Players with large (4,000+) armies! A few questions.

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**-Guardsman-**

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.

.

**AnomanderRake**

My armies tend to grow because I have a variety of 2,000pt builds I want to field; I don't want to buy just one 2,000pt list and be done. Sometimes changing rules force me into it, sometimes I get bored and want to experiment, sometimes I just see models I like or have a conversion idea that amuses me.

As to patchworks I find my armies tend to stay mostly unpainted until I settle on painting/basing techniques I'm happy with and can keep up over longer periods, and carry them over to any new stuff as well. I have yet to gather everything together to take a picture; I might someday when I have more painted of something but haven't gotten around to it yet.

**Horst**

Because it gives me options in what I want to field. I play Imperial Guard, as an example. I've got a couple of baneblades, a bunch of leman russes, some artillery pieces, a bunch of infantry, some specialist infantry like Kasrkin and Bullgryn, and some Valkyries.

Maybe I want to play mechanized guard one day, and the next foot guard with artillery support. They're pretty different armies, even though they're in the same codex. They share some models, but a lot are different. So you need a diverse collection of models so you can make any list you want from the codex... which often means your total points cost is well above what you normally play.

Once you get to like 4,000 + points though, that's often when most people stop, though going to 7,000 or more isn't super uncommon, because you just get variety in what you can field.

Personally, I have ~4,000 points of Guard in the same color scheme, ~3,000 of Knights in the same color scheme, and ~7,000 points of Marines in the same color scheme.

**fraser1191**

Points is kind of a weird way to measure a collection imo, obviously 40 point of guardsmen gets you more than 40 points of guardsmen. Plus are we accounting for wargear too? How about a dread where the arms are friction fit? Do I count its cheapest option or most expensive? That's just my thought

I think I have about 8k in marines if I count my MK 3 marines iirc. I actually considered my marine army done up until primaris showed up

Edit: I also painted about 80 marines originally, stripped them, changed my painting style, repainted them and then Primaris came out. So now all my models have similar styles and bases

**ERJAK**

Having a large collection allows me to do a bunch of gimmick builds or adjust on the fly to new metas/rules/tournament formats/etc. I have about 7kpts of marines and about 5kpts of sisters these days for exactly that reason.

Though I must say my stormcast army got to be 12000pts because I was literally just buying whatever came out until the codex started sucking.

**Galef**

I've played Eldar long enough to have had about 7,000pts, but never at once. I generally only keep 3,000-4,000pts at one time. And no, I could never stand having a "patchwork of color schemes" outside of Aspect Warriors having unique schemes. That would erode my sanity.

My general rule of thumb is that it a unit I own does not see play for an edition, or serve any "collector's" value for me, it goes on eBay.
I also used magnets and very few of my units aren't dual-use.

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**Elbows**

I own around 6,000 points for each of my main armies. In doing so I don't own more than 3-4 of any one unit. I simply collect models I like. However, at this point the armies are more or less done. I have no need to further increase numbers or double the armies size, etc. While I endorse 100% having more than a single army build (how fething boring is that?) I do not endorse owning models you'll never field on a table. I see a lot of mega collections which have seemingly become just that - the sole point being to have more models and more models.

Maybe some of these people play apocalypse every weekend, but I've seen armies with 20-30 Chimeras. No one plays games with that many actual models...there's no need. So that's the level of collection I don't understand: when you own so many of one model/unit that you could never field them on the table together. At that point it's just a modeling thing, a waste of money, or for internet bragging rights.

I think a large part of my take on 40K is that I never ever collect an army after writing one up. I buy a codex for the army I like...and I more or less build most of the units in that codex. I have never thought "Oh, I want to try this army build, let me buy these three units..." etc.

**Lance845**

I probably have 7-8k of nids. But 2 of that is a bio titan. So the numbers are a little inflated.

**Vaktathi**

I have probably (depending on how one wants to cost it) 9-12kpts of painted IG and 6-9kpts of Chaos Space Marines.

Originally this started as two 2k armies, one for each faction.

The CSM collection largely is still that, just with different units for different builds, but largely all still built around the same core of Troops units.

The IG collection has basically become two distinct armies from which I can run infantry, mechanized, stormtrooper, armored and superheavy company lists as desired.

**vaklor4**

I own damn near 15k of Chaos...But thats Chaos. I have 2500 Tsons, a smattering of 1k slaanesh, nurgle, 2kish of tzeentch, 3kish of khorne in terms of demons, and the rest is CSM and 3 knights. So overall my collection is big, its all varied in different books.

**Shadenuat**

To have variety and freedom in list building you're looking at 1000 pts of HQ alone in some armies, so the answer is pretty obvious; 2-3k is literally same army over and over again.

