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Am I weird? A bit strange, untactical, not comitted to the game? Bcause I can't help but collect a powerful army before getting the Codex for it. I did it with Space Marines, With Tyranids (Not as badly) and I may well do it with Orks. Anyone else do/done this?

Sure if ya have the money to waste! It all depends on what you find more valuable or fun to yourself.

Are you gonna play a lot and want to have an effective force?

Or

Do you just want to model and paint what you think looks most badarse and not play that much?

If you're the least bit worried about rules and playing then get the codex before you buy more than a unit or two. It will save you money in the long run.

I always get the codex first but then again I plan my army out point by point before buying it.

This is what I am doing with my SW.
I am buying most of my force in bulk, as well as the codex this Christmas. I have asked some people for tips to make an effective list, and made an ok one.

If you intend to play the army in a game you'll need the codex.

I can't really see the attraction of the models for their own sake. There are much better models out there from other companies than GW, if you want display pieces.

A poor decision depending on the army, as the Pyrovore is an awesome model but a horrible unit choice. However I do this all the time, I'll only choose an army if it looks awesome.

Books then figures, for any game I play. I'm lucky, I have enough odds and sods lying around that I can proxy early doors for most of the kind of armies I would play. There's nothing more depressing than shelling out for a unit and then finding the rules make it almost impossible to play well due to some glaring error in the unit compared to others.

I am of a similar mind as others in this thread, codex before the army...well, planning before buying the army.

Beginning my second army of 5th edition as a yule gift, and I planned out the entirety of the army using my FLGS codex before ordering a single model.

However, I do know people who will order models before an army, usually not in large quanities, but the models they wish to build their army around because they really like them, and then build their army afterwards. Not the best competitively, because if you have a model, you tend to try and work that into your list rather than buying a new one and shelving ones you already have, or maybe that's just me.

I bought the codex together with the CSM Battlforce.

But instead of reading the codex and planning my army, I started to buy miniatures, that I just liked the look of or thought they were cool. This led to a quite big (still unpainted) army with several rather doubtful units (that I nevertheless enjoy painting - so nothings lost ) like raptors, bikers or spawns...

It's not exactly buying before the codex, but almost as bad

BTW I also tend to buy miniatures that have nothing to do with any of my armies, just to paint them and see how they turn out

Always codex first.

Then the long process of trying to design an army that will be effective, contains the models that I like and doesn't need too many bits that are really hard to get.

Codex first definitely because I love to read through the codices. I'm still putting together my first army and I've already got codices for SM, DA, Necrons, Tau, DH, WH, SW, BA, Orks, and Nids.

Codex first. Gives me a good idea about the army and the units that catch my interest. Then I don't really plan out the army that much and just get the interesting stuff. Then I just build on top of that to get a decent army.

I always buy the Codex first. And, like most of you, I plan out my armies before I buy them.

Also, you can't play the game without the Codex.