Any educated guesses on what the 40k Xmas Battleforce boxes will be this year?

Always an easy xmas present for me

My educated guess is that the moment someone knows, they will start a thread on it. Asking is pointless.

Not that I don't share your excitement.

My educated guess is that they're not doing them this year due to unpredictable supply lines. Previously they've reached out to independent stockists earlier on in the year to gauge interest and estimate numbers.

There's been no word of it this year, and it's not been a year kind to long term planning. Especially not in the midst of the Omicron wave in Q1 and China still persuing it's zero Covid strategy.

 Tastyfish wrote:
My educated guess is that they're not doing them this year due to unpredictable supply lines. Previously they've reached out to independent stockists earlier on in the year to gauge interest and estimate numbers.

There's been no word of it this year, and it's not been a year kind to long term planning. Especially not in the midst of the Omicron wave in Q1 and China still persuing it's zero Covid strategy.

Cool story. However today's article about the Ork Xmas model says battleforces are coming.

Last year they announced them in mid-November for pre-order in the first week of December. If the announcement is the same time as 2021 then expect news around 16-17th.

Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

Er, I agree AM and StD are likely, but all old stuff (new stuff isn't even out, bro). Votann 0% chance.

 xttz wrote:

 Tastyfish wrote:
My educated guess is that they're not doing them this year due to unpredictable supply lines. Previously they've reached out to independent stockists earlier on in the year to gauge interest and estimate numbers.

There's been no word of it this year, and it's not been a year kind to long term planning. Especially not in the midst of the Omicron wave in Q1 and China still persuing it's zero Covid strategy.

Cool story. However today's article about the Ork Xmas model says battleforces are coming.

Last year they announced them in mid-November for pre-order in the first week of December. If the announcement is the same time as 2021 then expect news around 16-17th.

I'm thinking of the terrain ones aren't I?

 Tastyfish wrote:


I'm thinking of the terrain ones aren't I?

Yeah GW has ordered larger terrain kits from China in the past, probably due to capacity issues with huge sprues. All of the battleforce contents are made in the UK though.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

Er, I agree AM and StD are likely, but all old stuff (new stuff isn't even out, bro). Votann 0% chance.

Honestly I think AM and StD are the least likely factions to see a battleforce as they're all getting substantial releases in Q4 / Q1 next year. Why would GW over-saturate the market for those factions when they can instead be selling to AdMech, Eldar, or Ork players who haven't spent money for a while? Each battleforce might be one less person buying a Rogal Dorn tank or new Vanguard box.

Two Space Marine boxes one themed Imperial Fists and the other Raven Guard. Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Guard and Thousand Sons.

They'll be AoS boxes too but I don't know which factions. I presume one will be Stormcast Eternals.

 PurpleEcho wrote:
Two Space Marine boxes one themed Imperial Fists and the other Raven Guard. Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Guard and Thousand Sons.

They'll be AoS boxes too but I don't know which factions. I presume one will be Stormcast Eternals.

I remember that rumour circulating a while ago. I was wary of the two Chapter locked SM releases at the time, but now I can see them using them to flog Gravis kits and (once again) Phobos Kits.

 Dawnbringer wrote:

 PurpleEcho wrote:
Two Space Marine boxes one themed Imperial Fists and the other Raven Guard. Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Guard and Thousand Sons.

They'll be AoS boxes too but I don't know which factions. I presume one will be Stormcast Eternals.

I remember that rumour circulating a while ago. I was wary of the two Chapter locked SM releases at the time, but now I can see them using them to flog Gravis kits and (once again) Phobos Kits.

I'm holding off for the Custodes battle force box. I'm hoping to pick up two as I've had my eye on doing a Custodes army for a little while now. If those are indeed the battle force boxes for this Christmas I think it's a pretty solid line up.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

Er, I agree AM and StD are likely, but all old stuff (new stuff isn't even out, bro). Votann 0% chance.

Haven't they always done the latest armies? I remember getting a Deathwatch box the year Deathwatch came out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 xttz wrote:

 Tastyfish wrote:


I'm thinking of the terrain ones aren't I?

