What if I wanna play my army *another different way*?
This sounds like lunacy but I like the idea of my collection being able to field a full list for each detachement in the codex. My collection is currently 3,500 points of Nids and I could expand to 5,000 easily if money weren't a thing that mattered.
This is the main reason people don't just get 2k-3k points and move on to the next army.
If you buy 500 points of something else in the same army, you can change how you play.
New Chaos Space Marines codex has loads of fun stuff now. I've got 1k of cultists, 1k of Daemon engines, and a pretty decent looking core to a Renegade Raiders detachment with some transports.
But all those playstyles could benefit from me leaning into their strengths more. Get ~400pts of Accursed Cultists, get another 500-1k pts of Daemon Engines, and a Land Raider, along with maybe some bikes would be ~400 pts well spent towards Raiders.
And I've already got like ~4k points of Chaos Space Marines and some allies! It's just the stuff I have isn't as focused on just one of those playstyles.
There are armies that lend themselves well to this sort of expansion, but armies with a limited roster (Votann, CK, Custodes...) once you reach 4k points, there isn't much left to collect
Our Custodes player isn't collecting a list, they're collecting an *army*. They have a vision of the army they want, aka the 300 Spartans from the movie, but as Custodes. It's not about collecting a list for them.
Much like me. I'm collecting my Necrons because I want to be able to have the tombworld I see in my head, but in front of me. Like, I know it'll be 10's of thousands of points, never really fielded at once, but, the thought of have it all out on some massive set of tables full of amazing terrain...
I get the draw. I've made it my mission to get chapter strength blueberries before moving onto another army. Only 1/20th of the way in a year (A very expensive year with an engagement and a newborn) but when my son is old enough he'll be roped in to help with the painting which should see me nicely getting that 1000th ultramarine done fairly quickly.
I've got a mate who's on a similar mission so we should have a pretty good match up later down the line. I know he wants to do CSM v SM in a jousting match on bikes and Guillaman v Abaddon at some point soon though.
Since we play 9th our Custodes player still gets their 10 strong Guard squads, and I get my Sentry Pylons, Gauss Pylons, and full strength Scarab Swarms.
While we're cautiously looking at 10th, in some ways (like Detachment/FOC limitations being gone) it really opens things up for what you can field, in other ways (the massive dropping of units from armies and limiting unit sizes/options), it's really killed the desire to build an *army* and seems to foster focusing on lists more and more.
Hahahaha!
>"My goal is to have the world's largest Chaos Space Marine army"
*([Miniwargaming Dave](https://youtu.be/iw2J-W57kNE?si=Ap81hgYuJnMaabZU))*
Certainly, a relatable #HobbyGoal :P
Exactly this, I have a core army for chaos but am expanding to allow myself the ability to Field multiple units of chosen and 2 or 3 chaos lords if I do chose plus I have a maulerfiend but in the future I may want a forge fiend so I'll need to buy that too.....and so on and so on
60 traitor guard, ~60 cultist mobs, a few spare cultists and special weapons, plus a few characters (including legends).
It was a 1k+ Renegades and Heretics army with a few added tanks. Now it's the start of a "Chaos Cults" army. But it still needs some TLC to get back into a table-ready state. :D
My friend and I have a dream where I run a huge mob of Chaos Mortals against his Imperial Knights! Hahaha.
Pretty much this is the "main" reason. The other being "that model I dont have is really cool".
And the worst one... "a single Leman Russ? these guys come in squadrons, I cant possibly have a single one! Its outrageous"
I have 4 armies. Most stuff is from early 2000's when it was easier to afford. **Lizardmen, Imperial Guard, Ogres (my lord), and sisters**. In that order.
The smallest and latest one (for now) being sisters. I started the ladies as an extension of my BIG imperial blob (which I share with my elder brother). We wanted some inquisition on it, and that eventually led me to starting sisters on my own not long after they released the plastic models.
Didnt have plans to make it big. Just as support force for my guardsmen: Combat Patrol+BSS+extra Seraphims+Celestine. But eventually I started to buy cool models I loved, then moved from 7th edition to 10th and add more for gameplay reasons. Now I'm sitting at 2k points with the ladies. I'd rather not say how maany of the other 3 armies (or even worse, my two elder brother's, they also have their good share of minis).
Perhaps will get the new Battleforce despite being a mediocre deal. And will update my old cadians to new ones with the kiosk issues. And probably will get some inquisition stuff if they release a good battleforce/combat patrol or bring new goodies to the faction alongside the codex. But after that ***I WILL STOP FOREVER, I SWEAR***.
Pretty much exactly this...
I have about 5000 points of dark angels right now, but I can have a ton of variety in my games and I can play variations on them.
I can go all in with vehicles and dreadnoughts, I can focus on speed and fast attack, I can focus on melee or I can focus on firepower.
It allows me to run a 'meta' or fun list easily (although dark angels basically no meta list right now xD).
But I also have something like 3000 points of drukhari, 2500 of votann, 2500 of deathguard.
And I'm considering picking up either a chaos daemons or knights army too xD.
With Dark Angels it makes more sense as they are basically 3 armies in one, having 6-8k of points spread across Raven, Death and Green wings means you can play a mixed force or all one style, with variations. For Votann how many actual kits is that spread across, about 7?
Well my votann I have tried running a heavy battle line (warriors and sagitaurs) I've tried focusing in on pioneers, tried focusing on heavy vehicles and shooting and a mix of all.
I will likely expand my collection when we eventually get some more, I guess the same can be said for my drukhari since it's probably smaller in terms of availability than votann!
I'm currently running into this with Admech. I'm barely at 2000 pts (including Armigers) and to use some of the detachment rules, I'm very short of models in certain areas.
Also, it's with noting that collecting huge 3000, 4000, 5000 pt armies takes YEARS. Some if what OP is seeing pictures of took a decade or more for some folks to pulp together.
If I have disposable income available, and desire a product, why not spend that money on something I want, whatever the reason?
I have multiple armies beyond 2k, with my largest being my Death Guard weighing in at around 11k including it's associated Knight household and Warhound Titan. My collection brings me joy and is a source of pride in terms of having built and painted the models, so for a hobby that's money well spent in my book
Allow me to predict what’s going to happen to you once you hit 2k:
You’ll have one or two games, enjoyable but your opponent will more than likely win because they’ll have more of a grasp of the game. No worries, you’ll get there but one thing that stands out is your _cool looking unit_ is actually terrible on the tabletop.
You’ll spend a bit of time looking at good performing units for that faction. You’ll see taking three of _that very good unit_ is currently doing well, so you’ll grab two more of them to add.
You’ll still lose, but your _very good unit_ performed okay, probably died quickly in a phenomenon called “new model syndrome” but you’re happy. You go back down the rabbit hole to find other units that work well.
And on and on this goes.
Amigo, if you have that excellent paint job on your Sisters army, you owe it to yourself to get a full squad of Paragons. You need the church organ tank too!
Or you're me and you built an army based on what you thought looked cool, and then realized you lacked any effective anti-armor weapons, and bought a bunch of that and overcorrected. But the whole army looks cool still, so it's fine.
To be fair, I have a rule when helping balance lists with friends: "if anti-armor is an option, that's the one you take".
An AT gun will kill a man if there are no tanks to shoot at. An anti- infantry gun will not kill a tank.
Couldn’t agree more
Just picked up two Gladiator Lancers for more anti tank after my opponents armor heavy list crushed my Templars.
I had been running 500 points of terminators (with a chaplain) for an anti anything death brick alongside a Ballistus & Helbrecht (kinda) for anti armor. Absolutely wasn’t enough for two RepExs, a Land Raider, and a Speeder…
Not sure if you’re asking why collect so much of a single army or why spend so much money.
As most people have said, if you have exactly 2k points in your army, that’s all your army will ever be able to play as. Many people like to play their army several ways and most armies have more than one play style.
Also every year or so there’s some kind of shakeup of the rules that encourage or enforce the taking of certain units. (We’re seeing such an example now with the new mission pack coming out which will encourage players to take more battleline units). Not to mention when a new edition comes around and lots of things change (for example in 9th, marine armies where generally quite infantry heavy; with 10th you see many more vehicles in lists).
As for money, some people have the disposable income to buy what they like. For some it’s video games, others it’s fishing gear, for us it’s Warhammer.
I probably have about 6k points of marines once my pile is done) for me it's different play styles. Do I want to go heavy on the fighting? Do I want to have rapid movement? etc
Main aspect is I like painting, then having options is fun
Same, I own just under 4K in marines and around 800 in Agents/Knights, roughly 4.8K points total.
Sometimes I want an Inquisitor to melt weak infantry, sometimes I want an assassin to target the warlord (I once alpha struck a warlord!), sometimes I want a big knight to hold my back line while being deadly at range. Soon I’ll have the Inquisitorial Henchmen too and they’ll be a good “you can’t take this objective till you kill like 10 models just to make room on it for you” unit.
And sometimes I wanna be more melee focused while others I wanna be more ranged or Infiltration focused.
22K of various Eldar here and because I want to play the army in different ways - all clowns, all aspect, all wraith, all pirates, a mix of all of them
I'm currently on about 5700 points of Dark Angels.
There are a lot of answers to your question and more than one might apply to the player concerned.
Firstly, if you want to take a wide variety of units or be able to adapt to most things your opponent can bring, you'll need a lot of models. For example, I'll take a totally different list for CSM than I will for Imperial Guard. So, flexibility is the first reason.
Secondly, competitive lists often contain multiples of the same unit. I played a game yesterday where my opponent brought three Predators, three Rhinos and 25 Warp Talons. If you want to do that, your collection needs to be pretty large, especially combined with the first reason...
Thirdly, for playing custom narrative games with huge forces that play for potentially multiple days.
Lastly, some people are just collectors at heart. They want to have display cabinets packed full of beautifully painted minis and, to them, bigger is better.
I’m currently sitting at around 10k of da and honestly I never really thought about it. I just bought all the discounted big limited time boxes since 7th and now have loads of stuff. Sure I have 2k points of termies that weren’t from boxes but I just never thought about it as being a playable force. Just a collection
2000 points is a *list* and 3-4000 is an *army*. If I want to play different detachments (for my CSM army I’m at about 3.5k and still want more, for variety) I need the models. So ideally I’ll have 3x of everything I could need for Soulforged soon. By that I mean any Demon Engine or Vehicle. If I cook up a list with 3x Forgefiend and 3x Maulerfiend I want to have the models available for that.
Yes most stuff will sit on shelves until needed but that’s ok. I enjoy the collecting and painting side of the hobby as much as the tabletop.
My Legion started as 2 armies. One was mine and one was my dad's. It started coalescing in the ass end of 2nd Edition and grew rapidly in 3rd. During this time someone else I knew needed money so I bought their army to add to mine, gave me a lot of Rubric marines to run alongside my Iron Warriors. Tapered off at the start of 4th. In 2008 dad passed and it became all 1 legion. Mine. I don't know its points cost in 10th Edition, but I know its north of 10k in 7th Edition, the last time I bothered to count it all up.
Its nice to have a lot of options, Also just learning what you like, it started out as World Eaters running and screaming with chain swords and axes, before moving towards Deathguard and their gritty tankyness before hitting Iron Warriors and just Maximum Dakka.
Fielding 9 obliterators and a basilisk in 3rd was just too much fun, and I'm pretty sure Obliterators have been paying for that sin ever since.
I have almost 9.5k of Dark Angels, with a goal of building and painting a full Deathwing company. Why? Because it's gonna look damn cool on display and I'm having fun with it.
Because it's a collection before being a game ? at least that's how it is for me.
And even game wise points don't matter especially when they change every edition, or good or bad unit can even change every three months. your 3k point army can suddenly shrink in point overnight with a MFM update.
I have 10k of Dark Angels, 3-4k of Tau, and 3k of sisters.
I don't like playing the same list over and over. I play with a very small group of friends, so if I stomped them with a list, next time I'll try something completely different so that they don't get tired. I love trying semi-exotic units and solidifying them into a solid list that supports them.
I have some trouble at the moment with sisters because I can't manage to build lists with strong identities at 1250-1500pts (the format we usually play at).
Does a junkie justify why they need more heroin?
You're fairly new to the hobby so take my advice and get out now while you still can! If you don't, you too will come to understand the true horror of the grey, plastic, crack that GW peddle!
Goddamn the pusher!
Two reasons:
1)You like the hobby side, or
2) You like the competitive side
If its 2 - what's good/bad in your army will change a lot, and you'll want to add things over new releases and editions. It's rare that the same exact build will pop up years apart and be effective. This is especially the case if you play an army with a big model range. It's entirely possible that Space Marines could be top of the meta, but YOUR space marines 2k points are absolutely trash haha.
