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I don't know if I'm just very picky, so I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem: wanting to collect an army, but a minor problem prevents you from doing so.

I have my two examples:

Necrons - I love the Triarch Stalker and Canoptek Wraiths. But they don't synergize at all and there's nothing else I like to fill up the non troops slots.

Eldar - My favourite unit (Warp Spiders) are finecast.

Maybe the Necron one isn't so minor. But usually, if I love a kit enough, I'll ignore how bad it will be and get it anyway. But with the Necron one they are just TOO bad together. I mean, the Stalker buffs shooting and the Wraiths do no shooting, pretty self-explanatory. Why can't the rest of the Necron range be cool?
And with the Eldar one I'll admit I'm being a snob but I'll never touch finecast. Hell, I have a 6000 point Tau army with a massive focus on stealth, and I don't own Shadowsun. That should tell all.

Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

Happens all the time its quite normal that we have things, big and small, that just make us not want to collect an army.

Heck I wanted to collect skaven years ago in the Old World setting - no other army just Skaven. I never did because of the rather big commitment one had to make at the time to making skaven slaves - yes not even clan rats you had to make legions of slaves just to get a functional army.



That said many times you can get around them. For example there are some nice warpspider "not warp spider" alternative models on the market (typically they'll be resin not finecast). Only limit there is you won't be able ot use them at a GW store.

For many other minor issues sometimes a proxy or a conversion can get you around them. Eg I'm not a fan of some of the piloted designs of Necron units. However with some conversion work you can make a good few of them look fully robotical (heck FW even sells a conversion kit for the flying unit that puts a cover over the pilot to make the unit appear robotical)

 Overread wrote:
I wanted to collect skaven years ago in the Old World setting - no other army just Skaven. I never did because of the rather big commitment one had to make at the time to making skaven slaves - yes not even clan rats you had to make legions of slaves just to get a functional army.

 Overread wrote:
Eg I'm not a fan of some of the piloted designs of Necron units.

Are you me? Hah I had the same plans to get into Skaven. I think Warhammer was in 5th edition back then could be wrong. It was the only Warhammer faction I liked but it looked like tons of work, and since there were so few other players around I skipped it.

And I have the same opinion on the piloted Necron stuff. Don't like Destroyers, Barges, Arks, Tomb Blades. The only exception is the Triarch Stalker where it looks "right". Never liked Monoliths either. When Necrons came out I remember looking at it and thinking "who'd want to collect a brick with a 5 y/o girl's fake jewelry on top?" Necrons have a lot of problems for me, too many, it just adds up. I can tolerate their non-flayer on-foot units. I guess if I ever collect them it'll be horde-style with a couple of stalkers. But I'd probably be sad that I'm missing out on the Wraiths.

Raven Guard would be my pick as a new army. I have several Primaris Marines to start with.
But the price of Eliminators is too high for my liking.

Seriously, I have 14 Skyweavers to paint and a whole Drukhari army.
No time for RG.

LoftyS wrote:

 Overread wrote:
I wanted to collect skaven years ago in the Old World setting - no other army just Skaven. I never did because of the rather big commitment one had to make at the time to making skaven slaves - yes not even clan rats you had to make legions of slaves just to get a functional army.

 Overread wrote:
Eg I'm not a fan of some of the piloted designs of Necron units.

Are you me? Hah I had the same plans to get into Skaven. I think Warhammer was in 5th edition back then could be wrong. It was the only Warhammer faction I liked but it looked like tons of work, and since there were so few other players around I skipped it.

And I have the same opinion on the piloted Necron stuff. Don't like Destroyers, Barges, Arks, Tomb Blades. The only exception is the Triarch Stalker where it looks "right". Never liked Monoliths either. When Necrons came out I remember looking at it and thinking "who'd want to collect a brick with a 5 y/o girl's fake jewelry on top?" Necrons have a lot of problems for me, too many, it just adds up. I can tolerate their non-flayer on-foot units. I guess if I ever collect them it'll be horde-style with a couple of stalkers. But I'd probably be sad that I'm missing out on the Wraiths.

Oddly I actually like the idea of barges and arks being pilotted as they look like they should be. Stalkers and bombers just look so much more like they should be Canoptek to my eye.

The monolith was one of the biggest models in its day, its not aged all that well either. It really shows up against the new monolith giant model and I'm sure one day we'll see the Monolith get an update, but likely not for a long while.


