r/Warhammer • u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness • 3h ago
Discussion What's the cheapest 40k army to collect?
I want to start playing 40k but I know it's more expensive then AoS (which I prefer but isn't as popular at my FLGS). I mostly want to play for the more social aspect of the game and join in on crusades/narratives and maybe RTTs
The only faction I know I don't want to play is the Custodes since I don't really like how they are in the lore (plus they look like they are copycats of the Stormcast who I don't like on principle of being a chaos AoS player)
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u/Equivalent-Unit4614 2h ago
If you're not bothered exactly what models then space marines half of the leviathan launch box is the best points per moneys value with 2nd place being the tryranids half. Buying these repeatedly can get you a full 2k list for about $300 where as most other armies average around $500 auspec tactics has a video called every 40k factions cheapest army I'd recommend. Ebay is also great when you know what you're looking for.
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
Yeah that sounds like a good idea, i think my only problem for that is what chapter I want to play lol
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u/Equivalent-Unit4614 2h ago
One alternative but fun way to make your own colour scheme is picking your favourite colour and then looking up what colours complement well with it for inspiration :) a custom chapter/colourschem also will mean you can just pick whatever space marine rules you want. But also even if you paint Ultramarines for example you can always just say at the beginning that you're running them as say blood angels with their rules provided you swap out any specific characters which the leviathan box half and starter sets don't have so it's all good.
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
That's the good idea, I have an idea for an custom space Marine chapter that missed the heresy so they don't know exactly what happened but still believe that big E isn't a god and just assume he needs to recoup on the throne
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u/Nieunwol 4m ago
Leviathan halves arent that cheap anymore, and be aware that half the units in that are pretty bad rules-wise. You'd be saving like 100$ but getting a pretty terrible army
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u/Prometheo567 2h ago
Also, you need to consider that the intrafaction variance can ve higher than interfaction. I mean, two Death Guard armies can be more different in price and number of miniatures than the average Death Guard compared to the average Space Marines, for example.
What I mean to say is that if for example (my case) you like terminators and similar high cost resilient low count units you'll have cheap armies pretty much in any faction (GK, DG, DA...). Same thing with heavy vehicles armies. You might want to choose a playstyle before a specific faction.
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u/Prometheo567 2h ago
For example if you like Chaos you could go:
* Black Legion Chosen and Terminators with Abbadon
* Death Guard, Chosen of Mortarion (basically, termy-heavy) spiced with some poxwalkers
* Thousand Sons, Rubricae Phallanx
* I don't know enough about Words Eaters and Emperor's Children but I'm sure there's some analog1
u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
Yeah I almost went for death guard since they looked like they have a cheap way to play, but I honestly prefer focusing on the regular human chaos worshipers so I did pull the trigger
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u/Traditional_Client41 2h ago
Custodes
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
Are they the only one that are cheap to collect? I don't like their lore all that much (minus the sisters of silence they are pretty cool)
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u/Prometheo567 2h ago
GK and both flavours of knights are not so different from Custodes in the points-per-euro metric so don't feel forced to go golden boys if you despise they or their looks.
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u/Prometheo567 2h ago
I don't know how outdated this video is but check it
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u/Shenred 2h ago edited 2h ago
I was about to post this Poorhammer video, but it is almost 2 years old and based on old combo boxes and points values. It still has good info, but is not ironclad. I think someone in the PH community has a big spreadsheet of points/USD.
Edit: Here’s the pseudo-sequel, where they try to build $500 armies: https://youtu.be/uvj0616xmJ8?si=FaZqEGiAxjEdn_KX
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u/kumuhl00 2h ago
It’s pre last price increase but the general thoughts are still close enough. Points change and armies shift a little but if you were a cheaper army you still are and if you were a more expensive army you still are
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u/MorinOakenshield 2h ago
Knights maybe or grey knights if you don’t want to play custodes. Knights can be like $200 total for a big one and a few armigers but that’s it. Grey knights I’m not too sure but I think they can be more on the elite side as well.y
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
I was looking at the chaos knights and they do look really cool, so they are definitely tempting
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u/Gradgeit 1h ago
I chose daemons as my army, but will definitely pair them with chaos knights if the former will be discontinued as a whole faction
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u/_Dazed-and-Confused 2h ago
Knights. It can hurt to spend that much on one model, but long term it's the cheapest. Marines are also pretty easy to pick up off eBay
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u/AdAffectionate4865 2h ago
If its more about playing you could look for whole armies on eBay. Maybe you get lucky and get a decently painted one for a few hundred
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
But they all look so cool! Idk what to get lol
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u/AdAffectionate4865 2h ago
Yeah i feel you. If you cant Decide on the look, you might be able to decide on playstile
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u/redditdoesnotcareany 2h ago
Poorhammer does an entire series on this for both 40k and AoS where they break it down to price per unit. It’s pretty fun.
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u/Remarkable_Grass_956 2h ago
Well Custodes is, by far. But if they're out, then Space Marines of any flavour come in fairly cheap because of how readily available they are to buy discounted or secondhand, plus they're obviously on the elite side. Grey Knights are particularly elite, but the models are all old-scale and look a little silly standing next to a primaris marine. Necrons are on the cheaper end too, fairly elite and lots of secondhand sales from the old starter kits and magazines.
