Seeking advice on army building

[Erynion]

Greetings

Over the past year or so my childhood interest in LEGO has gradually sparked anew. I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to pursue the hobby and build epic and beautiful MOCs, so I most focus on collecting minifigures.

Lately I've had a desire to build my Castle army bigger, and I was wondering if any experienced army builders/collecters had some advice for me.

Since I can't really afford to purchase a lot of sets (especially out-of-production ones...), and since I'm not really a big fan of the Kingdoms line anyways, I think my best bet is to purchase minifigures and accessories on Bricklink - unless someone has a better suggestion?

I'm also debating which figures to collect. I like to have my army relatively "uniformed" and have at least the same color scheme/coat-of-arms throughout. However, at the moment I have a smattering of various Castle/medieval themes (Fright Knights, Knights Kingdom I, Ninja, and a bit of Fantasy Era). I think I prefer the Fantasy Era soldiers best, since they look so awesome in their shining silver and I like navy blue/black a lot better than the red on the Kingdoms guys. But I don't know though - I also like retro Castle (I miss those old archer helms without the wide brim...). I THINK it generally holds true Fantasy Era figures are cheaper and at least more plentiful in the online marketplaces than, say, Royal Knights or Dark Forest or whatever, since they were sold most recently?

If some experienced army builders could lend me some advice about what and how to collect soldiers, and if I've said anything in error correct that, I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry this got a little long-winded.

Thanks!

~Erynion~

[Captain Becker]

Ah, army building.... Thing wich i am also thinked to do.

The best solutions are from Ebay or Bricklink as you sayed, also battlepacks are good for army building.

If you dont want to buy new Kindoms sets, and try to focus for example into forestmens, Bricklink and Ebay are the best solution to you.

Im not ofcourse a great army builder, but Commodore hornbricker, Bonaparte and Dr.Steve can help a bit more. Usually, these guys have alreay been collecting legos for ages, so for us new army builders have to ask help from them.

Captain Becker

EDIT: You can also make your custom soldiers wich is the cheapest way IMO. There are lots of great decals in Minifig Customization forums. I have to make some custom soldiers also into my army.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Captain Becker

[ziljin]

Since you don't like Kingdoms I can't help you much.

But for recent sets. I ordered a 6 of Knight's Showdown and 7 copies of Prison Carriage Rescue. For Ninjas/Skeletons I also ordered 6 copies of Ninja Ambush.

If you only want old minifigures, look out for lots on ebays, they usually are around the same price as on individual minifigures on bricklink, but also usually come with accessories and since its a lot that means you probably get like 10 guys right there, while on bricklink you might have to buy from 5 different sellers just to get 10 minifigures at a decent price but your savings might be negated by the multiple shipping charges.

I personanlly love all castle minifigures and castlish minifigures so I just buy lots of cheap sets.

Common minifigures are around 3-5 USD each on bricklink. Some are around 2-2.5 USD if they are super common. The more uncommon ones will range from 5-20 dollars each.

So I use that as a price guide for buying sets. Since I prefer brand new OOB minifigures, and extra bricks. I try to buy sets with ratios of 5 USD per minifigure or lower. For example Ninja Ambush is 7 USD and I like both the Ninja and skeleton so that is 3.5 USD each which means its a good enough deal. I bought 6 of them! and made a

.

I might get some of the more expensive sets for the minifigures, its cheaper to buy them individual on bricklink yea, but I want the bricks to so I am willing to pay a little extra.

[Dazmundo]

I'd be looking at the Battle Packs if I were you

Battle Packs

An easy way to build an army quickly

D

[madoka]

If you're on a budget, Castle is the worst to army build. Each minifig often needs a bunch of accessories (e.g. weapons, armor, shields, barding, etc.).

Buy in bulk whenever possible and don't forget to load up on the accessories. I end up spending more on helmets and shields than I do the figures. A well stocked armory is essential. I've got literally several thousand helmets, shields and swords in surplus waiting for the right minifigs to use them.

