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Hi, I'm new to these forums, so if this has been discussed ad nauseum, I apologize in advance.

I've been collecting Warhammer stuff, both 40k and fantasy, for a number of years now. I haven't played yet, mostly because I find it difficult to find the time. That said, I enjoy the books and collecting, assembling, and painting the mini's. However, it seems like every time I turn around GW hikes the price on it's product.

Unfortunately this last hike has me seriously considering new lines to explore. I really like GW's product, but just don't know if I can afford it anymore. Do any of you know where to go for discount Warhammer mini's? I mean, people can't be paying MSR on this stuff, can they?

Ebay.

There are tons of online discount stores that sell GW products, many of which advertise on Dakka. http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/services_existingads.jsp

Wayland Games, Warstore, etc...

yes, you can find a lot of stores and stuff that sell for 20-50% discount off the GW price

Most stores or websites offer 20-25% off MSRP (the price on GW's site).

Also, planning out what army you're going to want is pretty important because certain armies can cost double what others would. GK and DA (new codex sometime early next year) will be great options if you're looking to keep it cheap.

DA are cheap because the stuff you get from the starter box (Dark Vengeance) is cheap cheap cheap for the points it gives you.

In the US, try ebay or miniaturemarket.

Ebay, Ebay, Ebay.

If you learn to strip paint, you can look for awful little kid paint jobs and pick up 40k stuff (especially if you don't mind using last edition's miniatures) for pennies on the dollar.

For example, what is a box of five CSM Terminators running these days? 50$US? You can get five of the old metal ones for about 20$ all day long on Ebay. How does is a Land Raider cost now? 75$ or so? I bought one last month for 35$ after shipping. It was assembled and primed, but otherwise good to go.

Only a chump pays full price for 40k minitaures if you can help it....

TR

TR

i just dont see how people can even remotely bring up the fact warhammer costs money when you can go out and play it ever week to burn time. as for buying on ebay it takes experience to buy used things. i just got 40 space marines cheap because i have a good eye.

a army is going to cost 400+ dollars if you want a good one. after you have a good army you might want to move to another army? just watch your army its really easy to go out and buy one then sell it to some nobody for way too cheap because your trying to be nice.

in short yes you can buy used for a fraction of the cost but make sure you get a good deal. i call this "ultramarine collecting" because ive bought so many tac marine armys

If you're buying new, there are plenty of online stores that offer discounts, as other have mentioned. I like dice bucket and discount game store. Also, if you search for the item you want on amazon, you can usually find things for similar discounts through amazon's various merchants.

All that being said, many of these online discount merchants deal in the plastic kits, not necessarily in Finecast.

i just dont see how people can even remotely bring up the fact warhammer costs money when you can go out and play it ever week to burn time

So if you find a product useful, then you should not worry about price or finding a good deal? That does not even make sense.
I suspect you are a very young person. If so, then the car dealer is going to just LoOOOVE you when you go to the first dealership you come across and don't even bother shopping around or bargaining for the price of your first car.

TR

Also, building up your hobbying skills helps a lot. It costs $15 to get a blister pack with a guardsman holding a meltagun and a guardsman holding a plasma gun. If what you want is three meltagunners, it will cost you more like $15 to get three meltagun bitz from a bitz site and then hack them into the arms of your regular guard models. Voila, 1/3rd price meltagunners.

Once you get really good at it, you can start scratchbuilding, or partially-scratchbuilding. I made all of my commissars out of greenstuff and cadian models, which easily cut the price down to 1/4 of what I would have had to spend on them if I'd purchased them from GW.

Also, as mentioned, you can get a lot of TERRIBLE stuff from ebay. Much of it is going to require some serious modelling skills to get it back into proper shape.

Thanks!

I had been avoiding e-bay because of quality concerns, but I hadn't really thought of that as an opportunity to work on my modeling skills.

At this point, I do almost no conversion work.

It seems really scary at first, but starting with basic weapon swaps can build your confidance quickly.

Lets put it this way cost of 30 cultists with no champion or heavy weapons from gw site: £36

On ebay 30 cultists with champ and weapons £22.

Shop around and you can make it alot more reasonable, hell aslong as your not playing at a GW store you dont even need to use their models there are alternatives out there like mantic's orks and human soldiers.

eBay is great. Once you find what things to look for to make it cheaper, I.e mislabeled, bad paint job, one or two missing parts. Got a land raider for 38 shipped and a predator for 26 shipped. Granted both needed work but for how much I saved its worth it. That's 2 of the deals alone

My experience

Attaining models, from best to worst

Craigslist
Dakka Swap Shop
Online sellers (generally 25% off all plastics and finecast)
Ebay
Retail

Seriously, you can easily get everything you need second hand. With time and patience you can get very far with very little.

