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One of the challenges of collecting an Imperial Guard army (well, ANY army really, but guard in particular) is cost. It seems like GW prices their models based on the general 'type', and effectiveness ruleswise (sometimes). The points cost of the unit itself seldom plays into this and as a result it kind of makes collecting points-cheap armies pricey. I am continuing to grow my Imperial Guard army and working on ways to have more units the most economic way possible.

I think the biggest moneysaver is doing creative conversions. One of the few saving graces Guard has is that many of their vehicles use the Chimera hull. Using various bits it would be possible to make a Chimera a hellhound or artillery piece. Its much cheaper to buy just the Chimera and scavenge/cannibalize bits from other models to make what you want. Its easy to do this to make your own Hellhound- the basic platoon squad sprue has a flamethrower on it, but you don't need THAT many flamethrowers oftentimes, so you can use the leftover flamethrower nozzles/tanks and modify the turret/hull.

Another one that works well is Heavy Weapon Teams. Like a lot of other models, the heavy weapon team boxes give you the parts to make any (mortar, heavy bolter, autocannon, missile launcher, lascannon). They have a tripod (for the heavy bolter/autocannon/lascannon) and a pole thingy for the mortar/missile launcher). Really all you need is additional bases, bits, and guardsmen and you can go from having just 3 heavy weapon teams to 12. Money wise, guardsmen are comparatively cheap but the heavy weapon team boxes are not, so its worth it to get the most mileage out of them. If you are short tripods/pole thingys you can always get creative by having the guns propped up on rocks, or using leftover sprues to fasion one yourself.

The Sentinel has a lot of heavy weapon options that are also convertible into making additional heavy weapon teams. Similarly, leftover special weapons that lack the guardsmen to carry them can easily be converted to other purposes.

I think my only real gripe is that meltagun/plasmagun guardsmen are pricey (metal models) and the only plastic ones in the sets seem to be on the command squad sprue, which only gives you one of each. I might experiment with chopping down flamers into something that vaguely looks like a meltagun, since flamers are plentiful in the sprues.

One word.

Ebay.

You can buy the hellhound turret off ebay for $8 add a magnet and there you go.

IG plasma Gun bits with arms etc, for $2.

My problem is I dont have extra Chimera hulls around to swap out. I need both the Chimeras and hellhounds and artillary.

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=184

meltaguns from maxmini

You can get $8 for 5 meltaguns straight from GW (Metal).

Basically. I have always thought of Guard as more of a long term project army as opposed to one you just pick up for fun. I've spent thousands over a decade and only have a little more than 7500 points of them. Whereas the same amount of money spent on say space marines or grey knights would yield a much larger amount of points. Upwards of 10,000 most probably.

But spending the money comes with the territory of owning a Guard army.

I have so far used greatcoats shock troops which I got cheap, I have sixty eight, that I got for less then 50 bucks with shipping( Ebay man, ebay) I picked up some bits here and there also dirt cheap and am working on a hellhoud converted form a panzer II you can get for 13 bucks and will be picking some of them up to convert to Chimera with some plasticard and bits.

About anything you need to get to use for conversions check Ebay first.

I did not know how much a Guard army costs, I got into it as I like to convert. But that is the best thing about a Guard army. You pick your theme.

Use the swap shop here. Try collecting an all metal Mordian Iron Guard foot army of ~170 infantry models. I bought my entire army from various swap shop trades for a fraction of the cost I would have paid through GW.

Blacksails wrote:Use the swap shop here. Try collecting an all metal Mordian Iron Guard foot army of ~170 infantry models. I bought my entire army from various swap shop trades for a fraction of the cost I would have paid through GW.

Do you have 170 infantry models or are you trying to get to that point? I too use Mordian models and am curious as to how much you've spent so far. So far I've just bought from GW because I thought it would be less time consuming and be easier, but if you've saved bucket loads then I may look into that.

Thanks.

My army is being made from a painting/modelling point of view, typically I price myself on something as a squad and not as part of an army. This way I'm not spending a tonne outright, having alot of fun making and painting and without realising it have built up a decently playable list.

But if you're hitting it from a "must have army now" point of view yes, guard are incredibly expensive. Ebay the hell out of it.

I own that many. A full 3 31-man blobs, plus command squads, special weapons, heavy weapons, and miscellaneous other figures (priests, commissars, so on...).

I had to buy some off of GW to round out the special weapons I needed, but I saved a ton of money through trades on this swap shop. Post a wand ad, and actively search through the selling posts to find what you want.

I also bought three Battlefleet Gothic fleets, almost 3000pts of ships in total for less than half what I would have paid from GW.

Lots of good advice so far. The only thing I'd avoid is getting metal meltaguns from GW. They don't fit into guardsmen's hands without serious conversion work, and if you don't have a rotary tool, it's going to be way more of a pain than you think.

