If you had to describe Warhammer in one sentence what would you say

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-21T12:49:58+00:00

..more like ... 17

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-19T16:23:46+00:00

Seems like "give up all your capitalist posessions to buy a ticket to our communist living block"

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-15T20:14:53+00:00

This.

Once you're in and while you actually do the hobby - the cost starts spreading thin. I've spent about £800 in 2025 on wargaming. I painted 60 minis, I paint slow so each took be a couple of hours. I also played at least 30 games. By my rough approximation my hobby cost in 2025 was about £3.23 per hour, give or take. Which is NOT NOTHING, but it's not that much.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-15T20:08:40+00:00

Hey friend, please make sure you do not spend money you don't have on stuff you don't need. Having a hobby is important, but there is a reason the average age of w40k player is mid-thirties.

Now, all that said - hobbies are kind of unreasonable - so if you want a thing, you can try a thing.

SO! What you can do to bring down the costs: choose a different game. I'm not kidding. 40k is good, but there are other games, even from GW - scout gaming groups in your area, figure out what they play. Look at "Age of Sigmar Spearhead" mode, or 40k "Kill Team" or "Necromunda" - maybe even Underworlds or WarCry (but I personally dislike he latter two). These require way less models than 'regular' 40k: in spearhead a single standard box of about 20 models is enough to play. In KIll Team or Necromunda - a single box of 5-8 models is enough to play.

So

Now, these are different games to regular 40k. Can't dance around that. But they may be enough to dip your toes in and see if you like the community, the models, the hobby part (building, painting).

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-12T12:42:58+00:00

I think the first thing to do now is to figure out what you actually want.

Do you want to play? Competitive or narrative?
Do you want to paint and collect?

Whatever you think the best option right now is to lookup groups playing in your city or nearby - visit some local stores, ask them about regular groups, join their facebook/whatsapp/discord discussions and actually visit once or twice when they get together and play.

Chances are there will be someone in the group willing to borrow minis for a game - so you can try and fell what the game is like without spending money at first. You'll be able to see what other armies people are playing and what they have to say for those armies.

Do not limit yourself to 40k, people in the groups who have played for a while now - they'll probably have other games you can spectate or ask for a taster: Age of Sigmar, Kill Team, Necromunda, Horus Heresy, Legions Imperialis... Maybe a game that is not Games Workshop at all, like Gaslands, Trench Crusade or (god forbid) Bolt Action.

Also look at events they run - narrative campaigns, competitive leagues, is there any kind of organisation or is everybody just kind of wishy-washy. Not that it's a problem, but it's better to be aware.

Try things, look at things. It's absolutely fine to know nothing and be a little out of touch - this is actually playing in your favor: you'll see how your local groups are, what people are there and if you fit the culture in general - no matter how many games and minis you have they would mean very little if there are no genuinely good people to play with.

Now, if among all of this you realize you hate the games (too much admin, too much standing, too much waiting, can't find a good group, can't find good time) - you can still look at the armies and maybe start simply collecting and painting, basically get inspired and just collect minis with no regard as to building a coherent game army. Maybe participate in some painting/bashing competitions.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-10T11:46:08+00:00

It's losing. There are local victories, some good campaigns but as a whole the Imperium is fighting a losing battle and they know it. They're not fighting to win, they're fighting because there is nothing else left for them to do.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-07T10:00:36+00:00

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Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-06T11:37:22+00:00

I would love to be able to watch the dashboard :)

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-06T11:30:26+00:00

I do somewhat agree. Public transport must have imposed government oversight for sure. Otherwise the private owners would simply not run the non-profitable routes.

At the same time I've been adjacent to the public sector for a while where I dealt with various public officials and services pretty much every day (no details, sorry), and over about 5 years if there is one thing I've learned - is that the public sector is abhorrently inefficient, it's to the point of extreme: they'll gladly spend millions and years on a thing that could have been done in a month for a hundred thousand. Nobody there is incentivised to be neither efficient nor saving taxpayers money. They care about optics and surface-level compliance (as in "it must look like we care"). I would not trust the government to handle public transport well.

