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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?

Depends what role - if you have just 2x tac squads and are running rhinos don't take anything as you want to disengage from combat vs dedicated troops whereas anything that you'll win against (eldar guardians, imperial guard or nid babies) then you'll beat without power weapons.
However I find combi weapons to be awesome as I play Salamanders as you know :-)

Dev sgt - naked. hes a re-roll and an extra wound. The dev squad does well with missile launchers generally.

The ASM sgt w/ powerfist - he cannot get +1 attack from the pistol but will have 1 default anyway. He will have 3 attacks at str 8 on the charge vs 1 attack w/ meltabomb str8+2d6... I'd leave him with the powerfist and go a-hunting transports or similar. (on my ASM I'm taking a thunder hammer as with he'stan its essentially +5pts for master crafted.) Plasma pistols are pricey but can soften up things like terminators before the charge.

I look forward to seeing how this goes.

Interesting plan you have there. It looks like you've made a good start with that haul of yours too. I never seem to spot any good deals on ebay when I look..

nice project man ! keep 'm coming

Update C:

Progress is slow! University and work really don't help when you are trying to build an army...Easter holidays soon though so hopefully I'll get quite a bit done then.

I have, however, acquired some more fantastic bargains off of eBay to fill in the gaps in my army.

1) Scouts with Sniper Rifles, brand new in the box - £7.99! (RRP £15.50).




2) Terminator Assault Squad, brand new in the box - £19.99! (RRP £27.70).




3) 2 x Razorbacks (brand new on sprues) and a Predator (partially assembled) - £26.97! (RRP £68.70). Easily the best bargain I have landed so far.




Added a few other bits and bobs here and there bringing my spending so far to:

£124.81 (Total carried over from Update B).
£10.50 - A few Bitz ordered from an eBay seller 'BMF Bitz' (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BMF-bits). Top notch service, even chucked in a few extra parts for free!
£0.55 - A OOP metal Marine from eBay. Can't argue with 55p.
£7.99 - Scouts with Sniper Rifles from eBay (pictured above).
£19.99 - Assault Terminators from eBay (pictured above).
£26.97 - 2 Razorbacks and a Predator from eBay (pictured above).

- £8.00 - Managed to sell some Devastator Weapons I wasn't going to use on the Dakka Swap Shop.

£182.81 spent so far.

So I'm ~£30 over budget now, but I think I've acquired all the models I am going to need. Fingers tightly crossed that I'll have enough models / parts left over to sell and get myself back to my target of £150...I'm quietly confident.


On the modelling side of things I have made some progress. Everything takes an awful lot longer than working with brand new kits, nothing ever fits neatly together and a lot of it has to be pinned.


The mess that is my desk, pretty much all the Tactical Marines and Special/Heavy Weapon guys are built:




My jump-pack Chaplain with Melta Bombs that I thought came out rather well:




Some Sergeants with standard Bolt Pistols and Chainswords:






...and easily the best looking Space Marines in any army (that unfortunately never get used), the Heavy Bolter dudes:




I actually managed to get in my first game with these Marines the other week, managing to hold out for a draw against an IG player. A quick snap of my Devastators pumping out some Krak Missiles:




Cheers!

Looking good

Good to see that you are still making headway even if it isn't as fast as you would like! Some great bargains on ebay there! I know how you feel with other commitments my project has slowed down a bit now but I'm trying to get back on track. Keep going!

Update D:

Just a quick one, a converted Combi-Plasma for my Sternguard.





Huge pictures do make it look rather sloppy! Any comments / criticisms?

Cheers!

Love it. Neat and businesslike.

I love the combi plasma-bolter! Nice work!

Great stuff! Like vandez said, very neat

Looking good, power spray works well on plastic minis as well as metal.

Update E:

As I have absolutely no self control, I bought more toys.





They didn't cost much though. £4.20 for the NIB Attack Bike and £9.37 for the three 'ruined' Attack Bikes. Considering how expensive a new one from GW is I'd say that's quite a bargain.

I also picked up some cheap 60mm bases (10 for £5.11), as I'll need them for Dreadnoughts / Attack Bikes etc. Here is the eBay link if anyone is interested: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110590995141&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT.


As far as purchasing models goes, that is it. I'm not buying anything else. Promise.

£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.
£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 from eBay.
£1.31 - A large Bitz Box from eBay.
£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!
£10.60 - A few Bitz I ordered from www.bitzbox.co.uk. Great website by the way, highly recommended!
£10.50 - A few Bitz ordered from an eBay seller 'BMF Bitz' (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BMF-bits). Top notch service, even chucked in a few extra parts for free!
£0.55 - A OOP metal Marine from eBay. Can't argue with 55p.
£7.99 - Scouts with Sniper Rifles from eBay.
£19.99 - Assault Terminators from eBay.
£26.97 - 2 Razorbacks and a Predator from eBay.
£4.20 - A NIB Attack Bike from eBay.
£9.37 - Three terribly painted Attack Bikes from eBay.
£5.11 - Ten 60mm bases, again from eBay.

