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Hello All,

I am now just returning to 40k. I have a complete Space Wolves army but I just do not think that it is my "type" of army. I was thinking about beginning an Imperial Guard army. However, I am on a very strict budget. I am only 13, and do not have an allowance or something like that, but I have saved up $120, I can afford the battleforce on ebay for 100, and then I can buy a few basic paints, but my question is, do I have enough to start a basic 500 point army? If the twenty for paints is spent that is fine. If this is possible could you please leave a list of what I need to purchase?

Thanks,
George

Can't be done. IG are probably the most expensive army to buy, if you play mech guard you have to spend a fortune on expensive vehicle kits, while if you play foot guard you have to spend a fortune on a giant horde of infantry. And, worst of all, the battleforce isn't a legal army, so either you need to buy a battleforce and three Chimeras (mech) or at least two battleforces (foot) to even come close to starting an army.

Well, If IG is out of the question, which of the battleforces are playable out of the box?

 Peregrine wrote:
Can't be done. IG are probably the most expensive army to buy, if you play mech guard you have to spend a fortune on expensive vehicle kits, while if you play foot guard you have to spend a fortune on a giant horde of infantry. And, worst of all, the battleforce isn't a legal army, so either you need to buy a battleforce and two Chimeras (mech) or at least two battleforces (foot) to even come close to starting an army.

The Battleforce CAN be a legal army, albeit a not very good one. One CCS and two veteran squads meets all of your mandatory choices and gives you some heavy weapons and a sentinel to play with .

Guard are expensive. My suggestion is to slowly build up. The Battleforce gets you a lot of things you are probably going to use (all of the infantry) plus it lets you explore sentinels. There are a few threads on dakka on how to convert the guard special weapons, so start there to make all of your infantry properly equipped. My suggestion, if you can, is to get the battleforce, another box of infantry, another command box and a manticore. That why you can have 2-3 troops, a solid heavy support choice and an HQ. Not a lot of points, but it is a solid start to a guard army.

Welcome to the Guard.

Just found a Buy it Now on ebay for Eldar Battleforce, it's only 75$! Is there a way that this could be a 500 pt army?
That leaves 45$ to work with after the battleforce

Thanks again,
George

 atribix wrote:
Just found a Buy it Now on ebay for Eldar Battleforce, it's only 75$! Is there a way that this could be a 500 pt army?
That leaves 45$ to work with after the battleforce

Thanks again,
George

You probably shouldn't be looking at the cheapest army, but rather an army you will enjoy. It will make a better investment.

 Happygrunt wrote:
The Battleforce CAN be a legal army, albeit a not very good one. One CCS and two veteran squads meets all of your mandatory choices and gives you some heavy weapons and a sentinel to play with .

And without transports for the veteran squads, or even a full set of special weapons, that's an awful army that is going to lose every single game. What the battleforce gives you is a single platoon, so the only way to effectively use it is foot guard and for that you need at least two battleforces to make a legal army.

My suggestion, if you can, is to get the battleforce, another box of infantry, another command box and a manticore. That why you can have 2-3 troops, a solid heavy support choice and an HQ. Not a lot of points, but it is a solid start to a guard army.

And that's also way over the OP's budget, as well as being a bad list.

I just have the Catachans Battleforce, FW Vulture and a spare 10 Cadian's, proxied 2 Transformers tanks to use as Chimera's to make 780 points.

I agree with Happygrunt, build up slowly.

If you're just going to play with friends at your home or theirs think about taking fill ins for the tanks. It will save you money. If you want to play in stores, certain ones will disallow fill ins but others won't.

Miniwargaming.com's youtube channel had this vid on a short while ago about using Mantic Games miniatures to play 40k. The bit concerning Guard starts at about 3:45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAhCs_iuDJc

With a small amount of units and money, perhaps skip playing proper games of 40k and go for Kill-Team games instead. 4'x4' table with terrain can make short but fun games and a Battleforce gives you the basic units to make the 200-300 points to play a game.

120 can get you a start for sure. First, you decide what kind of guard you want to run, infantry or mech heavy.

I'm not going to lie, a mech heavy force will be harder to get on the cheap, but it's possible.

This is how it works. Standard guard players might buy the infantry kits for lasgunners and special weapons. Well, after awhile, those special weapons are all they want. Eventually they get to the point they don't need more lasguns, so they end up with a lot of unassembled troops that might never see the light of day. With that in mind, you look for them. Lasgunners are not hard to find at all, and you can easily score lasgunners for a dollar each. Find someone who used plastic glue, or simply make a low ball first offer that's not too crazy, and you can get a better deal on them. Generally, the more you spend in one go the better deal you can get. For example, i might not give you 15 guardsmen for 10 bucks, but I'm more likely to give you 75 for 50. The higher the amount, the more likely the seller will think it's worth their time to let the figures go.

Guard mech is another matter. Truly, the best deals to be had are on damaged vehicles, or ones that have been plastic glued.

Here's a good rule of thumb when dealing with used figures

Plastic and assembled with super glue - 50% off MSRP
Plastic and assembled with plastic glue - 70% off MSRP
Metal and assembled with plastic glue - 30% off MSRP
Damaged/missing pieces - From 5%-95%, it just depends

Also know that most plastics can be bought online for 25% off. So for a Leman russ, which we'll just say for simplicities sake is 50 bucks, do take fifty and take out 25% for the online price match, making it 37.50. The average vehicle will be superglued I would hope, so take off 50% and you've got 18.75

So then, to match your price range, here is a sample army.

Company Command Squad 5
Veterans 10
Veterans 10
Veterans 10
Veterans 10
Leman Russ 18.75
Leman Russ 18.75
Leman Russ 18.75

Pts Total - 780
Cost - 101.25

Take into account that this is list is completely naked of any extra wargear. All take into account that all bodies are lasgunner bodies. With a little bit of cutting and colorings, you can make certain units stick out from the rest to signify leaders. If someone complains, just tell them that you're army doesn't have it's leaders dress up as much as they can, it just makes them easier to target and kill.

With that amount, you have about 19 bucks left over, and this will help with shipping and all that. There's corners you can cut here and there, and if you find a vehicle missing pieces or things plastic glued you can save even more money. You also need to pick up the codex, which can be done cheaply too. Just look around for a half priced book store, or just check the trade channels.

People who say you can't play warhammer on the cheap simply don't understand how to barter.

If you need an extra help with this feel free to PM me.

You don't say in the OP, but are you going to be playing in a GW store, a FLGS or maybe just at home with friends?

If it's just in a FLGS or at home, then this can open up some more options for cheaper alternatives for miniatures if you like.

Well....IG can be the most expensive army. Ever. But if you use alternate models (I for one like Wargames Factory Shocktroops because my current IG build is very Helghast feeling. Those are 18 men for $16 on The Warstore and come with Special Weapons for the more generic stuff. Things like Melta you may have to convert or kit-bash. But im not complaining, nearly 2 full squads for nearly half retail price.) for Infantry it cuts down the cost significantly. Obviously you will still need GW kits for bits and things unless you want to convert your own, which is always a good skill, but it's not as bad. Still much more expensive than any MeQ army but not AS bad...

Oh, and if you go that route you can't play in "Offical GW" tournaments or play in most GW stores (although I have seen one or two stores where the manager is cool enough to allow it as long as it has some sort of GW kit). That doesn't effect me as the only store in my area is in Philadelphia and it sucks, but I know it can for some people.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Happygrunt wrote:
The Battleforce CAN be a legal army, albeit a not very good one. One CCS and two veteran squads meets all of your mandatory choices and gives you some heavy weapons and a sentinel to play with .

And without transports for the veteran squads, or even a full set of special weapons, that's an awful army that is going to lose every single game. What the battleforce gives you is a single platoon, so the only way to effectively use it is foot guard and for that you need at least two battleforces to make a legal army.

Except you can scratch build the special weapons rather easily. And it is a legal army, which you claimed it was not. Yes, it is really fragile and not the best, but you can still play it.

This thread is an excellent guide on how to build every guard special weapon out of the Cadian infantry box.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/467370.page

My suggestion, if you can, is to get the battleforce, another box of infantry, another command box and a manticore. That why you can have 2-3 troops, a solid heavy support choice and an HQ. Not a lot of points, but it is a solid start to a guard army.

And that's also way over the OP's budget, as well as being a bad list.

May not be the best list in the world, but it also isn't terrible for 500(ish) points. And I suggested that it would be better to slowly build up the army, hence why it is over the price limit, as I don't expect him to buy everything at once, but instead to slowly build up to what I suggested.

I saw the title of this thread and rolled on the floor laughing

 Somedude593 wrote:
I saw the title of this thread and rolled on the floor laughing

At least it wasn't "Budget Sisters of Battle".