Yeah GW has ordered larger terrain kits from China in the past, probably due to capacity issues with huge sprues. All of the battleforce contents are made in the UK though.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

Er, I agree AM and StD are likely, but all old stuff (new stuff isn't even out, bro). Votann 0% chance.

Honestly I think AM and StD are the least likely factions to see a battleforce as they're all getting substantial releases in Q4 / Q1 next year. Why would GW over-saturate the market for those factions when they can instead be selling to AdMech, Eldar, or Ork players who haven't spent money for a while? Each battleforce might be one less person buying a Rogal Dorn tank or new Vanguard box.

Or each battleforce of AM is people buying 90% useless models that are not selling now and taking up shelf space.

Considering all the additions I could see Eldar getting a box this year as they've a lot of shiny new plastics that could be thrown into such a box. It would also fit as a lot of their newer stuff has been out for a while so its an ideal time to doubledown and give them a box.

It "might" be a bit of a flop box if its all just wraith models though as they've dominated earlier boxes. I'd hope it would be something like one or two aspect warrior groups, new guardians, autarch and such. Perhaps those new sniper jetbikes.

I did a little bit of research:

Generally anytime a battleforce has released in the same year as a codex it has been at least 6 months apart, with one exception. That could be due to the release schedule disruptions in 2021, and they expected Orks to be released earlier.

Every year since 2018 has had either 2 or 3 xenos boxes

Every year has one Chaos box

Space marines, Eldar, and CSM would be my top bets for this year.

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

They don't usually do battleforce boxes for new factions the year they release (so no, Leagues of Votann are not a given). Likewise, they don't usually do boxes for armies that got a major range refresh in the same year unless theres enough older minis in the range for them to bundle together without needing to touch the refreshed models (so no, Astra Militarum are not a given). GW use the battleforces to largely bundle together older kits produced from molds that have generated a strong ROI, rather than newer kits from molds which they are still trying to squeeze every drop of value from.

 PurpleEcho wrote:
Two Space Marine boxes one themed Imperial Fists and the other Raven Guard. Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Guard and Thousand Sons.

They'll be AoS boxes too but I don't know which factions. I presume one will be Stormcast Eternals.

That would be 7 boxes for 40k. Usually its 6 boxes 40k, 4 boxes AoS. I also highly doubt that Sororitas, Mechanicus, AND Death Guard will get boxes this year, as all three of them received boxes last year. Doesn't mean it can't happen (look, Space Marines get at least one box every year, right?), I just think its unlikely that they roll with 4-5 battleforces (once you account for marines) for the same factions that got them last year. From 2019 to 2020 there were 4 in common - marines (2x in 2019, 1x in 2020), chaos marines, tau, and tyranids, but from 2020 to 2021 there were only two in common - marines and necrons. I also just can't see them giving that much focus to Imperium factions and chaos factions while giving nothing to xenos. I think realistically, you get 1x Space Marine, 2x other Imperium (pick two from Custodes, Sisters, and Mechanicum - I think Custodes is more likely than the other two), 1x chaos (Death Guard or Thousand Sons), 2x xenos (if I was to guess Genestealer Cults and Aeldari, orks have some potential as do drukhari to a lesser extent, necrons, tau, tyranids are a bit overdone).

As for Stormcast Eternals, despite them being referred to as "Sigmarines" the Stormcast Eternals are not the posterboys of Age of Sigmar the way Space Marines are for 40k. The last time there was a Stormcast Eternals battleforce was 2019, they did not receive one in 2020 or 2021. If one of them is Stormcast, its because they haven't had one in 3 years rather than because they are guaranteed to slot one.

 Dawnbringer wrote:
I remember that rumour circulating a while ago. I was wary of the two Chapter locked SM releases at the time, but now I can see them using them to flog Gravis kits and (once again) Phobos Kits.

I am still amazed how thanks to either GW writer incompetence or sabotage, they need to 'flog' very nice kits of their most popular faction. Doubly so given a lot of people love concept of full terminator or stealthy company, and gravis/phobos would easily fill both archetypes with tiny amount of work and someone with a clue fixing their rules

I doubt it'll be AdMech. I regret not getting the one from last year. It was basically all the models I needed to finish my army. I also doubt Imperial Guard and the Votanni, neither have been out long enough.

