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We’ve talked before about why Warhammer is so expensive, and we’ve talked about how to wargame on a budget, but today I want to look at Warhammer compared to other wargames and see how it holds up. I got interested in this topic for two reasons: first, because someone was remarking on how expensive model-for-model Star Wars: Legion was, and second, because I was really frustrated with how expensive a recent order I’d made for Batman Miniatures Game was.
The question is: how do we answer the question of how expensive is Warhammer?
Note: For the sake of this article, we’re going to use the price of the cheapest place to find the models. I’ll always note where I’m getting the price from, but some will be from third-party retailers like Element Games or Amazon, and some will be from the manufacturer.
How Expensive is Warhammer, Model-for-Model?
Let’s compare similar models and see how they stack up against each other. For starters, we’re going to look at character models to see how expensive each wargame is, then standard troops, and then the most expensive in the range. We’ll which game is the most expensive and how they all stack up against each other.
Character Models:
How Expensive is Warhammer 40k? Characters
‘In Warhammer 40k, it is pretty well known that character models sell from Games Workshop for about $35, and then with a 15-20% discount at third party retailers. So, this Space Marine Captain in Gravis Armor is $32.50 from Amazon and is £20.39 from Element Games.
This holds up across most ranges, with the Ork Beastboss being $32.30 on Amazon, £20.39 on Element Games . The Aeldari Autarch is exactly the same: $32.30 on Amazon and and £20.40 on Element Games.
How Expensive is Warhammer Age of Sigmar? Characters
It’s a little harder to figure out the standard price of a character model and figure out how expensive is Warhammer Age of Sigmar. For the Stormcast Eternals, Lord Commander Bastian Carthalos is $40.57 on Amazon and £23.37 on Element Games.
The Orruk Megaboss is $42 on Amazon and £22.10 on Element Games. For the Sylvaneth, Druanti the Arch-Revenant is $34 on Amazon and £20.39 on Element Games.
How Expensive is Bolt Action? Characters
Bolt Action doesn’t really have required character slots, as you can get a regular box of infantry and make one of them your lieutenant, meaning that he’s just a couple of dollars. There are specific character models available, but they’re hard to find. Element Games lists the British Army Command (4 models) for £5.40 but says that the product is unavailable. For the sake of simplicity, let’s just say that Bolt Action character models are part of the infantry and therefore 1/30th of $44, or $1.47.
How Expensive is Malifaux? Characters
Malifaux is a different ball of wax altogether, because you essentially are buying a warband in a box, and that box has everything you’ll need for a game. You don’t need to buy models separately, so every core box has the equivalent of an HQ. Malifaux core boxes on Amazon range from around $37.99 (Perdita) to $52.50 (Titania). The Perdita box has seven models, so we can call the character model about $5.50, and Titania has six models, so we can call the character about $9.
How Expensive is Infinity? Characters
For Infinity, models are sold in such small quantities that it’s hard to say who is a character and who isn’t. But if we’re just looking at models that are sold individually, we could say Saito Togan is $13.97 on Amazon and £13.05 on Element Games.
Amazon carries so few Infinity models, and Element Games carries just a few more, so it’s really hard to buy from third-party retailers for them. If we go to Corvus Belli’s website, the selection is better but the prices are steep. McMurrough, Mercenary Dog-Warrior is €29.95 and Lei Gong, Invincibles Lord of Thunder is €18.95
How Expensive is Star Wars: Legion? Characters
On the question of how expensive is Star Wars: Legion, looking at character models, they’re all very reasonable (relatively speaking). On Amazon, Darth Maul is $17.35 and is £17.99 on Element Games . Cad Bane is $21.99 on Amazon and £17.99 on Element Games. Those prices seem to be the average across all characters, whether they’re Yoda ($17.35) or the Emperor ($17.39).
How Expensive is the Batman Miniatures Game? Characters
These are available nowhere other than from Knight Models’ website, a website I really don’t like because they tend to screw up my orders, PLUS they charge you a lot of money to ship stuff all the way from Spain. But, I’m going to look at the Joker because we can later look at the Joker’s team as a whole.
