Can you start too many armies?

[AthlorianStoners]

So I started AoS a year ago after coming from 40K. I like it so much more and love so many factions. Unfortunately, that's translated to starting so many factions.

I now have: 

3000 Points of High Aelves

2200 Points of Tzeentch

2000 Points of Beastclaws 

2000 Points of Skaven 

800 Points of Fyreslayers 

I also have a converted Tyranid army for use in AoS. I want to start a Lizardmen army, but being new I wanted to get everyone's opinions on how many armies people reliably manage and play, and if they regret starting too many.

[Killax]

Ive you like it and have the funds and time you cant go wrong. Ideally though you also paint the armies and if youve done so all the more respect.

[RuneBrush]

I think the real question is if you've assembled and painted them too - or they're sitting in a grey pile of shame somewhere

There's quite a few members of the community who are able to collect, paint and play (to a high level) a huge number of different armies.  Others will focus on one or two factions and constantly hone and refine their army.

For me, my main force is Khorne with a Bloodbound focus.  I've collected and added to them for the past year and a half and largely have got most of what I want done to them.  Last Christmas I picked up about 1200 points worth of Deathrattle which I've assembled a portion and have recently picked up a few Ironjawz bits.  That's in addition to a smattering of other things I've collected over many years - a few hundred points of Dwarves here, some Dryads there etc.  I also play 40k/Necro/Shadespire amongst others so have a pretty impressive pile of shame.  But I tend to focus on one force at a time rather than jumping around too much.  Currently my focus is sorting out a Necromunda gang, after that I'm hoping to crack into some Ironjaws with the aim to have a small force to play early next year.

[Falandris]

For me it's max. 1-2 armies per system (AoS/40K/Warmahordes). Considering a normal day at work + family there just isn't the time to play varying lists and being full painted with more armies than that.

Maybe more armies can work for you if you're the "I'm fine with playing one list" guy. But I don't think you can really get into the feeling of one army while playing 7 different ones at the same time. You will never truly unterstand and master them.

[Kugane]

It depends if you actually plan to play the stuff you are purchasing. If it is just for collection sake, I would suggest just getting your favourite model of an army, build it, paint it, and keep it as a collection piece, rather than purchasing an entire army. Or simply get a warband for skirmish instead.

Either way, different armies can have different purposes. Considering how unbalanced lots of armies are at this point of time, it can kind of force you in 1 direction or another, wether you want to play competitively or casually.

As long as you are not neglecting other parts of your life and have the funds to get another army, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it :). Besides, even though GW is expensive, overal their stuff maintains most of its value. If you plan to resell them at some point, you should be able to get at least 60 to 80% of your initial investment back. Thats more than most entertainment can say. 

That being said, you could always consider reselling your old armies you don't like anymore or have no intention of ever playing again.

[BunkhouseBuster]

I used to to be one of those guys who would collect a bunch of armies, but then life happened and I've been selling off a bunch of unpainted models.  It's not for a lack of interest in the hobby, but a shift in priority.  When family expenses come up, those come first.

Nowadays, I'm doing much better with sticking with one army at a time, and right now that's Ironjawz.  I'm slowly accumulating forces for other armies as I can find discounts or deals on the kits (holiday bundles, etc.) and get ready to build and paint them.  Anymore, it seems I either have way too much free time on my hands, or I'm so busy that I can't spare a moment for hobby time, so I dive into it when I can.

I have just my Ironjawz as my current project, but I'm also looking at Dispossessed, Stormcast, and Beastclaw Raiders for future projects.  Plus my wife and step-daughter have their armies that I get to put together (and probably will paint) for them.  So I have big plans and dreams for my armies, but it's just a matter of time and budget anymore.

[OracleOfScales]

At one point I had like... 7 different armies / warbands / guilds for 7 different game systems and that point I realised it's just not feasible. I only really had time to play, maybe 3 game systems at any one point.  I've cut down to to 3 core systems (Horus Heresy, Age of Sigmar & Guildball) though I own all the relevant stuff to play my Horus Heresy World Eater force in 40k and I do quite often.

I found 3 systems is the sweet spot of being able to dip in and out of them, being able to play all of them and get hobby work done on it all without anything getting left out. 

[Mr. White]

^ I agree.

I've settled on:

Blood Bowl

AoS (includes WHQ and Shadespire)

Space Hulk

maybe one day....Dreadfleet.

[Somanlius]

I think the hard part of having many armies is the ability to play them all. I have

3500 pts of Stormcast

2000 pts of Ironjawz

3000 pts of Freeguild

2800 pts of High Elves

2000 pts of Slaanesh Daemons

2500 pts of Slaves to Darkness

1500 pts of Skaven

And Im finding it difficult to rotate the armies and memorize the warscrolls. If Im playing Stormcast or Slaves its no problem, but I am constantly second guessing myself and forgetting special rules for the other armies. But Ive been in negotiations to sell off my Freeguild and Slaanesh, so that should lighten the load and open up some possibilities for purchasing more Skaven. Also they are all painted.

