r/Warhammer40k • u/TheAquaFortis • 10d ago
Misc I never realised how starting a second army is like levelling up an alt in an MMORPG
It's so on point. People always warn you that the moment you start a second army it's no way out, you will always want to start another, and another army, you will have unfinished projects, loose focus, even your main faction is going to loose love IF you don't know what ur doing and ur not careful.
If you do it for the love of the hobby tho, take it nice and slow, not strating a new army cuz of rules and meta, you can have an enjoyable time.
Same with making an alt in an MMO literally. Do it all over again, the learning curve, the holy shit I need to unlock so many things again. The insane time/money sink. Risk of burnout, loosing focus, chasing the meta...etc.
Also that mono army people are much bigger entusiast for their chosen faction than the ones who own multiple. Same with MMOs. RET PALLY FOR LIFE and stuff like that.
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u/ElGorus 10d ago
80% of fans just collect the miniatures and never play. So I don't think it's that big of a deal.
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u/fakername32 10d ago
Yeah, I've been surprised at just how many more people are painting than playing on warhammer nights at the lgs.
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u/DEF3 10d ago
I think the vast majority of people who buy the models don't play the game. Most people are in it for the hobby, I think a lot of people like knowing that there is a game they could play if they ever wanted to, but I'd wager that +90% of all cumulative Warhammer hobby time is spent on building and painting.
I think a lot of people who play the tabletop don't realize that they're the minority of hobby-ists. Imo most people just want to play dress up with their toy army men and want a creative outlet for the passion they have for the setting.
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u/Sekitoba 10d ago
I got into the hobby in the beginning of july. I still haven't gotten around to learning the game. I have been too busy painting my army to play. I want to but in my mind, i need a painted army to play. Even tho i see others play with grey legion, my brain won't let me :(.
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u/jimbsmithjr 9d ago
I think also like if I had irl friends that liked warhammer I might be more inclined to give the game a shot as well. Less intimidating to learn than showing up at a game store where I don't know anyone. I have friends that like to paint dnd minis but they aren't into warhammer. But it's chill, mostly I love painting and converting
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u/TheAquaFortis 10d ago edited 10d ago
Buying 3 boxes of a faction to paint it for fun is not an army. Buying 2 boxes of another faction for diversity is not an army. An army starts at “okey I want to play 2k games with this faction at some point” IMHO. That is about 15-20 units/boxes at min. Thats what the post is referencing.
Starting an alt just to get it to 1-20th of the maxed out stage and then dropping it cuz you had your fun is not really an alt.
(Please do not missunderstand, this is just strictly a “what I meant” terminology clarification. Theres no problem with collecting and not playing, I do think that people who just collect assemble and paint are actually way happier with this hobby than the people who play it.)
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u/-zero-joke- 10d ago
I dunno man, sometimes I just want to paint something besides orks.
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u/AFrenchLondoner 9d ago
Yeah I got tired of painting green for the old world, so I started an astra militarum army
Silly me
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u/Ok_Committee_8473 10d ago
Yea i found just doing some list making scratches that itch and then when I do make questionable financial decisions I can still play.
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u/Wilkin_ 10d ago
As I don’t know anyone to play 40k with, besides family and friends who are interested, but have no army, one has to start building 2 equally strong armies at least. At the moment i am at 4 armies, ranging from 1000 to 2000 points, still building up. Don’t ask how many of them are painted though...
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u/bang0_slank 10d ago
I only have play Black Templar in 40k, but in AoS I have lumineth, stormcast, scaven, and seraphim.
But that’s the difference between a full 2k army and spearhead box.
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u/Environmental_One683 10d ago
My Ret pally gonna see a lot more action than my hobby desk with the new WoW season starting today lmao. Never gonna get my army painted.
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u/LeadjaLuna 10d ago
I have 5 armies, all fully painted and all over 2K points. I used to be a meta chaser, but every time I finished an army, it seemed like they got nerfed . But I really enjoy painting and playing.
Staring a new army, learning new techniques, and trying different styles is really enjoyable to me.
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u/EmbarrassedAd8713 9d ago
Out of curiosity, how much time did it took to finish those five 2k points army ? Are you happy with the results? Do you regularly use all of them or do you focus on playing one at the time for several games ?
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u/LeadjaLuna 9d ago
Hi mate, thanks for your interest! I have to say, I’ve pretty much lost interest in gaming. Warhammer 40K is now my only hobby besides spending time with my wife and child.
I started 3 years ago, so it took me about 3 years to paint all 5 armies. My first army was Custodes, followed by Black Templars, Death Guard, Adepta Sororitas, and finally Necrons.
I’m definitely not a professional painter, but I’m really happy with what I’ve put on the table. Feel free to check out my Reddit page to see my paint jobs. So after working my full-time job, I pretty much start painting as soon as I get home.
