So the discussion of hobbies in general rose up between a friend/coworker and me. He does a lot of car audio stuff, i do a lot of miniature stuff. The topic stemmed from him wondering how i am nowhere near broke (not rich, just not broke) and hes always scrounging for extra cash, when i "waste all my money on toy figures" lol. Simple, its not just a game to me, its a hobby. Hobbies take a lot of money, just like his car audio stuff, but you have to limit yourself. Aside from painting/basing material for my non-xwing minis or cases, i really dont spend much money outside basic necessities like food.

The main difference between our hobbies is mine sits on a shelf and is completely visible at all times, including its value, while his is stuffed behind backboards and seat cushions. I asked him to try and tally how much he has spent on that car, and he honestly said "i have no idea, easily over 15 grand in audio alone in the past 3 years or so" - me? probably just broke 10k between ALL mini games ive touched, including 2 40k armies, Warzone, Warmahordes, Xwing, and Armada. Im kinda scared to actually tally up my orks rofl...theres more of them than Tau and i got almost 3k USD in Tau alone lol. I have been into miniature gaming for about 5 years. So ~2k a year sounds pretty cheap to me, course thats not factoring painting supplies since that kinda gets lost over time.

(For the record, this guy does competition audio so its not just souped up subs. Hes trying to compete at the 7000W range next year....yeah..his car audio will be pumping out 7000W worth of dBm rofl...sorry electronic stuff)

So, how many of you treat this game and any minis game as a hobby rather than a game? As a hobby, it generally means you dont buy a lot of other hobby-based stuff because not many people can fund 2 hobbies lol. I tried, went broke really fast lol. Even my sister-in-law's hobby of crocheting costs her something like 400USD a month minimum lol.

I just find it funny how we are always ridiculed for spending so much on minis, when we spend less than most hobbies in the end. Just because ours is visible at any given point doesnt mean its more expensive.

It's very much a hobby for me.

I also paint other stuff, and even touch up X-Wing stuff. It is for the most part the only thing I spend my extra cash on really so as long as I'm careful not to spend so much I can't drive to work I don't see why it should matter to anyone how much I spend on it.

But as you point out it's often a fairly cheap hobby compared to others. I know if you are big into Fishing that can be a majorly expensive hobby, and not just for the price of the boat.

Or where I live where Hunting is big... My brother-in-law just spend $1300 on a rifle for his son.

Oh guns are insane.

My dad is a farmboy, which is kinda funny since all 3 of his sons are tech geeks. His oldest gun that hes owned hes had for 30 years now. I have no idea how much current value is in those rifles but he has over a dozen hunting rifles, a few shotguns, and some smaller 22 guns.

Had a guy when i was in the Airforce that we always joked was the guy we goto if the zombie apocalypse ever happened. Guns was his thing, if it was legal to own he probably had it.

Can i say too much on miniature wargaming in general?

Than add PC/video games and board games to it.

My one quibble is why can't gaming be the hobby?

I played GW games for 14 years I had

12k points of guard

4k Salamanders

1.5 Fallen Dark angels

4k Vampire counts

5k Dwarfs

3 blood bowl teams

and gangs, warbands, and all kinds of other crap.

I even worked for GW for a few years as well. But, the game is why I hobbied. I play video games and I play X-wing for the game itself. If I tally my "gaming hobby" all together I could easily imagine myself having spent 30k$ (factoring in games from Nintendo all the way to PS4 and consoles, all GW models and paints, travel for tournaments in Fantasy and X-wing and other games). Granted, I have also made quite a bit of that back from commissioned painting, selling off promos and selling off old armies etc.

But when you think about it, that is ONE car for a car collector, one high end crotch rocket when you factor in fuel, a couple guns (which will need a case, ammo, gear, blinds, truck if you dont have it, trailer, gun range membership, NRA membership) etc. etc.

why can't gaming be the hobby?

bingo. Gaming is my hobby - whether it be minis or PC gaming, I'm a gamer. And my hobby is cheaper than golfing or photography or skydiving or wine drinking or any of the other hobbies my pals seem to have.

I also collect comic books but don't know if that counts so much as a "hobby" and more of an interest or addiction.

pretty much yeah.

