Simple enough question isn't it?
You look through a manufacturers lists, choose the figures you want, calculate the cost based on the advertised price and hand your money over. Simples.
But is this the end?
A friend raised an interesting point about the real cost of figures and something I hadn't really considered before. He used the new Perry plastic Wars of the Roses figures as an example.
In his case he took 18 of the plastic figures and spent a further ninety minutes assembling them ready for priming - 5 minutes each. He compared that to less than thirty minutes for 32 metal Front Rank WSS figures - less than 1 minute each. the cause for the delay was the assembly time for the multitude of arms, heads, weapons etc that come with the Perry box. Let's take the minimum wage over here in the UK (currently £5.85 per hour) as a base line and that means that the Perry figure puts an additional £0.50 on the figure compared to £0.10 for the Front Rank - so the Perry figure actually costs £0.83 (40 figures in a £15 box = £0.38) against a Front Rank at £1.15 (£1.05 for the figure - less if you buy in units).
Are you still happy with your purchase from Perry?
For the record I am very happy with the perry figures & this is exactly why many of us have bought the Perry box, to give us choice and a range of styles & poses.
How much is your time worth? Can you put a cost on your hobby time and do you feel as though you get value for money all things considered?
11 comments:
Paul,
There's also "painting time" to consider.
Do you spend more time per figure with the variety of poses as opposed to ranks of similar poses?
How about the "figure fatigue" factor? Which style of figures keeps you painting longer?
I'm reminded of how my late father used to refer to duck hunting. He said that it wasn't very expensive . . . it only cost about a dollar a feather.
*grin*
-- Jeff
Interesting point, though for me it depends on how much I enjoy the task. I quite like painting but do not enjoy the preparation or basing and generally resnt the time they demand.
I would probably enjoy making up one box, but for a large army would the fun fade a little?
The WoR figures are the only plastic figures so far that have tempted me. Though I may well buy the Hat Bavarians precisely because they seem to offer the chance to put simple figures on the table quickly and cheaply.
I put vast amounts of time into preparing my games. If I had to consider how much money it was costing me, in time wasted, I would have to stop wargaming.
I'm on the opposite side of things here: I spend so much time on modelling and painting, and so little time on fighting battles, that wargaming is really about building units rather than using them. I don't watch TV, so (especially) on a dark winter's night, I look to this for my entertainment.
The key thing here is to make the process enjoyable. I paint in small batches to avoid making things too repetitive. I have the radio, a DVD or something else playing to add more interest.
So a figure that requires more preparation time represents better value for money in that it provides more entertainment.
I like your post -- as a professional economist, I can only agree with your logic! ;-)
I often wonder about statements I hear from fellow players. People complain about SOME costs of the hobby, but they are completely oblivious to others. I came to the conclusion that time is probably the most costly factor in our little productions, and probably the most neglected one. Rules -- so much whining for the latest glossy volumes at $40-$50. Miniatures -- I buy 15mm figures, and Minifigs in the US come at about $ 0.40 apiece. Terrain -- most of us, unless preparing a convention game, are satisfied by some basic natural features on the tabletop, plus a river and a couple of roads. But time... time is the scarcest of the resources. And I have projects or units that have been seating on my workbench for years, literally. Plus, I think your choice of minimum wage was a very conservative one -- I bet several people earn multiples over it. Your post really helps to put things in perspective.
A long time ago I assembled and painted some GW Skaven, which each had a gazillion parts to it, and I swore that I would never ever assemble a plastic figure for the rest of my life.
However, some of the Perry figures and a few of the other hard plastic brands have some tempting figures. I might try one box one of these days and see how it goes. Will it be as painful to assemble as I recall?
I don't generally count time spent putting figures together in dollar terms.
My time is valuable, but for me a lot of the fun of plastic figures is picking parts from the sprue to make figures I'm excited about painting. I enjoy posing them and getting each unit to have a certain look that sets them apart. I guess I don't count that cost because there's not much else I'd rather be doing.
You put a v interesting point. Using my actual earnings in this calculation make the theoretical cost quite scary. The whole point of the time I spend on my hobby is that it is not work,family commitments etc. I am happy for the few hours I spend on the hobby to disappear while I potter about painting, reading, assembling models etc etc. The alternative...watching tosh on TV or doing yet more chores which my wife would no doubt find for me etc. No thank you. So do I get value for money? Yes as far as I am concerned and even if the actual cost of the theoretical figure was say 10 times in your example, to me its still a bargain.
regards,
Guy
Interesting post! I made nine the other evening whilst watching Dancing on Ice with the family and they took ages. Oddly when I prepare figures and base them (and that doesn't include putting filler around the moulded bases to flatten them out)I don't mind if I do it in front of trash tv but feel that I am wasting time if I do it sitted at my desk when I should really be painting!
I don't cost my spare time (just as well -using your calculation it added a very frightening amount to each figure!)but I do get stressed if they don't fit together well. For example I cannot, for the life of me get the Wargames Factory rifle shooting Zulu arms attached correctly. They just don't fit! The only stress on the Perry figures are that some parts, like the spears and bows are rather fragile so you have to be very careful removing them from the sprue...
It is certainly a valid point that the time involved in preparing and assembling plastic models is vastly greater than cleaning a bunch ob metal models for painting. A unit of Victrix (24 figures) will take me the best part of all evening to de-sprue, clean and assemble. The cost in time is pronounced, but it's often a case that if you have the time you don't have the money and vice versa. Affluent gamers will prefer metal for reasons above simple aesthetics I suppose - the money rich are often time poor. Even little ole impoverished me wishes his plastic soldiers would come out the box pre made (and painted)!
J10Bears chimes in. I have been wargaming since 1961. I have painted and sold , or even given away dozens of armies. Literally, thousands of figures from 12mm Hincliffe, 20mm Scruby's, 25mm Hinton Hunt, Minifig, Archive, Ral Partha, Hinchliffe, Heritage, etc., 30mm Willie and Stadden, 45mm Sanderson plastics, 54mm figures by dozens of makers, and even custom made 200 mm resin figures.
The driving force was always, "Do I want the figure? Can I paint the figure to do it justice?"
Now I am medically diasbled. I no longer work. Medical expenses have devoured my savings and retirement benefits. I have a degenerative brain condition which cause my hands to cramp and tremble.
I still paint because I still believe that I am entitled to have the figures I like on my shelves. I still enjoy pushing lead or plastic around the field.
Our activities should not be measured in cash terms. If so, no one would ever have sex because of the fortune it costs to raise a kid and send it to college.
I always believed the statement of Donald Featherstone that a generation of people of superior minds and training should have leisure activities to match and reflect on the abilities and talents of the hobbyist.
The only valid and relevant points are: Do you enjoy what you are doing? Are you proficient at what you do?
Truthfully, if I die with a brush in my hands or tossing the dice to settle a melee, I would count that a heroic and honorable end. A tribute to my gaming spirit and the hobby.
If money/cost are your main concerns, take up day trading.
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