Welcome to the first Tale of Wargamers article on Woehammer! Back in the 90’s these were my favourite article to read in the White Dwarf and I wanted to recreate them, but with a twist!
For a start, we’re all beginning as if we are complete novices to wargaming. We’re limiting ourselves to only £25 a month and we’re assuming we have none of the paints or tools required to begin! We had £50 for our first article (£25 from both September and October).
Our budget has to do a lot of work, as it also has to cover our supplies!
So if you’re new to the hobby or even just an Old Guard starting a new army why don’t you join in and let us know what you bought with your budget and any tips you may have in the comments below.
If you’re not UK based then use the below as a guide for your monthly budget:
Euro – €35
US Dollar – $35
Australian Dollar – $75
The above has been calculated using a box of Cadian Infantry as the marker:
Quick Jump Menu
Declan (UK) – Astra Militarum (40K)
Peter (UK) – Warhammer Fantasy (Dwarfs)
Brett (AUS) – Traitor Guard (40K)
Patrick (US) – Harlequins (40K)
Dave (UK) – Age of Sigmar (Ogor Mawtribes)
Declan
BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October
When Peter suggested Tale of Wargamers for the club I jumped at the chance. Like Peter, I think these articles are one of the best ever to appear in White Dwarf (and they keep coming back so someone must agree with us).
I had a lot of ideas, but I’ve been meaning to re-alight my love of the forces of the Imperial Guard – Astra Militarum.
Our first month is September, and then straight in October so we have £50 to spend, but the rules have thrown another spanner into the works… we have to assume that we have no hobby supplies… not easy!
First purchase: Astra Militarum Start Collecting Set:
This is a great box, packed with value and with an RRP of £57.50; I can get it for below £50! Let’s say a discount of 15%, so £48.88
It also makes a 16 power army:
Total Models: 12
Total PL: 16
HQ
Lord Commissar × 1 [PL: 3]
TROOPS
Infantry Squad × 10 [PL: 3]
– Guardsman × 9
– Sergeant × 1
– Heavy Weapons Team × 1
HEAVYSUPPORT
Leman Russ Battle Tanks × 1 [PL: 10]
– Leman Russ Battle Tanks × 1
What’s Next: well, I can’t actually do anything in October, but this purchase will help me get a flying start in November as I’ll be able to buy the hobby products I need and not need to go back and get toys in a couple of months.
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Sep & Oct Budget | +£50.00 | £0.00 |
| Start Collecting Set | -£48.88 | £1.12 |
Peter
BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October
I’ve decided on a slightly different approach to Declan.
For a start I’m going to build up a Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf army in readiness for the forthcoming Old World release by Games Workshop. While that be maybe more than 12+ months away, I can still use the army against Dave in our Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition battles.
I’m a painter (albeit not a great one) before a gamer, so I’ve decided to get a lot of the supplies a new wargamer would need before beginning, as well as a single model to paint up.
My first stop was our friends at SCN Hobby World. These guys are great, and as I’m signed up to their mailing list I benefit from 25% off GW prices!
As Declan mentioned we had £50 in total to spend, so my first £25 went on the excellent paint and tool kit from Games Workshop. I managed to get this for just £20.63 from SCN Hobby World.
But that was all I bought in September. Although that did give me a decent supply of paints (13 in total), a brush, a clipper (must have in my opinion) and a mouldline remover.
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Carry Over | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| September Budget | +£25.00 | £25.00 |
| Paint and Tool Set | -£20.63 | £4.37 |
That left me £29.37 for October, and I visited SCN once more, this time for some plastic glue, a large bash brush, some citadel paint (Castellan Green) and a Runelord! All of this came to £24.37 and leaves me exactly £30 for November!
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Carry Over | +£4.37 | £4.37 |
| October Budget | +£25.00 | £29.37 |
| Plastic Glue | -£3.79 | £25.58 |
| L Base Brush | -£4.44 | £21.14 |
| Castellan Green | -£2.36 | £18.78 |
| Runelord | -£13.78 | £5.00 |
With that I had all the essentials I needed to get started and a model to put some paint on!
