Clubbing!

It's been a good couple of weeks for gaming and painting, I've been attending the Plymouth Association of Wargamers meetings (more of that later) and I've been painting like a demon (not a Golden Demon unfortunately). I finally finished off a Necromunda gang member that I've been working on for a while. He's made from a Black Scorpion pirate, converted with an Imperial Guard Heavy weapon rocket launcher and an Empire Flagellant Banner. The rocket launcher arm looks a bit too big compared to the other arm and the grey on the weapon is a bit dull, but I'm pretty happy with the overall effect, and I'm sure he'll pull his weight on the gaming table.

I also managed to get three Ghouls painted up for my Necromunda gang as well. I run a Scavvy gang, made up from the dregs of the underhive and one of the gang specific rules is that the gang leader always gets to take a small number of 'followers' for free. In the past I've taken zombies (shuffling but with a potentially dangerous bite) and Scavvy Dogs (Rabid animals that zip around the table and tie the opponent up in close combat), but the third option is to take Ghouls who, when they take the last wound off an opponent, immediately take them out of action, which represents them stopping to feed on their prey, yummy!

Yet again, I must abuse my position of power, by putting out a big plug for Heresy Miniatures who make these ghouls. These are multi-part figures that require a bit of putting together, but the sculpting is excellent and I got the results you see above by a simple, basecoat, wash and drybrush. Highly recommended.

My Afternoon Spent in a Hut Full of Weirdos*

There are times in this hobby (as I guess there are in many others) in which you can feel a bit uncomfortable, whether it’s admitting to a co-worker (or potential partner) that you enjoy wargaming and boardgaming, or just checking up and down the street before popping into Games Workshop. However, what I find one of the most uncomfortable scenarios is the moment you walk into a new Gaming Club and it falls quiet, all eyes turn upon you... aaaaaagh! Run away!

A couple of weeks ago I popped down to the local gaming club, the Plymouth Association of Wargamers. I'd been planning to attend since I first moved down to Plymouth last year, but due to family commitments and laziness I hadn't. Anyway I had a whale of a time, I played a game of 40k, using a Tau Army that the Chairman, Orlando, kindly lent me and got resoundingly spanked by a force of Chaos Space Marines. I trotted along again last weekend (I'm a glutton for punishment) and played with the Tau again, this time against Kenny and his Imperial Guard force. I fared much better and was only a whisker away from a draw when the game ended, a really enjoyable game.

Last week, as well as all the games going on, there were also a couple of visitors, the guys that run the Cross Swords gaming club and online shop (I believe the website is undergoing a bit of work, so give them a call if there's anything you want but can't see) were set up and selling a wide range of products at a very nice discount, I believe they attend the club every month, and It's a great way to pick up discount gaming products without having to pay postage or wait in for a parcel to arrive. They were also touting for their own gaming club, which is in a pub (count me in) and meets on a Monday and Thursday night. Apparently they even play the odd game of Space Hulk, woo hoo! Did I mention it was in a Pub?

From a Frugal Gaming point of view, you can't beat attending a Games Club. You get to try out new games, trade games, try out new armies and most importantly play some games without having to buy a huge table and loads of terrain, all for the entry price of a couple of pounds. Though, on second thoughts, maybe a games club set in a pub, with a discounted games shop included, may not be so good for the wannabe Frugal Gamer...

I'd better get off and get painting my Blood Bowl team (nearly finished now), but until next time, whether it’s in a hut, at home or in a pub I guess I’m happy and proud to be a weirdo.


* No offence guys, I only used this title as I promised many months ago to do so. See here.

Take it off! Take it off!

This is a strange hobby. A couple of days ago I found myself wandering around in my flat, with a rubber glove on one hand, a toothbrush in the other and a faint whiff of antiseptic in the air. The reason for this behaviour? Stripping paint from miniatures, but we'll get onto that later...

