I am conflicted as I am, sometimes one has to be realistic, not a gamer. I like to build, convert and paint the models. And as nice as FSA, PF, DZC Models are, there is no building or converting to speak of. So $500 of should be enough to keep me busy at my hobby for about a year. As I am not speed painting to get a army tournament ready.
And when it comes to hobby beside gaming, I think GW is still the best. I can easily kitbash models, pose them the way I like. And if I paint at my leisure one five man box per month, $30 for that box is okay. And if I want to be nice to myself, I might get myself a Knight. God knows how much time I would spend on one…
But that aside, to get a friend into a game even $500 is way to for a playable army. So I vote for two starter armies and rules.
Skirmish games FTW! For $500 I want to be able to have 2 complete, painted forces with terrain on the table. Something like Mantic’s Deadzone comes to mind, where you get everything in the box for $150ish then just need hobby supplies to get started.
In Warmachine/Hordes (my main game) full competitive force means 2x 50 Pts lists which allows you to play to any Steam roller or Masters tournaments you want. For 135 $ you can get the ‘All in one army box set’ for your faction which has a decent 35 pts list and the full Rulebook for either Warmachine or Hordes. Add 2 character heavies or a Colossal to that for 100-120 $, one more full infantry/cav unit for 50-80 $, 1 or 2 extra warcasters/warlocks and 2-3 support solos for another 50 $ (roughly) and you have enough for 2-3 brand new competitive combined arms lists for roughly 325 – 385 $…
All that considered, yes for 500$ I expect a full sized force for competitive play.
Anyway, keep up the good work and cheers!
I voted for “Everything needed to play a full sized game”, and by that I’m including the armies for both players, paints, rules, and terrain for the table, as well as many months of hobbying enjoyment.
I know over the years, I’ve spent far more than $500 on miniatures. What really shocks me is that nowadays, $500 is an acceptable amount of money for some hobbyists to spend all at once without a second though. Of course, I’m an old salt from the days when a full, complete army book cost $20 US and GW’s website was more than just a storefront.
For $500 that should get you everything you need to play models, rules, paints, brushes, dice, ect. I am speaking directly about a full scale army game like 40k $500 should buy you the best 2000pts that line has to offer, not scrapping garbage units together to barely make an 1850-2000pt list.
Jaded Gamercast 
I am conflicted as I am, sometimes one has to be realistic, not a gamer. I like to build, convert and paint the models. And as nice as FSA, PF, DZC Models are, there is no building or converting to speak of. So $500 of should be enough to keep me busy at my hobby for about a year. As I am not speed painting to get a army tournament ready.
And when it comes to hobby beside gaming, I think GW is still the best. I can easily kitbash models, pose them the way I like. And if I paint at my leisure one five man box per month, $30 for that box is okay. And if I want to be nice to myself, I might get myself a Knight. God knows how much time I would spend on one…
But that aside, to get a friend into a game even $500 is way to for a playable army. So I vote for two starter armies and rules.
/Bors
Skirmish games FTW! For $500 I want to be able to have 2 complete, painted forces with terrain on the table. Something like Mantic’s Deadzone comes to mind, where you get everything in the box for $150ish then just need hobby supplies to get started.
In Warmachine/Hordes (my main game) full competitive force means 2x 50 Pts lists which allows you to play to any Steam roller or Masters tournaments you want. For 135 $ you can get the ‘All in one army box set’ for your faction which has a decent 35 pts list and the full Rulebook for either Warmachine or Hordes. Add 2 character heavies or a Colossal to that for 100-120 $, one more full infantry/cav unit for 50-80 $, 1 or 2 extra warcasters/warlocks and 2-3 support solos for another 50 $ (roughly) and you have enough for 2-3 brand new competitive combined arms lists for roughly 325 – 385 $…
All that considered, yes for 500$ I expect a full sized force for competitive play.
Anyway, keep up the good work and cheers!
I voted for “Everything needed to play a full sized game”, and by that I’m including the armies for both players, paints, rules, and terrain for the table, as well as many months of hobbying enjoyment.
I know over the years, I’ve spent far more than $500 on miniatures. What really shocks me is that nowadays, $500 is an acceptable amount of money for some hobbyists to spend all at once without a second though. Of course, I’m an old salt from the days when a full, complete army book cost $20 US and GW’s website was more than just a storefront.
For $500 that should get you everything you need to play models, rules, paints, brushes, dice, ect. I am speaking directly about a full scale army game like 40k $500 should buy you the best 2000pts that line has to offer, not scrapping garbage units together to barely make an 1850-2000pt list.