We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Should hobbies be a luxury? This is the question that seems to be coming up more and more as various game companies (Games Workshop, we’re looking at you) are raising their prices–prices that were already very high to begin with. When something is a luxury good (no one can deny that Games Workshop is the most expensive and “luxurious” game company in the space) and when luxury good raises prices, is that justified?

I think there are several different ways of looking at this, but I’ve broken it down into three main models: the Car Model, the Open Source Model, and the Library Model.

The Basic Question of the Ethics of Luxury

This question of luxury goes to the very core of what you believe about the economic system–to some extent. There are some people who believe that capitalism rules all, and if you can afford something then there should be nothing standing in your way of buying it and enjoying it. This goes for everything from an expensive meal at a Michelin restaurant to Jeff Bezos’s $500 million super yacht. If Jeff Bezos is the second richest man in the world, worth over $200 billion dollars, is there anything wrong with him making yachting his “hobby” when that “hobby” just so happens to cost him half a billion dollars?

And on the flip side, if you hold to socialist ideals then you could just as easily believe that no products should be out of the reach of the working class, and that either everyone should have some access to a super yacht (which seems logistically impossible) or no one should have access to a super yacht (which is the most common argument). But should hobbies be a luxury?

But what does all of this have to do with miniature wargaming? Obviously, there is an ENORMOUS difference between a $500 million super yacht and a $210 Warhammer 40k Starter Box. But, on the other hand, is there truly that much of a difference? If you are living in poor circumstances and can afford a grand total of $20 on your hobby, then isn’t that $210 Warhammer Starter Set just as beyond your reach as that $500 million super yacht? It’s easy for people who have flexibility of funds to say that Warhammer is a much more affordable hobby. But if you don’t have that elasticity in your hobby budget then “too expensive” is always going to be “too expensive” regardless of the price.

The Three Models of Ethics in the Luxury of Hobbies

The Car Market

The car market gives us our first window into the ethics of hobbies as a luxury. It is generally considered (at least in the United States) that everyone should be able to afford a car. This isn’t to say that policies in the United States make it easy for everyone to have a car, but there is a cultural assumption that people will own one (unless they live in a large metro area like Boston or New York City with ample mass transit). But there’s a difference between being able to afford a car that moves and a car that is a luxury item, or, even further, a car that is a hobby itself, such as a restoration of a classic car. Should hobbies be a luxury?

While a vast majority of Americans can afford a car with four wheels that accelerates when they press the gas and slows when they hit the brake, there is a marked difference between that and a luxury car with heated seats and video screens and automatic parrallel parking and emergency safety features. There’s a difference between 120 horsepower and 450 horsepower. There’s a difference between peeling paint and taking the prize at the classic car show.

“But,” says American capitalism, “everyone is affording a car. We’re all equal.”

The problem with this argument, as anyone can see, is that everyone owning a car–everyone participating in the hobby of car ownership–does not constitute everyone being able to afford the same thing.

What’s the solution? I don’t think in America in 100 years you’d find a solution that is anything other than “These rich people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and so they deserve this Maserati, whereas you didn’t apply yourself and have a low-paying job and therefore deserve your 2001 Kia Rio.” That’s America for you, but it’s also capitalism for you.

So when we apply the car market model to the miniature wargaming space, we’re left with people who can afford all of the nice things: they can afford to buy the new releases, they can afford a tournament winning Drukhari army that costs just shy of $1000, they can afford a large house with a large gaming table and a workshop and all the tools and all the paints. There are some people who can just afford these things.

And, there are some people who simply cannot. The people who are driving those 2001 Kia Rios who are barely scraping by–but they love Warhammer! So they spend a little less on food so they can afford a box of this, and they go without new clothes so they can afford a new box of that. And, worse still, there are the people who are most susceptible to FOMO marketing, particularly the neurodivergent (Discourse Miniatures made an excellent video about this which I followed up with this article here) who are so desperate to get their hands on Cursed City or Black Templars or what-have-you that they neglect to pay the power bill and blow their money on games instead of necessities.

These are very real things that happen. And while I am absolutely citing the most extreme examples, they are not exaggerated examples. There literally are rich players who can afford everything, and there literally are poor players who impulse buy their way into financial ruin.

Is this just to be chalked up to “That’s capitalism for ya! Them’s the breaks!”? I hope that’s not the way that we plan to go with our hobby, but at the same time it’s difficult for me to understand fully. I have been, at various times in the alst 30 years, at both ends of this spectrum. I have made poor purchase decisions when I couldn’t afford it, and I have made easy purchase decisions when I was flush with cash. So I see both sides. But do I have an answer?

I don’t know. Let’s look at the other models.

The Open Source Market Model

This model of the miniature wargaming world is very different, because in this version, games are essentially free. Note: I’m using “open source” a little loose here, because what I want to mean is that there are a large number of games that are given away for free. This is a 100% legitimate way to get into miniature wargaming, and I think that all of us have, at some point, played with a set of rules that were, for all intents and purposes, free.

I know that the entire reason that I’m in the wargaming hobby is that as a young adolescent I somehow got my hands on a copy of Wargames Illustrated that had a six page ruleset for how to play Vietnam battles, and I went out to buy two bags of little green army men. I played with these “free” rules and these dollar-store models for three solid years before I graduated to my first box of Games Workshop.

