A tale of five gamers.

[Boomer]

What is 'A tale of 5 gamers' about?

White Dwarf, Games Workshops' monthly gaming magazine (started in issue 21, run a couple articles where a group of gamers (4 gamers funnily enough) record the collection of their Warhammer armies from the ground up. Each gamer has a monthly budget and buys and paints those models within the month, therefore ensuring the army grows steadily. By the end of a certain period a full army can be collected.

In reality.....What is 'A tale of 5 gamers' about?

O.k. the idea is to show how an army can be built and painted in small sections over a period of time,
using a budget and a little time and effort.

Whilst the theory above is great, in reality there are a few guidelines needed,

• Each person will start off with £62 which they can spend as they like on any new Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 army (including a copy of the relevant army book / codex), then over each of the subsequent four months you are will spend £25 (about £6.25 per week) which you can use to build up your force. Thus over a period of five months you will each will have created a new Warhammer / 40K army with a value of £150.

• Use a current copy of the army book / codex, that’s why I have suggested a £62 commitment for the first month - £50 to start you off on your army and £12 for the rule book / codex. If you already have a copy of the rule book / codex you want to use then just lower your budget to £50 for your first month.

• The army must use a game legal list, exceptions can be made for Lost & the Dammed list, Kroot Merc army list, Jungle fighters,13th Company, etc. ( The reason for this guideline is quite simple, if you build a army I’m sure you want to be able to play with it when your finished).

• You can use any models you like, Games Workshop’s, or any other miniature companies you like.

• Converted armies will be most welcome! A great chance to use your bitz box and save some money!!

• Try and build everything you buy for that month. And you will be strongly encouraged to paint your purchases to a level your happy with (A three colour minimum is a good starting point).

• Use any way you want to make your purchases i.e. eBay, independent / online retailers, second hand.

• You will also need to have some way of posting pictures on the forum to show your progress with your new army.

• Each person can use the following template, to chart there progress, this will keep things nice and simply for everyone to follow.

Introduction - Background history into things like length of time playing 40k / wargaming, other hobbies, personal vendettas and such. You can post a little bit about yourself if you want. But since we all have a profile page on this forum don’t feel you have too.

Army Choice - Why you've chosen this army, what you hope to achieve and what mischief you plan to cause.

Your Aim with Army - Want to get 2,000pts of (mainly) footslogging’s Close Combat based Scavenga Ork’s ready for a major tournament next Summer? Or maybe you want to just finally have a completed army. Whatever your reasons feel free to post them here.

This Month's Spend - List of what you've bought / obtained this month, how much you have remaining and "Spare Change" brought forward / left over. E.g. £45 Spent on Battleforce, £10 on Codex leaving £5 of this month's budget to roll over to next month.

What you've done this Month - Interesting Conversions? Elaborate Paint Scheme? Show what you've done this month... for most people I think the first month will be assembly and test paint schemes. Feel free to post pictures of your models / army.

Ideas for next Month - What you'd like to do next month and what your intention of spending your hard earned pennies on.

Then repeat the bottom 3 each month...

· This is for any game system, Warhammer & Warhammer 40,000 & Lord of The Ring. Also if anyone wants to try this with a non Games Workshop system please do. I would like to see the results!

If you want to take part or have any questions please feel free to ask. Also this is NOT a competition, there will be no 'winner', but what I'm hoping for is four or five people to be able to show off there completed armies at the end of November, and for others to be inspired to start their own force or just to follow the fates and fortunes of the armies on the thread over the coming months.

Here is a list of the gamers taking part,

• Boomer – Barghesi – LatD list.
• Koss – Spider Tyranids.
• CaptainSarthai – Warriors of Chaos or Ogre Kingdoms
• Hobbit88 – Ork’s.
• sGluciousa – Pre Heresy Death Guard.

[Tekore]

Looks like good stuff. Having been through Tale of Painters a couple times, I know it can be tricky at times, but very rewarding. Looking forward to seeing more.

Tekore

[CaptainSarathai]

Hey, well, let's get this thing kicked off! Guess I'll go first?

Intro: I've been a member of the hobby for 8years, starting with HighElves, moving to Space Marines, and then making several forays into other armies and systems. Recently, you may know me as one of the Fantasy writers for LO's vibrant "army builder" thread. I have been on LO since '04, but when the new site came up, my name changed. If you recall a particular Elf general's fanatical cries of "yeeha- go fast!", that'd be me Aside from spending my money on this wargaming endeavor, I also work with cars, surf, and play several instruments.