**Pr3Mu5**

I have a few armies now but my Ultramarines are by a mile my largest army ranging from somewhere between 13k and 15k.

I started out initially with the intention of building a 2k list to play with but I went beyond that to allow me some flexibility in list building to swap in units as I saw fit. This ended up with me owning approximately half a battle company and half a veteran company which felt unfinished to me so it inevitably evolved into both a full 1st and 2nd company plus a smattering of units from the scout company. Then came the self imposed requirement to add on the full chapter command and the idea that the companies weren't complete without all units having access to their own dedicated transports (rhinos, razorbacks for 2nd co. and rhinos/drop pods for sternguard and vanguard squads and the obligatory Land Raiders for the Terminators) as well as vehicles from the Chapter Armoury appearing from nowhere (that's the official line and I am sticking to it before the Mrs murders me). 5 man TH/SS and twin LC termies turned into full 10 man squads as did the tactical terminators. Somehow I managed to pick up 10 Cataphractii and 10 Tartaros suits from somewhere... (cough cough.. ebay) The Ultramarines 1st and 2nd companies also have documented Dreadnoughts attached to them so they became the next thing to finish the collection off. I visited Warhammer world and picked up the LR Excelsior and Rhino Primaris too. Then 8th happened and the introduction of Primaris marines escalated things quickly.

Ultimately it began with the intention to build a functional collection to game with, which devolved into a collect everything mentality. I rationalise it with the idea that I can play a multitude of different builds whether it be infantry spam, Devastator spam, all out assault build, 1st co. only, fully mechanised, vehicles and dreads only or combined arms when in reality I should just admit that I have a problem

In terms of paint scheme it's all pretty uniform (everything that is complete that is), obviously my painting ability has improved over the years but the principles have remained the same and when it comes to basing, I do my marines in batches by the hundred so they're consistent.

**Insectum7**

My Marine collection is roughly the size of a single reinforced battle company, which would be a typical Space Marine presence to a warzone.

I started with the intent to do a Battle Company, 6 Tacs, 2 Assault, 2 Devastator, with some add-ons and some optional swap-outs. That was a reasonable and sort of natural goal.

Some adjustments were made to that based on competitiveness. Like I added a third Devastator Squad for 8th edition. There are more Sternguard on the way as well. Some of it grew for fun options. I have a ton of Scouts, for example, as they have a bunch of different ways to be deployed (snipers, bolters, shotguns etc.). Some was added for nostalgia. I have three ten-man Terminator Squads, but they are each from different versions of Terminators.

And then there are the Land Raiders. There's no reason to collect many of them, I'll probably never use them. But I love them. I'd rather have a formation or two of Land Raiders than collect things like FW Dreadnoughts. This comes a bit from my Epic days, where you would buy Land Raider squadrons of four. So I have seven Land Raiders, and will get one more to round that out to 8. I'd rather have 8 Land Raiders than a single Titan.

**PenitentJake**

I like collecting enough factions that I can supply models to friends who like the game but can't afford it. This is what allows me to get away with my prefered style of play, which is narrative escalation campaigns.

I love Soup because it allows me to do as I have always done, but also slap down a combined force that weighs in at 4k vs. another combined force of 4k.

A ladder campaign that moves from Kill Team to 40k to Apocalypse via in game intrigues, alliances and betrayals between factions is a thing of unimaginable awesomeness, and it has never really been possible until this edition.

It's why I sometimes don't deal well with tournament players who hate this version due to specialist games and rules bloat. It's hard because I can't get mad at them- their complaints are totally legitimate through a tournament only lens.

But if they just had the opportunity to play even one cross platform narrative escalation campaign, it may not end up changing their preference for balanced tournament style play, but I think it would at least help them see that some of the things they hate about 8th really enhance the game when you look beyond the competitive tournament scene.

Sorry for the soapbox and the tangent, but the original point stands: huge armies only square with my preferred method of play via Soup.

**Blndmage**

I have a few small 1000 or less forces, but my Necrons are my love. I've only just hit 3,500, but that because I'm insanely broke and can't afford anything new.

My ideal force for my Necrons, everything I'd ever want that fits my lore would be around 8,000 points, I doubt I'll ever get there, but it's a goal!

**Racerguy180**

I think currently my Salamanders are sitting @ 500pl and around 7500ish points. Some of that is FW stuff so costlier than GW both (pts & $).

I only buy models that are:
Good looking (to me)
Useful to my army composition
Allows me to do something not before allowed

Generally I'll have to think about how I will incorporate them into an existing force and use them.

Currently, my Metalica need more points. I have approx 2k of Skitarii and another 1300ish in Knights.