Space Marines x2?, Chaos, Eldar, Orks, maybe Necrons or maybe Dark Eldar?

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

For AoS, hard to say. I supposed it could literally be anything, and more than likely there will be a Slaves box.

Lol no, being recent is reason gw don't do. Gw can sell x kits at full price or tiny bit more for significantl discount. Makes zero sense unless gw hates money.

Funnily enough gw doesn't which is why these aren't newest hotness.

In Goff Rocker miniature post, they explicitly wrote,, more battleforces then ever" so maybe 8 this year?

The ork box last year did contain new minis: The ETB ork boys they released for the start collecting.
But neither guard nor squads got ETB releases as far as I can tell.
The chaos cultists where monopose but but ETB, right?

I also seem to remember last year's were so naff you can still find some of them in stores.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
I also seem to remember last year's were so naff you can still find some of them in stores.

Depends what's important to you, they still had good & large discounts on a swathe of models, they just weren't meta-relative boxes.

My bets are on 2x Marines (Ultramarines and Blood Angels), Nids, Thousand Sons, Grey Knights. Add to it either Deamons, CSM, Orruks or Tau.

Blood Angels and Nids might forshadow the upcoming Starterbox for 10th if rumours are true.
Thousand Sons would be a chance for GW to sell even more Tzaangors.



Also there might be a Horus Heresy box this year.

Rzezbiarzbdg wrote:
In Goff Rocker miniature post, they explicitly wrote,, more battleforces then ever" so maybe 8 this year?

I think that we may see a lot more, maybe even for almost each army. From what i've seen with their very "cramped" release schedule they seem to be trying to get back on their original schedule-plan and that's why we are getting a lot more releases per week stuffed in rather than the usual "here is this release box" or "here are "2-3 new unit boxes just for this game system" and the reason I think we will be getting a lot more battleforces is because GW probably needs to make "room" in their storage and warehouses for newer boxes soo it would be a win-win for everybody (unless they overprice them even more). Of course it's only logical speculation and a bit of wishful thinking on my part

It's also possible that we get the usual 6+4 battleforces for 40k/AoS, but other extras like another Adeptus Titanicus box or a Horus Heresy set.

 xttz wrote:
It's also possible that we get the usual 6+4 battleforces for 40k/AoS, but other extras like another Adeptus Titanicus box or a Horus Heresy set.

Or a couple of terrain boxes

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
Or a couple of terrain boxes

And Ash Waste Outpost box would be nice.

VAYASEN wrote:
Any educated guesses on what the 40k Xmas Battleforce boxes will be this year?

Always an easy xmas present for me

Based on the historical trend they are almost certainly going to be announced withing the next two weeks. Here is the historical trend of announcement dates on WarCom:

2016 – November 15th
2017 – November 19th
2018 – November 5th (Two were teased on Warcom on Oct 28)
2019 – November 15th
2020 – November 16th
2021 – November 18th

If you want to try and work out which boxes will be among the assortment, here are the historical releases:

4:
Tau: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020

3:

Adeptus Mechanicus: 2016, 2018, 2021
Marines: 2018, 2020, 2021
Necrons: 2018, 2020, 2021

2:
Tyranids: 2019, 2020
Space Wolves: 2016, 2019
Astra Militarum: 2017, 2020
CSM: 2019, 2020
Death Guard: 2018, 2021
Orks: 2017, 2021

1:
Imperial Fists: 2018
Craftworlds: 2018
Drukhari: 2019
DeathWatch: 2016
GSC: 2017
Blood Angels: 2019
Adepta Sororitas: 2021

I bet Its going to be Nids since they are going to probably redo some of these kits next edition.

 NAVARRO wrote:
I bet Its going to be Nids since they are going to probably redo some of these kits next edition.

