Do you collect one, or ten?

[Valkyrion]

We're almost halfway through 10th edition, so this question comes about because of my own inability to properly choose anything to nail to my own mast.

 

Would you rather;

a) Add 2000 points to your *main* army every edition - so you're aiming for a massive, unified force over a lifetime of gaming

or

b) Start a new 2000 point army from the ground up every edition - so your gaming and painting focus shifts every edition

 

The answers may well be fluid - the guy with 10 armies might wish they were all Blood Angels, and the guy with all Blood Angels may be yearning for some Xenos action. 

 

I am option B, but I sincerely wish I was option A. 

 

 

[Jolemai]

Option A as I'm not at Chapter strength yet...

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

Same, A. In every edition.

And nearly, in every game...

[calgar101]

This is a cool question and I am in both camps! Awkward I know.

 

My armies are in 2 groups... Imperium and Non Imperium.

My Non Imperial army is a small Ork Speed Freak force. My friend wanted to sell it as he was frustrated with 40k, it's an army I've played and lost against for 20 years or so, beautifully painted and built. Now I plan to expand this army at some point, under 5th edition it was 2.5k, I plan to add bikers and deffkoptas to it plus loads of converted wagons. While I won't add 2k every edition, it will get additions. 

 

Then my Imperial armies, 8 Knights (all the basic battle cannon and chainsword), about 7k of Imperial Guard plus 16 Baneblade/variants.

 

Space Marines - 

2k army of my DIY chapter, Angels of Annihilation; built around 3rd,4th and 5th edition models. No primaris will be added to this army, it was the rival to the above Orks.

A huge load of unbuilt or basic built marines needed to be painted. Unsure on chapter, either Astral Claws or another DIY.

Also planning on making a 2-3k army for each Chapter involved in the Badab War.

Some Primaris but only what came in Indomitus boxed set and Conquest magazine. 

Then I have 3-4k of Dark Angels, need to add the Lion and sole characters to this plus some Ravenwing units.

3k Crimson Fists

3-4k Black Templars, needs some characters 

4-5k Grey Knights, needs some characters, NDK and more power armour.

6-7k Space Wolves, needs more vehicles, id like to round off at 10k, some characters also needed

5-6k Blood Angels, needs newer characters, some more vehicles and men

12-16 assassin's, will make an Agents army or whatever they are called now.

 

My 'armies' are varied in size etc and I have very little Primaris units and characters. However special characters who have had new models, I will get their latest iteration at some point.

I also intend to get more chapter specific units for my armies that have their own codex.

 

I have some Custodes to be built and intend to make an army of them for both 30 and 40k. Same for the Mechanicus. 

 

I haven't played since 7th, so having the latest, up to date units hasn't been an issue for me and my personal life for a while has meant the hobby had to take a back burner. However with things getting back on track, I plan on getting my forces up to date, getting missing models/units and just expanding again. 

 

I don't have a rhyme to it, just buy what I like. 

This is is also not factoring in my 30k force. I have 3k ish of Iron Warriors with probably another 3k or so of unbuilt marines for whatever legion I pick.

 

Sorry for the long and messy post.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

Option A

 

Which I'm well on my way to with 506 models of Imperial Fists - all Firstborn.

 

I can understand why people would choose option B. As Bender once said, "they're both fine choices whatever floats your boat".

 

@Jolemai Which Chapter is that?

Edited October 7 by The Praetorian of Inwit

[Jolemai]

 

 

 

@Jolemai Which Chapter is that?

 

Blood Angels. Currently around 21k Firstborn of which 14k is painted...

[SvenIronhand]

Hmm. That's a tricky one. I mostly play 1K, so I'm not big on duplicates. I would rather have 2000 pts of new, unique units for my desired faction.

[WAR]

A.  I have a very large forces collected but not painted and have been working through the back log as of Covid, It is why my Grey Knights are the most painted army. 

 

I completely see the draw of B just cant stop the urge to collect more than I need

 

 

[N1SB]

What an intriguing question, what fascinating answers, and I reckoned B&C were more Group A faction focusing.

 

I'm Group B, faction fluctuating, but I don't think it's by design.  I'm not chasing the meta, nor very competitive.

 

I do think it's something to do with being a Narrative Player...and now the Narrative is constantly shifting:

 

 

6th to 7th ed - I actually played Iron Hands and MechanicuM, because I played 30k, Shattered Legions focus.

 

8th to 9th ed - I became famous for Nurgle, doing a lot of conversions, because it was the Plague Wars era.

 

10th ed - now I play Necrons, because Monsters are OP and C'tan...and now the Pariah Nexus campaign.

 

 

The interesting thing is, I still have this draw to Group A, because the guys who know me always hear me mumble, "I wish I was doing Orks like my Orkdeptus Mekanicus (Speed Freakz that want to be Mechanicus) or LadyBoyz (Orks that want to be Sororitas) concept...yeah, any time I paint Genestealer Cult they turn out REALLY well and I don't know why..."

 

Except I DO know why...my very 1st 40k army in 1st ed was Blood Axe Orks, but my 1st 40k game was Space Hulk.