Also the other thing with skaven wasn't just that you'd spend ages making slaves, but that most woudl get removed from the table without doing anything anyway. A unit you'd spend money and time building only to basically put on the table and then take off one shooting turn later. Of course they served a purpose, it just felt like an uphill struggle to get at a handful of cool things like warp cannon and ogres.

 Haasbioroid wrote:
Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

This is me and Imperial Guard. Love pretty much everything about them, to the point that in terms of lore and art they're probably my second favourite faction. But… the current infantry models??? NO. NO NO NO.

I'd be quite happy to have a Valhallan or custom regiment made using Victoria Miniatures for the infantry, cos those look great, but… that would cost a fortune in shipping, I'm not sure my modelling skills are up to snuff for it, and I'd be severely limited in where I could play.

The fact DKoK grenadiers have gone awol.

I would like to do a Vraks seige list but nope.

LoftyS wrote:
I don't know if I'm just very picky, so I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem: wanting to collect an army, but a minor problem prevents you from doing so.

I have my two examples:

Necrons - I love the Triarch Stalker and Canoptek Wraiths. But they don't synergize at all and there's nothing else I like to fill up the non troops slots.

I think this is a case where converting is the solution. Like giving the Necron Warriors/Immortal scarabs (or Deathmark heads) for heads and coiling tails instead of legs.

I’d love to run a pure harlequin army and have no issue painting a unit or 2, but a whole army would be painful.
I love the classic patterns of them but I’m hardly a fast painter.

Jackal90 wrote:
I’d love to run a pure harlequin army and have no issue painting a unit or 2, but a whole army would be painful.
I love the classic patterns of them but I’m hardly a fast painter.

Have you considered doing a kill team of them? Their rules, the diverse weapon load outs, and the fact that you get a commander right in the standard kit, makes them pretty great for it!

Time and money. I am constantly having ideas for new armies but I have enough of a backlog as it is. The Imperial Knight that I bought to add some muscle to my Space Marines grew into an entire Lance and then sprouted a Rusty17 add-on.

What can I say? Accidents happen.

Oh, I know, I know. I once tripped and accidentally fell into a shelf of Drukhari and, while trying to steady myself, accidentally put my credit card in the store's machine! I'm such a klutz.

Points are actually quite a factor when considering an army. There's a few armies I like fluff wise but when I think about how much $ it'll cost to get up to 1-2k points it quickly discourages me.

nataliereed1984 wrote:

 Haasbioroid wrote:
Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

This is me and Imperial Guard. Love pretty much everything about them, to the point that in terms of lore and art they're probably my second favourite faction. But… the current infantry models??? NO. NO NO NO.

I'd be quite happy to have a Valhallan or custom regiment made using Victoria Miniatures for the infantry, cos those look great, but… that would cost a fortune in shipping, I'm not sure my modelling skills are up to snuff for it, and I'd be severely limited in where I could play.

Have you tried anvil industry?

Not Online!!! wrote:

nataliereed1984 wrote:

 Haasbioroid wrote:
Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

This is me and Imperial Guard. Love pretty much everything about them, to the point that in terms of lore and art they're probably my second favourite faction. But… the current infantry models??? NO. NO NO NO.

I'd be quite happy to have a Valhallan or custom regiment made using Victoria Miniatures for the infantry, cos those look great, but… that would cost a fortune in shipping, I'm not sure my modelling skills are up to snuff for it, and I'd be severely limited in where I could play.

Have you tried anvil industry?

I know about them, and they have some cool stuff (I especially like their female commissar!), but aside from some heads and officer sprues, I'm not as fond of their troops as with Victoria Miniatures', and most of the same issues still apply.

In a perfect world, I'd honestly mix and match the two companies, though! They're definitely my two favourite IG alternatives, and they are, so far, the ONLY two third-party companies I've seen who's female models mostly look like actual soldiers, rather than models and dancers posing in military cosplay for a photo shoot, you know?

(not that I mind female minis being sexy. I do collect Drukhari, after all! It's just a matter of where it's appropriate, and where it's not)

nataliereed1984 wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

nataliereed1984 wrote:

 Haasbioroid wrote:
Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

This is me and Imperial Guard. Love pretty much everything about them, to the point that in terms of lore and art they're probably my second favourite faction. But… the current infantry models??? NO. NO NO NO.

I'd be quite happy to have a Valhallan or custom regiment made using Victoria Miniatures for the infantry, cos those look great, but… that would cost a fortune in shipping, I'm not sure my modelling skills are up to snuff for it, and I'd be severely limited in where I could play.

Have you tried anvil industry?

