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Now that I have your attention, I have sparked upon a dilemma: I wish to get back into gaming, but I want an army that is cheap to build (GW prices, not ebay), and wil not be made obsolete by a codex revamp in the next few months.

So what army would dakka say best fits the criteria?

S_P

Nids, good plastic range, not too sore on the wallet and an exciting army to play.
OR
Space marines.

Excuse me for sounding like a GW sales rep, but you should go for the Assault on Black Reach box. You get about £100 worth of marines, and plenty of Orks, including some unique models. You also get the rulebook and other essentials such as dice etc.

If you don't want AOBR, you could go for Marines, Nids or Imperial Guard. They're pretty cheap, and allow you to quickly build a useable army.

Space_Potato wrote:Now that I have your attention, I have sparked upon a dilemma: I wish to get back into gaming, but I want an army that is cheap to build (GW prices, not ebay), and wil not be made obsolete by a codex revamp in the next few months.

So what army would dakka say best fits the criteria?

S_P

They are all pretty expensive cost wise and I don't think any out weigh the other by much, and also no army should in theory become obsolete, I know Squats were ages ago, but I can't imagine any others getting nerfed while they are still getting new codex's. GW aren't in the habit of telling you "oh by the way we'll be discontinuing this army in 3months so buy it while you can"

Best thing would be to pop to a GW store, pick the armies you like and price up how much they'd cost. Its much easier than asking us to do all the work for you, and would be quicker too as GW staff can run through it with you before buying.

Definitely NOT orks. Fething expensive.

Space Marines or Tyranids. Tau are expensive, eldar are expensive, IG are expensive, CSM can get Expensive with all the obliterators you'll probably buy, Necrons are pretty cheap, space doggies are pretty cheap (About the same as space marines). Dark Eldar are relatively cheap, but hard to find.


Just go with space marines. Tyranids will kick face with all the monstrous creatures that are 40 bucks each. Almost the same as buying tanks though. A vindicator is roughly the same price as a carnifex.

Space Marines.

Relatively low model count.
Almost everything is available in plastic.
AoBR box set provides an excellent core for your army. Buy two boxes and sell or swap the Orks for more Marines.
Devastators can be combined with Tactical Squad models to make more cheap Devastators.
The vehicles are fairly expensive but isn't everything GW?

Although I like Nids and have a Nid army myself, the modern codex contains a lot of units which are either metal or unavailable and need to be converted. Also they are not cheap.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, while SM codexes are frequently updated there are never any hell's-foundation-shaking changes.

I would like to point out that I have the latest rulebook and 2 armies (last editions Guard and current orks).

I can do all the pricing, etc. from my com-pye-ter. I am merely looking for an army that can be fielded fairly cheaply, but still takes a fair degree of skill.

Btw, I will not break out my current orks, as the build I had was based around a "ooh that's cool, I must have one" premise.

Although, I could add some better units.....

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

S_P

Try space doggies too. They're pretty neat.

Space marines get my vote. They take plenty of skill to use to maximum potential. That. Also, if they're painted as imperial fists, well... you already won.

No eldar for you then? A shame...

Inquisitor_Syphonious wrote:Space marines get my vote. They take plenty of skill to use to maximum potential. That. Also, if they're painted as imperial fists, well... you already won.

No eldar for you then? A shame...

'Fraid not, the higher beings were just too expensive.
Even a small force was gonna cost around £150. I just don't have the cash-monies

So it's looking to be SM's for me then.

S_P

I would suggest buying a battleforce for whichever army you decide to start. Most are a full army, or pretty close, points wise, and you'll probably only have to pick up a few models to complete said army.

In terms for being out of date, here are the different codex's, and sorted by which edition they were released in.
3rd Edition
Necrons
Daemonhunters
Dark Eldar
Witch Hunters

4th Edition
Black Templars
Tau Empire
Dark Angels
Chaos Space Marines
Orks
Chaos Daemons

5th Edition
Space Marines
Imperial Guard
Space Wolves
Tyranids
Blood Angels

Hopefully this will help you decide which army you want to play.

Space_Potato wrote:Btw, I will not break out my current orks, as the build I had was based around a "ooh that's cool, I must have one" premise.

Although, I could add some better units.....

That's likely not a bad idea. Even if they are somewhat expensive to start from scratch, if you're using a couple of older expensive models that happened to be good choices in spite of the fluff/stat disconnect and a squad or two of boyz you already have, you could easily knock the prices down to something semi-reasonable, which is as good as you get from GW.

I'd point out that almost any good army will involve a fair number of vehicles or MCs, which cost a lot of money. The few I've heard of that might be considered good without vehicles/MCs are infantry hordes, which of course are expensive for different reasons. Small model count infantry, alone, just doesn't seem to cut it at most point values no matter what their stat lines are... that said, most of the Marine armies probably are more cost-effective, money-wise, than pretty much any of the others.

A space marine battle force, AOBR, a rhino/razorback or two (depending on how much you want to spend) would give you:

1 HQ

Space marine commander

2 Elite choices

Dreadnought
5 Terminators

3-5 Troop choices

Tactical Squad (or two combat squads)
Tactical Squad (or two combat squads)
Scout squad

1 Fast attack

Assault marines

1-3 Tanks
Rhinos and razorbacks!

That would give you a pretty efficient 1,250~ish list for $235 USD...

If you didn't want the tanks, $165, though I find 40k infinitely more fun when tanks are involved, especially transport tanks.

DaveL wrote:

Space_Potato wrote:Btw, I will not break out my current orks, as the build I had was based around a "ooh that's cool, I must have one" premise.

Although, I could add some better units.....

That's likely not a bad idea. Even if they are somewhat expensive to start from scratch, if you're using a couple of older expensive models that happened to be good choices in spite of the fluff/stat disconnect and a squad or two of boyz you already have, you could easily knock the prices down to something semi-reasonable, which is as good as you get from GW.

I'll run up some lists to see how I can get the orks to play. Hopefully the boyz are salvagable.

Failing that, I guess I can loot them for Chaos Ladz.

S_P


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I rooted through my minis, and the only salvageable orks I have are a big mek and some gretchin. Everything else is coated in... well I don't know what it is but nail varnish remover won't take it off.

So I'm gonna run Wazdakka's bikers of da Aporkalypz. Not really on the inexpensive side, but there's not too many guys

I have a list, and I have a klaw in every unit as insurance =3

S_P

Also, with AoBR, you can bolster the ranks of your orks...

If you are looking for armies that can be fielded cheaply, I suggest checking out GWAR!'s Wundificent Army Rosters. I was shocked to discover which army could field a full FoC with the fewest models.