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While reading the thread about how much $$ we spend on our gaming, I got to thinking... Is there was any relation to how much we spend vs. how we spend it.

Do you build a rough list and then go purchase those units/models? Do you buy models that you like and build army lists from your pool of minis? Some combination of both?

For me, I think it's a combination of both with stronger tendencies towards buying models, then building army lists. I have never built an army and then purchased. I look at Codex units and available models in the line. If I have interest in both areas, I buy the models. I have a couple hundred Guardians and 15 or so Falcon hulls. I love the models and the Codex rules.
Added to this, I am the type of person that wants the option to take units that I may not normally take. I almost NEVER take War Walkers. I have 6 of them, though, just in case I want to.

I would wager that the person(s) that builds a list and then purchases the models tends to spend FAR less on minis in the long run. Even if they buy more than their initial lists required so that they have a little flexibility.


Do you have any methodology to your mini purchasing?



Ghidorah

Oh yeah, in addition, I try to buy at least TWO armies for any given game so that I can easily run full demos for people interested. If you want to learn Necromunda, Epic, WHFB, 40k, BfG, Bloodbowl, Fairy Meat, 20mm WWII, Squadrons WWII Aerial combat...

I've got minis you can use.



Ghidorah

Yup, put me under the "make lists and buy what's needed for lists + handful extras for diversity".

It does make for more intelligent spending (imo), and tends to keep you more on budget than other options.

Whatever I think looks cool. Whenever I want, I usually get a £20 box every... 4 Months? Sporadic painting/modelling.

I agree on the whole "It might not work, but feth you." approach to buying -- I'll buy what I like, I'll make an army list out of what I've got, and if there's something else I see necessary, and I like the look of, I'll go for that.

I'm an aesthetical sort of guy. I often think about the paint scheme I'll use before I buy the box, maybe do a few sketches.

sA

This year has been the first time I've put together an army since I was about fifteen and it's taking far more of a fluff centric aproach, haven't even looked at the SM codex yet but I've almost come up with the entire history of the chapter without having finished a model yet.

In the past I used to the whole buy on impulse thing, and that's the reason I have an army of completely unpainted Dark Eldar and Orcs and Goblins kicking round somewhere. I shall not be going back to that aproach. With my atention span I need to give ideas at least a few weeks of brewing over before decide if I'm actualy interested enough to cary it through until completion.

Kind of a combo effect for me... I build an army because I like the models... so once the "army bug" bites me, I generally sit down and work out a list... that can take me up to a month. I generally won't buy any models till the list is finalized, though rank and file troopers will generally start filtering in during list creation... Once I've got a working list that fits my play style I'll start buying models...

I generally buy my list plus a few fluff pieces... i.e. if it's an 1850 list I'll buy enough to take it to 2000 or 2250 plus some various HQ choices and "sub units" to fit in at random. I try and build "hard" lists, but they also have to fit my style... If it isn't fun to play I won't build it...

Take Orks for example... it's my favorite army ever, but I refuse to push 150 models around the table... so... viola! Trukk Boys! Not as hard as the horde, but a nice compromise between effective and fun. (probably leaning more towards fun).

I start with an idea and ask for advice on how to execute that idea in terms of gameplay
without sacrificing too much of the idea.

Then I buy the very core of that idea because that's what I'm going to paint first.

If I get it painted, then I continue to purchase stuff. If I don't, then I don't.

i tend to just impulse buy anything i like the look of
then spend even more making a working army with all the decent looking models being left on the shelf.

Also: I tend to buy for very different factions to keep my engagement and interest high.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Work_on_Multiple_Armies_Simultaneously

Hey there. First post on Dakka. Long time war gamer (20+ years). I tend to stick with the basic units needed to play then expand out from there, however when I got into Imperial Guard about seven years ago, I broke from that and bought four tanks and two APCs, LOL!

I usually get a great deal on some units, characters, etc... then just go crazy. It's a bad idea because then I have a lot of unfinished stuff and it becomes too much to reasonably finish. My first fantasy and 40k armies were purchased in pieces and I held on to those the longest. I think that is the best way to go about buying an army, but I don't practice it so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

When I was younger I was more of a collector; the game became secondary to getting really cool models. I enjoy painting so it was more about getting a nice, fun well-balanced army.

Now I definitely prepare a list before buying, so I can cut down on costs and get the essentials. Although occasionally I'll pick up fun models for my army so I can swap them in and out depending on who I play.

I give myself a check list:

Is it a worth while unit?
Is it worth the price I'm going to pay?
Does it look cool?

If it meets 2 of those 3 criteria I will get it. Most units fail #2.

Hmm.... 2 things i do.

1) Usually when new armies arrive = when the LGS's owner get the new army bug. He would give me a list of what he ordered (for himself ), and tell me to pick on order form
of what (usually new) items i want for painting his new toys.

2) Send my cousin the OH SO COOL pics of armies and see if he'll be tempted to buying it. If he likes it, then yay .

If not, boo i buy it myself. from Great Canadian Miniature

*Sigh*
I wish I could answer this question. I'm so poor right now (welcome to the recession, by the way) that I don't even have a hard copy of a codex yet. All I have is what came with the Black Reach set.
If I were a rich man [insert music here] I would prolly buy just about everything I saw.

I'm in the cool models camp. I usually buy what I like and worry about building an army list later. The only exception to that is my Iyanden force which I've been trying to keep to the fluff. These days, my armies are mostly complete (expect for the painting ) so I find myself looking at buying any codex options that I'm still missing.

I look at the codex, then systematically buy every possible combination of unit possible. Okay, not exactly.

