As much as I hate saying this, I would probably go with a different system. I LOVE Warhammer and 40k, but their stuff has just gotten prohibitively expensive to maintain. You could probably get older stuff off eBay. Easily enough, and if you can get a hold of an older rulebook, that might work for you, but for the same amount of money you could get in to a more modern ruleset and models if you went with something like Malifaux, Warmachine/Hordes, or some other system that is trying to improve on GW's model.

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Some may disagree with me, but that is how I feel about it. I miss my dark eldar though. Lets go with this. Is there a BIG difference between editions? (And I agree about a system other then WH, but my friend is a WH junkie) You might want to ask around somewhere else for more specific information about the current edition of WH.

I gave up on it about 20 years ago, so i can't really comment on the current editions. It felt to me like the rules were becoming less suitable for small skirmishes then. Not sure if that trend has continued.

I'd seriously do a rough calculation of how many boxes, books and minis you'll need, see how much that will cost you (i doubt you'll get away with anything less than 200-300$ a person), and then perhaps compare how much fun that money could buy you in other board games. Or perhaps some of the Warhammer themed LCGs and that discwars thingy could do the trick. Lets go with this. Is there a BIG difference between editions? (And I agree about a system other then WH, but my friend is a WH junkie) As someone who started at the very end of 4th and decided to give up in 6th, I'd say stick with 5th or older unless you're willing to drop a large chunk of change on books and minis, because starting in 6th GW got the notion to create supplement books, with not only additional units but additional rules as well. I haven't delved into 7th much at all because my buddy and I grew tired of having to re-buy the game every other year, but I believe the supplement method is very prevalent there, and has grown to the point that 'core' rules are now left out of the rulebook, necessitating buying supplements, so it's gotten to the point where just buying the codex and the rulebook isn't enough anymore. If you're just going to play games with each other and not look to get into tournaments, I'd go with an older version.

Gameplay-wise, from my experience 5th lent itself toward assaulty armies and melee, 6th brought it back to shooting somewhat but also made vehicles easier to destroy, and 7th has added lots of pskyer stuff and toughened vehicles up somewhat. I used to be a WH junkie, also, but apparently I was just addicted to the fluff and the universe, and not the massive outlay of cash. In the grim dark future of the 41st millennium, there is only money. We picked up the Assault on Black Ridge pack and split it. With a few bits here and there on ebay I figure we will have about $125 in each army.

I can pick up a 4th edition rule book cheap, and just download the codex for each race for free. My only concern is that there were glaring faults in older editions that were fixed later, or something like that.but yah, we are not going to chase the GW supplement money train, that's for sure. That's how we started as well. You can probably find the FAQs for 4th online somewhere, so you should have enough to play games together, and the FAQs may have fixed any large errors. Don't recall the title exactly, but there was a book called Battle Missions, or something like that, with about 30-40 premade setups that were fun to play. There were 3 tailored toward each race, but they can be played with any army.

I may jump back into it someday, especially after the assembly and painting time I've put into it, but right now I'm making do with games where 40,000 isn't the number of rules you need to remember in order to play. EBay is the way to go to start off on a budget, especially if you're just getting into back into it. I wouldn't go too old with the rules version or there'll be a load of things you can't field.

5th onwards should do you fine. All the rules versions have good/bad things going for them (one of the ways GW keeps people wanting new rules I guess). Although I'm a big fan of their IP, like most people I think their pricing customer relations general lack of business diversification and their business model leaves much to be desired. Having said that, I just don't think any other tabletop miniatures game can compare to Warhammer Fantasy/40k for large fun battles. Sure, there are better and more balanced skirmish games out there (I love Warmachine and Malufaux), but the sense of scale in Warhammer is fantastic. Yes it's expensive, for some prohibitively so, but then so are a load of other hobbies.

