Several months ago I created a poll on DakkaDakka asking everyone how much they thought a 1500-2000pt Warhammer 40k army would cost them. Here is a link to that poll --->(http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/288459.page).

I concluded that, on average, a new army would cost £276.55 ($425.77 or €312.79 for those non-Brits). I set myself a challenge to build an army of 1500-2000pts for half of that amount.

Well....almost half! I figured £150 was a nice round number so I'm aiming for that!

Mission Statement: Build a 1500-2000 point competitive army for £150.

I added the word "competitive" in there as buying four boxes of Assault on Black Reach isn't really what I'm looking to do. Ideally I'll be able to field an army capable of winning against experienced players.


Update A:

Here is what I've collected so far (you'll have to excuse the picture quality, my girlfriend has gone on holiday with the good camera!):











All at various stages of sorting out and cleaning them up!

Here is what I've spent so far, in hindsight I wish I'd taken some pictures before the stripping procedure - some of the models were unbelievably poor:

£85.00 - A huge bundle of poorly painted Space Marines from eBay.
£12.00 - A batch of 20 even more ruined Space Marines from eBay.
FREE - Several AoBR Space Marine models from an old housemate.
FREE - A small box of very very old unwanted Space Marines from a friend.
FREE - Rummaging through my own Bitz Box I found a handful of components that I could use.
£7.50 - A bag of Bitz from wardancer in the Dakka Swap Shop.
£5.00 - 4 poorly assembled Assault Terminators from eBay.
£2.90 - 5 plastic scouts, new on the sprues. An absolute bargain on eBay.
£1.31 - Large Bitz Box from eBay. Again an absolute bargain!
£8.00 - A selection of Devastator weapons from eBay.
FREE - Captain Lysander. A Christmas present from my little sister! How she knew I was in the process of building a Space Marine army I have no idea!

£121.71 spent so far!

Of course all the parts I don't use by the end of this project I will sell on!

I'll be updating this blog as I go to record my progress, hopefully getting some critique on my conversions and painting (I'll need to decide upon a Chapter as well!) and perhaps most importantly, get some tactical advice! I've never played Space Marines before so I'm largely unsure how to gear my models or which models I need to find and which models I should sell on! Any help, as always, would be much appreciated.

Wow, interesting project, and an awesome collection of bitz, what method did you use to strip the models if I may ask?
Eager to see your progress, I will be following your thread closely (subscribed)

- Edited Post -

I've written a full tutorial on how I stripped the models which can be found here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/338538.page

I've just designed a decent SW army for £110 for my friend.. only 1000 pts though.. I like what you're doing! Building on a budget will be the way forward.

Thank you for the very comprehensive tutorial/reply orkyben, much appreciated
I've only ever stripped metal models before, using Cellulose Thinners, had ok results but also the same messy paint reaction as you when running the half stripped model straight under a cold tap, unfortunately.

Great to see a blog on a budget. I am an advocate of Gaming on budget too . My latest bargain being 35 terminators and an AoBR Dread for around £40. Do you have a colour scheme/chapter picked out or are you too worn out from stripping to think about such things atm,lol.

Looking forward to the progress of this blog, love to see where you go.

Boyz "R" Us wrote:Thank you for the very comprehensive tutorial/reply orkyben, much appreciated
I've only ever stripped metal models before, using Cellulose Thinners, had ok results but also the same messy paint reaction as you when running the half stripped model straight under a cold tap, unfortunately.

It did take me a while to learn not to do that! Stripping paint can be a pain but I almost enjoyed it as an additional aspect of the hobby. Quite satisfying to rescue a poor space Marine from the perils of nine coats of Ultramarines Blue!

Phototoxin wrote:I like what you're doing! Building on a budget will be the way forward.

Lennysmash wrote:Great to see a blog on a budget. I am an advocate of Gaming on budget too . My latest bargain being 35 terminators and an AoBR Dread for around £40.

The budget idea is something I've wanted to try for a while to be honest. You see loads of great P&M blogs that all utilise the newest models and even ForgeWorld parts and it just pushes the price way way way to high for me. This is almost a bit of an experiment though, by the end of this I might be telling you all not to bother and to just save yourselves the hassle and buy it all at retail price from Games Workshop!

I hope I can pick up one or two more bargains like your Terminators and Dread for that price Lennysmash!

Lennysmash wrote:Do you have a colour scheme/chapter picked out or are you too worn out from stripping to think about such things atm,lol.

I'm really not sure yet! The Captain Lysander I got for Christmas could be the decider though. Painting yellow though...I've heard that's nasty!