My purchases were fairly simple, although the original paint set came with a lot of tools, it didn’t include plastic glue. I also realised I had no spray can to undercoat my miniature and so bought a large base brush so that I could do this by hand with Abaddon Black temporarily. I also decided to buy some Castellan Green as I knew the colour palette for the Dwarf army would be Green and White/Cream. The green that came with the paint set was too bright so I decided to pick up the Castellan instead. I also decided a Runelord would be a nice little character model to start with and to test out the scheme.
The purchases arrived and I got painting …
I have most of the colours to get the base coats down as well as a shade with Agrax Earthshade. He was base coated with Abaddon Black using the large base brush and then his armour was painted with Castellan Green. His cloak was painted with Corax White as was the rune being held by the tongues. The rune and flames were painted gradually blending from white to yellow to red and finally to black.
I could have finished the model completely using the paints on hand. If you want to save money, you can use the white and black to lighten the paint colours to create your highlights and shades. I chose not to do this as it can be hard replicating the colours across on an entire army and remembering the mix can be hard. Easier for me to use the set colours that GW and other suppliers provide.
My tip for this month is to find an old tub or biscuit tin and use it to store your spare pieces of models you get. These become a great source for future conversions (using bits from different kits to make unique or stand out models).
Brett
BUDGET – Australia – $150 for September & October
Like Peter I came into the hobby because I like painting first but then I found competitive play. I like multiple systems including Saga (fantastic historical with small bands) or Bolt Action (WWII). My first thought was to pick up a Saga warband and but that might be a bit short.
I’m Australian and we pay a bit of a tax for Games Workshop products so I have a $75 limit. That’s enough to pick up an entire army in Saga (but not all of the rules – they are online). Instead I too have gone with Imperial Guard, as older models they are a bit cheaper. If you are on a budget, factions with older models like Drukhari, Guard, Skaven, S2D, and Seraphon are a bit cheaper.
Keeping my advice in mind I’ve also gone with Guard, as a Chaos player though this will be Traitor Guard. I’ll have to save up to afford Blooded though so I’ve headed to one of our discount retailers (Gap Games in Brisbane) to order Cadian Shock Troops
With my remaining $15 dollars I’ve also picked up some prime from Bunnings:
The paint delivery is pretty quick so make sure you move the bottle across the model but it’s 20% of the price of Chaos Black.
That leaves me with about $10 to buy some brushes and look at paints. I will be looking to use “Slapchop” and probably Army Painter speed paints because they are a little cheaper. But for now I’m off to research traitor guard colour schemes.
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| September Budget | +$75.00 | $75.00 |
| Cadian Shock Troops | -$60.83 | $14.17 |
| Black Spray | -$5.20 | $8.97 |
For October I’m starting with a balance of $83.97 and that should be enough to get me the hobby supplies I need. The first order of business is – decide on a colour scheme. In the end I’m going to follow a grey and black style based on some ideas from Midwinter Mini’s (his Blackstone Fortress series). This means I’ve purchased Grey instead of Black Spray for the same price. Plan in hand it’s off to the hobby store which looked a little like this
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Carried Forward | +$8.97 | $8.97 |
| October Budget | +$75.00 | $83.97 |
| Citadel: STC S Base Brush | -$8.69 | $75.28 |
| Tamiya Extra Thin Cement – 40ml | -$8.54 | $66.74 |
| Vallejo T11001 Tools 9pc Plastic Modelling Tool set | -$25.64 | $41.10 |
| Citadel Base: Leadbelcher | -$5.06 | $36.04 |
| Vallejo 72051 Game Color; Black 17ml | -$4.74 | $31.30 |
| Vallejo 70951 Model Color; White 17ml | -$4.74 | $26.56 |
| Speedpaint; Gravelord Grey | -$8.55 | $18.01 |
| Speedpaint; Hardened Leather | -$8.55 | $9.46 |
| Speedpaint; Crusader Skin | -$8.55 | $0.91 |
Leaving us with a total of $0.91. I picked up a hobby set with both nippers and a knife for cleaning up the pieces as we clip them. The bonus is that this set also has a cutting mat and file as well as being portable. Like everyone else I recommend plastic cement, Tamiya’s Extra Thin is almost the gold standard and is cheaper than GW’s glue. It’s also a compatible base to make sprue goo (for a future article).