We still have finecast biovore/pyrovore and lictors/deathleapers. Those have been almost dead certain predictions for replacement models for quite a long whlie now every time something major happens around Tyranids (Psychich awakening, new codex). So far we've not seen them at all. We did get a new Parasite model which is fantastic, but so far GW hasn't acted in a predictable manner at moving the last few models off finecast and into plastic. By now I'd have expected lictors/deathleaper and biovore/pyrovore duel kits with 3 models per kit just like almost all the other elite style models.

 Overread wrote:

 NAVARRO wrote:
I bet Its going to be Nids since they are going to probably redo some of these kits next edition.

We still have finecast biovore/pyrovore and lictors/deathleapers. Those have been almost dead certain predictions for replacement models for quite a long whlie now every time something major happens around Tyranids (Psychich awakening, new codex). So far we've not seen them at all. We did get a new Parasite model which is fantastic, but so far GW hasn't acted in a predictable manner at moving the last few models off finecast and into plastic. By now I'd have expected lictors/deathleaper and biovore/pyrovore duel kits with 3 models per kit just like almost all the other elite style models.

Yes and I lost interest in Nids after waiting for so long. Maybe new edition will revamp the range with those dual kits, not sure. But Christmas deal seems like something that could happen for nids, selling gaunts by the bucket load yet again etc...

pleasestopit wrote:

Rzezbiarzbdg wrote:
In Goff Rocker miniature post, they explicitly wrote,, more battleforces then ever" so maybe 8 this year?

I think that we may see a lot more, maybe even for almost each army. From what i've seen with their very "cramped" release schedule they seem to be trying to get back on their original schedule-plan and that's why we are getting a lot more releases per week stuffed in rather than the usual "here is this release box" or "here are "2-3 new unit boxes just for this game system" and the reason I think we will be getting a lot more battleforces is because GW probably needs to make "room" in their storage and warehouses for newer boxes soo it would be a win-win for everybody (unless they overprice them even more). Of course it's only logical speculation and a bit of wishful thinking on my part

How is making more sprues and boxes making room?

You DO know right that the boxes are specifically cast? They don't pull out sprues from existing boxes to the discount boxes?

tneva82 wrote:

pleasestopit wrote:

Rzezbiarzbdg wrote:
In Goff Rocker miniature post, they explicitly wrote,, more battleforces then ever" so maybe 8 this year?

I think that we may see a lot more, maybe even for almost each army. From what i've seen with their very "cramped" release schedule they seem to be trying to get back on their original schedule-plan and that's why we are getting a lot more releases per week stuffed in rather than the usual "here is this release box" or "here are "2-3 new unit boxes just for this game system" and the reason I think we will be getting a lot more battleforces is because GW probably needs to make "room" in their storage and warehouses for newer boxes soo it would be a win-win for everybody (unless they overprice them even more). Of course it's only logical speculation and a bit of wishful thinking on my part

How is making more sprues and boxes making room?

You DO know right that the boxes are specifically cast? They don't pull out sprues from existing boxes to the discount boxes?

Yep GW are having enough trouble keeping things in stock right now, the last thing they'd be doing is overproducing in the extreme just to warehouse stuff. Also people forget if GW were to produce things and put them in boxes and then unbox and rebox them that's a huge amount of boxing money lost and worker time.

Remember GW products can last for decades on the shelf and lose 0 value. Until GW chooses to replace a sculpt its basically going to be worth the same on launch day as on its last day what with price rises and such along the way. So yeah GW doesn't need to worry about fast selling their summer stock for winter or this years models for next year.


So if they choose to make a christmas box they are casting fresh models for those boxes. Now what they might do is use christmas boxes to create excitement for armies that aren't selling as strongly as they'd like to try and drum up interest and sales; they will also certainly follow those that make easy money too (eg marines).

Are the boxes definitely specifically cast? Because the instructions are the sheets from the individual boxes, it's not reworked into one sheet. So it does feel like they've grabbed them from existing boxes.
Admittedly I can see they might not want to spend the money on new layouts.

They might not be specifically cast for the promotional box, but just the next batch off the production line.

They will be specifically cast for this production run as it falls outside of GW's normal production and stocking runs. Of course GW is keeping costs sensibly down so the only unique part of the content is the box itself and the base bags as they are sometimes combined up (I assume GW just repacks the base and has a little plastic bagger on site).


So yeah production wise nothing changes, same insert, same bases, same sprue - its just a box change and a picker change to include more sprue in one box.


But it won't just be the next run off the machine as such, these will fall outside of GW's general restocking of lines. Otherwise production for them would cause huge shortfalls in their regular supply.

Also chances are to avoid supply issues they likely start making up these boxes a whileback so that they can slot the production in and get it out of the way - granted they can't do it too early because storage costs.

 Overread wrote:

 NAVARRO wrote:
I bet Its going to be Nids since they are going to probably redo some of these kits next edition.

We still have finecast biovore/pyrovore and lictors/deathleapers. Those have been almost dead certain predictions for replacement models for quite a long whlie now every time something major happens around Tyranids (Psychich awakening, new codex). So far we've not seen them at all. We did get a new Parasite model which is fantastic, but so far GW hasn't acted in a predictable manner at moving the last few models off finecast and into plastic. By now I'd have expected lictors/deathleaper and biovore/pyrovore duel kits with 3 models per kit just like almost all the other elite style models.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pyro/bio ends up an atrocity kit like the Beast of Nurgle- far overpriced, one model with just a sliver of alternate bits.

Voss wrote:

 Overread wrote:

 NAVARRO wrote:
I bet Its going to be Nids since they are going to probably redo some of these kits next edition.

We still have finecast biovore/pyrovore and lictors/deathleapers. Those have been almost dead certain predictions for replacement models for quite a long whlie now every time something major happens around Tyranids (Psychich awakening, new codex). So far we've not seen them at all. We did get a new Parasite model which is fantastic, but so far GW hasn't acted in a predictable manner at moving the last few models off finecast and into plastic. By now I'd have expected lictors/deathleaper and biovore/pyrovore duel kits with 3 models per kit just like almost all the other elite style models.

I wouldn't be surprised if the pyro/bio ends up an atrocity kit like the Beast of Nurgle- far overpriced, one model with just a sliver of alternate bits.

Dunno - the beast of Nurgle kind of got upsized into a pretty massive monster. Tyranids already have a massive artillery unit - the Exocrine - they don't need a second large artillery.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/06/sunday-preview-cadia-stands-again-while-da-goff-rocker-tunes-up/

We’ve also got loads to show you right here on the Warhammer Community website, including this year’s Christmas battleforces, new miniatures for Necromunda, and the next set of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy upgrade sets.

Mmm. More Necromunda!

Any indication that this years battleforces are only for AoS and 40K?

SamusDrake wrote:
Any indication that this years battleforces are only for AoS and 40K?

No. There's no indication of anything. Just that they exist.

 Kanluwen wrote:

No. There's no indication of anything. Just that they exist.

Okay, cheers.

40K ones.

Meh. But Knights one might be good.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/07/warhammer-40000-battleforces-praise-the-emperor-this-christmas-with-eight-incredible-boxes/

So interesting note - there isn't a single Xenos boxed set this year!

It's all Imperial and a few Chaos.

Awful

Wait they forgot to cram tzaangors into the 1k sons box :(

6 Imperial and 2 Chaos. And I guess big special characters taking up a lot of the allowance but none seem massively impressive, certainly compared to some in the past.

Each of course includes a Named Character.

For starting out a force probably alright overall. But, for adding to existing ones? Probably more limited appeal as folk are more likely to have those characters already.

Might pick up tson one. Have already enough daemons to fill quarter army and 40 tzaangor so 2k tsons could be close with this

edit: Indeed adding this gives me 2k pretty much on the nose before upgrades...Not too bad proposition.

The sisters one could have been interesting. If it had anything other than Vell in it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Each of course includes a Named Character.

For starting out a force probably alright overall. But, for adding to existing ones? Probably more limited appeal as folk are more likely to have those characters already.

To be fair that's oft the case with many battleboxes.


