Your collection/army and how fast did it grow?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Just curious about a general estimate on how long it took you to get 1000 points of models, compared to 2000, compared 4000, and so on.

[Grotsmasha]

Remember when GW did grand openings, and for that weekend they did buy 3 get a 4th free? I purchased an entirely transported and supported 3rd Co. for my Dark Angels. It was 3rd? Ed. (I think) so, I don't remember the points, but a lot, quickly.

 

[Orion]

2 minutes ago, Grotsmasha said:

buy 3 get a 4th free? I purchased an entirely transported and supported 3rd Co.

 

So you got the 4th company free? Not bad.

 

Was it this chonker box? (Not my photo. Google)

I remember the poor GW staff having to paint this box when Apoc came out. They did Dark Angels too.

 

[DemonGSides]

47 minutes ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

Just curious about a general estimate on how long it took you to get 1000 points of models, compared to 2000, compared 4000, and so on.

 

The first 1000 was fast; between Dark Vengeance and changing my mind in that I wanted to play Blood Angels, it was a very quick 1000.

Each thousand thereafter seemed to come faster and faster.  I mostly only get big boxes of stuff; I can't remember the last time I bought JUST a unit.

[tinpact]

Probably about a year per - I've got at least 1000pts of three armies, but I flipflop between projects so often it's more like three for all three.

[Bouargh]

It grows at a singukarly regular pace. 1000 tp 1500 pts per year. But as I am often picking here and there for multiples armies or factions, in the end, I need 4 year (about) to gather 3000 points allowing playing at 2000 and adjusting army comp. The use of allied in the past favoured my buying scheme and rapid deployment. Now I guess I will need 2 whole  years before starting fielding a new force as a small 1000pts stand alone game from first buy to first dice. It is a game of patience.

[System Sound]

I got my first box of rubrics around November 2018, to play kill team. Now I'm up to I think 5-6k points already. All mostly done during CoVID

Edited July 11, 2023 by System Sound

[Grotsmasha]

4 hours ago, JayJapanB said:

 

So you got the 4th company free? Not bad.

 

Was it this chonker box? (Not my photo. Google)

I remember the poor GW staff having to paint this box when Apoc came out. They did Dark Angels too.

 

 

Na, it was (3x tactical, tactical free) x2, 3x assault (5 man), assault free, and so on, and so on until I had 6x tactical, 2x assault, 2x devastator, command, 8x rhino, 2x predator, 2x vindicator, 2x dreadnaught, and named characters.

 

This was back when the tanks and dreads were still metal

Edited July 11, 2023 by Grotsmasha

[Wormwoods]

My Iron hands successor army was built for a crusade with some friends, took me about 4 months to fully paint up the first 1000 points. All infantry, too. After that, took me a full year to get to the 2000 mark, as I was working on other projects, and not hyper-focusing on getting the army ready. 

 

Not sure why I bothered, was a fun crusade but I was the only one with a fully painted army. Probably could have taken my time.

[Halandaar]

Not easy to say to be honest, given my first models were 25+ years ago and I was buying them like 4 at a time in blister packs with pocket money. It probably took me several years to get up to 1000 points, and that was split between all manner of different factions and even game systems because I just bought whatever I liked the look of with no structure whatsoever.

 

These days, it varies wildly. Like my Necrons have been a slow grow over the course of the Imperium magazine collection, whereas when the new Eldar kits came out last year i bought about 4000 points worth in a couple of months. I mean my last 1800-ish points worth happened in the ~2 minutes it took me to open a Leviathan box 

 

 

[Xenith]

1000pts was pretty rapid - I started with the 2E space hulk box with 10 terms, so that was 400pts right there. Soon after I got a a death company with chaplain box in 3rd ed was another 200 (600) and a tactical squad (175) (775). I think from there I bought an assault squad and tooled them out with all the kit to maximise points as a BA veteran assault squad (28ppm) with terminator honours (+10ppm), melta bombs (+5ppm) and plasma pistols (2x 15ppm) to push me over 1000. That was maybe over 3-6 months?