-7.50 - Sold 5 OOP metal Terminators on eBay.
-£8.00 - Sold some Devastator Weapons I wasn't going to use on the Dakka Swap Shop.

For a grand total of: £201.49.

Now I'm approx. £50 over what I wanted to spend BUT I do have a huge selection of models and components which I'm not going to use and will be reselling - hopefully I'll be able to sell enough to get back to £150. Initially I was aiming for 1500-2000pts but I've actually amassed over 4000pts worth of stuff. So....~4000pts of Space Marines for ~£150. eBay is awesome! I can't wait to get everything complete and then compare how much it would have cost me brand new from GW.

In other news, I've managed to assemble all of my Scouts:











I couldn't resist giving the last Sergeant a Shotgun and Power Fist. I don't think there is a cooler option in the Codex.

That's all folks!

Wow! That is a lot of marines

The scout with a power fist is very cool although you should probably chang the other arm so that is is also armoured to keep him consistent.

Those bikes are going to need a bit of cleaning! Hopefully you won't be able to tell the difference between them and a brand new one when they have had a decent lick of paint.

How on earth does that sergeant cock his shotgun?

Killamop wrote:How on earth does that sergeant cock his shotgun?

Haha!

Either he doesn't and just fires it once at point blank range and then punches people or he can turn his Power Fist off, cock the shotgun without crushing it, and then switch it back on again.

Marneus Calgar has two Power Fists but can still use a Power Sword according to the SM Codex, so I assume you must be able to switch them off somehow.

Fair one!
I am waiting with baited breath to see how this goes on

this is looking great so far, I'm interested! Keep it up!

LDP

Nice challenge, and with Plastics too!

I've found that if I can't strip it with acetone then I don't want to strip it (I had 90 year old leper hands for a few days after stripping a few squads with Dettol and no gloves).

I love the Scout sarge!

Thank you for the comments!

Chomo-Uri wrote:I had 90 year old leper hands for a few days after stripping a few squads with Dettol and no gloves

My hands still haven't quite recovered after stripping all of these models. Gloves are absolutely essential.

this is really awesome! great idea to scour ebay. I will have to do that to look for more guardsmen ^^. Gotta go to sleep but will read your thread tomorrow. I'm curious if you bought this same army new, what would the cost be? (the answer might be back in your thread, i'll check).

Power Spray works on plastic leave 10 minutes and scrub with an old toothbrush, not your partners.

I did a storm bolter yesterday.

Update F:

I'd almost completely forgotten about this blog! I broke my promise...spent a tad more money.

£5.90 - A few, very necessary, bitz from www.letthedicedecide.co.uk.

Bringing me up to a total of: £207.39 spent so far.


I've started painting, using some old 2nd. ed. Space Marines as test models. I'm a terrible painter, with very little time and with 4000pts of Marines to paint, so I've been trying to achieve something incredibly quick and simple.

--> Basic, block colours over a white undercoat:



--> Smothered in Army Painter Quickshade - Strong Tone:



--> Decals, bases and a coat of matt varnish to finish them off:













...and here is the whole test squad completed:



This approach certainly isn't going to win me any painting awards but it does mean I have a realistic chance of actually finishing the army. If I can achieve 'tabletop' quality then I'll be pleased!

Any comments or criticisms are much appreciated as always!

Cheers.

Great blog, I had a similar idea myself, but you've beaten me to it

There are some great bargains to be had out there, especially for patient/not too fussy people.

As Phototoxin says, this really is the most sensible way to collect an army these days and as you are showing, there's no reason that it can't look fantastic.

Really great idea, and good on you for trying it out! In my experience, eBay models are a bit of a mixed bag - some absolute bargains, some where the repair work is almost not worth the saving.
Top tip though: Poorly described "bits piles" - I looked through one and thought I could see some nice (but damaged) models in amongst the paint drenched plastic and general bluriness. I took a gamble and bid, and walked away with 5 RT stormtrooper models, 2 (admittedly damaged) OOP necromunda bounty hunters, some tallarn special weapons and a ton of plastic bits for £4!

Will be watching this with interest - good luck in your treasure hunting!

I also get bits at a time

Awesome project. Just watch out on the ebay addiction. I got in this mood myself where I want to grab all sweet deals I see, and end up with more models and bitz than I really need.

Make sure you dress up you 1500 list and 2000 list, then move the rest.

Good luck, keep us posted.

look out for the troll trader

Great to see some progress Ben! The marines are looking fine. They are not my favourite models but they have come out well and as you say perfectly acceptable for the table top.