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I'm very interested in Warhammer 4000, but I don't own any miniatures, nor do I have a stable cashflow. During a conversation with a friend, I had an idea for an army. Based on Meks and Mekaniks, it's a machine built armor, with an engie warboss. I want to build a list, so I know what to buy, but I have no idea where to start. My idea is to paint the meks like giant robots from the anime Tenga Toppa Gurhen Lagghen. ((I know I misspelled it.)) Could any of you help me?

Smallest point games you can play are 200 point Kill Team games. If your going Orks you have a variety of builds. You can really customize the individuals as well when you play Kill Teams. Hope that helps.

Take it one step at a time man. Pick something up, build it, paint it. Then pick the next thing up.
Having a friend to play with and help you is a good idea as well

with an Ork Mech army, you may want to look into the Dread Mob.

sounds like its exactly what you want, but it would require an IA book, which carry a price tag of £55 (roughly $85 AFAIK)

but the baest advice is above, take it slow

Yeah, a Gurren Laggan Ork force sounds awesome (it might not win, but be fun, and look great) A Big Mek, can take a Def Dread as a Troop, add in some Killa cans, and you're started. Then buy a Truk or two, and fill 'em with Boyz, and you're close to 1000 pts

Check out E-bay, you can sometimes find amazing value, though they are often already painted, so you might have to strip them...

A Big Mek, two Def Dreads, 2 Sqds of Killa cans, then a coupla mobs of Boyz. Then you can grab other units as they come, and your style develops

First thing you should do is borrow a friends rulebook for a couple nights as well as a friends codex (don't buy one just yet, you may decide on another army) and just sit at your kitchen table, playing with bottlecaps and tissue boxes.

After you have the phases of the turn down, play a couple moc games using a friends models (if he doesnt have the right ones, just state them as proxies), dont do big games, 500 points MAX, just so you pick up on the feel of the game (mathhammer and reading about how to use units is WAY different than actual play, its so easy to have "the perfect plan" on paper, then it go horribly wrong because you never expected your opponent to do x).

After that, write a few 1000 point lists and post them on dakka. Nothing fancy, just write a few lists with different tactics each. See how they are received and then rebuild em if necessary. If you finally make one that you really like, and people say it is a legal list and there are not any glaring problems, start by getting a few minis.

If you are low on cash, you can build a decent sized army by buying used models off of epsilon harbor and then use this: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dakka_Modeling_FAQ:_How_to_Strip...
I wouldn't recommend using the swap shop just yet, its easy to get scammed (especially when using money).

If you dont know how to paint, there are only 3 tutorials on the internet. Ooops, I meant 3 billion.

Play and paint to your hearts content. Spend thousands of dollars. Join the GW hate bandwagon. Go to 40k rehab. Relapse and start playing 40k. Go back to 40k rehab. Smash all your models.

AND FINALLY! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU