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Hmm
well when i make an army, its generally after i've thought about it for a long while. Generally the Fluff, histrory, colours, and what it's fluff-wise composition is.

Then i'll model a squad or so, see what it's like and then see what happens. If i like it, maybe do a few cmd models, ect. For example, my assaulty-guard army with lots of flamers, rough-riders and meltaguns, few heavy bolters to cover the charge.

Same with the marines, a very infantry-heavy force, with a couple of dev squads as support. A scout squad with shotguns/bolters is modelled for the look, but hopefully i'll soon have a shotgun squad and a bolter squad for infiltration and objective holding.
Land Raider Crusader then provides assaulty for a terminator command squad.

All in all, comes together quite nicely.

I start with a list and buy minis from there. I don't buy it all at once, though, instead I play the list at smaller point increments to see what works and what doesn't, as I'm not really experienced enough to know the chaff from the wheat of all the lists. I try to go for fluff over real effectiveness (I won't play a lash list, not a Slaanesh fan) but I'll add fluff to my armies to keep them competitive at my FLGS level. My CSM list I rather shamelessly cadged from a battle report, however, as it matched what I was looking for and looked potent enough to give small-medium tournaments a good run. I try not to spend more than $100 US per month, so I get a slow but steady buildup that lets me work on my painting skills.

I start with finding some models I like and build an army list.

I'll buy a few boxes (if I can't find good sprue pics) to see what extras/options you get and factor that into the list.

Then go out and buy the whole army in one go. Usually I'll buy substantially more than I'm intending to play - usually at least 3K points. The marine army I bought in december was 7K.

I tend to buy used stuff. If someone is selling some stuff cheap and I have the cash then I'll jump on it. Every once in a while I'll buy something new to fill in a spot in my army list that needs filled. When I get to the point where I have more models to paint than I ever think I'll be able to finish I just stop buying until I get them painted.

There's a lot of steps in my brain when I buy things.

Is the battleforce solid? If yes, I buy one.

How many of each thing in the battleforce do I need? For my tryanids I knew I'd eventually want to have 6 carnifexes. I also loved warriors and knew I wanted a full 9 of gun warriors and a full 9 of melee warriors. I knew genestealers were important but didn't yet understand why. Being friends with an Ork player I knew you awlays needed more boyz. Well, I figured with tyranids I'd always need more gaunts. Therefore I bought battleforces until the next one would give me a unit I wouldn't use. In my case 7th carnifex. I don't need it, no more battleforces after the 6th.

Is there only one unit in the battleforce I dislike? If yes, I buy one. However only one instead of chain purchasing them.
If I only like half the models in it I buy individual boxes instead. This was what happened with my chaos.

Are there models simply too good to pass up? With chaos this was HQ sorcs and with tyranids this was a broodlord. If there's exceptional units I get those after the "bulk"

What units do I like, but aren't as useful/important? For bugs this was lictors/zoanthropes. For chaos this is going to be Kharn and Ahriman. So buying little side blisters/boxes seasons the army to taste. These are the "flavor" units.

When I buy individual boxes I went for 2 troops, 1 HQ, then a heavy, more troops, elite, more troop, more heavy/elite. Then finishing touches.


Bought Chaos and Tyranids, looking forward to Necrons I see myself wanting to start with a battleforce, monolith, and lord with res orb. Then another battleforce and monolith. Then a third and likely the final battleforce. Then flavor units like the Nightbringer and Deceiver. Looking forward to Dark Eldar someday and based off the current dex it looks like I'ma do a battleforce and archon, then a battleforce, reaver (w/e the HS skimmer is, I forget), wyches, and after that I'm not sure.


As for my vamps (WHFB) Not sure. That army will not be large since it'll likely be only me and one friend playing it. A battleforce and some flavor units probably. Keeping to small games like 1500.