Apart from buying smarter (bitz sites, dakka swap, etc.), the best piece of advice is in the OP. You can build almost anything in the game with just chimeras and regular boxes of infantry. Chimera chassis have guide rails on the inside of the back, which means that sliding in a piece of plasticard with whatever back you want on it is super easy, making that one chimera infinitely convertable. Likewise, with some bitz and some greenstuff and plasticard, you can make any infantry model (outside of ogryn) in any configuration while paying nothing more than the price of regular lasgunners. Obviously the heavy weapon thing is big as well.

Guard needn't be ALL that expensive. 10 boxes of infantry and a lot of time will get you a respectable foot horde at only ~$350. Not only is it not so bad, given that you're paying in installments, but it's also not too bad compared to other armies. I did a quick hash together of a SM drop pod list at that same points value and it costs a little more than that, and SM are supposed to be a cheap army to put together.

Mech lists are going to be a little more expensive, given that you've got to buy roughly the same number of kits in chimera, but then also add in at least a few boxes of infantry as well, but it's still not all as bad as people initially assume.

Ailaros wrote:Lots of good advice so far. The only thing I'd avoid is getting metal meltaguns from GW. They don't fit into guardsmen's hands without serious conversion work, and if you don't have a rotary tool, it's going to be way more of a pain than you think.

Really? I used a pair of clippers and an exacto knife to get the hand off. They fit right onto my catachans.

I am slowly building up a guard force a little at a time. I would get bored of just one type of solider for example so I've picked up catachans etc and am using them as if a bunch of survivors have come together to create a force.

pretre wrote:Really? I used a pair of clippers and an exacto knife to get the hand off. They fit right onto my catachans.

Oh, well maybe it's fine for catachans. For cadians you've got to get rid of the hand, the buttstock, AND shave off a bit of the back of the gun. The guardsmen's small arms (compared to their intended marines), and protruding flak armor in just the wrong place make the conversion much more difficult for a cadian model.

Currently in the process of building an Elysian contingent to go with my Catachans. I'm hoping to get upto 1500 points ish, but I haven't dared to work out the financial cost!

My army is quite expensive due to conversions. Making a single squad costs at least $48.25, not including the cost of greenstuff and paint. Might not be efficient, but I use vets (and storm troopers) in chimeras with carapace armour so it is almost like a marine army in terms of model numbers. Overall I prefer the aesthetic more than anything, I would rather spend 5 bucks per soldier and like the aesthetic than spend a dollar per soldier and hate the look.

Silentway wrote:One word.

Ebay.

Better word. Bartertown.

Making a DKoK army

I've been looking at either mantic corporation or defiance games UAMC minis. Mantic looks almost identical to IG, almost as if they want you to use them as IG...

I'm doing a lost and the damned army using the renegades and heretic rules off of Forgeworld, and practically every model in the army is converted out of Beastmen Gors and Cadians . Its costing me just over $90 (NZ) to make one squad, which is over $70 (US).

don_mondo wrote:

Silentway wrote:One word.

Ebay.

Better word. Bartertown.

Equivalent word. Dakkaswapshop.

Not even close to equivalent. A pale shadow, perhaps.

Fortunately my Napoleonic themed army lets me use victrix and perry, really saves a fasir bit, despite having to convert! 52 guardsmen for £21 via victrix saves me a fortune

Blacksails wrote:Use the swap shop here. Try collecting an all metal Mordian Iron Guard foot army of ~170 infantry models. I bought my entire army from various swap shop trades for a fraction of the cost I would have paid through GW.

I made the mistake of having to have a vostroyan IG army, which is also all medal foot models. Doh! Wasn't cheap, though I did get a bunch of it from discount online stores, but still pretty pricey. So I had to do it one better and decided to make a chaos renegades army using the forge world resin chaos conversion torsos and arms, etc. That one is proving MUCH more expensive.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

pretre wrote:

Ailaros wrote:Lots of good advice so far. The only thing I'd avoid is getting metal meltaguns from GW. They don't fit into guardsmen's hands without serious conversion work, and if you don't have a rotary tool, it's going to be way more of a pain than you think.

Really? I used a pair of clippers and an exacto knife to get the hand off. They fit right onto my catachans.

That is because Catchan arms, with their crazy muscles, are bigger so sit differently on the model, unlike the cadian arms that don't look like every model is on steroids.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

lampy wrote:Fortunately my Napoleonic themed army lets me use victrix and perry, really saves a fasir bit, despite having to convert! 52 guardsmen for £21 via victrix saves me a fortune

I just bought an entirely new full 1750 point flames of war armored company from Plastic Soldier company for a whopping $75.

I am very happy about that purchase!

Skriker

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:I've been looking at either mantic corporation or defiance games UAMC minis. Mantic looks almost identical to IG, almost as if they want you to use them as IG...

Everything from Mantic is literally made to be a stand-in for a GW product or meant to fill a perceived gap in the GW model lines. The thing is though, the Corporation guys aren't that much cheaper than IG. For instance, the Corporation heavy weapons teams are 17.50 GBP, which ends up being around $28. With the typical 20% off you get from say, the Warstore or equivalent online retailer, the normally $35 IG heavy weapons squad comes down to, you guessed it, $28. For a box of 20 Corporation Marines, you're spending 24.99 GBP, which ends up being over $40. IG are $22 for 10 before discounts, so the IG actually end up slightly cheaper than the Mantic guys! I actually like the look of the Corporation guys alright, but I recognize that they aren't any cheaper.