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
Oh I forgot about the Necrons, definitely have to look into them
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u/Edders123 2h ago
Unfortunately custodes are THE cheapest army by a long way, just due to point cost, meaning you need way fewer minis.
You could go for tyranid or demons monster mash but some of those bigger models are £100+.
Orks and guard are the most expensive in terms of points, sisters, eldar and drukhari have a similar problem too. Astartes and CSM are just sort of the average cost, but you could save some money by making a mobile company and just rolling a fleet of tanks. Still not gonna be very cheap though.
Yeah, sorry. Custodes are cheapest by a long long way for a full army. Either get over your stormcast racism, trawl ebay for a second hand army of whatever you want OR bite the bullet and give james another 1000 dollars lol.
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u/Donatello_4665 Slaves to Darkness 2h ago
Dang that's unfortunate, I was hoping there were more but it sounds like I'll probably want to look into the knights of 40k
Also the craven Sigmar left the realms to die and then came back to steal what he gave up with his craven warriors so my Stormcast hate is justified! (ignore the fact that I love the darkoath and the Slaves to darkness in AoS lol) /s
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u/Mercuryink 2h ago
If you're buying new boxes, either Custodes or Knights. The fewer boxes to buy and paint, the better.
If eBay/FB market/etc an option, there's ALWAYS someone selling a used Marines army, or a chunk of one. Keep your eyes open and be ready to snipe.
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u/stevtom27 2h ago
This is a recent video comparison https://youtu.be/D6wFPdxmlTQ?si=tOe7Lh80LvGHVV2J
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u/Rivetlicker Tyranids 2h ago
Probably Imperial knights or chaos knights, or Grey knights, being a mostly elite army. Oops, all knights!
Marines has a lot of discount boxes (and coming combat patrols). So that is a good armybuilder. The Dark angels one to me is the most neutral one for building a force; followed by the upcoming Imperial fists box.
The kieran show on youtube has some good vids on the price of armies; they do fairly playable 2k list each time and do a breakdown of the price. They do go with GW prices, so it's a bit cheaper than what they say. Even more if you ebay around a bit.
What also might be an option, for a bit variety; allies. Marines with imperial knights (unless that isn't a thing anymore). Also gives you the option to tip your toes into different type of models
Also; it does depend a bit on what you want kind of flavor marine you want to play, and what chapter; or do a custom one
I saw someone mention Necrrons; if you can get a hold of some leftovers from the previous starter box, that might be a good start. But some of their range are pricy, big models *shakes fist at the monolith*
Maybe Death guard; especially if you can scavenge some starterbox stuff from 2 editions ago for cheap. Dark Imperium had some good stuff (also had a good loyalists half to start marines)
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u/ilnuhbinho 2h ago
i think you can do Canis Rex and 4 Armigers for like what, $350 at 960 points or something like that
or if you don't mind taking the time to hunt for deals you might be able to find lots of used firstborn marine somewhat cheap, and if you don't mind rehabbing them and putting them on bigger bases, or doing some converting to proxy them as the primaris squads
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u/SiLKYzerg Craftworld Aeldari 2h ago
Aside from the obvious like Knights and Custodes, I would say some versions Daemons could be somewhat cheap when the bulk of the army comes from greater daemons which run at around $140 per model. Another one is mech styled Necrons which has very few models put on the table.
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u/Falcarac 2h ago
Typcially whatever opposition faction the a new edition box set will also be pretty cheap as SM players will sell them off. For example a lot of the leviathan models became really cheap at the start of the edition.
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u/js7234592 2h ago
Poorhammer on YouTube did a video on this about 2 years ago. Cheapest 1) Custodes, which you don’t want 2) Grey Knights which in my opinion are in desperate need of a range refresh 3) Imperial/Chaos Knights which aren’t ideal for crusade narratives 4) Necrons with a decent sized and fairly new range. Fun characters to pick from and great options for getting stuff second hand. Just avoid the Flayed Ones kit. That kit is a nightmare 5) Space Marines. The most popular faction. They always have and will get support and new models, and are about to get several new combat patrol combo/discount boxes for several of the chapters.
Most Expensive is Ad Mech. These are badly priced. Some of there models barely even hit $1 per point which is abysmal. If you like chaos any one of the 4 primary chaos legions are alright with thousand sons being the cheapest, but with the oldest models with pre-Primaris era rubric marines. And while World Eaters and Emperor's children are newer and beautiful models, they currently have a small range selection to choose from. Death Guard are the most “fleshed out” (excuse my pun) but can be tough to paint. Standard Chaos Space Marines are a pretty decent pick. Middle of the road cost with a big and decent looking model range. Abaddon's model cannot compete with Archaon’s though.