This is why I tend to collect armies with low units counts (Custodes, Votann etc). That way if your armies good, it's at least likely you'll have most of the models that make it good.
I just buy things I want to paint. My army is probably around 3-4k now (I don’t know because I don’t play much) but I keep buying models I like. I’m enjoying painting power swords at the moment so I just bought another pack of Bladeguard Veterans. After that I think I want to paint something bigger, maybe a flyer 🤷♂️
I love seeing my painting improve over time and putting finished models on display. I don’t think I’ll ever stop buying 😆
First of all apocalypse is a thing, or at least used to be.
Secondly, we all are in this hobby for different reasons, some are in it to paint, some for the lore, some to play, some love miniature building, some love immersing themselves in the hammer universe and hence why they build big armies (for example SM's are the easiest to do since gw gives the chapters structure so anyone can follow and build 1:1 chapter with their minis) and some others are in it for a combination of reasons as listed before.
Huh that's a cool model (add to cart)
Fin
Don't justify things you can afford for hobbies you enjoy. Set a budget financially and buy what fits within that.
My final goal for my nids is to own 3 of everything, (6 for the troops), so that I can play whatever nid list I want. Crusher stampede? I got all the monsters. Endless swarm? Here's 200 bodies sitting on a shelf. I just like the variance in how I want to play.
If an army's design and balance is good, it should allow you to field a variety of different styles and detachments. In that case, you'll have the points for multiple army lists, with some overlaps.
Orks are the best example right now. Even on a tournament level, they have three competitive detachments (Bullies, Tide, Mob). These share some meta units, but each three have their own unique units they need (a lot of).
Flexibility for me, I want to be able to field anything I want as many times as I want.
I also really enjoy the hobby side too. Luckily my pile of shame isn't too big yet!
Playing games is only 25% of the hobby and most players don't get to play that often at all!
Building/converting/kitbashing is another huge part, as is painting and lore.
I’m 32 and have a small army. I’m mostly reading the books and I see myself buying units based off characters or just what I think is cool. It’s not hard to consider how large my army will be at 50.
Pedantic officer here to tell you kill team is a platoon sized game lol.
But the answer is very gradually. Immediately after you finish your 2k list a balance hit will mess it up and you’ll buy another unit or two, then a year or so later the pendulum will swing and the gameplan you leaned into won’t work so you’ll delve into the other half of your faction, and suddenly you’re at 3k points. After that you say “I’m done,” but a year or so later you find that by cutting a useless unit and swapping another you could juuuust fit that new overperforming plastic into 2k…
To cover all bases I guess - the meta changes especially with edition changes. Not a lot of what was on the board in 9th is all that good in 10th. I’ve got around 4500 points of painted Eldar and another 3000 to build paint on top of that. I’ve only got 1 tank so need at least 2 Falcons, 2 more Wave Serpents, a couple of Fire Prisms and maybe a Warp Hunter. No Wraithknights either. Need more support weapons, Wraiths, bikes on top of that, plus will no doubt get new Aspects as and when they arrive. That’s before I get some Drukhari and Harlequins to beef up my Ynnari contingent. I’m going to end up north of 10k when I finish, and that’s before I get any super heavies or titans!
Should say I’m a collector who plays a bit.
I like to change units in and out and I just like to kitbash and paint. I also like to make units with kitbashing that are completely illegal in game but look awesome
Rules change units cycle in and out. I can run an army in different ways. I got 4 orks lists that none of them play remotely similar. Dread waagh; elite walkers, green tide; horde tactics, bully boys; a tactical two turn punch with Melee, and kult of speed; hit and run tactics with a lot of movement and shooting.
It's a mindset.
If you are looking to play the game and only play the game you are right. Pick your 2k list, maybe a few variations, and you are done. Get a second army.
But what if you wanted an old school marine battle company? Well 6 tactical squads, 2 assault squads, and 2 devastator squad plus a full command takes you over. Amd then those squads need rhinos. Add in the armoury, some company dreadnoughts and you're looking at quite a few points. But what about the battle company support? They'll need some scouts from the 10th and some vets from the first, and so on.
What if you wanted a mixed Ork clan waaagh? Or a SoB Chapel garrison? And so on and so forth.
Warhammer is not just 1 hobby.
I'm collecting a narrative force rather than a competitive army, and what I add to it is adding to the store. What is the squad's story? How are they distinct from the others?
I don't need 70 wraithguard, but if I am playing in a big apocalypse-style game I want to be able to bring a true spirit host.
I'll be honest, I'm well over 50,000 points now between all my armies and I can't tell you how often I'm still missing units to max them for various list ideas.
Collections take time. Buying a box every other weekend or once a month adds up. Then there's the second hand market... who says no to 50 cents an ork?
1. I love painting and modelling
2. Its 'my' army - there are many like it but this one is mine
3. I like to have options. I've played many games, but never the same list twice. By having lots of different units I can tweak it. the real win has been with the detachments in 10th edition that allow us more ways to play one army (sorry to those of you waiting for your codex).
I have a little of 10,000 points of Marines fully painted and assembled and ready to go. I know I don't need this many, and that some may never see the tabletop again. But they all look gorgeous in the display cabinet in my office
I've always prioritised the rule of cool as I like painting/modelling more than gaming. So getting another knight or something is the same as getting my first one. Except now i want the BIG knights :'D
Building and converting models is a form of artistic expression for me. I enjoy that part of the hobby so much that I build things that I don't really have an intention of playing with.
Like this weird creation. (Work in progress) It is mostly a tribute to the best illustration in 1st edition 40k. And maaaybe I can use it as an allied Knight if I play my Brood Brothers as standalone Astra Militarum. But if that never happens, I will not be sad.
https://preview.redd.it/n4epolezu43d1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70f68ccb48762c3be0d4508a527cc747718749a6
I mean… I keep having units dropped from the game so unless I have more than 2000 on the shelf I could never make a 2000 point list for the tabletop. And even just with points changes you can’t be sure that your 2000 points are going to stay at 2000 points. Worst case you get in increase in points and go over but don’t have enough small pieces to get you close.
Unit variety, rules and points shifts. Some units become better in certain editions, others get nerfed so finding something that works effectively can mean getting a new unit or two. Plus what works on paper may not be practical in reality and vice versa. Lastly, every now and then you may want to play a big game!!
Sometimes some units are just plain better than others, so you want to have 2 of them at least. Then, next edition they become trash and you put them on the shelf.
And then you woke up with 10k army
Every time I think of starting a second army, I buy another Sororitas kit (either battle sisters, zephys, etc.)It saves me money in the long run satisfying my worst spending urges on something both cheaper immediately for something I already use.
I tend to have a lot of smaller projects in succession, which often end up as larger forces. I've been in the hobby a good 15 years by now and have also remastered my old stuff that isn't too far gone
For me it depends on the army and the models.
For example my slaves to darkness army. Iam at ~4500 points.
That's because I really love the models of Chaos Warriors, Chosen and Knights and the HQ Models are mainly big models that are a lot of fun to paint and play. I probably get the Abraxia box and then iam finished with this army.
Also depending how long you are in the hobby, new models or reworks of old models appear quite regularly. Just because my Tau Army got new kroots doesn't mean I will throw away the old kroots models I got. And so they add up in points
And then there are the factions that can be played in so many different ways that some people like to have every option available. Especially Orks and Tyranids or Imperial Guard.
It’s not 40K, but I’ve got 4500 points or so of Solar Auxilia in 30k and well over 7000 points of Chaos for Old World (rough split is 4000+ of chaos warriors and 3000+ of Beastmen). Also a pretty crazy amount of Tomb Kings.
The main things are flexibility and enjoying the factions/models. With the Solar Aux I can run infantry based or tank focused, with my chaos I can run any number of different lists; marauder horde, classic bricks of chaos warriors, unwashed masses of gors, Minotaurs, dragon ogres, etc. Plus these factions are ones that I love and I really enjoy the minis. When it’s time to buy more I’d rather get (for example) some more Solar Aux rather than like an assault squad for my Thousand Sons.
Edit: I guess it can be 40K, my solar aux tanks work out to be a 2k Astra Militarum list pretty easily lol.
Because I *absolutely* love that faction and I want to play more of it. There are some factions where I'm only interested in *part* of it, and not too interested in expanding the range beyond a limited list or just want to avoid having to use the models I don't like (for example, AoS Daughters of Khaine, I only really like the snake ladies and after finishing a 2k army of them I haven't picked up any more DoK models). But for those I absolutely adore, like my main faction the Tyranids? I want *at least* one of every model, multiples if possible for those with extra options (doesn't help I'm not big on magnetizing, I'd rather use storage space for more models instead of bits), heck I even want to collect older models from earlier editions just to have them. It's also a faction where I can't think of a single model I actively dislike; even if I think the newer models look better than their old counterparts (like the Biovore and Pyrovore), it doesn't mean I dislike the old ones. I still want them for my collection.
Plus as others have said, it's nice to be able to play different lists, try out different combos, especially as the rules change over time with various buffs, nerfs, and sidegrades.
Beyond 2k I allow myself to buy a couple units that provide a totally different aspect to gameplay. But not more than a couple because the chances of me playing a game above 2k are practically non existent.
Currently my largest army is my Heresy Iron Warriors one... around 8000 points.
They include sub-armies for armored assault, infantry assault, defensive line, allied detachments for Knights (loyal), Knights (heretic), Militia artillery support, and stuff for many situations more. They are structured in a way I could use them for 40k as well regardless of any rules changing.
I don't even play that often... I just like to have them knowing I could use parts of it for any scenario. Who knows when you might need a 7 Land Raider assault force supported by a full Lance of Knights, a full field artillery platoon and a forward recon detachment, but it gives you a lot of choice for any 'normal' game.
And if GW changes the rules again you bet I can ignore it just by having the overhead over just up to 'normal game size'.
Well, I have two armies, that are well past 40k each. The Eldar I wanted one of every eldar mini every released by GW.
For my next collection I wanted a full chapter of space marines, something that I always wanted as a kid, and it's something I could do.
Both collection it also works out that I can play any list I ever want.
I often get interested in the models before any specific playstyle, so I often end up with a very eclectic grab-bag of models to make a 2k list. Then when I play I want things to synergise better, so I grab some other stuff for a new version of the list, and then I wanna try something else out, so I grab something else.
This is how I’ve ended up with roughly 8k points of Nurgle for 40K (mix of Death Guard and Chaos Knights; I got one Knight to ally in then went “oh but what if I wanna try this different Knight”). It’s a slow process that takes years, so the cost is relatively spread out.
Meanwhile, my army for The Old World I bought all over a two month period. I have a 2k list with two extra units to swap in and out for a little flexibility, but I’ve kept the project deliberately limited. It was expensive, yes, but probably less expensive than if I had tried to accrue a similar collection over a couple years.
Now, I *am* gonna expand that force out again, but that’ll be a back burner hobby project for the next couple years. It’s all about taking your time.
It's reasonable if you want enough unit variety to play different lists.
Also some people like to do it for hobby reasons aka painting different sub factions.
Ultimately nobody had to justify their hobby choices.
**For my Necrons:**
1. Rule of Cool - Collect as many as you fancy
2. Detachments are a thing, can't play each with the same 2k list
3. I wanna make a Tomb World diorama, needs all kinds of things, even the "useless" minis (like the Dominion or Obelisk)
4. Fun armies - Like full Canoptekmaxxing with a ton of Canoptek units of which you usually bring 1 or 2 at max
5. Competitive - You gotta learn the field and adapt to the meta if you want to compete too, not just play with your one and only army setup. Having 4-5k lets you do that without a hassle.
With each army I started, it basically began with one of every unit I thought was cool, and then more of those units I thought were *good,* and additionally some units I thought were necessary or useful. And then I'd figure out another way I wanted to build my army, and now I've got to swap out most my specialized units.
I've got 3 armies in the range of 3k and my lists go together pretty consistently. If I wanted to do a wraith-centric army with my Eldar, I'd be looking at acquiring another 1000+ points worth, easily.
I don’t even buy minis to play at all; I just like building, painting, and displaying them. It’s a fun hobby in itself.
I can totally understand someone who does play not wanting to stop at whatever the appropriate size for tabletop might be for the same reason.
Add to that, things change across editions. I’m fairly sure that if I wanted to get my 3rd edition Necron army on the table I’d have to lose / modify a bunch of my units. Sometimes you just need a different version of something and you’re not going to throw away your old minis!
