Cypher.  His name is feared and reviled across the imperium.  But he’s not the only fellow in town toting two guns anymore . ..

Page 52, under PISTOL WEAPONS

Models with 2 pistol weapons can fire up to both in the same shooting phase.

This may not seen like a big deal at first, but when you consider the Precision shot rule (page 62) characters get a better end game when picking out an enemy of their choosing.

Let’s take, for example, a Space marine lord with a plasma pistol and bolt pistol vs. a SML with a boltun.  Both get 2 shots at 12″ range, however, the gunslinger has an S7 AP 2 weapon, much more effective when dealing precision shots.

Under this example, one lord has the advantage of being able to add a shot to his squad at 24″, whilst the other is only lethal within 12″.  Both get two shots at the shorter range, but one has a S7 AP2 pistol.

 Additionally, the gunslinger already counts as having two CCWs so doesn’t lose any attacks for swapping his boltgun with a bolt pistol.

What do you guys think, is it worth it?  Have at it!

White Metal Games is a full service miniature conversion and painting studio for hire.  Check us out or email with inquiries or to set up a commission at [email protected]

Until then, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!

Caleb, WMG

A few weeks ago I had a bit of a scare.  I was surfing the GW site when I noticed that prices were up across the board.  $124 for a rulebook.  $96 for a Trygon, $110 for a storm raven?  What gives?  Normally I get news about price increases from sites like BOLS or Spikey Bits.

I kept checking the message boards to see if anything had been announced.  When I didn’t see anything my first thought was ‘Sneaky GW!  Who do they think they’re kidding!  I won’t pay it!’

My second thought was ‘I quit!  I can’t do it anymore, I’m broke enough without more new shiny toys!’

But then my third thought was ‘That’s odd.  The contact # for GW starts with country code 61.  Australia?’

Turns out I had somehow changed My Profile on the GW webpage and the prices were reflecting Australian currency.  Wheww.  What a relief.  But it got me thinking . . .

The economy is (still) in the tank.  I know this more than anybody.  I run White Metal Games, a small internet painting and  conversion business (still under development).  Our first official year in business we did about $55 grand in sales.  Not bad.  Our second year, about $45k.  What the hell?  A drop of almost 20%?  I couldn’t believe it.  My sales should be going up, not down.  What gives?  I increased viewership through my youtube channel, posted on my twitter account, the whole nine yards.  I certainly drew plenty of attention from GW, who’s resent cease and desist letter in regards to my conversion work (much of which is featured on Spikey Bits) shut me down on ebay almost completely, minus a few projects.  More on that in another post.

Anyway, my point is business was on the decline.  And then to add insult to injury, GW had raised their prices . . .again.  Or so I thought.

But even after I updated my profile and got back to my native currency, the thought stuck with me.  Prices at GW are continuing to rise, and the economy is still running on fumes.  No wonder my business is suffering!  Disposable income is the first thing to go in these sorts of instances, so hobbies like 40k, Warhammer, and Warmachine/Hordes are really only vices of those with time and money on their hands (usually both).

So how do we keep up with a hobby that continues to spiral upwards despite the leanness of our wallets?

To play the devils advocate,  games like 40k and WFB are better than ever!  GW has some of the best models in the world.  They are releasing new kits, books, and gaming sundries every week. Products are launched in waves and some armies even have 100% product support for the first time since 2nd edition.  The rules (at least in 40k) are brand spanking new and as a rule of thumb are considered the best rule sets ever for GW. 

But this also means pressure to expand your collection, buy new figures, and keep up with the Johnsons, if you will, is higher than ever.  Sure, I can bring my 4th edition models to a 6th edition game and probably compete.  But like the new kid at school, all you want to do is blend in.  After all, everyone else is buying shiny new models and loving them!  Why shouldn’t you?

To exacerbate matters, codex’s definitely start to show their shelf life after a few years.  Newer armies like Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Blood Angels and of course Space Wolves are the front runners at most major tournaments.  When was the last time you read about a Black Templar or Tau player placing in the top 3 of a GT?