Great project - I'm going to steal the Dettol idea - I was using Nail Polish Remover - which works, but if you leave the models in too long they start to melt. The 72hr Dettol cycle actually seems like an advantage as it won't matter if you leave them a bit longer..!

orkyben wrote:I'm really not sure yet! The Captain Lysander I got for Christmas could be the decider though. Painting yellow though...I've heard that's nasty!

I'm just doing a bright yellow Tau army with spray paints - in the UK, you can get Montana acrylic sprays from any good art store, which come in a huge range of colours. I've found that a white primer, and a yellow spray are the quickest way to get a smooth, clean yellow base, and then you can wash, highlight, blackline from there. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/291790.page

ArbitorIan wrote:Great project - I'm going to steal the Dettol idea - I was using Nail Polish Remover - which works, but if you leave the models in too long they start to melt. The 72hr Dettol cycle actually seems like an advantage as it won't matter if you leave them a bit longer..!

I think Dettol is definitely the way forward, especially for those of us in the UK. I've just written a tutorial for stripping with it which can be found here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/338538.page

ArbitorIan wrote:I'm just doing a bright yellow Tau army with spray paints - in the UK, you can get Montana acrylic sprays from any good art store, which come in a huge range of colours. I've found that a white primer, and a yellow spray are the quickest way to get a smooth, clean yellow base, and then you can wash, highlight, blackline from there. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/291790.page

With painting these as Imperial Fists in mind I'd actually already bookmarked your blog!

My initial idea was to prime white and then use a yellow ink or wash to get a smooth base colour, your method might be a little better though. I'm going to have to crack out some test models and see which works best.

orkyben wrote:I'm really not sure yet! The Captain Lysander I got for Christmas could be the decider though. Painting yellow though...I've heard that's nasty!

I think the general consensus used to be that the colour was a pig to paint but tbh with the newer, higher pigmented colours on the market it isn't half as daunting as it used to be. The key really for any low opacity colour is patience, slowly building up the layers for a solid final coverage.

I will watch this with interest. As to tactics with playing them, SM are robust an the best way to play with them is trial and error, just find units and rosters that work for you and play them till you get good at making the right choices on the field. The more you play with you little lads the better they'll be...

Imp. Monkey

Update B:

It is a glorious day, I have finally finished cleaning up all my second-hand models.

Here is a few pictures I took in celebration! There are a handful of Terminators and some Scouts sat in the tubs.







Headcount (utterly hilarious as not all models have heads yet):

79 Marines
10 Assault Marines
12 Scouts
8 Terminators
11 Characters
3 Dreadnoughts
3 Bikes
1 Landspeeder
1 Land Raider
3 Rhinos
1 Predator

I've spent a bit more as well:

£121.71 (Total carried over from Update A).
£10.60 - A few Bitz I ordered from www.bitzbox.co.uk. Great website by the way, highly recommended!
- £7.50 - I almost forgot about this one! I sold 5 OOP metal Terminators on eBay a few months back. I was never too keen on those models.

£124.81 spent so far

I think I will probably spent a bit over £150 initially and try to claw some of it back by selling off unused parts / unwanted models at the end.


Finally, just a few quick questions for all you SM experts out there:

A) What's the best way to gear my Tactical Squad Sergeants? Bolt Pistols and Chainswords? Bolters? Combi-Bolters? Power Fists?

B) What about my Devastator Sergeant?

C) My Assault Marine Sergeant has a Power Fist (old metal miniature) and I was going to give him a Bolt Pistol in his other hand. What about Melta Bombs? A worthy upgrade or does the Power Fist do the job better?

Cheers!

I agree that you can build a competitive army far cheaper than most people think, but, this doesn't even use the rules you set up in your other thread.

Excluding paints and tools, how much would a brand new army of your choice cost you, if you walked into your local gaming store tomorrow?

Obviously this may vary a little, depending on what army you may be collecting - but I'd like to see how much you chaps think it costs.

Napkin math permitted!

of course you can get cheap old marine stuff from ebay or other sites, and many people can get free stuff from their friends, but that isn't a brand new army from the flgs.

a real challenge would be to make a brand new army for 150.

Interesting project...hope it works out for you...Can't wait to see your progress. (subscribed)

LordClammy wrote:I agree that you can build a competitive army far cheaper than most people think, but, this doesn't even use the rules you set up in your other thread.

of course you can get cheap old marine stuff from ebay or other sites, and many people can get free stuff from their friends, but that isn't a brand new army from the flgs.

a real challenge would be to make a brand new army for 150.

The poll I created a few months back was just to gauge how much the traditional method (i.e. purchasing brand new figures from GW) of building an army costs.

I'm deliberately breaking the "rules" of my poll to see whether using other methods (e.g. eBay) are a viable alternative. We all know a second-hand army would be cheaper, but how much cheaper?

