Building an Army on a budget

[Antony Copeland]

I'm looking for a cheap way I can build an army. Probably Space Marines or Chaos. It's been over 10 years since I had a playable force and my income is nowhere near as disposable as it once was. Any suggestions?

[Chaoschrist]

Dark angels, specifically Deathwing is a cheap way to go. 6 Terminator squads, Belial... and that should round out about 1800 points already. Don't know how many points you're aiming for.

The upside for this approach is that it's a low model count, thus not so overwhelming to get back into the hobby again. Having to paint 100+ models just to get back in it, might be bit much to some. Uniformity in the army might help out learning the rules again as well.

Another option might be Grey knights, but also here... I think Grey knight terminators (or Paladins even) might be a budget solution.

Deathwing can be had for (and I'm not from the US, so I'm doing it purely on conversion rates) I guess... about 150 minus paints and hobby neccesities.

Grey knights might be a bit more up, since you can't get cheap Terminators from a starterset. But still significantly less than most armies.

Another option might be to get a hold of 2 Dark vengeance Marines sets (10 tactical marines, 5 terminators, 1 Librarian, 1 Commander, 3 bikes; times 2; might sell off the Librarian + commander somehow) and work from there... might be about the same pricerange as a full deathwing army. And clearly more versatile to expand. And you can probably run those as either Dark angels as well as regular Marines, something which is harder to do with only terminators.

Chaos armies; the Dark vengeance models, most people probably only use the cultists. And from what I've heard, it's hardly worth it to start a Chaos army with Dark vengeance models. So you're probably doing a lot of shopping at gaming stores, which clearly ups the price a lot (read; retail price for boxed sets). That, and the fact that everyone and their mother plays Helldrakes because they're somewhat good (or so I've heard...) that's almost a mandatory unit and runs 70 something dollars, for single model, and it's most likely about 10% of the full army points you'll end up playing. No, a chaos army wont run you 700, but it does mean you need a lot more on top of the money invested in such a model to flesh out a playable army.

But I guess it depends on the amount of points you want to run as well. And maybe the type of army you want.

[Deadlift]

I would have said a Draigowing / Grey knights are your best bet. Still competitive (enough) and when your ready to expand later quite a few options. Darklink here knows his stuff about Grey knights and if he drops by will add some worthwhile advice.

[Digitarii]

I've been working on my minotaurs army for the last two years at roughly 50 dollars per month and recovering bits and pieces from failed/stalled projects. I have 6 troops squads, 8 or more HQ's, 3 fast attack, 4 elites, and 2 heavy support units. I'm finishing up this project and moving on to either a Sons of Horus CSM project or a Crimson Fists project.

[daboarder]

All my nurgle stuff down in the modelling forum is from kits I had collected over the years and greenstuff. Trawl ebay, grabn deals and pain strip would be some of my advice.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Pace yourself. It's amazing what you can get done if you limit yourself to one unit a month, say. Start off with something like a Battleforce so you've got something to play with in the meantime, and then just gradually add to it. (This is what I do).

[lobster-overlord]

to answer the original question directly without hitting specific builds, go to ebay, find auctions for models you want that are shoddy paint jobs, buy them cheap, use breakfluid on or simple greeen to strip them, and enjoy recycled warhammer.

john m.

[clotheshanger]

Save beforehand and buy in bulk, that was the thing I failed to do when I got back into the game - as a result I paid way more than I need have because I bought in dribs and drabs, P & P/ shipping racks up pretty quickly.

[The Sovereign]

Dark Angels are definitely one of the cheapest and easiest options now, what with the tactical squads, Ravenwing bikers, and Deathwing terminators from the Dark Vengeance boxed set available in squad sized increments on eBay.

[Dave Mcturk]

ebay... pik up wot vry1 else is dumping...