You don't actully need to play it. Assembling the figures is rewarding in its own right. But that said, you can take your army to any Games Workshop store during certain days and they will teach you how to play and give you opponents.

You can also find the *occasional* deal on ebay, if you don't mind cleaning up stuff sometimes.

Tyran: As for where to start, choose an army you like. :-) You want an army that you can identify with since it's going to take you a long time to set it up!

Then choose a faction within said army. Most armies have factions of sorts (for instance, the Space Marines have chapters and the Tau have septs). In addition to official lists of factions, you can also create a custom factions. Choosing a faction doesn't have to be your second step, but it helps to get around to it before you start painting.

Imperial armies are always a safe bet. Space Marines are the default, but Imperial Guard is really idiot proof. Tons of tanks, tons of cheap dudes. You just have to sit back and shoot the hell out of your opponent.

Ex Eldar player here. Tempted to sell all my stuff (and i'd say i have nearly every codex unit)

I've found the time investment in a game is too large (a downside of several games, including Risk, Diplomacy, and Twilight Imperium) If you want a good short wargame try Memoir '44. You'll learn it in minutes and enjoy it right away.

Warhammer has many advantages, you learn fine motor skills and creativity from assembling and painting the models, you test memory skill with tonnes of rules and fluff, you apply mathematical skills in when working out what to do in a game, you learn tactics and stratrgey, potentially psychological warfare to psych/distract out your opponent... A huge range of educational benefits.

Thay said fun vs cost? Depends on who you are playing against, i find beardy players to ruin the fun. And getting into a mindset where winning is all that matters ruins it even more (but you've got to beat those beards...) Unfortunately the rules are difficult to interpret at times; with line of sight and cover being contested, distances difficult to judge, and abuse of certain rules just basically unfun. This leads to a lot of potential abuse. Still with the right people you don't have to worry about that abuse.

There are certainly places you could download 3 models of 40k stuff, if you have a 3 printer; i'm not sure if they are still available if thepiratebay is still down - but they may be elsewhere; that might offset the cost (otherwise going with the above suggestions would work well)

Ya know, Orkz can't lose. Cuz if they win, they won. If they're dead they're dead and haven't lost and if they retreat they can come back and win again.

And never forget, red is faster.

I loved Chaos, Orkz and (Dark) Eldar. If you aren't the painting or assembling type, you may find some good places where to buy nicely designed troops. My brother was a real hack in both and ended earning quite a lot through selling his models or assembling/painting them on demand. (He is now retired from the business due to girlfriend, college, and life …) I personally loved to play it, but it was most of the time a battle fought with the interpretation and application of rules. By the time we finished a game, we have reviewed nearly all applicable codes twice and looked in others. More like Law School Moot Court competitions. If you have the chance to play with some real good adjudicators, it might different.

One of my main issues at the moment is cash. I'm only 17 going on 18 here in June and I don't know if I'll be able to afford it. It's something I found only a few months ago and I started buying some of the books and reading online about the background. Then I started watching Battle Reports on line and I decided that I wanted to start to build an army. Im thinking a Space Marine Chapter mainly because I don't really like the Tau, Tyranid, Ork, and Eldar or Dark Eldar fluff. I would either start Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines. I've been looking on EBay hoping to find a good deal. I've been thinking on buying one of the fixer up armies on there mainly because it would save me money on stuff like glue and maybe paint and because it would be much cheaper than GW.

Another problem is that I live around Pittsburgh PA and I think the nearest GW is somewhere in Ohio and there are only two stores selling GW stuff within a good baby miles of here. I also don't know anyone who plays.

Well, that's a problem. Before you invest any money into get to play a few matches. Else it is just too expensive and time consuming. I started at 14 and ended 3 years later. My brother got to play with me at 11 and got into it when I left him some of my stuff after quitting and when he got his first more serious girlfriend he quit at 16 as well.

I know of just one person with a real life that still hones the game. He can afford the house staff though. And even he gets to play it twice a tear at max.

From what I've gathered it's a lot harder to collect in America than in Canada or the UK.

And yea you need a supportive significant other to play long term.

you won't get one ;) at least not with warhammer… :P It is easy everywhere I lived. For example in Western Europe you'd find a GW in nearly every city with 150,000+ inh.

just study there. You'll even save a lot of college debt.

Well, I have a supportive significant other so it can happen! (She just bought me a new Napoleonics rule set... Love is putting up with your SO building three armies to refight the Waterloo campaign I guess...)

Some armies don't require a large amount of models (grey Knights?) As other posters have said, maybe try out a few games first to see if you like the game. There are a ton of cheesy players out there but if you find a good group that doesn't care as much it can be a lot of fun.

I play warhammer, not 40k. I agree that designing is its own fun. The game is great.

I strongly recommend downloading an app called BattleScribe. It's an army-builder. Both very thorough, and very helpful.

I don't even know anyone who plays and I don't really know where to start trying to find players in my area. I mention it to my friends and none of them know what Warhammer 40k even is.

Are there any electronic adjudicators or implementations of Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 available on-line? I've always wanted one.

You could use facebook or look for yahoo groups.

@gd if your so is a gal I'd like to take her out.

@Tyran: where do you live? There's a community here in BG. KY.

Tru Ninja: See above.

Near Pittsburgh PA as I said above. I'll look around online to see if I can find anyone nearby.

I'm about to buy a set off eBay for 90 bucks.

There have to be people that play in Pittsburgh. Bowling Green is smaller and it has a hobby shop that runs mini tourneys.

I used to play Tyranids. if someone is very serious about wanting to play in the Boston or Cambridge area I can both point you towards local stores that hold the game and or might consider re-buying an army myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXVKj0KcbIQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc36Is_6yZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z-wAUDK6G8