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Players with large (4,000+) armies! A few questions.  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in gb
Courageous Space Marine Captain






Glasgow, Scotland

-Guardsman- wrote:
From the signatures around here, I see that many players grow their armies past the 4,000 pt mark, even into the five digits. (WisdomLS lays claim to 30,000 pts of Blood Angels!)

I understand why people collect up to 3,000-4,000 pts; it gives them more options to build a 2,000-pt list, and allows them to take part in Apocalypse or a 2v1. But I am genuinely curious (not judging!) about why someone with, say, 7,000 pts would want to push to 8,000. Presumably they already have all they need for any game size they will encounter or any army list they may want to field. I know that if I had the money and the time to buy, build and paint 8,000 pts worth of models, I would branch out into other factions instead of collecting the same one.

What drove you so high? Did you manage to snag 2,000 pts of Tyranids for very cheap from another player, and add them to your existing 3,000? Do you feel the need to get updated models whenever they get remade? Do changing rules and new editions force you to constantly re-invent your army? Or are you just addicted to plastic crack (or paint fumes!) and unable to stop growing your army?

I am also curious... Is your army a patchwork of color schemes and basing materials (due to various previous owners or the evolution of your painting skill or personal preferences), or has one of you managed to build and paint a visually cohesive 12,000 pt army?

How large is your army, and how long have you been collecting it?

Have you ever taken a picture of your entire army? I know if I had such an army, I would! Feel free to post your pics here.

.



My armies tend to grow organically and I don't really aim for a points total. My Blood Ravens, for example, the goal is to collect a full battle company including support staff. I also have a chapter council, librarians, chaplains, a few tanks and flyers. At one point it sat at around 5000pts, now its hovering around 3-4k due to cheaper points costs. After I finish my battle company, I finish the First Company, then a Primaris demi-company, then work from there. It helps to have a set structure in the lore to guide me, but I don't buy units to fill out an army list.

My Tyranids on the other hand, don't really have set structures, so I just buy models I like, and again, not really aiming for a points total.

My new ork army is built around a Battalion detachment as a structure so that I never go "over" the limit and also limit my choices and purchases. But still, not based on points.



EDIT: Just did a calculation based of my Blood Ravens that I currently own, and I'm at 8000. LOL. And if you take into consideration the units I currently have planned and costed, its 12000. Then counting in the the units I don't have accurately costed out (mostly 1st company squads) and the Ultramarine exclusive units, I'm probably looking at around 14-15000.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/09/02 16:18:40


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Made in ca
Secretive Dark Angels Veteran



Canada

Fun thread! I totalled up my Dark Angels and I am just shy of 9,000 points. I've been playing them for almost 25 years, so its been a gradual build. I think I am a gamer ahead of a collector as I tend to build to 2000 point lists to play. Even when Apoc dropped I had no real urge to build a Battle Company. I don't tend to buy things that I don't intend to play with. The nature of the Dark Angels lends itself to a large collection. I have a 2000 point Deathwing army and a 2000 point Ravenwing army in addition to my baseline army. I've added a 2000 point Primaris force since 8th dropped.

My basing was consistent until 8th. I've gone from the old Goblin Green base to Astrogranite Debris. This was a "big decision" for me, made easier by the Primaris being new. My patchiest force is my Deathwing which is 50% old metal Terminators and 50% of the newer, larger plastic ones. I'm slowly replacing the metal ones.

I suppose I could put together a Battle Company but that would require another Assault Squad. Seems pointless, though, since Assault Squads are so meh these days.

Similar to Elbows I looked at my percentages. My smallest portion is Flyers (7%), but notably Troops is roughly half the points of the other categories. I guess there is not much variety and three full Scout, three full Tactical and two full Intercessor squads are all I need for the core of a force. Meanwhile Fast Attack, Elites and Heavy Support tend to cost more points and have more variety.

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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






HATE Club, East London

I own over 18,000 points of Eldar, which is absolutely absurd. I had a sizeable collection, to which I would add eBay purchases back when eBay was a goldmine. I then acquired a large collection for free along with some superheavies which were, themselves, at a bargain place. I recently bought a Revenant and a Vampire Hunter.I own about 40 Dark Reapers, which even I can admit is insane. I also own a dozen Wraithlords, and have no regrets.

I own approximately 15,000 points of marines for 40k, plus over a hundred RTB01 beakies and assorted metals exclusively for 30k use. Only a few thousand painted.

Mind you, I sold a few thou points of Orks lately, and I've stopped at 3-3500 points of GSC. That means I'm okay, right?

Though guards may sleep and ships may lay at anchor, our foes know full well that big guns never tire.

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Made in gb
Emboldened Warlock




Widnes UK

I started collecting over a decade ago, I just occasionally got a new unit that I wanted to try in my army and it grew over time. I never felt an overwhelming urge to start a new army or really had the money for a whole new army.

Ulthwe: 7500 points 
   
Made in us
Daemonic Dreadnought





Eye of Terror

Interesting thread! Have really enjoyed reading the stories about how armies got so large.

Going back to the OPs question, I have several 8k+ point armies. Once I have a small force, it's more than an exercise in army building. Here's how mine came together:

- Painting: my collection expands simply because I like to paint. My first pass never really leaves me satisfied and have no problem trying again.

- New Releases: some models are hard not to buy. I may never use them in a game but nonetheless feel I need them. Over the course of years, this makes an army huge.

- Deals: I know the cost of most GW kits. Some of my armies started because I was able to get the models for 25%+ off. My Guard cost less than 50% the retail price and continues to expand.

- Other People's Armies: some of my armies started off as someone else's. Most of my Daemons, Grey Knights and Guard came this way, people just get tired and want to trade or do something else with their life. Maybe the army starts off non-competitive, but eventually it gets there.

- Commissions: from time to time, I do commissions and end up keeping some of the models. Nothing shady, I may be asked for freehand work that's too expensive and be offered a Leman Russ instead of cash.

In terms of the 'big' armies I have:

- Black Legion - 12k points, about 10 years of building

- Daemons - 12k points, about 8 years of building

- Guard - 9k points, about 6 years of building

- Grey Knights - 9k points, about 3 years of building

- World Eaters - 6k points, about 10 years of building

- Dark Angels - 6k points, about 3 years of building

I rarely photograph a large army on a single table, it's hard to do that. You can see pics of some of my Black Legion here.

Now, I just got 2 of the Apocalypse sets, so all the CSM and Havocs are being updated, the Shadowspear models are being added, I have 2 more Forgefiends done and 3 Lord Dischordants still being painted. I repainted about 30 of the old CSM sculpts as Red Corsairs and traded some of the 2nd edition models at NOVA.

So this army will look very different next time I pull it all out.

   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





I realized I didn't know the answer to that question so I started mentally working through it and I came up somewhere north of 9000 points, which really surprised me.

It's grown organically as I've wanted to try builds out and new things have been released. I started with just the mini-marine stuff I thought I'd use in 8th, and then branched out into Primaris. At this point there aren't many things I don't have at least one of, and most of those are mini-marine things that I hadn't picked up one of before I realized Primaris is the future.

   
 
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