I might conclude that second-hand models are a third of the price and a whole lot more fun....I might conclude that second-hand models aren't that much cheaper and are an absolute pain to work with.

S'all part of the fun!

how did you remove the rhino top hatch and crew hatches, or did they already come not glued on?

An interesting project, especially as I am just building a new marine army myself. I have spent a fair bit so far (I'm not entirely sure how much) but my most expensive squad (a tactical squad) was from forge world and came in at £59 for ten men!! Most of the plastics I bought on bulk when I worked for GW so saved a fair bit there! still great project and can't wait to see some painting!

dark6spectre wrote:how did you remove the rhino top hatch and crew hatches, or did they already come not glued on?

Brute force and ignorance! I did strip these models using Dettol, which does seem to weaken the glue a little so that helped.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:An interesting project, especially as I am just building a new marine army myself. I have spent a fair bit so far (I'm not entirely sure how much) but my most expensive squad (a tactical squad) was from forge world and came in at £59 for ten men!! Most of the plastics I bought on bulk when I worked for GW so saved a fair bit there! still great project and can't wait to see some painting!

£59!? Is your blog called "Space Marines without a Budget!"?

Just out of curiosity what discount do you get if you work for GW? I've been hunting around online recently and noticed you can get up to 25% off retail prices in some online stores!

To your questions

1- Debateable but the best theory is that a Srg with a combi-melta and powerfist can be used vs anything, of course a pistol and chainsword is points cheap. I guess the best asdvice is to think if you wan that particular squad to do a particular task in a game vs react to the oppenent.

2- A Dev Srg shouldnt see CC so I wouldnt waste too many points on him. That being said, your opponet will probally target the dev squad and should they decide that CC is the way to handle them a pair of lightning claws on a Dev Srg certainly can pay off big. Please note that I dont actually give mine the claws but once or twice I wish I have after a deepstrike assault has hit me.

3- Powerfist outperforms the melta bombs, remember that assaulting vehicles your are attacking rear value regardless of what side you assault.

they say that.......... and then....BAM! land raidered


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Great work! Any idea of how old the left most rhino is?

ChocolateGork wrote:
Great work! Any idea of how old the left most rhino is?

I actually have one of those original rhinos still on the sprue in my marines bits box!

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:I actually have one of those original rhinos still on the sprue in my marines bits box!

If you're not planning on using it/ keeping it or you are looking to trade it then you should PM Gitsplitta. He's put out an APB on any RT Rhinos, Razorbacks or Landraiders for his Mantis warriors.

I wonder what would happen to our beloved game if a significant number of gamers did as you are doing by making armies from second hand sources?

Not a lot because they would obviously have had to have been new in the first place to be a second hand source. Beside creating armies from second hand sources increases the amount of armies particular players can have and so increases the potential armies that player will buy for. Not many players would go completely second hand anyway, Orkyben is just offering a demonstration of what can be achieved.

whill4 wrote:I wonder what would happen to our beloved game if a significant number of gamers did as you are doing by making armies from second hand sources?

Well Orkyben suggested that I call my blog "Space Marines without a budget" all my marines are new even if I bought some of them a long time ago and I think that you will find for most people if they are doing an army using second hand models they will still be tempted by the shiny new models that GW bring out! I doubt there are many second hand Storm Ravens up for grabs!

Lennysmash wrote:Not many players would go completely second hand anyway

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:most people if they are doing an army using second hand models they will still be tempted by the shiny new models

On the subject of shiny new models, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that in many cases buying new models seems to be cheaper!

I was debating adding a Razorback to this army and had been scouring eBay for a good deal when I found this website - http://www.darksphere.co.uk/pgsearch.php?P=243. A NIB Razorback for (approximately) the cost of a painted one on eBay!

Of course the odd bargain can be found on eBay, but generally speaking websites like www.darksphere.co.uk seem to be the way forward. Not to mention the models don't require stripping, saving time, effort and money AND you have all the surplus parts left over which you could always sell / trade.

Buying a huge, second hand army (~ £100 or more) from eBay can easily save you about 50% off retail prices, but when it comes to adding the extra models that you will inevitably require, I'm not convinced.

:(

Personally what I have found is that a mix of the two is generally needed. I've been selling restored models for about two and a half years now. I don't think that I could have made half of the money without having a back up of spares from my store cupboard.

Glad you've found Darksphere eventually mate I've been championing them for over a year and a half now. They're are a great bunch of guys and really do try to take good care of you. Also if any o you guys are in London pop down and see them at their store. You get 25% off on the website and 20% in store. Also if you spend over a £100 you can opt to pick up from the store and you'll get the web prices.

"Buying a huge, second hand army (~ £100 or more) from eBay can easily save you about 50% off retail prices, but when it comes to adding the extra models that you will inevitably require, I'm not convinced.

