Hobby spending. For some, the amount spent on the hobby is a delicate subject. Accountability on the amount spent ranges from "I have no idea" to "I am an accountant, I track everything" and all stops in between.
Provided that survey respondents actually have a reasonable grasp on spending tendencies, what do the survey results suggest?
Spending Bins
The survey lists a series of upper and lower bounds for a number of spending ranges. Each spending range has conversion equivalents for a number of currencies. To make these various currency ranges more manageable for reporting purposes, these ranges are converted into Spending Bins denoting relative expenditures. The '$' system will be used to denote these bins. The conversions are:
- $ -- 0 to £200 / €250 / $350
- $$ -- £201 / €251 / $351 to £400 / €440 / $500
- $$$ -- £401 / €441 / $501 to £800 / €880 / $1000
- $$$$ -- £801 / €881/ $1001 to £1600 / €2000 / $2800
- $$$$$ -- More than £1600 / €2000 / $2800
A quick histogram of responses shows a somewhat normal distribution with counts skewed to the lower spending bins.
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| Counts spending by bin |
Given that respondents specify level of spending, a follow-up question asks about expected spending for the next year. What does the survey show?
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| Percent of expected spending by category |
Points of Sale
One question asks respondents for their top 3 choices for points of sale. From the table below, online sales lead the way with purchases direct from manufacturer and independent retailers making up over 50% of responses. Add in purchases from ebay or similar and online purchases make up almost 70% of total sales.
Breaking the Numbers Down
Three of the attributes I enjoy exploring further in any analysis are Primary Interest, Age Group, and Wargaming Period. Does breaking down spending by these three attributes provide any insight?
For spending by primary interest, all three categories show similar spending profiles. Note that Fantasy/Sci-Fi gamers tend to spend more in the mid-range bin ($$$) while Historical and Mixed wargamers tend to spend a little more than their Fantasy/Sci-Fi group.
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| Spending by Primary Interest |
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| Spending by Age Group |
Recall that the survey asks for a respondent's Top 3 wargaming periods with no specification of ranking. Therefore, each respondent's Top 3 (or less) choices are aggregated to produce the graphic below.
What we see is that the Top 10 wargaming periods (in rank order of total counts) exhibit similar spending patterns. Variation exists across periods but generally spending is similar.
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| Spending by Top wargaming period |
World War 2 comes out on top as seen year after year with Science Fiction and Warhammer 40K rounding out the top 3. What interests me is that Ancients, Dark Ages, and Medievals make the Top 10 wargaming periods when aggregated into Top 3 choices. Does this suggest a potential cross-over between Fantasy/Sci-Fi to Historicals? Do 'Mixed' fantasy/sci-fi wargamers migrate into historicals by way of these pre-1500 historical periods? I suppose time will tell.
Back to the question of spending. Do you track your hobby spending and into which Spending Bin do you find yourself? Are spending expectations the same from year to year or did spending expectations change in 2021. If so, how?
I don't track my expenses, not am I an undicsiplined and lazy book keeper but a regular grocery shopping outing usually exceeds my annual hobby spending. Even if you add in typical travel costs to a convention, it would often be still in the bottom category most years. It wasn't always that low but I've never been a big spender on myself.
ReplyDeleteRoss, you are both prudent and practical. Looking at the latest Frenchmen off your workbench, I think you could spring for a bit more food for these guys!
DeleteIts an acquired taste. Have you ever seen real flats, they make these guys look positively chunky.
DeleteReal flats do make your fellows look well-fed.
DeletePerhaps 61+ might be broken into "Retired" and "Not Retired?" There was a surge for me at 63 when I was retired and had everything consolidated under one roof and could see gaps and needed retirement armies, but every year since has been minimal. Probably I have a net spending of less than $0 when I subtract hobby stuff sold off, since the survey excludes travel costs.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, Revolutionary French should be lean.
Thanks for the feedback, Robert!
DeleteOnce you reached retirement, are you undertaking a Great Unwinding of your Hobby collections and treasures?
FRW French lean, yes, but have you seen Ross' latest? They do not cast shadows.
A very interesting area of the survey. I did wonder whether in the POINT OF SALE section, whether there was an unseen cross over between buying from a bricks and mortar store and buying online from an independent retailer, as often you could be doing both with the same purchase. I do and on the survey would have recorded that as buying from a Bricks & Mortar store, even though it was mail ordered, probably because that feels the better or ‘right’ thing to do!
