problem

[shan vener]

hey guys, i hate to bother you with my problems but i need opinions here.

 

okay lets face it GW makes it darn near impossible to get a large APOC sized army, so i use alternative means (IE the war store/ebay). but let me start at the beginning here.

 

about a week and a half ago i sent an emeail to blue table painting asking about two sanguinary priests. about 5 minutes later i recieved an automated email saying that "your email has been recieved, etc etc etc, expect an email within 2-3 business days, etc etc etc, and that most questions can be answered with a look in the service gallery."

 

i waited 4 days and then forgot and the day after that i planned a war store order which would get me a captain (i don't care what they say i use 'em), 2 sanguinary priests, DC, and sanguinary guard. 800 points in all, for ~$150 (the captain and the priests would be scratch build from bits order). yesterday i got a reply from BTP and they said that the priests would be $30, EACH. (relise i said that if this were to happen to pull out all the stops) i did the calculations and found that the war store order became $110 but add in the BTP cost and i end up spending $20 more than before, but get 2 awesome models from BTP. so at this point i don't care which way i go.

 

but before you post something take time and think in my mind, take a few things into account

 

still live with parents, only source of cash is allowence about $10.8 at best so it'll take time

army largely unpainted (have painted, dante, sanguinor, 3 assault marines, LRR, and a badly painted corbs)

this order would put me at about 4000 points

i take time to paint my stuff especially character and HQ's and priest fall into that (1 can take me hours)

 

if you don't have a response thanks for at least reading this far :wallbash:

 

see ya

[evileyevirtue]

So... what's the question?

 

Whether or not you should go for the BTP or buy 'em off ebay?

 

I've had experience with BTP before, and they're alright. I think they're way overpriced for what they do, I was less than happy with my order. I know they said they'd take them back if I wasn't happy, but I didn't feel like going through the struggle. Their conversions are mediocre and painting more so. I would say if think you're competent to do it yourself, do it yourself. The best I can see them doing, especially for $30 is glue the parts together for you. No heavy work, just glue the right bits combo together, and if you've built SM's, you can easily do a SP.

[shan vener]

out of curiosity sake when was this project. i've seen what they can do and i'd be a little suprised to come across this.

 

but the question is to BTP or not to BTP

[Lanfear]

not.

[evileyevirtue]

Here's the project.

 

I think they're painting, for the price, is rather poor and not at all representative of what their 'guide' showed. Of course, that was a while ago and they didn't have as many pictures available at the time. The vehicles, I must say, were done pretty well. The troops... not so much. The conversions were just bits thrown together. The Vulkan model was $50 for paint plus parts. He was just parts glued together. Rather disappointing.

 

The basic marines were level 3 painting, terminators 4, and Vulkan I believe was 5... and they look like they were speed painted and just dunked in a heavy dip. I shelled out a crazy amount of cash and it looks thrown together. The base coat paint doesn't even look even on the majority of models. No highlights. The base coating was even rather sloppy. Oh... and they look even worse in person...

 

Now, some other people may have gotten better off, but as I look at the pictures I don't see too many...

[Leonaides]

not. You are paying the price of a landraider for 2 models. 2 plastic kit models. That you can put together yourself for half that. Maybe this is why you have trouble getting your army big enough... From my perspective, i have something like 12k of blood angels, built up over 15 years, and still got painting to do on some of them. I have another 2k of lamenters the core of which is from 4 black reach boxes which i got on release day. Still only half of them painted... Buy 2 command boxes, make your own sang priests and have more parts to do your own conversions. Much better idea in my opinion, and will result in more points on t table per buck.

[Morollan]

I'm not familiar with either Warstore or BTP but I'm confused. I assume from the comments of others that BTP supply painted models. Do Warstore also supply them painted or is it just the models themselves? If it's just the models then $110 for a captain, DC (not sure how many of these?) and SG seems extortionate and I could easily pick those up from any shop at half the price.

[shan vener]

I'm not familiar with either Warstore or BTP but I'm confused. I assume from the comments of others that BTP supply painted models. Do Warstore also supply them painted or is it just the models themselves? If it's just the models then $110 for a captain, DC (not sure how many of these?) and SG seems extortionate and I could easily pick those up from any shop at half the price.

 

the war store is an online place which sells GW products at 20% off, the reson that the would cost so much is that a lt of that is paint. but yeah i think i'll just do it myself. thanks guys.

[Zealadin]

First I'd suggest trying to find a way to earn a bit of money!

Helping neighbors with their gardens, cutting lawns, etc can all bring in a little bit of money, and generally if you work hard and do a good job more people will ask for your help and you can really make some easy money to support your hobby!

I used to babysit to earn my Warhammer 40k money and it made a huge difference than relying upon allowance.

(Even asking your parents to give you jobs they will pay you for, or relatives can work)

 

Onto your actual question. Unless you pay big bucks for conversion and painting, or know someone who will do it as a favour IRL then its not going to be worth it.

I used wayland games who are in the UK which might not be ideal for US hobbyists but I save anything from 40-50% since we get ripped off so bad in Australia. Thats including postage!

 

Even if your slow and still learning you will have a greater sense of accomplishment doing it yourself, and for conversions go into your local GWS and ask for help, they often have lots of bits they will help you out with, and sometimes you can trade stuff you don't use for things you need (depends on the staff).