If I find a great bargain off E-bay or used minis at my game shop I'll pick those up. I don't hunt for them though and base my buying off of having to find deals. I have many more years left on my life to collect and game so I'm in no hurry. I do like buying the boxed sets due to having the sprues full of options and also having the boxes themselves. Added bonus it supports my local shop and GW directly, so everyone wins. Well, cept my wallet, but it'll get over it.


I hope that outlines somewhat my method.

I start with a rough army list and buy enough to field a small, legal list then expand, planning my purchases around what I find to work for a particular army. I pick up models I want just to paint along the way. I've set a rule that I can't buy more for an army until what I have is painted to keep myself working.

Gandair wrote:How many of each thing in the battleforce do I need? For my tryanids I knew I'd eventually want to have 6 carnifexes. I also loved warriors and knew I wanted a full 9 of gun warriors and a full 9 of melee warriors. I knew genestealers were important but didn't yet understand why. Being friends with an Ork player I knew you awlays needed more boyz. Well, I figured with tyranids I'd always need more gaunts. Therefore I bought battleforces until the next one would give me a unit I wouldn't use. In my case 7th carnifex. I don't need it, no more battleforces after the 6th.

Is there only one unit in the battleforce I dislike? If yes, I buy one. However only one instead of chain purchasing them.
If I only like half the models in it I buy individual boxes instead.

Wow. If you were my wife's husband, you would be TOTALLY on her good side. With me, it's like:

"Dammit Ghidorah. When were you going to tell me you spent $95 on a g'damned set of Imperial buildings?"
"But... but... I needed 12 more little wall sections for my project!"
*ducks flying checkbook and pen*




Ghidorah

A process from the beginning of time.

1. Choose Army (hard part)

2. Write List (easy part)

3. Tweak list (hardest, IMHO)

4. Purchase List

5. Expand Army

I look at battleforces and see if they contain the units I need.

I don't like the Dark Elf one, for example

What I did like, though, is the Tomb King and OOP Orc and Goblin Battalion.

I buy stuff on impulse (when starting an army, just because I want some variety of models compared to my main army) then I start to think about an armylist and add units needed for the lst itself.

I'm going to start building lists, then buying units for that list+some others for variety though.

I find myself buying models I like the look of and are good in the game and build my army list around them. I also work out If I need another Heavy support choice and then pick the coolest looking model that would fufill that paticular role on the battlefield.

Well, For all my armies in chronological order:

Dwarves: got the Battle for Skull pass, then picked up the big army set and a few characters +Gyrocopter right off the bat. Then bought an old bolt thrower (now serveing as a 3rd cannon chasis) and Ungrin Ironfist for 25% off at a clearance sale. Then grabbed 20 Ironbreakers.

Tyranids: bought 12 Genestealers and 10 ancient Termagants for $10 at a second hand store about 6 years ago. Then grabbed about $300 worth for about $50 last fall and got started. ran it through the meatgrinder a bit, saw some weaknesses, and evolved. Am seeing some more weaknesses and plan to evolve again.

Lizardmen: only list I ever planned. Got the book, drew up 3 Lists, chose one, got a battleforce, some extra saurus, 2 EotG and a Carnisaur.

I also have 3 to be worked on armies that just sort of happened.

I just get anything that goes with my army

My methods have changed with each army...however I usually try to spend less than $100 US a month (slow I know but this hobby isn't cheep), usually will only spend over $100 US if there is a sale going on.

Tau - built the army in an "arms race" fasion - my brother gets a landraider then I have to go get a broadside squad, and a hammerhead. Never had a solid list till recently.

DA - Built the army for 1000 points or less games, there is a reason I own no Tanks for them...

Orks - somewhat impulse but then I built a list, now working on collecting all the parts needed for it, and then I will expand for more flexibility.

Dark Elves - built a list, buying the list, and thats it (backup army if there is no 40k at my FLGS when I show up).

Other - if they look cool (like the Avatar) i probably will pick it up for a painting challenge with no intention of ever fielding it.

Recently, since I'm playing OnG, I've bought the first thing that came to mind for said army when I entered the store.