This week, gaming has been a bit slow, I managed to play a quick game of Blood Bowl with my daughter and she seemed to really enjoy it (I won, but she's only Six so it may not count). I was also impressed with how well the game played and I'm looking forward to a few more 'serious' games in the future. I also managed to get in my first game of 40k this very afternoon, which I really enjoyed. I was in charge of 2000pts of borrowed Imperial Guard against a mixed force of Chaos and Orks under the control of Matt and Kenny. Needless to say I lost, but I had fun and I'm already looking forward to my next game.

I've also added a couple more links to the terrain items I'm selling on ebay, you can find them on the right hand side of the page.

The best thing that happened this week was that I received a parcel through the post, a chap by the name of Chris got in touch a couple of weeks ago and said that he had some Cadian Infantry models that he was keen to get rid of and was happy to send them through to me for the cost of postage. I gratefully accepted and I now have 20 Cadians to act as the start of my Guard army! I'd just like to take the opportunity to say thanks to Chris for his generousity, cheers Chris!

Which brings me onto the subject of stripping miniatures...

Stripping Paint from Plastic Miniatures.
A lot of substances can be used to strip acrylic and enamel paint from miniatures, with varying degrees of success and various effects on the miniature. Generally the ones that work best are the strongest chemicals and are likely to have a negative effect on plastic models. Metal is pretty tough stuff, so a lot of substances can be used, this week I'll be looking at the best methods for stripping paint off plastic.

After a bit of research, the best advice I could find on the internet suggested two substances that would strip paint off plastic without damage; Car Brake Fluid and Dettol. Being a bit of a tree hugger, I thought I'd better go for the substance that I could pour down the sink without killing any Polar Bears. I chose the Dettol.

It's not a difficult concept so I won't make it any more complicated here. Take your painted (in my case, primed) miniature and stick it in a sealed jar with some undiluted Dettol.
After 24-48 hours, the paint is starting to come away...
Give it a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush and it's done! I'd recommend wearing gloves at this point, the Dettol won't do you too much harm, but the smell will stay on your skin for days, uck! It's worth giving your models a good scrub with soap and water as well, to get all traces of the Dettol off, this will make sure that any future paint will stick on.
And there you go, one clean mini, with no damage, ready to be painted up!

I'd like to think this is a good Frugal tip, it can help you get the best out of any second hand minis you buy, or you could even give your existing figures a brand new paint job. Give it a go and let me now how you get on.

Happy gaming!

Curse you Games Workshop!!!

I have a friend who famously once said that whenever he buys anything from Games Workshop, he asks them to wrap it in porn mags so that he’s not embarrassed leaving the shop.

I think he was joking. It raises a point though, why do we hate Games Workshop?

The first issue is probably the one highlighted above; the shame. I popped into Games Workshop today while in town. But only after I’d checked up and down the street to make sure they was no-one I knew around that might see me. I was only after a few paints but ended up having a good chat with one of the guys who worked there, I left feeling a bit better about my GW addiction and stepped smiling into the sun outside. Only to have a woman walking past turn and stare at me as if I was some kind of weirdo. A grown man going into a toy shop? Disgusting!

Let’s back up here a minute though, why was I in Games Workshop buying paints anyway? Well, like many men my age (31) I was into Games Workshop product while at school (Mainly Space Marine (Epic) and Advanced Heroquest) and after growing up looked back on those days with disdain. How could I have wasted all that money? Pah! What a fool I was...

Of course, time passes and I got into playing boardgames a few years ago and then found the Games Workshop Specialist Games website. From this I downloaded the Mordheim rules, ‘just to flick through for old times sake...’ and the rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve now got gangs/teams for Mordheim, Necromunda, Blood Bowl, various paints, rules and novels and I’m being tempted by the new Imperial Guard Codex which I’m sure will lead to me spending lots of money on lots more plastic men. This is of course against my Frugal Philosophy, but I have a plan. More info in the next couple of weeks...

But anyway, the reason I don’t like Games Workshop, is because there product is so damn good. Every single thing they do; rules, miniatures, paints, terrain and ‘fluff’ (novels, etc), has been done better by other companies, but no other company does everything so well together.

So, on reflection, maybe I don’t hate Games Workshop... But my wallet may come to regret meeting them.


