I was at the UK Games Workshop HQ Nottingham on Saturday, which was the day Finecast was released here in the UK. My friends were playing a couple of games of 40K whilst I sat at the hobby bar and painted some models. Things I learnt that day made me a little sad.

Firstly, most people agree that yes, as much as the finecast stuff is nice, it's overpriced. A while ago GW announced that the price of metal has gone up and so the prices of metal models would go up too (so did the plastic ones). Now that Finecast resin models have arrived, you'd think that as resin is cheaper to produce, the prices would reflect this. No. They haven't. They've gone up again. I met adults who can no longer afford the hobby, I met children and their parents who turned up at the store hoping to buy things with pocket money who couldn't as it was too expensive (I also met a few kids with more money than sense too). I just think that it's sad. I'm not sure how long this hobby will last if it has become prohibitively expensive for most people, especially in this day in age when it also has to compete with video games (I like both). I spent the whole day sat listening to people in GW HQ moan and complain about various things about GW.

I'm lucky as the only reason I have any models at all is because most of them were given to me by old friends who are no longer into the hobby. I wouldn't have an army at all without that. Seriously, I really wouldn't. I've been unemployed since I left university.

Even the books are ridiculously priced- £20 (less than a year ago it was £15) for a Codex? £35 for the rule book??? That's £55 before you've even bought a single model or found a friend with just as much money to play with. I remember being in a GW store a hearing a girl ask an assistant how much it would cost to start a decent sized army. It was hilarious listening him have to try and explain that she would need about £300 depending on this, that and the other.

And don't get me started on the paint. I use Anita's Craft Acrylics- About £2 for 59ml of paint that lasts years and doesn't dry up... as opposed to about £2.50 for 12ml that dries up in less than a year.

There is also the Australia thing- GW have stopped online stores such as Maelstrom and Wayland shipping outside the European Union, meaning Australia now has no choice but to pay the even more over inflated prices that GW Australia charge. Nice one, now it will just go underground.

I'm just wondering... is it going to end up that only people with a high disposable income are going to be able to afford this hobby? That's really sad, as I think it's really nice to see people painting, playing and doing something other than stare at computers and screens. It's also nice to see kids using maths to add up army lists and use tactics and logical thinking to play. It's a good hobby and GW themselves seem to be killing it.

I know people will want to keep playing, but second hand off eBay will be the main source for supplies for most people nowadays.