The Defiance Games Marines though, I like. Those guys are much cheaper for how many you get, and they would make a good stand-in despite not being explicitly made for IG counts-as. They come with extra legs that work with IG torsos as well, so if you're using them to pad out your existing Guard you can actually get some usage out of those bits you have.

don_mondo wrote:

Silentway wrote:One word.

Ebay.

Better word. Bartertown.

I did not know of this place. Ty.

Brother SRM wrote:

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:I've been looking at either mantic corporation or defiance games UAMC minis. Mantic looks almost identical to IG, almost as if they want you to use them as IG...

Everything from Mantic is literally made to be a stand-in for a GW product or meant to fill a perceived gap in the GW model lines. The thing is though, the Corporation guys aren't that much cheaper than IG. For instance, the Corporation heavy weapons teams are 17.50 GBP, which ends up being around $28. With the typical 20% off you get from say, the Warstore or equivalent online retailer, the normally $35 IG heavy weapons squad comes down to, you guessed it, $28. For a box of 20 Corporation Marines, you're spending 24.99 GBP, which ends up being over $40. IG are $22 for 10 before discounts, so the IG actually end up slightly cheaper than the Mantic guys! I actually like the look of the Corporation guys alright, but I recognize that they aren't any cheaper.

The Defiance Games Marines though, I like. Those guys are much cheaper for how many you get, and they would make a good stand-in despite not being explicitly made for IG counts-as. They come with extra legs that work with IG torsos as well, so if you're using them to pad out your existing Guard you can actually get some usage out of those bits you have.

Yeah the mantic minis arent much cheaper. When I looked you get 10 for $26 and MSRP It are $29. It's the army deal that makes them slightly cheaper. Honestly I'm going to use the UAMC minis for DG

Ailaros wrote:

pretre wrote:Really? I used a pair of clippers and an exacto knife to get the hand off. They fit right onto my catachans.

Oh, well maybe it's fine for catachans. For cadians you've got to get rid of the hand, the buttstock, AND shave off a bit of the back of the gun. The guardsmen's small arms (compared to their intended marines), and protruding flak armor in just the wrong place make the conversion much more difficult for a cadian model.

I've been doing it by stealing the arms from the plastic flamer bit. Still a lot of hassle getting them to fit in position (usually requires greenstuff too) but when it's done, they actually look pretty good. Having some of the guns hanging from a strap gives them a bit of extra flair.

That's for my vets. I actually use the old one-piece pewter meltagun guys for my infantry squads, but I have more of those guys than I have interest in power blobs right now, so we'll see how it goes.

Brother SRM wrote:

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:I've been looking at either mantic corporation or defiance games UAMC minis. Mantic looks almost identical to IG, almost as if they want you to use them as IG...

Everything from Mantic is literally made to be a stand-in for a GW product or meant to fill a perceived gap in the GW model lines. The thing is though, the Corporation guys aren't that much cheaper than IG. For instance, the Corporation heavy weapons teams are 17.50 GBP, which ends up being around $28. With the typical 20% off you get from say, the Warstore or equivalent online retailer, the normally $35 IG heavy weapons squad comes down to, you guessed it, $28. For a box of 20 Corporation Marines, you're spending 24.99 GBP, which ends up being over $40. IG are $22 for 10 before discounts, so the IG actually end up slightly cheaper than the Mantic guys! I actually like the look of the Corporation guys alright, but I recognize that they aren't any cheaper.

The Defiance Games Marines though, I like. Those guys are much cheaper for how many you get, and they would make a good stand-in despite not being explicitly made for IG counts-as. They come with extra legs that work with IG torsos as well, so if you're using them to pad out your existing Guard you can actually get some usage out of those bits you have.

This, I remember looking at mantic figures and trying to figure out what all the fuss was about. That, and a video of an unboxing where all the guys appeared to have the exact same pose, didn't impress me. Although to be fair, I think the guy was just lazy putting them together. I believe the price "advantage" for them comes when you buy like a 100 man lot of them, they give you a discount.

However, I would still choose the DFG marines instead. They're much cheaper, made in the USA, and are a lot more customizable. Plus, with a little creativity and modeling, and you could make some cool elysian stand ins, or even some *gasp* realistically proportioned catachans. I bought two boxes, and was very happy with them. I've put together roughly 30 of them and still have about 20 to go, and have managed to squeeze a lot of cool poses out of the kit.

To be honest though, I really like DFG as a company so I'm obviously biased. I've tried other substitutes like WGF greatcoats (really crummy quality btw, I wouldn't bother with them) and eventually ended up buying a huge lot of cadians off a guy for cheap. Had I not done that though, the UAMC marines would probably be my model of choice for a guard army.

I plan on getting rid of my cadians and replace them with DFG marines or the Germans if they come out.