The ‘band aid’ solution here is to buy a few new models.  A few flyers, an aegis line, maybe a bastion, and you’re back in the game.  And to be fair, a few hundreds bucks a year doesn’t seem like a price too high  to stay in the game, literally.

So my question to you is . . how do you keep up with the Johnsons?  When your best friend is swapping out his army every  year for the newest WAAC army on the block, how do you stay current?

Well, there are a few strategies I’d like to share with you.  These are my thoughts on the matter:

1.  You don’t keep up at all. Put your credit card away.  Be reasonable about your budget and disposable income.  No more models for you, at least not for a while.  Put your emphasis on the hobby.  Don’t buy more than you can paint in a week of steady work.  Otherwise you’ll eventually suffer from the inevitable ‘closets full of models and grey plastic army’ syndrome, as well as more debt than you should have to enjoy a hobby.  And don’t buy ANYTHING until you paint what you have!  It’s a slippery slope, as we all know.  If you bought a unit every other week, and spent the time between purchases painting, you’d have a fully painted army in just a few months!  Just stick to your gumption! 

2.  Rent your armies, don’t buy them:  Redbox has the right idea.  You can rent a game from Redbox for about $3 bucks a night.  You can rent a game and have a weekend game fest, play for 20 hours in three days (like you aren’t going to do that anyway), beat the game, and then return it for a fraction of what it would cost you to own the game and then trade it back in to Gamestop a few years later for pennies on the dollar. 

Don’t think of your army as the only army you’ll ever play.  Think of it as an army you are enjoying for now, until you are bored of it, and then that you’ll let go. Too many of us get attached to our armies, especially the fluff that drew us to them in the first place.  Like ‘I play Khorne so I AM KHORNE.’  Let me clear this up for you:  You’re not.  Lots of other people play Khorne too.  You don’t have to own every figure in the CSM range to be an avid fan of the Blood God.  I like to watch movies, but I don’t own a copy of every movie I’ve ever enjoyed.  Not with Netflix, Hulu, and the like.  Play the game.  Don’t BE the game. 

When you finally do sell your army, don’t try to get top dollar for it.  Just try to unload it for enough to buy your NEXT army.  Think of the time you owned it as ‘leasing to buy’ and any money you didn’t get back was just due to rental fees.  After all, you’ve already paid for the army.  So any money you get back is just icing on the cake!  You’ve already enjoyed your army, but now you’re enjoying it AND making some $$$ back on the tail end.  Bonus! 

And if you stuck to #1, above (fully painting your army), you should have little trouble getting fair market value for it.  Unless you were playing the Pink Bunny army or some such.  

3.  Community Armies:  Got a few buddies that all want to get involved in the hobby, but no one can front the cash for the entire army?  No problem.  Get the band back together, and sit down to work out an army list.  Maybe 3000 points (this would work for other games like Warmachine and Hordes too!, try 500 or 100 points instead).  Not everyone has to agree on every unit, but if a majority of people do, then add it to the list.  Then have everyone buy a few kits, or even better, a few army boxes!  Then have a round robin assembly/painting weekend where everyone gets together, watches a few movies, and works on the army as one.  The army will be done in no time.  And when finished you guys can SHARE the army. Think of it like Time Share at the beach.  No one owns the condo.  But everyone enjoys it when it’s their turn. Each of you owns your own units but you agree to let your friends use them whenever they aren’t in play.  This works great for college roommates, siblings, or stores that let you store your army there for a small fee (usually a few bucks a month). 

As American capitalists, we get obsessed with the ‘what’s mine is MINE’ syndrome.  Think of it more like a garage band playing your first coffee shop gig.  You all have to bring your own microphones or NOBODY gets to play. 

