Live numbers, not folklore
How Much Does a Warhammer Army Cost?
What starting each game system actually costs today, computed from live prices at every shop we compare — and the honest answer to "is Age of Sigmar cheaper than 40k?".
Warhammer 40,000
A$180.65
median start · 26 armies priced
from A$118.00 to A$255.31
A standard 2,000-point army: ~A$930.00
Age of Sigmar
A$157.08
median start · 23 armies priced
from A$86.00 to A$255.00
The Horus Heresy
A$226.48
median start · 3 armies priced
from A$180.65 to A$306.08
Is Age of Sigmar cheaper than 40k?
Age of Sigmar is cheaper to start today: the median Age of Sigmar start is A$157.08 (23 armies priced) against A$180.65 for 40k (26 armies). The spread matters more than the medians, though — 40k starts run A$118.00–A$255.31 and AoS A$86.00–A$255.00, so the army you pick moves the answer more than the game does.
Is Horus Heresy more expensive than 40k?
Yes — today it is the median Horus Heresy start is A$226.48 (3 forces priced) against A$180.65 for 40k. Heresy armies are built from bigger boxes with more plastic in them, so the per-model price is usually better even when the entry price is higher.
Cheapest start today
The lowest-priced way into any army we track is Age of Sigmar: Introductory Set (Skaven), at A$86.00 at PCMarket Australia · eBay.
One box of Age of Sigmar, not the whole hobby — the figures above say what growing it costs.
What "the cost of an army" means here
The headline is the cost of each army's cheapest currently-priced box — the recognised starting point for its game (Combat Patrol, Spearhead, or a Horus Heresy force box) — at the lowest live price across the shops we compare. That is where you begin, not what the hobby costs, so the figure beneath it scales to a standard game: the size people actually build towards.
That second number is an estimate and wears a tilde, but it is not a guess. It is the median across every army we can both price and point, at the per-point rate those real boxes actually sell for today. Everyone else answering this question picked a range and published it; theirs went stale the day Games Workshop last changed the points, and ours moves when a shop changes a price. Armies do not scale perfectly evenly — characters and centrepieces cost differently per point from the rank and file — so read it as a good approximation rather than a quote.
Prices were last checked 25 Aug and can change — the retailer's own page always has the final say. Affiliate links — how we make money.