I used to get a lot of crap while i was in the military for playing wow. Know what? i was a lowly E4 and i had far more money than many E5s and E6s because my 24-7 entertainment was 15 bucks a month. Theirs? Bout 150 a weekend.

Nothing pissed me off more than hearing a single, never married superior complain about being broke. Im not even amazing at money management, im just not a **** idiot burning it on 100s of dollars on booze every weekend, or cheap floozies that dont give anything back.

Xbox is my hobby for now. Although I can't afford any of my hobbies, I prefer something that fits my anti social life style. Models I can't justify inflated whale gaming prices outside of Amazon and Ebay, and that translates to actively boycotting EA entirely. Wargaming has moments, and I wait for sales unless I desperately need to jump tiers because the lemmings are out in droves.

Pretty soon I'm going to just lose the models because the franchise itself just no longer appeals to me. Likewise Skyrim remake is still better than most of the games out there, save The Witcher.

My local gaming store is pretty much the only place I still spend money along with the (very very) occasional purchase of a DVD and the regular trips to the american import candy store. Now once the NES classic hit's stores here I'll be getting back into videogames.

Yeah i really dont get the NES classic, or as i call the micrones lol.

Im a retro gamer, 28yrs old so technically the NES is older than me but i still grew up with it - we didnt have a snes until i was 6...heck i had an Atari 2600 for awhile rofl. Im estatic about that new nes classic for literally no reason. I can conjure up a Raspberry PI 3 emulator for the same price that will play up to Gamecube games using usb controllers off amazon. Gotta love knowing electronics stuff lol.

i guess the aesthetics are the reason? i still really wish i didnt throw my old NES away since the card reader broke and that was before i knew how to solder and i thought it was a hard fix....truth thats actually a STUPID EASY FIX lol fml.

Every gamer has a handful of games they feel obligated to play atleast once a year. Almost all of mine are 8bit NES wonders lol. Faxanadu, ShatterHand, Blaster Master, Mario3, and Megaman 1-3 are just amazing. So upset the first 3 arent on the micrones....though im fully expecting someone to figure out how to add more games to it quick lol

Yeah i really dont get the NES classic, or as i call the micrones lol.

Im a retro gamer, 28yrs old so technically the NES is older than me but i still grew up with it - we didnt have a snes until i was 6...heck i had an Atari 2600 for awhile rofl. Im estatic about that new nes classic for literally no reason. I can conjure up a Raspberry PI 3 emulator for the same price that will play up to Gamecube games using usb controllers off amazon. Gotta love knowing electronics stuff lol.

i guess the aesthetics are the reason? i still really wish i didnt throw my old NES away since the card reader broke and that was before i knew how to solder and i thought it was a hard fix....truth thats actually a STUPID EASY FIX lol fml.

Every gamer has a handful of games they feel obligated to play atleast once a year. Almost all of mine are 8bit NES wonders lol. Faxanadu, ShatterHand, Blaster Master, Mario3, and Megaman 1-3 are just amazing. So upset the first 3 arent on the micrones....though im fully expecting someone to figure out how to add more games to it quick lol

It's the console thing. Playing with a controller on your tv, it's just not the same on a pc (and yes I know you can hook up a controller to your pc and the pc to tv screen, but that's not the point.)

And it's so darn cute and small. And now I get to play Nintendo games. (I was team SEGA back in the 90s)

Yeah i really dont get the NES classic, or as i call the micrones lol.

Im a retro gamer, 28yrs old so technically the NES is older than me but i still grew up with it - we didnt have a snes until i was 6...heck i had an Atari 2600 for awhile rofl. Im estatic about that new nes classic for literally no reason. I can conjure up a Raspberry PI 3 emulator for the same price that will play up to Gamecube games using usb controllers off amazon. Gotta love knowing electronics stuff lol.

i guess the aesthetics are the reason? i still really wish i didnt throw my old NES away since the card reader broke and that was before i knew how to solder and i thought it was a hard fix....truth thats actually a STUPID EASY FIX lol fml.

Every gamer has a handful of games they feel obligated to play atleast once a year. Almost all of mine are 8bit NES wonders lol. Faxanadu, ShatterHand, Blaster Master, Mario3, and Megaman 1-3 are just amazing. So upset the first 3 arent on the micrones....though im fully expecting someone to figure out how to add more games to it quick lol

Link to the past, Wind Waker, Civ 3, Red Alert, super mario and Mario Kart 64

Link to the Past was my first Zelda game ever, and it's the one i like most i have to say i was a little dissapointed about A Link between Worlds, yes it looks and feels like A Link to the past but for my it was to easy and short compared to A Link to the Past but of course i was much younger back then.