[Legoist]

I would also consider the Collectable Minifigures series for army building.

Pros:

- they are cheaper than getting discontinued minifigs from BrickLink

- you only buy the minifigs, no need to pay for other bricks as in regular Castle sets

- you can get them new & shiny

- they have high quality prints

Cons:

- you need to hunt for them in shops (consider yourself if this is actually better or worse for you than hunting for old minifigs on BL)

- some quality issue especially in the legs' plastic, but the same thing happens with the battlepacks

- they are all identicals, so if you want variations on the faces or weaponry you'll need some further work

- none of them is "generic medieval" but always more specific

If you're thinking about armies of hundreds then getting enough CM will be very challenging, but if your armies are going to be up to 50 I think it'll be easy enough.

Some CM which serve the purpose well are:

- S1: Forestman

- S2: Spartan Warrior

- S3: Elf, Samurai Warrior

- S4: Musketeer, Viking

- S5: Royal Guard, Gladiator, Dwarf

[Dr. Steve]

Ah welcome to Army Building, it's nice if you don't have a lot of time for MOCing. But be prepared it's EXPENSIVE! As everyone else has mentioned e-bay and bricklink are the way to go. Here are my suggestions

1. Pick one or two torso's you really want(it's better if they are still in production). It's even better if they are part of a cheaper set (ie impulse) or in multiple sets as that drives the price down.

2. Usually the hardest part to collect is the torso, since the legs, headgear and weapons tend to be used over and over again. My advice is to buy as many of the torso's as possible while they are still in production and lower in price. Once you have enough (can army builders ever have enough?) start buying your legs, heads, headgear and weapons in bulk. This is where patience is important, it can take a few years to build your army this way but you don't have to deal with your soldier being out of print if you do it this way. I have a few hundred Imperial soldier Torso's, epaulettes and Shakos stashed away with no weapons, legs or heads. I can add the rest whenever, but the other parts are essentially off the shelves.

3. Buy in Bulk. I put the hard parts to collect in "my wanted" list on bricklink and set the minimum number of parts I want. When I see that a store has a large number of that part I buy the whole lot. Sometimes I will contact the seller and see if they will give a discount if I buy the entire lot. I usually get 10% off. Its a good deal for me and an easy order for the store to process (only one lot and I bought them out so no need to count). The exception to this is when the price is really good or it's a hard to find part and I don't want to risk someone else getting them, in that case I will buy them ASAP. I got 50 blue imperial torsos' for about $1.40 each, a great deal that I bought while on my smart phone at dinner one night when I got the brinklink e-mail. That was a huge score for an army builder and I did not want to risk losing it.

4. Watch e-bay, sometimes you get lucky

5. Watch out for the torsos from China, I stopped buying the Red imperial Torso's once the cheap ones from china came out.

I hope this helps, good luck and I will see you on the battlefield.

[Erynion]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

EDIT: You can also make your custom soldiers wich is the cheapest way IMO. There are lots of great decals in Minifig Customization forums. I have to make some custom soldiers also into my army.

Interesting idea. I've considering double-stick-taping some new decals onto some of my City people torsos and Native American shields, though that might not come out right. I don't know about the whole fancy color-stripping washing repainting sealing decal thing... that just seems too far from LEGO to do for a LEGO hobby...

I'd be looking at the Battle Packs if I were you

Battle Packs

By the way, that search brings up nothing

Discontinued whole "battle packs" (or any complete sets) looks like a very expensive way to collect figures to me - Fantasy Era Knight packs are going for almost $30 apiece, which strikes me as considerably more expensive than buying the figures and accessories individually (Kingdoms battlepacks on BL look reasonable, though).

I live in Canada and the CAD price is 30-50% higher than the USD price, even though the Canadian dollar is presently stronger than USD, so I think that whatever I collect, ordering from BL/Ebay is a better bet for me than using S@H or even the local toy store.