Plymouth Scale Model Show
Speaking of things that my wallet hates, yesterday I went to a Scale Model Show in town. It was quite a good show with lots of, erm, scale models on display and lots of stalls selling, erm, scale model kits.

I did get to speak to Orlando from the Plymouth Association of Wargamers, who had an impressive 40k demo game set up. I really must make the effort to get along to the club at some point.


So overall, the show was okay. However, the entry price was £4, which I though was pretty steep. The man at the entrance, pointed out that I could come and go all day with my ticket, but after half an hour I was done.

I did get a lot of pictures of tanks though. I thought they’d come in useful when I make my Imperial Guard army for Warhammer 40k... Curse you Games Workshop!!!

Blood Bowl Pitch

After a reasonably quiet week, I've finished the construction of my Blood Bowl pitch, though not had chance to paint any minis for it!

Blood Bowl is a real classic and Games Workshop have made the fantastic move of making it available for free! Well, not really free, you can download the rules from the Specialist Games website, but you still need a cards, rulers, some figures, special dice (available from the NAF), and, of course, a pitch. After printing the rules, obtaining the dice and sourcing two teams, I needed to make a pitch. I had a look around the web and came up with the idea of a polystyrene board covered in flock (cheap and light) with a wooden border to protect it from any knocks and make it look pretty.

Tools and Materials
This is quite a cheap and easy construction so few tools and material are required. Ensure you take care when using any tools! (Don’t blame me if you hurt yourself!)

Tools:

• Hammer
• Small Wood Saw
• Mitre Block (for cutting 45 degree angles)
• Hot wire cutter/Sharp knife
• Old water sprayer
• Sandpaper
• Various Clamps

Materials

• 30-40mm wide wood strip, over 3mm thick.
• 25mm thick Polystyrene sheet
• Sand
• Flock
• PVA glue
• Wood Glue
• Small nails/panel pins
• Cheap brown and white/cream paints

Measurements
The first thing to do was to find out was how big the squares were. I found a few pictures on BoardGameGeek which showed miniatures stood on the board supplied with the game. By comparing the mini base size with the square it was on, I worked out the squares to be 30mm wide. Later, I looked on a couple of forums and found that people (mainly Americans) were saying that the squares were ‘a little over an inch and an eighth’. Which is the same as 30mm. The metric system eh?

By looking on the Games Workshop website, you can count the number of squares on the board and how they are split into endzones and widezones. Multiply the length of each square by the number of squares to get the total length of the pitch and then do the same for the width. I added 50mm to each measurement to give a 25mm border around the pitch.

This now gives the total size of board that you need. The next step is to make the frame to hold it.

Building the Frame
The frame was built using 35mm wide pine strip, 5mm thick. I bought this from my local DIY superstore and it was only £5 or so for a long length. I cut the pieces to the length calculated above and then cut the ends to 45 degree angles Using a mitre block.

These were then glued together with wood glue. Glue a piece at a time, holding them in place with clamps and then knocking a couple of small nails or ‘pins’ in when the glue has set to give extra strength. Carry on adding pieces until all four sides are glued and pinned together. To ensure the piece is square and to give it extra strength, I added an extra piece of wood to the bottom of the frame. It’s vital to ensure that the frame is held square (use a set square) before this extra piece is added. Glue and pin it as you did the other pieces. Your frame is now complete! Add any extra pieces you feel necessary, I added small triangles in the corner for even more strength and to ensure that the polystyrene would be level when added.



Construction
Now the frame is complete, the polystyrene can be added. The idea for this stage is to measure the frame, cut the polystyrene to size using a hot wire cutter or sharp knife and simply slot it into the frame. In reality this is a bit trickier and you’ll probably have to try fitting the foam into the frame and then shaving bits off it (the polystyrene) to get it to fit in snugly. When you’re happy with the fit, take the polystyrene back out, apply some wood glue into the frame and then put the poly back in. Make sure that the surface of the polystyrene is parallel with the edge of the frame (i.e. not sloping) and then leave it somewhere to dry fully. When it’s all set, you can fill in any gaps around the edges using plaster, again, leave this to dry before adding the surface.


