There aren’t a lot of hobby places online I hang out where there isn’t either a thread or two bitching about price hikes, or a rule explicitly banning discussion thereof.

We bitch, we moan, but we still buy.

Take for example, my army.

For what I’ve invested in my full army, I could have at least four of these:

That's a limited edition Coach bag. For those of you who don't carry (or care about) handbags, that's an $800 handbag.

I don’t own 4+ designer handbags. But I have spent and will continue to spend money on my army.

Why (other than the AWESOME Tau rumors) will I continue to spend money on my army?

Because hobbies are inherently a waste of  money – AKA a luxury. Just like that designer handbag. There’s no practical application – it’s the having and own which is its own purpose – it is wholly impractical.

And compared to other geek hobbies, GW is a hobby equivalent to the Prada or Dior, where other hobbies are Wal-Mart or Costco. Miniature gaming in general, and GW games in particular are the high-end spend hobby.

I just got into Firestorm Armada. $160 bought me a reasonably sized fleet, some extra carriers and a rulebook. I’m probably about 40 dollars away from having a full 1200 point fleet, which is where the game is designed to be played.  From my GW-immersed perspective that’s cheap buy in. Now ask a D&D player what cheap buy-in looks like; their associated costs may include a single fig, a set of dice and the rulebook (maybe, if they’re not borrowing from a friend).

But what does buy-in for a GW game actually get you?  Here’s what I’ve got, which I can’t get playing any other miniature game, including Warmachine or Firestorm Armada:

• Lifelong friends (With other mini-wargames, I need my friends to join me to play – for GW games, the reverse was true.  By playing this game, I made friends.)
• The ability to meet tons of new people and have an immediate connection with them
• A game I can play in my basement, at a hobby store or in a tournament

Games Workshop games buys you into community.  And how much is that worth?

Do you agree? Disagree? Are the prices driving you away from the hobby? Let me know!