Like, if I was starting from scratch and had to make a viable project out of what I can buy for £100?

Or like, if a windfall landed me with an extra £100 to spend on new hobby products, accounting for the stuff I already have?

Or like, if this was the last £100 I was allowed to spend on the hobby, and I had to try to “top up” my existing projects as best I can with it?

I would buy the same thing I always buy if I have got some spare money: 15mm 2nd gen Minifigs. I would probably be able to get about two hundred infantry for that. For some reason it doesn’t matter how many I buy (or how few I paint) I always seem to need more.

I would do my best to kit myself out with enough British and Soviet (both early and late war) 6mm WW2 miniatures to never need any more. Also early war German vehicles. If possible I would spring for some Afrika Korps and 8th Army.

If I was starting from scratch, I would buy a companies worth of British and German infantry and some supporting vehicles. Probably PSC for 15mm, or Heroics and Ros for 6mm.

If I had to also buy paint, brushes, sknives, files, glue, I might end up buying rather less….

telzy amber wrote:

Ah but when are your companies? Norway 1940 campaign? France 1940? North Africa 1941? ’42? Greece 1940? Leros 1943? They all require different toys and I didn’t even mention Crete.

Haha no way!!! Germans is germans and Brits are brits (and aussies, kiwis, south, east & west africans, indians) and no toy soldier of mine is going to avoid active service just because he has slightly the wrong shade of trousers.  I might relax this rule a little for North Africa, and that is more because of the basing – although I am interested in Just Jack’s more universal basing schemes to avoid this too…

Whirlwind wrote:

So, what to do ?

Cough, cough.. Burning Sands…

Cough..

If I was starting up a project from scratch and had a strict £100 budget for it, I’d probably be looking at either 3mm massed-battle fantasy from Microworld, 3mm “not Epic” from Vanguard, or 15mm military sci-fi from various manufacturers, but probably with a focus on Brigade Models. All feel like good choices for self-contained, budget-friendly projects, as opposed to something like 28mm sci-fi or fantasy skirmish where I would always feel the urge to keep expanding the collection with more figures and terrain pieces.

If I suddenly had an extra £100 to immediately expand my existing collections with, I’d probably get some sci-fi terrain, mainly for 28mm, but with a view to multi-usefulness. It’s a gap that needs filling, for my 28mm sci-fi projects to become more tabletop-ready.

Adding to my lead pile wouldn’t be a good idea (even though I’m looking at yet more DBA armies in 15mm when I still have 5 to paint) as I already have too much that I do want to get on the table.

If I was starting with £100 (assuming I’d got paints, brushes & basic tools already) then you could do both sides for almost any horse & musket period in 6mm for that – not large armies but enough to have a decent game with. I’d probably go for WSS.

If you held a gun to my head and made me spend it then probably books that are more that I’d usually be prepared to pay.

telzy amber wrote:

MartinR wrote:

If I was starting from scratch, I would buy a companies worth of British and German infantry and some supporting vehicles. Probably PSC for 15mm, or Heroics and Ros for 6mm. If I had to also buy paint, brushes, sknives, files, glue, I might end up buying rather less….

Ah but when are your companies? Norway 1940 campaign? France 1940? North Africa 1941? ’42? Greece 1940? Leros 1943? They all require different toys and I didn’t even mention Crete. Decisions decisions! Impossible task

Well, obviously the most useful ones – Germans in field grey and jackboots, and British in khaki serge. Good for the whole war and I don’t particularly care if the Brits aren’t wearing box respirators in 1940 or have unscrimmed helmets in 1944. Any period slack is made up for by the support weapons so I’d need stands of ATRs, 2pdr, 6pdr, PIATs, panzerfausts and Pak 36, 38 and 40. I’m not bothered about the difference between a tripod mount MG34 or 42.

If they were going to fight somewhere hot, then I’d go for troops on tropical uniforms, but I’m not as I’m just starting out.

The hardest thing is what tanks to buy. Shermans and Pz IVs? Churchills and Stugs? Cromwells and Panthers?

Back in the early 1970s there wasn’t much choice with this stuff so (Airfix) Shermans and Panzer IVs it was for my first Charles Grant army. Maybe if I’d read ‘Brazen Chariots’ before ‘Mailed Fist’, I might have got 8th Army and Afrika Korps instead.

Trade you that 100 for TIME.  I need TIME set aside to get some projects going or done.  Never enough time…

Right now? Five boxes of Oathmark plastics.

Much as that would be cool, I just have too much lead/plastic/resin that needs to be painted, sigh.