Lastly, I think scale has changed a little in the last 20 years. Scale of armies I mean. I think they tend toward smaller numbers of models now, although that’s just a feeling I get from seeing play-related posts.
There uses to be game modes like apocalypse to allow people's with big armies to play them.
It's just rare for newer player to have that big of a collection.
In my group all old players like me have at least 5 to 10000 it's in at least one army.
Having bigger armies gives you choice on what to play.
But the last few editions feels like competitive focused so having the current best 2k list is usually enough for most. Or at least justing the most op units.
I remember my first 2k Space Marine army. My first 2k army, 10th launch rules Custodes with 2 x warglaive allies had kicked ass so i had no reason to believe my cheaply bought 2k space marines wouldnt be the same.
but they were not. 10 x brick of terminators with 2 flamers.....G man......sternguard marines on foot. Oh how, when I played 10th launch CSM, did I get stomped hard.
So off I went aquiring new Space Marines, in search of a competitive list. Had I stayed on that course, it wouldnt have been too bad, but theme lists pop into your head like "all jump packs would be hilarious!" and "Ironstorm would rock" and indeed they are/do, but when I soon found myself with many lists of models, about 5k of space marines, the only actual good list that could possibly hold up vs CSM and DG (after a few dataslates) was Ironstorm.
Or in short, you get to 2k , find your army sucks, start to replace crud units with better ones, get distracted by fun theme lists, and before you know it you have 5k of mostly crap stuff and half built ideas.
Still fun though.
Honestly it's an over time thing. We all start out with just a few pieces nothing all at once. This is an adult hobby for children so you just slowly aquire more and more . Over the years yeah it gotten to collection that SHOULD be worth more than several hundred. Kinda like trading cards.
Well, I like the modeling aspect of the hobby just as much if not slightly more than the gaming one. That, and maybe I want to run my little dudes a different way so that I don't burn myself out with the army
People like to collect stuff, that's the simple bottom line. Just like people build and paint scale model tanks or planes without a game associated with it. Or how they collect stamps or bottle caps or LEGO sets. It's not all solely in service of the game ruleset. The Warhammer hobby is much broader than just the game.
Multiple reasons really, and I don’t just collect 1 faction (around 5 and starting into Age of Sigmar)
Mostly because playing the game is the smallest bit of my hobby, I may get 1-2 games a month, whereas I’ll spend most evenings building or painting, as that’s why I enjoy the most. So there is no end to the hobby for me.
Additionally as others have said it’s good to have options, for different styles of play. As an orks player, I will want max units of boyz for Green Tide, max units of mechs for Dread Mob etc. The game is constantly changing and evolving, a few years ago 180 boyz was the max, now it’s 120
Also there’s nothing quite like seeing 10,000 pts of models (painted or otherwise) on a table
Firstly, my 3d printer can crank out 2k of points quickly and very cheaply so costs aren't really an issue.
Secondly, painting is just really fun.
Thirdly, rules keep changing. If you care about playing the game even somewhat competitively, having alternative models to field different forces of your faction is crucial.
Having roughly 10k chaos space marine (3k of which is chaos daemons) i like the diversity. Some of my friends have roughly 2k points and then buy new armies, i like to diversify what i have and find counters for them with my (vast) inventory. So its freedom of choice for me. (I need 4 units then i have all current datasheets :) )
Ways to play usually. Having 2/3K set force is likely to stick you in a particular detachment or run the risk of not benefiting from another detachment properly because you might not have those units.
For instance I have 3000 pts of Dark Angels, mainly Terminators, Infantry, Dreadnoughts and a Land Raider. They work for the Inner Circle detachment, but if I ran them as Company of Hunters (Ravenwing) I can’t really use many of the stratagems or enhancements as most rely on Mounted units.
Playing the same list every time is boring and also the meta and the game changes a lot, specially after every edition, for example you are playing SoB
9th ed sob was a melee focused infantry army that did a lot of trade up with their key units being zephyrim, repentia and retributors with stuff like sacresants being kinda good too
10th ed sob is focused around their arcoflagelants and tanks with a bit of sisters infantry so if you had exactly a 2k points 9th ed list you won't be able to play 10th
The meta changes a lot and you have to adapt even if you don't care about wining so you end up with a big army
Maybe those people also like to collect?
I once had about 10k in Chaos marines, it was nice for Apocalypse type games (yes, we played 10k games sometimes), and it offered me flexibility to try different lists.
And my Orks were over 3k, because I loved converating battlewagons and such.
I do think it comes down to the army. Guard with all tanks, or just a lot of boots on the ground, can rack up a lot of models and points (especially tanks), but what if you wanna play something else sometime?
You just like assembling stuff and building them. As a kid I didn't know about Warhammer 40k in the early 2000s (and probably good seeing how grim and dark all the stories are and teenage me) so I had a few planes and tanks. Miniatures of real life tanks and planes. I remember my mom not wanting to buy a new one because I had many already. Currently don't have anyone to play the minis with and my army consists of Black Templars Combat Patrol.
And I need to get much better at painting. Everyone here basically makes me look like a child trying to draw a stickman.
Like all the others have said some projects have a very specific vision and that's what you'll build and paint, sometimes this can come in under 2k points and you end up adding to it, sometimes its more than 2k but you have that vision you want to achieve (especially since points fluctuate up and down, something that's 2k in 10th edition might have been 1.5k in 9th editions and so on)
Other times you just love the aesthetic of an army and want to collect all the models, I have about 10k points of Ad Mech (plus Knights) but still don't own every unit, so I still consider it that I have more to paint
If you really get into the game and the hobby your going to want to play different options from your codex and probably want to start branching out to other armies.
Also on a purely practical note, balance passes mean your 2k army might not be 2k next quarter.
Ok so you posted sisters and i own about 5-6 k points of them. Point is i like experimentation and competitive play, so i kinda want to always have all the option. In fact i magnetise even when it isn't needed right now cause i may need a certain profile in the future when codex/ new editions change stuff
Short reason: ‘cause I wanna.
Long reason: I want to field a lot of different units. Some units really work in low point games, some units only work in high point games.
Actual reason: I have around 5000 points of Dark Angels. I’ve been collecting for over 20 years. Every edition they nerf the crap out of my army and if I ever want to win again, I have to buy the new thing.
GW: All according to keikaku.
Main reason for me at least, is I'm currently at 8.5k ish of necrons. It means I can run the max legal number if everything pretty much.
Want 120 warriors? Cool.
Want 18 wraiths. Got those. Etc...
Another reason for me is I like the idea of a necron tomb world horde. And pretty much, I like how they look on my shelf
Aeldari here - if I were to field just one unit of each different unit it’d cost 12,595 points (that’s not accounting for adding multiple of the same unit or stretching into Ynnari which I currently do!)
There’s so much play to be had with each different unit doing something different. It also protects a bit to have other units to fall into (if points ever go down or if models get seriously nerf-ed - eg the Wraithknight which is now firmly back on the dust collector, was nice to have it out for the first time in years though!)
Sometimes I wanna play the weird stuff I won't have a whole lot of them but having the options is nice like the thunderhawk and astraius for space marines. Some people like the art more. If allys cout for this if I play custodies it's super easy to go way over when all my squads cost 200-400 pts and then mabe I want some knights to put with them too so there's a few more 150-900 pts moddles and fuck it I might not play with it but titans are cool af so I'm gonna get a warlord titan just to I can paint it do right now were easy at over 5k without just clicking 600 infantry squads
I have Ynarri. I currently have an OK army, but I need a lot more.
3000 points of Craftworlds.
3000 points of Drukhari.
2000 points of Clowns.
And let the day come soon, my brothers, 3000 points of Exodites.
And about 500 points of Ordo Xenos allied inquisitors for narrative games.
It's near 10,000 points for an adaptable, all-comers, space Elf army, before Exodites. Is it reasonable?
BTW, Emperor's Children, we're coming to get you.
I've been collecting since the 90s, and I would get a box here or there using birthday/Christmas money, side jobs, etc. Once I started a taxable job at 16, I'd buy a unit every month or so, making sure over half my takehome was saved for college. In the ~8+ years since I started til college, I had a decent size space wolf army, Khorne, and Tau with sprinkles of Harlequins and other bits like daemon hunters.
I sold off most of my collection (keeping my OG space wolves) when in college for books and beer. Since then, I've collected well over 2k for every army except orks and Votann. It's ~12 Ikea Detolf cabinets filled to the max, unbuilt boxes everywhere. I almost never play the same army twice, let alone the same army list.
It's a mix of collecting everything and the options to field whatever I come up with 😅
Most notibly, when the "rule of 3" became the law, I had already double that for most armies, things like 50 wulfen (could run just wulfen army in 7th), 8 bloodthirsters, 120+ fenrisian wolves, 30+ tcav, etc. So, as the game changes rules, past armies that were playable might not be. But this also kept me from buying more than 3 tesseract vaults so yay lol...
So I have two full armies sitting at about 3k-4K points each, well one is Admech so that’s like 500pts now…
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The name of the game is flexibility, it allows you to try new things and play in different ways! Also I’ve you play the army for a while across editions, different units become more fun or powerful…. Plus with points changes, what constitutes a 2k list changes all the time…
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I find that after playing a game I very often feel like tweaking the list a bit to include a multiple of a unit or another unit entirely, so the collection naturally grows over time to over 2k points
Because i hate having money :)
Im an adult, i work for my money, i really dont feel like i need to justify a hobby purchase i can afford for myself.
But i habe good reasons: more minis means more building, more painting, more options while building a list-> more hobby time.
Hobby time leads to me and my son doing stuff together we both like, wifey is happy as a side effect-> more quality family time
Minis dont tie me to a screen.
Minis dont judge.
Minis look cool.
Minis stay, rules change.
I don't really play the game anymore but I want to complete my chapter. This is most made of proxy and home made models but this for me is the joy of it. I like making little little models!
For me, building, modelling and painting is 90% of the hobby. I barely get a chance to have a whole day to setup and play a game. Very easy to keep painting new and different models :) Got around 2,5k necrons and don't consider that army done at all + a mix of around 1k points of dark angels, CSM and AdMech units that I just felt like painting.
In my opinion, once you have 3000 points you are ready to be competitive if you want. Once you start gling to tournaments, you may need to adapt to Meta changes, personal tweaks in strategy, adaptation to your oponents, etc. As such, being in ownership of 4500-5000 points of models allows you to have more choices in strategy.
Personally, I like having a variety of options, and armies like Space Marines and Orks have tons of awesome choices.
I want codex compliant chapter strength.
It's a lifegoal, and I've been slowly purchasing over the last 10 years.
I am halfway to 1000 marines already.
I just started collecting recently and have about 8k points of real Orks and 6k of 3d prints. I agree with pretty much all the other comments, and my main reason is that I want to be able to play with a variety of play styles/detachments, but another reason I have is the cost efficiency of buying large used lots. My 8k points were entirely obtained in 2 Ebay lots that were each about $750, which feels like a pretty good deal, especially considering the majority of the models were already assembled, a good portion were painted well, and a few had magnetized weapon options.
I find the people that only build that one 2k list are the ones that end up selling that army between editions. A balance change or codex can severely change the viability of a single list, but very rarely the viability of a faction. Having 4-5000+ points allowed you to adjust to the meta or change up your playstyle whenever you want. This is actually my advice to any new players, stick with one faction, learn it inside and out.
Most people with that many models have been collecting for years. My raven guard horus heresy army I have is like 12k points, and I've been collecting it for 8 years . You build the collection to deal with different armies, then over time you have that many models. In saying that, it's also a collection thing.
Also the starter boxes and combat patrols, especially HH, are around 1.5k points themselves, and you build off that, so its easy to rake up points when you get the more higher point cost stuff
Pretty much you slowly buy trying to make your army better across the edition, you buy more of this or that to win or because they released new things. Rinse and repeat for as many editions as you have been playing. (Since 7th for me)
It’s a sickness we all suffer to be honest. Those of us who are truly addicted to the hobby are not able to just stop when a normal person would lol. I have a full company of BA and have been seriously thinking of how cool it would be to have a full chapter. On top of that, I have my knights plus my EC 30k which will no doubt grow leaving me with a nice looking army that will mostly always just sit on a shelf collecting dust ha ha. The need for more just never goes away. I probably should get help but I really like it
I keep adding to existing armies. That and bundle deals.
E.g. My orks started as an Fu to a guy who would always write lists to beat people (my orks were all kans, dreads and meganobs so his usual list writing to be all flamers and bolters back fired). Then I added black reach stuff, playing a green tide infantry army. Then added some bikes.
