Wargaming on a Budget

Some tips on how to get great looking games onto the table as quickly and cheaply as possible!

Outtro music by LiteSaturation from Pixabay

[TheTabletopGamer]

Got any budget gaming tips you'd like to share? Drop a comment!

[johnscarr]

This is a very noble topic. It's a good message to ensure everyone knows you dont need to spend a fortune.

The blanket battlefield is very satisfying with felt or fleece.
Abundant free rules or at least very affordable.
Dont be afraid of second hand.
If you are sure you want to game with models, consider 1/72 plastics, v cheap second hand.
Smaller scale is fantastic if you're looking for the grand sweep of a mass battle.
Dont throw stuff away. If you're small (15mm and under) packaging is easy to turn into streets for skirmish or whole cities if you go really small.

[roymartin]

I like your sabot unit blocks - they look great. Stacking shapes cut from thick cardboard boxes & placed under the cloth make good hills. Green nylon kitchen scourers torn into bits can make good trees/shrubs. There are a multitude of everyday items that can be repurposed into scenery if you think laterally, & depending on the scale you are using. Ideally, finding a local club is a good way to enable 'newbies' to see & test what periods/scales would be a good fit for them before expending their hard earned money.

[Mark-fwpd]

Skirmish games can be done on a budget using coins and buttons. Cheap spray paint two groups, two colours. Dry brush to highlight any relief. Foreign coins can be good for this because your own currency is too familiar. In UK pennies can be infantry with 2p standing in for cavalry (you can extend the footprint with some cardboard from cereal packets - making an oval base). For heroes, generals & officers use a 20p coin. I really like your approach here. This would work really well to introduce young people to gaming. Bright, colourful and fun.
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[bhangrafan]

I'm a great believer that wargaming should not be so expensive. Unless you are particularly into collecting and painting miniatures as a hobby in itself, then it is the game that matters. 3mm miniatures are one way to reduce costs, but I have designed a few games using just office stationery materials. I made an ancients game from cut-out A4 coloured mountboard and printed mailing labels, and a transgalactic wargame using pins and paper.

[mafs]

It never looks amazing but nothing wrong with a few cardboard buildings or hills either. For the hills I like to stack multiple layers of cardboard to build up the hill, I like that it also kind of adds "contour lines" to the resulting piece that gives it a battle map feel as well!

[crupt]

I bought a piece of green fabric the size of a table cloth from my local fabric store (Joanne's fabrics in the USA) and did a light dusting of 2 old shades of tan/brown over the top making a couple splotches, it adds a lot and I still use it as my mat today

[totalburnout]

Some nice ideas. It's worth thinking about. 🤔 Thx for sharing.

[personeater]

I like to buy packs of little plastic figures for kids. Bout 25cents a peice which is expensive when you figure they could just be cardboard nibs but i think the cheap sculpting adds something

[newenglandpatriot]

I like the brick idea. Columbia Games sells small 20mm/25mm bricks for $6 dollars.

[therealsirdj]

this is a pretty cool idea... I started building my own little world, with the aim of having the conflicts of that world settled on the tabletop... I'm pretty sure there is a way to make the whole jenga block thing work with Pike and Shot style warfare... though I either have to find the fitting symbols, or make em up myself to do so

[carlosa]

New subscriber here. Awesome video. I use the same with my Lego Dice games that I've created instead of spending lots on the same base plate colors.hahaha awesome ideas. hello from Japan 🗾🇯🇵

[DanielMendoza-qxrl]

I found this really helpful since I've had interest in wargaming after playing role-playing games that I have miniatures for. Though still going through the research process but been watching a bit of Dragon Rampant and feel that is the one. I don't mind building my own terrain on a budget too besides using felt only.

[toddbartel]

Use thin sheets of cardboard for bridges

[davidwasilewski]

Some good ideas here. Jenga wooden blocks would work too. Where can we get your rules from please?

[germad]

where can i download/ purchase your rulebook?