Rules or Models

[Dominion]

I love 40k, about 2 years ago I bought a box of Grey Knight Terminators, I assembled it 2 days ago, the glue was rock hard but I made it work, obviously I never got 'round to learning how to play if it took that long to make a single model. Now I've changed my mind & I want a Space Marine Army, not a Grey Knight Army.

More to the point, my question is should I buy the Rulebook and Space Marine Codex before trying to buy any models, disregarding I want to buy Mark IV Armour & will probably paint them Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children :D Honestly I've only tried now because looking at the rulebook & models I found it way too daunting but after managing to assemble the model I'm going to try and learn. (painting is an entirely different thing, 1 part, 2 part, spary, mix, thinning‽)

[SquigBrain]

It depends on how much you are on the side of cool models/gameplay balance.

If your primary goal is cool models, get the models first. Just be aware that after you buy the rules and think on it awhile, you may realize that the things you bought may not be super effective in play.

If you're more interested in how they play, buy the books, work out an army list, and buy based on the list.

[Dominion]

Okay then, I'll buy the rulebook first, I think the models are more interested but I can't bear having a bunch of models I leave on show and never use, hell my birthday is coming up soon, maybe I'll spring for the Ultima Edition Codex :P

[Wolfshade]

Depending where in the world you are popping into the local GW or FLGS they should be able to run you through a starter game.

My local GW runs a "Sunday club" which teaches people to play from the very basics all the way to "graduating" to the full ruleset and then introduce you to the other gaming nights they run.

[Charon]

Buy the rules, work on army ideas, buy the army you want to play, add on more units you like to play/paint/look at.
Saves you a bit of money and some disappointment.

[Urtyfang]

Get your codex now, then wait til june to get the rule book. rumor has it there will be a new rule book in june.