:( "


^ Well it is an experiment, and you got all the nasty work done already, now you can start the fun part. I know there's a lot more work ahead, but there must be great satisfaction in playing with a newly built and painted army rescued from ebay. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to seeing some of your finished minis

orkyben wrote:

Lennysmash wrote:Not many players would go completely second hand anyway

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:most people if they are doing an army using second hand models they will still be tempted by the shiny new models

On the subject of shiny new models, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that in many cases buying new models seems to be cheaper!

I was debating adding a Razorback to this army and had been scouring eBay for a good deal when I found this website - http://www.darksphere.co.uk/pgsearch.php?P=243. A NIB Razorback for (approximately) the cost of a painted one on eBay!

Of course the odd bargain can be found on eBay, but generally speaking websites like www.darksphere.co.uk seem to be the way forward. Not to mention the models don't require stripping, saving time, effort and money AND you have all the surplus parts left over which you could always sell / trade.

Buying a huge, second hand army (~ £100 or more) from eBay can easily save you about 50% off retail prices, but when it comes to adding the extra models that you will inevitably require, I'm not convinced.

:(

Lennysmash wrote:Personally what I have found is that a mix of the two is generally needed. I've been selling restored models for about two and a half years now. I don't think that I could have made half of the money without having a back up of spares from my store cupboard.

Glad you've found Darksphere eventually mate I've been championing them for over a year and a half now. They're are a great bunch of guys and really do try to take good care of you. Also if any o you guys are in London pop down and see them at their store. You get 25% off on the website and 20% in store. Also if you spend over a £100 you can opt to pick up from the store and you'll get the web prices.

I use Dark Sphere too in fact my latest batch was from them I ordered two Stormravens a Baal predator and a terminator Chaplin with a very reasonable delivery cost and got the stormravens the day before they were officially released in GW stores! Oh and they used to be called minatures by post!

I got my Stormraven off them today, ordered it Saturday. And tomorrow I'm going to pick up my Imperial Sector off them. May even pick up a Firestorm Armada fleet while I'm there, lol.

A) What's the best way to gear my Tactical Squad Sergeants? Bolt Pistols and Chainswords? Bolters? Combi-Bolters? Power Fists?

B) What about my Devastator Sergeant?

C) My Assault Marine Sergeant has a Power Fist (old metal miniature) and I was going to give him a Bolt Pistol in his other hand. What about Melta Bombs? A worthy upgrade or does the Power Fist do the job better?

Depends what role - if you have just 2x tac squads and are running rhinos don't take anything as you want to disengage from combat vs dedicated troops whereas anything that you'll win against (eldar guardians, imperial guard or nid babies) then you'll beat without power weapons.
However I find combi weapons to be awesome as I play Salamanders as you know :-)

Dev sgt - naked. hes a re-roll and an extra wound. The dev squad does well with missile launchers generally.

The ASM sgt w/ powerfist - he cannot get +1 attack from the pistol but will have 1 default anyway. He will have 3 attacks at str 8 on the charge vs 1 attack w/ meltabomb str8+2d6... I'd leave him with the powerfist and go a-hunting transports or similar. (on my ASM I'm taking a thunder hammer as with he'stan its essentially +5pts for master crafted.) Plasma pistols are pricey but can soften up things like terminators before the charge.

I look forward to seeing how this goes.

Interesting plan you have there. It looks like you've made a good start with that haul of yours too. I never seem to spot any good deals on ebay when I look..

nice project man ! keep 'm coming

Update C:

Progress is slow! University and work really don't help when you are trying to build an army...Easter holidays soon though so hopefully I'll get quite a bit done then.

I have, however, acquired some more fantastic bargains off of eBay to fill in the gaps in my army.

1) Scouts with Sniper Rifles, brand new in the box - £7.99! (RRP £15.50).




2) Terminator Assault Squad, brand new in the box - £19.99! (RRP £27.70).




3) 2 x Razorbacks (brand new on sprues) and a Predator (partially assembled) - £26.97! (RRP £68.70). Easily the best bargain I have landed so far.




Added a few other bits and bobs here and there bringing my spending so far to:

£124.81 (Total carried over from Update B).
£10.50 - A few Bitz ordered from an eBay seller 'BMF Bitz' (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BMF-bits). Top notch service, even chucked in a few extra parts for free!
£0.55 - A OOP metal Marine from eBay. Can't argue with 55p.
£7.99 - Scouts with Sniper Rifles from eBay (pictured above).
£19.99 - Assault Terminators from eBay (pictured above).
£26.97 - 2 Razorbacks and a Predator from eBay (pictured above).

- £8.00 - Managed to sell some Devastator Weapons I wasn't going to use on the Dakka Swap Shop.