Nippers and knife in hand it doesn’t take long to assemble the squad: –
Unfortunately the box I’m using only provides the heavy flamer and Grenade launcher. I’ve only included the Grenade launcher although you can have one heavy and one special gunner in each squad. Pretty easy to assemble but you need to be a little bit careful to line up the legs with weapon options that make sense. I gave them a quick prime and then set to painting my first model. Because I am building these as traitor guards I’ve also gone through and carefully removed all of the aquilla’s. Each model has 3.
With a limited palette I’ve used the prime as base of the uniform. After than I’ve painted the base, boots, helmet and the cap of the water bottle black. With a grey prime there are some issues with speedpaints becoming darker but that can work for you. In this case I’ve used Hardened Leather on all of the attachments on the belt (scabbard, bottle carrier and pouches, black on the grenade). Finally for the skin I’ve used a light coat of white to lighten the primer and then crusader skin to give colour and texture.
I’ll add a little bit more colour next week (when I can afford it). I don’t use washes a lot on my models but speedpaint and the black can both be a little too satin. I’ve used a very light application of white for some highlights on the uniform, I’d recommend dry brushing to make it easier, before finishing with a 1:3 mix of black and water to wash the model. I’d prefer Agrax Earthshade and will wait to do the rest when I have the budget to buy it.
Next month I’ll start the next squad and talk about some ways to play with the models before you have a full 500 points.
Patrick
BUDGET – United States – $70 for September & October
I’ve been interested in Harlequins for a long time. GW makes some absolutely beautiful models, and the limited range makes list building simple, but challenging. On top of that, all of the minis can be bought directly from GW within the monthly budget restrictions of this series, which makes it easy to balance month-by-month when to buy models and when to buy paint and supplies.
So the first step is to plan your army. When I’m looking to build my Harlequins, I want to look at the direction of my purchases based in 500pt increments. 500pts is the minimum sized game you can expect to see outside of a skirmish game, like Kill Team. These small games are the best starting point, and you should be able to find more experienced players in your area that are willing to run these tiny games with you.
I don’t recommend you buy the army’s codex just yet. The rules for everything can be found online, but due to potential copyright issues I won’t explicitly state where they are available. Use online resources to determine points costs and use that first 500pt list to plan your first purchases. My 500 point army looks like this:
- Twilight Saedath
- Shadowseer
- Troupe Master
- 10 Troupes
- 1 Starweaver
This gives me an excellent core to my army. The Troupes are mandatory for the army, and the Shadowseer provides excellent buffs and availability to psychic powers. The Troupe Master gives me a solid melee-centered warlord, and the starweaver makes sure that one of my Troupes squads makes it into melee in one piece.
For my first purchase (note that we are allowed $70 USD for the first article) is going to be focused on getting the bare core of this army assembled. The core in question to going to be the Troupe Master and 5 Troupes. We are going to get them built and primed, but I’ll hold off on painting until I have a usable 500pt force.
For my first purchase, I’m going to pick up the cheapest Patrol detachment that GW makes – a Harlequin Troupe. The box contains 6 minis – 1 of which can be built as a Troupe Master, giving me immediate access to my required HQ and Troops slot for my Patrol. This box retails at $42, but I will be buying at a 15% discount. This is the maximum discount that GW will allow a retailer to advertise, and most online retailers have this discount factored into their price. If possible, buy from your local store, but I will have enough money at the end of the article to make up the difference, if you can’t get that discount.
Now that you have a couple of sprues, you are going to need some way of getting all of the pieces removed, trimmed, and glued together. For removal and trimming I recommend using a simple pair of toenail clippers (clean them first!) and a pocket knife. Technically any piece of relatively sharp metal can be used to shave mold lines, but be sure that whatever you use can be used safely.
