Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have been away from 40k for a while and am going to get back into it. I currently have a Blood Angels army, Tyranid army, and Ork from AOBR that I dont use. I am seriously considering starting a Grey Knight army because of the new codex but is that too many armys to take care of? I also already have one squad of Grey Knight terminators because I needed a weapon for a conversion.

I've got Necrons, Chaos in both flavors and a DKoK army, and possibly more in the future. There's really not a limit

Only you can answer that question.
There is no limit to what you are allowed to have.
If you enjoy modelling/playing/painting a new army, why stop yourself?

It's a hobby. How much time and money you devote to that hobby is for you to decide.

Having to limit how much you eat is usually a sign of too many armies, though.

Play armies that fancy your interests. If that includes all, then by all means, collect and play all.

Put it this way.Is 13 too little?

I've got about 1000-1500 of every army simply because I enjoy the models and the hobby side of things. Occasionally I'll break them out. Nothing wrong with it.

The only important thing to keep in mind is to always finish one army before you start another.

How many points of each army do you own? How much of that is painted? If most of your stuff is unpainted, paint it before starting a new army.

It really depends. If you have time to play constantly, do it.
You do want to have the armies that really, really pique your interest. I've got a decent size Death Guard army that I picked up and converted for a song, a Space Marine army that I built with virtually no thought involved and my DE that I've actually paid attention to.
Result? SM haven't been played in months and CSM get pulled out every so often.

Brother SRM wrote:How many points of each army do you own? How much of that is painted? If most of your stuff is unpainted, paint it before starting a new army.

Tyranids are all painted except for winged tyrant. Space Marines still have a couple of vehicles in boxes but will soon be done and the orks I really dont care about. From seeing that many of you have way more than three armies I am going to start Grey Knights, but I have no clue about the color scheme. Any input?

So long as you have all your stuff completed, then no number of armies is too many. I'd eventually like to have many, many armies.

No. Unless you can't afford them.

I have four 40k armies (and three Infinity forces, two Stargrunt armies, one warzone army, one kryomek army, one full thrust fleet, etc) but I've been going for 25+ years.

I am limited by one factor. Storage space. I cannot get a new army without disposing of one I already have. I do not want to dispose of any that I have, so I cannot get another new army.

There is no limit to your armies, what you should do is limit how much you can buy. I restrict myself to a transport case and a large foam block in a vehicle transport for my 4 armies. Works well, except sometimes you wish you had other models than the ones you have.

I can currently carry my armies in my trunk, but anymore and I would need more space. Big stopping point for me.

I like to have many, many armies (and if I ever added up the points cost / monetary costs I may throw up).

I've gone from taking over a corner of my home to my hobby taking over multiple rooms in the hosue.

Is it too much - yes. Do I love it - yes.

I can play the army and style of army I want whenever I want and when friends come over and play they can pick and choose what they want to use and we all drink up and have a great time.

Brother SRM wrote:How many points of each army do you own? How much of that is painted? If most of your stuff is unpainted, paint it before starting a new army.

This.

Can't tell you how many junk minis I ended up with as a kid first getting into 40k, and how many armies were never completed.

A good way to limit yourself is to build up an army core, say 1,500-1,850 points that you know is going to run decently well at least in theory. Then you have a ______ army. Play with it, paint it up, and THEN add knicknacks. Just because you get roflstomped in your first game doesn't mean that the army sucks by any means, and it might become more competitive later.

If you want to maximize your value, the worst thing you can do is have a less-than-playable amount of points for every army.


At first it was a problem of motivation. Nowadays, I see the completed army as the goal. I won't field it if it isn't painted. You should consider, "How can I make this army look good, and still have it ready in a reasonable amount of time?". My CSM army took about 2 months, and my Mech IG took about 2 months from start to finish, and that was just painting at night. Having a color scheme that you can paint fast, and using advanced techniques like weathering that have a great time/payoff ratio, will prevent you from "1 model at a time" syndrome that so many people fall into. I'd rather have a fully painted army that one or two models that are stunning and the rest is the Primer Patrol.

I used to have 6 armies at once. So for me 3 isn't too many.

3 is too many, it detracts focus from painting, and building lists.

I have one army, and sometimes I think that is too much.