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At the insistence of some friends, I am going to be undertaking a project that is a little out of my comfort zone. Building a tournament sized army, complete with display board, with the express purpose of selling it. Before I begin, I would like some advice.

#1. What is the standard sized army for most tourys? Locally we go 1500 to 1750, but there is very little in the way of organized play.

#2. Conversions: How wild should I get with my conversions? Other than the requirement that it be able to get into a GW toury (obviously), should I keep the conversions mind so that the models are easily recognizable, or should I go full custom rebuilds that look slick but might be a personal taste preference.

#3. Paint: Should I keep within GW’s scheme, or should I go with something eye popping and unique?

#4. Weathering; Again this is a taste issue, should I go over the top and make my vehicles look like it is at the end of a long campaign, or keep it subtle and only go with a few spots here and there of mild use?

In regards to my skill level, I have been painting 40k figures for a long time. My current army (Praetorian IG) is getting a lot of very positive feedback locally, and I have even done some commission work in the past (not my thing as I always paint to a higher level than I am contracted for). While I am not up to Heavy Metal standards yet, I can do a paint job a few steps below it in a reasonable amount of time. This army would be painted to my highest level of ability, as well as magnetized where needed to allow some customization for non toury play.

Round here 1850-2000 is normal so I'd say go with 2000 just because you cover everything.

Conversions can be done but don't do a ton of them and make sure it looks good like really good the buyer shouldnt be thinking *I could have done better than this*

Painting should be whatever you want but I think you should go with a theme and stick to it like ultra marines or a certian daemon type or Death Guard stuff like that.

Weathering is something all in your taste really if it makes your models look better do it! If they look nice and crisp better as pretty boyz keepum that way. Dont go outside your comfort zone as your models could very well suffer and so could your sale.

Why are you doing this because your freinds insistence?

Are they going to buy it from you?

Make an army you may want to keep, as all too often a finished army, even a very well painted and presented one, will have a very hard time selling AT retail cost, let alone for enough to cover your time/effort.

I've had better luck doing comission armies- painting up other peoples figs is better, as you dont have to make the investment and risk being stuck with an army that may sell at a loss

Another thought is the race you might want to do.

Marine would probably sell better than say, Deamonhunter, JUST cause it is easier to win with them.

Paint whatever the hot army of the month is and you should be able to sell it right quick.

-P

Mistress: Egging on by friends is only part of the reason. I also enjoy painting\playing other armies, but I dont want a full fledged "buy everything" commitment that another army would bring. This allows me to get in, paint it, play it, then get out while it has the "shiny new army" feel to it. I too have seen painted armies for for sub-retail prices, but I have also seen them sell for way more than the paint job would sugest. I think that it would depend on the luck of the draw if I went though Ebay etc.

Pork: Good point about the army of the month. Hmm.. I have some of the older Space Wolves models.. Might have to look into it more.

Keep costs low. Don't add frills that cost you more than will return. Don't add a display board, don't add the codex. Do a couple colors to a striking quality. Resin bases arent much but add a ton of value. Its all about look. Do the cheesy and spammy lists. You want people to say "oh jesus" not only at the look but at the list.

But most of all, keep the cost low. If you look at a lot of my armies I sell, it doesn't look like I make a whole lot, but you don't know how much I paid for it, how much I got for free.

Tabletop marines with a good list sell better than 10/10 of anything Fantasy, or anything 40k with a codex more than a year or two old.

Take my advice, I gathered it the hard way, from straight experience!

Spaceee Muhrines! Puppy Power!

If you know a local Empire player, the sprues for the Knights have wolf cloaks and regalia. Easy conversions.

I would wait until about Aug/Sept, then we should all know what is going to be in the SW list, and you can tailor the army to what people are going to want.

But I can't imagine there being a "wholesale" change and you have C:SM to look at too.

i would recommend finding the buyer before making the army

GMM: Thanks for the advice. I will definitly keep it in mind as I start planning this project. As an aside, I really loved the shading on your Cygnar jacks. Awsome I have been looking at the Blood Ravens for a while, they have a nice simple yet striking look to them so I might do a few test figs and see what comes of it.

Uriels: Thanks for the tip, I have not been thinking about the Space Wolves for a while, so I missed the bits on the Empire Sprues.

Doc: It would be nice to have it presold, but since I paint as a hobby (as opposed to haveing my own studio) the time frames can be extended for compleating the whole army.

I have always kicked myself for selling my 5000 of Ultramarines and 5000 of IG armies I had already painted up. Now I am looking at the mass of plastic left to be painted and I go,"NOOOOOO!!!!!!"