Planning on finishing a squig herd and a Boar Chariot....someday.

It depends on what I'm building the army for, if its a tournament army it follows like this:

Pick Army (In some cases the hard part but not essentially an issue when doing tournaments, you know which armies to avoid)

Write List (I usually start with the concept i'm going for, for example MechDar I know Eldrad, Fire Prisms and Jetbikes/Dire Avengers are going to be involved)

Buy List based on the concept I'm going for

Tweak List (Buy additional models to try out, tweak the army until it works the way I want it to)

Paint it.

However other armies like my Space Marines have evolved over time and with each new book I end up playing a different army. For example 3rd ed Marine book I had a mechanized Salamander force, this carried over to 4th ed too. Then I went for an all foot Jump Pack army in the 4th Ed Book. Now I play an amalgamation of the two led by Shrike always adding in models I like the look of to swap in from time to time and my purchases vary from those making sense (ie the wonderful 85pt DakkaPred) or people asking me if i'm seriously going to by those models (Vanguard Veterans being a good example).

I basicly make an army list based around "vauge fluff idea" & units I like from the codex.
I then venture out to the flgs,were I then purchase 75% of what I have on my list.
Upon returning home I have the "discussion" with my girl friend,promise to "watch the spending" and retreat to my desk,there I beggin building...it's at this point that the second wave of ideas hit's me (always involving some kit bashing/customization or sqaud re-vamp) wich will necessitate yet another trip to the flgs.
Basicly I attempt to be organized in my purchasing,but it always falls into discord & impulse buying.

1:Make a list of models a want and cost
2:Make a list of conversions i want with what it will have then what i need then the cost
3:Set time till next list should be made (current one is till sen of summer)
4:?????
5:have minis
but the list is always changing depending on what i like really
next on the buying list
Current lis
command squad
assult squad-maybe
attack bike-for sure
sniper scouts-maybe-
telion
conversions
jumpy captain with lighting claw and storm bolter(basis the space wolf captain)
bike command sqaud
vangaurd vet(basis assult squad)
legion of the damned(basis combat squade box)

I've got six different armies and I'd have to say that I tended to stumble into them rather than plan them out. Out of the six armies I own only one was planned for. The other five were all came about for various reasons.

Imperial Guard: My first army. The army that drew me into 40k (and away from WWII armour modelling). This army was planned and purchased in stages. 3000+ points in size.

Iron Warriors: Chanced upon a gaming store that was selling off all their GW stuff and bought a huge batch of Chaos Marines for cheap. Slowly supplemented the army ever since. This army became my 'main' army for many years since evereyone else I knew was playing a good guy army and it always felt right to play an evil army against them. 5000+ points in size.

Space Marines and Orks: Got my initial batch of these guys when I bought the old 2nd edition boxed set. Added a few units here and there over the years to make them viable armies. Space Marines got buffed again when the 3rd edition starter box was released. Both armies got another shot in the arm when the new 5th edition boxed set came out. Both armies are now 2000+ points. Probably wouldn't play either of these armies if GW hadn't put these guys into the starter sets.

Tyranids: Had no real interest in nids until a game shop owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse on the army box (the $300 one that comes with the codex). Added a few units here and there (battle of Mcragge etc...) to round it out to $3000+ points.

Daemonhunters: Once again, didn't really go looking for this army. Met a guy who was getting rid of his stuff and sold me over $500 worth of models for less than $100. Added more stuff to bring them up to 2500+ points.

My methods have changed over the years and depend completed upon when I started the army. They started with me buying sort of anything and everything, and have ended up with me planning squads right down to the individual model.