£182.81 spent so far.

So I'm ~£30 over budget now, but I think I've acquired all the models I am going to need. Fingers tightly crossed that I'll have enough models / parts left over to sell and get myself back to my target of £150...I'm quietly confident.


On the modelling side of things I have made some progress. Everything takes an awful lot longer than working with brand new kits, nothing ever fits neatly together and a lot of it has to be pinned.


The mess that is my desk, pretty much all the Tactical Marines and Special/Heavy Weapon guys are built:




My jump-pack Chaplain with Melta Bombs that I thought came out rather well:




Some Sergeants with standard Bolt Pistols and Chainswords:






...and easily the best looking Space Marines in any army (that unfortunately never get used), the Heavy Bolter dudes:




I actually managed to get in my first game with these Marines the other week, managing to hold out for a draw against an IG player. A quick snap of my Devastators pumping out some Krak Missiles:




Cheers!

Looking good

Good to see that you are still making headway even if it isn't as fast as you would like! Some great bargains on ebay there! I know how you feel with other commitments my project has slowed down a bit now but I'm trying to get back on track. Keep going!

Update D:

Just a quick one, a converted Combi-Plasma for my Sternguard.





Huge pictures do make it look rather sloppy! Any comments / criticisms?

Cheers!

Love it. Neat and businesslike.

I love the combi plasma-bolter! Nice work!

Great stuff! Like vandez said, very neat

Looking good, power spray works well on plastic minis as well as metal.

Update E:

As I have absolutely no self control, I bought more toys.





They didn't cost much though. £4.20 for the NIB Attack Bike and £9.37 for the three 'ruined' Attack Bikes. Considering how expensive a new one from GW is I'd say that's quite a bargain.

I also picked up some cheap 60mm bases (10 for £5.11), as I'll need them for Dreadnoughts / Attack Bikes etc. Here is the eBay link if anyone is interested: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110590995141&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT.


As far as purchasing models goes, that is it. I'm not buying anything else. Promise.

£85.00 - A huge bundle of poorly painted Space Marines from eBay.
£12.00 - A batch of 20 even more ruined Space Marines from eBay.
FREE - Several AoBR Space Marine models from an old housemate.
FREE - A small box of very very old unwanted Space Marines from a friend.
£7.50 - A bag of Bitz from wardancer in the Dakka Swap Shop.
£5.00 - 4 poorly assembled Assault Terminators from eBay.
£2.90 - 5 plastic scouts, new on the sprues from eBay.
£1.31 - A large Bitz Box from eBay.
£8.00 - A selection of Devastator weapons from eBay.
FREE - Captain Lysander. A Christmas present from my little sister! How she knew I was in the process of building a Space Marine army I have no idea!
£10.60 - A few Bitz I ordered from www.bitzbox.co.uk. Great website by the way, highly recommended!
£10.50 - A few Bitz ordered from an eBay seller 'BMF Bitz' (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BMF-bits). Top notch service, even chucked in a few extra parts for free!
£0.55 - A OOP metal Marine from eBay. Can't argue with 55p.
£7.99 - Scouts with Sniper Rifles from eBay.
£19.99 - Assault Terminators from eBay.
£26.97 - 2 Razorbacks and a Predator from eBay.
£4.20 - A NIB Attack Bike from eBay.
£9.37 - Three terribly painted Attack Bikes from eBay.
£5.11 - Ten 60mm bases, again from eBay.

-7.50 - Sold 5 OOP metal Terminators on eBay.
-£8.00 - Sold some Devastator Weapons I wasn't going to use on the Dakka Swap Shop.

For a grand total of: £201.49.

Now I'm approx. £50 over what I wanted to spend BUT I do have a huge selection of models and components which I'm not going to use and will be reselling - hopefully I'll be able to sell enough to get back to £150. Initially I was aiming for 1500-2000pts but I've actually amassed over 4000pts worth of stuff. So....~4000pts of Space Marines for ~£150. eBay is awesome! I can't wait to get everything complete and then compare how much it would have cost me brand new from GW.

In other news, I've managed to assemble all of my Scouts:











I couldn't resist giving the last Sergeant a Shotgun and Power Fist. I don't think there is a cooler option in the Codex.

That's all folks!

Wow! That is a lot of marines

The scout with a power fist is very cool although you should probably chang the other arm so that is is also armoured to keep him consistent.

Those bikes are going to need a bit of cleaning! Hopefully you won't be able to tell the difference between them and a brand new one when they have had a decent lick of paint.

How on earth does that sergeant cock his shotgun?

Killamop wrote:How on earth does that sergeant cock his shotgun?

Haha!