Buying bits of printed cardboard and plastic for $50+ a time when we buy a new boardgame isn't exactly cheap, but we do it because we love it. Also, from someone who's very into the hobby side of the um. Hobby, the quality of GW miniatures surpasses pretty much all competitors. So if you're into painting and modelling, this is another bonus. Having said all this, if you're more bothered about a balanced game, not huge scale, don't enjoy painting a TON of models before you can field a worthwhile army, and have serious budget constraints, check out some of the other miniature games out there. (Myself and my friends decided to stop at 6th edition as we're happy with what we have and get enough variability in our collections to keeps the games exciting). For the sake of simplicity, I would recommend just going with the latest edition.

Everything will be easily available, and if you want to play with more people, it helps to know the rules. Personally, I started with 3rd edition, played through to 5th edition, and I've also dipped my toes in 1st & 2nd edition. They all had their merits, but they also all had their flaws: 1st edition: The first edition was a mess.

There were lots of rules for all kinds of things that would probably never be used, weapons were all over the place, skin tight power armour, an inquisitor named Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau, and lots and lots of other things. It did often feel like a case of developers just putting everything they thought sounded cool into one game and seeing what sticks.

That said, due to the flexibility of the system, you could also do a lot of different things with it, and it also supported the use of an umpire (who would basically act like a GM). Not recommended if you want to play something serious, but it sure could be fun. 2nd edition: This edition streamlined a lot of things. Suddenly you had a functional game, and you still had a good amount of options.

Balance was a huge problem though, with certain armies being so overpowered that you might as well not play the game with those (or give the weaker armies a lot more points). Eldar & Tyranids were overpowered, as were terminators with assault cannons or cyclone missile launchers. 3rd edition: Streamlined even further, many veterans were unhappy with this release, as it removed so much. And the codexes were really thin, with very little fluff. The game was relatively well balanced though, and as long as you stayed away from the mini-codexes, iron warriors or monolith spam, it was a relatively even game. So better for the (semi)competitive player than previous editions.

It had the most even mix between infantry & vehicles of any edition that I've played, if you look at how people designed their armies. 4th edition: A small change from 3rd edition.

To combat the problem with the so called 'rhino rush', they made transports considerably weaker, thus encouraging people to field infantry armies (outside of Tau & Eldar). 5th edition: Another small change. This time they made transports considerably more powerful.

This, combined with the fact that they lowered the price of transports for armies released during the second half of 4th edition meant that transports were suddenly the go-to thing, and most armies ended up fielding a lot of transports. So where 4th edition is the edition you should pick if you want people to field a lot of infantry, 5th edition is the edition you should play if you want people to field a lot of squads in transports. For later editions, you'll just have to ask someone else, towards the end of 5th edition I was growing sick & tired of Games Workshop as a company, so I left for another system (Battletech). One can get the codexes for 4th edition free to print out? Where can one get that. I have several (hardcopy, not even on computer), but not all of them by a long shot.

Still have the 4th edition books though (and 6th edition is the latest one that I actually have). Torrents of course (and yes, it is blatant infringement of copyright, if you were wondering - not some true free offer). But generally it is easier and simpler (and often quicker - some of those torrents come down at a glacial pace) to buy the old stuff on ebay. One can get the codexes for 4th edition free to print out? Where can one get that.

I have several (hardcopy, not even on computer), but not all of them by a long shot. Still have the 4th edition books though (and 6th edition is the latest one that I actually have). Torrents of course (and yes, it is blatant infringement of copyright, if you were wondering - not some true free offer). But generally it is easier and simpler (and often quicker - some of those torrents come down at a glacial pace) to buy the old stuff on ebay. Ah, I thought it was via some legal means they were talking about. If it were suddenly available on a revived specialist games or something I'd jump on it.

Torrents and things like that, not so much. For the sake of simplicity, I would recommend just going with the latest edition. Everything will be easily available, and if you want to play with more people, it helps to know the rules.