The Joker model for Back to Gotham is a really amazing-looking mini, but that could be said about all Knight Models minis. I do not understand this company because they make such gorgeous miniatures and yet the company is run SO POORLY. But the Joker is 33,02 €.
If we want to look at a different Joker, we could go with the for The Three Jokers, which is also 33,02 €.
So How Expensive Are Wargames: Characters?
It would appear at first blush that Age of Sigmar is the most expensive and Bolt Action is the least expensive, at least when it comes to characters. Infinity has the largest swings in what is considered a character model, ranging anywhere from around ten Euros to around thirty Euros. Batman comes in around the same price as Games Workshop games, in that $35 range. But, this is a small sampling and we can’t judge entire games around these minor results. Let’s look at troops.
How Expensive is Warhammer: Troops
For looking at how expensive wargames are for troops, we’re going to be looking at the rank-and-file members of the armies. And we’ll try to get a pretty wide range.
How Expensive is Warhammer 40k: Troops
A box of 10 Space Marine Intercessors on Amazon is $51, which puts them at $5.10 per model. A box of T’au Pathfinders is less, at $35 for a box of 10, plus three of their little hover robots. We’ll still call it $3.50 per model. And a box of 10 Ork Boyz is $42.50, so $4.25 per model
So all of Warhammer 40k seems to be hovering in about that range, of $3-5 per model. It’s pretty steep, although peanuts compared to a $35 character model.
How Expensive is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Troops
Stormcast Eternals on Amazon put the Vindicators at $42.99 on Amazon, so we’ll round up and call it $4.30 per model. Nighthaunt gives you 10 Bladegheist Revenants for $42.50, so about the same at $4.25 a model. Kharadron Overlords puts the Arkanaut Company at $46.75, so $4.58 per model. And Lumineth Realmlords’ Vanari Auralan Wardens are $51, so $5.10 per model.
This random sampling puts Warhammer Age of Sigmar more expensive than Warhammer 40k models, but not really. On average 40k’s $3-5 is the same as Age of Sigmar’s $4.50, or close enough.
How Expensive is Bolt Action? Troops
With Bolt Action you can buy a box of any of the major powers (from Warlord Games, not from other WWII manufacturers like Perry) for around $35-40. 30 German Grenadiers are $34.65 on Amazon, so that’s a little more than $1.10 per model. The same goes for the British Airborne at $32.40, $1.04 per model. The Soviet infantry are on the higher end at $43.19, or $1.44 per model. But the point is that, per model, the Warlord Games Bolt Action miniatures are very inexpensive.
How Expensive is Malifaux: Troops
Malifaux is weird because, like I said above, it’s a skirmish game and you don’t really have troops. But for the sake of argument, let’s look at some of the Core Sets to see where the per model price stacks up. Tatiana has 6 models for $52, which is pricey at $8.57 per model. Collette gives you 8 models for $48, so $6 a model. But Pandora gives you 7 for $36–$5.14 each. So on the surface it looks like Malifaux is one of the most expensive, but as we’ll see a little later down, it’s really not. (Spoiler: because you don’t need a lot of models to play the game.)
How Expensive is Infinity: Troops
The following prices are all from Corvus Belli’s store. And Infinity is weird, when the most you get in terms of “troops” are groups of three or four models. Occasionally there will be one that has nine or ten, we’ll mention them, but mostly it sticks to skirmish.
The Corregidor Fire Team Alpha has four models at $32.95, or $8.24 a model. Order Hospitaller Action Pack has 11 models at $84.95, coming to $7.72 each. And the Scots Guard has three models at $32.95, so $10.98 each.
Infinity is a weird one, and we’re going to get more into how they’re weird below. Infinity is an expensive game, made more expensive by the fact that it’s hard to find them from third-party retailers (depending on where you live).
