[Michigan Joe]

Many of the guys here recommend taking baby steps...a Tudor 620 off of ebay and then get a big board after you've had a little time in the hobby. With the exception of the Miggle deluxe board, you really can't go wrong with any of the boards, 308, Watts, Buzzball, homemade custom boards, etc. I speak with experience, I own a rose bowl 308, a Michigan Watts board, and I made a wonderful homemade board and shared the recipe in the Tweak magazine. I view the various board surfaces in the similar way tennis has different playing surfaces (hard court, grass, clay)...I enbrace it and I like all of my boards.
The 308 is a wood board and most all other boards in the hobby are metal boards. Many people prefer the metal boards, some prefer the wood. The 308 wood board is very lively and durable and this board plays very fast (see various FF.net youtube videos). The Watts board plays more like a tudor 620- it is painted and actually uses 620style motors (you can probably find youtube videos of MF playing on this surface- these fields have got the trademark air brush painted grass and stencil numbers), and my homemade board uses a metal field coupled with a field cover from Jimbo and rotary motor (see youtube video posted by Jimbo of similar Illinois field construction to see how this runs).

Hope that helps. I see you are in Columbus Ohio, why don't you check with those local guys to get some first hand experience.
Joe