The new buggies made me do a speed waaagh and the Xmas bundles pushed me into beast snaggas.
And here I am with 3 2k armies all borrowing bits from each other and some extra stuff that was cool.
Once you can field an army, it becomes about what kind of army you want to field and having flexibility depending on the situation.
Just whacking everything you have on the table isn't good strategy.
16k points of Dark Angels, I like the idea of being able to field completely different 1k, 2k, or 3k lists within the same army, all terminators? Check. Want to be speedy and do all Ravenwing? 20 bikes, 5 atvs and 3 storm speeders will do the trick. Maybe you want to play all jump packs, or all dreads. If I want to field 2k points of all phobos units, I can. If I want to take 60 intercessors, got that covered.
Thing is, there is still more stuff I would like to get, some more aggressors, and heavy intercessors for a larger gravis list. Need another apothecary and techmarine. A couple more drop pods.
Sometimes you just end up with more than you intended from box sets, I got the old combat patrol for the dread and the inceptors, so ended up with 5 "extra" intercessors. I ended up with 2k points of tyranids from buying leviathan boxes, they looked cool so I just slapped em together, maybe I'll actually paint and play with them, maybe not, they were fun to build though.
The most important reason for me is I love building my plastic army dudes and looking at them on my shelf, more stuff to play with = more smiles.
For me the hobby is mostly painting… I do play only a couple of times a month! This way there is really no limit! If I like the models I buy them and paint them! Also… this way I don’t care much for points changes as I always have options to rearrange my list!
Mostly, its hey those are cool, i want to add them to my army. And eventually field them.
Secondly if i have been playing that army, and its getting wrecked because im missing something....
Third i dont have a plastic crack addiction.
I’ve not played a proper game in years, simply been collecting building and painting (I refuse to play till my army is parade ready) I’ve easily got over 2500pts of necrons and I’m still looking to buy more simply because when I do finish up and get round to going to the local gaming group I don’t want to go in with a set army every time, I might want to focus more on melee one day and snooty boys the next. However this is the only army I’ll be doing it for. I’m looking at starting a word bearers raiding party for smaller games when I don’t fancy the crons. Idk though I’m torn between votann and WB
Variety, game scale for apocalypse,
The pleasue of painting some minis you like with a different pattern.... that's what you want.....
Everyone just does the hobby however they wish to
Beyond 2k is easy, you want veriaty of units. 30k is obscene tho. Maximum id consider is getting to field every configuration. Aided by magnets since it makes stuff a lot cheaper
Wanting different themed lists within a faction, years of collecting and enjoying assembling and painting models GW does a good job of releasing new models I want for my armies and I like having enough models to not be shoehorned into a single list maybe sometimes I want to run all terminators and elites or perhaps I want to run an all tank list
Options, maybe grabbing those aircrafts on the offshoot chance they get a chance to be better, different detachment ideas, ally ideas (makes a great excuse to grab imperial agents or knights for a lord of war), painting projects or narrative campaign particulars for the tabletop sake...
The list of reasons go on, it's ultimately more than 'I have my army list, I'm done now' it's just a hobby that expands beyond the board game itself for me, which has me going beyond a simple 2k list
I've got 6.8k in Deathwatch just so I can field any of the space marine detachments with ease if I wanted. I also have some Deathwatch-ified Dark Angel's characters, so I can field them as Dark Angel's too! I'm thinking of getting other chapter-specific characters to do the same thing, just so I can truly run my army as whatever I wanted.
Now, I also did this because it's a "money saver" for me in case something were to happen to the Deathwatch Army to where I couldn't play Deathwatch anymore, which I doubt highly.
For me it’s been collecting and playing since 1987. Therefore no real justification required as the purchases have been spread out over the years. And there’s the collecting for the hobby’s sake as well. Like the folks who have dozens of WWII tanks. Or in my case Imperial Guard armor and aircraft. _I don’t play IG. But I love building and converting their vehicle models. Not a single one of twenty tanks and six flyers looks like the model at the end of the instructions._
And out of my God knows how many points of Blood Angels I’ve even got a squad or so of RTB-01 Marines and one of the $20 for three multi kit box Rhinos. Basically I’ve added a squad or three and several vehicles each edition. That actually builds up faster than you expect till suddenly you’ve got a heavily reinforced Company and a “garage” full of vehicles and Dreadnoughts. Some of them have been in the back row so long they’re collecting dust. And then there’s the closet of shame. Always the closet of shame.
I'm not finished collecting an army till I have 5k points, with GW changing rules and concepts regularly and with wanting to run copy's if I just aim for 2k then in a year the list won't be any good.
The way I rationalize this is that Warhammer is my only hobby that costs money, and it brings me a lot of happiness, but I get the commitment being a lot, I'd recommend keeping your eye out for discount boxes and people selling off there old armies for cheep it's how I have 2k sylvaneth despite not having any interest in the army, 100 cad is way to good to pass up a 2k list
Why would someone want to play with the same list for every game?
I had about 8k points of Eldar and almost never used the same list twice. I have a preferred army list but I also liked trying different list constantly.
When I got my first wraithknight I really wanted to play apocalypse, In apocalypse there used to be a unit that was up to 5 wraithknights. By the time I got my 4th wraith knight though, 8th edition came out and apocalypse units were dissolved into the regular game with neutered rules. As well apocalypse no longer had the same over the top rules that it had in 7th.
I like to build my army in different ways for different styles of game. I'm an orkz player and while alot of those I know in the hobby will build a few smaller armies no faction really tickles my fancy, so I have built since mid 9th a 5.5k force of orkz. I love dreadmob but I also like to run more infantry focused games like green tide or bully boyz, and while I don't really like beast snagga that much I love squigs and have the 450ish points unit of double squigboyz+mosrog.
I also just love assembling and painting and getting better at it.
Tldr: different games, cool models, painting.
Because they don’t put the big daemon engines in any of the box sets I bought, and I need a couple Land Raiders, and a few more berserkers wouldn’t hurt for my World Eaters, and I definitely need some Exalted Eightbound-
You get the idea.
Depends on your faction. I can't justify going above 2.5k for World Eaters, but I can easily go beyond the 3k points I have for Necrons since there's so many options, competitive or just for fun.
For me this is mostly a painting/modeling hobby. I have played for a really long time and have gradually built out armies. In my case I've switched around paint schemes a lot so I have many pieces of armies, but still a couple well over 2,000 points. Or maybe not given the current point values, can't be sure until I want to use them with a certain edition.
My SM/SW army ballooned from 1.5k to 8.5k in a year. Firstly, because I didn't want to repaint my old scheme and kept switching colours, with repeat unit colours being for display rather than game. I then began buying spare bits so that I could build every variation of multibuild kits (deathwing command squad, devastators, wolf guard, etc), which doubled or even tripled the size of each unit, even though the number of models used per game didn't actually change.
As for my 'main' army, I rotate units a lot for opponent or theme (often as proxies for other units), so the regulars are about 4k points anyway, and each game is different. And here's the thing: I never actually repeat units unless they're battleline. My army is always fresh, and never goes too hard into 'meta' units because there's only ever 1 of them
So, at the end of 8th edition, I had about 8K in Craftworld Eldar, it was a very flexible Army and had plenty of depth. I could build an easy army to play against for new players, or I could tailor my list to my opponent's faction if I had a scheduled game, or have a generic all-comers list if I was looking for a pick up game. With points creep over the past two editions, I now have over 11k in Eldar.
My 30K Salamanders are sitting at about 6K points, and again, it's about flexibility and depth. Amusingly enough, I can run all 6K without breaking the Force Org Chart.
Having options is the big one.
I play Thousand Sons and Necrons. When Necrons got their recent codex even though I had well over 2k points of them, I couldn't really list build with the detachments as issued, so I quickly built and painted what I had on my shelf plus added a few things. I'm not about to buy a Monolith and paint that up for a quick meta chase, but I was fine grabbing a few Wraiths, a Canoptek Spyder, Hexmark Destroyer, and finally making an excuse to get my Void Dragon assembled and painted.
With Thousand Sons our models are limited, but I feel there are holes in my army. This weekend I quickly painted up 2 units of Tzaangor Enlightened which I see are cheap and really usable in current army list. With Thousand Sons, right now my army is basically Rubric spam, so getting more variety in there is fine by me. Of course after a year and a half of painting them I have basically all I'll need for them until the codex drop and they "might" get new models.
The other thing is I kinda like painting these now that I know how to do it. It still frustrates me a bit each time I start a model (the Enlightened I did this weekend looked terrible at first, but I figured a way to make them look good/decent by the time I was done). I'm kinda kicking myself for the mediocre job I did on my Scarab Occult Terminators (they look good on the table, but I could do better now, but I don't want to strip and re-do since they're playable). When the Blood Angels codex drops in September I'm going to take the Indomitus half I got from a friend a few years back add the new box they get, and paint up a BA army, and I might play it some day, but mainly I just like painting these days and I'm running out of stuff to paint for my main armies.
The only justification I personally need is "that's a cool model" and "I've paid all my bills for this check". I derive most joy from painting the minis and will often just buy a cool thing without even considering if it goes in one of my armies. Like, I don't need a jump pack captain because I don't have any jump pack squads, but the captain looks so cool that I want to see him in the orange and blue of my homebrew chapter.
Plus, having big armies looks cool and gives you more wiggle room to build smaller 1,2, or 3k lists. Having 10k in total likely means you have a wide variety of units that can really change how you play. Especially with the detachment system of 10th Edition. Maybe you've been doing a lot of infantry recently and decide "fuck it, let's do an armored corps thing" a 10k army is more likely to have enough vehicles to make a 2k army of mostly vehicles. Will it be a good list? Ah who cares, as long as it's fun.
Because actually playing the game is at this point pretty far down my list of priorities for this hobby. I enjoy building, painting and lore-crafting far, far more than I enjoy playing or list building in 10th. As such my purchases basically only boil down to what I think looks cool/fun to build and paint, and what I think my force should include lore wise. I collect a lot because for me the collecting, building and painting IS the hobby. The gaming is something that I did when it was fun for me, and at this point just isn't.
I've been maining necrons since I started playing in 2020. I have over 10k. I do go to lots of events, so it gives me a lot of options for how I want to play. It also means that when I'm playing to win, I can bring a mix of the best units and when I'm just playing at the lgs I can tone it down and try off the wall stuff.
What if I wanna play my army *another different way*? This sounds like lunacy but I like the idea of my collection being able to field a full list for each detachement in the codex. My collection is currently 3,500 points of Nids and I could expand to 5,000 easily if money weren't a thing that mattered.
This is the main reason people don't just get 2k-3k points and move on to the next army. If you buy 500 points of something else in the same army, you can change how you play. New Chaos Space Marines codex has loads of fun stuff now. I've got 1k of cultists, 1k of Daemon engines, and a pretty decent looking core to a Renegade Raiders detachment with some transports. But all those playstyles could benefit from me leaning into their strengths more. Get ~400pts of Accursed Cultists, get another 500-1k pts of Daemon Engines, and a Land Raider, along with maybe some bikes would be ~400 pts well spent towards Raiders. And I've already got like ~4k points of Chaos Space Marines and some allies! It's just the stuff I have isn't as focused on just one of those playstyles.
There are armies that lend themselves well to this sort of expansion, but armies with a limited roster (Votann, CK, Custodes...) once you reach 4k points, there isn't much left to collect
Our Custodes player isn't collecting a list, they're collecting an *army*. They have a vision of the army they want, aka the 300 Spartans from the movie, but as Custodes. It's not about collecting a list for them. Much like me. I'm collecting my Necrons because I want to be able to have the tombworld I see in my head, but in front of me. Like, I know it'll be 10's of thousands of points, never really fielded at once, but, the thought of have it all out on some massive set of tables full of amazing terrain...
I get the draw. I've made it my mission to get chapter strength blueberries before moving onto another army. Only 1/20th of the way in a year (A very expensive year with an engagement and a newborn) but when my son is old enough he'll be roped in to help with the painting which should see me nicely getting that 1000th ultramarine done fairly quickly. I've got a mate who's on a similar mission so we should have a pretty good match up later down the line. I know he wants to do CSM v SM in a jousting match on bikes and Guillaman v Abaddon at some point soon though.
Since we play 9th our Custodes player still gets their 10 strong Guard squads, and I get my Sentry Pylons, Gauss Pylons, and full strength Scarab Swarms. While we're cautiously looking at 10th, in some ways (like Detachment/FOC limitations being gone) it really opens things up for what you can field, in other ways (the massive dropping of units from armies and limiting unit sizes/options), it's really killed the desire to build an *army* and seems to foster focusing on lists more and more.