How Expensive is Star Wars: Legion? Troops
Star Wars Legion troops are somewhere in the middle of all this. 7 Stormtroopers are $32.95 (on Amazon) making them $4.71 each. You can get 6 B2 Super Battle Droids for $39.99, so $6.67. On the lower end are the Rebel Troopers at $26.67 for 7, equaling $3.81.
Star Wars: Legion, among all of these, seems to have the least amount of consistency in price.
How Expensive is the Batman Miniatures Game? Troops
Batman Miniatures Game, like Malifaux, works differently from the rest of these, because it’s a small skirmish game and you generally buy all of your team in one box. So I’m just going to refer to the team boxes for this, like I did for the Malifaux boxes. I know that will skew a bit because there’s a character in the box, but it’s what we have to work with. Also, these prices all come from Knight Models store, because you can’t buy Batman Miniatures Game anywhere else (it seems like).
The Birds of Prey are 6 models for $49.55, putting them at $8.26 each. The Court of Owls is 8 models for $49.55, to $6.19 each. And the Quizmasters is 9 models for $66.07, making them $7.33 a piece.
So, like Malifaux, they look expensive, but they’re really not. And we’re going to talk about why right now.
Are These Wargames Really Expensive? Let’s Look At Complete Armies
We’ve talked about the price of characters, and we’ve talked about the price of troops, but where the rubber meets the road is when we talk about armies: what it actually takes to play the game. In this section, I’m going to use tournament lists where I can, just to get the epitome of good army lists, but where I can’t I’m just going to use lists that people have made and posted online. I’ll provide links.
I’ll list the prices next to them as A (Amazon), GW (Games Workshop), CB (Corvus Belli), WG (Warlord Games), KM (Knight Models), etc.
Also, a lot of these lists do weird things like have unusual-sized squads (compared to what’s sold in the box), so I’m going to give an estimate based on per-model price.
How Expensive is Warhammer 40k: Army Lists
We’re going to look at the most recent Las Vegas Open 40K tournament, and the winning Blood Angels army by Jack Harpster.
Commander Dante $29 GW
Lemartes $29 GW
Sanguinary Priest $35 GW
5 Infiltrators $25.50 A
5 Infiltrators $25.50 A
5 Infiltrators $25.50 A
7 Sanguinary Guard $65.45 A
7 Sanguinary Guard $65.45 A
7 Sanguinary Guard $65.45 A
5 Death Company $42.50 A
5 Death Company $42.50 A
5 Death Company $42.50 A
Total Price: $493.35
How Expensive is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Armies
For this list we’re going to look at the overall winner at the Las Vegas Open for Age of Sigmar, Jiwan Noah Singh, who played Beasts of Chaos.
Beastlord $35 GW
Dragon Ogor Shoggoth $70 GW
Tzaangor Shaman of Beasts of Chaos $35 GW
Grashrak Fellhoof $42 eBay
30 Tzaangors $127.50 A
10 Gors $35 GW
10 Gors $35 GW
6 Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc $110 GW
6 Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc $110 GW
5 Gashraks Despoilers
Herdstone $45 GW
Wildfire Taurus Endless Spell $40 GW
Total Price: $684.50
How Expensive is Bolt Action? Armies
I don’t have an actual tournament-winning list for this one, but this is a tournament list which was included in an article on Warlord Games’ website. It was written by Marcus Vine.
Bolt Action List
Soviet Junior Lieutenant with Extra Man $2.88 A
Commissar $1.44 A
Rifle Squad with 7 Extra Men $24.48 A
SMG Squad with 7 Extra Men $24.48
Assault Engineer Squad with 1 Extra Man 5 $40 WG
Assault Engineer Squad with 1 Extra Man 5 $40 WG
Assault Engineer Squad with 1 Extra Man 5 $40 WG
Assault Engineer Squad with 1 Extra Man 5 $40 WG
Tank Hunters Team $11.97 WG
Tank Hunters Team $11.97 WG
Tank Hunters Team $11.97 WG
Heavy Mortar Team $22.50 WG
ZiS-3 $28.80 A
Truck $41.50 WG
Truck $41.50 WG
Total Price: $383.49
How Expensive is Star Wars: Legion? Armies
This list also comes from the Las Vegas Open, with the winner of a Galactic Empire force being Kyle Dornbos
Imperial Officer $20.17 A
Darth Vader $17.39 A
2 squads Stormtroopers $46.84
2 squads Snowtroopers $46.84
4 Speeder Bikes $47.98
Total Price: $179.22
How Expensive is Infinity? Armies
For this army I searched for tournament lists and even non-tournament lists, and I ran across this one, but it was anonymous.
