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Hmm... Black Templars vs Tau (Captain, tactical squad, dreadnought, assault squad, rhino vs. Commander, Crisis Suits, Fire Warriors, devilfish) sounds fair.

Tau vs Necrons. The new sleek high tech up and comers with short lives and optimism vs the old rusted ancient technological masters who are just out to save themselves and only themselves. Who's smarter? Who's technology will reign supreme?

Also we might get answers to the burning question of who created the Tau if anyone. are at least get the plot in motion.

Sisters vs Khorne Daemonkin would be fun. Also Fluff wise can work as well, Sisters get called in to stomp out heresy, come in too late and find out daemons are fething everywhere already.

Maybe War in the Webway box? http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/War_in_the_Webway (That rumored 30k box Thousand Sons against Space Wolves sounds good to me)

Dark Mechanicum (CSM Warpsmith) against Skitarii would be good too as Ultimate Power (998.M41)
"Clues to the location of the Omnicopaeia are uncovered upon Hell’s Teeth, a Daemon World on the edge of the Maelstrom. The Omnicopaeia, an arcane device that contains every STC with a psychic component, is of immeasurable value. Many billions of Skitarii are dispatched to Hell's Teeth with all haste. The entire Adeptus Mechanicus is abuzz -- should the legendary Omnicopaeia be found, they will finally have a way to control, precipitate and even weaponise Humanity's psychic dawn." http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Skitarii

If other must be an loyalist SM chapter, then maybe White Scars vs Orks.

I'd do either Battle Sisters vs either Thousand Sons or Word Bearers. Against Thousand Sons you can play up the Psyker vs anti-Psyker aspects of each army, or against the Word Bearers you can play up the 'Faith in the God-Emperor' vs 'Faith in the Dark Gods' aspects.

StevetheDestroyeOfWorlds wrote:
Oh, I know what would make the most fun and intersting box set!
White Scars vs Ultramarines
Captain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators
vs
Chaplain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators

Ah yes, the famous battle of "purchase more models because they're free in your list ". I think this would be a cool idea though as a box set. Could be a nice concept where each faction gets a boxset for their Voltron Detachment, containing the minimum for the Core choice.

I think Sisters of Battle Vs either Black Legion Chaos Space Marines, or Orks would be best.

Both matchups have large battles in the fluff to support the models for narrative play, all three armies need new codexes and could use new models to be sure.

There's new board games with Tyranids so I wouldn't go that route ATM.

But I also think Necrons could be a great matchup, just maybe not as interesting.

 HANZERtank wrote:

StevetheDestroyeOfWorlds wrote:
Oh, I know what would make the most fun and intersting box set!
White Scars vs Ultramarines
Captain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators
vs
Chaplain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators

Ah yes, the famous battle of "purchase more models because they're free in your list ". I think this would be a cool idea though as a box set. Could be a nice concept where each faction gets a boxset for their Voltron Detachment, containing the minimum for the Core choice.

The captain gets a power sword and combi plasma, and the chappie has a boltpistol and crozius. Guess who is the Ultramarine.

Balance ftw!

 Mr Morden wrote:
Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium
Jurgan, his aide,
Amberely Vail in her custom Artificer armour
Several Squads of doughty Valhalhan guardsmen and women

Several packs of Genestealers and Genstealer hybrids
Cult Magos
Brood Lord

a number of Imperial Civilian models for flavour and objectives and hybrid infiltrators

This one ^^^ would make a great specialist game :-)

 adamsouza wrote:
Sisters Vs. Chaos Marines

Adepta Sororitas:
Cannoness
Battle Sister Squad (Flamer, Heavy Flamer)
Dominion Squad (4 meltas)
Retributor Squad (2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Heavy Meltas)

Chaos Marines:
Daemon Prince
MKIII Armor Chaos Marines
Chaos Marine Bikers

Adepta Sororitas players could build entire armies with multiple boxes.
Chaos Marines get updated sculpts for Bikers, a new Daemon Prince model, and MKIII armor marines.
Space Marine Players could loot the MKIII armor for 30K and 40K.

Feels like just last week when Multi-Melta Retributors were a near-complete waste of points.

