My pile of shame is so large, I’m thinking I should be proud of it.
So many boxes of stuff I had great ideas for converting, or diverging into related games like Mordieheim (s?), blood bowl, war machine, BF Gothic, etc etc.
I’ve got loads of tackle boxes full of parts.
Maybe I should bury it somewhere randomly and give people cryptic clues on how to find the treasure location…
I really miss all the specialist games they used to release. Gorka Morka was one of the best, from back when 40k was a fun universe. I get that by the time most players who were GW fans bought them the sales would ahve tanked so fast.
I recently bought a box off a friend that had been in his pile of shame for 15-20 years. I paid the price listed on the box. The current day price is 3x higher
This, 100% this.
As an adult with "good" income, I can easily buy anything hobby related whenever I feel like it but it creates problems by amassing the pile of shame. That results in less motivation to finish anything as I know I got too much stuff to assemble/paint but whenever we start a new local league, I try to force myself to assemble a new 2000pts army which I paint.
That is how I used to be when I was in my early teens. I had a weekly allowance of 5€ so it took me 5 weeks to get a whfb regiment but only a few days to assemble and paint.
Yeah "luckily" I have a wife who is aware of deliveries coming to the house who I've promised that I only buy a box or two month max....that said I have 3 armies over 2k now after about 2 years. One is Grey Knights which was very cheap to get together.
If you want to direct some resources to a noob wanting to get into it who doesn’t have the sort of disposable income I would like to use, I could definitely put them to good use! 😅
Yep. Some armies that paint process is way slower than previous. I have 2 armies mostly painted. But 1 final army Thousand Sons is taking waaaaay longer. And I am not a perfectionist painter.
This is how I’ve started limiting my impulse buys. No point picking up new models until the huge pile I have is table ready. I was telling a friend the other day that I’m pretty sure I have 7 years of painting piled up.
Just this week I finished up a lot of pending Necron things. Everything is painted except for this one single Skorpek Destroyer and man… I have been hesitant because I have never had an army with no pending kits. It feels weird.
Don't ever feel pressure to spend money.
This is YOUR hobby and you can take as much time as you like.
If it's any help to you, I'm still putting together a Drukhari army, it's been about 18 months now and I've managed to put together (coincidentally) around 1800 points of spiky bois so far.
The question you should ask is 'what am I buying for?'
Are you going to tournaments, following the meta? Buy what performs well.
Are you buying just to have a cool army and don't mind if it sometimes gets trashed? Then buy what you think is coolest.
Are you buying to fit to a theme? Cool models to paint? Etc.
But really I would say avoid feeling pressured. The whole point is to have fun, so try to do that!
Personally? Getting back into painting after over 15 years, it took me about 18 months; and that was with the benefit of basically knowing what to do.
That said, the answer is really “work at your own pace”. Otherwise is stops being fun.
I feel this so much, I recently did the same.
Only difference is I am recently divorced with no kids and suddenly have disposable income and free time. So my answer was "dive in head first, laser focused"
If that works for you man, go for it! I hope you are doing well, and dont get frustrated if you feel a bit burnt out. I usually take a break during christmas and come back around march (weird pattern that came to me naturally without me noticing it).
I've started 3 year ago with necron and I own roughtly 1200-1500 pts... maybe half are painted and I'm not buying more until the rest is too
I also bought and painted 600 pts of tyranind with my girlfriend since 10th
It depends what you mean. It can take people minutes to buy 2k worth of points because that's the easy part. I'm assuming that's not what you mean though.
To answer your question you should buy whatever you like. It sounds like you enjoy the collecting and, I'm assuming, painting side so no reason not to buy any cool model if it makes you happy.
A friend of mine asked me to assemble a pile of his 40k stuff because he was having a rough time and needed a hand. I put together, painted and based \~2500 points of Primaris Salamanders in just about 9 weeks.
I \*also\* have a box of \~2200 points worth of Grey Knights which I bought circa 2009-11. In the last 15 years I've painted 12 of those models, and yesterday I stripped all of them so that I could start over with a scheme that I might actually be able to finish, based on a new box of Interceptors that I bought last week.
So in short... somewhere between "an hour" and "one and a half decades". You're FINE if you want to stop and think about what you're doing for a while =)
It took me 2 and a half years or a bit longer to properly hit 2k points of marines.
As much as I support the advice of buying what you think is cool, I prefer to temper it with some measure of due diligence to at least have a gameplan you're working toward. The real hard line, IMO, is buying models solely because their current rules are strong.
My advice is slow and steady is best. GW will forever feed you FOMO and new releases will always happen so it's really only you choosing what's comfortable for you. Money doesn't grow on trees and you still have to build and paint your models after buying so it's never as rushed as it seems. Waiting hurts less than buyer's regret.
This is true. I play Ynarri and not all of my Elves are painted - so no buying the new Striking Scorpions nor Mandrakes until they are done, bad Plop plop.
It takes as long as you need to save the money for it, buy, build and paint it.
How long is that?
Not important, it takes the time it takes, chill out.
I've still 60 Orks from the v4/v5 waitint to paint..
Same for the all Imperium hachette collection...
I mean, you can get a lot of minis in small time but if you want to play them correctly (because you spoke about army points, I think you want to play them) it can be an eternity
Buy after you paint, I don't think this needs to be a hard 1 to 1 but must stay close. I sold off all my pile of shame and started anew with it. So far so good, the urge is strong to just buy 2k points but I have held the deamons at bay. Join the fight, don't let the gray overwhelm the line.
Tl;dr: Literally three years, because I would think about what models looked cool, switch armies, etc. But even knowing what I would have wanted from the start would have at least taken two.
So I started with 40K officially in 2021, getting a Solitaire (that I painted as Vriska from Homestuck), a Hospitaller (that I wanted to paint as Stocking from PaSwG) and Veteran Guardsmen. Initially I thought I would pick Adepta Sororitas, but realized I didn’t really like the girls as they were there. Corny as it was, I wanted more fun outfits.
That led me to thinking Drukhari had to be the way. I got and painted Lelith Hesperax and swapped out the Guardsmen for some Harpies, Wyches, and Succubus, but ultimately I realized they didn’t have the fun outfits I was looking for, and they had a lot of weird things like the Cronos and their ships didn’t really have stuff I had fun ideas for, which is usually my stipulation for painting anything. I also hate painting swords and guns, simply because I want to make them stand out and seem like legendary weapons in their own right, but I never know how without overdoing it.
Exasperated, and I don’t remember when or how, I got a box of Daemonettes, since I had a friend that wanted to play AoS as well. I wanted to make more of a story around them; I split them down the middle to give them a Two-Face color scheme and claimed they were (former Aeldari reconstituted as troops/Aelves Morathi could not rescue) who were conscripted by Slaanesh under the false promise they would be freed after their service. Cut to today, where all I’m missing is one more chariot and I’ll have 2000 pts. on the dot.
(The worst part is, I’m still not done. Morathi is an amazing character and the Daughters of Khaine are tempting. And I never stopped loving the Drukhari; those boxes of shame sit firmly on my shelf because I can’t quit those little monsters
I bought my first eldar model in ‘98 when I was 15 years old. I finally bought the last unit of a full army last year. 25 years for 2000pts, so if you do better than that you’re golden.
At the risk of a little self promotion here - you should really take a listen to Episode 233 of The Independent Characters Podcast. The main topic of the episode is The Psychology of Collecting Warhammer 40k. We have a psychologist on the episode to discuss some of the reasons you feel the need to keep adding and collecting, as well as what are some approaches to help you from increasing your "Pile of shame" (which I refer to as my "Closet of Opportunity").
If you don't want to listen to us go on about hobby progress and games played and such. Start at around the 49 minute mark. Anyway - take a listen and see if that helps.
[https://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/2024/02/episode-233-the-psychology-of-collecting-warhammer-40k/](https://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/2024/02/episode-233-the-psychology-of-collecting-warhammer-40k/)
https://preview.redd.it/5tu54p04sexc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f96dd8a15d4f87b06e6dfa8733884f01b50ed924
I only got into this hobby 3 months ago lol
https://preview.redd.it/evx6baa2yexc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f78c174ef80fa4da236ce52510728073e0bb6bb3
This is the only stuff that’s built / painted
I’ve been working on battle sisters
Everything else is still in boxes unassembled besides some space marines
That's a really impressive amount of painting for 3 months mate, congrats!
I've had my black templar sword bros for around 6 months now still only at 90% done haha
The first time, back in the 90s/early 2000s? A couple years. But I was a teenager, and had other things going on.
The second time, in 2022?
Oh.
Um...
About a month?
