Games Workshop’s Christmas Battleforce box announcement is a highly anticipated event of the year, so here I go over what they are and my take on what we’re getting.
If you’re new to the hobby, you might be wondering what Battleforce boxes are, and why many people look forward to them. In simple terms it’s a limited stock box containing a load of models themed for one army that normally give you somewhere in the region of 20% to 30% off the normal cost (sometimes more). They’re released around Christmas time as they’re an ideal present (hint hint). As you can imagine, some boxes are better value than others and the contents can vary a lot. From the perspective of getting the models onto the tabletop, you’re looking at between 800 and 1000 points. Price wise you’re normally looking at the £125/£150 mark – it’s not a stocking filler for sure, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck.
This year we’ve a whopping six boxes for Warhammer 40,000 and a more moderate four for Age of Sigmar. There was a rumour we might see one for Horus Heresy Age of Darkness, but nothing has come out – plus we haven’t long received a box alongside the MkIII Iron Armour release which if we’re honest is basically the same format
Warhammer 40,000 Battleforce Boxes
This year we have battleforces for Tyranids, Leagues of Votann, Beast Snagga Orks, World Eaters, Cadian Guard and Space Marines. The marine force is focused on fast attack with jump pack marines and bikes featuring heavily.
The Tyranid box seems to be particularly good and contains multi-unit kits that have only come out recently. This and the marine battleforce will be fantastic if you’ve got started an army using the 10th edition box set that was released this year as they look like they’ll just plug into those forces.
Out of these six, the World Eater box is the one that has piqued my interest. It doesn’t contain a massive number of models which makes it infinitely more paintable, but does include the monster that is Angron – I could be tempted to treat myself to one as a Christmas present to me – they’d make a fantastic opposing force to my Sons of the Phoenix if I based them all the same!
Age of Sigmar Battleforce Boxes
This year we see Battleforce boxes for three of the grand alliances, with Death getting two and one each for Order and Chaos – sadly nothing for Destruction who often feel like Kevin McCallister in Home Alone (i.e. often being forgotten). We’ve got Seraphon, Ossiarch Bonelords, Soulblight and Slaves to Darkness. My initial impression is that I think these work better as the start of a new force rather than an extension to an existing one as they all contain a leader character you likely only want one of in an army, which does reduces their value a bit (though spare characters are great for conversions).
Interestingly we don’t have a Stormcast battleforce and there’s part of me hoping that this may be us starting to see less Stormcast releases going forward – perhaps even a different force in the 4th edition rules?
Going back to what we do have and I think the Soulblight Vengorian Court battleforce is the standout. Looking at the box cover the composition of units just has this Old World Vampire Counts vibe, with Blood Knights, Skeletons, Wolves and Bats
So out of these which one are you tempted to ask Santa for (or cheekily get as a present to yourself)?