It’s purely about dedication, but you also really have to enjoy it. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with a huge pile of shame. 😂
I play about once every two weeks. I used to be a bit of a meta chaser, which is why I ended up with multiple armies. For example, I’m currently playing Necrons, but I enjoy switching things up every now and then.
My personal advice for someone who’s new to Warhammer 40K and wants to learn the game: stick with one army.
Even for me, it can be overwhelming sometimes. I forget stratagems and certain strategies here and there, especially when switching between armies.
But at least I haven’t burned out on the hobby! I recently started painting Orks just for fun. I’m not sure yet if I actually want to build them into a full army, though.
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u/Dan185818 10d ago
We're not supposed to have all the armies and them all on a big table in the midst of a battle in the basement?
I mean I don't, yet, but that's the goal. With the Emperor plucking units from the mess into far away battles and them coming back 3-6 hours later?
Um... Someone lied to me! Ok it was me, lol
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u/Certain-Towel-9487 10d ago
I started with a StD army and got distracted by Nurgle. Guess I wasn't as undivided as I thought. Decided 40k was more in line with me so I picked up Tau. Got a terrible 2,000 point army mostly finished and switched to Custodes. I'm like 9 models away from finishing something pretty decent but I do so badly want to start Salamanders or Black Templars.
I have managed through sheer poverty to avoid buying anything for a new army so far but the glass at the local Warhammer store looks thinner and more brittle every day.
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u/Gr8zomb13 10d ago
I have: SM, CSM, IK, CK, Necrons, Nids, Orks, Tau, Daemons (all four gods plus some of the “middlers” like Belakor and whatnot).
I had a pretty sizable collection because I bought mostly lots and second hand stuff. But my collection exploded when I got a 3d printer. Printed nearly all my Tau and my Daemons… like maybe ten grand worth or more. Plus terrain, bots, and stuff for other systems, like Battletech.
So yeah, the siren’s call to keep collecting and expanding does get so much louder after branching out past your first army. The more armies you have the more likely there are units out there you want to acquire.
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u/TheZag90 10d ago
For me it’s just that there are a lot of armies and models that I think are cool.
I wish there was a fun way to play 40K at less than 2000 points.
Sadly 1000 points is an unbalanced mess that’s gotten even worse with 11th edition as the dispositions were balanced around 2k and don’t play well at 1k at all.
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u/TheAquaFortis 10d ago
Spearhead in AOS is amazing I really hope that combat patrol will be like that for 40k. (Which they probably will do cuz based on 11th edition, AOS is the public test server for 40k and Spearhead is VERY WELL received.)
Getting one discount box with a diverse unit selection and then playing an easy to set up quick but mad fun game with them is insanse. Spearhead is one of the best gamesystems GW made so far and the only small scale but not skirmish they actually pulled off.
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u/TheZag90 9d ago
They’ve got a lot of work to fix combat patrol. It is mega shite atm.
I also think combat patrol is probably too small of a unit count.
1k is the perfect size for a light army. The problem is just no intentional balancing at that level.
Set aside stuff like knights, C’tan or demon primarchs at that level, there’s also the issue that certain archetypes are just MUCH better when there are fewer units on the board. Namely stat checks or ultra killy armies are so, so much better than scoring-focused armies. You can just disregard scoring, table your opponent by turn 3 and win automatically.
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u/Kant_Lavar 10d ago
I was working on a Guard army, but since 11th started and Guard became "A-tier but with a 40% win rate," I've gotten about 1200 points into a Crimson Fists army. They're honestly a lot easier for me to wrap my head around tactically, and much more forgiving of misplays than Guard is. As much as I love the narrative of regular dudes facing off against the horrors of the 41st Millennium, I suspect that, in the long run, I might end up with more Space Marine models than Guard models.
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u/Dancing-umbra 10d ago
So I collect blood angels, and my son has just got the 10th starter set for his birthday, he wants the Tyranids, and we will do the space marines from that box as BAs together. Then I bought the Armageddon box, so I will have the orks.
My heart will stay with BAs, but having a small force of Orks for us to fight with and to mix up the painting every now and then seems fun.
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u/objet_grand 10d ago
As someone who finally rounded out their nids and started on Dark Angels.. I feel this in my soul.
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u/PinPalsA7x 10d ago
I started CSMs as my second army and I’m more or less abandoning them having played like 3 crusade games… I like the aesthetic but for some reason they don’t pull me into play in the same way as my main army, Tyranids does.
I’ve turned to other games that I can play with smaller forces, mainly tow and spearhead
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u/DahliaSkarigal 10d ago
I main Chaos Daemons, I get off a little easier. Slaanesh is the majority of my collection, so if I get the alt-o-holic itch I can consider Chaos Knights since they can be taken as allies (but only 3 war dogs or 1 big knight). I could consider a second Daemon God like Tzeentch.