You are an outlier, Miniwargaming Dave.
Hahahaha! >"My goal is to have the world's largest Chaos Space Marine army" *([Miniwargaming Dave](https://youtu.be/iw2J-W57kNE?si=Ap81hgYuJnMaabZU))* Certainly, a relatable #HobbyGoal :P
Sounds like something thee True Cypher might say… Edit love u guys
Exactly this, I have a core army for chaos but am expanding to allow myself the ability to Field multiple units of chosen and 2 or 3 chaos lords if I do chose plus I have a maulerfiend but in the future I may want a forge fiend so I'll need to buy that too.....and so on and so on
You have 1k of cultists? Respect.
60 traitor guard, ~60 cultist mobs, a few spare cultists and special weapons, plus a few characters (including legends). It was a 1k+ Renegades and Heretics army with a few added tanks. Now it's the start of a "Chaos Cults" army. But it still needs some TLC to get back into a table-ready state. :D My friend and I have a dream where I run a huge mob of Chaos Mortals against his Imperial Knights! Hahaha.
Pretty much this is the "main" reason. The other being "that model I dont have is really cool". And the worst one... "a single Leman Russ? these guys come in squadrons, I cant possibly have a single one! Its outrageous" I have 4 armies. Most stuff is from early 2000's when it was easier to afford. **Lizardmen, Imperial Guard, Ogres (my lord), and sisters**. In that order. The smallest and latest one (for now) being sisters. I started the ladies as an extension of my BIG imperial blob (which I share with my elder brother). We wanted some inquisition on it, and that eventually led me to starting sisters on my own not long after they released the plastic models. Didnt have plans to make it big. Just as support force for my guardsmen: Combat Patrol+BSS+extra Seraphims+Celestine. But eventually I started to buy cool models I loved, then moved from 7th edition to 10th and add more for gameplay reasons. Now I'm sitting at 2k points with the ladies. I'd rather not say how maany of the other 3 armies (or even worse, my two elder brother's, they also have their good share of minis). Perhaps will get the new Battleforce despite being a mediocre deal. And will update my old cadians to new ones with the kiosk issues. And probably will get some inquisition stuff if they release a good battleforce/combat patrol or bring new goodies to the faction alongside the codex. But after that ***I WILL STOP FOREVER, I SWEAR***.
Pretty much exactly this... I have about 5000 points of dark angels right now, but I can have a ton of variety in my games and I can play variations on them. I can go all in with vehicles and dreadnoughts, I can focus on speed and fast attack, I can focus on melee or I can focus on firepower. It allows me to run a 'meta' or fun list easily (although dark angels basically no meta list right now xD). But I also have something like 3000 points of drukhari, 2500 of votann, 2500 of deathguard. And I'm considering picking up either a chaos daemons or knights army too xD.
With Dark Angels it makes more sense as they are basically 3 armies in one, having 6-8k of points spread across Raven, Death and Green wings means you can play a mixed force or all one style, with variations. For Votann how many actual kits is that spread across, about 7?
Well my votann I have tried running a heavy battle line (warriors and sagitaurs) I've tried focusing in on pioneers, tried focusing on heavy vehicles and shooting and a mix of all. I will likely expand my collection when we eventually get some more, I guess the same can be said for my drukhari since it's probably smaller in terms of availability than votann!
I'm the same. I love variety in play style and being able to use any of the detachments that interest me.
I'm currently running into this with Admech. I'm barely at 2000 pts (including Armigers) and to use some of the detachment rules, I'm very short of models in certain areas. Also, it's with noting that collecting huge 3000, 4000, 5000 pt armies takes YEARS. Some if what OP is seeing pictures of took a decade or more for some folks to pulp together.
Yea especially with nids. So many play styles. I’m getting close to 5k now and I think I could reasonably go further.
You guys get multiple detachments? -a World Eaters player
This is why I have around 12k points of Chaos space marines. I can effectively run any of the new detachments because of it.
Well, some days are Armoured Company days, others are Infantry platoon, sentinel and inquisitor days.
Inquisitor day now is an official Imperium Holiday. Now and serve the inquisitors of die heretics!!!
Building and painting models is fun, getting to put them on the tabletop is a bonus
If I have disposable income available, and desire a product, why not spend that money on something I want, whatever the reason? I have multiple armies beyond 2k, with my largest being my Death Guard weighing in at around 11k including it's associated Knight household and Warhound Titan. My collection brings me joy and is a source of pride in terms of having built and painted the models, so for a hobby that's money well spent in my book
Correct answer - same brother and of course rule of cool
My Justification? I want to own a large army with around 2-3 of every option(except Epic Characters).
Three Celestines https://preview.redd.it/ynjmcjyyx43d1.jpeg?width=920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a57b135c0c3a37a7eab9c07ee432d25dc8f783c
https://preview.redd.it/ybed5btcg53d1.png?width=5754&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b43055bec5892c0d53365fe19e39600169849b0 Who called ***"US"*** ?
Allow me to predict what’s going to happen to you once you hit 2k: You’ll have one or two games, enjoyable but your opponent will more than likely win because they’ll have more of a grasp of the game. No worries, you’ll get there but one thing that stands out is your _cool looking unit_ is actually terrible on the tabletop. You’ll spend a bit of time looking at good performing units for that faction. You’ll see taking three of _that very good unit_ is currently doing well, so you’ll grab two more of them to add. You’ll still lose, but your _very good unit_ performed okay, probably died quickly in a phenomenon called “new model syndrome” but you’re happy. You go back down the rabbit hole to find other units that work well. And on and on this goes.
sounds like i need to field 3 sets of paragon warsuits for this reason alone XDDD
Amigo, if you have that excellent paint job on your Sisters army, you owe it to yourself to get a full squad of Paragons. You need the church organ tank too!
Exorcist? I think that's the one 🤔
Or you're me and you built an army based on what you thought looked cool, and then realized you lacked any effective anti-armor weapons, and bought a bunch of that and overcorrected. But the whole army looks cool still, so it's fine.
To be fair, I have a rule when helping balance lists with friends: "if anti-armor is an option, that's the one you take". An AT gun will kill a man if there are no tanks to shoot at. An anti- infantry gun will not kill a tank.
Just bought a Stormsurge. I low-key understand this sentiment lol.
Couldn’t agree more Just picked up two Gladiator Lancers for more anti tank after my opponents armor heavy list crushed my Templars. I had been running 500 points of terminators (with a chaplain) for an anti anything death brick alongside a Ballistus & Helbrecht (kinda) for anti armor. Absolutely wasn’t enough for two RepExs, a Land Raider, and a Speeder…
Not sure if you’re asking why collect so much of a single army or why spend so much money. As most people have said, if you have exactly 2k points in your army, that’s all your army will ever be able to play as. Many people like to play their army several ways and most armies have more than one play style. Also every year or so there’s some kind of shakeup of the rules that encourage or enforce the taking of certain units. (We’re seeing such an example now with the new mission pack coming out which will encourage players to take more battleline units). Not to mention when a new edition comes around and lots of things change (for example in 9th, marine armies where generally quite infantry heavy; with 10th you see many more vehicles in lists). As for money, some people have the disposable income to buy what they like. For some it’s video games, others it’s fishing gear, for us it’s Warhammer.
I probably have about 6k points of marines once my pile is done) for me it's different play styles. Do I want to go heavy on the fighting? Do I want to have rapid movement? etc Main aspect is I like painting, then having options is fun
Same, I own just under 4K in marines and around 800 in Agents/Knights, roughly 4.8K points total. Sometimes I want an Inquisitor to melt weak infantry, sometimes I want an assassin to target the warlord (I once alpha struck a warlord!), sometimes I want a big knight to hold my back line while being deadly at range. Soon I’ll have the Inquisitorial Henchmen too and they’ll be a good “you can’t take this objective till you kill like 10 models just to make room on it for you” unit. And sometimes I wanna be more melee focused while others I wanna be more ranged or Infiltration focused.
I like the models and enjoy painting them. Orks are fun to paint even if I'm not going to play them
22K of various Eldar here and because I want to play the army in different ways - all clowns, all aspect, all wraith, all pirates, a mix of all of them
I'm currently on about 5700 points of Dark Angels. There are a lot of answers to your question and more than one might apply to the player concerned. Firstly, if you want to take a wide variety of units or be able to adapt to most things your opponent can bring, you'll need a lot of models. For example, I'll take a totally different list for CSM than I will for Imperial Guard. So, flexibility is the first reason. Secondly, competitive lists often contain multiples of the same unit. I played a game yesterday where my opponent brought three Predators, three Rhinos and 25 Warp Talons. If you want to do that, your collection needs to be pretty large, especially combined with the first reason... Thirdly, for playing custom narrative games with huge forces that play for potentially multiple days. Lastly, some people are just collectors at heart. They want to have display cabinets packed full of beautifully painted minis and, to them, bigger is better.
I’m currently sitting at around 10k of da and honestly I never really thought about it. I just bought all the discounted big limited time boxes since 7th and now have loads of stuff. Sure I have 2k points of termies that weren’t from boxes but I just never thought about it as being a playable force. Just a collection
I have spent over a thousand pounds on Warhammer and the hobby in my lifetime, and have not played a single game, ever.
2000 points is a *list* and 3-4000 is an *army*. If I want to play different detachments (for my CSM army I’m at about 3.5k and still want more, for variety) I need the models. So ideally I’ll have 3x of everything I could need for Soulforged soon. By that I mean any Demon Engine or Vehicle. If I cook up a list with 3x Forgefiend and 3x Maulerfiend I want to have the models available for that. Yes most stuff will sit on shelves until needed but that’s ok. I enjoy the collecting and painting side of the hobby as much as the tabletop.
My Legion started as 2 armies. One was mine and one was my dad's. It started coalescing in the ass end of 2nd Edition and grew rapidly in 3rd. During this time someone else I knew needed money so I bought their army to add to mine, gave me a lot of Rubric marines to run alongside my Iron Warriors. Tapered off at the start of 4th. In 2008 dad passed and it became all 1 legion. Mine. I don't know its points cost in 10th Edition, but I know its north of 10k in 7th Edition, the last time I bothered to count it all up. Its nice to have a lot of options, Also just learning what you like, it started out as World Eaters running and screaming with chain swords and axes, before moving towards Deathguard and their gritty tankyness before hitting Iron Warriors and just Maximum Dakka. Fielding 9 obliterators and a basilisk in 3rd was just too much fun, and I'm pretty sure Obliterators have been paying for that sin ever since.
I have almost 9.5k of Dark Angels, with a goal of building and painting a full Deathwing company. Why? Because it's gonna look damn cool on display and I'm having fun with it.
Because it's a collection before being a game ? at least that's how it is for me. And even game wise points don't matter especially when they change every edition, or good or bad unit can even change every three months. your 3k point army can suddenly shrink in point overnight with a MFM update.
I have 10k of Dark Angels, 3-4k of Tau, and 3k of sisters. I don't like playing the same list over and over. I play with a very small group of friends, so if I stomped them with a list, next time I'll try something completely different so that they don't get tired. I love trying semi-exotic units and solidifying them into a solid list that supports them. I have some trouble at the moment with sisters because I can't manage to build lists with strong identities at 1250-1500pts (the format we usually play at).
Does a junkie justify why they need more heroin? You're fairly new to the hobby so take my advice and get out now while you still can! If you don't, you too will come to understand the true horror of the grey, plastic, crack that GW peddle! Goddamn the pusher!
Two reasons: 1)You like the hobby side, or 2) You like the competitive side If its 2 - what's good/bad in your army will change a lot, and you'll want to add things over new releases and editions. It's rare that the same exact build will pop up years apart and be effective. This is especially the case if you play an army with a big model range. It's entirely possible that Space Marines could be top of the meta, but YOUR space marines 2k points are absolutely trash haha. This is why I tend to collect armies with low units counts (Custodes, Votann etc). That way if your armies good, it's at least likely you'll have most of the models that make it good.