ReplyDeleteI find spend a very interesting subject. As you know, I have some reservations about the diversity of the internet audience in terms of financial situation and the ‘consumerism’ that can be displayed, even innocently, when blogging and sharing etc (not just wargame blogs, but all hobby activities like photography, travel etc).
BUT - on the flip side of that is that anyone with some disposable income is free to choose how they spend it, as my Grandmother wisely used to say, whatever you have you can only spend it once.
So, one person spends a lot on wargames, another hardly any, but they both might have the same disposable income, but one has the faster car, an extra holiday and likes drinking / dining out ……. The other has a lead mountain :-)
I guess my point is that I would find it more interesting for the survey to have picked up financial diversity itself, especially against age profile, but what it probably does instead is to get contaminated by the reality that people naturally prioritise what they spend their money on, even multiple hobbies, with more spread out spend will cause a flutter to the stats.
I suppose the raw stat question would be what is your ‘disposable income’ and what percentage of that do you spend on hobby, accepting the basic crudity of that, it does instantly provide a filter that cuts across the complexity and distractions of overall spending choices - for example still having a couple of kids at home makes for quite different spending patterns, compared to once they flee the nest etc.
For myself, wargaming is my single passion and so my spend has always reflected that, though this year that changes as I currently feel that I have everything that I immediately want and need to work with that before looking to the horizon again, so spending has been cut to reflect that, but the survey will likely just measure that against my age profile and come to whatever conclusions it comes to.
Anyway, thanks for digging into this, most interesting.
Thanks, Norm! You bring up good points as usual.
DeleteOn the distinction between purchasing online with independent retailer and purchasing at a B&M store, to me, the former is a transaction via the comfort of my home vs a F2F transaction. Easy to distinguish. Each has a different perspective, I suppose.
On your suggestion to include a question asking for disposal income, well, I expect that would draw non-compliance. As you know, there are already a large number of respondents who refuse to supply age. Do you think they would freely offer up disposable income? How does one even account for disposable income and relate it to percent destined for wargaming purchases without knowing inputs, outputs, numerators, and denominators? I think that is a tough one. Useful but tough.
I would enjoy seeing more from you on your view of consumerism and how the hobby is affected by perceived (rightly or wrongly) conspicuous consumption and why the fascination. Can we not simply enjoy our hobby without worrying about offending someone?
Interesting analysis Jonathan. What surprised me was how low the percentage of online ordering direct from the manufacturer was. I would have expected it to be above 40%, but then that view is probably biased by my experience here in New Zealand where there are no bricks an mortar stores, no shows and we are a long way from the product source.
ReplyDeleteI keep a rough record of what I order in that I do plan my miniatures purchases, maintaining a spreadsheet, but I do not use that as a budgeting tool, just a temporary record of what I have ordered or intend to order. All purchases of paints, brushes, glues, storage, etc are adhoc so I have no concept of overall cost, which is probably just as well! Future restraint is more likely to be driven by storage than budget.
Glad you find this topic of interest!
DeleteAs Norm may be suggesting in his reply, perhaps, there is confusion as to WHERE exactly a purchase is made? For those of us out in the hinterlands of wargaming, we have few choices. My online purchases are virtually 100% with probably 70% directly from manufacturers. I, too, track purchases but I do not formulate a budget.
I'm too frightened to teach my expenses!
ReplyDeleteI track but I do not sum, Ray!
DeleteMy expenditure seems to fluctuate each year, new projects always see an increase. I also tend to only buy when I am ready to paint, so if painting slows so does expenditure
ReplyDeleteThanks, Neil. Many see bumps in purchases when new projects begin, and I am sure most spending fluctuates throughout the year. As for buying just in time to paint, I wish i had your discipline, but I like keeping a safety stock of lead in reserve in case of calamity...
DeleteThe Great Wargames Survey ranks in pointlessness alongside Aquinas' question, How many Angels can dance on the head of a pin? Neither has any point in the real world.
ReplyDeleteDon't hold back, David!
DeleteOf course, pandemics or lack thereof affect spending. I did not buy any new rules for almost all of 2020 and 2021. Since November, that changed to $170 to accommodate local tastes changing. Figure spending is up over last year, but most of the outlays are to finish projects. Few new projects are scoped out for over $100 this coming year (2022).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input, Joe! I have not bought a new set of rules in a long time. Is $170 a lot for rules? Always good to spend a little to finish up a project or two. My projects seem to go on forever as evidenced by the late additions to my Feudal Japan collections.
DeleteI may have bought WRG post WWII rules, (1950-1975 or whatver they were called when I got them) back in the seventies;barring that, I have never bought a set of rules!
