Money and Time and being a Dad.

Wargaming on a limited budget and with limited time can be quite frustrating. There are so many things that I want to collect, that I want to build and that I want to play. But alas due to time restraints and mainly a lack of  funding I have to pick and choose my way through the forest of Miniature Wargaming and stick to what I deem to be the best options. Sedition Wars in one such option and as mentioned in my last post, I'm having to sell a few things just so I can fund that.

   

   
Currently I only really collect random miniatures and that in itself has taken a bit of a back seat lately due to funding Sedition Wars. Everything else I do is either at the point where it just needs painting or a board game that requires no additional mini's and doesn't really matter if its painted or not. Talisman, Super Dungeon Explore etc.

Finding the money to pay for each and every whim that I may have just isn't an option, not at the moment anyhow. I would love to finally collect that Genestealer Cult that I have always wanted, hell, I'm even thinking about using the new Sedition Wars Vanguard as proxy PDF units for the force, that would be swish. But getting those Hybrids from Ebay would cost a hell of a lot, and making custom Hybrids could potentually cost less but take up so much more time.

  

A normal Saturday night in Milton Keynes.

Imagine my glee if I could go nuts and buy a few ranks of Chaos Dwarfs from Forge World. I now that Mantic do Abyssal Dwarfs, a cheaper option, but really... they do suck compared to the iron clad hard nuts pictured below.

     

So much awesome needs to be wrapped in chunky armour.

But those lovely mini's cost £36.00 for TEN. That's £3.60 a mini, which I guess isn't too bad considering they're resin. Hmmm, I wonder how much money I have in the bank.. no NO. But could you imagine fielding a full 2000 point WFB force. That would probably cost more than a new car. It would look amazing and I would do it, but at the moment, no.

There is just so much that I would love to do, and when I see new shiny mini's my brain goes POP, do want. Then I have to spend the next few hours convincing myself that I can't afford them.

Which makes me a little sad. :-(

But what if I did get them, what if I did find the funding needed, just say that I did have the time to paint up ALL the armies and mini's that I wanted to collect. Would I have the time to use said mini's in a game?

A board game takes a couple of hours maybe, so you can knock a game or two out in the evening. But a full on army battle can take a whole afternoon. As a father and future husband I have responsibilities to my family and a whole afternoon of wargaming just really isn't an option. My wee man would want to get involved, he loves the dice, Oh dear god the Dice. But I can't let him play with the figures, he's only 3 after all. They'll either end up on the floor or in someones eye, probably mine    >.O

I can't expect my other half, who is pregs with our second son, to deal with Jack the whole time and to be honest I don't want to ignore him. He is my everything and time with him is my number one priority in this world. I hate being away from him just while I'm at work. But I do get down at times that I haven't managed to get things done, or that I've not played something in a while.

If he were older I would try and include him in the games, even if it was just moving the mini's or rolling the dice for Daddy. But then I have to think about the people I'm playing with. Are they going to appreciate that I'm taking twice as long while I try and convince my son to roll several dice AWAY from that nicely painted miniatures? Most would be fine, but some would be pissy about it, I guess it depends on their mood.

 

Now truth be told its the building and painting of the mini's that I love the most, hence the recent purchases from Bane Legions. I will use them in a game (Hero Quest probably) but I bought them because I wanted to paint them. I find painting relaxing, I find painting huge armies boring, but painting a single really nice mini is something of a god send. A time to relax and enjoy the time, just concentrating on trying to make a nice sculpt have a nice paint job. To that end I've started to try and include Jack in the painting side of the hobby. He currently has four mini's that he splashes water based paints over and he loves it. Daddy and Son time.

 

My man enjoying the fine Advanced Hero Quest Skaven.

Every now and then a brush tip soaked with brown paint will start to enter my field of vision as the little bugger tries to "help" Daddy paint his man. It's actually really very cute, but I'm dreading the day he manages to get a stroke past me and my Muldo is back in the "to be sprayed" pile. But it gives me the time to get on and actually paint something, and seeing Jacks work makes me all gushy inside. He's not going to win any awards quite yet, but he's getting that greeny brown wash perfected.

  

The results from Jacks first miniature painting adventure.

This is what I love, and what I think this hobby is about. I enjoy painting and now that I'm getting my son involved it really adds to the experience. There are still mini's that I would like to buy and I do wish that I could get a few more games in. But sitting down with my little man and enjoying something that we both enjoy is amazing. And in a few years I could start getting him into the gaming side of the hobby, which would also be nice. In the meantime I'm ok to go without, because I'm still getting so much.

Time with my Son.

-Voidsign-