4.  Display Armies aren’t just for looking pretty:  Some FLGS have ‘house armies’ that they use for display purposes.  But a lot of these armies belong to the store owners.  They use them at GT’s and local tournies and the like.  But most of the time they sit in a case, gathering dust.  Try this instead.  Tell the store owner at your FLGS how much you LOVE their store, love their armies, and would love to have a showcase game using their army some time.  Most store owners, if they know you at all, will be flattered and likely say yes.  Want to shoot a youtube batrep?  I’m sure if you post a few links to the store or promote them in some way they’d be overjoyed!   Rob Baer at Spikey Bits has some AMAZING store armies and I’m sure he’d be thrilled to let them out for a spin so long as you agreed to handle them with kid gloves.  And how much $$$ did you spend to enjoy this privilege?  Zero (maybe a few bucks to buy them a pizza or box of donuts or the like to thank them.  Who doesn’t like pizza or donuts!)

5.  Proxy:  This more applies to individual models than full armies.  If you want to test out a figure, then PROXY IT before you buy.  I don’t mean “This cereal box is my predator for the night.  Hope you don’t mind.”  But I think ‘This Rhino with a candy bar on top is my predator for the night.” is probably fine in most circles, especially if you’re willing to let your opponent do the same.  Don’t try this at tournaments, but certainly in friendly settings with permission from the guy across the table its okay! 

So in summary there are TONS of ways to enjoy your favorite hobbies without taking it up the . .  .wallet. 

My name is Caleb and I am the owner of White Metal Games, a miniature painting and assembly service.  Check us out here!

And until then, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!

Caleb, WMG

Of the many services offered at WMG, one of the things we offer is consignment.  For a percentage of the sales price, WMG will sell your old, unwanted models on ebay for you.  The only thing you have to do is inventory and mail us your models.

Consignment has taught me a lot about trends . .. what’s hot, what’s not.  Which armies are winning, which are losing, and how long it’s been since a gamer has actively been invested in their hobby.  When I get a box of models from the 1980’s still in shrink wrap, I have a pretty good guess that the consigner had a healthy appetite for buying models, but no time to assemble/paint them. 

One thing I’ve learned over time is that a bad match up can lead to players making rash decisions about their collections and to false conclusions about themselves as players.

Case in point:  I have a few buddies who I play with on a semi-regular basis, at least a dozen times a year.  And about a dozen times I year . . I lose.  Part of it is they use more competitive lists, most of it is they are better players.  They stratagize on a level I can’t even comprehend.  They are Bobby Fisher.  I’m the bum in the park sleeping under the checker board.  I’m okay with it.  I’m  not insecure about it.  On the contrary, they make me better players.

When I finally do get out to my FLGS I often times surprise myself by outmanuevering my opponent and forcing them to play according to my terms.  They end up reacting to my moves vs. the other way around.  But I only learned to play like that by getting thrashed by my friends year after year (after year .  . sigh)

We are limited by our finances in this hobby, so even though we want to have a collection that allows for multiple variations, often times we are set in what we can take in our list based on what we buy on a budget.  And from there, if we play folks with armies that are great vs. what we have, we tend to lose.  Not as much to do will skill as resources.

I suppose you can argue that part of the skill is knowing what to ‘buy’, but then again, part of the fun of the game is variation.  So it goes round and round.  I suppose a good long term strategy might be to play a well rounded list, but then again, plenty of meta players will argue about lists that ‘do this well’ vs. doing everything well. 

Anyway. . . I got in a game last night.  I may have mentioned that there is a local league that started last night, a 400 point league.  The league has a SHIT ton of rules, no 2+ saves, only up to 1 of each army slot (except for troops, then 1-3), no named characters, nothing with over a total armor value 33 (only counting sides once), no fliers, no aegis lines, nothing over 2 wounds, etc.  Pretty crazy.  But I thought it would be a good chance to meet the locals and stir up some new business.  I was definately right.

So I met this guy, nice guy, about my age, early 30’s, with a new wife and son.  So we had a lot in common and got along well.  The mission was strange, it was called ‘Duel to the Death’ and you won simply by killing the other enemies ‘warlord’ with your warlord.  No one else could kill your warlord.  They could reduce him to 1 wound, but that’s it.