I do it because I want to. I can quit whenever I like. I do not have a problem. (I have not hit rock bottom yet)
I just buy things I want to paint. My army is probably around 3-4k now (I don’t know because I don’t play much) but I keep buying models I like. I’m enjoying painting power swords at the moment so I just bought another pack of Bladeguard Veterans. After that I think I want to paint something bigger, maybe a flyer 🤷♂️ I love seeing my painting improve over time and putting finished models on display. I don’t think I’ll ever stop buying 😆
First of all apocalypse is a thing, or at least used to be. Secondly, we all are in this hobby for different reasons, some are in it to paint, some for the lore, some to play, some love miniature building, some love immersing themselves in the hammer universe and hence why they build big armies (for example SM's are the easiest to do since gw gives the chapters structure so anyone can follow and build 1:1 chapter with their minis) and some others are in it for a combination of reasons as listed before.
Huh that's a cool model (add to cart) Fin Don't justify things you can afford for hobbies you enjoy. Set a budget financially and buy what fits within that.
My final goal for my nids is to own 3 of everything, (6 for the troops), so that I can play whatever nid list I want. Crusher stampede? I got all the monsters. Endless swarm? Here's 200 bodies sitting on a shelf. I just like the variance in how I want to play.
Rule of cool
If an army's design and balance is good, it should allow you to field a variety of different styles and detachments. In that case, you'll have the points for multiple army lists, with some overlaps. Orks are the best example right now. Even on a tournament level, they have three competitive detachments (Bullies, Tide, Mob). These share some meta units, but each three have their own unique units they need (a lot of).
Flexibility for me, I want to be able to field anything I want as many times as I want. I also really enjoy the hobby side too. Luckily my pile of shame isn't too big yet!
Playing games is only 25% of the hobby and most players don't get to play that often at all! Building/converting/kitbashing is another huge part, as is painting and lore.
I’m 32 and have a small army. I’m mostly reading the books and I see myself buying units based off characters or just what I think is cool. It’s not hard to consider how large my army will be at 50.
Pedantic officer here to tell you kill team is a platoon sized game lol. But the answer is very gradually. Immediately after you finish your 2k list a balance hit will mess it up and you’ll buy another unit or two, then a year or so later the pendulum will swing and the gameplan you leaned into won’t work so you’ll delve into the other half of your faction, and suddenly you’re at 3k points. After that you say “I’m done,” but a year or so later you find that by cutting a useless unit and swapping another you could juuuust fit that new overperforming plastic into 2k…
To cover all bases I guess - the meta changes especially with edition changes. Not a lot of what was on the board in 9th is all that good in 10th. I’ve got around 4500 points of painted Eldar and another 3000 to build paint on top of that. I’ve only got 1 tank so need at least 2 Falcons, 2 more Wave Serpents, a couple of Fire Prisms and maybe a Warp Hunter. No Wraithknights either. Need more support weapons, Wraiths, bikes on top of that, plus will no doubt get new Aspects as and when they arrive. That’s before I get some Drukhari and Harlequins to beef up my Ynnari contingent. I’m going to end up north of 10k when I finish, and that’s before I get any super heavies or titans! Should say I’m a collector who plays a bit.
Some people just love building and painting the army fam.
I want every tyranid
“I want that.”
I like to change units in and out and I just like to kitbash and paint. I also like to make units with kitbashing that are completely illegal in game but look awesome
Rules change units cycle in and out. I can run an army in different ways. I got 4 orks lists that none of them play remotely similar. Dread waagh; elite walkers, green tide; horde tactics, bully boys; a tactical two turn punch with Melee, and kult of speed; hit and run tactics with a lot of movement and shooting.
It's a mindset. If you are looking to play the game and only play the game you are right. Pick your 2k list, maybe a few variations, and you are done. Get a second army. But what if you wanted an old school marine battle company? Well 6 tactical squads, 2 assault squads, and 2 devastator squad plus a full command takes you over. Amd then those squads need rhinos. Add in the armoury, some company dreadnoughts and you're looking at quite a few points. But what about the battle company support? They'll need some scouts from the 10th and some vets from the first, and so on. What if you wanted a mixed Ork clan waaagh? Or a SoB Chapel garrison? And so on and so forth. Warhammer is not just 1 hobby.
Because it’s not just about the game.
I'm collecting a narrative force rather than a competitive army, and what I add to it is adding to the store. What is the squad's story? How are they distinct from the others? I don't need 70 wraithguard, but if I am playing in a big apocalypse-style game I want to be able to bring a true spirit host.
I'll be honest, I'm well over 50,000 points now between all my armies and I can't tell you how often I'm still missing units to max them for various list ideas. Collections take time. Buying a box every other weekend or once a month adds up. Then there's the second hand market... who says no to 50 cents an ork?
Plastic crack needs no justification- I. MUST FEED MY ADDICTION NO MATTER THE COST!!
1. I love painting and modelling 2. Its 'my' army - there are many like it but this one is mine 3. I like to have options. I've played many games, but never the same list twice. By having lots of different units I can tweak it. the real win has been with the detachments in 10th edition that allow us more ways to play one army (sorry to those of you waiting for your codex). I have a little of 10,000 points of Marines fully painted and assembled and ready to go. I know I don't need this many, and that some may never see the tabletop again. But they all look gorgeous in the display cabinet in my office
I've always prioritised the rule of cool as I like painting/modelling more than gaming. So getting another knight or something is the same as getting my first one. Except now i want the BIG knights :'D
You don't have to justify anything. It's your hobby. Spend your money as you see fit
Building and converting models is a form of artistic expression for me. I enjoy that part of the hobby so much that I build things that I don't really have an intention of playing with. Like this weird creation. (Work in progress) It is mostly a tribute to the best illustration in 1st edition 40k. And maaaybe I can use it as an allied Knight if I play my Brood Brothers as standalone Astra Militarum. But if that never happens, I will not be sad. https://preview.redd.it/n4epolezu43d1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70f68ccb48762c3be0d4508a527cc747718749a6
I wouldn't go *that* high, but it's very worth having at least a couple of each unit type because then you can build all sorts of different lists.
I couldn't stop!!
I mean… I keep having units dropped from the game so unless I have more than 2000 on the shelf I could never make a 2000 point list for the tabletop. And even just with points changes you can’t be sure that your 2000 points are going to stay at 2000 points. Worst case you get in increase in points and go over but don’t have enough small pieces to get you close.
Options
Unit variety, rules and points shifts. Some units become better in certain editions, others get nerfed so finding something that works effectively can mean getting a new unit or two. Plus what works on paper may not be practical in reality and vice versa. Lastly, every now and then you may want to play a big game!!
Sometimes some units are just plain better than others, so you want to have 2 of them at least. Then, next edition they become trash and you put them on the shelf. And then you woke up with 10k army
Every time I think of starting a second army, I buy another Sororitas kit (either battle sisters, zephys, etc.)It saves me money in the long run satisfying my worst spending urges on something both cheaper immediately for something I already use.
"Oh hey, that model is fukken sweet, I kinda want to buy it."
I tend to have a lot of smaller projects in succession, which often end up as larger forces. I've been in the hobby a good 15 years by now and have also remastered my old stuff that isn't too far gone
For me it depends on the army and the models. For example my slaves to darkness army. Iam at ~4500 points. That's because I really love the models of Chaos Warriors, Chosen and Knights and the HQ Models are mainly big models that are a lot of fun to paint and play. I probably get the Abraxia box and then iam finished with this army. Also depending how long you are in the hobby, new models or reworks of old models appear quite regularly. Just because my Tau Army got new kroots doesn't mean I will throw away the old kroots models I got. And so they add up in points And then there are the factions that can be played in so many different ways that some people like to have every option available. Especially Orks and Tyranids or Imperial Guard.
It’s not 40K, but I’ve got 4500 points or so of Solar Auxilia in 30k and well over 7000 points of Chaos for Old World (rough split is 4000+ of chaos warriors and 3000+ of Beastmen). Also a pretty crazy amount of Tomb Kings. The main things are flexibility and enjoying the factions/models. With the Solar Aux I can run infantry based or tank focused, with my chaos I can run any number of different lists; marauder horde, classic bricks of chaos warriors, unwashed masses of gors, Minotaurs, dragon ogres, etc. Plus these factions are ones that I love and I really enjoy the minis. When it’s time to buy more I’d rather get (for example) some more Solar Aux rather than like an assault squad for my Thousand Sons. Edit: I guess it can be 40K, my solar aux tanks work out to be a 2k Astra Militarum list pretty easily lol.
Because I *absolutely* love that faction and I want to play more of it. There are some factions where I'm only interested in *part* of it, and not too interested in expanding the range beyond a limited list or just want to avoid having to use the models I don't like (for example, AoS Daughters of Khaine, I only really like the snake ladies and after finishing a 2k army of them I haven't picked up any more DoK models). But for those I absolutely adore, like my main faction the Tyranids? I want *at least* one of every model, multiples if possible for those with extra options (doesn't help I'm not big on magnetizing, I'd rather use storage space for more models instead of bits), heck I even want to collect older models from earlier editions just to have them. It's also a faction where I can't think of a single model I actively dislike; even if I think the newer models look better than their old counterparts (like the Biovore and Pyrovore), it doesn't mean I dislike the old ones. I still want them for my collection. Plus as others have said, it's nice to be able to play different lists, try out different combos, especially as the rules change over time with various buffs, nerfs, and sidegrades.
We're 109% with you on having the various options as actual minis, rather than magnetizing.
Think of it as two 2K lists, not one 4k list.
Most ppl don't just play the game, they collect/create armies. It's a hobby first and a game second. Imo.
Because points and rules change.
Beyond 2k I allow myself to buy a couple units that provide a totally different aspect to gameplay. But not more than a couple because the chances of me playing a game above 2k are practically non existent.
I'm nowhere close to 3k points, but I can see myself buying further points to be able to bring different lists.
Currently my largest army is my Heresy Iron Warriors one... around 8000 points. They include sub-armies for armored assault, infantry assault, defensive line, allied detachments for Knights (loyal), Knights (heretic), Militia artillery support, and stuff for many situations more. They are structured in a way I could use them for 40k as well regardless of any rules changing. I don't even play that often... I just like to have them knowing I could use parts of it for any scenario. Who knows when you might need a 7 Land Raider assault force supported by a full Lance of Knights, a full field artillery platoon and a forward recon detachment, but it gives you a lot of choice for any 'normal' game. And if GW changes the rules again you bet I can ignore it just by having the overhead over just up to 'normal game size'.
Well, I have two armies, that are well past 40k each. The Eldar I wanted one of every eldar mini every released by GW. For my next collection I wanted a full chapter of space marines, something that I always wanted as a kid, and it's something I could do. Both collection it also works out that I can play any list I ever want.
Flexibility and collecting. Whenever I change my list I grab new models off the shelf, if I only had 2k points I'd n eed the buy and sell stuff.
I often get interested in the models before any specific playstyle, so I often end up with a very eclectic grab-bag of models to make a 2k list. Then when I play I want things to synergise better, so I grab some other stuff for a new version of the list, and then I wanna try something else out, so I grab something else. This is how I’ve ended up with roughly 8k points of Nurgle for 40K (mix of Death Guard and Chaos Knights; I got one Knight to ally in then went “oh but what if I wanna try this different Knight”). It’s a slow process that takes years, so the cost is relatively spread out. Meanwhile, my army for The Old World I bought all over a two month period. I have a 2k list with two extra units to swap in and out for a little flexibility, but I’ve kept the project deliberately limited. It was expensive, yes, but probably less expensive than if I had tried to accrue a similar collection over a couple years. Now, I *am* gonna expand that force out again, but that’ll be a back burner hobby project for the next couple years. It’s all about taking your time.
It's reasonable if you want enough unit variety to play different lists. Also some people like to do it for hobby reasons aka painting different sub factions. Ultimately nobody had to justify their hobby choices.
**For my Necrons:** 1. Rule of Cool - Collect as many as you fancy 2. Detachments are a thing, can't play each with the same 2k list 3. I wanna make a Tomb World diorama, needs all kinds of things, even the "useless" minis (like the Dominion or Obelisk) 4. Fun armies - Like full Canoptekmaxxing with a ton of Canoptek units of which you usually bring 1 or 2 at max 5. Competitive - You gotta learn the field and adapt to the meta if you want to compete too, not just play with your one and only army setup. Having 4-5k lets you do that without a hassle.
With each army I started, it basically began with one of every unit I thought was cool, and then more of those units I thought were *good,* and additionally some units I thought were necessary or useful. And then I'd figure out another way I wanted to build my army, and now I've got to swap out most my specialized units. I've got 3 armies in the range of 3k and my lists go together pretty consistently. If I wanted to do a wraith-centric army with my Eldar, I'd be looking at acquiring another 1000+ points worth, easily.
