Toy soldiers have been around since forever. Ancient Egyptians had miniature soldiers, chariots, boats, etc; in their tombs. Tin soldiers were produced in Germany in the 18th century. Plastic toy soldiers appeared in 1937.
Nearly every male child has played with toy soldiers. In the 19th century, a method to teach battlefield tactics was developed by the Prussian Army, Kreigsspiel, the grand-daddy of all modern tabletop wargames.
During the 70's, I played a lot of tabletop wargames - most of them by Avalon Hill (PanzerBlitz/PanzerLeader being my favorite back then).
H.G. Wells published a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers titled Little Wars in 1913. In 1971, Gary Gygax published a set of rules for Medieval warfare game called Chainmail. A magic & fantasy supplement for Chainmail later became Dungeons and Dragons.
In the 80's, Games Workshop developed Warhammer - a miniatures game influenced by Dungeon and Dragons, where players play out a battle between Medieval & Fantasy style armies. Warhammer 40K later came out, and eventually replaced Warhammer as GW's flagship product.
Today, throw a dice and you would hit one of any number of tabletop miniatures games, each with it's own set of rules and proprietary miniatures.
On my shelves I have miniature armies from several game systems. Undead Egyptian, English Knights and Fantasy Elven armies for Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Battle/The Old World or Mantic's Kings of War. Haven't played a game since 2019 due to not being able to find a active group of players near me. I would guess about $3000 in miniatures collecting dust.
I have a complete Star Wars Imperial Assault collection, but again that's a game that no one plays. It can be played solo, but I haven't unpacked it since 2022. Technically discontinued (development officially ended in 2019), it is still being published. My collection of 48 sets has a $1284 retail value.
I had played Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game from 2013 to 2022, when I moved to Arizona and could not find anyone that plays it (occasionally my daughter and I play a game using 2012's 1st edition rules). The game had been discontinued in 2025. I don't have an inventory of my collection (yet), but I would estimate at least $2500 in miniatures.
I have all 5 factions for Star Wars Legion (SWL) - Separatists, Grand Army of the Republic, Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire and Shadow Collective I started in 2020, but I haven't played a game since 2024 due to the closest player community is nearly a 2 hour's drive away. Not quite as expensive as Warhammer 40K is, but still a pricey game to get into. Character 2 figure packs about $40, 7-10 figure unit sets about $55, vehicles $60+. According to my inventory list, my collection's retail value is $6,505, 1025 figures/models, average $6.35 each.
I have 4 Warhammer 40K (WH40K) armies - Astra Militarum (aka Imperial Guard), Imperial Agents, Imperial Knights and Tau Empire. Not my favorite game, but one that has the largest player community. Got into the game about 1998-1999. I can find a game at any of 4 game stores within 45 minutes of me. It is also the most expensive game to get into. A single character figure can cost $35+, a box of 10 figures $70+, vehicles $100+. I have 614 figures/models in my collection, which has a total retail value of $15,444! That's $25.15 per model! (good thing I never paid full retail price for any of them).
The game I find myself playing the most, and frankly enjoy the most, is Warlord Games' Bolt Action (BA) - a WWII tabletop miniatures game. Only been playing 1 nation - US, though I do have figures and models for a British and a German army waiting to be assembled and painted. In the Phoenix (Arizona) area, I've only found 1 active community of players, but fortunately it's plays at a store that's within 30 minutes drive of me, and has about 8-10 active players. Compared to WH40k, it is a cheaper game to get into - less than half the cost of GW's models. And unlike GW, Warlord Games does not care who's figures or model you use for your game - you can even bring 3D printed models to official tournaments. My collection has 408 figures/models, total retail of $2865 - at $7.02 per model, slight more expensive than SWL, but less than a quarter of WH40K's cost.
So just counting SWL, WH40K and BA, my collections total retail would be $24,814. Fortunately for me, I paid on average about 41% of the retail price. Spread out over 28 years (since I started playing WH40K), that's an average cost of $363 per year. Yeah yeah, it's not expensive at all...
Oh wait, I haven't calculated how much I've spent on paint...
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