Either he doesn't and just fires it once at point blank range and then punches people or he can turn his Power Fist off, cock the shotgun without crushing it, and then switch it back on again.

Marneus Calgar has two Power Fists but can still use a Power Sword according to the SM Codex, so I assume you must be able to switch them off somehow.

Fair one!
I am waiting with baited breath to see how this goes on

this is looking great so far, I'm interested! Keep it up!

LDP

Nice challenge, and with Plastics too!

I've found that if I can't strip it with acetone then I don't want to strip it (I had 90 year old leper hands for a few days after stripping a few squads with Dettol and no gloves).

I love the Scout sarge!

Thank you for the comments!

Chomo-Uri wrote:I had 90 year old leper hands for a few days after stripping a few squads with Dettol and no gloves

My hands still haven't quite recovered after stripping all of these models. Gloves are absolutely essential.

this is really awesome! great idea to scour ebay. I will have to do that to look for more guardsmen ^^. Gotta go to sleep but will read your thread tomorrow. I'm curious if you bought this same army new, what would the cost be? (the answer might be back in your thread, i'll check).

Power Spray works on plastic leave 10 minutes and scrub with an old toothbrush, not your partners.

I did a storm bolter yesterday.

Update F:

I'd almost completely forgotten about this blog! I broke my promise...spent a tad more money.

£5.90 - A few, very necessary, bitz from www.letthedicedecide.co.uk.

Bringing me up to a total of: £207.39 spent so far.


I've started painting, using some old 2nd. ed. Space Marines as test models. I'm a terrible painter, with very little time and with 4000pts of Marines to paint, so I've been trying to achieve something incredibly quick and simple.

--> Basic, block colours over a white undercoat:



--> Smothered in Army Painter Quickshade - Strong Tone:



--> Decals, bases and a coat of matt varnish to finish them off:













...and here is the whole test squad completed:



This approach certainly isn't going to win me any painting awards but it does mean I have a realistic chance of actually finishing the army. If I can achieve 'tabletop' quality then I'll be pleased!

Any comments or criticisms are much appreciated as always!

Cheers.

Great blog, I had a similar idea myself, but you've beaten me to it

There are some great bargains to be had out there, especially for patient/not too fussy people.

As Phototoxin says, this really is the most sensible way to collect an army these days and as you are showing, there's no reason that it can't look fantastic.

Really great idea, and good on you for trying it out! In my experience, eBay models are a bit of a mixed bag - some absolute bargains, some where the repair work is almost not worth the saving.
Top tip though: Poorly described "bits piles" - I looked through one and thought I could see some nice (but damaged) models in amongst the paint drenched plastic and general bluriness. I took a gamble and bid, and walked away with 5 RT stormtrooper models, 2 (admittedly damaged) OOP necromunda bounty hunters, some tallarn special weapons and a ton of plastic bits for £4!

Will be watching this with interest - good luck in your treasure hunting!

I also get bits at a time

Awesome project. Just watch out on the ebay addiction. I got in this mood myself where I want to grab all sweet deals I see, and end up with more models and bitz than I really need.

Make sure you dress up you 1500 list and 2000 list, then move the rest.

Good luck, keep us posted.

look out for the troll trader

Great to see some progress Ben! The marines are looking fine. They are not my favourite models but they have come out well and as you say perfectly acceptable for the table top.

Thanks for all your responses chaps!

Scarper wrote: In my experience, eBay models are a bit of a mixed bag - some absolute bargains, some where the repair work is almost not worth the saving

I'd have to agree with you on that one. I've very nearly finished assembling this army but my god, it has taken months! After all the time spent stripping, cleaning up and assembling all the ill-fitting bits together you often would have been better off buying a brand new box from GW. I guess it comes down to what you have more of, time or money! For a student, living off baked beans and noodles and with hours of time to kill each week, this is definitely not a bad approach though.

gorium wrote:Awesome project. Just watch out on the ebay addiction. I got in this mood myself where I want to grab all sweet deals I see, and end up with more models and bitz than I really need.

Make sure you dress up you 1500 list and 2000 list, then move the rest.

I've definitely ended up with more than I intended! Verging on 4000 points now. In a few weeks, when I've finished gluing everything together I will sell on all the parts I haven't used to try and gain some of that money back.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:The marines are looking fine. They are not my favourite models but they have come out well and as you say perfectly acceptable for the table top.

Not my favorite either! They are so dull compared to the newer multi-part models. I figured it was best to test my paint scheme out on them though before moving on to the proper models though....which I should have some pictures of relatively shortly!

Cheers.

Update G:

Finally. It is done.