Ultramarines - My first army alongside my Tyranids, my Marine army started with just whatever I could afford as a small boy oh so many years ago. A Tactical squad here, some Terminators, some Heavy Weapons, it was all very haphazard. When I got back into 40K mid-way through 3rd Ed I was obviously older so I took it a bit more seriously and began buying the things I needed, I got some more vehicles, completed all the squads I had to make up a full Company of Marines, standardised and improved units so they weren't so random, and generally made things better over all. I then moved into the phase where I went and got lots of things to make up complete forces, so enough Scouts to do a bunch of different Scout units at once, ensuring that I can do several Terminator units of the new models and old models, increasing the amount of Special and Heavy weapons, having lots of redundant Sergeant and IC's so I could swap between lots of different weapon types. It was still done in small bits, rather than big lumps (except the Scouts which I got all at once), but it's an army now rather than a collection of models that I use in every game because that's all I own.

Tyranids - When I started playing Tyranids only 3 model kits existed for them; Tyranid Warriors, Genestealers and Carnifexes. Termagants were in metal and hard to find, and I had no interest in the also-hard-to-get Genestealer Hybrid figures. So, as you might imagine, the Tyranid army was a slow starter, with a whopping 9 Tyranid Warriors, 8 Genestealers and a single Carnifex to its name. When Tyranids finally got the full treatment in 2nd Ed I expanded with Lictors, H-Gaunts, T-Gants, Hive Tyrants, another Carnifex and Gargoyles, making a complete army. Most of that was done in a single go, with me saving up AUD$300 (a big deal at the time) to buy the Tyranid Army Box. I missed the 3rd Ed Tyranid re-release, but expanded upon the army when they were re-re-released again in 4th, getting 3 Battle Forces, a stack of Raveners and Tyranid Warriors, more Gaunts than you can shake a stick at (14 boxes!!!), an extra three Carnifexes, Tyrant Guard, more Hive Tyrants, Zoanthropes and so on. I even managed to get the Tyranid Army Box for about 2/3rds the price after haggling the GW store for it (they had had it in stock for well over a year by this stage and wanted to get rid of it, and actually offered a discount!!!). Since then I've gone and only bought what I needed to complete units, so a few more of the old 2nd Ed metal Tyranid Warriors, and some extra Gaunts.

Guard - I started a Guard army the day the Leman Russ was released. It was the first new tank in 40K since the Predator, so it was a big deal for someone who loved tanks and started 40K because I like sci-fi tanks. Pretty soon after the Russ came out GW started the project that would eventually lead to the first Codex: Imperial Guard. Each month they released a new type of Guardsmen - Catachan Jungle Fighters, Atillan Rough Riders, Cadian Shock Troops, Valhallan Ice Warriors, Mordian Iron Warriors, Tallarn Desert Raiders (and somewhere in that was the Chimera). I told myself I'd wait until all of them were out until I decided which ones I liked, and settled on the Cadians. Got myself two whole squads of Cadians and a Command Section, and then later a Tallarn Command Section and Squad and a Mordian Command Section and Squad, plus a Demolisher and a Basilisk!!! And that was my army. When I got back into 40K I decided that the Guard needed to be re-tooled into a proper fighting force. An army of 4 squads wasn't going to cut it, especially not in 3rd Ed where everything was cheaper (points wise) therefore you needed more models to make up a complete force. Plastic Cadians didn't exist yet, so I worked on expanding my Cadians and Mordians, getting myself up to three small platoons. I got a few more tanks, a second Russ, another Basilisk and Demolisher, a Hellhound and eventually 8 Chimeras. The plastic Cadians arrived a little while later and I just started buying heaps of them - the Army Box, Battleforce, and more and more and more and more and MORE tanks. I started buying Forge World items, including several Super-Heavies, and next thing you know I have 6 45-man platoons (two of them fully mechanised), 3 10-tank Armoured Companies, 1 10-tank Artillery Company, 1 10-tank Super Heavy Regiment, 2 10-walker Sentinel Companies and numerous other items. Guard are easily my fav army, and I'll probably keep adding to them as time goes on.