My how the meta changes...

Feels like yesterday that placing a CSM or IG force on the field wasn't guaranteed to earn you a loss...

My how GW releases bad rulesets...

adamsouza wrote:Sisters Vs. Chaos Marines

Adepta Sororitas:
Cannoness
Battle Sister Squad (Flamer, Heavy Flamer)
Dominion Squad (4 meltas)
Retributor Squad (2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Heavy Meltas)

Chaos Marines:
Daemon Prince
MKIII Armor Chaos Marines
Chaos Marine Bikers

Adepta Sororitas players could build entire armies with multiple boxes.
Chaos Marines get updated sculpts for Bikers, a new Daemon Prince model, and MKIII armor marines.
Space Marine Players could loot the MKIII armor for 30K and 40K.

I quite like this, if the SoB could be used as Sisters of Silence for 30k I can imagine it being quite popular. If the MKIII marines were Chaosified through some kind of modular mutation sprue it'd be even better.

Some really cool ideas here I like the Ciaphas Cain versus Genestealer Cult idea!

Gen.Steiner wrote:
Some really cool ideas here I like the Ciaphas Cain versus Genestealer Cult idea!

I'd buy it in a heart beat if it actually happened

My own initial thought is to set up Cadian Imperial Guard vs Chaos. the IG need the love more, while Chaos gives you both power armored figures, a trademark of GW after all, and Chaosy stuff, which, you have to admit, looks cool on the table. It alo takes the usual formula, of a handful of power-armored good guys vs a degenerate horde of attackers, and spins it 180.

The rough list is as follows:

CHAOS MARINES
Captain spikeybits, with power sword and plasma pistol because that's just nature's way.
10 Chaos marines, probably with plasma gun and heavy plasma gun, because they're still sporting theold "Kill the Marines!" style armaments.
5 man unit of Khorne Berserkers, to lean the force towards melee a bit.
1 Chaos Dread, to serve as a centerpiece and look grand (and to introduce new players to vehicle rules.)

IMPERIAL GUARD

Commisar, because they just look good and you need a single personality up top.
Command Squad, with a lieutenant and a standard bearer (because who doesn't love flags?)
Two 10-man infantry squads with lasguns, which each include a heavy weapon (Autocannon) team.
A 3-man unit of Ogryn, to counteract the Berserkers and to look nice and meaty.
Two Sentinels, to serve as nice-looking models and to introduce new players to the vehicle rules.


Overall, you get a nice thematic set, a fairly even points balance, a good look on the tabletop, and two different playstyles to help new guys learn.

It's a solid balance.

5 Jump marines, a chaplain, a selection of imperial guard including weapon squads and/or vehicles.

vs

Tau empire, making sure to include a good mix of different xenos (including kroot, vespid or other non-taus).

It would be a really varied contents and include the mandatory space marines.

Worst selling SM unit #1
Worst selling SM unit #2
Worst selling SM unit #3

vs

Worst selling Ork unit #1
Worst selling Ork unit #2
Worst selling Ork unit #3

GW's dream box set

Wakshaani wrote:
My own initial thought is to set up Cadian Imperial Guard vs Chaos. the IG need the love more, while Chaos gives you both power armored figures, a trademark of GW after all, and Chaosy stuff, which, you have to admit, looks cool on the table. It alo takes the usual formula, of a handful of power-armored good guys vs a degenerate horde of attackers, and spins it 180.

The rough list is as follows:

CHAOS MARINES
Captain spikeybits, with power sword and plasma pistol because that's just nature's way.
10 Chaos marines, probably with plasma gun and heavy plasma gun, because they're still sporting theold "Kill the Marines!" style armaments.
5 man unit of Khorne Berserkers, to lean the force towards melee a bit.
1 Chaos Dread, to serve as a centerpiece and look grand (and to introduce new players to vehicle rules.)

IMPERIAL GUARD

Commisar, because they just look good and you need a single personality up top.
Command Squad, with a lieutenant and a standard bearer (because who doesn't love flags?)
Two 10-man infantry squads with lasguns, which each include a heavy weapon (Autocannon) team.
A 3-man unit of Ogryn, to counteract the Berserkers and to look nice and meaty.
Two Sentinels, to serve as nice-looking models and to introduce new players to the vehicle rules.


