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I was planning on selling off some my stuff so while checking what it's worth I had the bright idea to price out my Space Marine army. After that, I couldn't stop so I decided to check my good old Cygnar army. I have fairly extensive armies in both systems which allow me to play most of the options available to me. Well without further ado:

Space Marines: ~$4000

Cygnar: ~$1600


I'm just glad they didn't add up to over $10000 but then these are only two of my 13 or so armies

The biggest shocker was that HQ figures alone for the Marines cost around $400.

So does anyone else wanna figure out what their armies are worth?

If your definition is "what they would cost me at retail if I bought them today" then yes, that is what they are worth.

I consider "what I could sell them for today" what they are 'worth'.

Most people selling models will find they have to reduce to at least 50% of retail. Then they have to either do the legwork to find someone to buy them, especially a massive large lot, or individually bit them out. Then expect some scammers or issues from selling. So you lose value there. By time all the time I spend and items lost, you may be lucky to get 30-40% of retail.

Or you can simply find a Wargame collector or do a deep discount on craigslist and sell them for 25% retail and 'move' them almost immediately if you don't want to spend 2 months ebaying/swapshap and shipping your models.

So I feel by default all armies are worth 25% Retail as that is the magic number which it can be moved with very little effort and quickly. If you want to burn your personal time, you may be able to get that up to 50%

So "what I spent" vs "What I would have spent in today prices" and "what I can sell them for" are very different.

Oh... and if you don't have them insured and itemized with receipts or some other form of documentation on your 'home/rental' insurance... they are worth 'nothing' in the event of theft or home destruction. I have a added 'rider' for my collectibles and wargaming figures.

I've been collecting since '88/'89. I think I'd have a mental breakdown if I tallied up my collection.

I was just checking retail. I have no intentions of selling off whole armies.

I tend to buy an army up to a certain level and then move on to another faction. So I have about 60 points of retribution with a few casters and that's that. Then I have about 70 points of Legion. Then I got 2000 points of mid war Soviets for Flames of War using Plastic Soldier Company stuff.

I tend not to collect entire product lines. So my individual army costs are comparatively low.

My $950 (AUD) GK army would cost me around $4300 to buy tomorrow if I lost it all. JUST to replace it. Even with discounts, it would still cost over $3k

I got the core of it when DH were released back in 3rd ed.
I picked up second hand GK PA and terminator models when I found them for a song.
They "borrowed" spare tanks from my SM (which got the silver, red, white and black liveries).

Started a similar thread a few months ago. Just as additional info.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/454189.page

Only $1600 in Cygnar ?

I'm embarassingly clocking in at around $2300 in pure Cygnar. I don't have a lot of the trencher stuff, so I'll blame that

Based on what it'd cost to replace from the GW website, my ~3K points of imperial guard would cost £692 now, assuming I've remembered everything. That's more than my car is worth :(

The sheer gackload that i have collected in my time is such that at the current point if i sold it all at retail value i could probably buy a house, the stuff to set my forge up, a car and have a fair chunk left over. as thus valueing it up would possibly destroy me mentally.....

Don't models depreciate in value as soon as the blister is opened?

Also, did he (^) just say "set my forge up"? Are you a blacksmith?

A long time ago I promised myself that I would never make that calculation.

I generally only buy armies up to X points. For fantasy that is currently 2500 and for 40k it's 2k.

My 2500 High Elves retail for $778

My 2500 Dark Elves retail for $741.83

My 1k Red Hunters retail for $612.65(due to a prevalence of FW parts)


Keep in mind this doesn't include my collectors models that I'm building up for painting, which is another $700 easy.

 AesSedai wrote:
Don't models depreciate in value as soon as the blister is opened?

Also, did he (^) just say "set my forge up"? Are you a blacksmith?

Bladesmith and Armorsmith. In training. I plan to open my own buisness but its just getting the money to set it up. Im still a student. My current plans are to get a level3 in ICT, get a job in the ICT industry, buy my own place and set my forge up then get the buisness up and running before quitting the ICT job.

matphat wrote:Started a similar thread a few months ago. Just as additional info.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/454189.page

Nice, but those are normal 'game' size armies and I was looking at apoc sized armies, like mine

cincydooley wrote:Only $1600 in Cygnar ?

I'm embarassingly clocking in at around $2300 in pure Cygnar. I don't have a lot of the trencher stuff, so I'll blame that

I usually don't duplicate any units besides jacks(4 Ironclads FTW!). I pretty much have everything except for, I believe, some solos, the trencher commandos & the trencher cannon thingy

With well over 8,000 models in my personal collection, I don't want to think about thier value (replacement or otherwise!). I do have a seperate insurance policy on them (which covers replacement cost as well as painting/modeling) that requires me to keep some form of record as to what I have in my collection (I take video and/or pics of the new stuff about once a month or so).

With GW inflation - beating price hikes - give it enough time and the percentage of original purchase price may land you handy profit or raise that percentage to near parity with new prices .

Upside of GW pricing policy

My 9k of Blood angels only come in at $2115.02. I really thought it would be higer.

Dynamix wrote:
With GW inflation - beating price hikes - give it enough time and the percentage of original purchase price may land you handy profit or raise that percentage to near parity with new prices .

Upside of GW pricing policy

The upside to the pricing is when you trade GW stuff retail for retail for something else. Selling the stuff never really nets much money.

Last time I bothered to add up both the time and money I've spent on the hobby I ended up quitting for a few years, lol.

My 35 pts Merc army for Warmachine comes to a full retail of; £133.90