Following the example set by Dino over at Chaosbunker, starting last month, I will abide by a simple rule:
Every month I have a budget of $25 for my hobby.
Paint. It’s always the paint that’s the killer. I finally found a scheme/guide/inspiration for these Empress Late War British and there are several specialty paints I needed to acquire. Luckily, Noble Knight has a massive stock of Scale 75 and they had everything I needed!
I’ve been trying to cut down on purchasing ‘one-off’ pints. You know what I’m talking about, a super specific paint that will only be needed for one part of a project. It’s often an unneeded expense as I have an expansive paint collection already. But this time is different. I’ve been struggling with how to paint these Brits for ages and with solid inspiration finally in hand, I wanted to make sure I did it right. And that is my rather long-winded explanation for why I ‘needed’ to purchase almost $30 worth of new paint.
| Month | Funds remaining | Item |
| April | $13 | Stug Ridders ($12) |
| May | -$5 | Zodiac Kickstater ($15), Jaws Board Game ($15) |
| June | $1 | Campaign: D-Day: US Sector ($24) |
| July | $11 | Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms ($14) |
| Aug. | $-9 | Wargames Atlantic Skeletons ($19), Tomb Kings bits ($15) |
| Sept. | $-2.26 | Paint ($27.26) |
| Total | $8.74 |
And that’s six months down already! Famous last words but I truly think I’ll be able to hold all $25 in October. Only time will tell!
– Andrew
So I kinda improved on the hole I was in. September brought the exciting news of a local area tournament! I could actually bring the frogs out and play five games in my first Age of Sigmar tournament. Armourcon has its roots in a D&D and cosplay style crossover event that also has wargames and board games. Current attendance is 15 of 32 for the tournament – should be a good size group to get my feet wet.
But that means I needed to finish painting my army, clear coat and flock the army, get a display board built and figure out how to transport the army…Not making this any easier was the idea to switch over new projects from my previous foam storage and transport, to magnets and plastic tub transport. Some trial and error has landed me using Litko for the magnet bases and Home Depot steel sheet metal for the transport.
So yeah, I bought some magnet bases and supplies to get this army transport ready.
I also sold an old Lord of the Rings blister, so I am counting that into this hobby budget tracker… cause I make my own rules!
| Month | Funds remaining | Item |
| May | $10.05 | PoweredPlay circuit board ($14.95) |
| June | $14.01 | Ring Light ($10.99) |
| July | $0.00 | Egyptian Horus Guard ($13.19) and General’s Handbook ($42.25) |
| Aug. | -$25.67 | Green Stuff, magnets and 28mm Predator masks |
| Sept. | -$3.95 | Magnet bases, transport tub, metal sheeting ($38.95) + Sales (-$35) |
| Total | -$14.00 |
– Jeremy
With a big negative balance in my “Hobby Bank”, I obviously tried to limit myself in terms of purchases. I managed to sell off some miniatures I didn’t have any use for, a few doubles, and some small terrain items which boosted the Hobby-Bank balance by a total of 79,17€…not bad at all, and with the new 25€ I get to spend for the new month I am back on positive balance! I wish it was so easy with my regular bank account 😛
I am still on the ultra-modern Hype Train and haven’t touched my WW2 stuff (in terms of painting and building). But we did manage to do a little four-man Bolt Action 450pts Combat Patrol Tournament with the Adepticon Rules from 2019, which was awesome!
I ventured more into the 3D printing topic with resin printed miniatures and started backing a few Patreons on the Seller License Tier sooo…as this is a “business” aspect, I wont charge my Hobby Balance for it (rubbing hands and grinning).
Talking about the hobby and painting time I got in September, I was actually pretty amazed that I got a lot done. I managed to finally paint up my Frostgrave warband which was a wild ride and something new for me, as I have never painted up anything Medieval or Fantasy related (yeah, I am one of those rare cases).
Witcher Warband for 2nd Edition Frostgrave rules.
Also I got a lot of Moderns painted!
Typical movie “bad guys” PMC and Russian Snipers from Turnbased Miniatures – 3D Resin printed on 20mm bases.
And last but not least. I finally managed to read up on the Zona Alfa expansion for solo and coop games called “Kontraband”. I will not go into in depth about it – if you are interested in a full review about Zona Alfa and its expansion, hit us up in the comments and we will get you sorted out! For my four-man squad I got the first three guys done (sorry for bad pictures), which are kitbashed with a lot of 3D Resin printed parts and was extremely fun to work on.
Yuri (Stalker/Guide), Evgeny (Stalker/Smuggler) and Sasha (Stalker/Bounty Hunter)
I managed to play the first scenario of my campaign and already have set up the table for the second one.
So enough brabbling and with the pics. What did I spent my hard earned cash this month? I actually only bought three PDF rule set for the Exploit Zero (formerly known as Hardwired – the author had to rename it due to copyright issues). Exploit Zero is a cyberpunk solo/coop skirmish rule set from the same author, Patrick Todoroff, who also wrote up the Zona Alfa Rule set. I have tons of 3D models (STLs) of cyberpunk miniatures in 32mm, which I got in 2020, but their own game rules just weren’t my cup of cold-brew coffee. It was a total of 20,73€ for all three (Core Rules, Solo Campaign and PvP Skirmish Corporate War Rules with overall campaign options).
This brings my balance again into red numbers, but that is fine! Its just a few bucks and I might get sorted out for next month to stay in the positive balance realm!
| Month | Funds remaining | Item |
| June | 5.02€ | Campaign: D-Day: US Sectors (19.98€ ) |
| July | 30.02€ | x3 Rubicon Models Schwimmwagen (39.71€) |
| Aug. | -88.56€ | Sale of terrain (+140€), Big Spectre order (243.87€) |
| Sept. | -5.12€ | Sale of terrain (+79.17€), Exploit Zero PDF (-20.73€) |
| Total | -5.12€ |
– Daniel
The Fine Print
The $25 per month limit applies to models, paint and supplies. It does not apply to event tickets or travel costs.
Chicago Dice 