I think i will buy a NES Classic, although i'm 31 my first console was the SNES so i never had a NES and this would be the perfect opportunity to get one, it's a pity you can't buy more games via their online store for it.

And i really want a SNES Classic (although i stim got mine and it works fine) and a N64 Classic and i hope if tehy do it they will enable you to buy more games.

A Link Between Worlds was easy yeah. Play it on Hard though....holy balls its punishing lol.

Im one of the kids that played the original one and made a map on graph paper lol since yaknow LONG before internet was a thing you had to do that to find your way.

A Link Between Worlds was easy yeah. Play it on Hard though....holy balls its punishing lol.

Im one of the kids that played the original one and made a map on graph paper lol since yaknow LONG before internet was a thing you had to do that to find your way.

Have to try it on hard then, and i remebre the time where you needed paper to draw cards or write down clues and i also remember getting a password after finishing a level and i remeber the password dials from Monkey Island (great game) ah those were the days

Back then you actually had great manuals (in the manual for Baldurs Gate you could find all spells and whatnot) some of them even quite funny and some games also included maps and stuff and the Collectros/Limited Editions back then didn't have digital things (i don't like that too much) in them and most weren't that expensive as they are these days.

Faxanadu was the only game the password system pissed me off with. The H's and N's in that font looked exactly the same, except the N had a slightly thicker bridge. Was so frustraiting putting my password in only to find i misswrote it (0's and O's looked the same too)

You know what gets me? When ever you get a new church group (you move, or the boundaries change, or what have you), they always want to do introductions and they always ask, "What are your hobbies?" But what gets me is all those folks who say, "My kids are my hobby. I don't really have time for much else" Like, I get it man, you love your family and spend time with them and spend money on them. That's great. But you're telling me you really don't have anything at all in the whole wide world that you do for yourself?

I have 2 daughters and am living on a graduate student budget, so I don't have a lot of money. And yes, I did spend a small wad of cash on Pokemon cards for my girls instead of X-Wing for myself, so I understand people make sacrifices (okay, so maybe the Pokemon cards were just as much for me as for them). But I still have a decent collection of X-Wing and can definitely say that tabletop gaming is my hobby. I just can't believe that some people actually don't have hobbies. Are they just too embarrassed to admit what they really love?

Are they just too embarrassed to admit what they really love?

Or they don't consider them hobbies... My wife loves to do arts and craft stuff, and she spends every moment she can working on our yard, planting flowers, trimming trees, ect when it's nice out. Inside it sometimes looks a bit like a greenhouse with all the plants we have.

But if you were to ask her what her hobby is, she'd likely say she doesn't have one.

The other issue is people usually only associate hobbies with crafts.

Um...being a collector is a hobby too lol. Probably the LEAST active hobby out there as all they do is poke their nose around for cool things to put on shelves, but its a hobby nontheless.

Gardnening, yarn work, needlepoint, woodworking, metalworking, audio systems, car repair, painting, etc etc etc practically anything you do outside of work can be a hobby lol

Also to those parents "my kids are my hobby" no, stop, just stop that now. Trust me you are going to ROYALLY piss off your kids. I detest my parents because i was smothered and sheltered as a kid. Im glad i went in the military because it shattered that false shell they put on me, and it made me realize how pathetic and stupid they are for thinking they could "protect me from the world" which actually left me vulnerable to it.

If i have any kids, im not going to protect them from anything other than the obvious illegal things and make sure they dont get in a bad accident. My mentality basically is once theyre 8-9 just "be home by dark and dont get in trouble or you wont like me" lol. Activities are fine, but not on a daily basis.

Gaming has been my hobby since my Dad brought home the Player's Handbook and a handful of funny dice in 1977. X-Wing is just the latest incarnation, and lends itself to the entire package of:

A. Playing the game socially with friends.

B. Creating fun scenarios (adventures, if you will) to add variety to the game

C. Painting the models (coloring has been shown to be an effective form of meditation)

D. Spending my money on a legal addiction

Yep, hobbies can cost.