If you're on a budget, Castle is the worst to army build. Each minifig often needs a bunch of accessories (e.g. weapons, armor, shields, barding, etc.).

Wonderful

I would also consider the Collectable Minifigures series for army building.

To me, CM seems like a terrible way to build an army. I'm incredibly sick of hunting down stores that sell them, and then going in and huddling over my barcode or dot sheet to figure out which ones to buy. I know of *one* local store that sells them for a reasonable price, so even if I got there the day they opened a box, I couldn't expect to get more than 3-6 minifigures that way. And I feel really bad taking all of the Spartans/Elves etc out of a box. Spartans and Elves on BL are generally very expensive. And as you said, none of them are "generic medieval", so it's not really what I'm looking for.

All in all, I really don't see Collectible Minifigures as meant for, or good for, army building...

As far as numbers go, one hundred soldiers would be a dream for me. I don't know if I expect to even get that far...

Ah welcome to Army Building, it's nice if you don't have a lot of time for MOCing. But be prepared it's EXPENSIVE!

(...)

Yep, that's me. Time for a casual LEGO hobby, but not much for MOCing. Although I do have plans to someday build a really nice custom Castle for them.

You have some interesting suggestions that I'd never thought of. I'm not sure if they would work well for me or not... I had planned to just buy 10-20 new figures or so a few times a year as I had the money and felt the urge. The idea of collecting torsos before everything else sounds... hard... and almost too serious. I don't know where my life, interests, and finances will take me over the next few years, so I'm afraid I'll end up with a whackload of torsos and shields and nothing else, and either have no money to spend or no interest in collecting anymore... hmmm

Thanks for the ideas everyone, I appreciate your taking the time to post. And sorry if it seems like I'm just dismissing or disagreeing with your ideas - I'm only commenting where I disagree

Aaaaauuuuggghhh... before I was torn between something retro, since I'm fond of retro everything and especially these helmets, and between Fantasy Era Crown soldiers, because I like fantasy and because I love the colour scheme... and maybe it's time to move on and stop being nostalgic about the past...

Now I'm torn between Fanstasy Era and Kingdoms, fantasy for the same reasons, and Kingdoms now because I think it would be considerably easier to collect (still in production, cheap battlepacks, etc...)... I didn't really like Kingdoms at first, since red isn't my colour and because I think the whole Kingdoms theme lacks originality (lion and dragon emblems, just humans vs humans, etc, it has been done so much... unlike Fantasy Era). Also, it occurred to me that my favorite REAL medieval civilization is probably the Britons, and the red lion coat-of-arms in Kingdoms is PERFECT for that.

*sigh*

At least I've ruled out retro. For... today...

I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not sure.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Erynion

[Dr. Steve]

Yep, that's me. Time for a casual LEGO hobby, but not much for MOCing. Although I do have plans to someday build a really nice custom Castle for them.

You have some interesting suggestions that I'd never thought of. I'm not sure if they would work well for me or not... I had planned to just buy 10-20 new figures or so a few times a year as I had the money and felt the urge. The idea of collecting torsos before everything else sounds... hard... and almost too serious. I don't know where my life, interests, and finances will take me over the next few years, so I'm afraid I'll end up with a whackload of torsos and shields and nothing else, and either have no money to spend or no interest in collecting anymore... hmmm

No Worries, I think my tips are for those who want a Large collection 50+ Minifigs. On the flip side if you bought a bunch of torsos and did nothing with them, they would probably go up in value once discontinued.

Good Luck, I look forward to seeing what you come up with

[Dazmundo]

I'd be looking at the Battle Packs if I were you

Battle Packs

An easy way to build an army quickly

D

By the way, that search brings up nothing

That is very odd as I did the search then added the link

The more recent themes Battle Packs are not too badly priced, but you are right buying minifigs of any type is never cheap!

D

[NiceMarmot]

If price is of no concern, then just pick what style you want and order away on BrickLink and/or buy battlepacks. Otherwise...