In conclusion, I'm just in denial, I think.

[Norman Paperman]

Type B all the way! I don't play (yet) so I'm just painting models that look cool, building several armies simultaneously. Maybe I'll fall in love with a force on the tabletop or a specific paint scheme and focus on one, but in the meantime I've got a list of about 7 different armies I've got my eye on (and the same again for AoS). As my main army, I've got ~800 points of Thousand Sons painted up right now, mostly painting other stuff while waiting on their codex/new releases/battleforce box before I really commit to 2k+. Even if I never play, I love the idea of having armies on display. 

Edited October 8 by Norman Paperman

[Special Officer Doofy]

Neither? I have 5k Death Guard and 2k Nurgle Daemons. I like(d?) playing the game, the building and painting is a means to an end for me.

 

I would buy more for those armies if they released more for them. But I'm not buying a 20+ year old rhino, land raider or predator or a squat helbrute. I have everything else in the codexes for them.

Edited October 8 by Special Officer Doofy

[Bouargh]

I used to be A, but I shifted to B after the opening on the cicatrix maleficum... and the primarization process.

Getting 18k pts of Space Wolves on a guaranteed road to cancelation has been a big incentive to revise my collecting mechanisms: stop putting all my eggs in the same basket stuff. 

 

I target 3000 to 4000 pts per force so that I can field vsried lists at all sizes.

[Lord_Ikka]

B, I guess.

 

I don't know if I ever really start out going for a full army, I usually pick up a model I like and go from there. I have Primaris SM, Firstborn/Heresy DA, Necrons, Knights, and Imperial Agents. The Primaris and Necrons are really the only ones I planned, and it was really more subbing the Imperium mag got me a start on those two. The DA were a legacy army from a previous hobby time and were my starter to get back into the hobby, but not planned at all. Knights and Imperial Agents are passion projects, as I love big Mechs and all the Imperial weirdos and they kind of both turned into full-fledged armies from a few random models. So I really don't have a "primary" army to focus on, though the Primaris and Necrons I think are the biggest ones points-wise.

 

Right now I'm hobby-butterflying from various Necromunda gangs and random Imperial Agents units, with no real plan to do another full army. Though I do have some Word Bearers leadership models built...

Edited October 8 by Lord_Ikka

[Irongert]

A bit of both I think. I have a big "main" army and then 4 other smaller armies that kinda cycle in and out of service along side my main Iron Warriors army. At least for 30k, for ToW for example it's many armies all in the same points range. I love seeing, and collecting, big armies btu also like variety. It's a fine line to walk in trying to prevent the smaller "side" armies from also growing out of coontrol 

[firestorm40k]

I'm a bit of both; so 20-25 years ago, I'd do about 1k points of an army, already bored and wanting to do a different one  During that time I did Chaos Marines, Death Guard, Eldar, Space Marines, Tau, Iron Warriors, then Demonhunters (all long since sold on). 

 

Then for 5th & 6th I stuck to one army - Chaos  Space Marines (Legion of Taurus); I tried to do smaller, adjacent armies to compliment this one (Death Guard, World Eaters, Traitor Guard) but my main army was so time consuming those never went anywhere. 

 

After a 4-year hiatus I came back focusing on Kill Team, but a combination of partworks magazines and starter sets meant I amassed Death Guard, Primaris Marines and Necrons. I did the Death Guard a couple of years ago, and have decided my main stay going forward will be the Primaris - I'll do the Necrons as a 'speed paint' project sometime next year. 

 

I've now subscribed to Combat Patrol so I'll be making Tyranid, GSC and World Eaters armies at some point in the future too..! But the Primaris Marine army will be the one I keep adding to, probably throughout 11th as well 

Edited October 8 by firestorm40k

[lhg033]

I dont really play these days so that isnt the biggest motivator for me. I like the idea but lack the time.

 

For me, on this basis I tend to buy what I like and add it. I loosely want them to be there if I do want to game but rule of cool wins out (and other things like budget. potential storage issues for bigger models etc). Option A is probably the closest fit I guess.

my main collection is Dark Angels - been going strong since end of 2nd/beginning of 3rd. I've skipped a few editions but had dabbled on and off with them since i started. I've picked up started sets or random models here and there and been given many things for Christmases and birthdays. A lot of stuff is on sprues though and the plan at the moment is to actually build a few armies with what I have lying around.

In old marines, I have a full battle company, at least half the Deathwing and Ravenwing companies plus more on sprues

I should easily have a full company of primaris (mainly on sprues) from dark imperium/conquest magazine/indomitus/imperium magazine/leviathan plus other sets outside of this.

 

I have dabbled in several other armies along the way and occasionally add to these. Mainly Orks and Nids are the ones I commit decent time to. I also have a few Heresy boxes (DA again) that I am slowly working through.

 

 

 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Option B for me - I just get the models I like and arrange them into something that the rules say is "OK". 

 

I'm one of those people who likes several ranges, so having multiple armies each containing the elements I like is more interesting to me than having one giant army for my favourite faction (although I appreciate the lure of this).