The Playing surface
There are a huge range of playing surfaces you could use on your pitch. I decided to make a standard grass pitch that had been a little worn over time. This was done by mixing some fine sand with cheap brown paint (I used a small pot of emulsion I had around the house) and painting it over the polystyrene, making sure not to go onto the frame. When this had dried I added some cream to the emulsion (no sand this time) and drybrushed the board to bring out the detail of the texturing.


The next step is gluing on the flock. You can do this a number of ways, both ways I considered use PVA glue which has been watered down. You can either brush this on, over the textured surface or spray it from a sprayer bottle (after masking off the frame and surrounding area). The flock is then sprinkled on and left to dry (there’s a lot of waiting involved in this construction). When all is dry, brush off the excess flock and you will probably find some bare patches where the ‘mud’ is showing through. If not, give the flock a rub in a few places to let it show through.
I used the sprayer method and found it good to get an even coat, but was very messy and a lot of effort was involved to clean the sprayer out afterwards. I’d recommend using a brush instead!

Painting lines
The final step is to paint the lines and squares onto the pitch, rather than painting every square, I created a stencil with crosses to mark the corners of the squares. After marking out a provisional outline using very carefully placed cotton and pins, I set to work with my stencil, dabbing white paint through with a brush.

This is a tedious job and it took me a few days to get it all done in small stints, but the results are worth it. The last step was to join some of the crosses together to mark the endzones and widezones.



Conclusion
This has been a relatively cheap and easy build, the main problem encountered was the drying times for each stage, but with a little patience a great finish can be achieved. Looking at the pitch now, I think I'd like to add a central decoration in the pitch, such as the skull on the standard board. I might also add some advertising hoardings round the side, but that's work for another day.

If you play or fancy playing Blood Bowl, give it a try and let me know how you get on.

Social Conscience

What is frugal gaming? I reached a point last year when I looked in my cupboard and found whole shelves of unpainted miniatures, half finished projects and unplayed boardgames. How much time and money and effort had I spent on these products and projects? I made the decision to stop this trend and ensure that not only did I cut down on what I spent, but also to ensure that I got the most out of what I already had. My Year of Frugal Gaming was born.

Some of us have been hit hard by the economy, losing jobs or struggling to make repayments, those of us lucky enough not to be directly affected still feel the looming recession hanging over us. People everywhere are examining what they spend their money on and cutting any unnecessary expenditure. None of us is considering giving up our hobby and I’m not suggesting that we never buy another miniature, another pot of paint or a new boardgame. What I do think is that we need to look at our spending habits and make some choices.

This all seems very well and good and we can pat ourselves on the back for a wise decision, but what will the effect be on the hobby in general? One of the things that keeps people gaming is the sense of community in the hobby. We have lots of small companies (and a few large ones) speaking directly with their customers over the internet and meeting them face to face at shows. If we reduce what we spend, then these companies are going to suffer. We all want to spend more wisely, but don’t want to lose the fantastic range of companies out there.

So do we have a social responsibility to help these companies through these difficult times? Yes, I strongly believe we do. This may not seem to agree with the approach of this blog (‘Spend less, game more’), so what do we do?

One of the problems we all have is the large amounts of unpainted miniatures, unfinished projects and unplayed games in our cupboards. We all are overloaded with quantity of miniatures and games, do we really need many more? Probably not. So here’s my idea.
If you want to buy more games or miniatures and you want to support the companies, buy wisely and buy quality. Instead of buying 20 figures that are unlikely to get painted. Buy 5 high quality figures that will get painted and will look fantastic on the table. Instead of buying three boardgames that you probably won’t play, go for the dream purchase that you’ve always wanted. The cost will be about the same (same cash into the hobby), exactly the same number of figures will be on the table and games will be played, and the quality will be much improved, so we all win.

In short then, carry on spending and supporting the hobby, but spend wisely, and improve the quality of your gaming.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Necromunda

Well, after less than a single week, my year is off to a really good start, and it’s all thanks to the internet. I sold some Necromunda figures on ebay before Christmas and one of the buyers, Matt, lives in Plymouth and picked up the figure personally. We got chatting and arranged a future game of Necromunda.