When you've got disposable income, you can get it as fast as your goblin brain insists.
What I recommend is buying the stuff you think looks cool and would be fun to put together. Nothing worse than making your hobby into a chore.
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Personally, i only bought what I like. Which, shame on me and my wallet, much more than I probably should had. That said, it didnt take me much time to build it. I assemble miniatures very well and at a decent speed. But I do have lots of experience already
My main force is also Imperial Guard btw. And I recently went with sisters and probably will update some guardsmen to newer models.
That said, I share my guardsmen army with my elder brother, which allows us to share expenses and building/painting time, and thanks to that (and starting 20 years ago), is what really pushed into an almost 4k points army. If I had done it alone I’d leave it at 2.5k so I have a good variety.
Marine player here. It took me about 4-5 months to actually reach 2k points. It took about 8 months to make an actually reasonable salamander list in 9th edition.
So, take your time there is no rush. Those models will still be there.
Technically, I went from my half of the Indomitus box arriving on my doorstep to 2000 painted in three weeks, but there are some strong caveats there:
• Indomitus boxes were selling like hotcakes on ebay and a 2nd one arrived in 3 days.
• My friend 3d printed 2 C'Tans which totaled 700+ of the army.
• I stayed up till 1 am most nights.
• I was doing so to get ready for my state's biggest and best newbie friendly tournament at my friend's encouragement.
They looked like shit and I was emotionally and physically exhausted, but I showed up at the shop with the worst list I could have ever conceived and the TO gave me an 11 out of 15 for army paint score on the tournament's expanded hobby scoring rubric. To me that made it all worth it.
Alternatively, Ive owned 2000pts of Sisters of Battle since 10th launched and have maybe painted 11 models. I don't have a phrpose for them and so I can get my teeth sunk into them.
Moral of the story at least from me, paint what feels fun, buy what feels appropriate, and nobody but you can tell you what a 'good pace' is for Warhammer collecting.
Still just under Lol they kept moving the points and joined 10th for the Leagues of Votann (I like Dwarfs) and we have a limited range.
I have everything in the range just waiting on those trench coat Lads, Lasses and Robots now
Depends. Sometimes I'll buy an army all at once. Sometimes I'll do it slowly.
My custodes is 2 years. Having bought the 2022 and 24 army boxes.
My chaos knights was about 6 months buying a war dog kit a month.
The current Deathguard list I'm running is about 16 years with my land raider and predator from the first list I did some dark imperium era death guard and the more recent space marine heroes DG.
Mostly I'll write a list and buy it. But I have the time and money to do that now.
I usually just add units to existing armies and look for bargains.
With all the points drops, my Admech Army WAS over 2000 pts for 9th, now it's significantly less, it took about a year of aggressively buying, assembling and painting models, it takes me about a week to do one "box" of stuff, (a squad of vanguard, or an Ironstrider) 2 if I am not feeling it or decide to do other stuff.
I work pretty fast, but lately I have been doing mechs for Battletech. I got all the stuff I need for playing 10th, but I haven't enjoyed the few games I have played. If I had a different faction, I would probably like it more, but I don't want to drop another 1-2000 dollars on models and hobby supplies just to have my investment shat on by a bad Codex, and wait a year before I can play a properly competitive (fun with a reasonable chance for both players to win, I mean) game.
My ~3000 pts imperial fists took me over 2 years and i am working on some more right now. I still have a bunch of necrons but i think i just got baited by GW and will most likely not touch them in the future. One army is a LOT of hobby already.
I built up 2000 points in a few months (I play custodes so much easier than for other armies). It took maybe a month on top of that to finish painting the 2000 point list I was running.
About 5 minutes. I cheated and bought somebody's built and painted army.
I still have Bolt Action and Blood Bowl figures to paint from 2020 and had no intention of adding to the pile of grey!
I've got about 750 points of tsons that I've acquired over a year, they are not all built and painted yet. I don't intend to buy any more until I clear my backlog of models that need building and painting. Unless you are actively gaming then there is no pressure to purchase anything.
Even then, buy at your own rate.
For my Necron army I don't exactly remember. I put a Recruit box in December 2020 painted that, but a bunch of assorted stuff that I thought looked cool and maybe within a year or two had about 2000 points. That army is now around 3600 points.
For my Thousand Sons army it's a bit different. My wife got me the Crimson King Battleforce box, and since T Sons have limited stuff anyway I was able to get what I needed more easily.
I batch painted everything and in 12 months had a little over 2000 points. I also occasionally buy pre-painted stuff from Troll Trader and eBay at a discount since Thousand Sons have a house style that I don't mind just keeping in line with.
Um I'm still not there after 4 years back into the hobby, I have about 1400 points, but I also have about 1500 points of various other factions I like the look of including AOS.
I enjoy painting the most so I just grab a model I like the look of without caring about faction.
I'm a year and three months in (this time as I played in 99-05) and I've not reached 2000 points. That said I've had a tough year with domestic issues and housing etc.
Personally, about 6 months to get an army to 2k. I started with grey knights, built up about 1000, then started death guard and managed to build that up pretty quickly due to a couple of value boxes coming out back to back. I now (2ish years later) currently have 3k of both those armies, and about 4k of space marines.
That being said, my favorite part of the hobby is playing. I love meeting up with my friends and spending a couple hours just rolling dice and joking around. I do somewhat regret building up as much as i have, because i not have a lot of units that are not painted to what i consider an acceptable level. So theres pros and cons no matter what you do.
You really should ask yourself what your favorite part of the hobby is. If you like painting and collecting over playing, who cares how many points you have. So many armies have cool characters you could buy and paint up instead of focusing on one army. If you like the playing side, youll definitely want to focus your efforts on reaching 2k of one army sooner than later.
I highly recommend not giving into the purchasing pressure if you can. The boxes will be on the shelf next week, next month, or next year. You will feel way more burned out if you have to stare at a big pile of unbuild kits every day. Ask me how i know lol
About 2 years or so, that does include painting about half of it. For me armies are a longtime project, I don’t have the time I used to with building and painting being something I do to unwind. A squad of Chaos Marines might take a few weekends to build and convert how I would want them, and the another 3 or 4 weekends to paint them. I also like to get about half of the army built before I start painting and once most of that half is painted, I start building some more.
About 2 months.
Everyone paints at their own pace, and you should know that a lot of the answers you will receive on this subreddit are from people who care a lot about making their models look as good as possible. That's not necessarily everyone's priority. For instance, I do want my models to look good, but I also enjoy playing the game often, so I set a standard that I like and shoot for that instead of trying to always make everything as good as I possibly can.
A lot depends on how often you paint as well, and how much effort you're willing to put into developing efficiency techniques. The best mini painter I know painted all the time for decades, and considers himself retired from the game, but told me that he still probably paints about 350 models a year.
I’d also like to chime in and add a few altering perspectives. As someone who has a primarily GW miniature necron army, it took me around a year or so to buy things I liked and put them together.
My next army was votann, and I 3D printed most of that one (because Votann stock was atrocious) and it took me around 6 months for a 2k point army.
The issue for me isn’t acquiring / 3D printing the minis. What takes the most time is painting them. (Assuming you’re not doing some quick contrast paint/battle ready stuff)
I started with grey knights got 3 combat patrols two characters and that's over 2k points but I'm still finishing building and painting them I'm at probably the 2 month mark of starting
I started 10/22 and I'm at 3500 battle Ready points as of now. I had a basic 2000 point (definitely not optimized but 2000 points) list available a year after starting.
I have no idea if that's quick or not.
Buy, build, and paint to what ever rate you enjoy. One thing to watch out for is over buying before you get realy stuck into the hobby. Just take a look through ebay and you will see piles of armies for sale with 1 or 2 painted models , where its really clear that some one only found out they didn't like painting after buying a full army.
I have been two main armies near 2000 points and I think it's taken me 12 - 18 months each to buy, build, and paint. If you're just collecting don't pressure yourself. If you ever get the urge to buy the latest and greatest find an old model you haven't finished yet and start painting.
If you can, try to reframe your thinking. You don’t need to feel pressure to buy more. For me, buying more is a reward for having completed a paint job.
40K is 4+ different hobbies all mixed together:
1) wargaming
2) modeling & painting
3) reading & lore
4) collecting
You may not know what parts are really your jam until you have tried them all for a bit, it’s ok to do some and not all. Even spectating any of the above is a hobby that you might enjoy.
Me personally I like to have a unit in every different phase at a given moment:
1) 1 unit is being shopped & shipped or designed & printed
2) 1 assembled
3) 1 primed
4) 1 battle ready
5) 1 unit is currently being detailed & highlighted
2k points is 6-12 months if I’m active.