I had taken an odd list.  I wanted to max out my units, so I took 3 units of 10 gaunts, 5 Ymgarls stealers, a prime, and a biovore.  I figured 40 wounds was more than anyone else would have.  Still, the list sucked.  My prime and stealers were good, but the gaunts were all but useless and the biovore just shot at nothing the entire night.

My opponent took 3 chimeras, and a squad with assorted weapons in each (a few autocannons, a few melta, a few plasma, etc), plus a sentinel with a multilaser. 

Knowing I’d walk into a massacre if I tried to cross the 4×4′ table, I held half my army in reserve (including the stealers) and sat tight, hoping my opponent would come to me.  In fact he did.  I took no casualities the first round as I stayed out of sight.  My opponent drew near.  On turn 2 my stealers arrived and jumped out of a nearby piece of area terrain and ripped the command chimera to pieces.  My opponents warlord was exposed! I decided this was the time to launch my assault, while the stealers had his lines in disarray. 

I moved my Prime up, joined with a unit of gaunts for ‘protection’  Although the unit was shot, my opponent was busy dealing with the stealers.  The chimera took up a defensive formation, effectively barring easy passage to the warlord.  To get to him, I’d either have to destroy one of the chimeras or walk around.

A volley of fleshborers managed to reduce a chimera (amazingly) by a hull point, while the Prime  reduce the other chimera by 2 hull points.  Still not enough to get through his line.  After his squad reduce the primes termagant bodyguard to piles of gore, my opponent’s warlord took the chance to shoot my prime (since he was the only one in the army that could ‘kill’ my warlord).  Amazingly, the prime made his 3+ save! 

Meanwhile, without his leadership, the tyranids were falling apart.  My genestealers were slaughtered to the last by the chimera’s heavy flamer, my biovore was lurking behind a building, one squad of gaunts had fallen back when tank shocked by a chimera!  It was do or die time! 

The prime, seeing a desperate chance, moved around the chimera he’d been assaulting and charged the commander!  However, a sergeant challenged my prime to single combat!  The prime accepted and easily dispatched the lowly sergeant.  The warlord had bought himself a turn, but sadly his side had lost the combat!  Failing their morale check, the warlord fell back. The prime pursued and wiped him out with a sweeping advance.  4 Turns in the game was over! 

My opponent noted that if he had designated his ‘plasma gunner’ the warlord, the prime would have had no chance to save vs. the plasma and died in shooting.  As it was the plasma guns could only reduce the prime to 1 wound!  He was absolutely right.  Fortunately for me, had had not.  Victory! 

It was a great lesson to be learned about turning around a bad matchup.

I think, on paper, my opponent had me beat.  He had the superior army, for sure.  And you could argue I lucked out on the mission too.  But thems the breaks.  I played the mission the best way I knew to win and win I did.  

What’s even better is after the game we got to talking and I may have turned my opponent into a new client!  He was very interested in my business and we discussed quoting a few projects down the road.

So I got in a good game from a bad match up, meet a cool guy and had a great time.  WINNING!

And all that from a bad match up.  So take it from me, just because you’re stuck in a losing streak  . . . don’t send me your army to sell!  Mix it up, add a few new units (if you can afford it), or borrow a buddies to test out some new combos (or just PROXY play), and play someone new.  You might be surprised.

You’re probably not a bad player. .  . you probably just had a bad match up.

But after all that, your army does still suck . . .send it our way.  I’ll piecemeal it for you!

Until next time, remember PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!

Caleb, WMG
[email protected]

17 years.

That’s how long I’ve been playing 40k.  17 years.  In the past 17 years I’ve lost my virginity, been to college, waited on probably 1000 tables in my service to the restaurant industry, worked for about a dozen different companies,owned 6 cars (mostly junkers), lived in about 6-7 apartments, dated maybe 10 different girls, married one of them, and bought 2 homes. 

But through it all, I’ve played 40k.   I got into it in high school and was hooked from the get go.  I’m not sure what makes me a ‘wargamer’.  I have the same passion for this I see others display towards football or baseball, or that my wife displays for reality TV.  It’s just something in my blood.  I can’t help it, I can’t fight it, and I don’t really want to.