 

I mostly played on sundays at my local GW store, where every sunday was massed beginners battles using 2 units each, so I got away without having a full army. I think after 6-12 months I had a full 1000pt army and could go down on thursday evenings for 1 on 1 battles. 

 

Compare that to now and I've painted 5k of Alpha Legion in 1 year since the release of HH2.0, with 10k purchased in total, mainly tanks. The benefits of a salary over pocket money. 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Xenith

[Orion]

5 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

 

Na, it was (3x tactical, tactical free) x2, 3x assault (5 man), assault free, and so on, and so on until I had 6x tactical, 2x assault, 2x devastator, command, 8x rhino, 2x predator, 2x vindicator, 2x dreadnaught, and named characters.

 

This was back when the tanks and dreads were still metal

So pre Mars pattern tanks. Sounds like a dope collection. Even cooler than the Apocalypse era stuff.

 

As for OP question. When I was young stuff would take years to acquire. Since I've been getting back into the hobby it's like 2k points every 6months to a year. I'm kinda guessing because I don't really play so it's hard to count points.

Half my DKK stuff doesn't even have rules at the minute. 30 engineers, 3 Thudds, 3 Heavy Mortars, Gorgon

[Starlight_Wolf]

First thousand was pretty quick (started in 2011), helped by starting just before Christmas and being sent to FLGSs pretty quick after that, settled a little up until the end of 7th (think I'd hit around 5k by that point), then with 8th bought a fair bit of Primaris to supplement the existing army, same with Shadowspear. I think personal tendency is there's a rapid increase when a big box I can use comes out (Indomitus was a great box as a Wolves player), but then it depends on what further releases come out and interest in the hobby in my group. Honestly I have no idea what I have points wise anymore, but would guess I'm over 10k pretty easily

[KenaiPhoneix]

I started with just 4 korn berserks in like 2006. I picked up because of the colors. Then I got 5 used spaces marines that were the really old models with like 2 pieces to assemble in like 2008. Later I print and build my own rhino (couldn’t afford a real one). How did I print a vehicle on 2008? I print the “paper version” to assemble then put it on cardboard and build it. The problem was that my printer scale down the page to fit an A3 page and didn’t realize it until I saw an actual Rhino… it was hilarious, it was a “mini” rhino. 
 

I later succumb to Chaos and try to transform my used marines into Chaos units. It didn’t work well and then decided to abandon the hobby.

 

until 2020, when I got my “learn to play” box with like 6 marines and 3 plane marines and some pox units. I discovered Kill Team and convince some friends to try it. Get a box of pathfinders to play a little match and the Kill Team rule book. My friends hated the game (part is my fault, but that’s another topic). Decided to abandon the hobby again, I even made a “last project” that was some cool cardboard boxes where I would store my units forever. 
 

Very soon to that, GW announced Indomitus. I have some savings so I went “what the hell, let’s just at least fulfill my child dream of actually buying a big Warhammer box”. Get the box. “Oh cool, I really like this. Painting is fun even tho nobody plays with me”. Decide to drop everything and get some guards man, and start collecting and a Valkyrie. My first “pile of shame” is ready in 2021

 

”ok I’m not gonna buy anything until I finish everything I have. And my first issue is to find where to actually put the miniatures. Octarious is announced… “DEATH KORPS PF KREIG?!” Instant buy. 
 

“ok… now I will stop until I finish what I have AND find some place to put the miniatures. What is this? A new stream with rumors of a new edition?”. And then I bought Leviathan on 2023.

 

in short, the last couple of years I went from like 100 points at best to like 3 full armies of probably 1000 points. I would add the 4th being the Astra militarum but I think I’m missing some HQ, I haven’t finished reading the core rules of 10th. But I will get what I need. 
 

And I already have my next acquisition: a full imperial Knight. But this time I REALLY will finish my pile of shame until I finish it all. Some space marines from the indomitus are still on the box. 
 

