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I just wanted to know your opinion on whether or not young gamers seem to start off with planning a giant army to begin with? I personally found myself planning a giant army, but have recently stopped myself. So did you or someone you know try to make a big army too quickly?

I'm not sure I understand the question. You seem to be suggesting that planning to collect a large army is a bad thing.

Surely it depends on the individual's particular attention span? Some people can quite happily focus in on one army, methodically moving from assembling and painting each unit until the army is fully complete. Others, like me, wander from army to army and take ages to get something finished. I don't think this has much bearing on the person's age; rather on the way they enjoy the hobby - goodness knows over 20 years my hobbying habits haven't really changed much.

Personally, I think that if you've just started out in Warhammer, you should go for smaller sized armies to try out each race. Going for a huge army and finding out that it doesn't really work for you can really discourage them from trying the same thing with another race.

That and added with the fact that they don't really know how to structure an army AND it's pretty much always going to be Spehs Mahrines. *blegh*

It's great to have aspirations of a huge, well painted army rampaging across the board.
Correct me if i'm wrong but i'd say that's exactly what 99% of us are all about.
The trouble comes when the collecting outruns the modelling, painting and the understanding of the rules.
That's when we all end up with a huge pile of very expensive grey plastic in the corner of the room.
Not so impressive.
The trick is to be disciplined and take it one step at a time when starting out but always always dream big.

Alex Kolodotschko wrote:The trouble comes when the collecting outruns the modelling, painting and the understanding of the rules.

Unless, of course, the collecting is the part of the hobby you're actually interested in...

That's the 1%.

Absolutely. It's any age really though, we're all impulsive kids with toy-soldiers at heart.

There nothing wrong with aspiring to have a large army, but it's best to buy it a bit at a time and build it up. There's a temptation to buy it all at once but this means that you have invested a lot right at the begining which is costly if you change your mind later and the mountain of unbuilt stuff can be offputting to even veteran modellers.

Emperors Faithful wrote:...you should go for smaller sized armies to try out each race...

Ah, this is what I should have said. I was referring to the fact that some people go for a huge army then decide they don't like, thus money not well spent.

I think that they do, I know I did way back when.....

I don't see it as being a problem though unless you are the sort of person that buys into the latest hobby and next month is bored with warhammers and wants to spend another lot of money on say paintballing, dropping wargaming and any one of a number of previous hobbies. I'm sure we all knew a few people like this growing up.

Of course this is great for the rest of us as we can buy thier stuff of them on the cheap or get it off ebay!

I think it depends on if they (or their parents) can afford it or not. When you first get interested in any hobby it is tempting to splurge. You want only the biggest and the best of everything. The main problem with having a mountain of un-painted lead and plastic is that it can be a daunting prospect to begin painting it all. This coupled with many stores, gaming groups and individuals refusing to play against un-painted models puts off the new players as they don't think that they will be able to get an army painted, and because they aren't getting the games in they can see little point in making the effort.

Something which also put me off for quite some time was a degree of snobbery surrounding painting schemes and standards. For the most part coments made in the P&M forums are positive and where critique is offered it tends to be positive, however I have encountered and heard of cases where shop staff and other gamers have openly mocked someones painting skills. This at best is unhelpful and at worst can cause genuine upset and push someone away from the hobby.

Having a ton of miniatures is great, and what people spend their money on is their business, but I certainly don't having a ton of unpainted figures as a new comer is a good thing.

I personally started out with a large army of nids last edition. I have had mixed emotions on this, because now I miss playing eldar. A lot. But I enjoy the nids because of all the models I can field. I think that they should at the very least read a codex and try them for a game before they buy ANYTHING. Most people at the FLGS will show the ropes, and help you decide.
I Think that if you want the army more power to you. But be careful. I know the mass pile of mini's feeling because I hate putting metal together and painting it. So once again, Be careful.

I think buying and building up a unit, or two, at a time is the way to go. I think about all of the armies that I've bought in bulk and how they are quickly forgotten or traded for the new hotness. If you start off with short term and long term goals (i.e. 1000pts in 4 months, 3000pts in 9+months, etc...) then you and the army kind of grow together. In the long run you have a greater appreciation for the work that you have put into the army.

Hi there! I had to vote 'no opinion'. I was 20 something when I started miniature games, don't know if that is 'young' according to your definition. I always tried to binge buy whole armies at a time. If the rules said I could have up to X number of models per squad, I had to have the maximum number of squads with X number of models each, 'Just in case I want to reconfigure my list that way'. I never took -points- into account, because back then I bought models faster than I could paint them, and faster than our weekly games came around.

I still see people buy that way, young and old, so I would say yes, young people sometimes buy that way, but not only young people. One of the kindest things a veteran gamer can do is share tips about -purchasing- the new gamer's army Your new friends will be around a lot longer if they don't bankrupt themselves in the first week!

Be well all!
Frankie

I took young to mean 10-16. I don't think they have the money to start a large army fast.

#Buying a large army is fine as long as you're prepared to stick with it and learn how it works. A lot of the younger gamers in my local GW change their armies at the drop of a hat simply because they lose a few games with it. This often leads to sales/trades where they only get a fraction of the army's value back so they end up with a smaller collection that they still don't understand how to use properly.