Overall, you get a nice thematic set, a fairly even points balance, a good look on the tabletop, and two different playstyles to help new guys learn.

It's a solid balance.

You could even call it something like "Defending the Cadian Gate" or "Battle at Kasr Generic" or something like that. Or "Black Crusade". I like this idea too.

Armies aside for a moment, what is stopping GW form putting a more impressive terrain piece into the starter box, like a Manufactorum?

That involves not selling it for £15 - £25 individually. It also makes assault more viable. That does not please GW.

Gen.Steiner wrote:

You could even call it something like "Defending the Cadian Gate" or "Battle at Kasr Generic" or something like that. Or "Black Crusade". I like this idea too.

Thank you! And, yeah, it being an edition starter lets you tie it in with the Black Crusade, making it just one small part of the overall larger battle feel.

Mind you, I have a whole 'recalibration' concept in my head, but that's a whole other thread. (It involves a new 'black codex' in the starter to get all armies playable the day the set drops, if in a limited form, a lean towards more fluff0friendly forces, and setting up regular 'battle boxes' that detail some of the fights going on across the universe.)

Spess Mehreens

x1 Space Marine Commander
x1 Tactical Squad (with all the heavy/special weps thanks)
x1 Scout Sniper Squad
x1 Rhino
x1 Terminator Squad (Has options for shooty/pummel termies)

(Boom, that's an HQ, 2 Troops, a Dedicated Transport and a Deepstriking Elite choice!)

VS

Kayoss Spess Mehreens

x1 Chaos Lord
x1 Chaos Space Marine squad (W/ Havoc options)
x1 Chaos Rhino
x2 10 man blobs of Cultists
x1 Terminators

(Same applies here, hopefully [hopefully] in plastic, Havoc options are just needed here.)

Wakshaani wrote:

Gen.Steiner wrote:

You could even call it something like "Defending the Cadian Gate" or "Battle at Kasr Generic" or something like that. Or "Black Crusade". I like this idea too.

Thank you! And, yeah, it being an edition starter lets you tie it in with the Black Crusade, making it just one small part of the overall larger battle feel.

Mind you, I have a whole 'recalibration' concept in my head, but that's a whole other thread. (It involves a new 'black codex' in the starter to get all armies playable the day the set drops, if in a limited form, a lean towards more fluff0friendly forces, and setting up regular 'battle boxes' that detail some of the fights going on across the universe.)

One of the things that 2nd and 3rd Edition 40K and 6th Edition WFB did well was have all the armies represented from day one - primarily because the rules had changed so drastically from the previous editions, but I don't see why they can't just do that every time the rules change - wipe the slate clean and set a new baseline.

 nurgle5 wrote:

adamsouza wrote:Sisters Vs. Chaos Marines

Adepta Sororitas:
Cannoness
Battle Sister Squad (Flamer, Heavy Flamer)
Dominion Squad (4 meltas)
Retributor Squad (2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Heavy Meltas)

Chaos Marines:
Daemon Prince
MKIII Armor Chaos Marines
Chaos Marine Bikers

Adepta Sororitas players could build entire armies with multiple boxes.
Chaos Marines get updated sculpts for Bikers, a new Daemon Prince model, and MKIII armor marines.
Space Marine Players could loot the MKIII armor for 30K and 40K.

I quite like this, if the SoB could be used as Sisters of Silence for 30k I can imagine it being quite popular. If the MKIII marines were Chaosified through some kind of modular mutation sprue it'd be even better.

Optional Chaosy bits would be excellent. BaC marines are wildly popular, while Dark Vengeance Chosen Marines are rarely seen on table tops.

 HANZERtank wrote:

StevetheDestroyeOfWorlds wrote:
Oh, I know what would make the most fun and intersting box set!
White Scars vs Ultramarines
Captain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators
vs
Chaplain
15 tactical marines
5 assault marines
5 devastators

Ah yes, the famous battle of "purchase more models because they're free in your list ". I think this would be a cool idea though as a box set. Could be a nice concept where each faction gets a boxset for their Voltron Detachment, containing the minimum for the Core choice.

