What make you start a new army?

[Arzalyn]

So with the "new year, new army" discussion going around I started to wonder what is the main reason that make people start a new army. It can be your first or your 10th army and can you have multiple things that attract you, but generally there is a main factor that seal the deal for you in general. Share your thoughts processes! 

[ManlyMuppet88]

I'm a sucker for shiny new models. The budget and the shameful pile of unpainted models is the only thing keeping me in check.

[Neverchosen]

My financial situation dictates my collection, luckily I am extremely interested in creating a scheme and a theme for every possible army. For all my railing against Space Marines I would gladly make my own fallen version of the space bores.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

I looked back at the armies I have actually started and picked all the reasons that went into my decisions:

Cool new models:

Probably the main driver for me, and hardly needs any explanation. Models looks cool -> buy models -> army started. Most recently, I got into the new Soulblight models because of this even though my existing Legions of Nagash army was Tomb Kings themed.

Interesting/powerful rules:

Personally, I interesting rules really help sell me on models and factions I would not otherwise be interested enough in to start. I look for rules that allow me to do something unique that I find interesting and fun more than just mechanical power, though. Not sure if that has actually led me to start a whole new army yet, but it has definitely made me buy models for armies I have that I would not have bought for aesthetics alone. I think the option to field Kharadron airships alongside Steam Tanks and Gyrocopters in Tempest's Eye might count.

Getting a good deal:

I mostly just buy stuff I really want, but I recently got gifted a Nurgle start collecting box and am now building up that army. So I guess it counts.

Project idea:

I originally started Legions of Nagash because it was a way to get my old Tomb Kings skeletons on the table.

Play style:

Part of the reason I started Cities of Sigmar is that I wanted an army with a ranged combat focus after getting into Legions of Nagash, which was basically all melee.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Neil Arthur Hotep

[RuneBrush]

Has to be the models and background lore for me.  I know that if Ogors or Chaos Dwarves get released and I like the aesthetic, it'll be very hard to resist doing a path to glory force or army.  What I do know though is I need to reduce my existing pile of plastic if something new were to come along because I feel like I could open up a GW store with the amount of stuff I have...

[zilberfrid]

* Pretty models, not specifically new.

* Are they dwarves?

* Can I use them in d&d?

* Are the models halway affordable?

That's about it.

 

[elfhead]

I don't care for rules and such, because I'm only into the hobby/painting side of the hobby. I don't have a lot of time or space for all of my stuff, so I don't start a new project lightly. I don't want to start a new army unless I have a good and fun idea for an army. I need a good background story that drives me to create new units and do a lot of conversions. for a new project, a hedonites army, I also know I want to paint a really colorful and vibrant army. Using a colorscheme I have never done before also makes me motivated to start on this new force. 

Currently I'm also considering creating an army as a commission, so I can do a nice project but it doesn't end up just sitting on a shelf. With all the new eldar stuff coming up I might even start doing a 40k army for the first time ever. 

[drcrater]

I think in my case it's usually a good idea for an army what makes me want to start it. For example, I'm going to start maggotkin because I had the idea to make a drowned men army with the blightkings converted to have diver suits, with the help of Iron golem helmets and a couple of space marine pieces. 

Also, the lore and the look of the army are a heavy player on that decision, I usually don't care about the rules if the army looks awesome (I mean, I was playing S2D since we didn't even have a battletome)

[Skreech Verminking]

For me, a reason for starting a new army, would be rats.

I love them.

and there is no denying of their cuteness or madly genius.

and with the addition of the rat prince my latest army project I just started was the undead legion of Kritza, for that reason.

Should gw ever update the currently 60% of the old skaven range, I could see myself adding another good amount of points to my skaven collection, yet them neglecting that visions, currently just stopped me doing so.

thankfully I do love converting, and there is always a good change that my collection grows by a good chunk of points, duo to new mad ideas. (After all who else is going to convert 19 stormvermins into rattling gunners, just so he/she could play them all at once)

Edited January 14, 2022 by Skreech Verminking

[pnkdth]

A perfect storm of play style + lore + idea for a project. If one of those falls short the entire project is cancelled/army shelved. Somewhat related to interesting rules but equally I can enjoy what others consider bland warscrolls if the army as a whole play in an interesting way. Since I consider the entire GW range my smorgasbord the more models there are the better.

The downside is that I am very adept at shooting down my own ideas and projects which has lead to a hoard of random kits and models... Which has turned out to be a blessing after having discovered smaller scale skirmish games (Frostgrave, Malifaux, and Reign in Hell. Also started looking at Stargrave, Infinity, and more).

In short, hobbyist first, gamer second but the distance is not far in between.

[OkayestDM]

For me, it's the triumvirate of Models, Lore, and Play style. Models typically weighs a bit heavier than the others when it comes down to the final decision, though not always.

For instance, despite loving the look and lore of Nurgle, I only just took the plunge because the new rules and play style complimented the lore so nicely that I couldn't pass them up any more. 