A = Land Raider Crusader
B = 2 Rhino's + 2 Rhino/Razorbacks (exchangeable doors/weapons).
C = 3 Dreadnoughts (selection of weapons including 4 TL-Autocannon arms).
D = 2 Predators (magentised turrets and sponsons).
E = 17 Scouts (various weapons).
F = 28 Marines with Bolters.
G = 5 Old-School Marines
H = 14 Marines with Heavy Weapons (Lascannons, Missile Launchers, Heavy Bolters, Multi-Meltas and Plasma Cannons) and a Devastator Sergeant.
I = 10 Sternguard (8 with combi-Bolters). Also usable as Sergeants.
J = 12 Marines with Special Weapons (Meltaguns, Plasma Guns and Flamers).
K = 10 Sergeants/Veterans (various weapons inc. Power Fists, Swords).
L = 10 Assault Marines (Serg. with Power Fist and 2 with Flamers).
M = 5 Terminators.
N = 8 Assault Terminators.
O = 3 Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas.
P = Spare Predator/Dreadnought/Rhino weapons.
Q = Standard Bearer, Techmarine, Apothecary, Company Champion, Chaplain, Chaplain with Jump Pack, Librarian, Captain and Lysander!

I counted just over 4000 points, and that's with a few leftover Sergeants, Heavy and Special weapons. Not too bad for just £207.39! I think this would have been about £750 to buy new from GW.

I've got a load of bits leftover which I'll be sorting out in the coming weeks and listing on eBay and the Dakka Swap Shop to try and earn a bit of money back as well.

You, sir, are a fiscal virtuoso. Very well done.

Awesome

I really wish there were more blogs like this. With the hobby becoming a game of 'haves versus have-nots', money-wise, showing that you can work the second-hand and bitz markets to build an affordable, playable, army?

PRICELESS.

You should consider explaining how you used eBay to achieve this, for future reference.

Maybe a Dakka article.

--Brian

Great result! Now all you have to do is paint them all!!

Update H:

Soooo...I've been busy again on eBay, but this time I've been selling! I listed all the spare bits I didn't use when building my army in an attempt to claw back a bit more money. In all honesty most of the bits I listed were useless, there were a few parts I could see people needing though (Thunder Hammers etc). I was expecting to get about £20 for everything, but to my amazement....

Once the auctions had finished, I'd paid my eBay fees and paid for all the postage....I was left with £83.02 profit!

So in total, this 4500 point army cost me just £124.37!

I calculated it to be £784.10 to buy these models at current GW prices, meaning I made a saving of £659.73 (84.1%). Thank you eBay. Mission accomplished.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Great result! Now all you have to do is paint them all!!

Unfortunately so! It'll take me years I think.

Here is one I finished recently:



Cheers!

Very inspiring considering I'm doing pretty much the same thing with my Imperial Fist except I deviated and have bought two boxsets from Wayland as I live close by and getting the 20% off was just to darn tempting. Though the rest of my purchases have been from ebay and I have 2500 points at around 150 in costs excluding the odd bits I had. Nice one mate.

Warflake wrote:Very inspiring considering I'm doing pretty much the same thing with my Imperial Fist except I deviated and have bought two boxsets from Wayland as I live close by and getting the 20% off was just to darn tempting. Though the rest of my purchases have been from ebay and I have 2500 points at around 150 in costs excluding the odd bits I had. Nice one mate.

Good to know I'm not the only economizing Imperial Fist player! At times I wasn't sure going for the eBay approach was really going to be worth it, but now I've worked out it saved me 84% off of retail prices I can't recommend it enough!

Another quick photo taken by Phototoxin yesterday of my Marines pumping in the Lascannon shots:

Result! I can't believe what a saving you have made!

I'm in total agreement with you, eBay is probably the best thing to ever happen to 40K. I haven't rescued any models yet, but eBay and bitz sites are pretty awesome for fun little projects that need odd parts or a lot of one specific part (I'm looking at you, Thunder Hammer Vanguard Vets squad I'm starting!)

Good luck with your budgeting on this project; I'll be watching closely!

Update I:

Painted a Rhino. I used Army Painter Quickshade, so it'd match all my infantry. I don't think it works too well on vehicles though.





Just aiming for 'tabletop' quality as always.

Doesn't look too bad IMO. A little extra mud weathering on the tracks might make the puddle-bath look seem less out of place though.

Wow, I love the yellow on your Imperial fists...I shall be keeping an eye on this blog!

genom.cor wrote:Doesn't look too bad IMO. A little extra mud weathering on the tracks might make the puddle-bath look seem less out of place though.

I didn't plan to do any weathering on my vehicles initially. All the weathering / battle-damage was purely to hide areas where the quickshade had pooled really badly! I'll add a bit more around the tracks though if you think that'd help.

MrNurgle wrote:Wow, I love the yellow on your Imperial fists...I shall be keeping an eye on this blog!

