For the most part I don't regard online retailers' shopping suggestions very highly. They seem to fall into two broad categories:
stuff I bought already in the last two weeks and stuff that's really not related to my current purchase in any way at all. However,
when I was shopping for the excellent Wargaming Compendium, the machine suggested Wargaming on a Budget by Iain Dickie. Mr. Dickie
is a name I know, having subscribed to Miniature Wargames already during his editorship. And since the book's price fit its title, I ordered it
while waiting for Henry's tome to come from the printer.
First Impressions
The book is a fairly slim volume at 176 pages, mostly black and white. There are pictures and illustrations, but they are mostly functional. This book is a reader instead of a browser. It is divided into sections dealing with different aspects of gaming and how to manage them with minimal cost in money, space or both.
There is a very strong DIY bent in the book. It could almost be called Carpentry 101 for Wargamers, it even tells you which tools to get. I don't know if Mr. Dickie really is a carpenter by trade, but he appears to have pretty good knowledge of carpentry, especially old school pre-powertool carpentry.
The one aspect of budget gaming it does not really address is the need to get "official" miniatures or painting done cheaply. Thus if you were looking for tips where to get the best deals on warhamster figures, how to strip second hand figures or which third world country to send them to be painted cheaply, this is the wrong place. For Mr. Dickie, the cheapest option is always doing it yourself.
In Use
The book starts with the basics, that is the gaming board. I've harped about table sizes before and now I finally find that four foot
wide tables are not prevalent in the UK either. Four feet just happens to be standard size for sheetwood, apparently. Simple instructions
are provided how to make a gaming table out of sheetwood, including how to fix broken corners and whatnot.
It then moves onto making terrain and vehicles, mostly from wood and cardboard. I was inspired by the instructions to build a set of canoes you can see in the pictures here and even build a game around that. Storage of figures is also addressed, with complete instructions how to build your own storage cabinet. A bit much for me, I must admit. Even making your own figures is addressed.
There is considerable discussion about saving costs by reducing scale and how microscale terrain is both cheap and easy to make using a sort of impressionistic approach. I really liked the miniature greek city on the cover.
The instructions are pretty easy, but they do assume some basic woodworking skills. The end results will not be display pieces but rather functional gaming equipment.
Verdict
I like this book. Some of the advice is not really applicable to me or probably even most gamers (if going around lumber yards asking for
damaged sheetwood and offcuts sounds like a good idea, you have way more free time than I do and probably don't pay for gas either). But I really like
turning trash into gold, so to speak. Especially terrain projects utilizing trash are close to my heart and I find myself agreeing with Mr. Dickie
there.
I think the true value of this book is in the ideas and attitude it presents. There is a whole lot of lateral thinking here instead of tackling every problem "wallet first". The sheer desire to get out gaming and overcoming obstacles to it is very palpable. Heck, if you're ready to sculpt your own figures to get a game going... thumbs up! I think there is an important lesson here for all of us.
P.S. I was just supposed to look up the details on this book and ended up ordering a book on naval tactics they recommended... but it was half price!
Sucks!
