Tips for building armies

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TroopaDee
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Tips for building armies

Post by TroopaDee »

For many years now I have been trying to amass an army of knights and other types of soldiers (roughly trying to create an "army" of around 30 figs)but have been unable to do so, partially because I don't know what I'm doing and partially because straight out buying them seems very costly. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on what is the best way to build an army.

I am looking to build one or two medieval armies (knights) and an asian samurai-esque style army.

What would be the best way to go about with this? I often find that I end up with a lot of torsos that I thought would look correct and uniform with other torso prints but turn out looking out of place. Or everyone having the same face.
1. Buy parts individually when on sale? Buy lots of the same part one element at a time?
2. Pick out specific torso prints beforehand and focus on only buying those so the army looks uniform
3. Buy entire figs (very costly)

Perhaps I am unsure what the total cost of having such an army is or that I should be looking to spend a lot of $$ if I want to do this. If anyone that has funded an army before can shed some light on the best way to go about with this, that would be great. Thanks!
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AC
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by AC »

Your budget is going to play into this for sure.

I would make a wishlist on bricklink of the torsos you would most likely want and keep an eye on them. Heads are the same you could find some nice angry looking faces and put them on a want list. Legs might be a little less expensive depending on the colour. Then the helmet or hair.

Or you can just spend years amassing a large collection and hoping it comes together. I can say that that doesn’t work all that well. lol
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chump
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by chump »

I think at least you have the first step, which is how many constitutes an army in your head. When the spartan came out, everyone was like I need 300! Thirty can be costly, but it's also attainable.

The second thing to know before spending (money that you say is scarce) is the reason that you want the army. If you have a diorama that you want to put together and display, then it's much better than collecting for collecting sake.

And as you've mentioned, does army building mean that they all have to look the same? or do you want subtle differences between them?

CountPlatypus is probably the best person in the VLC to speak to this about, as he likes historical figures and has put a few armies together in the past.
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TroopaDee
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by TroopaDee »

Thanks for the replies guys! Amassing a large collection and hoping it comes together hasn't worked for me, if it had I wouldn't be asking this! :lol:

I've decided to pick several torsos and just stick with them. Put them on the Bricklink wishlist and wait until a store has a good sale in quantity. Will probably cheap out on legs (plain legs instead of printed) and will use a mix of official TLG and third party helmets. That seems to be the best way to go about it at the moment.

I think for army building they should be slightly different, as I would be using them for a diorama/build (I don't see much point in having an army for collecting- that's hoarding!). For example, an army would have archers, spearmen, and knights, but instead of picking out different torso variations for each group I'm thinking of picking one for each so archers have chain mail with the quiver sling, spearman have "light armor" (printed armor), and knights have actual armor (body wear). This way I can reduce the number of stores I buy from and it makes finding stuff a little easier. Now the hard part is picking the prints!
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TroopaDee
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by TroopaDee »

I think I'd be a little more truthful if I said I wanted an army partly for a diorama, partly to fulfill a childhood fantasy :p
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D_R_Watson
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by D_R_Watson »

Are you thinking at any point of having two army’s of opposing forces? If so you might want to consider that now. It might make ordering cheaper per unit. Also historically there are many battles with a well orgained coordinated army on one side and a bunch of misfits on the other. So when placing an order for your organized army you could check for parts for a miss fit army at the same time. Just some ideas.
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TroopaDee
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Re: Tips for building armies

Post by TroopaDee »

Yup, thanks for the suggestion. I am planning to have one "full" army and a second not full army but a few different units from another army. This is so that I can have one army attacking a castle and the castle can have some defenders. Having one army attacking and no one defending is not a cool diorama!
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