Personally, I started with 3rd edition, played through to 5th edition, and I've also dipped my toes in 1st & 2nd edition. They all had their merits, but they also all had their flaws: 1st edition: The first edition was a mess. There were lots of rules for all kinds of things that would probably never be used, weapons were all over the place, skin tight power armour, an inquisitor named Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau, and lots and lots of other things. It did often feel like a case of developers just putting everything they thought sounded cool into one game and seeing what sticks. That said, due to the flexibility of the system, you could also do a lot of different things with it, and it also supported the use of an umpire (who would basically act like a GM).

Not recommended if you want to play something serious, but it sure could be fun. 2nd edition: This edition streamlined a lot of things. Suddenly you had a functional game, and you still had a good amount of options. Balance was a huge problem though, with certain armies being so overpowered that you might as well not play the game with those (or give the weaker armies a lot more points). Eldar & Tyranids were overpowered, as were terminators with assault cannons or cyclone missile launchers. 3rd edition: Streamlined even further, many veterans were unhappy with this release, as it removed so much. And the codexes were really thin, with very little fluff.

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The game was relatively well balanced though, and as long as you stayed away from the mini-codexes, iron warriors or monolith spam, it was a relatively even game. So better for the (semi)competitive player than previous editions.

It had the most even mix between infantry & vehicles of any edition that I've played, if you look at how people designed their armies. 4th edition: A small change from 3rd edition. To combat the problem with the so called 'rhino rush', they made transports considerably weaker, thus encouraging people to field infantry armies (outside of Tau & Eldar). 5th edition: Another small change. This time they made transports considerably more powerful.

This, combined with the fact that they lowered the price of transports for armies released during the second half of 4th edition meant that transports were suddenly the go-to thing, and most armies ended up fielding a lot of transports. So where 4th edition is the edition you should pick if you want people to field a lot of infantry, 5th edition is the edition you should play if you want people to field a lot of squads in transports. For later editions, you'll just have to ask someone else, towards the end of 5th edition I was growing sick & tired of Games Workshop as a company, so I left for another system (Battletech). Good summary. I also started at 3rd ed. For me 5th edition was the best.

I've tried 6th and the biggest change is the addition of true flyers and their power, and also overwatch was back. The rules were OK, but later in the edition GW then allowed the big stuff from forge world to be legal as well as the mix and matching of different armies, and this just blew things overboard. 7th ed did the same and streamlined things and also added mission cards, but the business model of releases codexes AND THEN data slates where you have to pay to get really made everything a money grab for GW. Everything is also so much more expensive so I'm glad I left after 5th ed. One can get the codexes for 4th edition free to print out? Where can one get that. I have several (hardcopy, not even on computer), but not all of them by a long shot.

Still have the 4th edition books though (and 6th edition is the latest one that I actually have). Torrents of course (and yes, it is blatant infringement of copyright, if you were wondering - not some true free offer). But generally it is easier and simpler (and often quicker - some of those torrents come down at a glacial pace) to buy the old stuff on ebay. Ah, I thought it was via some legal means they were talking about. If it were suddenly available on a revived specialist games or something I'd jump on it. Indeed, but GW aren't about to do that.

Now, if the oft-predicted bankruptcy ever happens (and I've been hearing claims of it for twenty years now), I imagine that any number of other companies would snap up the IP, and there's a good chance that someone might see money in flogging reprints of 'classic' editions. Now, if the oft-predicted bankruptcy ever happens (and I've been hearing claims of it for twenty years now), I imagine that any number of other companies would snap up the IP, and there's a good chance that someone might see money in flogging reprints of 'classic' editions. GW won't be going anywhere anytime soon. While they might not be the most profitable company around, they are not hemorrhaging money, and even if they were to go back into the reds and stay there for a while, they still have so much value in their IP (both among things they use and things they have used in the past) that they can start selling smaller parts, or do more 'outsourcing' in order to stay afloat. And if they can find a proper replacement for THQ, they'll probably start growing again.