DeleteKeith, no rules’ purchases since WRG? Incredible!
DeleteMore interesting data Jon. Being in NZ, I concur with Mark, apart from the odd pot of paint or basing product, I buy nothing from a B&M store...we have none! Even my rare purchases from NZ based suppliers are via the Internet. Even forty odd years ago, living in a small coastal town on the NE coast of Scotland, most purchases were via the pages of Military Modelling by post from Minifigs! I could count on my fingers the number of shows or specialist wargaming shops I went to in the UK and as Mark says, we don't have much of that type of thing over here!
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised that such a large per cent age spend so little, given the cost of things nowadays (yeah old Man!) I recently did a basing product purchase ...a few packs of flowers anfpd tufts was around $50 US. It would not take long to get to the first or even the second increment in the study.
My spending has definitely increased over the recent years, with my actual income. Wargaming really is my main interest and given total freedom of choice, I would buy figures over going out to dinner etc...but of course, all/most of us have others to consider!
I would guess in the last few years, my spending would be between the upper two buckets...but for many years it would have been in the second or third.
Thanks, Keith! Glad you do not find these exercises pointless...
DeleteAs for your surprise on how little is spent, the result is surprising to me too but I know, first-hand, that many find estimating ANYTHING with any degree of accuracy a futile task.
A number of the frequent contributors here have reached a point in their lives whether spending on hobby is sustainable. Others, earlier in the life cycle, may have less resources to contribute to the hobby.
We have much in common. Too bad an ocean separates us.
Norm might suggest that this is our consumerism on display
Lol ...I think our mate from GHQ has some strongly held opinions! As to consumerism....maybe....but I have never owned a cell phone in my life (all work provided) and it drives me nuts how people fall for the Applle "next big thing" BS every twelve months and she'll out $2000 to upgrade a perfectly good last years model iPhone! I don't think I am guilty of generic consumerism, just an obsession with toy soldiers and a butterfly like decision making process when it comes to purchasing!
DeleteToy soldiers are about all I spend my money on too. We are kindred spirits with the exception that I have a fairly large Pile o’ Lead.
DeleteI just had another look at the buckets and remarkably, I may havre OVER estimated my spending....I don't think I have (or ever will be) in the top bracket! In recent years, probably been between $$$ and $$$$.... and it Luke be the very low end if the $$$$ too!
DeleteI'm retired, but do a little part time work and volunteer several days a week in a local charity shop (where I now buy many of my clothes). My annual spend on wargaming is definitely in the $ zone, and I plan to keep it that way. But a few years ago, when my mother died and I inherited a little money (most of her assets having gone in nursing home fees) I decided to treat myself to three, professionally painted, 10mm Napoleonic Imaginations armies which put my spending that year into the $$$ zone. I have no plans to raise more armies, but may add occasional units or extras like artillery limbers.
ReplyDeleteI'm making modular terrain tiles on cork-backed place mats (from the same charity shop) and stepped hills from pieces of left over carpet underlay. Buildings will be made from cereal packet card, 'Blue Peter' style. For rules I use a mixture of Bob Cordery's Portable Napoleonic Wargame, free rules from blogs and write my own.
With food, pet insurance and other things, I now spend far more on the cat than I do on wargaming!
Arthur, pre-painted armies is a luxury to which I have yet to sample. I gain so much satisfaction from painting, I cannot imagine having another do the work for me.
DeleteFrom your account, you seem to have reached a comfortable and peaceful situation with your wargaming. One day, I may reach that point too but I still have many unmet interests. I ought to turn more attention to the terrain side of the hobby. My gaming table could use some help.
Thanks for stopping to leave a comment!
I am consistently in the 400-800 bracket and would say 99% of my purchases are online, I really do not have any other choice.
ReplyDeleteThanks, George! I reckon many of us are in a similar boat in that our purchases must be made online. I know I am in that boat with you!
DeleteI have had around fifteen years where I have spent over $10K a year on the hobby but have now reached the point where I have over fifty armies in the pile not to mention hundreds of unpainted buildings and vehicles etc. I made the decision last year that I will probably never fully complete what I have so decided to cut down dramatically, but probably still spent more than $5K. This year my spending will only be on consumables, most of which I still purchase online as I am a big fan of Foundry paints and Rosemary brushes.
ReplyDeleteI am still however swayed when apparently better versions of what I have in my pile are released, such as the Euereka Miniatures 18mm ECW figures which means my 15mm Miniature Figurines will probably not see the light of day now.