But I’m reminded just how long I have been playing when I show up a my FLGS and 90% of the players that show up for league night are still in college, or even high school.  Most of them, like you might figure, are attracted to the hobby for the same reason young athletic types are attracted to playing sports . . . they are naturally good at it and can test their mettle vs. an opponent on ‘even’ ground.  Geeks, just as much as athletes, thrive on competition.  They are hungry for the W. 

But I realized last night I was one of the oldest players in the room . . and I am 32.  That is a weird feeling. 

Like most of us that do anything for 17 years, we go through phases.  Our interest in the hobby ebbs and flows.  For my four years of college, I only played during breaks and over the summer.  My college was just too intense for much wargaming, and there were no game stores (at the time) in my college town of Winston-Salem.

 In the mid 90’s 40k was in it’s 2nd edition.  I played all though 2nd and 3rd (which was a huge change).  By the end of college, I had mostly become a casual gamer, getting in a pick up game once in a while, but that was about it.  Then I took a break for a while.  By the time I was ready to get back into it hardcore, I realized I didn’t know anybody that played anymore, other than my friends back home, that were hours away.  So I went to my FLGS and tried to scrounge up a game.

After a few weeks of no luck, I decided to post a flyer.  “Local player looking to get back into 40k seeks same for a refresher game in 3rd edition”.  Or something like that.   I did the little tab thing with my phone number/email on it, like I was a babysitter looking for work.  The next week I went back to the store to see if any tabs had been removed.

I was surprised to see a Warhammer Fantasy game in progress.  Not the same as 40k, but close enough!  I had hit paydirt!  So I hung around for a few minutes and watched two players go at it.  Both were older players, late 30’s to early/mid 40’s.  Clearly the 40 year old was a veteran and the 30ish year old was fairly new to the hobby.  The 40 year old was blasting through rules almost as quickly as he was blasting through his opponents infantry.  At the time I didn’t understand what being a ‘bad teach’ was.  It was brutal to behold.  Like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away.

During a short pause, while the thirty-something player took a break to get a soda or something, the veteran milled around the table, waiting to continue his thrashing.  This was my moment!  The time to introduce myself!

Before I could say a word, however, he had wandered over to the board.  He saw my note, the note about needing a mentor for the new edition!  He looked at it, shook his head and laughed.  “What an idiot!  Doesn’t he know it’s 4th edition now!”

I was dumbstruck.  I mean, this short, balding, fat jackass was right, on the one hand.  It was indeed 4th edition.  I needed to learn 4th, not be refreshed on 3rd.  But on the other hand, I felt like he had missed the forest for the trees.  Here was a chance to increase the gaming community by +1, to gain a new player, to make a new friend, etc.  Here was a chance to blast through stereotypes of gamers being anti-social or jerks who just like to win.

Devastated (as much as you can be when ridiculed by a short, fat, 40’s balding wargamer) as I was, I decided to simply leave, and didn’t even bother to introduce myself.

Now the story has a happy ending.  I did get back into gaming and now consider myself pretty well versed in the newest edition.  But at the time, when I needed help most, I was let down . . by a veteran.

Last night, at my FLGS store I got in a small 400 point game as part of a new ‘combat patrol’ league.  I was approached by, wouldn’t you know it . . a player that had been a serious player in 5th edition but hadn’t played much in 6th, and needed a ‘tune up’ game.  “Wanna play?”  He asked me.

Now, kiddies, what do you think I did:

A.  Laughed in the players face.
B.  “What, are you stupid!  It’s 7th edition!”
C.  Offered to teach him the ropes of 6th. 
D.  None of the above

 If you answered C, give yourself a gold star!  This was a chance to teach someone about the game!

What’s even better is after the game my opponent and I talked shop and I think I may have met a new future client!  He certainly had interest in what I was doing.  I was sure to speak loud, so others at nearby tables could hear me too.  Hopefully a few others are interested in doing business with us in the future as well.