I went with yes

My reasons
-This all comes form my Star Fleet Battles and BattleTech experiences. If you start playing with large 3,000 point games new players get used to the large size and don’t like the little “Pop-Gun” list. all it takes is Fully Tricked out Terminator Command Squad with his Uber-Space Marine Captain with every piece of war gear to Crush that Defiler will seek that rush every game.
-I had this with SFB all of the time, they always wanted to play the B-10 [with lots of Customization] and never wanted to play the 3 frigates vs. the elite Heavy Cruiser.
-When I teach a new player I usually start them with a HQ and 2 Troops [Usually SM Captain with a Power Sword and Two 5 Man TAC Squads and I take the same. After 2-3 games we upgrade the TAC Squads to 10 men with a Missile Launcher and Flamer, after that we break them in to Combat Squads, by that time he has usually had a good time and has got all of the rules down.
-I have seen a few that have started with 2,500 point army lent to them and after a few games if he has not gotten frustrated by all of the rules you cant get them to play anything smaller that 1,500 points.

Very few gamers have the discipline to paint an entire army at all. Young gamers are even worse.

In my opinion younger players looking at a high volume figure count army like Orks, Tyranids or Imperial Guard, probably don't know what they are getting into, time investment wise.

Yup i did that. im done know. no more troops or anything like that. Just fun conversions for like hq choices.

I plan large armies and most of my friends plan large armies and sometimes we buy alot of the models at once, we get everything done though we kind of like an 'army modelling support group' in that we encourage each other to finish our army so we can play. thats all you really need someone to say "stick it out you can do it and think how happy you'll feel when you finish!"

I was guilty of this as well, and I am in my 30's! My ork army is all over the place, finally it is seeing some direction. My second army is much better constructed, the learning curve is steeper but it is coming together. I have seen gamers start with a tough army (tau in particular) and start buying up odds and ends, they end up with 1000 or 1500 points of small squads that do not work well together. One of my friend's points newer players to space marines. He jokingly says the tau army boxes should have an arrow pointing to marines that say start here on it.

More on topic, yeah many new players see huge armies in play and want some of that action. Smaller games allow for better understanding of the rules, and better understanding of how to play your army. Veteran players can get away with jumping into 1500 points or more at the start due to past experience. That being said, I hope new players have a more experienced player to guide them in army builds. I do not mean " make this army list it rawks!". An example is a younger player we play with has about 650 points of tau, has a hammerhead in his list. He was wanting to get a skyray for his 1k army. A couple guys advised him against it and pointed him towards pathfinders and devilfish as a better choice.

I voted yes because i have first hand expercince of doing this but it doesn't matter about age but your anttetion span like my is very small but my friend made me stick to it and now i have 2 armys around 2000-3000 points but i keep finding my self look at another army and making army list but never really acting on them just my 2 cent

Emperors Faithful wrote:Personally, I think that if you've just started out in Warhammer, you should go for smaller sized armies to try out each race. Going for a huge army and finding out that it doesn't really work for you can really discourage them from trying the same thing with another race.

That and added with the fact that they don't really know how to structure an army AND it's pretty much always going to be Spehs Mahrines. *blegh*

The assumption that all new players choose, or even like Space Marines is silly. I know I never could stand them.

I started out playing 40k when I was 13, and only had a few sqauds barely knowing how to play the game! The largest army I have had was my Imperial Guard which I just started collecting for the past 2 years. I guess the lack of funds back then made me learn the value of keeping up with an army painting wise and rules wise.

WOW... I've gone from having my post listed twice, to then editing the duplicate, only to subsequently have the edited duplicate replace the other and then needing to be edit the post again.

I'm done trying.

Dakka... FIX YOUR gak!

Emperors Faithful wrote:Personally, I think that if you've just started out in Warhammer, you should go for smaller sized armies to try out each race.

Even just trying the 3 basic Imperials (SM, IG, =I=) and core Xenos (Eldar, Nids, Orks, and Tau), that's a rather expensive proposition. Add the sub-SMs (BA, BT, CSM, DA, SW) and minor powers (DE, Necrons) and that's way expensive. You aren't a GW retailer in disguise, are you?
____

Klawz wrote:The assumption that all new players choose, or even like Space Marines is silly. I know I never could stand them.

(Loyal) SMs were the last army I collected.

I am one of the guilty ones who try to get as much as possible in my army. Then, I would have all the options for large and small scale battles. I went all out and built a White Scars army which I pretty much just painted the AoBR models. Sold that and got a Tau army which has been in foundation stage since last year. The only thing I have done is the interior of my Hammerhead and painting my kroot (no basing done yet). Now, I am working on my WHFB army which only has the unit of Chaos Warriors done including bases (no clear coat yet). Since due to cold weather, I have not been able to prime the other units. Now everything is just sitting.

Warlord Imp wrote:I am one of the guilty ones who try to get as much as possible in my army. Then, I would have all the options for large and small scale battles. I went all out and built a White Scars army which I pretty much just painted the AoBR models. Sold that and got a Tau army which has been in foundation stage since last year. The only thing I have done is the interior of my Hammerhead and painting my kroot (no basing done yet). Now, I am working on my WHFB army which only has the unit of Chaos Warriors done including bases (no clear coat yet). Since due to cold weather, I have not been able to prime the other units. Now everything is just sitting.

I am not saying Big is bad, Look at my Points for my armies

When I start out armies , the excitement usually goes over my head to actually sit down and write an army list.
But what i will atleast do , is read the codex to get an over all idea of what units i like , and whether i like their sculpts.

and go on purchasing an army that is ready to play , with some 500pts - 1000pts extra units
that i can swap around with.