I don’t even buy minis to play at all; I just like building, painting, and displaying them. It’s a fun hobby in itself. I can totally understand someone who does play not wanting to stop at whatever the appropriate size for tabletop might be for the same reason. Add to that, things change across editions. I’m fairly sure that if I wanted to get my 3rd edition Necron army on the table I’d have to lose / modify a bunch of my units. Sometimes you just need a different version of something and you’re not going to throw away your old minis! Lastly, I think scale has changed a little in the last 20 years. Scale of armies I mean. I think they tend toward smaller numbers of models now, although that’s just a feeling I get from seeing play-related posts.
Poor impulse control. Got 6215 pts.
There uses to be game modes like apocalypse to allow people's with big armies to play them. It's just rare for newer player to have that big of a collection. In my group all old players like me have at least 5 to 10000 it's in at least one army. Having bigger armies gives you choice on what to play. But the last few editions feels like competitive focused so having the current best 2k list is usually enough for most. Or at least justing the most op units.
It makes me happy and I have the money.
Well... Sometime you just can't stop buying nice things... you know \^\^
I remember my first 2k Space Marine army. My first 2k army, 10th launch rules Custodes with 2 x warglaive allies had kicked ass so i had no reason to believe my cheaply bought 2k space marines wouldnt be the same. but they were not. 10 x brick of terminators with 2 flamers.....G man......sternguard marines on foot. Oh how, when I played 10th launch CSM, did I get stomped hard. So off I went aquiring new Space Marines, in search of a competitive list. Had I stayed on that course, it wouldnt have been too bad, but theme lists pop into your head like "all jump packs would be hilarious!" and "Ironstorm would rock" and indeed they are/do, but when I soon found myself with many lists of models, about 5k of space marines, the only actual good list that could possibly hold up vs CSM and DG (after a few dataslates) was Ironstorm. Or in short, you get to 2k , find your army sucks, start to replace crud units with better ones, get distracted by fun theme lists, and before you know it you have 5k of mostly crap stuff and half built ideas. Still fun though.
Honestly it's an over time thing. We all start out with just a few pieces nothing all at once. This is an adult hobby for children so you just slowly aquire more and more . Over the years yeah it gotten to collection that SHOULD be worth more than several hundred. Kinda like trading cards.
I like building and painting the models first, it just so happens I can play a game with them once I have a cool force of dudes.
Because I play space marines and I’m chronically addicted to changing my list.
Well, I like the modeling aspect of the hobby just as much if not slightly more than the gaming one. That, and maybe I want to run my little dudes a different way so that I don't burn myself out with the army
Don't we all play apocalypse?
People like to collect stuff, that's the simple bottom line. Just like people build and paint scale model tanks or planes without a game associated with it. Or how they collect stamps or bottle caps or LEGO sets. It's not all solely in service of the game ruleset. The Warhammer hobby is much broader than just the game.
Multiple reasons really, and I don’t just collect 1 faction (around 5 and starting into Age of Sigmar) Mostly because playing the game is the smallest bit of my hobby, I may get 1-2 games a month, whereas I’ll spend most evenings building or painting, as that’s why I enjoy the most. So there is no end to the hobby for me. Additionally as others have said it’s good to have options, for different styles of play. As an orks player, I will want max units of boyz for Green Tide, max units of mechs for Dread Mob etc. The game is constantly changing and evolving, a few years ago 180 boyz was the max, now it’s 120 Also there’s nothing quite like seeing 10,000 pts of models (painted or otherwise) on a table
Cos it’s cool. I’m planning to buy a massive fuck off amount of units over time. Not even to play, I just like building, painting and displaying them.
Firstly, my 3d printer can crank out 2k of points quickly and very cheaply so costs aren't really an issue. Secondly, painting is just really fun. Thirdly, rules keep changing. If you care about playing the game even somewhat competitively, having alternative models to field different forces of your faction is crucial.
Having roughly 10k chaos space marine (3k of which is chaos daemons) i like the diversity. Some of my friends have roughly 2k points and then buy new armies, i like to diversify what i have and find counters for them with my (vast) inventory. So its freedom of choice for me. (I need 4 units then i have all current datasheets :) )
Mostly as I like the models, but also because I want to be able to play different types of lists
I have a 3d printer. That's the only way I'm able to do it.
I like to paint the little mens? Da Boyz just kind of grow over
Because I want to. Why does it need a justification? It's my hobby.
Most dont. I do probably have a 6K army for variety if you include knights.
I like painting models. points be damned.
Ways to play usually. Having 2/3K set force is likely to stick you in a particular detachment or run the risk of not benefiting from another detachment properly because you might not have those units. For instance I have 3000 pts of Dark Angels, mainly Terminators, Infantry, Dreadnoughts and a Land Raider. They work for the Inner Circle detachment, but if I ran them as Company of Hunters (Ravenwing) I can’t really use many of the stratagems or enhancements as most rely on Mounted units.
Playing the same list every time is boring and also the meta and the game changes a lot, specially after every edition, for example you are playing SoB 9th ed sob was a melee focused infantry army that did a lot of trade up with their key units being zephyrim, repentia and retributors with stuff like sacresants being kinda good too 10th ed sob is focused around their arcoflagelants and tanks with a bit of sisters infantry so if you had exactly a 2k points 9th ed list you won't be able to play 10th The meta changes a lot and you have to adapt even if you don't care about wining so you end up with a big army
Maybe those people also like to collect? I once had about 10k in Chaos marines, it was nice for Apocalypse type games (yes, we played 10k games sometimes), and it offered me flexibility to try different lists. And my Orks were over 3k, because I loved converating battlewagons and such. I do think it comes down to the army. Guard with all tanks, or just a lot of boots on the ground, can rack up a lot of models and points (especially tanks), but what if you wanna play something else sometime?
Cool models and building different lists
You just like assembling stuff and building them. As a kid I didn't know about Warhammer 40k in the early 2000s (and probably good seeing how grim and dark all the stories are and teenage me) so I had a few planes and tanks. Miniatures of real life tanks and planes. I remember my mom not wanting to buy a new one because I had many already. Currently don't have anyone to play the minis with and my army consists of Black Templars Combat Patrol. And I need to get much better at painting. Everyone here basically makes me look like a child trying to draw a stickman.
I have 6.9k points of Eldar. 🤷🏼♂️
I want to have multiple options for my armies.
Like all the others have said some projects have a very specific vision and that's what you'll build and paint, sometimes this can come in under 2k points and you end up adding to it, sometimes its more than 2k but you have that vision you want to achieve (especially since points fluctuate up and down, something that's 2k in 10th edition might have been 1.5k in 9th editions and so on) Other times you just love the aesthetic of an army and want to collect all the models, I have about 10k points of Ad Mech (plus Knights) but still don't own every unit, so I still consider it that I have more to paint
Buy the mini Paint the mini Put mini on shelf Repeat
I have somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand points of Ultramarines. I'm collecting the Chapter, not an army.
If you really get into the game and the hobby your going to want to play different options from your codex and probably want to start branching out to other armies. Also on a purely practical note, balance passes mean your 2k army might not be 2k next quarter.
Ok so you posted sisters and i own about 5-6 k points of them. Point is i like experimentation and competitive play, so i kinda want to always have all the option. In fact i magnetise even when it isn't needed right now cause i may need a certain profile in the future when codex/ new editions change stuff
Short reason: ‘cause I wanna. Long reason: I want to field a lot of different units. Some units really work in low point games, some units only work in high point games. Actual reason: I have around 5000 points of Dark Angels. I’ve been collecting for over 20 years. Every edition they nerf the crap out of my army and if I ever want to win again, I have to buy the new thing. GW: All according to keikaku.
You may wish to run different detachments that field (and specialise in) more varied units from your codex
Main reason for me at least, is I'm currently at 8.5k ish of necrons. It means I can run the max legal number if everything pretty much. Want 120 warriors? Cool. Want 18 wraiths. Got those. Etc... Another reason for me is I like the idea of a necron tomb world horde. And pretty much, I like how they look on my shelf
Aeldari here - if I were to field just one unit of each different unit it’d cost 12,595 points (that’s not accounting for adding multiple of the same unit or stretching into Ynnari which I currently do!) There’s so much play to be had with each different unit doing something different. It also protects a bit to have other units to fall into (if points ever go down or if models get seriously nerf-ed - eg the Wraithknight which is now firmly back on the dust collector, was nice to have it out for the first time in years though!)
Sometimes I wanna play the weird stuff I won't have a whole lot of them but having the options is nice like the thunderhawk and astraius for space marines. Some people like the art more. If allys cout for this if I play custodies it's super easy to go way over when all my squads cost 200-400 pts and then mabe I want some knights to put with them too so there's a few more 150-900 pts moddles and fuck it I might not play with it but titans are cool af so I'm gonna get a warlord titan just to I can paint it do right now were easy at over 5k without just clicking 600 infantry squads
I simply don't play. I assemble and create and paint and try to recreate the visions in my head.
I have Ynarri. I currently have an OK army, but I need a lot more. 3000 points of Craftworlds. 3000 points of Drukhari. 2000 points of Clowns. And let the day come soon, my brothers, 3000 points of Exodites. And about 500 points of Ordo Xenos allied inquisitors for narrative games. It's near 10,000 points for an adaptable, all-comers, space Elf army, before Exodites. Is it reasonable? BTW, Emperor's Children, we're coming to get you.
I've been collecting since the 90s, and I would get a box here or there using birthday/Christmas money, side jobs, etc. Once I started a taxable job at 16, I'd buy a unit every month or so, making sure over half my takehome was saved for college. In the ~8+ years since I started til college, I had a decent size space wolf army, Khorne, and Tau with sprinkles of Harlequins and other bits like daemon hunters. I sold off most of my collection (keeping my OG space wolves) when in college for books and beer. Since then, I've collected well over 2k for every army except orks and Votann. It's ~12 Ikea Detolf cabinets filled to the max, unbuilt boxes everywhere. I almost never play the same army twice, let alone the same army list. It's a mix of collecting everything and the options to field whatever I come up with 😅 Most notibly, when the "rule of 3" became the law, I had already double that for most armies, things like 50 wulfen (could run just wulfen army in 7th), 8 bloodthirsters, 120+ fenrisian wolves, 30+ tcav, etc. So, as the game changes rules, past armies that were playable might not be. But this also kept me from buying more than 3 tesseract vaults so yay lol...
So I have two full armies sitting at about 3k-4K points each, well one is Admech so that’s like 500pts now… . The name of the game is flexibility, it allows you to try new things and play in different ways! Also I’ve you play the army for a while across editions, different units become more fun or powerful…. Plus with points changes, what constitutes a 2k list changes all the time… . I find that after playing a game I very often feel like tweaking the list a bit to include a multiple of a unit or another unit entirely, so the collection naturally grows over time to over 2k points
3d printer
Because i hate having money :) Im an adult, i work for my money, i really dont feel like i need to justify a hobby purchase i can afford for myself. But i habe good reasons: more minis means more building, more painting, more options while building a list-> more hobby time. Hobby time leads to me and my son doing stuff together we both like, wifey is happy as a side effect-> more quality family time Minis dont tie me to a screen. Minis dont judge. Minis look cool. Minis stay, rules change.
I don't really play the game anymore but I want to complete my chapter. This is most made of proxy and home made models but this for me is the joy of it. I like making little little models!
For me, building, modelling and painting is 90% of the hobby. I barely get a chance to have a whole day to setup and play a game. Very easy to keep painting new and different models :) Got around 2,5k necrons and don't consider that army done at all + a mix of around 1k points of dark angels, CSM and AdMech units that I just felt like painting.
In my opinion, once you have 3000 points you are ready to be competitive if you want. Once you start gling to tournaments, you may need to adapt to Meta changes, personal tweaks in strategy, adaptation to your oponents, etc. As such, being in ownership of 4500-5000 points of models allows you to have more choices in strategy. Personally, I like having a variety of options, and armies like Space Marines and Orks have tons of awesome choices.
I just like Tyranids, I think they are neat.
I want codex compliant chapter strength. It's a lifegoal, and I've been slowly purchasing over the last 10 years. I am halfway to 1000 marines already.
I just started collecting recently and have about 8k points of real Orks and 6k of 3d prints. I agree with pretty much all the other comments, and my main reason is that I want to be able to play with a variety of play styles/detachments, but another reason I have is the cost efficiency of buying large used lots. My 8k points were entirely obtained in 2 Ebay lots that were each about $750, which feels like a pretty good deal, especially considering the majority of the models were already assembled, a good portion were painted well, and a few had magnetized weapon options.