Yeah, it would be pretty nice.
Just let everyone have a Decurion style detachment!

One of the things that 2nd and 3rd Edition 40K and 6th Edition WFB did well was have all the armies represented from day one - primarily because the rules had changed so drastically from the previous editions, but I don't see why they can't just do that every time the rules change - wipe the slate clean and set a new baseline.

There literally were no codexes before 2nd edition, so 2nd edition had to give us some lists to play with.

3rd edition invalidated EVERY 2nd edition codex, so they had to give us some lists to play with.

It's not that they did it well, they basically had to give us army lists to use.

There is a good reason they haven't pulled that move since 3rd edition. There are too many $50 Codexes and Dataslates now to just invalidate them every edition.

1) What two armies should be facing off?

Imperial Guard vs. Necrons

2) What does Army A have in it?

Not 100% familiar with IG, but something like:
Commisar
20 low level Guardsmen
10 "elite" guardsmen with more powerful weapons
Simplified snap-together Taurox
Maybe a simplified Walker with rules to run it as a plain walker or have the leader pilot it. I don't even know if IG can do that - but just go with me here, it sounds cool.

3) What does Army B have in it?
Necron Lord
10 Warriors
10 Flayed Ones
Simplified snap-together Canoptic Spyder
2 -5 bases of scarabs - smaller scarabs that look like a true swarm - 1 piece that cover the whole base.

Scenery
Some shipping container boxes
2 or 3 sections of Sandbag walls
2 or 3 techno crystal shard things for Necrons
A poster map thing (ala Warmachine starters) showing a cracked road ending in a loading dock/parking lot - beyond some basic badlands area with a dark mine entrance.

The Scenario
The classic Imperial world that mined into the outer reaches of a Necron Tomb. The guardsmen represent a patrol sent out to investigate the sudden radio silence from a small mining and survey operation.

While we're at it...
Print another map on the flipside showing the "lobby" of Necron Tomb. Put a grid on everything and create a few scenarios and sell the whole thing as a board game/intro to 40k.

Create some fun rules for the Necron shards - turn dead guardsmen into Flayed ones or something.

This is starter box so you would need stuff that is simple to use but that any player would use. Also it would have to be something that would work into a storyline/book.

Personally I would run 2 boxes and books/stories to support it.

IG vs. CSM
Fluff: CSM is attacking some planet with a artifact on it, maybe a planet near Cadia.
You have your main bad guys attacking your good guys.
Make both lists be 750 pts.

Then have Sisters show up and Demons get summoned (This would require a revamp of both codexs).
Sisters are there to protect the holy relic/artifact. Chaos summoned demons.
Once again both lists are 750 pts.

You get 2 boxes to work on storyline. 2 well played/popular armies and 2 under played armies. Varied playstyles and levels of difficulty.

Then for books you can have SM or GK show up because demons.

No 40K Starter set has ever had a vehicle larger than a Bike.

The Space Marine Dreadnaught and Chaos Hellbrute are the largest models, outside of the crashed Aquilla Lander Terrain piece they've ever included.

I'm pretty sure any vehicle larger than a Dreadnaught is out of the question for a starter set.

Maybe an Ork Buggy, because they could get away making a small one, and the existing model is ancient.

Also, I don't think any 40K starter has ever included more than 500 points of any faction. I'm talking about the true 40K starters, not the recent 7th edition repacks of existing models with a mini rulebook.

 adamsouza wrote:

One of the things that 2nd and 3rd Edition 40K and 6th Edition WFB did well was have all the armies represented from day one - primarily because the rules had changed so drastically from the previous editions, but I don't see why they can't just do that every time the rules change - wipe the slate clean and set a new baseline.

There literally were no codexes before 2nd edition, so 2nd edition had to give us some lists to play with.

3rd edition invalidated EVERY 2nd edition codex, so they had to give us some lists to play with.

It's not that they did it well, they basically had to give us army lists to use.

There is a good reason they haven't pulled that move since 3rd edition. There are too many $50 Codexes and Dataslates now to just invalidate them every edition.

Yeah, I guess. Still, I wish they would.