A hobby store near me recently had battle forces for catachan and space marines for 30 bucks. I would say check out hobby stores.

 Trickstick wrote:

 Somedude593 wrote:
I saw the title of this thread and rolled on the floor laughing

At least it wasn't "Budget Sisters of Battle".

Lol Budget Sisters would have to be re-titled to Brothers of Battle


Ebay/Trade threads is your best bet for a "cheap" IG army. However 120$ is not going to cut it. Possibly $400 with shopping on ebay/traders, would definitely give you a strong standing point.

The whole game is expensive, models, paint, glue, scenery, codices, dice, rulebooks, etc. As for suggestions, making Infantry squads into vet squads will save you on buying tons of models.

 washout77 wrote:
Well....IG can be the most expensive army. Ever. But if you use alternate models (I for one like Wargames Factory Shocktroops because my current IG build is very Helghast feeling. Those are 18 men for $16 on The Warstore and come with Special Weapons for the more generic stuff. Things like Melta you may have to convert or kit-bash. But im not complaining, nearly 2 full squads for nearly half retail price.) for Infantry it cuts down the cost significantly. Obviously you will still need GW kits for bits and things unless you want to convert your own, which is always a good skill, but it's not as bad. Still much more expensive than any MeQ army but not AS bad...

Oh, and if you go that route you can't play in "Offical GW" tournaments or play in most GW stores (although I have seen one or two stores where the manager is cool enough to allow it as long as it has some sort of GW kit). That doesn't effect me as the only store in my area is in Philadelphia and it sucks, but I know it can for some people.

If alternate figures are an option check out this deal on plastic Warzone figures.

http://shop.princeaugust.ie/warzone-mutant-chronicles-wargame/warzone-games-expansion-sets/tg2420-1-warzone-mutant-chronicles-bag-of-80-plastic-soldiers/

Warzone was a mid-90s rival to Warhammer with a WWI vibe. The figures are German and British looking and come with carapace armor. They'd need converting and bitz to make GW figures but are about the cheapest good option. You get 80 (!!) for 20 Euros.









Void, another defunct game offers cheap sprues as well.

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Products/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=217_218_59_61



Old Crow has some great resin vehicles for less than GW.

http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/


Hope that helps.

But as others said, make an army you'll enjoy, not one that's cheap. If you have to build slowly, build slowly, proxy green army men or play DoW and see what you like before spending a fortune only to find Eldar or Guard or whatever aren't for you.

Man Kyoto, I might need to get some of those Warzone guys to buff my IG army. Do you have any experience with them? Are they hard to convert to look like GW models?

It's a different plastic than GW, it requires a special plastic cement or good old superglue.

You get quite a few of the minigun guys, they can be converted into most special weapons or heavies.

So yeah it can be done. I picked up a handful ages ago but at the time the metal WZ guys were also dirt cheap so I made an army of them instead.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
It's a different plastic than GW, it requires a special plastic cement or good old superglue.

You get quite a few of the minigun guys, they can be converted into most special weapons or heavies.

So yeah it can be done. I picked up a handful ages ago but at the time the metal WZ guys were also dirt cheap so I made an army of them instead.

I was thinking of using the British guys as guardsmen, but I would need to change some stuff to make them look more GW so I could play them in at the local bunker.

The IG are not just for chrismass, its for life.
Yes its one of the most expensive forces to build becouse no matter how much you build and no matter how much you list you'll never finsh. Mostly becouse you'll be sucked into the love hate romance of scratch building such cool suff.

 Ribon Fox wrote:
The IG are not just for chrismass, its for life.
Yes its one of the most expensive forces to build becouse no matter how much you build and no matter how much you list you'll never finsh. Mostly becouse you'll be sucked into the love hate romance of scratch building such cool suff.

Yep, that is how life is in the Guard. You NEVER finish. There is always another regiment to build. Always...

Tell meabout it.

Finished my Tallarns, then did 100+ Necromunda figures, now I find myself saying how nice a 'small force ofMordians' would be. Just a squad. Or a platoon, maybe just 500 points or so...

You can do guard. I just wouldn't start with the battleforce.

I'd start by buying two boxes of infantry, two chimeras, a lord commissar, and some special weapons, either the 5x metal ones that GW puts out, or some plastic ones from bitz sites.

