Consider going out to a movie. Let’s say a movie averages $15 per person - a ticket and a drink. An average movie is 2 hours. So that makes a movie cost $7.50 per person hour.

Now think about a board game like Settlers of Catan – a $40 item. Let’s say one game lasts 2 hours and entertains 4 people. A SINGLE GAME therefore comes out to $5 per person hour. Thus, even if you only play the game ONCE it is still a better value than a movie. A fancy $80 FFG game pays off after only TWO plays (or likely less, because a lot of them take more than 2 hours to play)

Now think about X-Wing Miniatures:

With a buy-in of $75 (1 core set and 2-3 expansions) you and your friend will need to play only FIVE 1-hour games to match the entertainment value of a movie.

With a buy-in of $150 for 2 Core Sets and 5-6 expansions you and your friend will need to play TEN 1-hour games. Etc.

Another way to look at things… Compared to going to a movie, it only takes a single 1-hour game to justify each $15 expansion you and your friend use.

And this calculus doesn’t even consider the fact that games are superior to movies in many ways – more engaging, social, tactile, creative, etc. Also it doesn’t count the endless hours of enjoyment you get from reading game-related message threads like this little nugget of a post!

Tabletop games are an incredible value – you can keep playing them over and over, and even resell them if you need the moolah.

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

So I guess you're the kind of guy who's going to see Magic in the Moonlight instead of Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend?

In all seriousness, though, social compatibility is a good point. I'm lucky that my wife is a gamer, although she's more into RPGs and board games than miniatures. I actually do place some value on having minis gaming as my once-a-week bro-bonding chest thumping thang.

Yeah, it's cheap in a vaccum, and over time.

I consider myself a pretty average player and I have to drive over and hour once a week just to get two games in. So once you add in those costs, the picture starts to get a little clearer.

You left out that Xwing is super cheap vs other miniature games as well, especially the Games Workshop stuff. I could buy an entire squad list that's competitive for less than I've paid for some single Warhammer 40k units (the contemptor dreadnought I kit bashed into a Death Company Dread cost atleast $120...)

You left out that Xwing is super cheap vs other miniature games as well, especially the Games Workshop stuff. I could buy an entire squad list that's competitive for less than I've paid for some single Warhammer 40k units (the contemptor dreadnought I kit bashed into a Death Company Dread cost atleast $120...)

This is very true... FFG needs a Games Workshop post addiction forum.

You left out that Xwing is super cheap vs other miniature games as well, especially the Games Workshop stuff. I could buy an entire squad list that's competitive for less than I've paid for some single Warhammer 40k units (the contemptor dreadnought I kit bashed into a Death Company Dread cost atleast $120...)

This is very true... FFG needs a Games Workshop post addiction forum.

Hi, my name is <redacted>, and I play 40k

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

You just have to find the right one, my wife quotes Star Wars in context and demanded we go see X-Men in the theater, she also can't wait for Episode VII to come out. She also can hold her own in a casual game of X-Wing (or Magic for that matter). .

You left out that Xwing is super cheap vs other miniature games as well, especially the Games Workshop stuff. I could buy an entire squad list that's competitive for less than I've paid for some single Warhammer 40k units (the contemptor dreadnought I kit bashed into a Death Company Dread cost atleast $120...)

This is very true... FFG needs a Games Workshop post addiction forum.

Yea I love the Warhammer fluff, and was looking at getting back into it after a couple years, but the cost of new rulebooks/codexes (let alone updating my army list) was a major turn off :/

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

You just have to find the right one, my wife quotes Star Wars in context and demanded we go see X-Men in the theater, she also can't wait for Episode VII to come out. She also can hold her own in a casual game of X-Wing (or Magic for that matter). .

Awesome! I'm in the process of (softly softly catchy monkey) converting my beloved - we're the original trilogy in and all's well... (I did say softly softly). The end goal is xwing but I'm going to have to be subtle and not at all my usual charming self...

We have started quoting (in roughly the right context) and she's asking about "what's next?" & "How does this happen?" So hope springs eternal...

I just hope she doesn't want me to start cross stitching or liking cath kidston..... Gods I'm so selfish!

... But seriously - no cath kidston, please...

Basically ANY game you can own and easily replay will be a good long term value when compared to something like a movie.

