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Assautlt on black reach is definately the best intro to the hobby, even better of you like space marines. if not, get it any ebay/sell the stuff.

Sisters of battle are a good army, but as has been said, are mainly metal, so expensive to buy, and a bit more specialist...

If you really want to play on the cheap, consider playing Orks. You can pay a minimum for some cheap troops then flush out your army with scratch built buggies and Deff Dreads. Might not be the most effective, but it will get you down on a table playing for very little cash. I know you want to play Tau/SoB/SM, but playing something cheap and throw together might let you decide if you a) like the game and b) actually enjoy playing SoB/Tau/SM in the table top version (you get to see how they're played/might get to play with someones army once or twice/etc).

I play tyranids table top and Tau in DoW, so the two games are really quite different.

one thing i've always wanted to do is to make two armies for 40k using epic figures. 1500pts should run $50-$100 for the army. two armies, the board, and all the terrain stored in a single hard case. 40k2go!

Legos.

Lego are *NOT* cheap.

Lego run $3 per minifig, or thereabouts.

Space Marines are $3 each. Retail.

Guardsmen used to be $1.50 each, retail.

Except you save on the larger things like Baneblades

OK, but that example is a Predator...

... I know but it looks good next to the baneblade

Casper wrote: Then build an army list that way you know exactly what to buy and can set a budget so the pricetag isn't as bad.

Not just Casper - a few people have said this.

I completely disagree. As a new player, playing with friends for fun, you're going to want to try out all the options available to you, and play with the models you like the look of.

Buy the models you like the look of, and build an army out of them. You don't need to worry about being uber-competitive at the moment. If you just pick a set list and buy EXACTLY those models, you won't have as much fun exploring the army.

Of course, once you've been playing a while and you want to enter a tournament or something, buying a set army is a great idea and a way to save money.

For now, I'd go with a plastic army. Though i hate to recommend new players to Marines, that's kinda what they're there for. You can buy a plastic army relatively cheaply, and you don't need tons of models to build a force. Maybe you could do a variant marine army, like Black Templars, Dark Angels or Space Wolves?

On the other hand, what are your friends playing? I'd be more fun if you pick a different army to them. Tau are a great starting force IMO, as they're all plastic, and they play quite differently from Imperial armies, without being too difficult to grasp. Orks are also mostly plastic, and you can get a starter set through the AOBR box set...

Oh also, you could check eBay for people selling whole armies - there are plenty of kids who got into the game and then lost interest, and you can pick up a whole force really cheap, if you don't mind a little bit of paint stripping....!

If you are not sold on SOB, then go for Space Marines. They are a very forgiving army.
The new starter set is perfect, two sets provide you with enough models for a shiny army. If you sell the Orks then you can get even more models.

There's a good-sized SoB army on ebay right now. It's got 2 days left and is at 315 bucks with ridiculously low shipping. It's actually a pretty good deal, assuming you want the units that are included in the auction.

That's always been my problem with trying to buy models en masse via ebay: I don't want a lot of the stuff included in the auctions.

Get a codex or two for the armies you like the look of and think you might want to play, then proxy proxy proxy. A bag of bases is about $8US. Vehicles are a bit more difficult, but if you head down to your LGS, you could probably get someone to let you measure/trace them for cardboard representations. This will allow you to get the feel of different units and setups. I can't tell you how much I've saved by doing this.

Ebays the best place to go my Brettonians would have cost me about £600+ new but cost me about £300 second hand. Also take a look at what other manufacturers make as well don't stick to GW stuff. Ramshackle games is great for Ork vehicles and there are plenty of other companies.

All good points, but seriously, AoBR.

Two diametrically opposed armies, for the price of one, and I repeat, ONE, army.

It's a good deal!!!

Plus, if you buy on Ebay, it's even cheaper.

Get 40 freebie space marines, buy a force commander. Nuff' said

Elric of Grans wrote:(and still to score a single win against any Ork player)

OOOOO! COME PLAY WITH ME!

also, i went in to buy a $400 necron army for 1500 points, came out with the hobby starter set and AoBr $150 cheaper, sold the rines out of it, never liked orks at the start, they were meh...

1000points later, an un-assembled gazgull and watching my weirdboy zzzap! a landraider and i love them.

orks are so fun to play if you like feeling smarter than the opponent.
but as far as i'm concerned space marines are just glorified tau...with armor saves.

if you are going for your first army try wayland gaming.

a full 1500 point eldar army is roughly $500 including the complete citadel paint set.

well my new khorne demon army
12 bloodcrushers
20 bloodletters
6 fleshhounds
2 bloodthirsters
= free dollars
i picked up a huge auction on e-bay for cheap sold of most of the auction for more money then bought it for.
this requires you to be able to be able to buy large lots 1k ish and sit on it for a month while the stuff sells.