When Sororitas are released(November cant come soon enuff) I'm planning on a minimum 3k force.

**Backspacehacker**

I will answer that question with another question

If your building a gaming rig, do you really need more then 32gb of ram? Because I don't not need to have 120+gb of ram, but it's the fact I can, as to why I do.

**Stormonu**

I don’t know the general points, but I have over 3 (we’ll, now 4 thanks to Primaris) companies of space marines, so rather large. I’ve been collecting the models since Rogue Trader, picking up each starter set and aiming for at least one of everything - in each style they’ve released over the years.

Unfortunately, I started with a god-awful pus green paint scheme so my friends would stop borrowing my models (without my knowledge) for their games. I never repainted them, but shifted into a hunter green or white scheme and built the reason for the variation into my Chapter’s lore (units start off “green”/impure and repainted towards white the more experienced they get).

So, for me the whole “huge army” is because it’s simply grown over time as new models have come out.

**BrianDavion**

I suspect it's a collection aspect as much as anything else. I mean there's a reason people buy Titans etc and it's not because they expect to use them often.

**Bellerophon**

My Biel-Tan Eldar has reached about 5.5K points fully painted - all painted by me with matching basing etc. Adding in the unfinished models, the total collection is 12.5K.

Why that big? I'm more of a collector/hobbyist than a gamer, so there's no game reason for the size. It's pretty much that I love my army and I buy things for it that I think are cool, in excessive quantities. I love how it looks in my display case. On the rare occasions I have a game I have added bonus of having the vast majority of the options in the codex painted and ready to go.

Edit: Since Brian mentioned Titans, I'm the sort of person who buys them. I don't have any... yet. But I want them. Just to build, paint and display. Because I can.

**Talizvar**

Best explanation I can think of:
For MANY reasons lead to this initial madness.
My progression in 40k:
(NOTE: This is a long and sordid tale... longer than planned so spoilered the sucker for wall of text)

Spoiler:

I like tactical options.
I was at first a model builder and painter and really liked "striking" models so not all models had a place to be playable (but eventually did).

**Nevelon**

Probably about 13k of Ultras.

My army grew organically. I never said “here is a 2,000 point list, I’m going to buy and paint everything for it” Start with a few marines, add a tank, etc. Pick up a bundle box/starter set. I never sat down and said “I really want to have nine tactical squads” But they accumulated. Sometimes it’s because I wanted more options. Like the swap shelf full of heavy weapons. There was the push to get to a full battle company. Formations guided some purchases, but not many. Some minis I buy for looks (although I field even “meh” units” some were picked up to fill tactical gaps in my lists, or due to performing well on the table (drop pods)

But despite having a quite large collection, I don’t have everything (although in all fairness, I do have almost everything). But I’m not able to spam 3x of many things outside of basic troopers. And a HUGE number of points are sunk into HQs. They are fun to paint, have a ton of options, and are fun to change up in my lists. I’ve got more captains then companies in a chapter.

There are always things to add to an army. I’ve been collecting since RT. Add a unit or two a year (more during boom times) for ~25 years, and you get a lot of Ultras on the shelf...

**Sgt. Cortez**

Collecting is an important Part of the appeal. My Nurgle armies are probably around 5-6000 points, but I never aimed on that. It's more like: a Plague colony is 49 Plague Marines so let's get that. Oh, there are these nice Plague Marines from Spellcrow, let's get those, too. Hmm, GW puts out 20 new sculpts of PM with the option of new CC weapons, let's add them. And then you see a deal of 13 2nd Edition PMs on ebay...
I have two different kinds of paint schemes. I started with a kind of camouflage, while looking awesome it's a pain to paint a whole army like that, so my new PMs and some of the vehicles get closer to the official scheme, but they share the same colors on trims, shoulder pads and guns to connect them with the older Minis.

**mfoster**

The growth of WH40k armies is one that is driven by how long you have been playing. Obviously, that seems simple, however, it's more the substantial changes that occur between editions in the power and usefulness of certain units. My major army is Eldar (13k approx) and the frequent randomness of power fluctuation of certain units gets a little annoying. As you play an edition you develop the better units to put on the board. On a side note this isn't random, it's a choice by gamesworkshop a part of their general business plan. So some units rarely see the light of day - here's looking at you banshee's. While certain units stay playable over many editions say Dark Reapers.

So, Ive traversed the full gamut from a full jetbike army, wave serpent spam, trio of Wraithknights, full aspect horde, last but not least my 'Wraith army'. Not including the incarnations of Ynarri troops. I love the variation for Eldar more so than any other faction. My fav being a combined arms approach with my maxed Guardian squads advancing across the board to hold objectives from the mon-keigh... I don't have any eldar titans mostly because Eldar have been strong enough without it. (I do have a Chaos Warhound - but never played it) Plus the old rules where kind of sucky.