As veterans, we have the privilege of being able to inundate new players to our favorite hobby.  We are in a unique position to show how fulfilling a long term hobby can be, and how some love affairs, like the one I have with wargaming, last a lifetime. 

So be careful when you make a casual joke at someones expense in the company of strangers.  The person you piss off may have been a great player to get to join up. . .  or they might shoot you when you leave the game store.

After all, some veterans really are veterans.

Glory.  The sweet taste of it is enough to drive men to the bitter brink of sanity.  To stand over your enemies victorious . . . . heroes are born in such ways.

But how much does it really cost to compete?  If you going to run with the bulls, you gotta be able to keep up.  Get out your wallets, kiddies, cause this ain’t gonna be cheap. 

Lets’s take 2 fairly big tournaments, Adepticon, and Feast of Blades. 

For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to make a few assumptions.

1. You have a painted army.  This may sound like common sense, but lots of players have their ‘fun army’ or ‘fluffy’ army as its come to be know, and their no holds barred WAAC army, and rarely the twain shall meet.  An army can costs hundreds of dollars, much much more if you pay someone to assemble it and paint it for you.  And lots not even get into if the army doubles as your team play army or painting competition army.  So for sake of argument, let’s just say you have an army.

2.  Let’s also assume you are going for the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD trip, ie, enough to have a good time, not scrimp, but not spend lavishly either.  So, that being said, what do you need?

You need a way to get there (bus fare, a plane ticket, gas $$$, etc)
You need somewhere to stay, probably a hotel
You need money to participate (fees ,events, games, etc)
You need to eat

Of course there are exceptions to the rule.  You mommy might pack you PB and J for 3 days and you might crash on a friends couch, or live in town, etc.  However, let’s assume for sake of this article you don’t.   You live out of town, you came to play, and you plan to spend a little dough. 

Now, let’s get down to brass tax . . . how much for the ape, err . . . trip.

Because I live in Raleigh NC, which is about as East Coast as you get, let’s use that as a launching off point.  Plug in your own data accordingly.

Item 1.  Travel

Since this is the modern age, I’m going to take a plane to get there.  Yes, I could cram myself into a car with a few other guys and save on gas $$$ while sniffing their farts for two days, but I’m going to save a little pride and sniff a strangers farts at 20,000 feet up instead.  So, how much?

They say airfare is more affordable than ever these days . . . so is it?

Okay, using American Airlines, looks like I can go round trip, to and from the airport for about $265 bucks.  That price includes tax.  Of course, I’m going to have to check a bag, which is another $25.  After all I have my army bag and then I have a small carry on with (let’s hope) a change of clothes and some soap at least.  I suppose you could get creative, dress in 6 layers and just use those clothes for the whole weekend, but since that’s gross, let’s save your pride and say you have 1 carry on and your ‘army transport’ to check.

Total so far:  $290

You’ve also got to get to an from the airport.  Yes, you could certainly have a friend drop you off and pick you up.  Let’s assume you do that for your IN TOWN airport ride.  It’ll save you money on parking for sure.  However, once you get there, you are going to have to either rent a car (let’s NOT do that, after all, hotels are islands unto themselves) or take a cab from the airport to the hotel.  Let’s assume the cab ride costs you $30 bucks, which is reasonable.

Total so far:  $320

Okay, plane, check, cab, check, but what about the hotel?  A man’s gotta have somewhere to rest his head after a long day of battle.  So far the prices have been consummate, but now they start to diverge.  .  

For Adepticon, the primary hotel is ALREADY FULL!  They do have a secondary hotel.  Four days w/tax for a room comes to $446 bucks.  The other kick in the pants is now you have to get to and from the convention center from YOUR hotel.  It’s only .7 miles away, but you do have an army to transport.  Do you want to lug all that almost a mile through the windy city in April, when it will STILL be cold?  Probably not.  Let’s assume you are going to take a cab TO and FROM the hotel each day, for $10 bucks a pop.  Over 4 days that’s $80 bucks.  Yikes.

For FoB, it’s a little better.  The hotel for the event still has availability, it’s only a three day event, and it’s cheaper on the room.  Three days there are only $306.