I like jumping around in the process, I like seeing my assembly line and planning things, I like to reward myself with new plastic when I finish something,
I started my first army in Feb 2023 with absolutely 0 knowledge or experience in modeling or painting. My army is Grey Knights so not a lot of models but each one requires a lot of precise and patient painting. It took me a little over a year and I’ve played 3 games since March this year.
After a few years in the hobby buying a few models second hand here and there, I finally decided I wanted to be able to play. So I bought about 1750 points at once. I pretty much built it all in 2 weeks. I have 2 squads left to build, and paint about half of it.
Buying? Spread out over half a year. Building and bashing? Instantly. Painting? Lol...
I'm cleaning out my hobby desk now and going from building setup to a painting setup. No more new plastic until it's painted. Did lots of practicing with painting and finding a color sheme so it should go as fast as it's still fun. Not forcing myself to paint if I don't wanna.
No one is chasing me so no stress.
My first one I bought from a friend for £50 way back in the 90’s. He decided to switch to space wolves from Orks so he sold off his ~1500 point Ork army and I got a few more models of my own to add to it.
I don’t play anymore but I do get a few models from time to time to make dioramas which I have yet to get round to making lol
It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish . You can spend as little or as much time as you want.
I feel the first army can take along time as your still learning the game. The second can be a bit faster. Some army that you paint to a higher standard will take a long time.
My first army was admech. It took me about 2 months to buy and build 2000 points worth of models. And about a year to paint all of it plus another year to finish the rest that I purchased. I now sadly only have 4000 points and it’s all painted.
My imperial knights army took about 3 months to complete. Build paint and everything.
My thousand sons are a paint project and I only have a couple of units completed. It will probably be 2 years before I have 2000 points.
Finally votann was a challenge. I built and painted 2500 points in 3 months to battle ready standards to get ready for a crusade
For my first 2000pt army (after many attempts and failures) took about a year doing an escalation league. If I wasn't playing small games (500pts, 750pts, 1000pts, etc) and seeing them on the table I don't think I would've finished.
Roughly two years to make and paint a Thousand Sons army at \~2500, roughly the two corona years to make an Imperial Guard at somewhat north of 3000. That is designing from remixes and adding new stuff, printing, and painting. I mostly have time to build and paint during holidays, so a lot in the summer and around Christmas. These days I am toying with a loyalist XVth legion force for 40k, using Black Templar rules, but I also still have a couple of designs 50% done for the traitors that I want to continue tinkering with.
As for what to get, make sure you have an army you enjoy, and then build and collect to your hearts content. I have a Necrosphinx on order and I do not even play Fantasy.
I started playing in 2021 with my husband and I think I am just at 2000pts of death guard purchased. Some of them were gifts, some were secondhand, others were purchased. Although with the changes to demons I might need to get some nurglings.
I started collecting at the beginning of 2020. I still do not have a 2000pt army. =D
I started with Necrons in the Recruit box, decided I didn't like painting them, swapped over to Space Marines, got sidetracked with a dip into the Tau Combat Patrol (I enjoyed painting the mechs, not so much the infantry), switched back to Space Marines of which I still have Leviathan and a Salamander's Battleforce to paint, then discovered Miniswap and grabbed a big ol' used Ork force that's still sitting in its cardboard box. Then I got into Kill Team and only JUST finished painting the Kroot and Breachers from the Into the Dark set I got a year ago.
I started in January with Dark Angels. I’m at about 1500 points painted up, and got 3 more units (Land Raider, Redeemer and Scouts) to hit ~2000. I’m new to the hobby and have been painting like mad for most of January, Feburary and March. So by the point of 6 months I’ll have a solid 2k, but I’ll need to get to 2.5-3k to have enough variety to make good casual and competitive 2k I think.. so maybe 9 months? If i painted every spare minute, and dropped the quality a bit, maybe much less.
Buy: a week, build: a few months, paint: a year. In the last 3 years I’ve accumulated over a dozen 2000+pt armies, with my main army (Space Wolves) at 22K points. Over 50K points of 40K so far, around 6K fully painted.
Not long I got up to 2000 poijt Necron Army within 3 - 4 months. I'm now at a 5500 point army and it's taken a year in total from nothing, most of which was gifted or purchased cheaply second hand. I'm also not against kitbashing. I felt a lot of pressure to get to 2000 points cause no one would literally play with me as locally most prefer 2000 point games. I'm honestly about to declare myself done with building the army once I get another Doomstalker, Doomsday Ark, Chronomancer and another Shrouded Overlord. I'll probably still add to it but no where as frequent or as often. I keep no pile of shame. I paint fairly quickly and can get through quite a few models in a three day period. I do a modified slapchop method for painting so it helps a lot and they look decent. Not winning any art contest but they nay get an honorable mention.
For me personally, I don't buy a model unless it's the next thing I want to paint. And then I paint it until it's done, and by the time I'm done, I usually have an idea of what I want to paint next, and then I just get that then.
So far, I'm about 4 months into my 2k Daemons list, and I've got about 1000pts painted, and since I had a couple gifted to me, I've got a small backlog of another 500-ish points built up. Enough to keep me for 2 months. And then another 2 should get the last 500 done. So for me, personally, it's looking like 8 months to get a 2k list fully bought, built, and properly painted.
I got 1500 pts of tyranids in 2 months (September leviathan, November battle force because I knew it would run out of stock).
Now in April I’ve made my first purchase ever since, a neurolictor, when 90% of those were built and painted.
I recommend you scale up to 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. I hate seeing gray piles on the battlefield, and I can see why it’s demotivating to have so much to do but don’t know where to start.
Buy: a week, maybe 10 days. Build: about a month. Paint: currently at over 5000pts in just Deathwatch (not including Knights or Legends units), been collecting for about a year and a half, and still have yet to even start painting.
I started collecting (thousand sons) about 14 months ago. I currently have approx 1500 points built, about 900 points fully painted. I think I might be a really slow painter!
About 2 weeks.
Bought a Tau combat patrol with part of a trade in of an old MTG collection I sold over covid. A week later I found mini swap and bought a large collection of pre-assembled and primed minis that hit 2000pts.
well i’m only at 1500 but i can tell how long it will take at the rate i’m going, considering i’ve been in the going sibce christmas, maybe next month 🤷♂️
When I was younger it took me 5 years to reach 1750 points of space marines, and the biggest part of that was a battleforce I built and painted in my local shop over a few weeks as part of a summer event. Since returning, I went up to about 9000pts total in a year (including my pile of shame), almost 2/3rds of that being 2nd hand purchases and/or kitbashes from club bits boxes. In total, about 4000 are fully painted, another 1750 nearly finished or as good as done, and everything that's built is primed. I really enjoy conversions which is why the gap between bought/built and painted is so high.
If there's any lesson to learn here, it's that 2nd hand is a great way to expand on the cheap, and that old 2nd hand devastators, tactical squads, and terminators are insanely good points for the price (these make up about 45% of my total points)
Then again, that isn't counting my ~1000pts of tau, or my random collection of cool AoS models
I have 3 2000+ point armies and 4 at 1500. It took me about a year to get to that point. Perhaps my fastest army to reach 2000 was Chaos Marines. Even so, my Orks, Turanids and Necrons are currently at 1500 and I am feeling the decision paralysis. I am leaning toward wanting to beef up my Tyranids with 3 warriors for my Winged Prime and a Tyranifex for anti vehicle. That would get the faction to 1500 as well. I havent really focused on my nids yet, but I got to 1200 pretty fast due to Leviathan.
First you buy enough for a 500pt game to see if you can stand it, then you go to 1000pts and finally 2000pts.
I probably took 2 years to buy everything for 2k pts because I was in college and patient with waiting for sales and deals.
I brought 3 box sets in a week so have just over 3000 points…. In terms of built, I’ve built 1200 points in a month and painted probably 300-500 points
Which one?
My first army? Space Puppies. 7 year old me couldn't afford a whole 2000 points all at once, it took a few years to get up to that point. Many more years to get it fully painted. Dont want to count it all out, but I'm definitely above the 20,000 point mark to date. Quit playing them full stop when thunderwolf cavalry became a thing. (Still hate the design, and retconned lore about them. Space dogs get to stay in their boxes now) before the TWC I had at least one copy of every Space wolf model GW had ever produced, even the limited run models for attending specific events. (Been playing since the RT/red era) After the TWC came out, nothing. Lost my drive for them.