- Jeep (Rock Crawling)

- Photography

- Computer programming

- Bow

Not sure on X-Wing yet, just started playing, but enjoying it so far.

It's a hobby, one of many. And even just the swords of my wife are more expensive than our x-wing collection.
Though I can not agree on that 2k per year being cheap for a hobby, sure it is not expensive, but there is plenty of stuff which is cheaper.

Decent road bike is about 1000 maybe 2000 bucks, get shoes, pedals,tricots, etc and you may add maybe another $500 and that's basically it. A one-time investment for the most part. Same for my hema equipment as I have no interest in collection. Sure, if I want to start rapier, I would need to buy a pair of rapiers, but that is in the end just another small one-time investment. Club fees are ok too, X-Wing for example is just 40 bucks per year, fencing just 20 bucks per month or so, etc

There is really no issue having disposable income for a hobby or two, that something you can even afford on welfare … even if welfare is as low as in german. At least if you stay committed to your hobbies long-term and don't start 6 times a year a new one and need to invest huge sums into starting equipment each time. Still, all hobbies can easily become super expensive and eat up tons of money fast. The OP is the perfect example for that. There are tons of car modding or audio thinkering which you can do on a small budget and a lot time too. You can spend tons of hours each week on x-wing alone with just a small collection worth a few hundred dollars, you certainly don't need to spend hundreds of dollars each month on your tabletop games, but you certainly can and sometimes that is all that matters, especially when you really don't have something better to do with your money. Personally? I rather slip my money instead of going all out on a single thing.

I consider sports, gaming , cooking, etc hobbies … but what I really like is a healthy bank account. So I really like not to spend all my disposable income on disposable things. Having cash reserves is always nice, especially when you start a new hobby ;-)

Value? I really don't care, but I am clearly old enough to have spend close or maybe over a 6 digit number on my hobbies, but hey, that is spending not value. I bet my magic collection is mostly worthless these days (still fun to play with the family), and stuff gets thrown out or sold with time, etc … these days I spend not much anymore.

Yeah i really dont get the NES classic, or as i call the micrones lol.

Im a retro gamer, 28yrs old so technically the NES is older than me but i still grew up with it - we didnt have a snes until i was 6...heck i had an Atari 2600 for awhile rofl. Im estatic about that new nes classic for literally no reason. I can conjure up a Raspberry PI 3 emulator for the same price that will play up to Gamecube games using usb controllers off amazon. Gotta love knowing electronics stuff lol.

i guess the aesthetics are the reason? i still really wish i didnt throw my old NES away since the card reader broke and that was before i knew how to solder and i thought it was a hard fix....truth thats actually a STUPID EASY FIX lol fml.

Every gamer has a handful of games they feel obligated to play atleast once a year. Almost all of mine are 8bit NES wonders lol. Faxanadu, ShatterHand, Blaster Master, Mario3, and Megaman 1-3 are just amazing. So upset the first 3 arent on the micrones....though im fully expecting someone to figure out how to add more games to it quick lol

Aesthetics, hassle free, supposed to have original controls … forget anything else, the original nes pad was the best ever, cheap stuff from amazon usually does not compare and I am not in the mood to waste time on testing. Even professional reviews give the xbox d-pad a pass and that thing is a monstrosity and utterly garbage, so you can not rely on reviews and would need to test everything yourself …

… so the original mini-console is cheap, comes with 30 games which I almost all owned and loved back in the days and would like to play from time to time for awesome gameplay or nostalgia (looking at you zelda 2).

The insides are basically standard stuff, take a pie, linux and you get the same thing cheaper, but in a mostly illegal grey area and with more hassle. BTW, for adding more games: Not worth your time as you need the memory is soldered.

I solder pinhead sized resistors and capacitors onto radio circuit boards almost daily. I sincerely doubt anything nintendo puts in there i cant solder lol.

I solder pinhead sized resistors and capacitors onto radio circuit boards almost daily. I sincerely doubt anything nintendo puts in there i cant solder lol.

I never said it can't be done, I suggested that it is not worth the time, a pie is like 30 bucks, install linux and your favorite emulator and your done … now the original nintendo D-pads might be a reason to still solder new roms into your little NES, though I supposed you could add original controllers to your own maschine too.