 

[Remain_Indoors]

Really depends on the army. My Chaos Knights reached 1k in a space of a couple of months, my Alacanti Farstriders Imperial Guard have been in the works since Cadia Stands and hasnt broken 1k yet. My biggest collection, my Parsimonius 11th Armoured Regiment, has taken 6 years to reach its current 6000+ points and 38 Leman Russes.

[sarabando]

pre 8th ed increadibly slowly i was always quite poor when it came to getting new models so it was usually only birthdays and christmas that added new stuff. however after 8th came out and i was gifted an airbrush (and had a job) i have now painted to completion more minis than i did in all the time before 8th (i started in 2nd ed.) 

[Warhead01]

I can't say for sure at this point my first army was Dark Angels back in 2nd. I started with Space Marines given to me from a starter box and had nearly no concept of how to grow that army for over a year, or who knows how long. I recall adding 5 Terminators a few characters a Leman Russ Demolisher some plastic scouts and an assault squad and maybe a land speeder at some point. My collection sucked.  My next army came together faster Chaos Space Marines dropped and I got one of each kit fairly quickly. I have no idea how I afforded all of that. I'd move on the imperial Guard after that and that was easier, again I have no idea how I rounded up those models. Each of my armies would hit 1500 points over 2 to three years total.  
After that I was employed and would bring in 18 armies in 3 years, between what I would buy and trade for. I didn't maintain that many armies I think I had two or three and these would be in the 2K to 2.5K range. Later I was trading and selling armies hand over fist at a game store and reaching a 2K army size was dead easy.  
My Orks would grow to over 21K over about 15 years. My Space Marines would be traded off every now and then but I would reach a company level size for a few years. Most of my friends were collecting like mad as well back then. My imperial Guard was an off again on again idea I did have 300 Cadians in the boxes at one point but parted with all of that. The next two IG armies were just brought in as collections I wanted to repaint but I only traded models and painting services for those. Trade and painting was a solid way to bring in new armies for several years. 
In the game shop I was a regular at I would trade and sell armies but I usually took some cash and kits off the shelf as well. this just kept things going and no one was upset about it, the owners were not mad at all.  
Now days I can put together a 2000 point army in 4 to 6 moths and have it all painted in about that much time with no trouble and under the newer points systems it looks even easier. 

I regret having bought more than two armies. I should have stopped at two. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Warhead01

[The Yncarne]

Depends on the year because of how much disposable money I had going back to the 80s though armies from then are long gone

 

For the past 3-4 editions, I usually build a new army of 2K - 3.5K or thereabouts over the edition lifecycle. Depending on the mini release cycle I may pick up new stuff for older armies. 

 

The armies I have now tend to have a force org chart+ of units

• 2 craft worlds 
• 1 saedeth
• 2 septs
• 1 Thousand Sons war band 

[Matcap86]

My collection was a slow and steady of stuff from 2014-2019. When Covid and Brexit happened, a better income combined with lots of time at home, "now or never" pricing and mental health issues conspired to give me the backlog of a small shop. Which I find hard to parse down as there's been plenty a time I was happy I had a kit at hand already for a project or conversion I was tempted by or I still had some out of production stuff lying around.

 

But at varying states of completion I now have:

 

• 4 smallish AOS armies
• Almost complete Blackstone Fortress and Cursed city sets.
• 3 Killteams 
• A mostly in box Necromunda campaign waiting to happen.
• 2 Titanicus Legios with 8 titans on either side 
• 2 Horus Heresy armies with an Solar Aux detachment in box waiting on whether the mystery army this autumn is plastic SA
• Sizeable Ad-Mech, Genestealer cults, Marines, Imperial knight and Custodes armies in varying state of completion and a Sisters of Battle army in box waiting to happen. 
• Leviathan 10th ed starter.
• Assorted scenery for all game systems to create a sizeable table both MDF and GW plastic (full wall of martyrs set, the old bastion, landing pad and half a table worth of sector imperialis ruins and mechanicus scenery respectively
• the old hills realm of battle boards and the sector imperialis one

I am also very vulnerable to FOMO pressure and kind of a hobby butterfly (I.E. I get bored easily and need parallel projects to jump back and forth between). I was planning on cutting back the purchases, but with GW releasing stuff all up in my wheelhouse this year, that makes it pretty tough to do that. 