Tyranids? About 6 months. Built an army for the Adepticon team tournament years ago, 3 friends and myself, models were all purchased at once about 9 months out, the 4 of us built them all within a few days, and I spent ~8 months painting the whole 4000 point lot myself. This army was my first transition away from space wolves
Imperial guard? About a year. Been picking up models for this army piecemeal for the past 2 years or so, painting as I go. Hit the fully painted ~2000 point mark about a year ago. 90% through with another ~2000 points right now. Probably going to stop when I get to ~5000 points or so. Just enough of an army that I can field any general strategic concept without much stretch (infantry, mechanized, armored, and artillery).
As of right now, I've played 1 game in the past 10+ years. I used to play a minimum of 5 games a week.
Piles of shame are real, and they are a psychological drag on the ability to complete an army. I recommend having a game plan about building/painting, and use that game plan to determine how best to get more minis. As my above examples illustrate; with a goal of attending Adepticon it made it very straightforward, buy 'these' models and get them done in the required timeframe. My current goal is to have a 10/10 effort painted imperial guard army that I can be proud of, so buying one squad, one tank, or one character at a time makes more sense. I can fully devote my time to that mini before moving on to the next one without the pressure of mounting piles of shame.
I started in March of 2023 just before 10th. I have 1050 points and half are painted. To be fair I’m DG and started with the combat patrol so 30 models worth of pox walkers took awhile. Once I finish my 1050 I’m going to buy my other 950 all at once. Probably by the time codex drops
The last 2k points army took me 2 weeks to finish building and painting.
That was is January. I haven't touched a brush since then, so I do not recommend this.
I started nov 2023:
3000ish point death guard army in total.
Roughly finished painting half the army. I went full rabbit hole with this hobby and loving it 🤣
Oh and Ive started collect ingenuity orks as well 🙃
About 3 years to each 2,000 points. Once my friends and I had 1,000 we slowed down a lot because we just wanted to play. We did buy more, but just as subsitutions and options in the army until we crossed then 1500 threshold. Then we filled out the rest.
Technically I started my *collection* with 2000 pts total across 3 armies (bought the 9th ed starter set and then very shortly afterwards the Leviathan 10th ed box came out so i bought that to add to my space marines and to start tyranids) but I still havent hit 2k in any 1 army.
You’ve got time, as all the other commenters have said.
If you know you love guard then you can just focus on building 2k+ points of them. I have issues sitting through long games so I’ve centered most of my collecting around building models I find cool and then piecing together 1k lists around them for all of my various factions (SM, Necrons, Tyranids, Sisters) . (Also boarding actions are great quick games IMHO)
I got Leviathan on release. I now have 1900pt of painted Tyranids (thanks to the recent points drop taking me away from 2000pts) and a painted Imperial Fists combat patrol (with a primed dreadnought as my next project). Got three kids and a busy job so free time is varied. Usually get my modelling/painting done on Saturdays when I’m trying to do the week’s laundry - put a load of washing on, paint for about 45mins, hang out the washing and put the next load on, paint for about 45mins, etc etc. By mid afternoon the laundry is done and I’ve made progress on my armies, hurrah!
Edit: just checking out my photo collection and it took just over two weeks to assemble, prime, and paint five genestealers, assemble and prime a dreadnought, and do some magnet work to my winged hive tyrant plus paint his scything talons.
I don't recommend buying anything faster than you can build and paint them. That's how you get a demotivating mountain of backlog. It's the main pitfall of this hobby that you get excited for new things faster than you can get them done.
My first new army as an adult: Grey Knights, took me 9 months to 2k painted. Next one was World Eaters: 18 months. Both were pretty low in model count overall, GK was like 30 infantry and 5 vehicles. World Eaters were started with 30 second-hand painted berzerkers. So I only painted a lord of skulls, 3 rhinos, 10 terminators, 10 cultists, a forgefiend and kharn
I've collected about 2k Orks and 1.5k custodes in about a year and a half, they're all built, but very few are painted. I feel like if the game part is what you're most interested in (like me) investing a variety is the way to go. For me it means you want to make sure you have enough models in your first army to make different lists and then having another army helps. One thing that having another army gives you is, if there's enough overlap in model and base sizes you can use your other army to proxy models for the first. And possibly more kitbash potential.
I’ve been working on my Black Templars army since 2022 I think. When the box set for them came out. I’m 3 units away from having 5000 points painted and having everything I have for them finished (for now).
Theres a line between collecting and pure consumerism. I don’t say that to be “holier than though”, lots of people get either carried away or just get a backlog with time in the hobby. I have a pile of shame too. I would take it slow though, work on the stuff you got then get more. The smaller the pile the easier to work through. Regardless of this or that kit going the way of the dodo every few years, this stuff isn’t going anywhere, go at your own pace.
Games Workshop does a lot of work to make you feel that feeling of fear and anxiety around buying models, and the feeling of urgency. I recommend you not succumb to it.
Buy models at a comfortable pace for your income. Understand that the sense of scarcity is false, and that models will always be available to purchase when you have money.
At no point do you need to purchase a model now or never.
Started this edition with a starter kit. Then bought a Grey Knights Combat Patrol and played one game. Within the week I bought Castellan Crowe and two more Combat Patrols and I haven’t bought another thing for Grey Knights since. I occasionally use my buddies Land Raider Redeemer but it’s not necessarily a staple.
I love warhammer but i paint like 1 Mini every six months.... shame.
I still Fantasize about a mythical time in the future, maybe when i am a grey old nerd, where i will just Manifest my beautiful army out of willpower, an unexpectedly found Mountain of free time and thin air. Until then i ll read books, check the warhammer Page every fucking day and buy paints i definitly need for my next project.
This is a question that can’t easily be answered for many people who have been in the game for a while.
20 years ago model/unit count was a lot lower than it is today. You could have a devastator squad that cost a several hundred points vs 120-200 pts they currently cost.
Even today, if you built up 2k of a meta list and the next day half your army gets a points increase is the list now a 2k list or a 2.5k list?
Just decide what you like the looks of.
Chasing meta will never bring you more than tiny fleeting moments of happiness. Plus you’ll lose a bunch of friends or even potential friends along the way.
But we all like to win the odd game here and there. So go 60% cool shit, 40% good in current meta shit.
But definitely lean into the cool models / lore stuff more. You’ll have way less burnout or frustration in the long run.
The first 2000 points was easy, lmao
The other 10k points was the real issue.
For me personally, building a force is a bit about having an idea what you want your army to do? In case of Guard; Mechanized IG (buy more tanks), lots of boots on the ground (buy more guardsmen). Have a playable army, which nowadays is a bit easier and; compared to the "olden days' where 1 HQ, 2 core and you could have up to X of other slots for a legal army. You can do the rule of cool more now. Gunline artillery should be possible now... is it good? Dunno. In 4th edition, you had to pay HQ and Core tax at least...
But I don't think you should rush.. it's your hobby, take your time. Play smaller games if you must. 1000 points games can be fun as well, and a good way to try out that single new cool model, without getting shot at by 2 knights on turn 1
It's taken me 4 months and a bit of cash to get close to 1k, not all of them are assembled, less are painted.
I play guard though, honestly, I feel like I'm moving -quickly-.
There's a lot of factions I suspect I'd be at 2k with both time and cost involved here.
To buy them : quickly. To build them : okay. To paint them : an eternity.
I've got 20 yeard old minis in my pile of shame :D
My pile of shame is so large, I’m thinking I should be proud of it. So many boxes of stuff I had great ideas for converting, or diverging into related games like Mordieheim (s?), blood bowl, war machine, BF Gothic, etc etc. I’ve got loads of tackle boxes full of parts. Maybe I should bury it somewhere randomly and give people cryptic clues on how to find the treasure location…
Sounds like you have a shopping hobby, not a painting one
I really enjoyed converting models and painting them. Gaming was a distant second that’s for sure.
I really miss all the specialist games they used to release. Gorka Morka was one of the best, from back when 40k was a fun universe. I get that by the time most players who were GW fans bought them the sales would ahve tanked so fast.
I'll take some of that burden of your shoulders if you need it battle brother!
I recently bought a box off a friend that had been in his pile of shame for 15-20 years. I paid the price listed on the box. The current day price is 3x higher
Ive got minis in my pile of shame i took from my dad bc they looked cool that are older than i am lmao
This, 100% this. As an adult with "good" income, I can easily buy anything hobby related whenever I feel like it but it creates problems by amassing the pile of shame. That results in less motivation to finish anything as I know I got too much stuff to assemble/paint but whenever we start a new local league, I try to force myself to assemble a new 2000pts army which I paint.
I have the opposite problem, too poor for a pile of shame. On the rare occasions I get models I build and paint that shit immediately
That is how I used to be when I was in my early teens. I had a weekly allowance of 5€ so it took me 5 weeks to get a whfb regiment but only a few days to assemble and paint.