Army Choice: I have chosen to go with Warriors of Chaos for my army choice. I have done so because having spoken with Boomer, and explaining my budget constraints, I plan on increasing my army by set points. This will keep in touch with the rest of the thread, because my army will likely cost somewhat less than the others, by way of money saving conversions and simple unit choice. There are few armies better than the elite raids of Chaos for gamers who need high points at low premiums. Besides- who doesn't want to sell their soul to the penultimate higher power? That scares my friends... i like fear...

What's my aim with these killing machines?: After looking at the rules and models in the Warriors book, I was irresistably drawn to the Father Nurgle. With the new proliferation of Fear causing enemies, Nurgle can stand pround and begin the irrevocable march of the Plague Father.

Purchases this month: So far I've downloaded GW's official PDF (beautiful thing- free army book) and bought 2 regiment boxes of marauders. They're easy to paint because they don't need to follow the same scheme as my knights and warriors.
total- $74.2

Done this month: writing lists, proxying games, looking at models bitz and prices, licking my chops in anticipation of tasty things to come.

Next month: I'm probably gonna buy up some warriors and get them painted up.

[SGluciousa]

Intro: I have been in warhammer 40k for 4 years. I started off with Necrons and moved from there learning how to paint and model. I did not actually learn how to play the game until 2 years ago at which point I picked up Tyrandis and fell in love with them. My other hobbies include skiing, soccer,tennis, reading, and hanging with my family. I am fourteen years old and tomorrow is my One Year Anniversary on LO!!

Army Choice: I am making a Pre Heresy Death Guard list. For all of those who don't know what this is it is the Death Guard( they are chaos space marines) before they left the emperor. I chose this army because there will be a lot of complications to building it. First off I really wanted to keep the army as fluffy as possible. Or, in other words, as true to the books as possible. That means modeling them with the correct armour of their time and making sure that they don't have any weapons or units that should not be there. I can't wait to get this started and finally have a finished army!

My Aim: I want to make a 1000 point army that is fully built and painted. I want to get exceptional quality with my skills into the building and painting. I want it to stay as true to the book as possible.

My Purchases: So far I have bought the codex, the rulebook, and two new paints (dark angels green and badab black wash). I hope to get a squad of tactical marines today along with new plastic glue and some train studs for the armour.

I shall get pictures up of my modeling as soon as it starts off!

NEXT MONTH: I hope to get another squad of tactical marines.

PM me if you have any questions.

p.s. If you could help me with fluff anything is appreciated.

[SGluciousa]

Well, I made a new purchase today. I got the tactical marines, a water resign for fake water, the devlan mud wash, some glue, and glue nozzles. My total so far is 123$.

I have already started modeling a test model. All I have to do to him now is wait untill I find a way to make studs to stud him up. I am making MkV power armour. Here he is
DSCN0860-1-1.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

DSCN0858-1.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I know that he has a little bit of plastic stuff on him but I removed that later. As you can see I made him bald and I removed the Aquila. I put him on a wood chip which will become a rock when I paint. C and C are always welcome!

-SG

[Boomer]

Introduction –
Hi, my real world name is Ross, but on the interweb you will know me as Boomer, or if you catch any of my Warseer posts then Slade the Slaughter. I have been a keen fan of 40k for about 10 years now, and have two fairly big Tyranid armies fully made and
painted. I play a game of 40k atleast once a week at my local gaming club in Luton Bedfordshire. My main opponent is Khornate Steve
(who is a member of L.O but never seems to post anymore!).

Army Choice -
Well what army am I doing……. the Hyper Violent Barghesi of the Grendl Stars!
Why? Well I love to convert and since almost nothing is known about them (apart from being HYPER VIOLENT!)
I’m pretty much got a clean slate to start with. Since my last army was a horde of Humans mutated with Tyranid bio weapons I’ve decided to try something new, so the general idea of my army will be hyper violent alien cyborgs. I’ve come up with a fairly
decent sized 1000pt point LatD list which should push my converting prowess to it’s limits.

Your Aim with Army –
Well the main aim of this army is to show case how proper planning of funds and effort will prevent a piss poor half unpainted army which would be relegated to a bottom draw. Also I deeply feel that in a galaxy wide setting 40,000 years in the future there is a real lack of vile aliens. Yeah there are Elder, Orks, Tau and Necrons and such but to me they lack a certain scary horror. So this is my attempt to remedy this. Saying all that, I can still envisage a bundle of sloppily painted, mangled mini’s, but dam I’m going to try.