For glue I recommend using plastic glue, rather than super glue. By volume the cheapest plastic glue that you can buy is Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner. The airbrush cleaner is chemically identical to their plastic glue, is half the price of their plastic glue, and comes in a bottle with nearly 4 times the volume. It will get a little pricey for the first purchase, but this glue will hold you over for the entirety of this Harlequin army (all the way to 2000pts), as well as my Horus Heresy and Age of Sigmar armies. I’ve never found Tamiya in a local shop, but it can be found on MegaHobby.com for $10.50. The downside to this glue is that it doesn’t come with a convenient applicator, like their plastic glue, so I recommend having some cotton swabs on hand for application, just be careful about your glue getting on the parts of your mini you don’t want melted.
So at this point I have 6 minis that are assembled and on their bases. To avoid arriving to a game with a gray tide, I’m going to go ahead and prime my minis at this stage. I buying a rattle can of flat gray primer. I find mid-tone grays to be a great starting point for all of my color schemes, assuming I’m not using a lot of contract paints. To save cost, I’m leaving the game store and walking down the street to my hardware store, where I can get a rattle can of Rust-oleum 249088 Flat Grey Spray Primer for $4.98.
At this point I have 6 primed minis, usable for Kill Team but not quite a large enough force for 40k. Here’s what I’ve spent, and what I have left over to buy paint in November:
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Sep & Oct Budget | +$70.00 | $70.00 |
| Harlequin Troupe | -$35.70 | $34.3 |
| Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner | -$10.50 | $23.80 |
| Ristoleum Grey Primer | -$4.98 | $18.82 |
Dave
BUDGET – United Kingdom – £50 for September & October
I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the Tale and thought long and hard about what I wanted to do. I eventually settled on an Age of Sigmar army and then Ogor Mawtribes. I knew that the new Ogor book was coming soon and it looks like most of the range is still intact. The majority of the Ogor sculpts are quite old but have aged like fine wine. This means that, even with a modest budget, it’s easy to pick up some great models.
I started off on my journey with a pack of brushes from The Works for £6, this gave me 16 assorted brushes. Enough to see me through my project if I look after them.
Next, I needed my paints. I found an army painter starter set for £20.83 on Amazon but missed out as the offer was discontinued before I could pick it up!
After hunting around, I decided to get my paints from Element games, they gave a good discount on the paint ranges and also let me save ‘crystals’ which I might use for a discount in future months,
I picked up the elf paint set, a pot of black and a pot of old gold from Vallejo, a pot of inktense wood from scale 75 and a pot of Reikland flesh shade from citadel. This cost me £31.61 but will stand me in great stead going forward.
Now, for some Ogors to paint! A lot of the crew have been hunting for cheap clippers and glue but in a big brain move I found three ready built and unpainted Gluttons from Troll Trader for £9. Now, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and if you love building and customisation then it won’t be yours. My time is limited though and so is the budget…..
This put me at £46.61 for the month and it was time to start painting.
I slopped on my black and then dry brushed with off white to get started. I then used the inktense wood on all the wood items and two coats of Reikland flesh shade on all the skin. Metals were nice and simple, just a matter of choosing silver or gold. Then everyone got some nice jazzing coloured pants.
I am not a fan of the silver from the Vallejo set but everything else was great and I’d recommend it overall.
Next month I will be picking up another three gluttons, some basing materials and a few more paints. This will include a black spray as undercoating with a brush…… sucks.
The following month I hope will be models only and the army will really grow apace. I already have a few events planned for my new army, including the Woehammer Tournament next year.
My challenge at the moment is that, awaiting the new book, I really can’t plan my army. I’m guessing I can’t go wrong with a few battleline though.
See you next time and….. Get in mah belly!
HamsFan
| Item | Cost | Remaining |
| Sep & Oct Budget | +£50.00 | £50.00 |
| Paints & Tools | -£31.61 | £18.39 |
| Ogor Gluttons | -£9.00 | £9.39 |