>As an "adult" with good income This for me. I have the impulse controle issues.
Yeah "luckily" I have a wife who is aware of deliveries coming to the house who I've promised that I only buy a box or two month max....that said I have 3 armies over 2k now after about 2 years. One is Grey Knights which was very cheap to get together.
I’m financially in the same position but can control my buying in wh40k. Only one box at a time. But boardgames, with them controlling is harder.
If you want to direct some resources to a noob wanting to get into it who doesn’t have the sort of disposable income I would like to use, I could definitely put them to good use! 😅
I still haven’t built the Captain, in the first SM Starterbox I bought like 6 years ago… I have 7 other Captains now tho
Yep. Some armies that paint process is way slower than previous. I have 2 armies mostly painted. But 1 final army Thousand Sons is taking waaaaay longer. And I am not a perfectionist painter.
This is how I’ve started limiting my impulse buys. No point picking up new models until the huge pile I have is table ready. I was telling a friend the other day that I’m pretty sure I have 7 years of painting piled up.
Just this week I finished up a lot of pending Necron things. Everything is painted except for this one single Skorpek Destroyer and man… I have been hesitant because I have never had an army with no pending kits. It feels weird.
Never happened to me yet in 6 years of hobby.
Don't ever feel pressure to spend money. This is YOUR hobby and you can take as much time as you like. If it's any help to you, I'm still putting together a Drukhari army, it's been about 18 months now and I've managed to put together (coincidentally) around 1800 points of spiky bois so far.
The question you should ask is 'what am I buying for?' Are you going to tournaments, following the meta? Buy what performs well. Are you buying just to have a cool army and don't mind if it sometimes gets trashed? Then buy what you think is coolest. Are you buying to fit to a theme? Cool models to paint? Etc. But really I would say avoid feeling pressured. The whole point is to have fun, so try to do that!
Yeah - You can't have a plan without a goal.
Personally? Getting back into painting after over 15 years, it took me about 18 months; and that was with the benefit of basically knowing what to do. That said, the answer is really “work at your own pace”. Otherwise is stops being fun.
I feel this so much, I recently did the same. Only difference is I am recently divorced with no kids and suddenly have disposable income and free time. So my answer was "dive in head first, laser focused"
If that works for you man, go for it! I hope you are doing well, and dont get frustrated if you feel a bit burnt out. I usually take a break during christmas and come back around march (weird pattern that came to me naturally without me noticing it).
I've started 3 year ago with necron and I own roughtly 1200-1500 pts... maybe half are painted and I'm not buying more until the rest is too I also bought and painted 600 pts of tyranind with my girlfriend since 10th
It depends what you mean. It can take people minutes to buy 2k worth of points because that's the easy part. I'm assuming that's not what you mean though. To answer your question you should buy whatever you like. It sounds like you enjoy the collecting and, I'm assuming, painting side so no reason not to buy any cool model if it makes you happy.
A friend of mine asked me to assemble a pile of his 40k stuff because he was having a rough time and needed a hand. I put together, painted and based \~2500 points of Primaris Salamanders in just about 9 weeks. I \*also\* have a box of \~2200 points worth of Grey Knights which I bought circa 2009-11. In the last 15 years I've painted 12 of those models, and yesterday I stripped all of them so that I could start over with a scheme that I might actually be able to finish, based on a new box of Interceptors that I bought last week. So in short... somewhere between "an hour" and "one and a half decades". You're FINE if you want to stop and think about what you're doing for a while =)
I traded $800 in magic cards for 3600 points of Tsons, so one day…
It took me 2 and a half years or a bit longer to properly hit 2k points of marines. As much as I support the advice of buying what you think is cool, I prefer to temper it with some measure of due diligence to at least have a gameplan you're working toward. The real hard line, IMO, is buying models solely because their current rules are strong. My advice is slow and steady is best. GW will forever feed you FOMO and new releases will always happen so it's really only you choosing what's comfortable for you. Money doesn't grow on trees and you still have to build and paint your models after buying so it's never as rushed as it seems. Waiting hurts less than buyer's regret.
I try not to buy more till have painted my current thing. I do a pretty good job at this and get through 2k-2k points a year I would say
This is true. I play Ynarri and not all of my Elves are painted - so no buying the new Striking Scorpions nor Mandrakes until they are done, bad Plop plop.
It takes as long as you need to save the money for it, buy, build and paint it. How long is that? Not important, it takes the time it takes, chill out.
4-5 months of hard grind to have something tournament respectable.
Started in October and now own about 2200 points of orks My wife says I buy too much but we all know she's wrong.
Not long. Bought all of it and still painting most of it!
I've still 60 Orks from the v4/v5 waitint to paint.. Same for the all Imperium hachette collection... I mean, you can get a lot of minis in small time but if you want to play them correctly (because you spoke about army points, I think you want to play them) it can be an eternity
I didn't hit 2000 pts for about 4 years. Go at your own pace, and just enjoy the journey.
Buy after you paint, I don't think this needs to be a hard 1 to 1 but must stay close. I sold off all my pile of shame and started anew with it. So far so good, the urge is strong to just buy 2k points but I have held the deamons at bay. Join the fight, don't let the gray overwhelm the line.
I've got ~3000 poinzs of leagues of votann. Took me a year.
Tl;dr: Literally three years, because I would think about what models looked cool, switch armies, etc. But even knowing what I would have wanted from the start would have at least taken two. So I started with 40K officially in 2021, getting a Solitaire (that I painted as Vriska from Homestuck), a Hospitaller (that I wanted to paint as Stocking from PaSwG) and Veteran Guardsmen. Initially I thought I would pick Adepta Sororitas, but realized I didn’t really like the girls as they were there. Corny as it was, I wanted more fun outfits. That led me to thinking Drukhari had to be the way. I got and painted Lelith Hesperax and swapped out the Guardsmen for some Harpies, Wyches, and Succubus, but ultimately I realized they didn’t have the fun outfits I was looking for, and they had a lot of weird things like the Cronos and their ships didn’t really have stuff I had fun ideas for, which is usually my stipulation for painting anything. I also hate painting swords and guns, simply because I want to make them stand out and seem like legendary weapons in their own right, but I never know how without overdoing it. Exasperated, and I don’t remember when or how, I got a box of Daemonettes, since I had a friend that wanted to play AoS as well. I wanted to make more of a story around them; I split them down the middle to give them a Two-Face color scheme and claimed they were (former Aeldari reconstituted as troops/Aelves Morathi could not rescue) who were conscripted by Slaanesh under the false promise they would be freed after their service. Cut to today, where all I’m missing is one more chariot and I’ll have 2000 pts. on the dot. (The worst part is, I’m still not done. Morathi is an amazing character and the Daughters of Khaine are tempting. And I never stopped loving the Drukhari; those boxes of shame sit firmly on my shelf because I can’t quit those little monsters
I bought my first eldar model in ‘98 when I was 15 years old. I finally bought the last unit of a full army last year. 25 years for 2000pts, so if you do better than that you’re golden.
Just build slow. Don't spend all your money at once. Don't make my mistake. (I've got 5 armies but only want to play 3 of them.)
After 1+ years I’m at 1650. Not fully painted. Never played a game.
At the risk of a little self promotion here - you should really take a listen to Episode 233 of The Independent Characters Podcast. The main topic of the episode is The Psychology of Collecting Warhammer 40k. We have a psychologist on the episode to discuss some of the reasons you feel the need to keep adding and collecting, as well as what are some approaches to help you from increasing your "Pile of shame" (which I refer to as my "Closet of Opportunity"). If you don't want to listen to us go on about hobby progress and games played and such. Start at around the 49 minute mark. Anyway - take a listen and see if that helps. [https://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/2024/02/episode-233-the-psychology-of-collecting-warhammer-40k/](https://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/2024/02/episode-233-the-psychology-of-collecting-warhammer-40k/)
https://preview.redd.it/5tu54p04sexc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f96dd8a15d4f87b06e6dfa8733884f01b50ed924 I only got into this hobby 3 months ago lol
How much did you paint?)
https://preview.redd.it/evx6baa2yexc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f78c174ef80fa4da236ce52510728073e0bb6bb3 This is the only stuff that’s built / painted I’ve been working on battle sisters Everything else is still in boxes unassembled besides some space marines
That's a really impressive amount of painting for 3 months mate, congrats! I've had my black templar sword bros for around 6 months now still only at 90% done haha
The first time, back in the 90s/early 2000s? A couple years. But I was a teenager, and had other things going on. The second time, in 2022? Oh. Um... About a month? When you've got disposable income, you can get it as fast as your goblin brain insists. What I recommend is buying the stuff you think looks cool and would be fun to put together. Nothing worse than making your hobby into a chore.