[CL_Mission]

I guess mostly B for me. Early on I was a very messy collector and switched between lots of different projects without getting anywhere meaningful with any of then. The only mainstay was Dark Angels who I started with at the beginning of my Warhammer journey but dropped for a while then picked them up again in 6th. In 5th Dark Eldar were my main army and I kept with them through 6th and a little of 7th though the had to share the limelight with Dark Angels. Since then I've definitely picked up something different each edition.

8th Edition was a homebrew Space Marine Chapter, 9th I mostly worked on Knights and so far 10th has been Necrons. The Necrons should hopefully be going over 2000pts by the end of the year and I'm planning to switch over to a new project then, either returning to Dark Eldar with a new colour scheme or perhaps starting Blood angels. 

I do however have some Dark Angels in the works so a little bit of option A but it's a side thing to my main project.

Depending on what they receive in terms of releases I could see myself returning to Necrons in 11th but I doubt it will be another 2000pts, probably closer to 1000.

[Frogian]

As a space marine player, i get over 1k pts each edition just from the box set and hachette magazines. Mainly into 1-1.5k size games, so really don't need to be spending full price on anything.

 

Actually just went and added everything up. I've sold/am selling over 2.5k pts of stuff, mainly duplicate stuff i bought early on when there wasn't as much primaris stuff, or army boxes i've only wanted some of. Stuck everything else that is primaris and i plan on keeping on a new recruit list, and it is exactly 4000pts, not even 5 off! How odd. (i've probably forgot something though)

 

Started getting stuff for an ork force, for a 2nd army. Will probably keep this quite small, but want lots of conversions.

At some point I wouldn't mind some eldar too. Again, just a smallish force. Maybe 2k

 

A new edition isn't really any trigger for a new army for me - i don't play anywhere near enough for that to be the case. i can see why its a good jumping in place for others though.

 

 

[Emperor Ming]

Back in the day, it was new armies left right and centre

 

bfg, lotr, wfb, 40k, multiple armies for each

 

Now I look back on that and think, the upkeep and maintenance of all that, I must have been mad

 

These days its add stuff to existing forces, new armies are a no generally

 

How much is a new 2k from scratch these days, inc books, paints etc, even from discount retailers, 

 

You might not get much change out of 1k. 

[Frogian]

Gonna depend a lot on the army - mainly if its horde or not. For a non-horde army, especially one where you can buy the combat patrol twice, or they've got a battleforce box - probably sub 500 is pretty easy (for instance the DA battleforce and combat patrol might not cost you much over £210 from discount retailers and is nearly 1500 pts combined)

 

Its when its horde and everything you're getting is just from standard 1 unit/vehicle boxes, that it really starts adding up.

[lhg033]

 

Gonna depend a lot on the army - mainly if its horde or not. For a non-horde army, especially one where you can buy the combat patrol twice, or they've got a battleforce box - probably sub 500 is pretty easy (for instance the DA battleforce and combat patrol might not cost you much over £210 from discount retailers and is nearly 1500 pts combined)

 

Its when its horde and everything you're getting is just from standard 1 unit/vehicle boxes, that it really starts adding up.

...and this is why i am happy with the Orks I have from other than just getting some bigger bases/adaptors for them - got them for cheap(er) when they were first released plus a oad of AoBR ones. I have somewhere between 150/200 boyz plus others like burnaz/lootas etc. I wouldnt consider starting this army now

 

[gaurdian31]

I am a little a and a little b. I have a rather large force of CSM, but I dabble in most of the other factions as well as I like painting the miniatures. Play wise I like having a couple of different armies I can play but it mostly comes down to playing CSM.

[Helias_Tancred]

I've been in the hobby since 2012. I'm mostly a one collection guy,  but I did come to realize that 2 collections are doable for me. Since 2012 I've had Blood Angels (we're in 6th edition), then Crimson Fists (7th edition just came out, and sold off my BA), then back to Blood Angels, then some Black Templars but sold them off at 1200 points and unfinished, then Grey Knights but sold them off before they were finished all the while also having a big Blood Angels collection .... then Dark Angels (sold off BA), then Dark Angels and a new Blood Angels collection (now we're in 8th edition), then a number of years of having 12k of BA and 11k of DA .... then last summer another Grey Knights collection, played them once and then sold them off, then in October of 2023 I sold off my Blood Angels, then sold off my Dark Angels, and continued to sell off everything I owned 40k and GW as a whole except for my painted 40k terrain. Then in November started a Black Templar collection, got it to 5800 points, and that is where I am now. I keep thinking I want one more 40k marine collection (not a big enough fan of the other 40k factions to actually collect them), but now I'm back to being sorta unmotivated and burnt out on all of this; the crappy faction rules overall, the price gouging and other business practice antics from GW, and the thought of the cost in time and money to do another collection and the dread I have of building yet another collection of models has me feeling like I'll just ride it out with one collection of Black Templars.

 

Burnt out, unmotivated, and pissed off about the hobby and GW overall.

 

:)

 

Edited October 8 by Helias_Tancred

[Scribe]

In an ideal world, each faction is supported to a point that would allow organic growth of a collection over each edition.

 

In reality, only Space Marines really are.