Warhammer is expensive, but I am cheap.
The intersection of these two undeniably true facts creates somewhat of a paradox. It is in that impossible space where genius and madness can fester in equal measure. Take, for example, the above Kill Team. If I wanted to purchase the box outright it would set me back almost 80 Afghan tribesmen! Those ten models are worth approximately the same amount that it would cost me to get into SAGA with a full army and terrain. But for all my winging, SAGA and Colonials don't have cool chainswords. More importantly, neither have a local wargaming scene, but Warhammer does. Considering that I have been tinkering with miniatures for over seven years at this point I suppose I should actually play a wargame at some point. Thus do I proclaim the week(s?) of Kill Team. This first look will be discussion of how I try to save money and creatively fulfil myself when it comes to Warhammer.
The first and easiest way to save money is to move the goalposts of what counts as saving. The cheapest options would be paper standees or Tabletop Simulator, but both of those take away from the physical hobby aspect which is what I'm really here for. The same goes for 3D printing, with the asterisk that while learning digital modelling would be less expensive in the long run it would require effort beyond what I am prepared to put in. Using third-party miniatures would also be a great way to save money, and this is the practice which I have the least reasons to avoid. I can only vaguely wave my hands as to why I haven't already started, and please believe me when I say I fully intend to do so one of these days. But enough of equivocating, how do I intend to make a Kill Team without paying the cost of one? The first step is to have a nice and healthy pile of shame. Despite not collecting Chaos or Beastmen I already have five of them, four from Blackstone Fortress. Bulk deals like the Warhammer Quest Games are already a good start, and I was able to get both quest games at noticeable discounts over two years. Each year these bulk deals get a little less appetizing as the savings decrease, but I doubt there will ever be a point where they become a bad trade compared to separate purchases. So that's four out of ten miniatures already taken care of. It might seem foolhardy to try and save money by buying miniatures without a plan for how to make use of them, but the principle of the idea is to buy miniatures which you know are cheaper than average and then create uses for them.
Out of production and secondhand kits like this one are my go-to. Ebay is the primary retailer I work with, and it's always good to keep in mind what will be hitting the market at any given time. There is often a window between then a kit goes out-of-print and when it becomes rare where it is charged at its regular price, which is almost always less than whichever kit was created to replace it. Physical stores do not markup OOP miniature kits frequently in my experience, so keep an eye out at the back of the shelf and the corner of the store. More than once I have found a treasure or two hidden behind another box. I make a point to stop at any shops I can reach while travelling, always check if the store has a second-hand section. Changes to the meta and the release of multiple-faction boxes often mean that certain factions will be very cheap for a brief period, but this knowledge is common enough that prices can fluctuate rapidly.
Now there is a problem. I have no more Beastmen models to work from. This is where the magic starts. Because what is a Beastman? A miserable little pile of plastic! In more practical terms, a Beastman is a creature with human and animal attributes in a monstrous fashion. That is something I can work with, especially since 40K lacks certain other creatures which would normally overlap into that design space. Models I already have, like the Vrykos Blood-born, can be tinkered with to serve as Beastmen Kill Team Operatives by playing up the attributes they have in common with Beastmen. They lack the physical size of a Beastman, so the rules-supported bulk will have to be filled out with either armour plating or some other implication to convince the onlooker that one of these is equivalent to a bulky Goatman in prowess and danger. The same goes for the Shaman, who is also a little less imposing than he could be. As for the blood-born, their heads will need to be swapped for something more monstrous, and of course they need a bit of grimdark technology to bring them up to code with the 41st Millenium. But once those changes are made, I think they can not only fit in with but aesthetically elevate the Beastman Kill Team.
Our list is up to eight, but we need two more. Here is where things get stranger still, for I want to try something new. I have picked up the new Skaven Clanrats kit as part of the Age of Sigmar Introductory Set (It comes with 25 miniatures and 5 paints pots for the price of 10 miniatures!) and want a crack at painting them. I do not think they are suited for the Guardsrat treatment immediately since they are not remotely multipart, which means that having them join Chaos is no great loss by my calculations. Of course, despite all of my conversion wizardry I doubt I would be able to make a single rat look as imposing as a single Beastman, even with a tactical sandbag or two. Therefore, I will use two rats to a base, or perhaps three. Stretching the typical GW understanding of miniatures can allow for more creative substitutions. Why does one base need to have one mini? Why does one miniature need two arms? Why does a miniature need a lower half? I could stack three Snotlings, give them a lasgun, and call it a guardsman! I could give a space marine one arm and have him clutching a bleeding stump where his other used to be! I could make an army consisting entirely of legless Necrons if I sculpted some sort of toxic gas for them to be wading through! The calculations may be a bit strange, (2 Rats=1 Goat?) but the idea is sound, and can produce very interesting figures as a result.
I do feel it is important to mention your prospective and likely long-suffering opponents in all of this. Remember that you are not here to give yourself an advantage. Even though I have yet to actually play a wargame I try to always keep my miniatures to a standard equivalent to their stock counterparts. If a miniature is shorter than it would normally be, either elevate it with base terrain or stick something like a lamppost on the base to bring the height up. If a model is supposed to have a lasgun, it should have something which is recognizably a lasgun. When you stretch these limits do so consistently, so that even if your units are extremely different to regular ones they are identifiable within your army as being one unit type or another. I have not always been great about doing this, but it is important to try and keep it in mind. Even so, I doubt any of my projects would be allowed within sight of a professional tournament.
I hope to have the models roughed out by my next post, after that there may be a detour.
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