The painting flavour is of course the rainbow of Eldar aspects with a Craftworld flavour Biel tan. It being my goto craftworld. Painting is the tough aspect of wh40k - i want to be better but time is such a factor.

In short, it's the changing balance of units that drive most collections. Since you never know what's in and whats out each Edition. So you plan accordingly. My 30 metal banshee's hopefully some day will see the light of a gameboard. I wouldn't ever sell units because you never know when they will be back in the limelight. (Wraithknights) It would be make repurchasing them seem like a waste.

**Zustiur**

It's not a question of wanting to have 8000 points. It's a question of having no reason to stop. I still haven't got a whirlwind for my Dark angels and I don't have any flyers...

And there definitely a variety of skill in my models but I've gone back over the old ones a few times so the difference isn't too obvious.

**Jidmah**

For my orks I broke the barrier when I wanted to branch into a new playing style. I have a battlewagon bash, a kan wall/dread mob, then updated my army to work in 8th and now I'm building a speed freeks army with the new buggies and some bikers. I also have bunch of auxiliaries that plug into any of those armies, like planes, lootas, big guns, etc and some characters I just bought because I like ork characters. To switch between those army styles you switch out about a 1000 points, meaning every new play style grows my orks by 1000.
And that's considering that I rarely own 3 of any type of unit, if would run tournaments regularly with the same set of options available, you'd probably have to add another 3000 points.

On the other hand, the collection is "shrinking" as everything gets cheaper all the time. My ~5000 points of orks have shrunk to 4000 from 5th to 8th.

For Death Guard it's similar. I got past the 4k when I got a rhino and a land raider to cart Death Shroud and melee Marines around, something that was not an option for my army before.

**Jihadnik**

Yeah, I'm more of a collector than a player now. I've got about 6500 points in my Ultramarine 4th company and there are still some models I want. I always wanted a full company, but I just love having new toys, so it keeps getting bigger...

I told myself at the start that I wouldn't get Primaris marines...but some of them look pretty cool...so...perhaps it will keep going...

My guard army...oh god...I can't even begin to calculate its size...and yet...I'd trade them all for a little more...

**tneva82**

-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.

Simple. Add unit, add another, add third. Soon you will end up with huge army. And now with clan/chapter/whatever rules to ensure you can separate easily different ones you might need bit more doubling up as needed.

Look at my ork size. You think I have some ridiculous stuff like 30 mega nobz? Nope. Biggest spam is boyz(and yeah these I have been getting cheaply as well in 2nd hand) but there's actually use for all these boyz. I can't run more than 3 units of any clan and even 2 unit from same clan isn't quranteed...I just have couple units of most. Indeed I follow rule of 3 pretty damn well...I only have 5 mega nobz...No bike horde...But points add up fast.

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?

All have same base but colour scheme isn't same as the clans have their own colour schemes and orks reward you for mixing clans anyway. It would be plain silly to run lootas under evil suns while boyz want to be evil suns!

**martian_jo**

Oh boy.

I have a couple of armies that spiraled out of control. My largest most complete is my 'nids. I've got about 8k of the little bugs built, and another couple squads still awaiting assembly.

They are a hodge-podge of color schemes. I've repainted a few times. Most lately they've been slowly working toward the Kraken colors, started near the beginning of 8th on and off and it's gone so much farther the last couple months since contrast.

The army has enlarged due to hanging rules and play styles. I started with nids in 3rd edition and went horde heavy. I quickly grew tired of having so many models to move and paint that I started adding in larger monsters to balance the list out.

Then they came out with new sculpts that looked way better so I started replacing my old monsters.

Then they came out with more new stuff that I wanted. Trygon in plastic, tervigon, winged tyrant, venomthropes, sporocysts, etc. It's really easy to justify new purchases for an existing army rather than start a new one.

With my marines they expanded rapidly due to ebay. I would play them more competitively and would often look for a specific unit to add to my list and often it would be cheaper to buy it in a lot with a handful of other stuff I didn't want than to buy it individually. I think I've got close to a hundred of those 2nd ed push fit starter marines from random lots. The marines are a mish mash of schemes as well as I'd just paint up the 1850 I needed for a tourney right before the event with a super simple color scheme just to meet the 3 color minimum.

I guess being active in the hobby promotes constantly expanding and growing.

**Peregrine**

Easy. The point total goes up really fast when each model you finish adds another 3-500 points. I just added a ~400 point Macharius to my DKoK just because it was a good fit for the monthly painting contest theme. Repeat that kind of thing a few times on top of a standard ~2-3000 point army and you get up past 4-5k without even trying.