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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.