I start off with an HQ and two Troops. Then I look for a good skirmishing/flanking unit (e.g. Ork Kommandos or Storm Boyz) a good assault heavy hitter (e.g. Termies in a Rhino) then I begin to complement what I have and slowly add to the unit types. The army played does affect what I get for that army. (e.g. To me, Space Marines NEED a scout squad and an Assault squad to be successful with a small force and support their competent yet vulnerable Tactical Squads)

Walk into LFGS

Stare at Warhammer section for 45+ minutes

"Oh hey, this looks cool, I'll buy 4 kits". I say to Orc Arrer Boyz.

Go home, look at the codex.

Cry.


It usually goes like that.

I start by buying what looks cool.

Then, if I have enough, I buy what I think I need for an more general army list.

Then, I buy Apoc stuff, if it's in plastic.

But all of this is predicated on getting a good deal.

I generally go with purchasing a bunch of stuff and then realising what i will and wont need...like my ork army I have realised that my converted scorcha , my 5 man unit of stormboy(which was going to become much larger) as well as 2 truks that will more than likely never get used
I am still trying to figure out what to do for my heavy support but currently i have some big gunz 2 killa kans and a battlewagon...I am more than likely going to either run killa kans or looted wagons but even still it means i have purchased figures i wont use

I buy most of my stuff used, so I tend to buy it as opportunity arises. My eldar are my most recent army, and I went in with a basic idea: I wanted to build a beil tan force around the 2nd ed models. So, I bought every affordable job lot of eldar off of eBay, sold what I didn't want, and slowly built my force. I did buy things like Waveserpents when they came available (birthdays, half off sales, used ones at an FLGS, whatever), and just waited on a lot of stuff (My buddy got me two sets of Fire prism metals and 9 Shining spears at the Gen Con auction for like $55).

Of course, that army has grown pretty dramatically into simply being able to field everything in the eldar codex (which I can do, except for Wraithguard).

Hmm...

In terms of the Eldar Codex, I'm only missing:
- Jetbikes
- Shining Spears
- Vypers
- Heavy AGPs
These are all waiting for resculpts, though I suspect that the big AGPs won't really match my 2E AGPs...

For my Tau, I just bought enough stuff to be able to field any combination of options in the codex. There aren't many.

Normally, particularly for historical games I make a list with some variations and options, and buy the figures needed for that list.

Example: In Polemos Marechal de l'Empire Napoleonic rules, each army has a randomised composition which you put together at the start of the game, by rolling on tables which tell you the type of each corps (cavalry, infantry, guard) how many divisions it contains, plus artillery, how many brigades are in each division, and the quality of each brigade.

I analysed the tables for the Russian 1812 army, worked out the average of each troop type needed, and bought enough figures to make a large army.

Except in unusual circumstances, I would be able to put together any army that would arise from the rolling up of the list.

I always buy the absolute core of an army (in 40K, two troops and an HQ) and then go on to buy a single elite unit. Then, anything goes.

With all my wargame systems, I tend to by the most that I could afford (at the best price) and then work out how to use them with the rules.

I did that in a big way with Epic and now an even bigger way with Apocalypse... and with 40K, I can now field any list that takes my fancy at anytime.

I love a cost benefit analysis outlook and then combine that with the fluff... and then the game itself.

So, very cool looks and very cheap purchases is my motto.

Mik

I really like the challenge of building a fluffy army out of a load of random models.

I'd usually buy some random second hand collection from eBay and then try and divide it up into a fluffy and effective force, then figure out what else i need to buy, convert.

If I've got any models left over, I'll figure out a way of converting them into a unit I don't have.

I rarely go out and buy a unit just because it's effective in games...

I only have 2 armies, and I started both of them when i was much younger.

that being said my Space Wolf army started with a Dreadnought, the 2 tactical squads from the 2nd ed starter set, and a 5 man scout squad. At that same time I also got an eldar falcan grav tank, a squad of guardians, an ork warboss, and maybe a couple of other dudes.
This was all well before the days of Interweb purchases, so it was pretty much whatever I thought looked cool at the store on the day I went out.
My Undead army started with my friend selling me a lot of his brothers old models from "back in the day" $10 scored me 20 zombies, 20 skeletons, 1 vampire, 12 ghouls, 3 skull catapults, 2.5 skeleton chariots, a couple of bloodletters, and a few other demons. Then I just bought a box set of each zombies, skeletons, and grave guard, got the WHF starter box, converted the empire models to undead, and went with it.


After the armies were started I just purchased models that I wanted to try and field that I thought looked cool.
Criteria
1. Looks cool?
2. Price?
3. Playable?

I typically get a bug about some aspect of an army, either a really neat set of unit rules, a really cool model, or just some neat fluff that I decide I HAVE to try. Afterwards I make a rough list or three. I then impulse buy that and about 20% extra stuff.

I also tend to pick up models on the plan of "converting them someday, because it is a really nice model." I have a lot of Rakham and Reaper figures due to that, and probably half my inquisitor's retinues would be illegal at a GW event.

The exception is the marines. I almost never want to play them, but I compulsively buy kits for painting and making pew pew "For the Emporer!" sounds with.

When I wasn't playing regularly I would just buy one squad at a time. Now that I'm pretty much playing every week, I went and bought a whole army based on a rough list. That way I can actually play some games!

I've been pretty opportunistic about my purchases. I got some very good deals on Tyranids and Tau and picked them up, same on some going out of business discounts to fill out key units. Other purchases (Valkyrie, Barbed Hierodule) were bought because the kits were cool and I wanted to try something new.