EDIT: Since doing my research, it turns out the the Kill Team Starter Set DOESN'T contain full rules for the two included teams, only a cut down version. To get full rules you'd need another book, bringing it's cost to £95. However, it's place in the rankings would be unaffected!

There's a running joke in Finnish Warhammer circles, so old that I remember hearing it for the first time when I started in the early 2000s, that "Warhammer is much cheaper than other Finnish hobbies, such as ice hockey or drinking."

I really dislike the fact that 2000pts is seen as the standard, I think it can really put of players looking to get into the game proper, there should be more of an effort within the community to push 1000-1500pt games as a more acceptable standard

The Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game: The start box set "Battle of Osgiliath" comes with 2 armies, terrain, tokens, dice and full rule book for the game. It also includes a small pamphlet that contains the datasheets for the models in the box set and some scenarios you can play with the models provided. Both armies come up to approximately 370-400 points which is smaller than an average game of MESBG (averaging between 500-800 points, standard being 700) but are easily still playable against one another or in smaller games. These armies can be supplemented with either the Mordor or Gondor Battlehost box sets, however if you do get these you will probably need to also purchase the "Armies of Middle Earth" rule book to get the profile of the troops and heroes that aren't included in the box set.  
Battle of Osgiliath Box Set: £125
Battlehost Box: £55 each
Armies of The Lord of the Rings Book: £37.50
As with all Miniature War Games the amount can go up or down significantly depending on what you are looking for, but this is a good starting place.

I think the cost issue rears it head more often around Warhammer (than other hobbies) as many of us start as cash-strapped kids/teens, where the cost does limit what you can do, and the mentality sticks with you. Also Warhammer has kept up with inflation, while the heavy Venn-diagram overlap of video gaming stayed the same price for over a decade (so got relatively cheaper and cheaper since the mid-90s, at least until the latest very costly generation arrived).

As an adult it’s pretty much in line with other similar “scale” (something that uses up a few hundred a year and fits in a cupboard if you don’t go overboard) hobbies I think, if not a bit cheaper. I also think it’s really handy to have friends get into it with you who are happy to play smaller size games or split boxes, share rules etc.

This video is extremely helpful, primarily for kids like me who have about enough money to buy a new pair of shoelaces and maybe a slurpee on a good day

I think part of why we are all so fixated on prices in warhammer compared to other hobbies is the lack of logical (for a customer) pricing model. GW seams to price things depending on how many copies of it they expect you to buy over all so we can have single character model, unit of 5 elite models and unit of 10 infantry all with a minimal difference in cost in no way representing actual cost of material or something tangible. Also if you have playing with models in mid, buying them is only the beginning investment before you  account for time most of us spend before having a box painted. While I love painting and other hobby elements outside of gaming I think the multi layered nature of this hobby can mess with perception of investment a bit.

Got a friend who questioned the cost a while back. His main downtime seems to include trips to the pub. Nothing wrong with that, love a trip to the pub myself. But, I asked him how much he spends drinking every month. One month, ~ 4 times a month, 4 hours (approx) and 5-6 pints (approx) per time, at a cost of ~ £4 per pint = £80-96 per month. For ~ 16 hours of mostly good fun.

Over a year, that's ~ £1k spend.

I'm really labouring this point, but GW, per hour of enjoyment for me, comes out at a cost of pennies per session over the years. It's not buy it and consume it within a couple of hours. Once you have the minis, the cost goes down and down, every time you play a game. It's very cost-effective fun.

PS. Kudos on the continued excellent quality of the content on this channel.

As someone who enjoyed Aeronautica Imperialis when it first came out don't worry. GW and pretty much everyone else forgot about it too.

Back in the 90's I was introduced to Whammer by a buddy, we borrowed his big brother's boxed set and played on the floor of his mother's preschool. We had so few minis that we used the preschool toys as proxies. That orange block? That's a gyrocopter, that red one is a dragon. That gi joe is my runesmith, etc. Even bought a few codexes. Loved Chaos Dwarves because the bull centaurs had mobility regular dwarves lacked while still packing big artillery.

A tiny thing to notice around the Warhammer Underworlds starter set, is that it contains everything needed to play the two warbands included against each other. However it does not include the magic dice (I have no idea why this was left out of the box). If you then buy a new Warband that includes a wizard, or face someone with a Wizard you will eventually need these dice, that I have no idea where you’d go about buying just the magic dice.

This was an excellent video for explaining that the separate GW games are and a general cost of how much they are. After playing 40K and HH for about two years I have seen Kill Team, Necromuda, etc. but never really knew what they were. This video was great and I learned something new. I don't think GW spells out what they various games are either, at least I haven't run across a page that summaries them.

As a Tiny Plane Lover, your crime is forgiven

I think the best way to get into warhammer is to not buy anything. Just find a veteran willing to teach you how to play one of the games. If you enjoy it then start small and work your way up.

Even if 2000 are the event standard size I'd still recommend beginning players to start with smaller armies. Dropping 300 Pounds on a full sized army and turning up at a tournament with only a basic grasp on the game might turn out to be frustrating. Not to mention tjhat it's a daunting task to paint an entire army - I've seen lots of people who bought several boxes of models to start with subesequently turned off by looking at the seas of grey plastic they felt they had to paint.
But in the end it all depends on the local community - I'd say asking one of the local store regulars if they would be willing to meet for a small-sized training game should definitely be considered before going in big...

Edit - LOL, wrote this post before reaching the end of the vid!
I'm mid-40s and last played 40k in 2nd edition. None of these prices I feel is extortionate for a hobby, when you consider that the priciest here is cheaper than a current gen games console plus games. It's fairly comparable to, say, annual costs for taking part in sports (club/ gym fees plus any gear/ clothing).
If I was to pick out a barrier, I'd be more inclined to say
1. finding a nearby gaming group to play with!
2. deciding whether I actually find the game fun especially in the long term to justify the outlay.

I will say personally as someone who got out of the game around 5th edition. Price was always a huge limiting factor. Warhammer was always a hobby that seemed to demand other hobbies be set aside to make both the time and cost feasible.

As a person that has always been into the lore but never got around to painting minis and playing games, I find this video to be very useful and I feel like I will be coming back here during my decision-making process hehe. Thanks Arbitor.

1:32 not to worry Ian, so did GW!

I think its worth taking a moment to emphasize that if you're new to the hobby, it's actually worth to bite on GWs sales model and not try to resist it. You wanna play 40k? Well Kill Team and Boarding Actions are (quite explicitly) the beginner experience. Theyre your entry point. Drop $160 on a combat patrol or Boarding action box of your preferred faction. The viable kill team is included. You're now playing both Kill Team and a mini version of 40k and can have years of hobby fun while you start building a full 2K point army.

Its really the best way to not feel like youre having to shell out $600 just to start. You drop less than $200 and then just buy a box here and there as funds allow. When you do it that way, its just another hobby that grows with you, rather than hobby with what feels like an insurmountable barrier to entry.