This, combined with my newly created frugal mission, got me to thinking about a large set of Urban War Platformer Terrain that I purchased a couple of years ago (for a reasonable £12). I dug it out and got to work snipping out the pieces from the numerous sprues included in the box. Firstly, I was amazed at both the amount of pieces on each sprue and the level of detail on the components. They’re not quite up to the same level of detail that you’d find on, say, a Games Workshop product, but they are certainly more than suitable for general gaming. Features such as nuts and bolts are well defined and on a suitable scale, and the rest of the detailing (embedded pipes and panels) are subtle enough not to detract attention and cause a nightmare when painting.

As well as the quality of the components, the other feature of these kits is the sheer number of pieces, this is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because the possibilities for creation are limitless, and a curse because the possibilities for creation are endless! Personally, I just started sticking pieces together and stopped every ten minutes or so to see how I was getting on. The pieces go together in any number of configurations, so it really is a flexible kit, with lots of potential. When my creation was complete, I stuck it on a base made from MDF and polystyrene foam decorated with sand and some pieces from my Hirst Arts mould. I then primed using grey primer (the cheaper the better, I only paid £1 from mine). For the painting, instead of using my normal acrylics, I bought some cheap blue, grey and white paints from a local artshop; again, these were only £1 each, can be blended and drybrushed as normal to give a good finish. I was really happy with the result and had loads of pieces left over for a future project. Overall I can highly recommend this kit, just don’t be afraid to experiment with it!



I already had a painted Necromunda gang (pictured in the title bar of this blog) that I’d got from Kallistra these aren’t fantastically detailed miniatures, but they’re relatively cheap and with a bit of conversion and some care over the painting, I think they’ve come out really well. If you want to get into Necromunda, these can be a good, cheap start to your gang,

The game itself should be a staple of any frugal gamer. The rules can be downloaded from the Games Workshop website and a starting gang only needs a few generic sci-fi miniatures. Terrain can be easily or cheaply made and there’s generally a lot of other players out there in your local area. If you fancy getting into frugal sci-fi skirmish gaming, you can’t do much better. I really enjoy the game and the background (the ‘fluff’), but for me the best thing is the campaign system which lets you progress your gang from game to game, increasing (or decreasing) the number and skill of gang members and the amount of equipment you have. I’m a sucker for campaign systems and this is a pretty good one, with the purchases you make for your gang as important as the tactics you employ on the table.

Of course the day of the game came and after a number of terrible dice rolls and a total disregard for any sort of tactics I got severely whupped by Matt. Ah well, maybe my resolution next year should be ‘winning more...’

Secondary Objective

If the main task for me during the coming year is to save money on gaming, my secondary task is to game more. This was partially introduced to make sure that I don’t save my gaming money by simply giving up gaming, rather to use my initiative and buy sensibly.

More gaming sounds easy, but can often be pretty difficult. My friends who I boardgame with often get busy with work (as can I) so getting everyone together for an evening can be a bit of a challenge. I have a local gaming club, which I have yet to visit, that would guarantee me an afternoon of gaming every sunday, but again, life often gets in the way. On the sundays that I am free, I invariably ‘can’t be bothered’ to go along to the club and end up sat at home, painting more miniatures, wishing I’d gone along. I’m going to have to overcome my laziness and get along.

Whereas my reduction in spending may be hard to gauge, my level of gaming should be easier to keep track of. I input all my games played into Boardgamegeek (BGG) which records them all in my personal profile, I’ve done this for the last year or so, so I’ve got a baseline to compare my gaming to. The widget on the right of your screen is powered by BGG and shows the games I’ve recently played, you can click on the images to go to BGG for more information.

While gaming more is my secondary objective, I take it to be as important as my main mission. As obvious as it sounds, gaming as a hobby requires getting out and playing games, I'm sure that I’ll be able to significantly improve my gaming total for the year. Can’t wait!

The Mission...

The Mission: A year spending as little as possible on wargaming and boardgaming.
Secondary Objective: Game more.
Ultimate Goal: Make as much money from gaming as I spend.

Timeline: January 2009 - December 2009