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Hello everyone, currently I am in a dilemma of sorts as I am debating between either taking two or three 40k armies both to cover my indecisive tendencies and addiction to plastic crack as well as to fulfill my love for the various armies fluff. However that being said I am worried that by getting to many armies it will be a waste as one may end up "collecting dust" as it were. For example the dilemma I am in right now:

-I have currently 2500pts. worth of Elysian Drop Troops which gives me a 2000pt. list with 500pts. worth of extra stuff, a trend I want to continue to with the rest of my armies.

-I want to construct an Imperial Guard/Astra Militarium Steel Legion Tank Company because I love the fluff of Rommel and his actions during WWII in Africa. However this would give me a 2nd Astra Militarium army despite it having a completely different playstyle.

-Farsight Enclave Tau as I am a fan of Mech-Anime and grew up watching Gundam Wing, ect. Besides that I am a fan of the idea of a mech suit and all the variety that it offers.

So in regards to you guys I just want to know, how many armies starts to become to many armies? I originally wanted to this to be another "what army should I pick thread" but firgured it would be more constructive to the community as a whole if we got input to the bottom line problem. Also what recommendations would you give for collecting armies, such as you should have x1 Imperial and x1 Xenos army, different playstyles, ect. Looking forward to your input, and if you have any advice about my above dilemma feel free to give me your suggestions!

Why not can the idea of a third army and start two or three other new games instead?

For the cost of a 40K army you could buy a very nice Star Wars X-Wing setup and a good set of 15mm armies for De Bellis Antiquitatis.

That would give you three very different game styles to play.

Truth to tell you can get a very nice DBA set up for the cost of a Knight Titan and its Codex.

Its up to you in the end to figure out if you have too many armies. If its a game you really enjoy to play or paint then you can never have too many armies. As for having two of the same race, no problem, you will get a different play style out of the Steel Legion than your drop troops.

I have 11 40k armies, five of which are Space Marines. Ill admit, I might have one or two too many Space Marines but they are fun! Each of them play differently, I have Imperial fist that I play with normal units, Grey Knights (sorry, I'm one of the psyback spammers ), My own chapter all mounted on bikes, Black Templar that go Land Raider heavy, and Space Wolves that I use piles of Terminators.

The way I look at it is if you have the space, the money and you enjoy what you are getting, then do it.

As for how to collect, fluff, color scheme and play styles get me into new things .

 Kilkrazy wrote:


For the cost of a 40K army you could buy a very nice Star Wars X-Wing setup and a good set of 15mm armies for De Bellis Antiquitatis.

Already have a Rebel Fleet started but want to keep this more focused on the 40k side of things.

I have... all the armies listed in my signature.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
No such thing as too many

Personally 3 is the sweet spot. Chaos Space Marines, Sisters and Inquisition. Any more than that and I find they just sit unpainted gathering dust (sold off both Dark Eldar and Daemons armies in the past). Having said that I have a worrying tendency to buy Vostroyans from Ebay so a Guard army could be in the pipelines. This is why I'm a big fan of allies. It allows you to game with more of your otherwise unused models.

Depends how much you are attached to 40k. I'd suggest after 1 or 2 armies looking at other games. There's so many other wargames out there that you can try.

If you are only attracted to 40k and don't care about those other games, however many you want, I'd just suggest aiming for 1500-2000pts before you move on to your next army otherwise you'll end up with a few squads from every army instead of 1 army you can actually game with.

5+

Whenever you realise that everywhere in your home gives line of sight to a 40k model, you have too much.

When you run out of money :-)

Whoops... there doesn't seem to be anything here.

 Selym wrote:
Whenever you realise that everywhere in your home gives line of sight to a 40k model, you have too much.

\


THIS XD

I don't have SoB and DE. 2000pts+ of everything else. Plastic crack... good...

I have all but Blood Angels and Dark Eldar, is it too many? Probably, but I have been playing a long time and building a new army every year means it isn't that expensive, at least till GW upped the release cycle. I love building armies, not buying new ones would mean I miss out on that.

Having that many armies and playing the same guys week in and week out for years means good variety of match ups, campaigns etc.

I do not understand the question

I think the addition of the allies rules gives great opportunity to add smaller forces to you main armies and go hog-wild. My main armies are BA and SoB but I've got allied detachments of SW and IG, which I can build into full armies if I have the inclination.

D

I have 2 40k armies right now. DA and orks. DA are not going for a long time. Too much work in it. Im thinning out my orks. Just cant support them with $$$ or time, Sold off my nids and IG when the new codex hit both were themed small (under 500 pts) armies. Scratched my counts as BA army project.

Having an almost 2 year old puts things in perspetive.

Several small armies is no biggie.

It's when they grow up into large/huge armies and start eating your house that it becomes an issue...

The only things limiting my armies as far as I'm concerned, it's storage and rate of painting. Money doesn't really become an issue for me because don't buy more stuff until I've got everything painted.

I have three armies, though only two of them are built to a true standard.

But IMO play what you enjoy playing. Variety is good, and the difference between Elysians and Armored Battlegroup means that they're practically completely different armies anyhow.