This Month's Spend -
So far this month, I’ve spent £16.50 on Ork parts, and £10.35 on pig iron heads. I going to the Milton Keynes G.W this Saturday and shall buy my first troop selection(£24) ….. which means I will overspend this month by 85 pence.
But by using the free LatD codex (downloaded off the G.W site) and the free Armoured Company (downloaded off the G.W site) I have all the information I need to
do my complete army list and saved myself £12.

What you've done this Month -
Not much so far apart from planning and online ordering. But I will upload pictures as soon as I have something to show.
I am also currently writing up the bare bones of my fluff. I will post that in the fluff forum but post a link here.

Ideas for next Month –
Next month I will be buying my second troop choice and will be able to repay my overspend for this month.
Also I will be doing some serious researching of cyborgs……

Till next time! - Boomer.

[Hobbit88]

Evening all, apologies for the delay in posting up my first part... have been hanging on and hanging on to get pictures, but haven't had chance to go home in the past few days. Anywho, now I've got some time to spare...

Introduction –
Hello all who may be reading this weird and wonderful tale, I hope to enjoy writing here and hopefully can force me to actually get around to painting a full army for once!

So who am I? Well, I've only recently joined LO after 4 or so years of playing 40k, starting with LOTR and then moving onwards into the Sci-Fi madness we all love. I've got two sizeable armies in Necrons and Chaos Marines (around 3,000pts each) and then a mess of Imperial Guard that are a pain at the moment... waiting til the new Codex appears before touching them again!

Anywho, I play at Manchester Area Wargames Society each Monday Night, usually playing at around the 2000pts since that's the points limit for a tournament we all attend in August called Britcon.

Army Choice -
After years of putting them off and having the codex and a mob of Boyz sat on my shelf for at least 6 months and with the release of 5th Edition, I've decided to launch my own Waaagh! and start an Ork army!

Why the Orks? Well simply because they're not a MEQ army and they seem extremely fun to play and use. Since there's at least 5 - 8 MEQ armies at our gaming club, between only 5 regular players... I definately didn't want something with a 3+ Save. The randomness and sheer ferocity of the Orks is what I want to get out of the army.

Your Aim with Army –
My main aim of the army is to produce a competetive 2,000pt army list, that can handle itself in a tournament but not powergaming. I enjoy going to tournaments to play.

The second aim of the army is to try and make it all plastic! It'll be tough to do, but at the end of the day it'll be a LOT easier for me to transport, paint and store. Not mainly a cost thing, since some of them end up cheaper, some more expensive and others around about the same. It'll push me to the limits of converting and my Bitz box will take a beating...

This Month's Spend -
So far this month, I’ve spent £0 on Ork stuff. I already have the Codex and a mob of 10 Shoota Boyz, 1 with Big Shoota - lead by a Nob with Powerklaw and Slugga combo. I've also got a single Gretchin, made from a spare Fantasy Gnoblar. All are painted and will be added to.

The reason for no expenditure so far is saving for cheap deals at Britcon's bring and buy, along with the plethora of Ork stuff that will be in Black Reach (which I'm craftily splitting the cost of and contents of, with a friend).

What you've done this Month -
Writing and re-writing lists.... along with asking a multi-tude of questions on forums regarding Ork units and the Codex.

I've already painted up an 11 Strong Mob of Boyz and a Grot - to test the waters of my extremely simple and quick painting style for Orks.

I'll add to this bit when things have been bought mid-August, but in the mean time, I intend to convert 2 Chaos Predators I have knocking around into Looted Wagons. One will be a transport for a Tankbusta unit and the other into a Boomgun carrier for some AP3 goodness.

Ideas for next Month –
Next month I should have all my Britcon purchases and be working on some of them, have 2 assembled Looted Wagons (one toting a Boomgun) and maybe... just maybe... a Squiggoth....

Just simply because I want a Battlewagon in the list, but don't want to go the Land Raider route like so many people have done before. In addition, I want a Squiggoth outside of an Apocalyspe game.... so kill two Grots with one stone and have a small Squiggoth which can double as my Battlewagon.

We'll see how I get on with other stuff first before I commit to that though...

So next month I should have:
1 x 30 Strong Mobs of Shoota Boyz
1 x Ard Boyz Mob
1 x Trukk (Transport for Above)

Adios for now...

[Hobbit88]

Finally got around to taking pics of my Ork Boyz and the beginning of a Grot Herd. Not purchased anything new yet - planning on hacking up some Chaos Predators for Looted Wagons in the next few days, but at the moment, I'm working on terrain to be used in an upcoming tournament.