[Noserenda]

I spark dozens of ideas based on fluff and novels but the ones that get off the ground are always model based. Rules are essentially irrelevant in my middle age, if they are great or suck alike, they are still increasingly temporary. 

[JackStreicher]

Strong abilities and interesting abilities should be seperate checkboxes.

[Ganigumo]

Models I like and an actual build around them (even if it isn't strong).

[Doko]

I chosen option 4, buy with bundles

I am a veeeery perfectionist and slow builder miniatures dude that need around 8 hours to build(not painting,only build)a single fyreslayer hearthguard per example.

So i usually have my pile of shaming growing bigger as i buy faster than i build.

Due to this reason i usually allway i try dont buy nothing but when i see bundles of miniatures or armys that i like i cant avoid buying it because as economist that i am,my head only think how i gonna skip this bundle with miniatures that i love at 50% disscount when is posible in a future i gonna buy them and must pay the usual 20% discount of the store loosing money.

I think i only bougth out of bundles to krondys,dwarfs hammerers and wild ryders in the last 3 years.

[BigNStinky]

Conversion/unique painting idea first.

 

I then browse around to see how much it would cost to pull it together. Good deals on models (particularly 2nd hand like ebay or exchange groups) clinches or kills it.

 

 

 

[EccentricCircle]

I'm also a models first kind of person. As others have said, the longer you are in the hobby, the more fleeting and temporary the rules that go with them seem.

I tend to start something new when I need those models for an existing project, and often not actually a warhammer related one. More than a few of my armies have been started when I bought a box of this and a box of that for use in D&D or frostgrave, and then thought "ooh, if I put those together and add this or that it will be a functional-ish warhammer army"

I will often go for army deals and boxed sets, but only when I already have a strong plan or theme that I know they will fit in with. I never get anything just because its a good deal.

[Pyrescribe]

For the two armies that I currently play, Slaves to Darkness and Lumineth, cool new models certainly played a factor. However I would say the #1 consideration for me now is the ease with which I believe I can get a fully painted force ready. The Lumineth were an exception to this, as I really had no choice in the matter of starting them--I simply had to. But for Slaves to Darkness, or the Ogor Mawtribes I'll start later this year, or for factions I play in other games (like Shasvastii in Infinity), it's the paint scheme and methodology that drives my interest.

All in all, the hobby side takes precedence over rules. Are the models cool? Do I have a defined and scalable painting schema in mind for them?

[Gitzdee]

Cool looking models is always first for me. I noticed that if i dont really like a model i dont feel motivated to work on it and it will stay in the box or grey plastic for a long time. I will always go back to greenskinz. Lately the Underworlds model line is really awesome imho.

Having elite/ easy to paint options this is maybe a bit of a weird one. I just dont have as much time as i used to have. I just started a Sylvaneth army that is all dryads for battleline. Dryads are easy to paint up fast. rest of the army are cool looking centerpieces like Alarielle and the Warsong Revenant. Also want to keep the dream alive of having a Wood Elves army some day. Also started buying into some Ironjawz (Gordrakk) and Kruleboyz (Mirebrute Trogg). I also like to paint single models. Its more fun to me than painting big hordes of anything, its starting to feel like a chore if i paint 20+ the same model.

Wishlisting is also a thing. I they do new Gitmob Grots i'll sell another army instantly. Same with wood elves style Kurnothi like Qulathis. I am also waiting to be blindsided by GW with a completely new army out of nowhere that i just need to have in my life.

[amysrevenge]

The trivial answer of "What makes you start a new army" is that I start a new army when I finish the current one.

Getting to what you're really asking, "What makes you start a particular new army?" - it's almost always based on starting from a core of models I already have in my collection.  I've got bits and pieces of kits and units going back a couple decades - NIB, second hand, 3rd party, etc - such that I could start almost any faction with at least a few models as a head start.

I've got a dozen or more painted armies - only twice in my life have I ever just grabbed a bunch of new kits and started an army from zero (once in 99/00 with starter box Lizardmen, and then circa 2016 when I did a bunch of commission painting for my FLGS and took some Flesheater Courts starter boxes as payment)

Edited January 17, 2022 by amysrevenge

[Nirvana]

Admittedly, I'm probably not normal with this but I picked up the last 4 armies because of my illness.  I've got Crohn's Disease.  So playing a game at a shop was difficult.  So I decided to go for a very elite army.  I picked up Custodians.  Very detailed, very hero oriented, spent a lot of time on each model.  Easy to move around the table, not too much happens.  If have to step away to the bathroom, I'm not worried about moving tons of models around.  Next army, as my illness progressed I picked up Death Guard.  For no reason other than I wanted to play an army that looked like how I felt.  Pox Walkers, guts, etc.  Then I had my surgery a year ago - I figured I'd just continue with the theme since I'm more akin to a Blight King than anyone else here 😜  I mean, unless anyone else has their intestines hanging out of the abdomen.  

Prior to getting sick though, I liked to play either a) horde armies (Soulblight/LoN or Imperial Guard) or b) fast moving and hard hitting (Dark Angels/ Space Wolves or Ogor Kingdoms).