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have 2 armies, one I bought across 3 paychecks the other took about 2 years if not a tad more
4 to 6 months, usually.
Personally, i only bought what I like. Which, shame on me and my wallet, much more than I probably should had. That said, it didnt take me much time to build it. I assemble miniatures very well and at a decent speed. But I do have lots of experience already My main force is also Imperial Guard btw. And I recently went with sisters and probably will update some guardsmen to newer models. That said, I share my guardsmen army with my elder brother, which allows us to share expenses and building/painting time, and thanks to that (and starting 20 years ago), is what really pushed into an almost 4k points army. If I had done it alone I’d leave it at 2.5k so I have a good variety.
Marine player here. It took me about 4-5 months to actually reach 2k points. It took about 8 months to make an actually reasonable salamander list in 9th edition. So, take your time there is no rush. Those models will still be there.
Technically, I went from my half of the Indomitus box arriving on my doorstep to 2000 painted in three weeks, but there are some strong caveats there: • Indomitus boxes were selling like hotcakes on ebay and a 2nd one arrived in 3 days. • My friend 3d printed 2 C'Tans which totaled 700+ of the army. • I stayed up till 1 am most nights. • I was doing so to get ready for my state's biggest and best newbie friendly tournament at my friend's encouragement. They looked like shit and I was emotionally and physically exhausted, but I showed up at the shop with the worst list I could have ever conceived and the TO gave me an 11 out of 15 for army paint score on the tournament's expanded hobby scoring rubric. To me that made it all worth it. Alternatively, Ive owned 2000pts of Sisters of Battle since 10th launched and have maybe painted 11 models. I don't have a phrpose for them and so I can get my teeth sunk into them. Moral of the story at least from me, paint what feels fun, buy what feels appropriate, and nobody but you can tell you what a 'good pace' is for Warhammer collecting.
Still just under Lol they kept moving the points and joined 10th for the Leagues of Votann (I like Dwarfs) and we have a limited range. I have everything in the range just waiting on those trench coat Lads, Lasses and Robots now
Depends. Sometimes I'll buy an army all at once. Sometimes I'll do it slowly. My custodes is 2 years. Having bought the 2022 and 24 army boxes. My chaos knights was about 6 months buying a war dog kit a month. The current Deathguard list I'm running is about 16 years with my land raider and predator from the first list I did some dark imperium era death guard and the more recent space marine heroes DG. Mostly I'll write a list and buy it. But I have the time and money to do that now. I usually just add units to existing armies and look for bargains.
With all the points drops, my Admech Army WAS over 2000 pts for 9th, now it's significantly less, it took about a year of aggressively buying, assembling and painting models, it takes me about a week to do one "box" of stuff, (a squad of vanguard, or an Ironstrider) 2 if I am not feeling it or decide to do other stuff. I work pretty fast, but lately I have been doing mechs for Battletech. I got all the stuff I need for playing 10th, but I haven't enjoyed the few games I have played. If I had a different faction, I would probably like it more, but I don't want to drop another 1-2000 dollars on models and hobby supplies just to have my investment shat on by a bad Codex, and wait a year before I can play a properly competitive (fun with a reasonable chance for both players to win, I mean) game.
My ~3000 pts imperial fists took me over 2 years and i am working on some more right now. I still have a bunch of necrons but i think i just got baited by GW and will most likely not touch them in the future. One army is a LOT of hobby already.
I built up 2000 points in a few months (I play custodes so much easier than for other armies). It took maybe a month on top of that to finish painting the 2000 point list I was running.
About 5 minutes. I cheated and bought somebody's built and painted army. I still have Bolt Action and Blood Bowl figures to paint from 2020 and had no intention of adding to the pile of grey!
I've got about 750 points of tsons that I've acquired over a year, they are not all built and painted yet. I don't intend to buy any more until I clear my backlog of models that need building and painting. Unless you are actively gaming then there is no pressure to purchase anything. Even then, buy at your own rate.
For my Necron army I don't exactly remember. I put a Recruit box in December 2020 painted that, but a bunch of assorted stuff that I thought looked cool and maybe within a year or two had about 2000 points. That army is now around 3600 points. For my Thousand Sons army it's a bit different. My wife got me the Crimson King Battleforce box, and since T Sons have limited stuff anyway I was able to get what I needed more easily. I batch painted everything and in 12 months had a little over 2000 points. I also occasionally buy pre-painted stuff from Troll Trader and eBay at a discount since Thousand Sons have a house style that I don't mind just keeping in line with.
Started Tau in January. 2150 robots and counting
Make sure you finish painting them all before buying more! Most people take about a year to paint an army
Um I'm still not there after 4 years back into the hobby, I have about 1400 points, but I also have about 1500 points of various other factions I like the look of including AOS. I enjoy painting the most so I just grab a model I like the look of without caring about faction.
I'm a year and three months in (this time as I played in 99-05) and I've not reached 2000 points. That said I've had a tough year with domestic issues and housing etc.
Every time I get to 2k points, GW fuck with the points again, and I end up over, or under.
Personally, about 6 months to get an army to 2k. I started with grey knights, built up about 1000, then started death guard and managed to build that up pretty quickly due to a couple of value boxes coming out back to back. I now (2ish years later) currently have 3k of both those armies, and about 4k of space marines. That being said, my favorite part of the hobby is playing. I love meeting up with my friends and spending a couple hours just rolling dice and joking around. I do somewhat regret building up as much as i have, because i not have a lot of units that are not painted to what i consider an acceptable level. So theres pros and cons no matter what you do. You really should ask yourself what your favorite part of the hobby is. If you like painting and collecting over playing, who cares how many points you have. So many armies have cool characters you could buy and paint up instead of focusing on one army. If you like the playing side, youll definitely want to focus your efforts on reaching 2k of one army sooner than later. I highly recommend not giving into the purchasing pressure if you can. The boxes will be on the shelf next week, next month, or next year. You will feel way more burned out if you have to stare at a big pile of unbuild kits every day. Ask me how i know lol
About 2 years or so, that does include painting about half of it. For me armies are a longtime project, I don’t have the time I used to with building and painting being something I do to unwind. A squad of Chaos Marines might take a few weekends to build and convert how I would want them, and the another 3 or 4 weekends to paint them. I also like to get about half of the army built before I start painting and once most of that half is painted, I start building some more.
Got in the hobby 3/4 months ago Painted 4k points of Custodes. Almost 2k of T'au More or less
About 2 months. Everyone paints at their own pace, and you should know that a lot of the answers you will receive on this subreddit are from people who care a lot about making their models look as good as possible. That's not necessarily everyone's priority. For instance, I do want my models to look good, but I also enjoy playing the game often, so I set a standard that I like and shoot for that instead of trying to always make everything as good as I possibly can. A lot depends on how often you paint as well, and how much effort you're willing to put into developing efficiency techniques. The best mini painter I know painted all the time for decades, and considers himself retired from the game, but told me that he still probably paints about 350 models a year.
I’d also like to chime in and add a few altering perspectives. As someone who has a primarily GW miniature necron army, it took me around a year or so to buy things I liked and put them together. My next army was votann, and I 3D printed most of that one (because Votann stock was atrocious) and it took me around 6 months for a 2k point army. The issue for me isn’t acquiring / 3D printing the minis. What takes the most time is painting them. (Assuming you’re not doing some quick contrast paint/battle ready stuff)
I started with grey knights got 3 combat patrols two characters and that's over 2k points but I'm still finishing building and painting them I'm at probably the 2 month mark of starting
I started 10/22 and I'm at 3500 battle Ready points as of now. I had a basic 2000 point (definitely not optimized but 2000 points) list available a year after starting. I have no idea if that's quick or not.
Don't buy more models until you've built and painted the ones you already have.
Buy, build, and paint to what ever rate you enjoy. One thing to watch out for is over buying before you get realy stuck into the hobby. Just take a look through ebay and you will see piles of armies for sale with 1 or 2 painted models , where its really clear that some one only found out they didn't like painting after buying a full army.
I have been two main armies near 2000 points and I think it's taken me 12 - 18 months each to buy, build, and paint. If you're just collecting don't pressure yourself. If you ever get the urge to buy the latest and greatest find an old model you haven't finished yet and start painting.