Chaos - Chaos got me back into 40K. When their second 3rd Ed Codex was released I jumped right back into 40K, bought the army box, and started my Chaos army up again. I had started when the 2nd Ed Codex was released, and ended up with a Chaos army that was all Terminators, Plague Marines, Berzerkers and Special Characters. I had a Chaos Marine army with no actual Chaos Marines. Falling in love with the basic Chaos Marine kit, I bought a LOT of them. And I mean a lot. Next thing I knew I had more basic Chaos Marines than I had actual Ultramarines, and I had a company of them! Like with the Guard, these were big buys of several units at once, but done gradually as things took my fancy. The biggest single purchase was at the end of 2006, when I ordered AUD$1000 worth of Daemons in a single hit. I had no Daemons at that stage and I rectified that situation with several units of Bloodletters, Daemonettes, Seekers and Furies. My Chaos forces grew to the point where I had enough to do a large World Eater force separately to my main Chaos force, and my Chaos force could do Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Black Legion and Word Bearers, and usually two of those simultaneously depending on how I put it together. Eye of Terror came out and I got a Lost & The Damned army, buying enough conversion packs to do 90 mutants as soon as they came out. Best fun I've had with an army in ages. And then, coming full circle, Chaos is what killed my interest in mainstream 40K. The new 'Codex' removed everything I love about Chaos, made my $1000 worth of Daemons (more now, with the inclusion of additional Bloodletters, Daemonettes and several units of Plague Bearers) and made my carefully modular Chaos army redundant... and they took away my Lost & the Damned.

From hereon the way I got my armies changed. Rather than just guying lots of everything so I could field any unit in just about any config, and sometimes multiples of those as well, I went to make specific armies designed with an upper limit in mind that I would not go over, just little forces that interested me. I have four armies like this:

Inquisition - Borne of my Guard army, this just started with me wanting to get a few Servitors to rock around with my Enginseers and then deciding that I wanted a pair of Kyoto-Pattern Inquisitorial Fireteams (as they were called back in the day). This then moved to me wanting to get a few of the Henchmen... and then all of the Henchman models, mostly for Necromunda. By the time I was done I realised I had the beginnings of an army, so decided to sit down and think about what sort of army I wanted. I didn't want Sisters, and as much as I liked Grey Knights a friend in our group already had them. So what about a pure Inquisitorial army? I had loved the Kasrkin models since I first saw them, but never got any because I didn't want Stormies in my Guard army. But as Inquisitorial Storm Troopers? Well I need troops, don't want to induct allies and don't want anyone from the Chambers Militant, so Inquisitorial Storm Troopers it was. I got 6 full squads. Now my eventual aim was to have these as an AirCav army, mounted in Valks. I had gone to buy Valks several times but had always been turned away by the cost and the thought of FW-Grade warped and miscast models. So I held off, instead turning my efforts to making sure I had more of the rogue's gallery of other Inquisitorial units (Death Cult Assassins, Daemonhosts, Archo-Flagellants, etc.). And then, as luck would have it, several years later GW goes and makes a plastic Valkyrie. I instantly bought 6 of them for my 6 Stormy Squads, and I'm looking forward to playing them for the first time.

Necrons - Our group has been working on a little endeavour called the Warhammer 40,000 Revisited Project for the better part of 6 years... since before 4th Ed came out actually. It started off as a simple revision to the Eldar Codex to make them playable in 3rd Ed, but span out to a full scale rules re-write. It's been a long and hard struggle, writing, re-writing and playtesting, but it has been worth it. It wasn't all happy sunshine and rainbows though, and there have been times where I've been sick of writing and playtesting rules. The biggest time was during a Marine Codex revision I was tired of the multiple complaints about things that I didn't want to change. I got so sick of the back and forth that I went on eBay and bought 8000 points of Necrons in two weeks. This was a release, buying something no one in the group had and giving me something else to focus on. It was planned out very carefully, with the army comprising of 4 'Wings', each wing with a Lord, minimum Troops and a Monolith at its core, and then each wing having a particular 'theme', so the first wing had more Warriors and two units of Immortals, the next one was full of Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers (and the Lord became a Destroyer Lord), the next wing was a HTH wing, with Pariahs, Flayed Ones and Wraiths, and the final one a wing with Scarabs and Tomb Spyders. The Necron army also served as my first fully painted army, as I intended to use them to teach myself how to paint. Ironically, as the person with the most amount of models and armies in our group and the most amount of unpainted armies, at our last event I fielded a nearly completely painted Necron army, more painted than any of the armies I faced!!!

