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So, here is my issue. Im pretty broke most of the time, and I play 40k (chaos). Those two things do not mix well, as most of you know. Any suggestions on the cheap ways of 40k?

Get Dark Vengeance chaos models from E-bay.

Sprew hammer. Keep all your sprews and with a little imagaination and elbow grease you can make a whole army

Look for discounts on ebay.

Starter set minis aren't too expensive.

maybe some part time work may help? (depending if you are old enough to work)

Play Draigowing.. 2000 point army can be bought for $200 US and will fit in a cigar box.

Get a job and then buy stuff with the paycheck from said job

Look for alternate games.

Or discount shops.

Along with Trondheim's part, I'll add a few things.

If you are broke all of the time then perhaps you need to take a look at your priorities and make some decisions on how you want the next several years of your life to go. Being constantly "broke" isn't a great state of being.

If you have any capability at all to improve your lot in life then I'd suggest you figure that out.

Regardless, I doubt you're all that broke considering you claim to have 4 different armies: and this isn't a cheap game. Perhaps it would be better to simply consolidate and focus a bit more.

I'm on a similar boat.
I've had to put the hobby on hold for a bit, most of my money is going into other things, and I'm trading for my minis now. I have put a limit on my spending. I will not spend more than $40 in a go, and just piece the rest out through trade.

Get a job at a fast food chain, they always need work.

 Trondheim wrote:
Get a job and then buy stuff with the paycheck from said job

Poorhammer = eBayhammer, discountstorehammer, spruehammer, conversionhammer, elitearmyhammer and sticktosmallgameshammer.

 The Shadow wrote:
Poorhammer = eBayhammer, discountstorehammer, spruehammer, conversionhammer, elitearmyhammer and sticktosmallgameshammer.

THIS

Terminator Armies.

I've had great fun building my DW from two crusaders, three squads of DV DW and a regular DW box.

I converted the rest of the Termies from my bits box. They look great and no one has said a bad thing against them.

conversions save money as well
see above

I look on Ebay, Blue Table Painting has pre-owned models and decent price... some might need a simple green bath though , DV, etc.

For vehicles go to BBC Archive and places like that, you can find paperhammer articles everywhere and get plans to do cardstock vehicles and such. That is what i have been doing recently. Just finished a warhound titan. Total cost... cheap, just time, printer, some creativity as plans are not totally easy to figure out and you can build other things than just vehicles like a recked Ultrasmurf Rhino. The video below might show how you might save some funds and be able to be in hobby... might not be able to do tournaments but.. i been doing this hobby since 1990 and never bothered doing a tournament .



I myself started years ago, however i am not super up on newer figures and models but i have sizeable collection from over the years. I do have a hard time affording it now especially with my Ex taking 1/2 my check and then i pay daycare on top of it. Long story, but at least i taking care of my boys even though i am just in "survival mode." If you are taking care of your responsiblities than just make due when and if you can unless you can better yourself. In these days your responsiblities are more important than hobbies by far .

all kinds of advice on here

take my advice

take theirs

How about you sculpt your own models with green stuff and use instand mold to cast them

You can get new boxes for good prices at miniaturemarket. They even have the new hardcover codex versions for the price of the older paperback ones. They do not have a complete range of products though, so you will need to get some stuff elsewhere.

To the mean people trying to discourage a player, lets be nice and encourage new players. He may be putting all of his money into the rent or living expenses, leaving him with only little fun money at the end of the month. I'm not going to judge.

I've been playing since I was 15, and I might even be a cheaper bastard now than I was before. Some tips:

- PPM, or Price Per Model. If I'm buying a box, I do a little long division on how many doods my dollar gets.
- Buy basic, convert up. Do I need the finecast plague marines ($6.42 PPM), or can I greenstuff some chaos marines ($3.73 PPM)?
- Get creative, I've been using a lot of fantasy models due to the lower PPM while getting some very nice results in a CSM army. A Zombie Dragon is almost $20 cheaper than a heldrake, and with a little converting they look a hell of a lot better.
- Build an army off expensive guys. This is why people suggest Grey Knights. You might want a Demon Prince, as the 300pt ball of fury is still points effective albeit expensive. Run expensive guys and stretch your dollar. I started plague marines because I could get 1500pts out of 30 dudes, 'cause I was cheap/poor.
- Plan out every freaking model! I don't have much more than a dozen guys that sit at home. Everything has been planned, play tested, and built based on my need to not have a lot of extra lying around.

If your painting skills are at least average, get another friend into the hobby who doesn't want to paint, and offer to paint his stuff, so long as he buys you minis as well. I've done that in the past... if I'm assembling and painting a Termy squad, buy me a termy squad in payment.

i'm pretty b'rassic myself but i have found that ebay is great for getting models cheap - and i'm learning how to convert through necessity!

 Trondheim wrote:
Get a job and then buy stuff with the paycheck from said job

This.^

Welcome to capitalism.

Do you have to use GW models? There are plenty of cheaper models from other companies that can make things a bit easier on the pocket...especially if you go for IG or traitor guard.

Other than that it's all about holding out for bargains on ebay if you don't mind the work of stripping old minis you can get good deals on poorly painted GW miniatures on ebay.

A lot of people saying "get a job" but didnt see where the op said he was jobless, maybe I missed it.

Personally most of my money goes to bills and so on, so if there's something I want I try to trade for it. If you want a cheap army trade your demons for DV terminators. If you want to keep playing demons then check out eBay and learn to strip and re purpose old painted models for cheap.

Miniature games in general are expensive. It's an expensive hobby, but fortunately once you amass a certain points level, you never need to buy more minis again.

The real expense comes in when you succumb to NMS (new miniature syndrome).

My advice is to pick a good list, try all the methods above to get it cheaply, and then stick to it.