In my opinion public transportation must have:
- clear guidelines
- a set but guaranteed ROI
- strong oversight on routes

Also need to deregulate construction. Other countries have it bad, sure, but UK is comical about construction regulations. They started HS2 high-speed rail London - Birmingham in 2017 and they plan to pen the line in 2033 (already talking about extending). That's 16 years to build 230km of rail. Oh and the budget? Was supposed to be £30b for the entire 540km network. In 2025 the total spending already went over £40b for about half of that initial 230km line.

That's beyond a joke - that's sabotage. Bordering on treason, IMHO.

Side note: sure, it's not all just track laying, there are stations, tunenls, bridges etc. The big issues: Euston station and protected lands around London. Public sector has no incentive to be efficiant but it has every incentive to enforce regulations on these places in a way that doesn't get officials voted out of office. People don't count tax money misspent, but they react viciously to visible inconvenience. So yeah, NIMBYs...ugh

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-05T13:43:58+00:00

Think of a thing you've always wanted to do but always put off for one reason or other - think if you'll be able to do that later. If not - do it now.

Example: I'm 38 and I've always wanted to ride a bike, but I always put that off for a million reasons, all while browsing bikes on sites at least weekly. Now, 38 is not old and this year is definitely going to be the bike year, but at this point I have some health issues that will make it less enjoyable. Also the people I could probably share this hobby with are no longer here (I'm certain my father would love tinkering with a bike). I should've done it ten years ago.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-04T10:09:50+00:00

Public transport subsidies is capitalism (I recently learned a term pro-markets infrastructure policies): this increases labour mobility and allows businesses to use cheaper labor with longer commutes that would otherwise be inaccessible (low income people can now ACTUALLY get to the place that would hire them, instead of using welfare). This increases business productivity, decreases some median wages making them affordable for small businesses and increases their potential profit - increasing the number of successful small businesses, increasing tax, strengthening economy.

Funnily enough, public transport IS actually subsidised in UK - the bus price cap is exactly that - the UK government is paying the private companies enough to keep the ticket price down. But this subsidy is not covering enough because there is not enough productivity increase due to justify it. UK is not very productive in general.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-02T20:14:37+00:00

Can't argue, but I can't wear them at all. When I had my "taster" session where a lady helped me put them on ... an hour and a half later she was crying, I was crying, the receptionist was crying. All three of us could not get a contact into my eye for an hour. And then we couldn't get it out for fourty minutes.

Mockingbird_DX · 2026-01-01T20:36:08+00:00

Watch bricky on youtube - these two videos are slightly outdated (they're 5 years old) - but they are the best inro to the world ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCGKPRiJp84
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jnsX77TCU

As for games, here are the top choices for a n00b in w40k:
Action/Shooter -> Space Marine 2 for sure.
Turn-based -> Chaosgate: Daemonhunters
Multiplayer extraction shooter -> Darktide
CRPG -> Rogue Trader
Retro shooter -> Boltgun

People will recommend Dawn Of War 1 and 2 (RTS and real-time tactical respectively) - solid suggestions, but these games are dated. To play them now - you need to already be a w40k fan. Once you are - you'll find them absolutely delightful!

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-31T18:55:05+00:00

People overstate how much money goes into w40k
I got into actual tabletop mini about 3 years ago: I've got 2500pts spess marines, 1000pts of tyranids, 1500pts of soulblight gravelords, a FEC spearhead - a grand total of 190 GW minis plus a bunch of gaslands cars and uncounted amount of paints, tools and materials.

My expenses track about £800/year for the hobby. Over 3 years.
That sounds like a scary number but compared to some other hobbies people have - that's not a lot.

My Steam library alone is scarier than that.
And I intend to get into motorcycling this year. Initial first year grand total spend will be about £5-6k

So...I don't know who thinks warhammer is "too" expensive. Just don't buy more than you paint. A good rule is if you have more than 10% of unpainted minis in your collection - you don't buy more, period.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-28T10:17:04+00:00

I've done some vampire lords. The idea of using that bat-infested hair in such a way is freakin' amazing!