In addition to all the items listed here, talk with people at your FLGS and see what they might be willing to get off of. I have picked up a lot of Chaos units for a deal from players who are just bored with them.

A member here gets a lot of plastic kits at 30% off. Its how I built my army up so quickly. Hit me up in a PM.

Well... If you like Warhammer Fantasy, and Warhammer 40k, Maybe consider just doing chaos demons, since you can use the same models for both games.

Loathe as I am to admit this, you might also try just playing smaller armies. A decent Grey Knights army is actually pretty cheap, money-wise, because the units are expensive. Same goes for Chaos Daemons if you do a flying circus. Stay away from the horde armies (Orks, Guard, Nids) and you'll be fine. Even Marine armies aren't too expensive, just because they're kinda pricey points-wise.

GW does everything it can to inconvinence you (i.e. a lot of discount online stores can't actually display their items), but it's fairly easy to strictly buy online.

Affordable and GW don't go together in a positive way, ever. eBay, maybe the best second hand market for 40k.

well today i checked ebay, and there was quite some affordeble FW too! unpainted even

Yep the thread title is an oxymoron.

Used stuff is cheaper and I buy only used but you're looking at big expenses anyway.

Don't try to get into Warhammer Fantasy.

Two decently sized core units will run you the cost of a 40k army.

 -Loki- wrote:
Don't try to get into Warhammer Fantasy.

Two decently sized core units will run you the cost of a 40k army.

wow, then i wonder how some 14 year old kids in my old local gamign store could afford it

wow, then i wonder how some 14 year old kids in my old local gamign store could afford it

The stereotype is that the kiddies get their parents to buy it for them. I suspect that like all stereotypes, that this is strongly based in reality. I started playing 40k as an adult (well, as much of an adult as you are at 19, which in hindsight is not much) and at the time this stuff, while still expensive, was reasonably priced. I had a good paying, stable job with few bills other than basic living expenses, rent and the like. I was not dating at the time, so had plenty of disposable income. But I could not imagine back then how some kid (GW's apparent target audience even in those days) could afford to get in to the game. Now, over 20 years on and GW prices having risen something like 2-300% past the overall rate of inflation I really don't get how a child can afford GW's products. Either parents are giving their kids ALOT more in allowance than I got at their age, all the teenage GW players are dealing drugs on the side, or the stereotype is largely true and Mommy and Daddy are buying it for them.

TR

i guess all little drugsdealers

trading with other people helps keep the cost down too. Specially if you get really good at something like painting, just offer to paint other people models in exchange for minis. That is what i have been doing, I am painting a GK army for a guy in exchange for an entire DW army and all its costing me is time and paint. Since i enjoy the hobby aspect so much more than playing it is a win win for me. Although it might not be fair to my WAAC friends who don't care if a model has more than 3 colors. Plus i get kick backs when one of them win a best painted award at a tourney.

-Loki- wrote:Two decently sized core units will run you the cost of a 40k army.

Really? Wow.

I'd heard that whfb was expensive... but sheesh...

Baldsmug wrote:trading with other people helps keep the cost down too.

duh, I can't believe I forgot this.

Yes, dakka has a trading post. Yes, it's awesome and a half. Plus, trading with people at an FLGS.

Hi there
I have spent a wad load of cash so far on getting back into 40k and I have to say damn!. The problem is Ive ordered from 7 different retailers and tried more than once with most and I have to say there are a lot of bad companies out there. They dont let you know anything, miss items, take weeks (2-4 seems to be the average) before you get ur item, taking money and never recieving anything then ignoring you and lying so they can steal your money. Yes you get a nice discount on most stuff but at least at Games workshop you get excellent service all round when it comes to orders. The stores other people I know plus myself will AVOID AT ALL COSTS now will be the following:
Maelstrom
Wayland
Rocket hobbies
They simply are awful at getting things done some of the worst service Ive ever experienced and cant recommend to anyone as I wouldnt want anyone going through what we did. Who I would recommend is the following as they have excellent service, quick dispatches, friendly and always will help are:
Firestorm games
Triple Helix Wargame
These excel in every way. Well worth checking out