On a side note you COULD only go one or two days to either event, and save some $$$ on the room, but I’m assuming you came to play, so you’re staying for the duration.

Total so far:  $846 (Adepticon), $626 (FoB)

Okay, our wallet is starting to feel that squeeze, but the big stuff is out of the way, fortunately.  Let’s talk about the commodities.

Firstly, if you go to play then you have to pay to stay.  Try saying that three times fast.  Each event has different pricing.  For Adepticon, it’s free to attend, but $45 to participate in, well, anything.  To compete in a tournament it ranges depending on the event, but the 40k GT Open is $35.  Now, it’s a four day event, and the GT open is only 2 days of the event, and only one if I don’t make it to the second day.  Let’s assume you’ve got a little down time at the event.  Maybe on your off days (Saturday/Sunday) or even Friday if you don’t win on Thursday.  Adepticon has TONS of stuff to do . . but the kick is a lot of it costs.  Pay to play games range from $5 bucks up to $15.  Let’s give you a mix and say you play one $15 dollar event and 2 $5ers.  That’s $25 total.  That brings your total event fees at Adepticon to about $105.  Think of it like seeing 8 movies back to back at the local cineplex.

For FoB on the other hand, it’s simple.  $75 bucks gives you a weekend pass, which covers all costs, including your GT fee. 

Total so far:  $951 (Adepticon), $701 (FoB)

Okay, we’re done now, right?  Wrong!!!  A man’s gotta eat!  You gotta keep up yer’ strength to help vanquish your opponent.  Let’s assume both hotels have continental breakfast (or you bring a box of poptarts and ration them out over 4 days . .  Poptarts now come 8 to a box!  That’s 25% more pop!   Did you know?)  You still need to do lunch and dinner.  Let’s assume you do lunch and dinner every day of the tournie, except the last day, where you just do lunch on your way to the airport.  You can probably get by on $10 – $15 bucks a meal.  I’m going to assume $15, because you are going to be limited to shops within walking range of the hotel or even worse, inside the hotel, and you might want a mid day snack, bottle of water, can of soda, or the like.  So basically $30 bucks a day, and $15 on the final day. 

Total so far:  $1056 (Adepticon), $776 (FoB)

Okay, NOW are we done . . . almost.  Both these events have vendors.  Do you mean to tell me you are going to spend 3 days geeking out and not buy anything?  What’s your Will save, +14?  I dunno think so.  You are GOING to buy something.  The only question is how much.

Also, half the fun of GT’s is camaraderie, which is Latin for beer.  You mean to say you aren’t going to go get a beer with Goatboy or Spikeybits if asked?  OF COURSE YOU ARE, YOU GUTLESS LITTLE LACKEY!  It’s called peer pressure, and guess what, you’re going to give in.  Why?  Because these people accept you.  GT’s are the closest things gamers get to a pilgrimage.  

Let’s lump both of these together into a joint account and call it ‘petty cash’.  $ to throw around on drinks, dice, books, t-shirts, insert your crack of choice here.

Total so far (and final!!):  $1106 (Adepticon), $826 (FoB).

So . . . there is is, black and blue and red all over.  The cost to compete.  Was it as expensive as you thought, or worse?

Bear in mind this article is NOT intended to be a jibe at GT’s.  Quite the opposite in fact.  If you are going to start budgeting, just save about $40 bucks a week and you too can be a tournie player.  The guys who go to these are card carrying members of an elite club, and we all know that we really DO want to be at the cool kids table.  However, for most of us GT’s just aren’t a reality we can face, what with the average one costing about $1000 bucks!

Of course there are ways to save at the pump.  Sharing a room, packing snacks vs. buying meals, being thrify with vendors, walking to the hotel from the OTHER hotel . . . all of this will save you $$$, hundreds maybe, but you have to budget your time vs. your money, in other words, value.  Is it worth it, to you, to walk vs ride, or sleep in privacy vs. listen to another man snore all night, etc.

The choice is yours. 

Caleb, WMG

Summary Table