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I wanted to try to get into war gaming (never tried it before). I went into a thrift store and in their junk section I found a (huge) box of sprues and completed figures. got them all for about the equivalent of $25. I cant seem to make heads or tails out of the ones still in their sprues. Sadly they're all mixed up (space marines, Tau, eldar, imperial guard)

from what I can make of it, somebody started building their army and never got around to finishing it (something happened? moved and lost em?) anyway, I've got some half painted models and a bunch of arms legs guns and heads.... also, why doesnt GW label sprues?

so I'm feeling a bit out of my element here. where do I even start?

Start with pictures. I'm sure most folks here will be able to tell you what you picked up.

Welcome to Dakka and the hobby!

Easiest thing to do is start by grouping your parts by eye as much as possible. Look for a distinguishing feature of a certain type of model (weapons or heads are good) and collect all the sprues for each type together. For example, Space Marine heads or shoulder pads don't share a look with anything else, so any sprues with those on will be Space Marine sprues (as you don't get mixed-faction sprues). Once you've done that, try and work out how many models you should/do have (look up the number of models per complete sprue, compare that with how many built/unbuilt but buildable with what you have models). That should at least get you started. Any confusion, the folks of Dakka are eagle-eyed when it comes to part identification, so post some pics and we'll be able to help!

Last thing to note is that most sprues will have leftover parts (typically heads, arms and guns) so don't be alarmed if you find plenty of unused bits.

Turn back now before it's too late!

Nah, I kid. It's already far, far too late.

You might want to look online for some of the smaller games, whether from GW (Necromunda), FFG (their Deathwatch or Only War RPGs), fans (28mm Inquisitior, Kill Team) or 3rd parties. These are games you can play with 10-20 models on a side so you can assemble 2 forces with what you already have and then play with a friend.


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Assuming your flag is accurate you're probably like me in that real hobby supplies are thin on the ground so feel free to ask for advice what you can use when you can't just buy GW primer etc.

From what I gather, there are limits on what you can outfit the model with? There are illegal stuff right?

Hm, that's a hard question.

Save the bits, and do something really convertible like Renegades and Heretics or Imperial Militia.

Guess I've got to go through all of them. A lot of the painted ones are just so horribly painted though.. might have to redo em.

http://i.imgur.com/B95Z7qN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/m8g30nh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oLIsBxt.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FSQHjes.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/U9sxMej.jpg

tried to embed the photos but they were too big.

Orks Eldar Iperial Guard and Marines?! That is one hell of a haul that you have right there!

I am not sure if there is a complete army there yet, that will take some time to work out but you have the starting points of about four so well done and welcome to the hobby

I see some Space Marines, some Orks, some Guard, and some Eldar here and there.

First and foremost I think you should try to divide them up into separate races to get a feel for how dispersed they are. Overall you shouldn't have too tough a time differentiating which is which, just move them into separate piles and start taking inventory that way.

Depending on how many guardsmen you have you might be able to ally them with the space marines and have the start of an army.

From what I can tell also, many of the sprues are basically naked. Just seperate the constructed models you have based on race. It also looks like you might have a good chunk of the 5th edition starter box, which is orks and marines. So that might give us a better idea of what you got.

Overall though, you got yourself a hell of a deal.

Out of curiosity, where in the Philippines are you? I ask because I spend a fair amount of time in Cebu each year but wasn't aware of a significant wargaming scene there or in Manila.