Dr. Steve's approach is the closest to mine; I think he's got good advice. I'm slowly building up a castle army, probably have about 50-60 or so now, and I've also built up two 15+ person pirate crews.

My approach is multi-pronged:

• I have a few styles that I want to collect, but I'm not super-picky. If a few guys have dark grey legs instead of light grey, or a slightly different torso, no big deal.
  
• I keep an eye out for the minifigs I want on BL. Buying whole minifigs on BL is usually a bit expensive I find (>$3 each often), but sometimes you can find good deals.
  
• I buy parts on BL. For some reason, I can usually put together a whole minifig from BL parts cheaper than I can buy them whole. The helmet and shield are the things that drive the cost up. Usually you can get torso assembly, leg assembly, and head for under $2 total, sometimes significantly less. You just need to be a bit flexible about what you want -- if you're dead set on a rare head or rare printed legs, you're going to pay for them. But plain grey legs and average scowling heads are fairly cheap; usually around $0.30 for legs and $0.20 for heads. You can find castle torso assemblies for around $0.75-1.25, and helmets for $0.35. So that's maybe $1.85 so far. Swords and spears are pretty cheap. So you could be all in for around $2, sometimes less. If the army storming the castle is barbarians, you might not even need helmets for them.
  
• Collectible minifigs. Yes it's a pain to search through the bags, and they're $3 each. But usually the army-related ones are fairly easy to detect by feel. The S4 viking's shield, helmet, and axe blade are fairly easy to feel. I also happen to live within 30 mins drive of two LEGO stores, so this is a fairly viable option for me. If you go when the store is not busy, usually the staff will help you search.
  
• Battle-Packs and other sets on sale. I picked up 5 Prison Carriage Rescues for $5 each on clearance at Walmart a few weeks ago. I cleaned them out. If I had been smart I would have driven to a few more Walmarts and cleaned them out too. Each of those netted me a horse and three knights. So that's either $1.25 each or $1.67 each depending on whether you count the horse.
  

That's my strategy. I just came out of my dark ages last November, and since then I've been able to build up to 50-60 castle figs, plus 30+ pirate guys plus probably a dozen pirate women, without spending a fortune on each one. (Overall, it's not cheap though) So I'd say you should be able to fairly easily accumulate 60-100 minifigs per year. Pretty soon, you're talking about a real army!

[Legoist]

To me, CM seems like a terrible way to build an army. I'm incredibly sick of hunting down stores that sell them, and then going in and huddling over my barcode or dot sheet to figure out which ones to buy. I know of *one* local store that sells them for a reasonable price, so even if I got there the day they opened a box, I couldn't expect to get more than 3-6 minifigures that way. And I feel really bad taking all of the Spartans/Elves etc out of a box. Spartans and Elves on BL are generally very expensive. And as you said, none of them are "generic medieval", so it's not really what I'm looking for.

All in all, I really don't see Collectible Minifigures as meant for, or good for, army building...

As far as numbers go, one hundred soldiers would be a dream for me. I don't know if I expect to even get that far...

Well I was basing my comment on my own experience of course. Where I live, most supermarkets (not minimarkets) have them, and then there is toy shops and you can also find the CM in houseware retail stores/emporiums. I can think of at least 18 shops on the top of my head in my town where I've seen them Considering that I go shopping for food about every 3 days, if I had picked up on average just 1 minifig everytime*, by the time a Series is discontinued I could easily have an army of about 100. Once you buy one minifig, if you just cut out the barcode/bumpcode area and take it with you for comparison, it takes 2 minutes to go through a box.

It's not that unreasonable, and at 1.90-2.00 euro/minifigs it is probably cheaper than most other options (at least if you want them MINT). But of course the actual lack of suitable models in the CM series is the big deal!

*rotating from one shop to another maybe you also make sure you don't deplete the boxes of your wanted fig

Edited May 12, 2011 by Legoist

[ziljin]

Not sure if you read my posts. But small sets like Ninja Ambush, Prison Carriage Rescue, Desert Attack are great army builder sets.