If you want to be crazy start comparing it to a night out drinking. I'll admit it's not something I ever did but that's simply because it was so expensive; avoiding buying drinks for a night can easily get to stuff that you could use time and time again and perhaps even sell when you actually decide you are done with it getting you much of your money back.

Cheap? Absolutely not.

Good value?

Absolutely.

Please. The real entertainment for X-wing is free! Just create a forum account and post topics like: Star Destroyer Ingame; is [insert here] Good Sportsmanship; Dice Mean Everything/Nothing; [insert Faction/Ship/Build Here] is OP.

Pages and pages of entertainment, kids!

It's also decent compared to video games. For video games, just the console alone costs you $200-$300. It might not even come with any games. For that money, you can get a very nice collection of X-Wing. Also, each video "game" costs you around $50. For that money, you can get 3 X-WIng Expansions at MSRP, more if you know where to shop.

Your logic dose not stand up to wife reasoning

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

Well if you think about it divorce is actually very cheap entertainment

Your logic dose not stand up to wife reasoning

It's hard to take these wife disapproval comments seriously. Really.

I mean, with all respect, if your wives/GFs really have a serious objection to you spending a few hundred bucks to play plastic space ships with your pals I think reality checks are in order on both sides. This is one of the most benign hobbies I can think of. Consider motorcycles, p0rn, collecting vintage XXXXX, world of warcraft, obsessive sports fandom, pot smoking, etc. - these could all justify legitimate complaints. Playing with little toy space ships once or twice a week should not.

I know a lot of wives/GFs out there would be thrilled to have their men into something as harmless, goofy, and cheap as X-Wing.

It's also decent compared to video games. For video games, just the console alone costs you $200-$300. It might not even come with any games. For that money, you can get a very nice collection of X-Wing. Also, each video "game" costs you around $50. For that money, you can get 3 X-WIng Expansions at MSRP, more if you know where to shop.

True, but one of my current favorite video games has an average playthrough time of 90 hours . X-Wing is great though.

Your logic dose not stand up to wife reasoning

It's hard to take these wife disapproval comments seriously. Really.

I mean, with all respect, if your wives/GFs really have a serious objection to you spending a few hundred bucks to play plastic space ships with your pals I think reality checks are in order on both sides. This is one of the most benign hobbies I can think of. Consider motorcycles, p0rn, collecting vintage XXXXX, world of warcraft, obsessive sports fandom, pot smoking, etc. - these could all justify legitimate complaints. Playing with little toy space ships once or twice a week should not.

I know a lot of wives/GFs out there would be thrilled to have their men into something as harmless, goofy, and cheap as X-Wing.

You forgot to mention "awesome" after cheap.

gundamv just use a computer and play rts, shooters aren't worth the money

i have found it to be far cheaper and more fun than any console game due to player interaction. there is something about that looking at your apponent and talking smack while playing that makes it that much more enjoyable than some little kid on the net kicking your butt and talking smack like he is an adult. I am thankful too that my girlfriend is also a fellow nerdling and is open minded. to be able to do everything and anything that we want to do.

I have spent around $800 (includes preorders for Aces and Wave 5) on this game and am a few shy of 100 games played. My average game time is around 1.5 hours.

I'm around $8.00 per play or $5.33 per hour. I've almost log a whole week of play on this game.

Correction, shooters like call of duty are not worth the money. Counter Strike for example is very worth the cash. Hell even the most classic Quake or UT are awesome games.

And yeah, computer masterace

Great points are made but you forget one gigantic drawback...

Your spouse or significant other. I for one know that flying ships and zooming across the stars while stemming the ever growing rebellion is time and money well spent but my wife still likes to go to movies and have drinks. As cool as that Tie Phantom is to me, my wife just does not get the same enjoyment out of it.

You just have to find the right one, my wife quotes Star Wars in context and demanded we go see X-Men in the theater, she also can't wait for Episode VII to come out. She also can hold her own in a casual game of X-Wing (or Magic for that matter). .

Does she have a hot, single, sister or friend with similar interests?

Does she have a hot, single, sister or friend with similar interests?

Alas, I got the pick of the litter there. The interests are there, the singleness and hotness? Not so much with her sister.