Twenty Money Saving TIPS and TRICKS for Buying Warhammer 40K

Let's talk through a whole bunch of tactics for getting more miniatures on the tabletop, potentially at a cheaper price...

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0:00 Intro
0:27 Discount Retailers
2:37 Hachetter Partworks Magazines
4:27 Rules and Codexes
8:03 Accessories + Peripherals
9:37 US Target Space Marine Game
11:13 At-Risk of Replacement?
13:45 3D Printing
16:43 The Pile of Shame
18:07 Free-Entry Giveaways
20:38 Faction Choice
22:44 Magnets
24:15 Combat Patrols
26:47 Starter Sets
27:48 Selling Miniatures Well
30:15 NOT Selling Miniatures too Quickly
31:27 Points Per Dollar
33:18 Avoid Worst Deals?
34:46 Kitbashes + Conversions
36:15 GW Temporary Deals
37:41 Skirmish Games
39:28 Don't Chase the Meta too Much
41:30 Hold Onto Bits
42:33 Global Pricing Weirdness
44:36 Buying Pre-Owned
46:52 A Few more Discounts
48:22 3rd Party Sculpts
49:14 Heresy Marines for 40K
51:30 Outro

[tarkatantapir]

There's currently 172 Games Workshop stores in America. In theory you could go to every single location and get a free introduction model at each one to get an army going

[Zman]

Got a tabletop store near me that mainly has warhammer, but sells it 15%-25% cheaper than gw prices. Definitely has saved me hundreds of dollars in spending

[philipheng]

Horus heresy units are underrated. The mk3 marines cost aprox. 50$ in my country and you get 20 of them. These can be proxyed as intercessors or maybe sternguard veterans, explaining the old armour. They cost about the same as an intercessor kit (a bit more) but you get double the amount of minis. Same for the new assault marines for heresy which can be proxyed as jump pack intercessors or vanguard vets and are again double the amount of minis for just a little more money

[andystocking]

One kitbash/conversion I have found super useful and economical: The Black templar Crusader Squad: With the addition of some kitbashed shields and a few extra power swords you cna turn the kit into 6x bladeguard vets, and still have 4 bodies left over that make good scouts.

[stealthmonkey]

Patience and controlling FOMO is the best way to save in the long run. You'll find a big influx of models onto the 2nd hand market 3-6 months after release as people sell off projects they never got around to and meta chasers sell off to afford the next hot release wave.

[Duck-ochp]

I’m scared about this man’s upload schedule. I’m surprised how he still manages to release quality content EVERY TIME

[foreverfornever]

Finally someone who recognizes the Heirotek circle killteam as a discount set! A battleline and HQ for $55-$65 depending on where you are gettng it, not mention a whole sprue of custom bits for conversions and kitbashes. If you get fancy with it the Despotek and Apprentek who if given spare legs can both be used as proxies for other HQ's

[robtinning]

The honesty around including the small-self plug with the notice that you wouldn’t consider it as money saving but as support of the channel shows why you are great Auspex 🙌

[platypus_slayer]

I've through the years bought mostly 2nd hand or ebay armies/lots, gotten them played them etc, then when they get a codex sold units or armies for at least even. sometimes on facebook can swap them up in value if its FOTM i got. This allows me to keep up with changes for my main army and experience different models. Recently traded SoB for white scars and sold the rest to fund more DKOK killteams to customize. only paying maybe 10-20% of MSRP atm. so its far less expensive than it looks. like an investment, can grow it and trade it for less direct injections of money.

....Or so I tell the wife ;)

[redwitch]

I got the 9th edition Partworks magazine - I absolutely recommend it. It's got a tonne of lore and missions on top of all the models, as well as paints for some early issues. TOP TIP - your local GW shop will usually sell the first issue, then you've got to go to a local supplier (Forbidden Planet is good in my experience) to get the rest. You also usually get extras if you subscribe, sometimes to the point of nearly being an extra half of an army.

If you're tempted to buy the last run, I recommend checking online to see if the issue is cheaper than buying the models themselves - it's usually fine for model issues, but it can be 50/50 with paints. The upside is that the issues with paints sometimes have discontinued ones, which can be good to stock up on.

[GwainSagaFanChannel]

Casual reminder when buying Black Library books ship them to games workshop store so they wrap it in plastic for protection since if you ship to your home they just put it in a box without any protection for some reason

[carval]

other than waterpot, the accesories you can get from other places.
that waterpot is literally godly good

[bam]

Reddit Mini Swap is great if you live in North America. I was able to build a 4000 point Guard army through various sellers for around 300$ total.

[fallenfossl]

Tbh standard of living is so much higher in Oz to UK that it probably comes out in the wash

Stripping minis from ebay is such an amazing way to go - got a Captain with Relic shield painted terribly for £5.70, stripped him and looks good as new!

[reavern]

My LGS sells WH40K products at the usual third-party retailer 15-20% discount compared to GW, and I’ve earned an extra 3% loyalty program discount. I’ve recently discovered a new LGS that offers up to 30% discount on certain 10e products, and many older products are priced at 2022 prices (or lower). Best of all, the store had products in-stock that have been sold out everywhere else since 10e launched, including the elusive Land Raider Redeemer that I desperately wanted for my Black Templars army.

Other money-saving tips are to monitor Amazon’s price fluctuations by placing items “Save For Later” and buy them when the price drops.

I’ve also acquired used armies from casual players outside my circle, some of whom chose 10e as their exit point and others who dove into 10e headfirst and couldn’t handle the time investment for assembly and painting, so they cashed out.

My best advice to avoid over-spending on WH40K is to buy in manageably small batches, i.e. the Necrons 10e codex release, and assemble and paint them together. If you buy too much too fast, the pile of shame can become too daunting and you end up wasting money.

[liammorgan]

On the topic of using the Age of Darkness box set to jump-start a 40k Space Marine army, you'll want to be mindful that the Spartan has a longer hull than the regular land raider. Fortunately however, the side sponson sprues it comes with are the same ones used in the Proteus Land Raider kit and come with the option to build them as twin-linked or quad lascannons.

[georgehutley]

Top tip. Loads of discount retailers offer better deals than element games.

[eewweeppkk]

Tip 1: 3D printer.

For an excellent 3D printer you will likely break even on your very first army, materials included. The only reason GW still gets away with their horrendous pricing is because their consumer base isnt ready to take the leap to printing yet.

I honestly believe that GW could be an STL/ IP company in the next 20 years instead of a model company primarily, the only thing holding us back from that is consumers unwilling to take the leap. The fact that materials and competant modelers can do it for so much cheaper SHOULD put a lot of pressure on the company to change - the factor holding us back are consumers who value the company more then themselves.

[fearlessretaliator]

You are a legend for putting out so many videos for us Auspex.

[ChattytumblerTCW]

I think as customers we need to start voting with our wallets. The price of some of the GW releases is just insane. £27 for the recently released 1 x space marine sized figure is just daylight robbery.