Siege Studio lit a nice little dumpster fire on their Instagram by posting a clip of their podcast in which the lads discuss the “value” of Warhammer. The comments were as you’d expect: by and large consisting of people foaming at the mouth and calling them industry plants or simps, with a few more thoughtful comments about the real cost of adult hobbies and the subjectivity of all claims of monetary value.

Instead of pouring fuel on said fire and debating with people in a comments section, I choose to think through my opinion and voice it here because that’s what I want to do.

To start, Warhammer is expensive. $30 US for a wee plastic soldier is a lot of money.

Compared to similar options in the marketplace, Warhammer is overpriced. Alternative plastic models from other companies like Northstar Games or Corvus Belli or Modiphius or CMON range from “slightly cheaper” to “much, much cheaper.” So within the scope of quality plastic miniatures (especially those divorced from a one-box, complete game) Warhammer is expensive…but not exponentially more than its competitors in most respects.

More interesting to me is that when you buy a box of Space Marines you’re also buying into Warhammer as a brand and Warhammer seeks to do what no other miniatures company has done. The miniatures are often of obviously higher quality, both as sculpture and as molded plastic. More importantly, Warhammer is its own little pocket dimension. It’s trying to be like Pokémon or some other huge brand that isn’t just a game, but its own little everything. If a random game company or 3D sculptor is comparable to your local state fair, then Warhammer is Disney World. And you’re going to pay for the Disney experience (the fabled “Mouse Tax”). So let’s land there for a second.

When you get into Disney, you’re not just watching cartoons. Most other cartoons do not have a theme park ride about the cartoon. They don’t have documentaries about the cartoons or documentaries about the rides about the cartoons. They don’t have their own subscription streaming service. They don’t have video games and toys and books and posters and onesies and parades about the cartoons. Look at it from another angle and it’s the same: they don’t have cartoons and actors and merch and video games about theme parks that aren’t Disney.

Though Warhammer and Games Workshop are much, much smaller fish in the vast ocean of the entertainment economy, the sentiment is the same. There aren’t video games and t-shirts and international events and animations and hundreds of novels and innumerable YouTube channels about other toy soldiers. You’re not just buying a box of Space Marines; you’re participating in an ecosystem.

Some people (like me) love that experience. I love that there’s a whole metaverse of shit about my favorite models because they’re not just my favorite miniatures, they’re some of my favorite fictional characters playing in one of my favorite games. It’s the total package. It’s its own little subculture. So it’s no wonder they cost a bit more.

Compared to other adult hobbies, one could argue the expense of Warhammer either way.

Braves season tickets start at $1,200 and that just gets you in the door. I don’t think it pays for parking, beers, snacks, shirts, and all the rest. A good quality kayak will go for $700 to $5000 and that’s just the boat. You still need all the other gear. A big ass backyard kitchen goes for a lot of money too, complete with smoker and all. Not to mention homebrewing, woodworking, classic cars, or whatever the fuck else it is that real grownups hobby with.

If all you want to do is try painting and playing with toy soldiers, one of the brand new Age of Sigmar starters will set you back $65. You can probably find cheaper options as well. That’s some low buy-in if you just want to try it out. After that you can continue into the Warhammer-verse or veer off into the wide world of wargaming en masse and you’ll find it even more affordable.

Of course there are cheaper hobbies as well.

Stepping away from actual cost, Siege Studio also argued that a box of Space Marines gets you many hours of enjoyment as you sink the time into building and then painting the models. Then, as a bonus, you have a lovely model you can play games with for the rest of your life, as opposed to a movie that’s over in two hours. The counterargument from the comments was that you’re essentially paying top dollar to buy an unassembled toy. This is where things become highly subjective.

I love building and painting models. It’s my favorite thing. I love the imagination that goes into and comes from it. So, if I spend $50 on a pack of goblins, I’m not paying $50 for a bunch of gray plastic; I’m paying for a creative experience. I might as well be buying a canvas or crafting kit. Most people aren’t going to see it that way, much the same way that I don’t see tickets to a football game as anything more than an expensive and inconvenient excuse to drink overpriced beers. And that’s okay. It’s okay that my spending so much money on tabletop games is absolutely insane to a lot of people and that people spending so much money on their cars or gaming rigs or shoe collection is insane to me.

What happens then if we try to factor in actual labor and profiteering and the realistic worth of all the shit that we buy? Then the argument becomes much too complex for me.

In short, it doesn’t matter. I’m not a shill for Games Workshop or any other for-profit corporation. GW is just a company trying to sell you stuff, like any other such company. I just happen to like their stuff and I get annoyed when people online aggressively shit themselves over silly hobbies.