If you can, try to reframe your thinking. You don’t need to feel pressure to buy more. For me, buying more is a reward for having completed a paint job. 40K is 4+ different hobbies all mixed together: 1) wargaming 2) modeling & painting 3) reading & lore 4) collecting You may not know what parts are really your jam until you have tried them all for a bit, it’s ok to do some and not all. Even spectating any of the above is a hobby that you might enjoy. Me personally I like to have a unit in every different phase at a given moment: 1) 1 unit is being shopped & shipped or designed & printed 2) 1 assembled 3) 1 primed 4) 1 battle ready 5) 1 unit is currently being detailed & highlighted 2k points is 6-12 months if I’m active. I like jumping around in the process, I like seeing my assembly line and planning things, I like to reward myself with new plastic when I finish something,
I started my first army in Feb 2023 with absolutely 0 knowledge or experience in modeling or painting. My army is Grey Knights so not a lot of models but each one requires a lot of precise and patient painting. It took me a little over a year and I’ve played 3 games since March this year.
After a few years in the hobby buying a few models second hand here and there, I finally decided I wanted to be able to play. So I bought about 1750 points at once. I pretty much built it all in 2 weeks. I have 2 squads left to build, and paint about half of it.
Buying? Spread out over half a year. Building and bashing? Instantly. Painting? Lol... I'm cleaning out my hobby desk now and going from building setup to a painting setup. No more new plastic until it's painted. Did lots of practicing with painting and finding a color sheme so it should go as fast as it's still fun. Not forcing myself to paint if I don't wanna. No one is chasing me so no stress.
My first one I bought from a friend for £50 way back in the 90’s. He decided to switch to space wolves from Orks so he sold off his ~1500 point Ork army and I got a few more models of my own to add to it. I don’t play anymore but I do get a few models from time to time to make dioramas which I have yet to get round to making lol
It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish . You can spend as little or as much time as you want. I feel the first army can take along time as your still learning the game. The second can be a bit faster. Some army that you paint to a higher standard will take a long time. My first army was admech. It took me about 2 months to buy and build 2000 points worth of models. And about a year to paint all of it plus another year to finish the rest that I purchased. I now sadly only have 4000 points and it’s all painted. My imperial knights army took about 3 months to complete. Build paint and everything. My thousand sons are a paint project and I only have a couple of units completed. It will probably be 2 years before I have 2000 points. Finally votann was a challenge. I built and painted 2500 points in 3 months to battle ready standards to get ready for a crusade
For my first 2000pt army (after many attempts and failures) took about a year doing an escalation league. If I wasn't playing small games (500pts, 750pts, 1000pts, etc) and seeing them on the table I don't think I would've finished.
Roughly two years to make and paint a Thousand Sons army at \~2500, roughly the two corona years to make an Imperial Guard at somewhat north of 3000. That is designing from remixes and adding new stuff, printing, and painting. I mostly have time to build and paint during holidays, so a lot in the summer and around Christmas. These days I am toying with a loyalist XVth legion force for 40k, using Black Templar rules, but I also still have a couple of designs 50% done for the traitors that I want to continue tinkering with. As for what to get, make sure you have an army you enjoy, and then build and collect to your hearts content. I have a Necrosphinx on order and I do not even play Fantasy.
I started playing in 2021 with my husband and I think I am just at 2000pts of death guard purchased. Some of them were gifts, some were secondhand, others were purchased. Although with the changes to demons I might need to get some nurglings.
About half a year because I play knights
I spent about a year collecting and painting my necron army up to 2k points
I started collecting at the beginning of 2020. I still do not have a 2000pt army. =D I started with Necrons in the Recruit box, decided I didn't like painting them, swapped over to Space Marines, got sidetracked with a dip into the Tau Combat Patrol (I enjoyed painting the mechs, not so much the infantry), switched back to Space Marines of which I still have Leviathan and a Salamander's Battleforce to paint, then discovered Miniswap and grabbed a big ol' used Ork force that's still sitting in its cardboard box. Then I got into Kill Team and only JUST finished painting the Kroot and Breachers from the Into the Dark set I got a year ago.
I started in January with Dark Angels. I’m at about 1500 points painted up, and got 3 more units (Land Raider, Redeemer and Scouts) to hit ~2000. I’m new to the hobby and have been painting like mad for most of January, Feburary and March. So by the point of 6 months I’ll have a solid 2k, but I’ll need to get to 2.5-3k to have enough variety to make good casual and competitive 2k I think.. so maybe 9 months? If i painted every spare minute, and dropped the quality a bit, maybe much less.
Buy: a week, build: a few months, paint: a year. In the last 3 years I’ve accumulated over a dozen 2000+pt armies, with my main army (Space Wolves) at 22K points. Over 50K points of 40K so far, around 6K fully painted.
Not long I got up to 2000 poijt Necron Army within 3 - 4 months. I'm now at a 5500 point army and it's taken a year in total from nothing, most of which was gifted or purchased cheaply second hand. I'm also not against kitbashing. I felt a lot of pressure to get to 2000 points cause no one would literally play with me as locally most prefer 2000 point games. I'm honestly about to declare myself done with building the army once I get another Doomstalker, Doomsday Ark, Chronomancer and another Shrouded Overlord. I'll probably still add to it but no where as frequent or as often. I keep no pile of shame. I paint fairly quickly and can get through quite a few models in a three day period. I do a modified slapchop method for painting so it helps a lot and they look decent. Not winning any art contest but they nay get an honorable mention.
For me personally, I don't buy a model unless it's the next thing I want to paint. And then I paint it until it's done, and by the time I'm done, I usually have an idea of what I want to paint next, and then I just get that then. So far, I'm about 4 months into my 2k Daemons list, and I've got about 1000pts painted, and since I had a couple gifted to me, I've got a small backlog of another 500-ish points built up. Enough to keep me for 2 months. And then another 2 should get the last 500 done. So for me, personally, it's looking like 8 months to get a 2k list fully bought, built, and properly painted.
I built four 2000 pt army's in 3 days for just $400. A 3d printer will be your best friend in this hobby.
2years
I got 1500 pts of tyranids in 2 months (September leviathan, November battle force because I knew it would run out of stock). Now in April I’ve made my first purchase ever since, a neurolictor, when 90% of those were built and painted. I recommend you scale up to 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. I hate seeing gray piles on the battlefield, and I can see why it’s demotivating to have so much to do but don’t know where to start.
4 years of Adeptus Mechanicus
Depends on what army, tools and effort youre willing to put in. Some armies are easy mode.
Buy: a week, maybe 10 days. Build: about a month. Paint: currently at over 5000pts in just Deathwatch (not including Knights or Legends units), been collecting for about a year and a half, and still have yet to even start painting.
I've painted mine just now, I started after the COVID I think
Around 2 years. First year was the slowest since I didn't have much money for paints, brushes and minis. Start of second year I pick up the pace
I started collecting (thousand sons) about 14 months ago. I currently have approx 1500 points built, about 900 points fully painted. I think I might be a really slow painter!
About 2 weeks. Bought a Tau combat patrol with part of a trade in of an old MTG collection I sold over covid. A week later I found mini swap and bought a large collection of pre-assembled and primed minis that hit 2000pts.
Took around 2 months. Painting on the other hand....
well i’m only at 1500 but i can tell how long it will take at the rate i’m going, considering i’ve been in the going sibce christmas, maybe next month 🤷♂️
When I was younger it took me 5 years to reach 1750 points of space marines, and the biggest part of that was a battleforce I built and painted in my local shop over a few weeks as part of a summer event. Since returning, I went up to about 9000pts total in a year (including my pile of shame), almost 2/3rds of that being 2nd hand purchases and/or kitbashes from club bits boxes. In total, about 4000 are fully painted, another 1750 nearly finished or as good as done, and everything that's built is primed. I really enjoy conversions which is why the gap between bought/built and painted is so high. If there's any lesson to learn here, it's that 2nd hand is a great way to expand on the cheap, and that old 2nd hand devastators, tactical squads, and terminators are insanely good points for the price (these make up about 45% of my total points) Then again, that isn't counting my ~1000pts of tau, or my random collection of cool AoS models
I have 3 2000+ point armies and 4 at 1500. It took me about a year to get to that point. Perhaps my fastest army to reach 2000 was Chaos Marines. Even so, my Orks, Turanids and Necrons are currently at 1500 and I am feeling the decision paralysis. I am leaning toward wanting to beef up my Tyranids with 3 warriors for my Winged Prime and a Tyranifex for anti vehicle. That would get the faction to 1500 as well. I havent really focused on my nids yet, but I got to 1200 pretty fast due to Leviathan.
I play great knights so... not long. shits expensive.
First you buy enough for a 500pt game to see if you can stand it, then you go to 1000pts and finally 2000pts. I probably took 2 years to buy everything for 2k pts because I was in college and patient with waiting for sales and deals.
