I said yes until I realized my girlfriend spend more than twice of what I did on X-Wing on her diving gear (that is maintenance, not even something new!). It always depends on what is the comparison. Of course X-Wing is expensive when compared to not spending money (duh), but when compared to other hobbys? Hell no.

Oh no now I'm in trouble. I play X-Wing and I dive

In fact. I'm going to take a page from sithborgs book and give a one word answer:

"no"

Actually no I can't, doesn't sit right with me. Have to explain exhaustively.

You can have a tournament ready force set and able to play in all the time it takes to work out what you want, buy it, and the lengthy process of removing from clamshells for less than a hundred bucks.

Sure, if you are a completionist like myself, and want to be able to field EVERY POSSIBLE COMBINATION. Then it'll run into the thousands, which compared to 40K and Magic is still nothing.

I'm kinda like that because i host games so friends don't have to bring anything. Most people don't have to do this.

X-wing is even cheaper to get into and play, and build up and play than infinity.

AND (in my opinion) it's a better game. But that's because infinity does a few things that annoy me. Feels too luck based.

It's all relative. Compared to other hobbies (golf, restoring classic cars, season tickets to your favorite team) its not bad at all!

Compared to what?

I guess you should divide the cost of your collection by the amount of hours of entertainment it has provided you. Then you can compare with other hobbies.

I started X-Wing past Christmas, and I might have spent close to $600 in core sets and expansions. I have had approximately around 100 hours of fun playing it, so that gives about $6 per hour of entertainment.

It is still cheaper than going to the movies.

Jeez, it is probably ten times cheaper than my girlfriend, anyway.

And it's not like she is unhappy with it. She can see her friends' boyfriends spending much more in going out and drinking, motorbike and car modding, sports tickets, etc and she couldn't feel happier that my hobbies are way cheaper than those.

As a storyteller, a DM, a guy who loves narrative campaigns. If I only owned a half dozen ships I think the hours of crafting and thinking I put in are worth it. It multiplies from there.

Expensive is a relative term. Completionists, those who are inclined to obsessive compulsion, and those who are highly competitive will be inclined to buy everything and play often - and unless you have hundreds of disposable dollars and hours, the game will be "expensive".

If you're self controlled, and can dabble without drinking the kool aid - you can get by spending only a few hundred dollars on the game.

Most of the people posting here have invested hundreds of hours (and dollars) on this game. each. year.

A lot of people are going to say, and have said - yes or no compared to this and such and such. Those sorts of comparisons are helpful, but they also represent a psychological coping technique - the kind where you justify what you've done by saying someone else has done something worse, so that by comparison, you're not that bad. The fact that so many commenters have done this in this thread would suggest to a clinical psychologist, that there is a lot of "I spent too much" guilt among those who would give advice.

I'll tell you, I've spent too much on this game. I love it, and like to play it, but man, it has emptied my pockets and I don't want to know how much I have spent on it, because if I knew that - it would sicken me, because I know the number is too high.

But that's me. I am not saying I won't spend more - I understand my bad self - I'm just saying if you buy in, you better have a lot of disposable income.

edit: grammar/clarity

Yes, it is. I realise this every month when my bank statement comes.

It is not, unless you go full-tilt Jawa and must own everything.

Then it can be.

Compared to, say, Warhammer? Clearly not.

Their method for obtaining new upgrade cards is still punitive to your budget though.

Short answer: yes. The little ships are somewhat pricey. All joking aside, if you have to choose between food/rent/living and buying X-Wing ships, you should choose food/rent/living. Common sense, people.