Recently I have seen a few people mention the price of the Batman minis from Knight Models and say that the Batman Minis game is too expensive.
To be honest, I thought the same when I looked at it to begin with. I thought £12 a model was a bit steep. Until I looked into it further anyway.
The things to remember with this range is that is 35mm instead of the usual 28-30mm. The models are high detailed metal instead of sprue plastic and it's a licensed product. Licensed items always cost a little more anyway.
With this in mind I thought it may be a good idea to do a price comparison with Batman vs 3 of the top games on the market. X-Wing, Warmachine and Warhammer 40K.
I know all of these games are quite different. The game size, model scale, material used and such but as they are the most popular games our there is shows people are willing to pay the prices to play them.
This sort of thing can be a bit of a minefield though. Each game has several different forces, model sizes, army builds and more. You can do elites or swarms and this all varies the price to play.
For this article I'm going to pick the most popular force in each game, pick a starter force and expand it to a standard sized game.
I will also take into account any rulebooks, specialised templates and dice you may need to get started.
There are several expansions and optional extras out there but this is just what's needed. Tokens, scenery and tape measures are something most people will have already as well.
As it's comparing Batman to other games, I'm going to make two Batman forces. One of just characters and one swarm of thugs with a big character added. This should show the cheapest and most expensive options.
Prices will ALL be taken from Wayland Games as they are a large well known retailer that stocks all ranges. To make things a little easier, prices are rounded to the closest £.
First up is the Bat Family. A starter game for Batman is around 200 Rep and a standard is 350 Rep.
I know there is the new rulebook soon, but there is still a free download rules set so I count it as an optional extra.
Rulebook - Free download
Tokens / Templates - In Rulebook
Batman (Arkham) - 130 Rep - £12
Robin (Arkham) - 68 Rep - £12
Starter game - 198 Rep - Total £24
Batwoman - 95 Rep - £12
Robin (Damien Wayne) - 50 Rep
Standard Game - 342 Rep - Total £48
The other end of the scale for Batman would be a Joker Swarm with a big model for muscle.
Rulebook - Free
Templates / Token - In rulebook
Joker Starter (Joker + 3 Clowns) - 158 Rep - £25
Clowns pack 2 - 41 Rep - £12
Starter game - 199 Rep - Total £37
Clowns pack 1 - 51 Rep - £12
Killer Croc - 95 Rep - £16
Standard game - 345 Rep - Total £65
X-Wing is probably to closest of the top 3 to Batman. It's a small model count licensed game.
For this I'm going for a Rebel force. Starter size of around 40 points and standard size of 100 points.
Starter Set - £24
Rulebook, Tokens, Templates - In Starter
X-Wing - 21 pts - In Starter
X-Wing - 21 pts - £11
Starter Game - 42 pts - Total £35
Millennium Falcon - 27 pts - £23
B-Wing - 22 pts - £11
Standard game - 91 pts - Total £69
The next game up is Warmachine. A normal starter set game is around 11 points and a standard sized game is 35 points. For this list I'm going for the boys in blue, Cygnar.
Rulebook - £18
Templates - £16
Cygnar Starter set - 11 pts - £32
(Stryker, Ironclad, Lancer, Charger)
Starter game - 11 pts - Total £56
Hammersmith - 8 pts - £23
Hunter - 6 pts - £9
Trenchers x 10 - 10 pts - £33
Standard game - 35 pts - £121
For the final game, its the most popular tabletop game in the world. Warhammer 40K. Again, it's the boys in blue, the Ultramarines. Or just standard Marines.
For a starter game I'm going for the basic 1 HQ and 2 Troops at 400 points. For a standard game, the smallest you will probably find is about 1000 points.
Rulebook - £42
SM Codex - £30
Templates - £8
SM Captain - 100 pts - £15
Tactical Squad 10x2 - 300 pts - £40
Starter game - 400 pts - £135
Terminators x5 - 200 pts - £22
Land Raider - 250 pts - £36
Devastators x5 - 150 pts - £16
Standard game - 1000 pts - £209
OK, that was a lot of numbers. Again, all prices come from Wayland Games. I'm sure they could be found cheaper or more expensive on other site or in stores.
Like I have said, I know these are all different games with different scales, sizes, materials and army builds but I have just gone for a very general force for each. The sort of thing a new player would walk into a store and buy. This gives an average cost on startng and playing each of these top / most popular games.
As a quick recap -
Batman - £24 / £48
Joker - £37 / £65
X-Wing - £35 / £69
Warmachine - £56 / £121
WK 40K - £135 / £209
This puts the price of playing Batman vs -
X-wing - About the same.
Warmachine - Just over half
WH 40K - Around a quarter
We all know that our hobby isn't one of the cheapest out there, but if you are looking at Batman, it's probably going to cost the same or less than other games you play.
As with any game though, it doesn't stop after the first few models does it?
Well, that's about it really. The numbers are there and I can't argue with them. I wont say one game is better than another either. It's all down to personal taste.
Did this work out how you expected?
Were you surprised or shocked by any of it?
Let us know below.
EDIT - Some people have asked why I haven't compared Batman to Pulp City, Infinity and Mailfaux.
The new edition of Pulp City doesnt come out until next month and I have no idea what the prices will be yet.
As for Infinity and Malifux, I would love to add them here but at the moment I just don't know enough about the games to make informed lists and comparisons.
- Hendybadger