Fusilier Lieutenant $10 CB
Knight of the Holy Sepulchre $11.95 CB
Fusilier $10 CB
Knight of Justice $10 CB
Bounty Hunter $12.95 CB
Locust $12.95 CB
Warcor $13.95 CB
Infirmarer $10 CB
Mendoza $19.99 CB
Escort Sergeant $9 CB
Total Price: $120.79
How Expensive is Malifaux? Armies
For this one, it’s really just take your pick. As we’ve talked about everywhere in this article, when it comes you Malifaux, all you need is a Core Set, so you could play a full game for as much as $52 (Tatiana) or as low as $37 (Perdita).
How Expensive Are Wargames? Conclusion
When it comes to wargaming and prices, you’re looking at more than just the cost of the individual models. If we were looking at model prices, then Infinity would be the most expensive. But what we’re really talking about when it comes to wargame cost is the actual cost of playing a full game.
And we’ve seen that, by far, Malifaux is the cheapest game to play. It has a very low barrier to entry–and it helps that the rules are actually free online.
When it comes to the most expensive, well, surprise surprise, Warhammer is the most expensive. Age of Sigmar was the most expensive in this (non-scientific) sampling, but that could be because Beasts of Chaos is almost entire unavailable on third-party retailer websites, whereas you could find the Warhammer 40k Blood Angels very easily–and some of the Blood Angels models were older (Sanguinary Guard) so they were relatively cheaper kits than a Primaris equivalent would be.
I was surprised at how expensive the Bolt Action tournament list was, as a big Bolt Action player myself, but there is the fact that this was a Soviet list, which is the least popular and therefore the most expensive, and that he used those Assault Engineers that aren’t available third-party.
Infinity? I don’t know what to make of Infinity. I own a small Infinity army and I’ve played my share of games. I’m by no means fluent in Infinity, though, and I’ve never played competitively. The army was on the cheaper end of things, but that makes sense because it’s a skirmish game. Even though the models themselves were the most expensive wargame models of the bunch, you didn’t need many of them to put together an army list.
And Star Wars: Legion was actually more expensive than I thought it would be. I sometimes forget how expensive Star Wars: Legion minis are. It’s somewhere in-between a skirmish game and a full army game, and a 7-man squad of Stormtroopers doesn’t get you very far: you need several (in this case, four).
However…
Here’s the deal, though: there’s a difference between playing the games and being in the wargaming hobby. As I was going through this I was thinking “An Infinity army is relatively cheap, but do I want to restrict myself to eleven models?” No! I want to collect a lot of models. This is one reason that I own so many Bolt Action armies: you can get them for just over $1 per figure, and then you get to paint a LOT.
But it’s also why, I think, Warhammer does so well. Warhammer is, despite what naysayers say, a hobby unto itself. When I want to paint a big army, I could paint a lot of Bolt Action but… how many times can you paint camouflage? Different shades, of course, but it’s a lot of greens and grays and khakis. But if I want to have a hobby challenge? I’m going to go to the models that I find to be the most interesting. It’s the reason I play Warhammer. It’s the reason I keep trying to get into the Batman Miniatures Game.
So if you want to be in wargaming to play games and games alone, then by all means, pick Malifaux. You’ll save a TON of money. Malifaux is the least expensive option we’ve looked at here. But if you want to paint models as well as play the games, then maybe something with a higher model count is for you.