You should give it a go! White undercoat, two watered down coats of Sunburst Yellow, Army Painter Strong Tone dip. Sorted!

WOW. That is really impressive.
great job in saving so much money and crating such a huge army.

I think think it looks awesome. It looks gritty like it's just been through hell!

Adding a few drops of 'future' brand floor wax to the quickpainter wash/drip may help with the pooling.

Wet/drybrushing with the original medium shade atop the wash may also assist.

Looking good!

The rhino doesn't look too bad but I must say it wouldn't be my choice on how to paint it! Still I'm sure it will look fine once you have added some iconography!

Briancj wrote:Adding a few drops of 'future' brand floor wax to the quickpainter wash/drip may help with the pooling.

I did mix the dip with some turpentine to thin it a little. Would the floor wax have a similar effect?

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:The rhino doesn't look too bad but I must say it wouldn't be my choice on how to paint it! Still I'm sure it will look fine once you have added some iconography!

How would you have gone about painting it? I've got 6 more tanks to do so if there is a better method I definitely want to give it a go. I couldn't think of any other way of quickly replicating the same shade of yellow I've got on my Marines. :(

Hmmm, difficult if you want a similar effect to the infantry. I would probably mass airbrush all the vehicles and then use the wash but really water it down more, use the edge of some kitchen towel to soak up any excessive areas. Then highlight at least one stage on the edges and finally add some really big fist symbols on the doors and the top hatches. I did notice that you did in fact have some iconography, it just needs to be bigger! My two cents any way.

Update J:

Slightly different method on a Rhino...










And some Terminators...

Bravo Sir, Bravo! I have enjoyed reading through your blog and look forward to your progress. Never heard of this quickshade stuff... is it a wash? Seems to work well for painting stuff quick and adds a nice finish.

Looking good! I like the red it really contrasts the yellow well. How many points are you up to now (painted)?

Update K:

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Looking good! I like the red it really contrasts the yellow well. How many points are you up to now (painted)?

I think this is about 1000 points now. Long way to go!

libby + boys look amazing OrkyB!

Can't wait to play them :-)

Briancj wrote:I really wish there were more blogs like this. With the hobby becoming a game of 'haves versus have-nots', money-wise, showing that you can work the second-hand and bitz markets to build an affordable, playable, army?

PRICELESS.

You should consider explaining how you used eBay to achieve this, for future reference.

Maybe a Dakka article.

--Brian

For sure.

Heck, if anything, this should be a lesson for people on how great EBay can be. I wish it had been around when I was a poor kid playing this. These days I am fortunate that I can afford to cherry pick bits and buy frivolous and "collection" pieces. But this is an amazing tutorial, and a great story of how you can play 40K with a bit of determination and some craftiness. I come across lots all the time that would be great for people who were looking to start an army.

Heck, I'd almost say this thread should be pinned.

Just want to point out that I built a deathwing army for $185 bucks. 25 terminators 1 LRC and 3 Dreadnoughts and all of my terminators have scibor shoulders and shields. Ebay is your friend!!! So it is possible if your patient! This is very inspiring!

I love the Fist models! I want to build a second Space Marine army with either Imperial/Crimson Fists. Keep it up!

You take scrimping to a new level
Anyway good work, makes me want to have a shufty more on ebay.

Impressive work. I've been doing something similar but on a smaller scale (I'm aiming for a 1000pts) and it really is amazing how cheap you can get stuff, particularly if you can see past a poor paint job or badly put together model.

If we all did this, the laws of economics would force GW to lower prices

I have never bought a army directly from games workshop. Every army I have ever had was bought second-third and even sixth hand. My imperial guard army i currently have was traded 7 times, and on the 8th ended back in my hands for a total of 300$ (sold it for 200$ and everyone added a tank or two.) it left with 2 hqs, 40 troops, 4 russes and 4 chimeras all stripped off ebay (80$~) ended up back with me with 120 troops, 16 russes, 1 bane blade and 4 valkyires and 8 chimeras. I have since traded around and spluged now having 6 chimeras, 9 valkyires, 100 troops, 20 karskins, and 1 manti core. oh and all the named characters

Flashman wrote:If we all did this, the laws of economics would force GW to lower prices

No, not really. More purchases off the second-hand market means that "Demand" goes down, which will make GW price their products even higher, because they control the supply. There are threads about GW's relationship with stockholders, being a public company, etc. So we shouldn't go down that road, here.

Thankfully, we're seeing the "tipping point" where GW's stranglehold on the market and tournament scene is slipping. Competition is a good thing!

This is an excellent idea, and great execution. Ive purchased things off ebay myself, and you can get some bargains... as well as some truly awful stuff.

I got a terrible predator - and turned it into an exercise in weathering!