Pictures:
Here's a few pics of Da Furst Boyz, the beginning of a 30 strong Shoota Boyz mob:
Da Testa Boy: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...oto-0001-1.jpg
Big Shoota: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Photo-0004.jpg
Nob with PK and Slugga: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Photo-0005.jpg

Notes:
These guys were the testers, bought them in a bundle with the Codex when first released around January this year. I started by using the foundation paints for the first time and using lots of layering... the skin being the most time consuming bit - Orkhide Shade > Catachan Green > Knarloc Green. It gives a really good look on the muscles, but when I've got 20 - 30 Boyz in a Mob that are being shredded by any bolter shots coming their way... I don't see the point in investing too much time per model.

I went for a basic Goff scheme, since I like to paint Black and judging from the Codex and Fluff they suit my intention with Orks - (Mostly) Footslogging Hard Infantry.

As for assembly, I wanted Shoota Boyz as I assembled them with 4th Ed in mind, but also now to hold objectives as a large Mob, laying down a lot of fire (albeit poorly aimed) into assaulting objective holders.

Pictures:
Then here's my Mini-Grot Herd (since there's only one of them at the minute!):
Runtherds: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Photo-0007.jpg
Runtherds again, this time bullying my Lonely Grot: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...oto-0008-1.jpg

Notes:
The runtherds are converted from a Fantasy Orc Chariot crew, which I got from the 6th Ed Fantasy boxset, with the intention of using the Chariot for a Bretonnian Grail Reliquae conversion. One has a whip and one has a stabby stick... both make them look like they can boss the Grotz around.

The grot is just a Gnoblar from my Bitz box off Ogre Bulls, painted up in a Goff scheme and on a round base. I time I'll get a full unit of 25, with 2 Runt Herds as a tar pit / bolter magnet.

The other thing was that I painted the Runtherds in a much quicker style, using Drybrushing as opposed to Layering. The green isn't so strong now, but it does mean that I can paint 2 Orks including Undercoat in less than 30 minutes.

Conclusion:
So that's my first contribution model-wise to To5G, hopefully you get the gist of what I'm doing... speed-painted Ork infantry horde.

Before the end of next month I'll hopefully have 2 Looted Wagons, one as a Tankbusta's transport and one carrying a Boomgun.

C&C welcome. Peace out all,
H88

[Boomer]

Wow Hobbit88 the orks are looking really good, i know how hard it can be
to get Ork skin right.

I just got back from from G.W with 2 box sets of Ghouls and the new rule book.
I think i shall jump right in and start chopping some stuff up and glueing bits together right now. I will post pic tonight with some test models.



edit, anyone reads this months W.D and the new tale of four gamers??

- Boomer.

[Handbag of Joy]

Introduction –
Hey its *insert profile information here*

I live in sydney and play 40k exclusively just due to laze on learning a whole second and different set of rules (magic phase? jeez gimme a break @.@). I usually collect salamanders and genestealer cults (which ghouls make great heads for btw). I've been playing for 4 years or so and truly painting for 2 or 3 years and have had much history with the imperium's angels of death.

Army Choice -
I've always wanted to make a powerhouse all out assault army working like a wounding spear in the enemy's core. So I did what every smart marine does when in times of new faith, I turned to Chaos =) Khorne to be more precise. Seeing a special army called the 'Lust wing' a few months ago for the first time I decided to take inspiration from that and make a Black Legion Khorne force inclusive of the 'Gore Wing', a selected group of powerful former leaders and captains once the most trusted of the Imperium's warriors, now devotants to their enemy. Anyway I was thinking start it small and go straight for the termies then filling the rest of the points up to 1000 or 1500 depending on my later calculations.

Your Aim with Army –
Conversions ! I want a diverse paint scheme too while still achieving a uniform feel. The army isn't meant to be competitive merely showcase. Lots of bitz planned to be used also all should end up being plastic.

This Month's Spend -
This month I ordered about... *uses money converter thanks to Australia*... 55 pounds this month on bits to put on my termies and 12 pounds for the book CSM codex, that's 67. Ok well now i got 20 pounds for the next month.

What you've done this Month -
Still writing up a list I can like, but I'm set on having two squads of chaos terminators so I'll have plenty of time to think of what else will make an appearance in my army.
Nothing painted as of yet but lots of mental planning and fluff to eventually be incorporated into the first models.

Ideas for next Month –
Likely more bits for the termies to make em more unique, thanks to TheWarStore.com

Thats all from me, hope I'm welcome and not seen as a cursed 6th gamer