How many units do I need to have what would be considered an army? Space Marines, lets say.
Also picked up a copy of the rulebook, and it says that after playing a few games I should have the basics down then start reading away. Is that true?
Well as you know the armies are broken up into squads. So each squad has to stick together, unit can't be seperated. Anyway a squad has a minium and maximum amount of men you can put into it. If you go under the minium amount from casualities your men will be forced to roll a morale check, if they fail you will start to see your marines retreat for every man lost until the squad is completely wiped out or off the board.
Anyway each game you play will let you use an army woth up to a certain amount of points. Each model is worth certain amount of points, you can equip a certain amount of your men with a special weapon special weapon like a Heavy bolter, Rocket Launcher, or Plasma gun. Depends on the type of unit you can equip stuff. Anyway you need atleast one troop choice such as a Tactical Marine Squad to capture stuff, everything else just contests. Also you need an HQ like a captain.
So basically it comes down to how you choose to spend your points. Also the limit could be set to whatever amount you like, however if you want large battles you might want to look into buying an Apocolayspe book or look into the game Epic 40k. Also most battle will be around 4,000 points.
Also I recommend you buy from places other than games workshop itself like a hobby store, ebay, or amazon for cheaper deals.