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My friend is looking to get into 40k but doesnt want to spend too much money is looking for a less expensive army to build.

To my understanding grey knights are a relatively inexpensive army to build, but my girlfriend will be building them so we want some variety.

Any advice?

You could always do other SPEHSS MEHREENS. Alternatively there's Daemons, I understand they don't field many models.

Chaos Space marines can eat alot of points per model if cost is an issue. And look to buy used models, both at your local game store as well as off of the internet.

Imperial guard are cheap. There are so many alternative models you can get cheap human men pretty easily. there are also a lot of guard for sale second hand all the time.

Imperial Guard are good for cost and you get to field a fair number of models for points value too.

Dark Angels - look for DV models, they tend to be on the cheap on Ebay.

Seconding the IG thing, third party and second hand models make this army easier on the wallet than you'd expect.

Orks though, Orks are champion for poorer players. AoBR Orks are a dime a dozen, and you can use the koptas in there to build Nob Bikers, a very pricey and powerful deathstar unit. You can also use toy tanks and gak as bases for vehicles, and build practically any unit out of Boyz or Nobz + bits

I played a Zombie Army yesterday.

Typhus
Five Plague Marines w/SGT
90 Zombies in 30 Zombie blobs

vs

Full Pathfinder team with three rail rifles with Darkstrider
Two Fire Cadre attached per two full Fire Warrior Squads
Four full Fire Warrior Squads.

He used whatever cheap models he can get off Ebay. So was Orks, Tau, IG, DE, Eldar mixed......The Walking Dead Horde..missing arms, some with weapons (clubs)..

Serious chasing me around the board...using Buddy Squad rushes away from them...FNP was a pain...just an idea

Make sure you understand that "less expensive" is still between $300 - $500 for new models, depending on what you want.

There are a few good pieces of advice, but as a very cost conscious gamer, here are a few things I have learned;

1 - Ebay - see if you can find an army on ebay. Several of my first armies cam from lots on ebay of people getting out of the hobby. you may have to make some repairs/repaints etc. but if you find a good deal, can save a ton.

2 - Local players changing armies - look for local players selling off armies - that way you can see them in person (as oppose to ebay) and get an idea of what condition they are in.

3 - Dark angels (as mentioned) - or chaos - since they are in the darkvengenace set - you can get the tactical squad for about $12 on ebay, and five of the terminators or a squad of 3 bikes fro about $15. It does not get much cheaper than that, even for used minis.

4 - Tau - wait a few months for the "shiny" to attract the older codex hoppers to a new book once the net learns how to beat tau, and tons of them will show up on ebay. Right now you can get the old metal pathfinders and old broadsides for dirt cheap.

With a lot of careful shopping you can save money...but like collecting corvettes doing this "cheap" is a relative term.

best of luck!

The only help he needs:

Put the models down, turn around and walk away. Seriously, crack will be cheaper.

Unless you have the 4 spare kidneys the "GW hobby" will cost you (or can find them).

 chromedog wrote:
The only help he needs:

Put the models down, turn around and walk away. Seriously, crack will be cheaper.

Unless you have the 4 spare kidneys the "GW hobby" will cost you (or can find them).

Not entirely true. Be patient and hunt for good deals. I once spent 4000 grand over 2 years and had an army of guard worth far more than 10,000 mostly second hand. Had amazing OOP, conversions and very well done armies. It can be cheap. just gotta look for it. BUT then you got paints and all that (or if you like me commission)

 Swastakowey wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
The only help he needs:

Put the models down, turn around and walk away. Seriously, crack will be cheaper.

Unless you have the 4 spare kidneys the "GW hobby" will cost you (or can find them).

Not entirely true. Be patient and hunt for good deals. I once spent 4000 grand over 2 years and had an army of guard worth far more than 10,000 mostly second hand. Had amazing OOP, conversions and very well done armies. It can be cheap. just gotta look for it. BUT then you got paints and all that (or if you like me commission)

Heh...I think this reinforces the point (well, mine at least) - cheap in 40k is measured in hundreds and thousands....not in $5 and $10's.

Of course, we don't know the ....scale ...the OP is talking about. Is their "cheap" $400 or is their cheap < $100.

Getting into 40k for less than $500 is possible.....(again, read some of the suggestions in this thread, and others) but getting into it for much less and having a 1500 point army.....that is exceptionally unlikely.

Thanks to all.

I never asked the for cheapest, but the most inexpensive.

In the end he went with CSM Deathguard as they can field a really small amount of units.

But the talk of IG Second hand units has really caught my eye as I play IG myself, and wasnt aware that they were big on the second hand market.

Well scaled down mine was less than half price But i got all mine of trademe but its a local sire to NZ. Ebay has lots of crap on there but some good stuff. Usually its pretty over priced on Ebay from what i have seen.

 Swastakowey wrote:


Not entirely true. Be patient and hunt for good deals. I once spent 4000 grand over 2 years and had an army of guard worth far more than 10,000 mostly second hand. Had amazing OOP, conversions and very well done armies. It can be cheap. just gotta look for it. BUT then you got paints and all that (or if you like me commission)

Oh, I'm well aware it's possible to get it for less than the three kidneys it will cost you in Oz or NZ. My comment 'twas made in jest. It's what I do. Rarely will you see a totally serious comment from me about gaming. I just don't take it that seriously.

My GK army, started in 3rd ed and finished in 5th cost me $900 AUD or so to assemble its 3500pts worth. Mostly second hand metal figures.

In plastics, at retail, that's now $4500AUD (or 500% of what it actually cost me). About 50% of that is due to GW's annual price hikes here.
I've since stopped playing the game and have downsized my collection of 40k after branching out into other games (although tbh - 40k was always another branch on my games tree anyway - I've never been a single game-company/system player.)

If your friend has converting skills, then yes, orks are the cheapest army. If you don't, though... not quite so much.

The cheapest army to buy is the one that comes in the starter set, as it always is. The only problem with this at the moment is that the CSM force in dark vengeance is hopeless. The old Assault on Black reach orks might still be on ebay, and you have space marines in the current starter set... and the last one... and the one before that...

GK aren't that bad, as said, especially if you're going draigo-wing. Of course, any terminators-as-troops army is going to be cheap. If you want the absolute cheapest, then run a deathwing, as it's both terminator-based AND in the starter set. You can make a deathwing army for ABSURDLY cheap army right now.

davethepak wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
The only help he needs:

Put the models down, turn around and walk away. Seriously, crack will be cheaper.

Unless you have the 4 spare kidneys the "GW hobby" will cost you (or can find them).

Not entirely true. Be patient and hunt for good deals. I once spent 4000 grand over 2 years and had an army of guard worth far more than 10,000 mostly second hand. Had amazing OOP, conversions and very well done armies. It can be cheap. just gotta look for it. BUT then you got paints and all that (or if you like me commission)

Heh...I think this reinforces the point (well, mine at least) - cheap in 40k is measured in hundreds and thousands....not in $5 and $10's.

Of course, we don't know the ....scale ...the OP is talking about. Is their "cheap" $400 or is their cheap < $100.

Getting into 40k for less than $500 is possible.....(again, read some of the suggestions in this thread, and others) but getting into it for much less and having a 1500 point army.....that is exceptionally unlikely.

I have yet to spend $500 on this hobby. Including everything I've ever bought for any wargaming purpose and I have over $1000 and 2500 pts of barebones Blood Angels and I have actually made $200 back.

Use the swap shop. It is your friend. eBay too.