Lawrence, thanks for sharing your wargaming expenses. That takes courage!
DeleteI have reached a similar point in life wherein I do not expect to paint all I have. This realization does not stop me from adding to the Lead Pile since I always find a new period of interest or want to expand existing armies.
With a draw toward new ECW armies in 18mm, do you plan to sell off your old, 15mm Minifig armies?
Rosemary brushes? Never tried one. I am W&N Series 7, man, myself!
Here is a perfect example to back my contention that I do not suffer from consumerism....I personally find it incredible people are in this position with lead piles...I think Lawrence has said previously he bought a lot of armies while living in the UK but even so, the "worst" I would do is spend maybe three or four hundred dollars all at once to buy the core of a new army...recent example was the three "large"(by my standards) purchases of Ebor GNW Swedes....but then I painted the six infantry units before I bought the cavalry etc. I would estimate I have less than one hundred unpainted 28mm figures in my current stockpile, with nothing currently on order (unless you count the AWOL Brigade Games order...... 😩)
DeleteAdd me to the list of those with a “healthy” stockpile of lead. You know, I am risk averse and sleep better knowing I have a sufficient safety stock.
DeleteLess than 100 figures? I probably could find that many in my seat cushions!
I'm still undecided as to whether to sell my 15mm ECW Minifgs. I did make the decision to sell some Minifgs Carthaginians given that I ended up buying and painting the Xyston range, but did not make a concerted effort and will probably try again at some point.
ReplyDeleteI used to use the W&N Series 7 but was converted to Rosemary brushes five years ago, specifically their Series 33 Kolinsky sable brushes. I find them equally as good as the W&N and quite a bit cheaper from memory.
Thanks, Lawrence. I will see if I can lay my hands on a Rosemary brush.
DeleteThe past 2 years I have managed to just fit in to the top $$$$$, and probably will again in 2022. I suspect that will be the last time in that range, but who knows?
ReplyDeleteI definitely include all convention expenses in the totals, and that can add substantially to the tab some years, as it did in 2022 for the November "Historicon". It was worth every penny! :-)
There is relatively little else I spend money on aside from my hobby, especially with travel grossly curtailed the past 2 years.
Having others paint the figures for me.... heresy! As Joe once said, they will probably have to pry the paintbrush from my cold, dead fingers, LOL!
I too think an older age bracket of 70+ is in order; I will pass into it myself before too many more years!
Last time in the top spending bin? Famous last words! We will see.
DeleteBesides travel (which has been halted for nearly two years now), like you, my main entertainment expenditures are hobby related. If I can refrain from launching any new projects, my hobby expenditures ought to start decreasing. Refraining from launching a new project may be a big ask.
Painting figures. I get a lot of satisfaction from painting figures. It is both relaxing and contemplative. I cannot imagine giving this aspect of the hobby up until I can no longer see.
I will see if Age Cohorts can be expanded for the 2022 survey.
Thanks for your feedback, Peter, and thanks for giving my Japanese a sound thrashing in our recent remote BI game!
Thanks so much for hosting, and if it helps at all, I think my "clock should have ticked down one more- one unit destroyed (the bowmen at the outset), and two retreats (the Ashigaru attacking the woods, and the stars of the battle, the Samurai Cavalry, after they had captured your command tent and the associated seppuku of your C-in-C!
DeleteAs for the top spending bin, the reasons this year will be high are:
Delete1) Unexpected foray into ECW Scotts, driven by a return to regular in person gaming with Peter C, Thomas, and John
2) Unexpected foray into WoTR, to support Tim and David with their planned Historicon 2022 Test of Resolve games
3) Unexpected massive expansion of my Wurttemburg Army - those Price of Crowns figures were to lovely and broad in spectrum to resist!
4) Unexpected support of the Voidfall Kickstarter
5) finally, a long planned minor expansion of my Napoleonic Spanish army - I have in mind to do Ocana at Historicon 2022.
On the omne hand, that many "unexpecteds" probably doesn't bode well for staying out of the top category, does it?
On the other hand, that many unexpected projects is very unusual for me; I am usually a very disciplined, carefully planned army expansionist! :-)
Yes, I think I did score one more point but that hardly makes a difference, does it? My Imagawa were given a sound shellacking.
DeleteFunny how we ALWAYS seem to have unplanned and unexpected additions. By now, we ought to expect the unexpected!
"Do you track your hobby spending and into which Spending Bin do you find yourself?"
