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Too Much, Too Soon? - Yellowfish | |||||
| Tears are streaming down my face as I write this article. As you may or may not know, I am selling a guard army. From the moment the new Cadians were released I knew they just had to be mine! Over the space of 2 months, over £250 and many days were spent on assembling a mighty 1750-point force. With over 80 models lovingly assembled, the 'grey legion' was my pride, joy and obsession. And then one day I realised that by the time I got it all painted, I would have died old, poor and lonely. I needed to reluctantly get rid. Its breaking my heart. Sound familiar? I am writing this article to show that with a little bit of patience and forethought, YOU can avoid the same mistake that I did. This article is about how to pace your army collection for your maximum enjoyment. Taking inspiration from rip-off magazines. How We Could Learn a Lesson From Part-Work PublishingThose part-work publishing magazines, y'know the 'Build a crappy model of the intestines/red barons fighter plane/Clint Eastwood over 52 weeks. First issue £1.99, usual price £15.99.' magazines that just seem to be designed to lure the gullible into an ever increasing spiral of debt and disappointment. They should all burn in hell right?WRONG! I have just found that the very same cynical marketing ploys to be a god send! I realise that we live in an age of instant gratification where good things come very quickly. Or else! But think about it, your army represents a large investment of your spare money. You want to take time to appreciate it in all its glory. So you should take it steady, pace yourself, collect it one bit of a time. Not only that, but if you are on a budget, I believe that this approach can help you also. Here is my handy issue-by-issue guide to collecting to an army! ISSUE ONE! (Special introductory price: A book!) Ok, you've set your heart on collecting this army! Congratulations! Your first purchase would have to be the army book/ codex. Weighing in between £4 and £12, this is the most important part of collecting any army. Take your new purchase home, and rather than throwing it into the drawer and forgetting about it. Digest every single scrap of information that book contains. You need to know everything, points costs, stats, cool wargear etc. All done doing that? Right! Now you need to PLAN your army to a small points level. (I'd recommend the small skirmish games like 40k in 40 mins or the 500pt warhammer patrol rules.) Write out a couple of sample army lists, post them here. Talk to your friends, talk to your enemies, talk to your dog! Talk to anybody with any experience of fighting with or against your army of choice. Digest that info as well. But feel free to make up your own mind! (After all, its your army and you'll cry if you want to!) Once all that's done, set a modest points cost and figure out exactly what you need. ISSUE 2 (The bare bones) Once you have planned what you want, now it is the simple task of buying it! All armies and army lists have a minimum requirement of core/troops/grunts in order to play. I suggest you get two of these as per your plan. Get them assembled and painted up. No need to rush. Just get it done. Now is the ideal opportunity to do some test paint schemes, and get a feel for the models. Remember, if you don't like them, now is the time to stop collecting before its too late and you have 1750 points of unwanted, unloved, e-bay fodder. You may also want to pick up a minor HQ/Hero choice to lead your small warband. From a narrative point of view, its perfect as you see your commander gather his army from the very beginning. ISSUE 3 (A little forethought goes a long way..) Play a few skirmish games! Don't worry if you get your backside handed to you, remember, this is a learning experience. And with some armies the learning curve is pretty steep. After you have played a few games, Do a SWOT analysis on your army.
For example, I have recently been experimenting with a tau list in 40k/40 mins. I have 24 fire warriors and an ethereal. The armies strengths would be long range basic firepower and I have found the ethereal to be brilliant at controlling morale. However, obviously, the second a dedicated assault squad comes at me I'm dead, and I have nothing to bust transports and tanks with. (Weaknesses) The opportunity I have to remedy this is to include a dedicated tank hunting unit (A broadside for example) and some kroot to hopefully form an assault meatshield/countercharge. The Threats I see for the future may be my lack of mobility. ISSUE 4 (From tiny acorns) Now you have evaluated what you need in your force, buy it one step at a time and test them out individually. See what it does for your army. Analyse it again. ISSUE 5 (Keep going!) Just keep this up! Just keep doing this one game at a time, and remember ONLY BUY WHAT YOU CAN PAINT IN A SINGLE SITTING! ISSUE 6 (The luxuries!) By now you should have developed your army to a point where you have a good 'core' of troops that are indispensable to your army. Ideally these troops should be units that cover all the basic needs of the game. For example in gothic a good core fleet would be a carrier, a flagship, 2 jack of all trades cruisers and some escorts. This fleet does everything you need to do to have a decent, sporting chance of victory. But it can be really boring just having the minimum you need to operate. Time to add a little spice to the proceedings. Go for a couple of 'fun' units that make your list stand out, or what you feel you may need for a specialist mission. Remembering that once it is painted, it paves the way for more units. And remember that just be ISSUE 7 (Sit back and enjoy) Now you have a fully painted force for everybody to marvel at ! Feel free to expand or to start up all over again! I hope I have helped you learn from my mistake. You can see how I am utilising this technique in my TALE OF THREE GAMERS army Thank you for your time and I wish you the best of luck in life and gaming! | |||||
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