Personally I'd consider these neat starting points, which is honestly what they often are. If I wanted Custodes, Ad-Mech or Sisters of Battle I'd be really keen for these sets. Titan one is very good too for someone getting started with a Titan force.

I'd say these are sold, perhaps not the most exciting they've done, but solid.

We'll see what the pricing is, but I feel like the Death Guard one is a nice add on if you bought Conquest (which was rather lacking in Death Guard infantry and didn't include the other units at all).

The IF one might be a reasonable source of cheapish ebay Heavy Intercessors? The Raven Guard one is the only real stinker.

Valrak's sources on this one were right it seems, they are dead on.

So the rumours were true.. Valrak on an absolute tear.

So much more tempting for people starting an army - these boxes + a combat patrol should have you completely sorted.

Rekkiem wrote:
So the rumours were true.. Valrak on an absolute tear.

So much more tempting for people starting an army - these boxes + a combat patrol should have you completely sorted.

Yeah they mostly seem to avoid duplication with the CP boxes, probably trying to get folks to start full new armies this xmas.

What I find funny is the icon for this page on the main GW community page shows the AOS symbol and logo

Ahh, the imperial fist one. I wish one of those heavy boxes was just normal intercessors.
I don’t want 3 heavy boxes :(
But if it’s not priced crazy I would get it :9
So that won’t happen q.q

Are these normally £130? Death Guard box is £206's worth of stuff, so that's not terrible, though granted most of that is because Morty is so expensive.

Wow. I'm almost impressed with how terrible most of those are.

The knight one stands out as the best (barring price issues), and I can see very specific people getting something out of Fist box, but 10 Reivers just makes me laugh.

The rest feel over burdened by the giant special characters and overly specific unit choices. But hey, at least the Sons, Custards and Poxy guys aren't overwhelmed by their sidekick units for once!

I'm tempted by the Imperial fist one, depending on price. I'll have to convert or not use the IF character though.

Rekkiem wrote:
So the rumours were true.. Valrak on an absolute tear.

So much more tempting for people starting an army - these boxes + a combat patrol should have you completely sorted.

I-it was pretty obvious what the boxes were going to be really. Just a lucky guess. Has a Valrak rumour every actually materialized? I'm fixating on something he said two years ago so I just can't see it.

I wouldn't mind a gargant version of the knights box. One mega and four regulars, that i would grab.

Hm, my complaint last year was that they were totally incoherent jumbles of random units, this time they're a lot more focused. Down to including special characters, which is really weird as it totally ruins them for anyone who already has the character.

Has the Warhammer Community site finally slipped and revealed what was hinted at all those years ago... The Old World and the new Realms have always been in the Eye of Terror and next year's campaign will be to have them cross over?

 The Phazer wrote:
Are these normally £130? Death Guard box is £206's worth of stuff, so that's not terrible, though granted most of that is because Morty is so expensive.

OTOH does mean you have rare chance to get that on discount. Otherwise you pay full price.

JSG wrote:

Rekkiem wrote:
So the rumours were true.. Valrak on an absolute tear.

So much more tempting for people starting an army - these boxes + a combat patrol should have you completely sorted.

I-it was pretty obvious what the boxes were going to be really. Just a lucky guess. Has a Valrak rumour every actually materialized? I'm fixating on something he said two years ago so I just can't see it.

This exact combination of boxes, right down to the marine sets being specifically Raven Guard and Imperial Fists, and the two Chaos boxes containing their respective traitor Primarchs was "pretty obvious"???

Edit: Sorry if I missed this being sarcastic. Hard to tell nowadays :-P

And total lack of xenos seeing generally there's at least one...

I presume he's sarcastic

Mmm, there's not really anything there for me - but my eldest son was literally looking at Raven Guard yesterday and saying 'they look cool' so will flag this up for him...

 The Phazer wrote:

JSG wrote:

Rekkiem wrote:
So the rumours were true.. Valrak on an absolute tear.

So much more tempting for people starting an army - these boxes + a combat patrol should have you completely sorted.