And these rules haven’t gone away. You just need to look at the success and notoriety that One Page Rules is having to see that the business model of giving away miniature wargaming rulesets is working very well, thankyouverymuch. I don’t know One Page Rules’ financials, but they appear to be giving away a well-crafted game system (several well-crafted game systems) for free and then hoping that you’ll purchase their miniatures to play the game with. It’s an odd business model, especially when their flagship game “Grimdark Future” is essentially made to be played with Warhammer 40k models. But it seems to be working for them, and it’s making miniature wargaming enthusiasts happy.

The question is: how sustainable is this? And I don’t ask this as merely an academic question, but I’ve got proverbial money in the game because I fully intend to launch a miniatures game on this site later this year and while I have no illusions that my first game out of the gate is going to topple any of the big guys, I do want to create at least a small splash. Is the best way to do this through extremely cheap or free rulesets, with some type of paid content add-ons? I don’t entirely know. The rules are nearing game testing levels, so we’ll see what happens. But I’m intrigued.

But anyway, back to the point: do games like One Page Rules negate the capitalism vs socialism street brawl that is taking place in the underhive of miniature wargaming? I can’t say that it is. There is still the issue of models that we have to grapple with, and while yes, games can be played with green army men or even tokens, One Page Rules makes its money off selling 3D printable files so that you can print out their proprietary models. And 3D printing, for as far as it’s come, is not exactly a hobby for the poorest among us. Aside from the cost of the STLs (which is relatively small) there is the cost of the printer itself, and the resin, and all the isopropyl alcohol. But even bigger is the fact that to get really into 3D printing you have to live in a space that has a place to put noxious-fumes-emitting 3D printer–which requires a house or apartment with a spare room or a basement or a garage, which in turn requires that you can afford a house or apartment like that. And I’ll be honest: right now I can’t. I have an FDM printer, but I have nowhere in this house where I could ventilate a resin printer. Consequently, when I play One Page Rules, I play with Warhammer figures–and we’re back at expensive costs again.

The Library Market

Now this one intrigues me, because it has happened in board games and I’d love to see it happen in miniature wargaming. Libraries are beginning to acquire board games–including some of the best titles–and they check them out just like you’d check out a book. Hobbies SHOULDN’T be a luxury.

This model would require a lot of things to happen in wargaming for it to be workable, but it’s not TOO far out of the arena of possibilities. Heaven knows that Games Workshop prints far too many books, and even if a library simply acquired a full set, or two full sets of Warhammer books, they could really open up some doors to aspiring players who cannot afford the hobby.

Of course we once again run into the issue of miniatures, but speaking as a New York Times bestselling novelist who has spent a LOT of time in libraries, I think that there’s plenty of will on the part of librarians that could allow for a community donation event. We’ve seen these kinds of things come together before, where gamers from all across the country sign up to paint a specific unit of a specific army, and they they all get put together and raffled off for charity. It would take a LOT of work, but there’s the possibility of libraries putting together forces of miniatures that could be played with.

Or maybe that’s a pipe dream.

But it’s not all that different from what FLGS’s do on a regular basis: they have all the tables and terrain ready, and one player comes in the evening with two forces–maybe two Kill Teams, or two War Cry bands–and a game gets started for a new player who could not otherwise have ever gotten into the hobby.

If FLGSs had standing armies on their shelves–and I know many of them do–then these players who cannot afford to purchase an entire army can have the fun–the luxury–of playing the games for free.

The Harsh Reality: Miniature Wargaming Still Has Costs

The game that I collect the most of is Bolt Action, and Bolt Action is pretty incredibly cheap to get into. Each 1000 point game is basically a platoon and a vehicle, and the total cost is about $145 if you buy an army on Amazon. That’s not bad for a starting force. Or Kings of War is another cheap way to get into the hobby: it’s about the same–$125 to get a large force.

And of course this ignores all the really small games, the skirmish games, the Kill Teams and War Crys. You can get into that for $40, easy.

But then there’s the cost of the paints and the brushes and the books. Should hobbies be a luxury?

There’s no getting around the fact that miniature wargaming is never going to be a soccer ball. With a soccer ball you can literally play a game anyplace you are, any time of the day or night. All you need is people. Say the goal is between those to trees and the other goal is between those two light posts, and you’ve got a game, for the cost of a $30 ball, and you never have to upgrade.

What’s the Breaking Point?

So the question is: when does a miniature wargame go from being a fun game to being a collector’s item? Should hobbies be a luxury? What’s the cost threshold? I don’t think anyone can rightfully argue that Games Workshop doesn’t have PLENTY of room to trim the fat in their product offerings, prices, and required purchases (SO MANY BOOKS). But at what point is the price low enough that Games Workshop stops being the Mercedes-Benz and starts being the Toyota? Is there a point? Will capitalism allow that to be a point?

The Shareholders

Should hobbies be a luxury? Here’s what it all comes down to: playing the markets. To my knowledge, aside from Hasbro owning Wizards of the Coast, there are no miniatures companies that are publicly traded besides Games Workshop. And because of the fact that they are publicly traded they have to make money for their shareholders–and rightly so because the shareholders literally own the company. Games Workshop is no longer a company where the decisions are being made by game lovers–they’re a company where decisions are being made by businesspeople who care about the bottom line. We’ve seen that bottom line take some pretty substantial blows in the last five or six months. At what point does Wall Street say “You need to cut costs to once again regain your core audience”? And at what point does Wall Street say “What else can we sell with FOMO marketing at a high price?”

Because until that question is answered, Games Workshop is always going to live in two worlds: the hobby world and the profit-machine world.

I still hold out hope. But some days it’s hard.