How Do I Budget, Buy and Build Up?

I really been taking an interest into Mantic's line of miniatures and it's business ideal of cheap, quality miniatures since we all know that GW and PP are going bonkers. I am however new to MG and im not sure where to start amd what to budget for when taking an army into consideration. Also with the lack of purchase support from my local hobby shop, I am forced to buy off site which means I had best be sure of my next purchase.

Where should I start eith Mantic? What is their game system like compared to WH/40k/Warma/Hordes? Is it better to buy all in one go or piece it out like those other wargames? Please tell me, i must know. :)

I'm a little late to your one-man party (;)) but you should check out their current Kickstarter.

[URL="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-xtreme"]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-xtreme[/URL]

It's a spin-off of Dreadball, only this appears to be more "play straight out the box" than the original, so no need to expand and what have you.

I was originally gonna drop some money on this, but then I discovered Guild Ball which seems more to my taste.

Their rulebooks are free downloads, so I'd say to start there. Were you leaning toward a skirmish game, a mass army game, or sports games? I received their Christmas Crazy Box, so I can give a good account of some of their product line qualities. Mantic minis don't have as many options as GW for poses and weapon options, but they generally look good and cost very little. Their elves are amazing, and I like their design more than I like GW's High Elves. The Basilians are not so great looking, but they were the only ones that I found actually disappointing. The Forge Fathers are amazing. The Orx are not bad, but not something that will fit in with a GW army if you want to mix brands for any games. Dreadball and Deadzone minis are well done, although sometimes a bit on the fragile side for the smaller characters. All in all, you probably won't be unhappy with most of their offerings. A sharp hobby knife deals with mold lines, which weren't particularly bad anyway, and show up on any company's plastic minis.