We have a manual p&p, 20+ years ago we built batches of 30 boards at a time on it, complex but fairly low number of BOM lines. Those who diss these fail to appreciate the level of assistance a stable frame and vacuum pickup offers. They are a country mile ahead of trying to use tweezers or a handheld pickup pen. However even if you add all the bells and whistles that the Fritsch offers building something genuinely complex using any kind of manual process is pretty unrealistic. Mike is also quite correct, they cost far too much money and prepping to build is going to take just as long as for a real machine.
We still use our manual p&p, very short strips, loose parts or new component shapes that have not been trained or tested on the machine (and we might only see once) get fitted there instead. We might sometimes also build prototype runs of 1-5 boards as we make a lot of things that are incredibly simple and this will also depend on timing and complexity - is the automatic machine busy, conveniently loaded with most of the right parts etc. I would suggest if you found a manual p&p on eBay for cheap, totally worth with to use the way we do. However you should choose an automatic machine to do as much of the work as possible, an older machine would still be a valid choice for those bigger batches you mention, Neodens less so.
You can argue all day about stencils and printing, it is the most critical process in SMT and the root cause of most failures. Doing it properly requires at the very least a stable fixture and a fully tensioned stencil. Those cheap framed stencils from JLC/PCBWay are a good start, we have a semi automatic printer (Essemtec SP003 aka PBT GO23), we gave up on it as the mechanical side of getting a perfect print was complex and possibly damaged. I would suggest getting some hands on time with the TWS unit, see how easy it is to setup, how it copes with different thicknesses of PCB and how much the cameras help.
You might also need to look at how it holds stencils, does it adjust for different frames, does it use a proprietary system and can you get them made by your preferred supplier etc.
Keep in mind 10-15K would buy a 2nd user big brand automatic printer that can do so much more (it can also buy you a Chinese one direct).
I'd steer away from the little box ovens, one of the TWS conveyor ovens would be cheap and effective, or you can go Chinese there are lots of them from the IN6 all the way up to huge.