 

Edit: Though on pricing a majority of the stuff was sourced second hand or from budget boxes like the christmas sets or starter sets, so I didn't pay GW MSRP for most of it. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by matcap86

[Dr. Clock]

Most often I'm painting about 75 points a week on average (3-6 infantry). Thinking through the idea that this means I'm painting almost 4000 pts a year makes me shiver a little, although I basically never paint for just a single army for more than a week. 

 

When starting a new army I usually start with a larger buy-in / bundle, and then add in the other more 'esoteric' stuff as I round the corner on completing that initial purchase to keep motivation up. It's good to have one or two 'next projects' to motivate, but if the stack is so deep that you can't see the end, that can sap morale... This is also why I tend to avoid too many multiples of the same thing. I am essentially allergic to painting more than 2 of any unit, and even then I've got to want to make something a 'core feature' of the army to do more than 2. The only thing I've got 3+ of are dreadnoughts (don't count because 2 are Salamanders and 2 are Khorne), and... unrecognizable daemon engines (usually maulerfiends, don't count because none are based on the same chassis).

 

In truth the last few armies I started have all been for Sigmar, and they were both at a reasonable 2k in about a year. For Sigmar I kind of get to 2000 and just stop, as I'm building that collection for DnD as much as Sigmar, and variety is the spice of life.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

 

 

[2PlusEasy]

For me the first 500 - 1000pt was slow for my childhood black templars army and took about 8 years (late 90s - mid 00s). I was a kid whose expansion was limited to birthdays. In truth this never bothered me at the time: I didn't play tournaments and was happy to make do with what I had.

 

After settling into my first proper career job though and moving inter-state to a smaller city where 40k was popular, between 2011 - 2013, things expanded very quickly. There were five factors to why it was so quick:

 

- 1) Expendable income in an isolated place. It was either spend money on alcohol or spend money on hobby. Hobby won out, and I could afford to buy 2000pts of Warhammer very quickly.

 

[Edit] - 2) Limitation of choice. Back in 2011, you had four reliable choices in the tabletop wargaming hobby: you either played Warhammer fantasy, Warhammer 40k, Warmahordes or were a historical Wargamer playing with a lead miniature collection from the 1980s. Noone played Warhammer fantasy after 8th ed locally, Warmahordes players were perceived as a different breed of human and the historical wargamers had established groups and were hard to find. (They were great people who likely would have been excited for people to join them, but the mentality of "those Warhammer players" was a thing amongst some historical groups locally) So 40k was easy to find, easy to collect and easy to find people to play with. The Old Guard still also played 40k back then too: it was still "their 40k." It was only after 2013 that alternative systems like Infinity, Bolt Action etc finally took off.[End edit]

 

- 3) Being able to buy direct from international discounted retailers and Forge World for direct currency exchange. GW eventually stopped this, but when Warhammer was 40% cheaper then what you could get in Aus, it made a significant difference.

 

- 4) the emergence of Facebook's marketplace and the wide-scale availability of second hand Warhammer. This has only grown since 2013, and if you're patient you'll eventually find what you need in Aus for far, far cheaper then retail.

 

- 5) Access to recasters. It's a topic of moral contention, but access to recasters factually led to expansion of the hobby locally. I won't expand on this though, noting it is a sensitive topic.

 

However, in modern times things have slowed back down again. The market is much wider these days and GW is getting less of my time and money. I also have less money and time to spend due to changes in life circumstances so warhammer's price is less appealing compared to say... Mantic or Warlord Games

Edited July 16, 2023 by 2PlusEasy