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I'm determing between 3 armies who I want to invest most in. SoB have been the strong first choice for me, followed by Genestealer Cults as a secondary army. Am i making a bad financial decision here? From what I gather monetary costs correlate to models deployed on the field. I want to get a solid 1,000 point list going before I invest in 2,000 pt + epicness. I expect GC to rely heavily on swarms, maybe with some strong psykers or vehicles to lower the bar a little. SoB strike me as being more wallet friendly, possibly less so than SM but not a pricey swarm army like IG. If I invest 200 a month on models when would I be expected to be able to play?


I'm typing this on my ps4 so I'm keeping it simple.

If I'm expecting inordinately gougy prices from these that will force me to reconsider, than Necrons, CSM and AdMech are close runner ups I'd like to play.

It's going to wildly vary based upon what you actually want from the army.

GSC are apparently one of the most expensive, dollars wise, armies in the game

BrianDavion wrote:
GSC are apparently one of the most expensive, dollars wise, armies in the game

That essentially cancels them. I like that Death Guard have gotten a lot more love now. I would invent my own chapter based off DG rules since I'm a homebrewer.


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 Kanluwen wrote:
It's going to wildly vary based upon what you actually want from the army.

What I want is for them to be a competitive range focused army, but I heard the SoB this generation are a lot like how Dark Eldar were years ago: Hard to learn, squishy low toughness warriors that when played right could be the most competitively lethal in the game. So I want to go on that rather than degrade their full potential by going the jack of all treades route ie sacrificing melee brutality for ranged gunfight finesse.. Even if it means a focus on Seraphim or other units. I want an army welcoming Arco-flagellants, repentia and jump squads for maximizing the melee punishment Sisters are known for.

Azathothsdream wrote:
I'm determing between 3 armies who I want to invest most in. SoB have been the strong first choice for me, followed by Genestealer Cults as a secondary army. Am i making a bad financial decision here? From what I gather monetary costs correlate to models deployed on the field. I want to get a solid 1,000 point list going before I invest in 2,000 pt + epicness. I expect GC to rely heavily on swarms, maybe with some strong psykers or vehicles to lower the bar a little. SoB strike me as being more wallet friendly, possibly less so than SM but not a pricey swarm army like IG. If I invest 200 a month on models when would I be expected to be able to play?


I'm typing this on my ps4 so I'm keeping it simple.

If I'm expecting inordinately gougy prices from these that will force me to reconsider, than Necrons, CSM and AdMech are close runner ups I'd like to play.

So, $200 a month is pretty good for putting in.

Given that the only point thresholds are now 1000 and 2000, you probably have to get to 1k now to find a game when previously a 500 point game would do. That said, you're probably looking a 2-3 months at 200/mo to get to that point with SoB, not including books [which will set you back 200 alone]

You should sit down and plan out what your list will look like, because buying the cheapest possible list doesn't always equal to buying the list you want.

Like others are saying, the price is going to depend quite a lot on what you actually want. However, every army has a core of Troops and HQs that you need to build out first.

My 1000pt AdMech army cost about $400. I just used 3 Start Collecting boxes and a couple other kits for conversions. I plan on spending $300 more on 1000pts of Imperial Knights to expand the army up to the full 2000pts (or field either independently).

The Start Collecting Boxes really are a great way to get that army core cheaply; they usually run a ~$150 value for ~$100 (though it becomes less valuable as you stop needing the included HQ). Sisters of Battle do not have a Start Collecting box, which makes them harder to collect initially.

Another point you may want to consider are potential allies. You might get bored just the one faction, or you might find an adjacent faction really cool and want to try a small allied detachment before growing them. Genestealer Cults are probably the most versatile xenos for allies, since they can bring both Tyranids and Imperial Guard. Likewise, Sisters of Battle and AdMech are Imperial, so get access to half the game's factions.

Yeah it 100% depends on what you want. I am looking at building a GSC army, mine is going to cost around $500 for about 2200 points. IMO that is not much at all for what GSC can be, and is 100% reasonable for 5yrs of entertainment.

@OP:

Just take a look in an old thread of mine with the title Sororitas Rhino. Nuff said.

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:

Azathothsdream wrote:
I'm determing between 3 armies who I want to invest most in. SoB have been the strong first choice for me, followed by Genestealer Cults as a secondary army. Am i making a bad financial decision here? From what I gather monetary costs correlate to models deployed on the field. I want to get a solid 1,000 point list going before I invest in 2,000 pt + epicness. I expect GC to rely heavily on swarms, maybe with some strong psykers or vehicles to lower the bar a little. SoB strike me as being more wallet friendly, possibly less so than SM but not a pricey swarm army like IG. If I invest 200 a month on models when would I be expected to be able to play?


I'm typing this on my ps4 so I'm keeping it simple.

If I'm expecting inordinately gougy prices from these that will force me to reconsider, than Necrons, CSM and AdMech are close runner ups I'd like to play.

So, $200 a month is pretty good for putting in.

Given that the only point thresholds are now 1000 and 2000, you probably have to get to 1k now to find a game when previously a 500 point game would do. That said, you're probably looking a 2-3 months at 200/mo to get to that point with SoB, not including books [which will set you back 200 alone]

You should sit down and plan out what your list will look like, because buying the cheapest possible list doesn't always equal to buying the list you want.

Uh, the new core matched play section has several missions specifically for the 500 point bracket and quite a few people have opined that 9th ed is actually at it's best down in those small game sizes.

GW have priced the new sisters along the same lines as primaris marines, with none of the discount/get started bundles.

A couple of exorcists and a codex will set you back $200.
A canoness, a banner, and two each of sisters, retributors, and seraphim are another $405.