I have two armies for Flames of War, but there, the difference between armies is much much less, and so I am trying to get rid of one.

I have one army for Field of Glory, but that's all I need there.

I'd say that more than 8 armies is too many. I've got 5 (4 under 2,000 and 1 over 10,000) and I can barely keep up. If I added another 2 or 3 armies, I can say for certain that I'd be unable to stay on top of painting and some armies would never see a game.

For instance, my Eldar have never been played, though I've had them for 3 years. I've only begun painting them this year, because I've been focusing on the Tyranids. I see no point in buying more models that will remain unused and unpainted for more than three years...

Yeah, painting is a large factor. If you're into painting stuff, that is.

I can do a 10-man IG squad in an evening, or one mini I actually like in the same timeframe.
If I were to make an army of, let's say GK, it's gonna be "Days x Models" bought until I can think about getting something else.
In the case of an IG army, it'll likely be "Days x Units", as long as I'm not doing conscripts.

Which means I could finish a respectable GK army in a month, but an IG force could take me all year.

And then there's updates, shiny things, delays, money, storage etc.

 Selym wrote:
Yeah, painting is a large factor. If you're into painting stuff, that is.

I can do a 10-man IG squad in an evening, or one mini I actually like in the same timeframe.
If I were to make an army of, let's say GK, it's gonna be "Days x Models" bought until I can think about getting something else.
In the case of an IG army, it'll likely be "Days x Units", as long as I'm not doing conscripts.

Which means I could finish a respectable GK army in a month, but an IG force could take me all year.

And then there's updates, shiny things, delays, money, storage etc.

I'm nowhere near that speed - I manage maybe a squad of 5 a week, if that. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the game, but it just feels better watching an army of painted minis rather than a bunch of grey plastic.

Enough... Is NEVER enough!!

I have a total of 16 armies, divided over 4 different games. And I am only just getting started I plan to eventually have most WHFB armies, most Dystopian Wars armies and start at least three new games for which I also want to get most armies. I also want two or three new 40k armies.
What to say? I just like variation, I can't work on the same army for a long period.
You can have as many armies as you want, the only limiting factor is money. But if you keep your armies small, you can get more different ones.

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Selym wrote:
Yeah, painting is a large factor. If you're into painting stuff, that is.

I can do a 10-man IG squad in an evening, or one mini I actually like in the same timeframe.
If I were to make an army of, let's say GK, it's gonna be "Days x Models" bought until I can think about getting something else.
In the case of an IG army, it'll likely be "Days x Units", as long as I'm not doing conscripts.

Which means I could finish a respectable GK army in a month, but an IG force could take me all year.

And then there's updates, shiny things, delays, money, storage etc.

I'm nowhere near that speed - I manage maybe a squad of 5 a week, if that. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the game, but it just feels better watching an army of painted minis rather than a bunch of grey plastic.

Don't worry, my IG troopers look like crap.

They are TT standard, and as a large mass of bodies look good (They get fielded in numbers of 40+, close together), but they are not worth getting a close look at. It's pretty much:Base in black, use Steel Legion Drab for trousers and shirt, leave skin and armour black, paint the gun silver. Add red for vets.

If it's a model I give a damn about (and is likely to last longer than a single turn) it gets much better treatment, but my progress stops dead.

I can tell you what too many armies looks like.

Some of my friends thought 7th edition was too much, and decided to sell their armies. I thought they were being hasty and might want to return to the game someday, so I bought some of their armies to keep them off eBay.

I have over 20,000 points of CSMs sitting around right now. There are 18 of the smaller gray cases and 6 of the big black cases littering my basement. I have 12 Christmas ornament boxes filled with Land Raiders, Rhinos, Defilers, Predators and Fiends (but, strangely, no Vindicators). I have 5 cardboard boxes filled with sprues, enough to make over 200 CSMs, 120 or so Berzerkers, 100 Cultists, plus a lot more. There's Iron Warriors and Night Lords in there - most of which are modelled with the upgrade bits. There's converted World Eaters in there, plus several squads of the old models with the bolters.

The CSMs are enough of a mess that I moved them all into a corner to make room for Orks. I bought some Ork armies after the new Codex came out, mostly because they were cheap. The thing about Ork players - they don't need carrying cases for their troops. I have this pile of boxes, shoeboxes, and a bucket filled with all manner of Boys. There's at least 400 in that pile, plus Nobs, painboys, etc. I have 12 Trukks, 9 Looted Tanks, 3 Battlewagons, at least 35 bikers, 12 Kans (including some nifty conversions), and a ton of other things that I can't really identify.

I am sitting out 7th edition for various reasons and regretting plunking down the money. There are so many of these things I can't actually pull them all out since there's not enough room to deal with them all at the same time.

I have 3 armys also, DKoK, SM and Nids. so it's ok to have 3. It's still your choice though.

If you can play a full size 32 man tournament by yourself.....




You still haven't got enough models.

There is such a thing as too many???

Not really. Don't sweat it. Just collect what you like, enjoy the process and have an awesome fun hobby.

If you like it, and are willing to fund it, go for it. The only true limits are those you place on yourself.