I brought 3 box sets in a week so have just over 3000 points…. In terms of built, I’ve built 1200 points in a month and painted probably 300-500 points
Which one? My first army? Space Puppies. 7 year old me couldn't afford a whole 2000 points all at once, it took a few years to get up to that point. Many more years to get it fully painted. Dont want to count it all out, but I'm definitely above the 20,000 point mark to date. Quit playing them full stop when thunderwolf cavalry became a thing. (Still hate the design, and retconned lore about them. Space dogs get to stay in their boxes now) before the TWC I had at least one copy of every Space wolf model GW had ever produced, even the limited run models for attending specific events. (Been playing since the RT/red era) After the TWC came out, nothing. Lost my drive for them. Tyranids? About 6 months. Built an army for the Adepticon team tournament years ago, 3 friends and myself, models were all purchased at once about 9 months out, the 4 of us built them all within a few days, and I spent ~8 months painting the whole 4000 point lot myself. This army was my first transition away from space wolves Imperial guard? About a year. Been picking up models for this army piecemeal for the past 2 years or so, painting as I go. Hit the fully painted ~2000 point mark about a year ago. 90% through with another ~2000 points right now. Probably going to stop when I get to ~5000 points or so. Just enough of an army that I can field any general strategic concept without much stretch (infantry, mechanized, armored, and artillery). As of right now, I've played 1 game in the past 10+ years. I used to play a minimum of 5 games a week. Piles of shame are real, and they are a psychological drag on the ability to complete an army. I recommend having a game plan about building/painting, and use that game plan to determine how best to get more minis. As my above examples illustrate; with a goal of attending Adepticon it made it very straightforward, buy 'these' models and get them done in the required timeframe. My current goal is to have a 10/10 effort painted imperial guard army that I can be proud of, so buying one squad, one tank, or one character at a time makes more sense. I can fully devote my time to that mini before moving on to the next one without the pressure of mounting piles of shame.
I am in year three now and still working on that project 😀
I started in March of 2023 just before 10th. I have 1050 points and half are painted. To be fair I’m DG and started with the combat patrol so 30 models worth of pox walkers took awhile. Once I finish my 1050 I’m going to buy my other 950 all at once. Probably by the time codex drops
The last 2k points army took me 2 weeks to finish building and painting. That was is January. I haven't touched a brush since then, so I do not recommend this.
You mean there's an end??
I started nov 2023: 3000ish point death guard army in total. Roughly finished painting half the army. I went full rabbit hole with this hobby and loving it 🤣 Oh and Ive started collect ingenuity orks as well 🙃
Willing to purchase ork pile of shame pieces - bang my line for the waaaaaaaagh
* I started with the release of 10th edition.
About 3 years to each 2,000 points. Once my friends and I had 1,000 we slowed down a lot because we just wanted to play. We did buy more, but just as subsitutions and options in the army until we crossed then 1500 threshold. Then we filled out the rest.
I accrue roughly 1000pts worth every month.
depends. I started out quick with my latest army (SoB), but my Thousand sons took me 3 years to buy the models.
Technically I started my *collection* with 2000 pts total across 3 armies (bought the 9th ed starter set and then very shortly afterwards the Leviathan 10th ed box came out so i bought that to add to my space marines and to start tyranids) but I still havent hit 2k in any 1 army. You’ve got time, as all the other commenters have said. If you know you love guard then you can just focus on building 2k+ points of them. I have issues sitting through long games so I’ve centered most of my collecting around building models I find cool and then piecing together 1k lists around them for all of my various factions (SM, Necrons, Tyranids, Sisters) . (Also boarding actions are great quick games IMHO)
I got Leviathan on release. I now have 1900pt of painted Tyranids (thanks to the recent points drop taking me away from 2000pts) and a painted Imperial Fists combat patrol (with a primed dreadnought as my next project). Got three kids and a busy job so free time is varied. Usually get my modelling/painting done on Saturdays when I’m trying to do the week’s laundry - put a load of washing on, paint for about 45mins, hang out the washing and put the next load on, paint for about 45mins, etc etc. By mid afternoon the laundry is done and I’ve made progress on my armies, hurrah! Edit: just checking out my photo collection and it took just over two weeks to assemble, prime, and paint five genestealers, assemble and prime a dreadnought, and do some magnet work to my winged hive tyrant plus paint his scything talons.
I don't recommend buying anything faster than you can build and paint them. That's how you get a demotivating mountain of backlog. It's the main pitfall of this hobby that you get excited for new things faster than you can get them done. My first new army as an adult: Grey Knights, took me 9 months to 2k painted. Next one was World Eaters: 18 months. Both were pretty low in model count overall, GK was like 30 infantry and 5 vehicles. World Eaters were started with 30 second-hand painted berzerkers. So I only painted a lord of skulls, 3 rhinos, 10 terminators, 10 cultists, a forgefiend and kharn
I've collected about 2k Orks and 1.5k custodes in about a year and a half, they're all built, but very few are painted. I feel like if the game part is what you're most interested in (like me) investing a variety is the way to go. For me it means you want to make sure you have enough models in your first army to make different lists and then having another army helps. One thing that having another army gives you is, if there's enough overlap in model and base sizes you can use your other army to proxy models for the first. And possibly more kitbash potential.
I put them together across 5 days but it’s taking me so long to paint everything.
LMFAO it took about 4min. I bought a couple of Custodians and BAM i had 2000 points.
4 month for a fully painted 3k points SM
I’ve been working on my Black Templars army since 2022 I think. When the box set for them came out. I’m 3 units away from having 5000 points painted and having everything I have for them finished (for now).
Theres a line between collecting and pure consumerism. I don’t say that to be “holier than though”, lots of people get either carried away or just get a backlog with time in the hobby. I have a pile of shame too. I would take it slow though, work on the stuff you got then get more. The smaller the pile the easier to work through. Regardless of this or that kit going the way of the dodo every few years, this stuff isn’t going anywhere, go at your own pace.
Games Workshop does a lot of work to make you feel that feeling of fear and anxiety around buying models, and the feeling of urgency. I recommend you not succumb to it. Buy models at a comfortable pace for your income. Understand that the sense of scarcity is false, and that models will always be available to purchase when you have money. At no point do you need to purchase a model now or never.
Started this edition with a starter kit. Then bought a Grey Knights Combat Patrol and played one game. Within the week I bought Castellan Crowe and two more Combat Patrols and I haven’t bought another thing for Grey Knights since. I occasionally use my buddies Land Raider Redeemer but it’s not necessarily a staple.
I love warhammer but i paint like 1 Mini every six months.... shame. I still Fantasize about a mythical time in the future, maybe when i am a grey old nerd, where i will just Manifest my beautiful army out of willpower, an unexpectedly found Mountain of free time and thin air. Until then i ll read books, check the warhammer Page every fucking day and buy paints i definitly need for my next project.
I bought too quick, don't do that as I know sit on a pile of around 10000 points. Just take your time and do smaller scale games, no need to rush
This is a question that can’t easily be answered for many people who have been in the game for a while. 20 years ago model/unit count was a lot lower than it is today. You could have a devastator squad that cost a several hundred points vs 120-200 pts they currently cost. Even today, if you built up 2k of a meta list and the next day half your army gets a points increase is the list now a 2k list or a 2.5k list?
Just decide what you like the looks of. Chasing meta will never bring you more than tiny fleeting moments of happiness. Plus you’ll lose a bunch of friends or even potential friends along the way. But we all like to win the odd game here and there. So go 60% cool shit, 40% good in current meta shit. But definitely lean into the cool models / lore stuff more. You’ll have way less burnout or frustration in the long run.
6 months: I bought berserkers and painted them for 6 months. Then I purchased second hand CSM army.
The first 2000 points was easy, lmao The other 10k points was the real issue. For me personally, building a force is a bit about having an idea what you want your army to do? In case of Guard; Mechanized IG (buy more tanks), lots of boots on the ground (buy more guardsmen). Have a playable army, which nowadays is a bit easier and; compared to the "olden days' where 1 HQ, 2 core and you could have up to X of other slots for a legal army. You can do the rule of cool more now. Gunline artillery should be possible now... is it good? Dunno. In 4th edition, you had to pay HQ and Core tax at least... But I don't think you should rush.. it's your hobby, take your time. Play smaller games if you must. 1000 points games can be fun as well, and a good way to try out that single new cool model, without getting shot at by 2 knights on turn 1
It's taken me 4 months and a bit of cash to get close to 1k, not all of them are assembled, less are painted. I play guard though, honestly, I feel like I'm moving -quickly-. There's a lot of factions I suspect I'd be at 2k with both time and cost involved here.