Book Review: Wargaming on a Budget by Iain Dickie

Bottom Line: 

I say this is a sorta book review as I only fully read the first chapter and skimmed the others. In the first chapter I don’t know if the author was trying to be funny or truly believed what he wrote. He encourages deception in obtaining materials for building terrain; and when dealing with female store managers he recommends making eye contact with her but don’t “stare at her boobs and legs.” Talk about stereotypes in the hobby.

OK, I've been a miniature wargamer for a long time, and I haven't always had money. From reading parts of the book, thereare good ideas in here, but few of them are original, and they're not developed. If you've been hanging around the hobby, you've heard most of them, and often more than once. There is, for instance, a chapter on types of miniatures games requiring relatively few figures--skirmishes, gladiatorial combat and so forth. Some aren't miniatures--"satellite wars"--and some don't save money: foraging games just means you buy farm animals instead of soldiers. Campaign games and solo gaming mechanisms have nothing to do with saving money and space. Three or four sets of rules for skirmishes and such would have been much more to the point. Card figures are a fine way to build cheap armies--but a few template figures to be photo-copied would have actually saved money. They aren't in here. There are lots of projects requiring a good wood shop, with diagrams. If you're that good and have the tools, sell boards and stowage to other wargamers, and use the profits to buy figures and terrain.

My recommendation is to talk to your fellow gamers and check on-line. I know the author has written other books and I hope this one was below his standards.