Hero Hammer was an economic solution part II

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS TURNED WARHAMMER IN TO HERO HAMMER II

I said previously that Hero Hammer Hosts were created out of economic considerations. I will elaborate on this statement further.

For the greater part of 5th edition’s life span, the cost of miniatures was comparable with the current pricing, mighty expensive! There were 3 variants of packaging for miniatures, the Plastic box-set, the Metal box-set and the blister-pack.

The Plastic Box-set was most cost effective, you either got a unit of 6-10 uniform close combat troops (or wood elf archers) or 4-5 archers and 4-5 spearmen/swordsmen for +/- 8 euro’s (and the first 6 years I played we still payed Guidlers, so that’s the prices x2) without command figures. There was also a box-set containing 2 plastic Bretonnian Knights, a boxed Skeleton Chariot and a set of 3 skeleton horsemen. This made the Undead quite a cost-efficient army in 4th edition and the greater part of the 5th (plastic infantry, plastic cavalry, plastic chariots, the core of any undead army came cheap). Chaos, with plastic Warriors and Plastic Beastmen came second, but all their exotic units were expensive metal. Greenskins also featured a great range of cheap plastics, with Goblins (spears and archers, and there was a special pack with a free fanatic included!), Boyz (warriors and archers) and Black Orcs. Most Bretonnian armies could be built exclusively from the archer and Knights of The Realm Boxed sets and as they featured in the starter set, swapping the lizardmen for more Bretonnians from a friend’s starter set gave you an instant 1000-1500 point’s army for 50 bucks! Yes, that was a force of 24 knights and some 48 archers, but Bretonnians were a rather efficient force, even with just these 2 troop types and a few characters (cost effective money and points wise). An army of triangles! And that’s one of the more solid geometric shapes ;)

Metal Box-sets contained 3-4 heavy cavalry, a character mounted on a big beast or a large war machine/chariot. The prices for these were about 20-50 euro’s depending on the contents. Later some regiments of renown were added to the range of metal box-sets supplying a squad of 6-12 infantry or 5 cavalry.

The blister-packs were about 5 euro’s for a cavalryman or character and 8-10 euro’s for 2-4 infantry or the smaller war machines such as bolt throwers and cannon and also the minor monstrosities like ogres and trolls. The blister ranges featured the most variety of troop types, but was also the most expensive way to build a regiment. A 5 man cavalry regiment required a budget of 25 euro’s, an infantry regiment of 15-20 men with command cost you between 30 and 45 euro’s!
Especially Skaven players had to be extremely affluent to afford a balanced army, and the best/most usefull dwarf and Dark Elf troops were all metal.

No miracles that most infantry regiments were build with 2 boxes of uniform and rather mundane plastic troops and a command blister, for a total price of 21 euro’s.

Only in the last few years of 5th edition the regiment boxes were added to the plastics range, finally offering some good value for money and more customizing opportunities. I’ve seen these packs diminish in value for 7th edition; the cost of collecting an army has returned to 5th edition standards! And now it is all (“high quality”) plastic!

Imagine you had a monthly allowance of 10 euro’s as a kid… The advantage was that you had plenty of time to paint the 2 cavalry or 4 infantry you bought, the disadvantage was that to play a reasonably sized battle; you had to buy a blister or plastic box every month for 2 years! Or save up money to get something big and powerful that offered more points value for your money.
Birthday money, part-time jobs and holidays featuring gifts were essential for building a reasonably sized force in a smaller time-span. The summer holiday, when I earned some money and got more cash on my birthday, was the time I boosted my army. The reason my army included 16 dwarfs (legal unit for Empire in 5th) was because they were cheap plastic and I got an accidental double set! Yes, by sheer luck, a 8 figure dwarf box actually had 16 models! Sure, I only had 8 slottabases, but for 2-4 euro’s I could get another set of these.

The main reason empire players had kind of sucky armies, was that the only plastics available were the Halberdiers. Other regiments were too costly to field beyond the basic 10-12 men and that required saving for a month or 3. Doubtlessly, there were a lot of empire players who buffed their forces with dwarf warriors.

The price of my empire army:

A Regiment of 6 knights panther: 30 euro’s
A regiment of 5 Kislev Horse archers: 25 euro’s
A Regiment of 23 halberdiers (16 plastic, 3 commands, 4 metals): 31 euro’s
A detachment of 8 swordsmen: 16 euro’s
A regiment of 12 flaggelants: 24-32 euro’s (depending on buying them pre-white metal or post white metal, which reduced the number of troops in blisters)
A regiment of 11 Handgunners: 24 euro’s
A regiment of 11 Halfling archers: 24 euro’s
A regiment of 16 dwarfs: With rather good fortune just 12 euros!
Great Cannon: 10 euro’s
Mortar: 10 euro’s
Hellblaster: 10 euro’s
General on warhorse: 5 euro’s
Ludwig Schwarzhelm: 5 euro’s
Supreme patriarch Thyrus Groman: 5 euro’s
Celestial Wizard: 5 euro’s
Reiksguard champion (hero/general on foot): 5 euro’s
Karl Franz on Death Claw: 30 euro’s
Steam tank: 30 euro’s
A regiment of crossbowmen: 20 euro’s

Total cost: 309 euro’s!

This was plenty of army, and I didn’t buy much new stuff.

Then 6th edition hit the shelves, reducing my legal unit options under 3000 points, so I bought:
2 regiment boxes: 40 euro’s
Elector Count Marius “the mad” Leitdorf of Averland: 5 euro’s (why did I do that? I had plenty of characters anyway!)
The 6th edition boxed set shared with my brother: 25 euro’s

Wow, that’s a collection worth close to 400 euro’s!
Truth be told, some units were birthday/holiday gifts, but still… that’s a euro for every 10 points these troops cost in-game!

I guess that many veterans quit the hobby when the new edition hit the shelves, their massive 3,000 points armies were mutated into “illegal” 2000 points forces, and some units didn’t even make it into the new lists and official army books. It was a sad day for the empire player with a force of Outriders, Halflings, dwarves, Ogres, Kislevites and War Wagons.

No wonder I have an itching desire to get a few games again in the near future! I could have bought an awesome guitar or amplifier (the hobby I switched to during the last years of 5th edition) or a good computer, or a driver’s license (or at least paid a part of it)!

My god, how I half-wasted my hard earned cash! True, I had the best of times with this game… but in hindsight…
Even sold my 3 awesome legoes pirate ships to get more warhammer stuff!