How many builders equals a troop?
 

Do you troop build?

I do, it gives my good guy figures more asses to kick.

My question is this; how many multiples of the same figure do you buy before you feel like you have enough for your troop?

My magic number is 6, what's yours?

5 or 7 for me. Cooler pictures with an odd number.

It used to be 3. HFTD Hailstorm, DOTM Crankcase, Universe Acid Storm, TFTM Storm Surge, ROTF Skystalker all in 3's. And they, IMO, fit the bill as far as being a drone is concerned rather then just having 3 of the same character. That all changed when Generations rolled around, 9 Scourges for Sweeps (3 squads of 3) and 5 Wreck Gars for Junkions. It also helps that they are damn good molds. Well that and getting them on sale over time lol.

For me, just more than one is a troop.. it's just that it looks way cooler the more you have. I have four Hydra goons and five SW Snowtroopers. That's the extent of my troops. I'm hoping to catch an end of the line sale eventually and grab a few more Hydra goons. I loooooooooove Hydra goons.

That's exactly how I feel. I usually go for 5, but it's gotta be odd. I think 3 is the minimum number.

"It has to be odd"

..man, you guys are tough lol

It's logical lol. With an odd number you have a center piece if you aren't using a hero.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pockagrees.jpg

I don't really troop build. But If I did. It would have to be 5 or 7

Really depends on the type of troop building I'm doing.

If it's something Like AIM, 3-5.
Something like the iron grenadiers or hydra 6+
Shield would be something like 5+

If they have variants, it's usually some thing like 1 variant to 3 normal. So it can be a troop with commander.

I think it depends on a few factors, the main 2 are the size of your area to display, and the price you buy them for. And army building really only applies to non-MOC collectors. But I'd say minimum 3-100 just depends on the price and the area to display. If my walmart had 1 peg full of multiple man on clearance for $1-2 I'd take em all, if they're full retail then I'd grab 1 maybe 2 and piece it together over time. The best figures for it are shield,aim, hydra,ninjas and skrulls, and out of all them I'd say shield is the most expensive as they only came in the 3packs. Skrull and Hydra would be tied for 2nd and aim and ninjas definatley the cheapest. My problem with army building is justify the cost, of spending $50 on 5 figures that are all the same versus new figures or a big figure, to me army building comes in to place to help bring in new stock and to give yourself an excuse to buy figures when there's no new stock in.

1,you only need 1 villian to kick a whole "troop" of good guys ;)

I have as many as 24 for some of my Cobra armies.

6 Hydra soldiers, but 8 of the triple threat guys.

Just bought a Hydra attack trooper and the variant and I'm thinking of getting 5 more of each.

I don't really troop build in general, except when a few characters seemed to warrant it. It really depends on what type of squad or troop you're trying to build. If it's a spec-ops unit or a S.W.A.T. team, then about 3 to 7 would be right. If you're looking at making a squad, then it should be around 8-13. A platoon would be about 16-50 and a company would be about 80-200+. If it's more of a regiment or battalion, then at least 300 to 1000.

Of course, these numbers are based on typical military definitions and I wouldn't expect anyone to meet those totals (unless you're a diehard G.I.Joe collector and have a lot of open flat space). Scaling them down a bit, I came up with these numbers for action figures:

Fireteam: 2 - 3
Squad: 4 - 7
Platoon: 8 - 15
Company: 16 - 35
Battalion: 36 - 70
Regiment: 71 - 100

I'd say anything over 3 is good for a small dio. I also find that with GI Joe I have a lot more troopers than with the Universe line. I've been picking up extra Multiple Men, AIM, Hammer Drones, & Skrull soldiers. I have yet to see any of the comic Hydra guys but I could use at least 5 of them.

That's the nice thing about bad guy armies. They don't have to conform to typical military doctrine. Though I agree for realism of certain troop types you should go wiht squad numbers typically. I like having 4 man teams personally. One variant commander to 3-6 subordinates. (In my case, it's one purple Iron grenadier to 3 red. With any excess purple being destro's personal royal guard.)

AIM on the other hand. Since they aren't military in any sense of the word, you can get away with however many you want for a dio or for your collection. xD

Usually when I Troop Build I get as many as I want.......[when it came to clones I'd have at least 10 sometimes of the same unit like Utapau Troopers,501st,Shock Troopers,Storm Troopers,Snow Troopers,Biker Scouts,Imperial Officers,etc] Gi Joe used to have a few but now I am working on Fireteams for Gundams -Model Kits mainly- so far got a nice team of Zaku II Figures and lots of GM Units.

I have troops of these guys too.

I need another AIM guy, another Hammer Drone, and 2 Skrull guys to complete my troops of 6.

*Reads rest of thread*

Aww c'mon fellas, I can't be the only one who does this with TFs?:(

Well, I would if Hasbro would release that Junkion remold at retail. I've also thought about getting multiple Generations Scourges, but I would be forced to use the Titanium version as my Scourge and the Generations versions as the Sweeps (I don't have the BC version).

And technically, I have done it with the Classics Seeker mold. I have every version Hasbro's released at stateside, including both versions of Starscream (I call one of them his clone, as a nod to Animated).

The problem I have with troop building using Transformers is I'm a mold completist, so buying multiples of the same mold is not very appealing to me (aside from those mentioned above).

Well, not really. Unless you are dead set on not having that many of the same figure to represent 2 different characters. Scourge looked exactly like his Sweeps anyways. You can do what I did, I painted all the red bits (and the eyes) on Scourge yellow. I got the inspiration for that from the BC set. I liked how they looked exactly the same, yet different at the same time. A little red Testors on Scourges eyes and open his wings (leave the Sweeps wings "stock"), bam, just the effect I needed. I have a couple of pics if you like?

I use to not limit myself which became dangerous ... then I went to 6 - 8 depending on the fig then I dropped to 4 with a 5th being the squad leader ... swaping out a helmet ot a vest or something to distinguish him ... right now thou im only doing 2 just because of funds and shelf space ...

I've got at least 10 of each army type figure. I don't collect Joes, though. This is only in the case of Marvel figures 3.75. Admittedly this gets very expensive with some figures. I didn't bother with Ultron in the end and settled on 3.

Yes please ... I have thought about this myself ... not quite to your level .. but at least 2 more

I don't collect Transformers.

Group shot, I need to retake this one.
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/x...nus/002-22.jpg
Scourge, on the right next to eHobby Scourge
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/x...nus/013-24.jpg
Sweeps hunting
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/x...nus/027-10.jpg
I also painted the claws silver on the Sweeps. Oh and I have others but, Photobucket is acting REALLY wonky for me for some reason.
.....Awesome.