Ive been craving some Kharadron too, so I will be getting into that once the new army  box gets out of pre order. I think its a great hobby and besides losing games with unfamiliar forces (and spending too much money) there is nothing wrong with many armies!

[Sheriff]

I can't imagine ever having more than 1. Maybe a second related one eg allies or part of same allegiance somehow overlapping. 

[TheNotebookGM]

I'd agree with the above. My plan is to end up with about 4k mixed order (2k for my current plus 2k of the alleged aelves) and then start in on Destruction over the next couple years. Ultimately I'd love to be able to do a 4 player 1-1.5k game or a 2 player 2-2.5k game purely from my own collection so I can suck new people in, vary lists, lend out armies, etc. That said, I'm not a great painter or competitively minded player. 

[Seraphage]

For me, it is one at a time due to life getting in the way. After having assembled and painted everything from my lovely Seraphon I will work towards another one but carefully in order to avoid the grey pile of shame the whole community warns about. Doing fairly well so far 

[Cambot1231]

The game really gets a lot of its coolness factor from painted models on a table setup with painted terrain.  Its kind of lame how many people play with unpainted models.  I feel if you focus more on getting the models painted than the quantity  the game feels a lot more rewarding for both players.  Not only that, more time playing and getting used to the rules of your army and executing turns faster. Maybe once your army is fully painted reward yourself with starting a new army. 

[AthlorianStoners]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

In terms of painting, I've finished the Aelves, Skaven and Tyranids. The Tzeentch are about 70% completed. Haven't started on the other two yet  

Family wise, I'm only 21 so thats not a factor as of yet, but I can see how that would affect things. 

The way I play, its generally only gonna be one list, unless we play 1000 point games. 

[RuneBrush]

7 hours ago, AthlorianStoners said:

Thanks for all the replies guys!

In terms of painting, I've finished the Aelves, Skaven and Tyranids. The Tzeentch are about 70% completed. Haven't started on the other two yet  

Family wise, I'm only 21 so thats not a factor as of yet, but I can see how that would affect things. 

The way I play, its generally only gonna be one list, unless we play 1000 point games. 

In which case I'd say having the number of armies you do is fine!  Don't be against selling one army you never use if there's something else you fancy but other than that your pile of shame is acceptable

[Twitch of Izalith]

I like to have multiple armies "in production" at the same time - I find the variety is a strong motivator for almost all aspects of the hobby for me.  

I don't have piles of grey plastic lying around but I do have piles of unopened boxes lying around! I try not to build stuff until I'm going to paint it.

I also try and get 1000pts of one faction painted up before I let myself start on another one. Once I'm at around 2500 points I'm usually more interested in getting into a new faction than making an existing one bigger. 

I don't think you can have too many from a game/hobby point of veiw but I think I'm at the point where I can't have any more - I would need to move into a bigger house!

[Dave Fraser]

Previously I'd have said nope but recently I've been offloading stuff because I decided enough was enough.

 

Through the days of WFB there were 16 clearly defined armies, that number never really increased much. From memory OK was the last army fully added and that was around 2005, I guess CD which were included in that 16 kind of came out and back in again.  When that was the case I had set myself the target of owning painted versions of all 16 armies.  At the demise of 8th ed I had 11 painted and 3 more in boxes ready to go.

With AOS the concept of what is an army is somewhat more fluid with the existence of grand alliances and allies and the evolving sub-factions.  As a result I've not had a significant desire to try to collect every army any more and as a result I've been selling off a number of old projects, this year so far I've shipped about 4 armies off and I'm continuing to unload some parts I don't want.  If I can get a day free from other jobs I'll probably package up a bunch more and get them up for sale.

Has this stopped me from buying & playing armies - absolutely not.

Currently for AoS I have:

Order - Mixed order, KO, Sylvanneth, Seraphon, Stormcasts, Duardin

Death - TK, Deathlords

Destruction - Moonclan/mixed Destruction

Chaos - Skaven, Khorne, Tzeentch, Mixed Chaos/Nurgle

 

Part painted are: KO 1200pts, Seraphon 1500pts, Sylvaneth 2000pts,

Unpainted - Deathlords, Stormcasts

Fully painted: the rest (well I always have some more models for them to paint but I can easily field 2000+pts armies for them)

 

But what I've realised is, I'm never going to play all these armies, so why do I have them?  Having some painted armies on the shelf is something I like to do but then AOS isn't the only game I play so I have lots of others sat around fully painted too.  And this is what has led me to shifting off a bunch of my stuff, ultimately it's not going to get used and I don't have enough room to display it all, so why keep it. 

Unpainted stuff is of use to me, I love painting so I expect to get to it, but weirdly once it's painted I'm less committed to it nowadays.  I think the plan is to strip the GA down to a single competitive army for each (where sub factions are competitive) and maybe to keep a couple of mixed GA armies from the rest and shift the parts of the collection which don't fit into those, the exception to this is probably my TK stuff as they're my sentimental army.