You don't need to buy the hordes rulebook. that is bs. The rules are fairly similar man. This is not a board game, this is table top wargaming. See stuff like malfaux, heavy gear, confrontation, at43 etc. Board games are much more casual things with much less fluffy rules.
The cost of figures is likely due to the entire QC thing. Tiny parts all having to be in the boxes and correct can cost a lot of time and time = money. I don't like how some games charge a lot for heroes but odds are it is based on model size rather than popularity. Most large models are popular due to high stats. Also to pay MSRP for a collosal is just fucking stupid. Get it online for around 90$, the retailers selling it for 140ish are just trying to cover the cost of the shelf space. Which is think is bull.
the "extreme" version are high quality limited run. Here is the real cost of the actual table top model:
$32.75
the defender is a
HEAVY jack, that isn't a standard unit. That is a big figure but it is not a standard unit. "stadard" would really depend on what you mean by the current popular faction build. Stuff like the warcaster nemo. HOWEVER, to choose a more realistic comparison,
cygnar long gunners are 36 for 6 of them The 60$ kit is meant to be art. The extreme sculpts are made for serious painters.
of course there are also kits which if you are skilled enough for magnetization, you can get
3 heavy jacks for 25.75
The plastics are pretty cheap. if you are REALLY smart and skilled you CAN resin cast the torso, legs and no one would be the wiser once it is primed and painted.... boom 3 whole jacks
Warmachine is cheaper than warhammer if you are not a collector. Or not a fanatic painter like me. You can get some pretty good deals. I don't want to think about how expensive my warhammer armies were. It is more or less the same in the end though if you are really into it. I probably have >3k in warmachine and have painted around 300$+ so far. Of course that is also because I didn't go online and get the best deals. I like to buy the figures from my local shop so that the shop can still be open. So I have a 90$ conquest but after I paint that, I am buying a 145$ galleon because I want to pay upkeep for my LGS.
As far as popular stuff..
Mercenary Alexia & Risen Unit Box Warmachine $35 bitch has 20 total skelies. I can take some pictures tomorrow but because I hate redundant figures, I have modified all of them. She fields 9 to start and can raise more as shit dies. Her starting 9 look like this for me:
Just finished modifying all 20 of the fuckers tonight, I'll try and post a picture of all of them together some time this weekend.
also this is my steelhead rifleman unit:
I added long hair and scarves to mix it up a bit for several of them, because I like scarves and long hair...
PDFs online. I have the cygnar rulebook that way. Privateer press fights it but information wants to be free. Much of the rule book is filled with bullshit fluff. I have the little pocket copy of the rule book that came with the 2 player battle box set(khador and menoth) so that is why I have so many khador jacks(battle box + base set + 1 extra). I like the smaller rule book from the battle box as it is not polluted with fluff. Primal and Prime are not THAT different. Also why do you need the mercs books? because tier lists? fluff? why? I don't, I bought it because I wanted the thing for a pretty book on my shelf. Otherwise, battle college has all you need.
Stryker was a bitch to paint. I used him as a warmup figure.
if I had cleaned the flash off this figure, I would probably be able to be proud of him. This was also a shot when he was a WIP, which is why the ground is still wet paint...
Hell I didn't find SHIT in the merc rulebook. When I got on forward commander, suddenly I discovered how I can field a gatorman with my standard 50pt army! I was OVERJOYED(because I want an alligator or 2)
If you are not a person who plans on going crazy with his figures, yeah, just get a second hand army off of ebay. I don't like second hand figures, they don't often have all their bits and it is a pain in the ass to remove the paint and often superglues are not easily dissolved.
A few resources
battle college, great for getting theme lists and tiers, also getting a general idea of unit usage
Forward commander great army builder site, read about a warcaster(leader) you are interested in? find out what they can be fielded with here, fuck that army book.
quick reference shees, been around for years, handles a large part of the stat and play explanations. Still I love the pocket rulebook from the 2 player battlebox.
Oh yeah, and you could sell the parts of the battlebox but honestly, not everyone likes MOW as iron fangs are so much more in the vogue right now. I still have 2 more squads I plan on painting because I can.
if you wanted practice I would say buy the battle box and try to paint them so you can get the figures down pat. I wish you were in the states, honestly I would just trade you my painted stryker for something and save you the trouble. he has all these tiny bits that made him really time consuming to paint
.
I don't know if my post is that helpful. Just remember that wargames are not boardgames. You are comparing oranges to peaches.