I know about them, and they have some cool stuff (I especially like their female commissar!), but aside from some heads and officer sprues, I'm not as fond of their troops as with Victoria Miniatures', and most of the same issues still apply.

In a perfect world, I'd honestly mix and match the two companies, though! They're definitely my two favourite IG alternatives, and they are, so far, the ONLY two third-party companies I've seen who's female models mostly look like actual soldiers, rather than models and dancers posing in military cosplay for a photo shoot, you know?

(not that I mind female minis being sexy. I do collect Drukhari, after all! It's just a matter of where it's appropriate, and where it's not)

The word is tastefulness. The pinup style never works for wargames and I don't know why people still do it.

LoftyS wrote:

nataliereed1984 wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

nataliereed1984 wrote:

 Haasbioroid wrote:
Almost all of mine is the models holding me back. There are a few different factions and chapters that I love the lore for, then I look at the models and more often its just the base troops, and I'm like...oh no...I'm not collecting that.

This is me and Imperial Guard. Love pretty much everything about them, to the point that in terms of lore and art they're probably my second favourite faction. But… the current infantry models??? NO. NO NO NO.

I'd be quite happy to have a Valhallan or custom regiment made using Victoria Miniatures for the infantry, cos those look great, but… that would cost a fortune in shipping, I'm not sure my modelling skills are up to snuff for it, and I'd be severely limited in where I could play.

Have you tried anvil industry?

I know about them, and they have some cool stuff (I especially like their female commissar!), but aside from some heads and officer sprues, I'm not as fond of their troops as with Victoria Miniatures', and most of the same issues still apply.

In a perfect world, I'd honestly mix and match the two companies, though! They're definitely my two favourite IG alternatives, and they are, so far, the ONLY two third-party companies I've seen who's female models mostly look like actual soldiers, rather than models and dancers posing in military cosplay for a photo shoot, you know?

(not that I mind female minis being sexy. I do collect Drukhari, after all! It's just a matter of where it's appropriate, and where it's not)

The word is tastefulness. The pinup style never works for wargames and I don't know why people still do it.

Oh, I think it depends.

First of all, when you're not actually using them for games, it's pretty much "hey, whatever floats your boat" in my opinion. Anvil make a pin-up male Catachan commissar that I think is pretty funny and wouldn't mind having, for example (though I doubt I could paint him well enough to be actually sexy). And I'm certainly not gonna negatively judge any guy for wanting some silly porny pin-up minis from War-games Exclusive or whatever to paint up and keep around. I just think those aren't appropriate for a sense of immersion on the actual tabletop. They don't "make sense" for the setting and what we're supposedly acting out in a game.

But secondly, there's also some factions for which it DOES feel okay? Like Drukhari Wych Cults and Daughters of Khaine, for instance. They're hedonistic, narcissist, show-offy, and try to keep from harm by avoiding getting hit in the first place rather than being armoured, so it fits for them to have sexier sculpts (though they should definitely still have some serious muscle tone, being warriors and athletes and what-not; Lelith Hesperax, as an example, is IMO a perfect sculpt for a Wych / DoK style mini). Slaaneshi daemons and cultists are also perfectly appropriate to be sexy - ESPECIALLY cultists. Though for the daemons, their sexiness should be very androgynous and intertwined with unsettling, monstrous, or even repulsive elements.

But with stuff like guardsmen - who are the exhausted, scared, rugged masses of humanity only inches away from death and who's job is to soak up fire while MAYBE landing a few lasgun rounds on the enemy - or the Sisters of Battle - who are heavily armoured, zealously religious DEATH NUNS - then yeah: making them into cheesecake is tacky and awful and breaks the immersion and alienates a huge number of players (even many of the straight men).

Edit: Man I REALLY need to start checking for typos and autocorrect BS *before* clicking submit. All my posts are like "edited 4 times".

"cheesecake" or not, options being options is something I'm not gonna turn down, even if i don't use 'em or even like them.

as to my space on this. at this point ive had enough stops on the building an army train i doubt i can call them minor, but.. yeah, i have a few.

orks- i. love. shooting. i like most of the ork models, and the lore, but the pricing and the mechanical difference holds me back. i know some otherr folk see it, but i just have a hard time building orks to shoot like i like.

Tau- mechanics and lore hold up, but i have this issue with non-infantry models and tau that i don't think i can get past to have lists I deem effective. lookin' at you, Riptide. pricing that thing when i was just introduced to gunpla almost had me break a new anger hole.

Genestealer cult- the model line looks great to me all around. the lore is okay. the mechanics seem interesting to the point im thinking of scrapping all my other ideas and going down this road, because the shooting seems.. posssibly enough to make me happy?

Except they were first sold to me as "here, build renegades from the imperium" and i thought "hrm. can i implement my sister models..."

when I tossed that not figuring it would fly, then i thought on using them as raiding forces, bandits, chaos cultists... and then it hit me, SKAVEN cult, forcing the great horned rat into reality. maybe doable?

giggling occured for awhile, then I said "other than everything ELSE holding me back... HOW DO I BUILD THIS!?!"

and thats exactly where im at now. trying to figure out with nowhere near the skill line in modeling or painting to make that, but ideas flowing in. it's not stopped me yet, other things'll see to that, but yeah, this whole conceptual thing is putting them over tau and well over my sisters at this point, but may end up making it to daunting to do.

Money and time.
Mainly money.

(DELETED. Never mind, don't wanna get too much into this issue. It's off-topic, and to each their own.)

 godardc wrote:
Money and time.
Mainly money.

And space to put all this crap! Transporting some of the cool models is also an issue.

 Fajita Fan wrote:

 godardc wrote:
Money and time.
Mainly money.

And space to put all this crap! Transporting some of the cool models is also an issue.

Yes, Space is a big issue for me, living in an apartment.

It might not be an army, but it hinders a lot of hobby projects in the form of terrain. Everything I make has to be suitable for packing, in a way so it can end up in the bottom of one of my closets or under my bed

I have too many armies already. Did a big cull recently and still have Mechanicum, CSM, and the Inquisition, and that's just for 40k...

LoftyS wrote:

Eldar - My favourite unit (Warp Spiders) are finecast.

LoftyS wrote:
And with the Eldar one I'll admit I'm being a snob but I'll never touch finecast.

Are you aware that before they were finecast they were metal? If you like the models, invest in tracking down enough of the old metal ones. It isn't particularly hard.

ccs wrote:

LoftyS wrote:

Eldar - My favourite unit (Warp Spiders) are finecast.

LoftyS wrote:
And with the Eldar one I'll admit I'm being a snob but I'll never touch finecast.

Are you aware that before they were finecast they were metal? If you like the models, invest in tracking down enough of the old metal ones. It isn't particularly hard.

Well, I can understand why to skip finecast whenever possible.

for a long time it was the lack of plastic sisters that held me back from doing sisters.

I'm starting a new army in january!

ccs wrote:

LoftyS wrote:

Eldar - My favourite unit (Warp Spiders) are finecast.

LoftyS wrote:
And with the Eldar one I'll admit I'm being a snob but I'll never touch finecast.

Are you aware that before they were finecast they were metal? If you like the models, invest in tracking down enough of the old metal ones. It isn't particularly hard.

Of course I am, I used to own them. And I'm constantly watching the Norwegian second hand market for them. Unfortunately ebay or any other foreign source is not an option with our oppressive import fees.

Plus popular metals keep their value and even increase in value. Diaz Deamonettes sell for insane amounts on ebay. You have to use every possible miss-listing name to try and hunt down any that don't instantly get a lot of attention from bidders. Even then you've got to cross your fingers or just bite the bullet and accept the high price.

I'm honestly surprised that GW hasn't pushed out a bigger update to Eldar, they are in one of the worst positions in terms of finecast in core units. A good few other 40K armies are now sitting with finecast mostly just in the leaders. Then again Eldar is just really behind the times - very old plastics where they've got them for guardians and finecast for most of their aspect troops.

Banshee's are a great step forward, but there's so many more to go.

Money, time, space, and my immortal soul.

While my pile of shame is getting smaller, it’s still pretty significant. Although a steady 1-a-week pace goal and resolution to pain more then I buy made some good inroads this year. Painted 53, bought 8 in 2019. I can’t say I want to finish my current armies, because that’s a thing that never happens, I want to clear up a lot of the backstock before changing gears.

At my pace, I have a few years to go in the pile. And that’s just counting projects I actually care about.

I really need to thin out my collection. Dead armies, abandoned projects. But I lack the will to do it. It would give me the space I need for new things. I don’t want to paint something. Just to hide it in a box.

I sometimes hear the sirens call of chaos, but so far have resisted. But the dreams of blood and brass haunt me. Although my next army would probably be a splinter fleet of the great devourer.

Finecast holds me back from expanding armies (cough eldar) but not starting new ones.