For those with a stronger knowledge of the game and prices itself, I have a question.
How much would a decent sized army of space marines (to go with the benchmark) actually cost? Perhaps unable to fight the largest battles but a decent size. Arbitrary, I know, but I've never really looked into playing the game itself.
I picked a 1500pt tourney list for regular spehss marines for this
HQ
Space Marine Captain equipped with artificer armour, [1], 110pt, £18. Provides solid HQ with decent CQC against rival warlords
[Most people pick Librarians over Captains, as Librarians pack more utility and firepower than Captains, at a tradeoff for survivability]
Troop
Tactical squad one equipped with plasma cannon, one equipped with plasma gun, [10], 140pt, £25
Tactical squad one equipped with plasma cannon, one equipped with plasma gun, [10], 140pt, £25
Backbone of the army, captures objectives and deals with most light and medium vehicles/MEQ decently, poses a serious threat to heavy vehicles (but likewise vulnerable to demolisher cannon/plasma and equivalents, especially as this list lacks transport)
Elites
Sternguard equipped with 5 combimeltas, [5], 160pt, £30 (but you will have to buy more combimelta bits separately)
Evaporates MEQ and most vehicles foolish enough to get too close
For transport the Sternguard get a dropod [1], 35pt, £22.50, in order to get close to juicy targets
Dreadnought, 2-twin linked autocannons [1], 130pt, £28
Dreadnought, 2-twin linked autocannons [1], 130pt, £28
(Evaporate MEQs, infantry, light vehicles and in a pinch, fliers)
Heavy
Devastator squad, 4 missile launcher [5], 70pt, £28
Devastator squad, 4 missile launcher [5], 70pt, £28
(Makes more stubborn things like heavy vehicles and monstrous creatures explode)
Stormraven gunship, twin linked lascannon & twin linked multimelta [1], 200pt, £50
(Anti-air and vehicle patrol)
Buildings:
Aegis Defence Line, quad cannon, I dunno how many points this is as I never got stronghold assault, but it's £22.50
Speaking of which
Codex: Strondhold Assault, £20
Codex: Space Marines, £35
40k rules: £50 (packaged with loads of other fluff you may or may not want but have to buy with the rules anyways
So that comes up to £410 before paint, glue, brushes, clips and extra bits GW is kind enough to offer you at ripoff prices in pots that break easily so you have to keep wasting money. Not to mention that using paint and glue bought from other stores inside of GW stores is verboten, even if the store assistants themselves use normal glue and paint like normal people
And this is for one of the most affordable factions mind you, horde armies, superheavies and anything from forge world will require years of accumulation
Don't even get started on cases