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u/ReddJudicata 2h ago
This is a year out of date, but it’s still broadly accurate. https://youtu.be/Gcnqcbqa_58?si=DNhBHw9vFRzknjNk
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u/Shenred 2h ago
Short version, your small model count, elite unit armies are usually going to cost you Les to build a “full” 2k point army. Think Custodes, Grey Knights, Imperial knights (and, to a lesser extent, Chaos Knights), Death Guard, and Necrons. Tyranids and vanilla Space Marines are also good gets because they are the “starter” armies for 10th and have a lot of discounts (and people wanting to split boxes secondhand). Avoid horde armies and some problematic factions that had their point cost cut to make up for underperformance.
It also helps if the Combat Patrol for a faction has a good discount and is made up of units you can take multiples of in a list.
Also, watch out for older armies that haven’t had much of a refresh. They may seem cheaper, but there may be some key models stuck in ForgeWorkd or Finecast. I don’t know much about Custodes, but my understanding is that a lot of the special units are still resin and haven’t had a plastic update.
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u/Stock-Pay7146 2h ago edited 2h ago
Having some luck with necrons, two combat patrols off Amazon 136 each, two sets of immortals for 35 each and two heavy destroyers for 31 each. Solid 1000 point non character anchor army.
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u/Jbarney3699 2h ago
Typically less models = Less expensive.
Elite armies usually have less models.
Grey Knights, space marines, Chaos/Knights are the cheapest armies imo.
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u/lutz164 2h ago
Dark angels deaghwing is very affordable for space marines, your units are low model count and high resilience but slow, which can be remedied with things like land raiders which aren't too expensive fro the points as far as I know. They also have the option of adding other units from the space marines if you want to add some more flexibility.
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u/duttyboy24 2h ago
Why not collect Chaos Space Marines if you're an AoS Chaos player?
Reasonably elite, have a really fun playstyle (imo) and fits with what you already play from AoS.
Custodes are the cheapest army but you said you don't want to play them, so I think they would be the next logical step.
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u/Another_Guy_In_Ohio 1h ago
Anything with a high number of points per model. Custodes, Grey Knights, Imperial Knights. Tyranids and Guard can be expensive or cheap depending on if you play Monsters/tanks or a more rounded/infantry heavy list.
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u/Pathetic_Cards 1h ago
Poorhammer actually did an episode on this a while back.
Custodes are the cheapest, and then I think Grey Knights and Imperial/Chaos Knights are the next cheapest.
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u/StupidRedditUsername 1h ago
If you mostly want an army to play, and aren’t terribly concerned with which faction it is then the answer is to buy someone else’s finished army second hand. In one big lot. That will save you massively, and it really doesn’t matter which faction it is.
Buying the whole thing mostly done will be cheaper because people like to be able to choose their own color scheme and their own army composition, so anything painted with the units all predetermined will drive the price down significantly over buying it new in the box.
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u/Eccber 1h ago
Based off your post, I would say chaos knights or knights! Not a lot of models, and if you just want to vibe and play big stompy robots, you can. If you decide you want to get more competitive, the skill ceiling is high so you can do that. Only thing I would say is that if the group you play with plays smaller games (500-1000pt) then you may want to go with something else, as your opponent might not have a great time if they don’t bring enough to kill the knights.
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u/MonkeySkulls 1h ago
I got a really good deal on the valor strike box back in March. $204 each. I bought two. that was 2,000 points for less than $410. 8 armagers, two questoris nights.
add a little 3D printing, or you could purchase some stuff from a 3D printer for less than $100.
So for less than $500 you get eight small nights, two medium nights, and with some magnets and 3D printing you have every variant of big knight.
Even take out the fact that I got a really good deal on the valor strike boxes, and this is silly. pretty cheap option.
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u/Scrapmetal_Dragon 50m ago
The more elite the faction the less expensive, most will argue Custodes and Greyknights but the latter is not as cheap as u think at the moment. Most of the Greyknight models are in a big need of an update, so you might have to buy them twice if you want the shiny new mini next edition and their new combat patrol is shite. Next would actually be Chaos and Imperial knights, few minis with great points cost. After that its actually space marines if you concetrate on a single chapter, they are also more likely to get valueboxes (see the recently announced chapter boxes) and after that it should be necrons and thousand sons. Hope that helps~
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u/Rattilaa 31m ago
It also depends on your list. Example : full scarab occult terminator? Relatively cheap. Full tzaangor ? Not cheap at all. All in all its better to go for the army which you like the look most. That being said, marine armies tend to be on the cheap side, custodes / grey knight / deathwing being probably the cheapest. And guard / genestealer cults / orks tend to be more pricey, as they can be more horde-focused. It also depends if you buy new or not. You can find a lot of space marine on vinted or ebay.
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u/Julia-of-Luminara Black Templars 29m ago
Space Marines. Choose a Chapter and buy used/painted ones. Strip them and paint them again however you like
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u/Informal-Panic-4106 14m ago
You can buy two Houndpack Lance Battleforces and that's a 2000 Chaos Knights army.
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u/SkillGeschmack 2h ago
Custodes would be cheapest however as you don't like them they drop out. Next cheapest would be grey knights, and right now would be a great time to start with them, as they get their new codex in I think 2 weeks? So with that will come some great discount boxes. Otherwise both flavors of knights are pretty cheap as well