I-it was pretty obvious what the boxes were going to be really. Just a lucky guess. Has a Valrak rumour every actually materialized? I'm fixating on something he said two years ago so I just can't see it.

This exact combination of boxes, right down to the marine sets being specifically Raven Guard and Imperial Fists, and the two Chaos boxes containing their respective traitor Primarchs was "pretty obvious"???

I almost fell for it too but I’m pretty sure it’s sarcasm

4 AoS boxes. Squigs look okay I suppose

OK that one is excellent!

There’s 7 AoS boxes.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/07/treat-yourself-this-christmas-with-a-choice-of-seven-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-battleforces/

This one plugs into Dominion quite nicely.

Lot of models in that Skaven box. Seems like a good army builder?

I do like the Squig one, and the Kruleboyz one is pretty sparse but the big models in there are very cool.

So just the LotR to reveal now. Very disappointed this year, unless they throw a curveball with some SG stuff. Last year was so good, I bought three boxes. I'll only buy the Knights this year.

I was sure they would do an Eldar box, I'm sort of amazed they didn't. The only one I might have picked up was the admech one, but apart from the Skitarii I need none of it. I have to say it's a bit naff. But then for some people presumably it is of use.

We return to our regularly scheduled hope for a Necromunda box that is just a massive pile of bulkhead/wall sprues with no barricades or anything.

Daughters of Khaine box is really awesome all told. That's almost the entire army range in there! If you want to expand a started force or build a new one that's a fantastic box to grab one, two, three of

Hm, if it wasn't for the Stormbringer magazine coming, i would have gone for the Stormcast one. Kruleboyz looks good though. I do actually like these boxes more as they're not special character locked too. Where does it mention anything for LotR?

Last year it was 40k announced, then one hour later it was AoS, then LotR.

 Overread wrote:
Daughters of Khaine box is really awesome all told. That's almost the entire army range in there! If you want to expand a started force or build a new one that's a fantastic box to grab one, two, three of

2 is probably sweet spot. 3rd the warlock riders and 3rd squad of winged starts to eat. 2 units of winged good for battle tactics if your area allows book ones. More isn't needed.

Skaven is also pretty good. 2 goes easily for skaven collection.

Squig one is great though only need 1.

JWBS wrote:
Last year it was 40k announced, then one hour later it was AoS, then LotR.

I'd be kinda surprised. We already got these boxes with the Battlehosts and they're not limited either.

Hmm yeah I don't keep up with LotR but I remember some big LotR boxes recently now you mention it.

 The Phazer wrote:
We return to our regularly scheduled hope for a Necromunda box that is just a massive pile of bulkhead/wall sprues with no barricades or anything.

When was the last time they did a terrain box?

 xttz wrote:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/07/treat-yourself-this-christmas-with-a-choice-of-seven-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-battleforces/

Sigmar ones are so much better than the 40k ones this year. I'm up to my ears in slaves to darkness & HH stuff at the moment, but there are some great boxes in there, with some big starts for some armies. the ork one is more a single box finisher, but it isn't bad for all that.

Hmm, that Legion of Grief boxed set is pretty tempting for a painting project. Lots of fun stuff in there that I could probably bang out in a week.

Is this how GW gets me to finally abandon Oldhammer and finally try AOS?

JWBS wrote:
Hmm yeah I don't keep up with LotR but I remember some big LotR boxes recently now you mention it.

I mean, they can announce some more Battleforces. I'd have no objection to it.

AoS boxes really really nice

Except that GSG is wall-to-wall squigs YET AGAIN

Are you implying you can ever have enough squigs?

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Are you implying you can ever have enough squigs?

I bought 5 Looncurses

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Are you implying you can ever have enough squigs?

I bought 5 Looncurses

So you've almost got enough...

They had loads of Troggoth in 2020 and some in 2021. Shouldn't even be getting another box this year imo, though it's become clear over the years that the choice of which factions get a box isn't dictated by which have had them in the past.