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't track my spending but since retirement and with the lockdown situation, my spending is in the $ category, with over 90% of purchases online for obvious reasons. It must have been pre-pandemic when I last bought something in a shop.
"Are spending expectations the same from year to year or did spending expectations change in 2021. If so, how?"
Say 5 years ago I would be probably spending in the $$ category, maybe more, a lot of it frankly retail therapy to cope with the stresses and strains of work. Over the past few years I've realised that I really have all the figures I need (bar the odd additional artillery piece etc) so I don't need to by much more. In fact my lead mountain will be reduced, along with surplus rulebooks, to allow me to concentrate on core periods and rules I enjoy.
So looking forward this year my spending will be towards the lower end of the $ category, for the reasons already stated, plus financial pressures in the UK with rising heating costs, food inflation etc.
I've never been a big spender by any means, not only on wargaming, but across the board. Most spending this year will be on books to be honest with the odd figure purchase here and there, or terrain items etc.
Thanks as always for the breakdown which I find an interesting read and I'm sure will be of more use to retailers and game company's than most of us gamers. Good to read others view on their spending too.
Steve, I appreciate your contribution in highlighting your spending tendencies.
DeleteVery pleased to see that you find these analyses of interest. I think marketers ought to find these results useful. Well, if not useful, at least informative. I enjoy seeing responses to others' spending tendencies to help put the survey numbers into context.
Very interesting breakdown, the hobby is my passion and has been all my life. Despite two or three huge clear outs of surplus to requirements I still find myself succumbing to the butterfly effect and buying into projects that I later question myself about 🤣but that is the joy of the hobby. I do support my local gaming shop as best I can but the majority of purchases are over the internet for convenience. Towards the end of last year and into this I decided to divert some of my funds into getting some of my 15mm painted for for my ACW and ECW projects, this is a drip, drip process sending a couple of units each month. I am finding that is curbing the impulse buys and reducing the mountain 😁 but all in all it’s a wonderful hobby and I doubt my spending will ever change!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Graham! Planning projects and purchasing figures are two of the many joys that the hobby brings. Think of the economic value you provide from your butterfly tendencies. In times of trouble, we must do our part!
DeleteThis IS a wonderful hobby!
Thank you for your comments!
As always an interesting post and also comments! Most years I stick to about £250 which puts me in the second band ,just,last year was closer to £400 but I can't see me spending that much this year. When my dad died, I used £500 of my inheritance on the core of my Great Italian wars project so when I painted or played with them I would be reminded of him,I think that's been a sound investment!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
I am glad for find these analyses interesting, Iain, and keep returning for more.
DeleteI try to sketch out the analysis and then turn it over to reader commentary for expansion. The commentary is always interesting and insightful.
Keeping the Great Italian Wars collection kickstarted by your dad is a terrific memorial. It has been a very sound investment!
Once again I am late to the party. But at least this way I get to read everyone’s comments.
ReplyDeleteI wrote down my answers to the survey so I wouldn’t have to rely on memory; but where that sheet of paper is I don’t know. 😀
Me; I tend to go months without buying anything but then will make a big purchase of stuff. Probably around a $1000 a year.
Stew, you are NEVER too late! Always pleased to see your comments. At $1,000/year, you are situated in the middle of the distribution if not a little above average. For hobbies, spending about $100/month seems reasonable. There are other hobbies that are far more expensive.
DeleteAppreciate your input!
Another interesting post and topic of conversation Jon. It will probably not surprise you as in don’t know how many figures I have or how many I paint that I don’t keep a record of how much I spend. I freely admit that having been fortunate in my working career and financial choices I am reasonably comfortable financially and this in part allows me not to worry too much about what I spend on my hobby. Strangely my challenge, is my rather embarrassing obsession with trying to get bargains. I buy plenty of stuff at full price but frequently seek to save a few % of the cost. Somewhere in my confused brain whilst it is ok to spend on my hobby in small amounts I have an aversion to large sums which probably explains why I never buy complete armies but allow projects to grow organically as and when I find figures that fit into the project. As to the actual amount I think I guessed on the survey.😀
ReplyDeleteThanks, Matt!
DeleteI know very well that you neither count unpainted/painted figures nor tracks costs. I think I would worry more if I had no idea what was coming in or going out. I do enjoy a bargain and have been known to buy lead for an entire army or two.
You guessed on the survey? You are likely not alone. Do you recall your estimate?
I think I put down $$$, my guesstimate would put me at the top of this range….perhaps I should buy more 😀
DeletePerhaps, you should!
Delete