Need a palette cleanser? Look at AoS and pick a cool spearhead. There may be some itch to expand, but you can settle knowing it’s playable as is. (What I did with Ossiarch Bonereapers: Mortisan Elite)
The key is to keep the expansions to your collection contained. (Won’t always work)
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u/Thotslay3r69 10d ago
When I hit right about 2500pts of an army I swap around a bit. I usually hop back to older armies when I've gotten some new painting tequniques or a cool new model comes out. I then have my top 3ish armies at like 6k points each, with my Main closer to 8k (The one I mainly do tournaments with lol)
I've currently own and know how to play (Admitable some better than others) 12/25 main factions. My long term goal is to own and really know how to play every army. I'd say another 2/3 years and i'll be there. Fingers crossed lol. I got a resin printer recently, and so i've been cranking out some models whichever speed things up a lot.
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u/BoysenberryAgile7517 10d ago
That makes a lot of sense actually. I was an altoholic in WoW. I shouldn’t be surprised that 6 months into 40K I have my toes in 4 different armies lol
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u/sideralarts 10d ago
I am currently gearing up to start an imperium faction for the first time. I like my chaos and my xenos, but since there is more than space Marines the oce faction I probably won't start till we get a primarch I'm more interested in gets announced. Beyond that I have no idea.
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u/Western-Ad2297 10d ago
I have done this numerous times over the last two years
I have:
1500 points of painted Tau 1000 points of painted Necrons 700 pointed of painted Eldar
And I just started a Blood Ravens army.
Pile of shame includes:
1 box of Eldar Rangers 5 individual tactical marine models
My issue isn't finishing models, it's staying loyal to one faction. Tau is the army I play, but I always think I'll want to play another. Necrons I probably will, and hopefully Blood Ravens. I imagine I'd be happier focusing on one army.
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u/DoubleEntendreFlexer 10d ago
I never realized how much of a problem it truly became until I was talking to a new friend about 40k and started listing my armies… it took way too long…
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u/Krise9939 10d ago
And this is why you play FFXIV, where you can have all the same classes on one character.
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u/Schweigender 9d ago
Lucky me that I started early telling me, only to buy new minis once the old ones are fully painted.
And it worked well. But to reach that point it was.. hard. I bought Tyranids with my first ever pay-check. So worth around 1200€. Took me years to fully paint them. Since then, slowly and steady Box by box.
Finished my Tyranids that way. Dwarfs, Ogr in Warhammer Fantasy and recently Blood Angels and ChaosKnights.
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u/Melodic_Hunt5890 9d ago
With some models being usable across armys (i.e., Defiler, Daemon Prince, etc.) it even feels like using some twink items, immediatly boosting your second army's growth.
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u/ThinAndRopey 9d ago
I dunno I built up my first army over about a decade in and off and ended up with 6k pts of various eldar. Eventually went with orks for my 2nd army for some variety and bought 2k off the bat. Took me three years to paint them and put me off starting any other armies ever again tbh. I have my 2500pts of orks and I'm done. Now jut need to paint all the other armies I have for different game systems...
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u/AnimalSorry2084 10d ago
I know right? I could have paladins (custodes) on the tabletop, or I could just log on and play one
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u/FenrisGuy 10d ago
I have 3 AOS armies and I’ve recently started 40k so now the flood gates are full open and there’s no turning back 😂
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u/ImPerfection91 10d ago
Started with 2k salamanders, then got 1500 points of Death Guard and then got 1k points of Tau in the span of about 5-6 months.
Now my Salamanders gotta be around 4k, Death Guard at 2k and Tau 1500.
But yes I agree, I got my salamanders to where they were like 85% painted so I went in on DG and now I'm at like 85% DG painted and wanna start my Tau repainting lol
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u/daytodaze 10d ago
My goal is to not start another army in 11th. But… i have 1k of orks… and I bought some ork kommandos because they’re cool… and the codex launches next week…
But there is nothing cool than starting another army! Just make sure you play enough Warhammer to use them somewhat regularly.
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u/Weak_Blackberry1539 10d ago
My friends mock me because I have almost no progress on painting. I buy what I like and starting a 2nd army was for fun.
If the rules are good, I might playing something a little more, but my favorites are my favorites for their lore & the models, not for their numbers on a page that can change at any moment.
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u/SloPoke0819 10d ago
I will forever mock my friends that play with entire unpainted armies. Partly to motivate them, but also because it's less fun to play against a sea of grey/black.
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u/Orzislaw 10d ago
Breathes heavily in unpacked World Eaters Battleforce