If you pay full retail, you're looking at about $150 if you pay full retail, but it's not that tough to get things at discount prices. I just did a quick search of ebay and could find everything but the special weapons for $110 after shipping.

If you have a squad of plasma mechvets, a squad of melta mechvets, and a lord commissar with carapace and a power fist, you're looking at 420 point army. Get a couple of heavy weapons teams or give the veterans doctrines and you really should be able to get a 500 point guard army for your current budget.

Alternately, you can go the foot route. There is a guy on ebay at the moment selling 50 cadian shock troops on sprue for $112 with free shipping. That's easily enough to make the required troops choices. It will be a little more expensive, as you'd then need to pay for special and heavy weapons (and a commissar or command squad on top of it), but by the time you're done assembling and painting that many guardsmen, you'll undoubtedly have enough cash to finish it off with whatever you need, and you will once again have a 500 point guard army for roughly the same price.

Remember that you don't have to get literally everything at once. If you only buy stuff as fast as you can paint it, it will defray the cost over time.

play DoW and see what you like before spending a fortune only to find Eldar or Guard or whatever aren't for you.

This is a great idea, DoW is a great way to see how armies act and behave. I was Eldar until I played the Ork Campaign and just loved it. and it'll save you some money until you get a job.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Tell meabout it.

Finished my Tallarns, then did 100+ Necromunda figures, now I find myself saying how nice a 'small force ofMordians' would be. Just a squad. Or a platoon, maybe just 500 points or so...

Some day I will do a platoon of Mordians, maybe some vostroyans... Dead men Walking made DKoK really appealing... Yep, the guard never ends.

Just use ebay if you want to get the army on the cheap. For example:

46 infantry
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40K-Imperial-Guard-Infantry-46-figures-most-on-sprues-/271115613284?pt=Games_US&hash=item3f1fbff464

Shock troops
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40K-Imperial-Guard-Army-30x-Cadian-Shock-Troops-NEW-Unnassembled-/390509915914?pt=Games_US&hash=item5aec346f0a

get some guys like these for cheap, strip them and paint them up nice to get the army you want. I've gotten some great deals with the make and offer option
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-10-metal-Imperial-Guard-Cadian-Kasrkin-Stormtroopers-/330840179135?pt=Games_US&hash=item4d079c81bf
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-9-plastic-Imperial-Guard-Cadian-Command-squad-/400357307417?pt=Games_US&hash=item5d3727b419
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-10-plastic-Imperial-Guard-Cadian-Command-squad-/400357307507?pt=Games_US&hash=item5d3727b473

Manticore and Basilisk
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Manticore-and-Basilisk-for-Warhammer-40K-Imperial-Guard-/271115609516?pt=Games_US&hash=item3f1fbfe5ac

Eventually get something like this to get some more tanks
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-Imperial-Guard-You-Pick-3-Leman-Russ-Basilisk-Manticore-Tanks-/261127326563?pt=Games_US&hash=item3ccc66cb63


With a little patience you can get any army together for alot cheaper then GW prices. If I were you I would look at some of the smaller points lists that people are posting up on here and base an army off what they look like/ what you think would be fun to play. Then spend some time gathering the parts off ebay to build it. You can always add more to the army later.

What about... Imperial Guard with Space Wolf allies? Seeing as you have a Space Wolf army, flesh the points list out with some expensive troops.

Ig is without a doubt the most expensive army to get into in 40k. I don't want to sugarcoat it, you need to know what to expect. That said, they are a very rewarding army to play, so dont let that stop you. DO NOT START ANOTHER ARMY JUST BECAUSE IT's "CHEAP"! All the armies get expensive in one way or another, so dont let that fool you. Pick the army you like the mst tsothtat you'll be happy with your investment.

Now, are you playing at an official GW store or a FLGS? If it's a GW store you'll be limited to only official GW models (which means your only option is 2nd hand minis) If it's a FLGS, ask them if they're cool with 3rd party models. Defiance games UAMC marines, wargames factory greatcoat troopers, Dreamforge's stormtroopers (will be out soon) Mantic's corporation, and countless other mini lines make excellent scifi infantry models that are easily at least 33 to 50% cheaper than gw, and often far cooler looking. I would keep all vehicles official 40k ones simply because they're odd sizes (leman russes especially) but infantry are infantry and most people should have no problems with them. heck, you could even use historical infantry to make armies like the valhallans (WWII soviets) and bretonnians (19th century british)