From Start to Finish - Part 2 - Planning and Purchasing

So, I have decided on a game (Team Yankee), decided on a scale (6mm), now I need to start pricing out miniatures.  Considering the rulebook has not yet been released, I do not have much go to on.  The pre-release list of units that should be available gives me a rough guide to what I should be looking for, and the two box sets (Bannon's Boys and Potecknov's Bears) provide a baseline of what a 'starter' force should be.  This also gives me a good opportunity to show the differences in price.

Bannon's Boys ($90) contains:
5x Plastic M1 Abrams Tanks 
2x Plastic AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopters 
1x Special Objective 
2x Decal Sheets 
7x Unit Cards 
1x Template

Potecknov's Bears ($120) contains:
9x Plastic T-72 Tanks 
2x Plastic MI-24 Hind Assault Helicopters 
2x Decal Sheets 
8x Unit Cards 
1x Template

Team Yankee Rulebook - $25.00 ($22.50 on sale/pre-order)


By comparison, the most expensive 6mm supplier (GHQ, which is also regarded as one of the best in quality) I would end up spending the following:

Bannon's Boys - 5x M1 Abrams, 2x AH-1 - $23.90
Potecknov's Bears - 10x T-72, 2x Mi-24 Hind - $47.80


I can get an equivalent number of models to both starter boxes and the rulebook for $94.20 (not counting tax, shipping, etc).  For a little over the cost of the least expensive box set, I can get everything I need to play.  For the purpose of gaming on the cheap, 6mm seems very much like the way to go.

Currently, I am torn between holding off on ordering any figures until the rules are available, and having two forces ready to go when the book does come out.  I think I may just order the basic items listed here to start, and expand once the rules are available so lists can be drawn up.  Otherwise, I may be tempted to buy one of everything, "just in case."  I may also have a work-related project to do in 6mm, so I can always tack that on with this order.

Once I have ordered everything I will post an unboxing and prep-work post to detail everything.

Edit - 27 November 2015: GHQ ran a decent Black Friday sale, so I picked up enough to run a 75 point force for both US and USSR (which really was not much in the way of figures).  

So, you want to get into Wargaming?

It was 1995 when I saw my first table top wargame being played.  My dad had driven my best friend and I down to Kenova (roughly an hour drive from where we lived outside of Charleston, WV) so that we could pick up some Magic: The Gathering cards and play a few games.  Game stores were not terribly successful in West Virginia at that point, so it was not a regular thing.

While going through cards, I noticed a bunch of people around a big table.  When I went over to see what was going on, it was set up with a variety of buildings, hills, and other odds and ends.  It was really impressive, especially the realistic terrain and painted armies involved.  I want to say one side was made up of Space Marines (though I did not know it at the time, they were just guys in blue armor with guns).  This was Warhammer 40,000, and all I knew is that I would of liked to have played if we would of had the time.  What I knew of the game was that it was like a board game, but not, and expensive (seriously, I had no idea things like that existed up until that point, and this was the comment that stuck with me).  So, that was that.

A year later, at a new store that had opened up closer to my home, I picked up a Battletech box set that had a variety of plastic models in it.  So, that was the first actual wargame I had ever actually owned.  Over the 18 years since I saw that first game, I have owned dozens of different games, more miniatures and books than I care to talk about (my bank account and I were not on speaking terms for several years thanks to my hobbies), and I think back now that if I could have some time to talk to that younger me, what I would say to him?

So, that is what this all is.  My attempt to relate the things I have learned over that time that could of saved me so much time and money.  Things that might of had me playing more of the games I enjoyed rather than muddling through what is a fairly involved hobby.

My goal here is to break it into a few different sections.  Getting Started is geared more towards someone that is fairly new to the hobby, or maybe starting a new game.  Gaming On The Cheap (GOTC) are all the things that that I do so I can make the most of my gaming, for as little as possible.  This hobby is expensive as it is, why spend more than you have to?  I will also have the occasional Workbench topic, which details how I do something or another.  Painting, assembly, finishing, transport, or any other 'how-to' article.  At some point I hope to be able to do some sort of review articles of games I play, or have played, but I do not have a catchy name for those yet. 

That being said, I hope someone can get some use out of this, and if you have anything to say, please do!  This is just my own personal experiences.  Every gamer has their own story, and every little bit helps!