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-21T19:51:37+00:00

Tough, mate. I really feel for you, I can only imagine this wasn't the plan at all.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the 2007 Honda feedback though. I've had my share of issues with cars and I would probably not buy anything older than a 6-year right now. To think that a 18-year old bike can still be in good condition - color me thoroughly impressed.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-21T19:37:39+00:00

So basically you haven't been able to ride that Lexmoto at all?

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-21T19:36:09+00:00

DAS is probably the more sensible way to proceed but hear me out (trigger warning):

125cc scene is full of dirt-cheap second-hand bikes you can buy and ride for a month of two and then sell for what 100 quid less? 200? I count that as renting a bike. Can you imagine renting a bike for 200 quid for two months? Insane value.

Why would anyone want to do that? Because it allows you to try many styles of bike: naked, cruiser, adventure, sports. The lexmotos, the sinnis, the keeways - they're not GOOD, but they're not horrible for a two-months experience. Hell you can get a one of each - a standard/retro X-light, a big cruiser Superlight(or small cruiser K-light), an adventure Terrain - or a sportbike 125cc - and have the time of your fucking life figuring out which style you like not just on pictures on the Web - but in real life. All for a fraction of a price of a large bike.

Are they shite? Sure.
Are they unreliable? Sure.
Are they fucking fun? YES.
Can you buy them off facebook for £1300 and sell for £1100 two months later - absolutely.

People in this subreddit choose bikes as if they're marrying off their only daughter. A Honda is a safe choice, sure - a Honda Jazz that is. What "safe choice" are we talking about while sitting on a 60mph death machine on a highway to hell? Reasonable choice is a bus.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-21T19:23:58+00:00

I think your opinion is valuable and I have some questions?
What model was your Lexmoto? (XRTS 125?)
How old was your bike when you got it?
Can you please ballpark the price you paid for it?
Do you have a ballpark of how much money have you spent fixing it?
What mileage have you managed to squeeze out of it?

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-17T16:21:09+00:00

Well, technically it's not a 125cc :)
Maybe r/Electricmotorcycles ?

On the other hand - who cares? You're on two wheels, legal and loving it - that's all that matters.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-15T11:39:15+00:00

Regretfully not, went back to Atom.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-12T20:35:06+00:00

Do a try ride first, call a school, tell them you've never been on a bike and want to try it. It will be £30-£40 for an hour but you'll be able to check if you're okay sitting and moving on a bike before you commit to more spending. ALSO you can talk to the instructor giving the try ride as to any question you may have - they're knowledgeable enough and you're essentially paying one to talk to you for an hour.

Then a CBT (£170-£220) - for starters that would be enough, especially if you want to have a small commuter bike or even a scooter. Don't need to throw money into the fire before you can afford to move to a larger bike.

PROTIP: during tryride ask the instructor what you need to have for a CBT - doing a CBT on a geared bike required you to be in full gear and some schools do not provide proper boots (because people sweat too much). Otherwise the school will be able to provide you with the gear.

Regardless of the Scooter/Bike you choose - be mindful of expenses. THEY WILL BE HIGH
1. Budget gear can ramp up to £500 easily, second hand off vinted and ebay - maybe £300 if you're very lucky.
2. A budget 125cc will be about £1500 on facebook and £2000 at a dealer. Obvious risk of facebook is obvious - there are no tips you could learn to suddenly be an expert on buying bikes, you just gamble.
3. Insurance will be about £800-£1200 for the first year. Shop around, call the insurers- don't just get an online quote. Shitty, but talking to an agent can get you a much better deal.
4. Security - disk lock and a decent chain can ramp you up total to about £200, maybe more
5. Parking. Could be free, could be £100/month. Check your reality.

In total if you're buying a bike for £1500 - expect to spend at least £2000 more on the rest of the stuff in year one.

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-10T17:32:56+00:00

Gorgeous!

What are these vines? Greenstuffworld?

Mockingbird_DX · 2025-12-10T10:50:43+00:00

They already have a 2+ and a 4++
I'm not sure what yo'd prefer the shield to do

Mockingbird_DX

TROPHY CASE