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Finish my army...
That will be when I have the complete Space Wolves chapter put together

I've just about got Ragnar's Company finished so only 11 more to go (unless I decide to do the 13th wolfen company...)

For me, it just means done to the point where it's playable, and I'm moving on to another army. Since no army I ever do is intentionally a dead end, my assumption is tat over time I'll add to it, with no upper limit.

Putting a size constraint on it isn't meaningful to me, because some armies will be MUCH larger than others.

Yeah I think I have probably close to 4000pts of Orks, about 60% painted but still far from what i would called "finished". I guess for me maybe (now I am answering my own question) it would be when I have enough models to build whatever list i can come up with for the games I play (usually 1500 pts) but i liek to play a different list every time I play and try to use a unit I have never used before most times, so i have a ways to go yet. I usually come up with a list I want to play and then paint up the models for it, then come up with a new list with a not before used model(s) and then paint that up for the next game. that way i slowly work through all of my un-painted stuff.

 Cieged wrote:
Fully painted for a major tournament.

I think this might be a good definition. If you're not finished painting a complete tournament legal army, then you're hardly finished, unless you only play pick up games and want a certain points sum.

Can a miniature army ever be done? Maybe when you quit the hobby.

Finished painting all my Eldar, CSM and demons, then sold them all = three finished armies

I don't my Blood Angels will be considered finished when I can field at least 2 of each unit. Some will have more than 2, such as Tac Scouts, DC, maybe SG. Assuming we get squadrons on our tanks eventually I'll probably top up to 3 of each tank.

I can field multiple lists if various points fully painted, but I don't feel anywhere near being finished.

My SoB, I'm still in the process if repainting everything and I added a few new models when ws got the digi-dex. Once everything I own is repainted they'll wait until they get plastic kits before I expand them...

Since I don't expect SoB to be updated anytime soon and I've got a bunch of Tyranids stuff from the Deathstorm boxes I plan on building up between 2 & 3k of Nids, just for a change of place.

D

 Reaver83 wrote:
Finished painting all my Eldar, CSM and demons, then sold them all = three finished armies

Yeah that is the only way I finished armies too. I sold them off fully painted before I decided I needed to add to them again.

I think it's a case of when it's done it's done. There's only a couple of things I really want to add to my marine collection, but that's not to say that in the future I won't revisit them. I think after a while it's easy to get army fatigue when painting, and I get a desire to do something new.

I just want the units that I want in enough quantities that I could play a usual 1500-2000pt army. I don't particularly want a whole space marine chapter. After I have what I want painted and based then that army is done. Of course I could see myself have two different armies of one race. Also new models I want means the army is no longer done.

I think you have different answers, but you clearly have three main trends:

1) Built to a play standard. Either tournament or Apoc, people finish an army when they can play the games they want to play with it. A rare subtype of this is the "one of everything" collection, which is a bit more common in Warmahordes.

2) Built to a fluff standard. A company of Space marines is the most common example, but any army that represents a force from the 40k universe.

3) Built endlessly. an army that grows continually, until sold off or the player leaves the hobby.

My IG has been pretty endless. 12 years in, and probably not a year goes by without some addition, no matter how minor. Even since 6th edition dropped, after which I've played less than a dozen games, I've added an ADL, two manticores, a few psykers, and I'm working on three old school epicast termites. I've got stuff, from NIB to primed, that still needs painting. My "goal," if any, is to have an essentially complete Infantry Platoon: six platoons of five squads each!

When using a 40k faction, I don't think of reaching the point that my "army" is finished but more so of when it can be justifiably called an army. On one hand I partially measure my collection of a faction in terms of points (Its a given that all models are painted to a acceptable standard), and it is something along the lines of : 750 points- a force, 1500 points- small army, 3000 points- sizeable army.

However even if I reach these milestones, new aspirations for my collection always appear, maybe I am content with my 3500 point army but I may still feel it would be developed further by a vulture gunship squadron etc.

Also I never usually think of my models of IG as a singular army. As I'm constantly chopping and changing the list I use for the next game I imagine that each guardsman in each list is a different one shipped to my disposal and the apparently same leman russ battle tank reduced to molten slag by a meltagun is merely a carbon copy of the old one, manufactured minutes after the previous one was incinerated at the same forge world.

The business of collecting models and crafting a force for me is absorbing and limitless.

I think desubot got it right - much harder to 'finish' a collection.

For me - A finished army has to be a fluffily finished army - my Ordo Reductor have 30+ thallax, three more land raiders, a legion rhino, another legion medusa, two 'draycavac' on abeyant, another magos, 12 scyllax, an imperial avenger strike figter and three Onagers waiting to be painted - even when thats all done, i wont be finished - domitar pattern robots, Thanatar-Cynis, Ordinatus, vorax, ursarax...

Tydil wrote:
I just want the units that I want in enough quantities that I could play a usual 1500-2000pt army. I don't particularly want a whole space marine chapter. After I have what I want painted and based then that army is done. Of course I could see myself have two different armies of one race. Also new models I want means the army is no longer done.

I have two Tau armies, one is "my" army, the one i expected to build and play, which is an all suit FSE army. The second one is regular tau, which is me just throwing in fire warriors and one ethereal, simple two armies, one stone!

For me, and army is finished when I can fit it all into a transport box, and pull at least two viable builds out of it (1000-2000 point ranges). Plus or minus some fun fluffy stuff.

My imperial guard's 293rd Landsharks is getting there, but I've recently gained two Baneblades, and this has forced me to consider a third, due to Beihnblehd companies.

I'm starting on a BT army, that is destined to have two Land Raiders, three Drop Pods, two Dreadnoughts, some Crusader/Tactical Marine swapouts and a couple of characters. I'm a good way in on that, too.

Third army will likely be an investment in 6mm 40k proxies/lookalikes. There may never be an end to that one.

http://i.imgur.com/oPifxat.jpg

That's my unfinished finished army. 1500 points of Tau (with a few extras) that I've been playing with for the last couple of months.

Need to get around to finish painting it.

After 20 years I realize that "I have this finished" will be never I would use the term if I painted all models I own for that army, but that will most likely never happen. It's too much fun to get some old metal models on ebay for a few bucks, so I probably will always have a huge backlog of unpainted models.

You can never finish an army. But a battle group or a cadre you can.

I like to forge my narrative, and to put some fluff to my minis. Right now, my Patrol Cadre is around 3000pts. But I want Manta on top of that.