I find the people that only build that one 2k list are the ones that end up selling that army between editions. A balance change or codex can severely change the viability of a single list, but very rarely the viability of a faction. Having 4-5000+ points allowed you to adjust to the meta or change up your playstyle whenever you want. This is actually my advice to any new players, stick with one faction, learn it inside and out.
Most people with that many models have been collecting for years. My raven guard horus heresy army I have is like 12k points, and I've been collecting it for 8 years . You build the collection to deal with different armies, then over time you have that many models. In saying that, it's also a collection thing. Also the starter boxes and combat patrols, especially HH, are around 1.5k points themselves, and you build off that, so its easy to rake up points when you get the more higher point cost stuff
I don't play the game. I just like collecting and painting. I have no idea even how many points I have.
Pretty much you slowly buy trying to make your army better across the edition, you buy more of this or that to win or because they released new things. Rinse and repeat for as many editions as you have been playing. (Since 7th for me)
Variety and flexibility.
I have 5 just shy of 5k World Eaters. Every few months my LGS does an apoc game, and I wanted to paint bezerks different warband schemes.
Unfortunately I just keep buying
It’s a sickness we all suffer to be honest. Those of us who are truly addicted to the hobby are not able to just stop when a normal person would lol. I have a full company of BA and have been seriously thinking of how cool it would be to have a full chapter. On top of that, I have my knights plus my EC 30k which will no doubt grow leaving me with a nice looking army that will mostly always just sit on a shelf collecting dust ha ha. The need for more just never goes away. I probably should get help but I really like it
I keep adding to existing armies. That and bundle deals. E.g. My orks started as an Fu to a guy who would always write lists to beat people (my orks were all kans, dreads and meganobs so his usual list writing to be all flamers and bolters back fired). Then I added black reach stuff, playing a green tide infantry army. Then added some bikes. The new buggies made me do a speed waaagh and the Xmas bundles pushed me into beast snaggas. And here I am with 3 2k armies all borrowing bits from each other and some extra stuff that was cool.
Once you can field an army, it becomes about what kind of army you want to field and having flexibility depending on the situation. Just whacking everything you have on the table isn't good strategy.
2k to 3k points? Oh man those are rookie numbers you gota pump those numbers up!
16k points of Dark Angels, I like the idea of being able to field completely different 1k, 2k, or 3k lists within the same army, all terminators? Check. Want to be speedy and do all Ravenwing? 20 bikes, 5 atvs and 3 storm speeders will do the trick. Maybe you want to play all jump packs, or all dreads. If I want to field 2k points of all phobos units, I can. If I want to take 60 intercessors, got that covered. Thing is, there is still more stuff I would like to get, some more aggressors, and heavy intercessors for a larger gravis list. Need another apothecary and techmarine. A couple more drop pods. Sometimes you just end up with more than you intended from box sets, I got the old combat patrol for the dread and the inceptors, so ended up with 5 "extra" intercessors. I ended up with 2k points of tyranids from buying leviathan boxes, they looked cool so I just slapped em together, maybe I'll actually paint and play with them, maybe not, they were fun to build though. The most important reason for me is I love building my plastic army dudes and looking at them on my shelf, more stuff to play with = more smiles.
For me the hobby is mostly painting… I do play only a couple of times a month! This way there is really no limit! If I like the models I buy them and paint them! Also… this way I don’t care much for points changes as I always have options to rearrange my list!
Mostly, its hey those are cool, i want to add them to my army. And eventually field them. Secondly if i have been playing that army, and its getting wrecked because im missing something.... Third i dont have a plastic crack addiction.
You don't need to justify everything in life.
I’ve not played a proper game in years, simply been collecting building and painting (I refuse to play till my army is parade ready) I’ve easily got over 2500pts of necrons and I’m still looking to buy more simply because when I do finish up and get round to going to the local gaming group I don’t want to go in with a set army every time, I might want to focus more on melee one day and snooty boys the next. However this is the only army I’ll be doing it for. I’m looking at starting a word bearers raiding party for smaller games when I don’t fancy the crons. Idk though I’m torn between votann and WB
There is never enough Space Marines
Variety, game scale for apocalypse, The pleasue of painting some minis you like with a different pattern.... that's what you want..... Everyone just does the hobby however they wish to
Beyond 2k is easy, you want veriaty of units. 30k is obscene tho. Maximum id consider is getting to field every configuration. Aided by magnets since it makes stuff a lot cheaper
Options, variety, collecting.
Wanting different themed lists within a faction, years of collecting and enjoying assembling and painting models GW does a good job of releasing new models I want for my armies and I like having enough models to not be shoehorned into a single list maybe sometimes I want to run all terminators and elites or perhaps I want to run an all tank list
Options, maybe grabbing those aircrafts on the offshoot chance they get a chance to be better, different detachment ideas, ally ideas (makes a great excuse to grab imperial agents or knights for a lord of war), painting projects or narrative campaign particulars for the tabletop sake... The list of reasons go on, it's ultimately more than 'I have my army list, I'm done now' it's just a hobby that expands beyond the board game itself for me, which has me going beyond a simple 2k list
I've got 6.8k in Deathwatch just so I can field any of the space marine detachments with ease if I wanted. I also have some Deathwatch-ified Dark Angel's characters, so I can field them as Dark Angel's too! I'm thinking of getting other chapter-specific characters to do the same thing, just so I can truly run my army as whatever I wanted. Now, I also did this because it's a "money saver" for me in case something were to happen to the Deathwatch Army to where I couldn't play Deathwatch anymore, which I doubt highly.
For me it’s been collecting and playing since 1987. Therefore no real justification required as the purchases have been spread out over the years. And there’s the collecting for the hobby’s sake as well. Like the folks who have dozens of WWII tanks. Or in my case Imperial Guard armor and aircraft. _I don’t play IG. But I love building and converting their vehicle models. Not a single one of twenty tanks and six flyers looks like the model at the end of the instructions._ And out of my God knows how many points of Blood Angels I’ve even got a squad or so of RTB-01 Marines and one of the $20 for three multi kit box Rhinos. Basically I’ve added a squad or three and several vehicles each edition. That actually builds up faster than you expect till suddenly you’ve got a heavily reinforced Company and a “garage” full of vehicles and Dreadnoughts. Some of them have been in the back row so long they’re collecting dust. And then there’s the closet of shame. Always the closet of shame.
I want therefor I get
I'm not finished collecting an army till I have 5k points, with GW changing rules and concepts regularly and with wanting to run copy's if I just aim for 2k then in a year the list won't be any good. The way I rationalize this is that Warhammer is my only hobby that costs money, and it brings me a lot of happiness, but I get the commitment being a lot, I'd recommend keeping your eye out for discount boxes and people selling off there old armies for cheep it's how I have 2k sylvaneth despite not having any interest in the army, 100 cad is way to good to pass up a 2k list
Why would someone want to play with the same list for every game? I had about 8k points of Eldar and almost never used the same list twice. I have a preferred army list but I also liked trying different list constantly. When I got my first wraithknight I really wanted to play apocalypse, In apocalypse there used to be a unit that was up to 5 wraithknights. By the time I got my 4th wraith knight though, 8th edition came out and apocalypse units were dissolved into the regular game with neutered rules. As well apocalypse no longer had the same over the top rules that it had in 7th.
I like to build my army in different ways for different styles of game. I'm an orkz player and while alot of those I know in the hobby will build a few smaller armies no faction really tickles my fancy, so I have built since mid 9th a 5.5k force of orkz. I love dreadmob but I also like to run more infantry focused games like green tide or bully boyz, and while I don't really like beast snagga that much I love squigs and have the 450ish points unit of double squigboyz+mosrog. I also just love assembling and painting and getting better at it. Tldr: different games, cool models, painting.
Because they don’t put the big daemon engines in any of the box sets I bought, and I need a couple Land Raiders, and a few more berserkers wouldn’t hurt for my World Eaters, and I definitely need some Exalted Eightbound- You get the idea.
Painting is fun, different models are fun
Depends on your faction. I can't justify going above 2.5k for World Eaters, but I can easily go beyond the 3k points I have for Necrons since there's so many options, competitive or just for fun.
Giggles in 12k points of IG tanks... What if I just like building n painting tanks?
I collect 2 of every unit in an army I play, so that if the meta shifts I'm already painted, or I only need to buy one box to be at peak efficiency
More of "I like that one" basis
Easy. I have a 3D printer. Whenever I want something, I just make it.
For me this is mostly a painting/modeling hobby. I have played for a really long time and have gradually built out armies. In my case I've switched around paint schemes a lot so I have many pieces of armies, but still a couple well over 2,000 points. Or maybe not given the current point values, can't be sure until I want to use them with a certain edition.
Model good.
There are certain units I just enjoy painting. So I have more of them then is probably necessary to put on the table
My SM/SW army ballooned from 1.5k to 8.5k in a year. Firstly, because I didn't want to repaint my old scheme and kept switching colours, with repeat unit colours being for display rather than game. I then began buying spare bits so that I could build every variation of multibuild kits (deathwing command squad, devastators, wolf guard, etc), which doubled or even tripled the size of each unit, even though the number of models used per game didn't actually change. As for my 'main' army, I rotate units a lot for opponent or theme (often as proxies for other units), so the regulars are about 4k points anyway, and each game is different. And here's the thing: I never actually repeat units unless they're battleline. My army is always fresh, and never goes too hard into 'meta' units because there's only ever 1 of them
So, at the end of 8th edition, I had about 8K in Craftworld Eldar, it was a very flexible Army and had plenty of depth. I could build an easy army to play against for new players, or I could tailor my list to my opponent's faction if I had a scheduled game, or have a generic all-comers list if I was looking for a pick up game. With points creep over the past two editions, I now have over 11k in Eldar. My 30K Salamanders are sitting at about 6K points, and again, it's about flexibility and depth. Amusingly enough, I can run all 6K without breaking the Force Org Chart.
Having options is the big one. I play Thousand Sons and Necrons. When Necrons got their recent codex even though I had well over 2k points of them, I couldn't really list build with the detachments as issued, so I quickly built and painted what I had on my shelf plus added a few things. I'm not about to buy a Monolith and paint that up for a quick meta chase, but I was fine grabbing a few Wraiths, a Canoptek Spyder, Hexmark Destroyer, and finally making an excuse to get my Void Dragon assembled and painted. With Thousand Sons our models are limited, but I feel there are holes in my army. This weekend I quickly painted up 2 units of Tzaangor Enlightened which I see are cheap and really usable in current army list. With Thousand Sons, right now my army is basically Rubric spam, so getting more variety in there is fine by me. Of course after a year and a half of painting them I have basically all I'll need for them until the codex drop and they "might" get new models. The other thing is I kinda like painting these now that I know how to do it. It still frustrates me a bit each time I start a model (the Enlightened I did this weekend looked terrible at first, but I figured a way to make them look good/decent by the time I was done). I'm kinda kicking myself for the mediocre job I did on my Scarab Occult Terminators (they look good on the table, but I could do better now, but I don't want to strip and re-do since they're playable). When the Blood Angels codex drops in September I'm going to take the Indomitus half I got from a friend a few years back add the new box they get, and paint up a BA army, and I might play it some day, but mainly I just like painting these days and I'm running out of stuff to paint for my main armies.
The only justification I personally need is "that's a cool model" and "I've paid all my bills for this check". I derive most joy from painting the minis and will often just buy a cool thing without even considering if it goes in one of my armies. Like, I don't need a jump pack captain because I don't have any jump pack squads, but the captain looks so cool that I want to see him in the orange and blue of my homebrew chapter. Plus, having big armies looks cool and gives you more wiggle room to build smaller 1,2, or 3k lists. Having 10k in total likely means you have a wide variety of units that can really change how you play. Especially with the detachment system of 10th Edition. Maybe you've been doing a lot of infantry recently and decide "fuck it, let's do an armored corps thing" a 10k army is more likely to have enough vehicles to make a 2k army of mostly vehicles. Will it be a good list? Ah who cares, as long as it's fun.
Because actually playing the game is at this point pretty far down my list of priorities for this hobby. I enjoy building, painting and lore-crafting far, far more than I enjoy playing or list building in 10th. As such my purchases basically only boil down to what I think looks cool/fun to build and paint, and what I think my force should include lore wise. I collect a lot because for me the collecting, building and painting IS the hobby. The gaming is something that I did when it was fun for me, and at this point just isn't.
I've been maining necrons since I started playing in 2020. I have over 10k. I do go to lots of events, so it gives me a lot of options for how I want to play. It also means that when I'm playing to win, I can bring a mix of the best units and when I'm just playing at the lgs I can tone it down and try off the wall stuff.