Death Guard - An offshoot to my Chaos army I decided that my dinky 14 Plague Bearers needed to be something more than random models I had bought when I was a small boy in awe of the massive 2nd Ed Chaos Codex. I wanted a Plague Marine army. So I looked at what I had, what was available (metal Death Guard) and then saw that FW had just released the Plague Marine conversion kits. I had a number of left-over Chaos Marines form my buying frenzy when the 'Chaos' Codex was re-released, so I had spare legs for the conversion kits. I didn't care that Death Guard didn't actually exist any more, I just wanted a Plague Marine army. So I planned out the army - 4 7-man Squads of Plague Marines, 2 7-man Plague Marine Havoc Squads, 3 7-man(!) Plague Bearer Squads, 1 7-man Plague Terminator Squad, plus a few characters, and both the FW Death Guard Dreads, Rhinos to transport them, the Nurgle Daemon Prince and Great Unclean one. I then went out and bought everything in a single lot, and built them over the course of two weeks. This army is 'done'.

Deathwatch - Proving how strange I am, this army doesn't even exist in the rules! A mistake with GW mail order years before had seen me end up with a stack of metal DW shoulder pads and bolters, and then with the plastic Command Squad I got a few plastic DW pads. Then I noticed that the Terminator kit came with a single Deathwatch Terminator shoulder pad, and an idea sprung into my head - I wanted a full army of Deathwatch Marines. So I planned out my force - one Command Squad, two Tactical Squads, 1 Assault Squad, 1 Devastator Squad, 1 Terminator Squad, 1 Terminator Assault Squad. I ordered various metal shoulder pads, got Black Templar sprues, a box of Dark Angels, bits ordered Deathwatch Terminator Shoulder pads from various sites (this was just as Bits & Kits UK was starting, so a big thanks to them for helping me out, as well as the guys at the Wookiehole). I gathered the bits, decided that the army would be led by a Thunder-Hammer Wielding Ultramarine Captain, each of the squads would be led by an Imperial Fist (or successor - so I have an Imp Fist, Crim Fist and Black Templar Sergeant), the Assault Squad would be led by a Flesh Tearer (using the Berzerker Champion head), all the main Sergeants would have the Signum Backpack from the plastic Devs, each squad would have a Dark Angel as its 'second in command', the Command Squad had a Blood Angel Apothecary, the two power weapon guys in the Assault Squad are both White Scars, the leader of the Assault Terminators is a Black Templar, and so on. Each model was made to be individual, so that no two Marines were the same (except the heavy weapons which, due to the nature of the plastics, only had room for the DW shoulder pad and not any special chapter-specific pads). I love this army even though it doesn't exist.

My next and probably final army (until GW or FW does an Adeptus Mechanicus army that is) will be Crusading Marines, modelled on Black Templars without actually being a Black Templar army. Like with my Deathwatch, I will plan each squad right down to the bitz being used, and although it will be bigger than the other 'boutique' armies I have, it will still have an upper limit and not be an endlessly increasing army like my main four armies. I will also do it much more slowly, both to avoid a huge backlog of models (I have a big overflowing box of shrink-wrapped models in my main game room which looks like a GW stock order just arrived) and because I now have a huge amount of debt thanks to getting a home loan, so I can't afford to buy heaps and heaps and heaps. I'll still do massive orders in big blocks - as I've done the whole dribs and drabs thing and I hate it - but at a much slower pace and with larger gabs between each 'lot'.