And that just gets you the basic framework of the faction.

Sisters aren't cheap. They're new models, so not much on the second-hand market and they're low in points (e.g. the Battle Sanctum is $140 {Canadian} and 55 points. A Battle Sisters Squad box is $70 and makes 126 points in its most common usage).

GSC are at a relatively low point on the power curve at the start of 9th, so there might be some good second-hand deals on local sell/swaps and Kijiji.

Looking at pts/dollar, you've got a few things in favor of GSC right now over Sob. Primarily, that's the SC box, which is highly, highly competitive and useful.

Gets you an Iconward, who is easily convertible into a Kelermorph or a Primus using pistol bits you'll get from your Acolyte kits when you buy the box a second time 'round, a neophyte box, an acolyte box, and an Achilles Ridgerunner. If I was going to make a cost-effective, useful GSC army for 9th edition, I'd invest like this:

SC box #1 - 135. build neophytes with Seismic and Mining, Acoltyes with Saw and Cutter. Do not convert the iconward.

Goliath Truck #1 - 60.

Acolyte Box X2 - 40. Build Saw+ either cutter or drill, Cult Icon.

This is 460pts. You could tweak some things around, drop some acos to proxy a Kelermorph maybe to play 500pts games.

Building the collection out further:

Sc box #2 135 - Neophytes with Seismic and Mining and now you have 2 squads with 2 of each weapon. Build acos with Saw. Convert a Kelermorph and a Primus - the only bit you should have to build is a needle pistol, which is pretty simple to make using a bit of antenna and a web pistol. Convert a Clamavus with the cult icon bit from the neophyte kit and something from your Goliaths or Ridgerunners that looks like a speaker. The Goliaths come with several spare neophytes, so use one to make sure you have 2x10 neos still.

Goliath #2 - 60

Jackal Alphus - 38

You have over 1k to play with at this point for just under 500. I am aware that this involves a lot of character converting, but most GSC characters the equipment they carry looks very similar to equipment you get in the boxes (I found converting a clamavus incredibly easy using spare bits from the Rockgrinder truck, the kelermorph is an absolute no-brainer you get plenty of spare autopistols and he just looks like an acolyte). Thanks to spare bodies you get from the extra iconward and the spare neophytes you get from the goliath trucks, you can afford to get creative without making your units understrength. Also, it's worth noting that GSC are EXTREMELY modular designs thanks to their torsos having lovely, wide flat joins right on the sides of them, which means even the monopose Truck neos are fairly simple to cleanly snip the shoulders off of and add arm swaps to.

I think - and I'm not certain here, but I think even with buying trashed ebay rhinos you'd probably struggle to make a 1000pt sisters list quite that easily.




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 Asmodai wrote:
Sisters aren't cheap. They're new models, so not much on the second-hand market and they're low in points (e.g. the Battle Sanctum is $140 {Canadian} and 55 points. A Battle Sisters Squad box is $70 and makes 126 points in its most common usage).

GSC are at a relatively low point on the power curve at the start of 9th, so there might be some good second-hand deals on local sell/swaps and Kijiji.

Neos are extremely cheap to ebay, and iconwards, since Neos came in the KT starter box and in the SC set, and the acos and ridgerunner are the sought-after pieces in the SC box. But that's about it, and it doesn't help you very much tbh because throwing neos on the board with no support/no transport is pretty uncompetitive.

SoB not having a start collecting is probably going to hurt them, and being a new range they are priced higher. GSC is in a similar situation, but they at least have a start collecting you can get.

AdMech are in a similar boat to GSC, points per model they are a very expensive army($), but have an excellent start collecting you want 3x of. After that though it's going to get expensive.


Necrons you can get a lot cheaper than any of the above factions. If you order Indomitus and trade/sell away your marine half you've gotten 1000 pts for likely less than 100 dollars. Ebay has some of the Necron stuff for pretty cheap as well.

That's not even counting the fact that it is very very likely that a starter set is coming soon which will drive down the price of entry even more. Necrons are also a higher point army than either of those, so the rest of the models you get will go further in a fashion than the others.


That being said, make sure you are happy with the Aesthetic choice of your army. It's a marathon, not a sprint. If you end up going cheaper and end up being unhappier it's going to be more wasted money then just buying the army you actually like overtime even if it seems more expensive.

GSC are apparently one of the most expensive, dollars wise, armies in the game

They are also in a rough spot right now. If I didn't know better, I'd say the goal for 9th edition was to make GSC borderline unplayable. lol

Sasori has it right though. Look at the army that most appeals to you. Look at the troop type - can you imagine painting a massive amount of them? Things like this need to be taken into account.

Uh, the new core matched play section has several missions specifically for the 500 point bracket and quite a few people have opined that 9th ed is actually at it's best down in those small game sizes.

Most who have said this (myself included) have been saying it "feels" better around 1000-1500. Much like 8th ed, It's really hard to play a 500 point game without a lot of discussion first as the game just doesn't balance well at all at that point level. They really didn't fix any of the issues 8th had at that level, and have actively made some problems worse ...

Whichever way you go, I'd play Crusade.

Waiting until you have 2k points purchased, built and painted is just... Not really taking advantage of the whole game.

I get it; for a lot of people, the 2k matched play game is the only game. That just seems so short sighted to me.

Most start collecting boxes get you about half way to a 25 PL Combat Patrol; I think CSM is 25 PL out of the box.

GSC is 14 PL out of the box. Sisters should be getting a start collecting box by Christmas, but without one its tough; if you played Blackstone, Taddeus, Pious and Gotfrett can beef up your Combat Patrol, but if not, it's a challenge on a budget.