If they cost the same as last year (160€), these are the discounts for each box:
(Used € for this so could be slightly different for other currencies)

Adeptus Mechanicus - 34%
Adepta Sororitas - 35%
Adeptus Custodes - 38%
Death Guard - 38%
Thousand Sons - 39%
Imperial Fists - 39%
Raven Guard - 39%
Imperial Knights - 40%
(Here I used the price for the normal Armiger box that builds both Helverins and Warglaives but the article makes it sound like you can't build all four as one version so probably a bit less if the extra sprues are missing)

Daughters of Khaine - 32%
Orruk Warclans - 35%
Gloomspite Gitz - 36%
Stormcast Eternals - 38%
Skaven - 40%
Nighthaunt - 40%
Sylvaneth - 42%

Last year the discounts have been around 37% so it would make sense for them to be the same price or slightly more expensive

Kinda glad in a very selfish way there was no xenos boxes. I’d be hard pressed to not covet an eldar or nid box.

I’ve got enough marines that things would have to line up just right for me to need another giant box worth. A 30k box might have triggered a purchase, but not more primaris.

Well...at least there are no Tzaangors in that TS box. So we got that going on for us, which is nice.

 jojo_monkey_boy wrote:

 The Phazer wrote:
We return to our regularly scheduled hope for a Necromunda box that is just a massive pile of bulkhead/wall sprues with no barricades or anything.

When was the last time they did a terrain box?

I don't think they've ever done one. I didn't say it was realistic.

There was the Rohan and Dol Goldur Ruins box set

I like that Thousand Sons set, it's a perfect upgrade if you just have, or want to get, the Combat Patrol.

The AOS ones are all pretty ace. Kruleboyz is a direct upgrade from Dominion, and the Khainite and Sylvaneth ones are very very tempting.

I think I’m less Meh on the 40K boxes.

For someone starting a whole new army, they’re decent - price could reduce that to merely OK.

They’re also quite nicely set as Big Christmas Present, leaving smaller “more affordable” sets as gift options for relatives.

I'd be super excited to own all the Squigs if I didn't own all the Squigs.

 LunarSol wrote:
I'd be super excited to own all the Squigs if I didn't own all the Squigs.

Clearly you don’t own all the Squigs…for there are always more Squigs.

No. More than that.

Some good'uns in there such as the Imperial Knight set, which makes up for the abscence of models earlier in the year and also a well balanced selection. While there is no Horus Heresy set this christmas, this is still good for 30K Household players.

Shame there wasn't an Eldar set with Banshees or Reapers, as I would have been all over that. Also, a bundle for AT would have made up for this year's lack of releases. No Tyranid bundle! It would have been nice to have had discount on some Carnifexes, and other nasties from the Hive fleets. Lets hope those 40K 10th edition rumours are true...

There is always going to be disappointment if one's factions aren't included, but otherwise its not too bad.

If not already seen:

No specialist games, horus heresy or terrain then?

Only ones I'm remotely interested in are the Imperial Knights and Custodes ones, except for the fact that I don't really need another big Knight and I already have Trajann. On the Knights one, I do need more Armigers and I could build and paint the big one as the actual Canix Rex. On the Custodes one, I suppose I could sell or trade Trajann; the other stuff in there would finish up my Custodes army quite nicely (even if it wouldn't be super meta competitive). It's gonna depend on the price and whether or not I actually have any spare cash at the time.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
No specialist games, horus heresy or terrain then?

A heresy Box would have been aces!

 Togusa wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
No specialist games, horus heresy or terrain then?

A heresy Box would have been aces!

We will have Age of Sigmar boxes, but I dont see any news yet.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
I wouldn't mind a gargant version of the knights box. One mega and four regulars, that i would grab.

Not happening like that. If it ever happens, it'd be a mega and 3 mancrushers.

JWBS wrote:
4 AoS boxes.

* SEVEN

Those Plague Monk models in the Skaven box will soon be old to enough to buy their own plague cigs and plague beer.

 Togusa wrote:
Astra Militarum
Leagues of Votann

are both a given. No way they won't be due to them both being recent releases.

That's literally why they weren't a given.

No terrain or Eldar, that's a shame. Very surprised about the lack of Tzaangors this year.

The Imp Fist one is tempting...

Squigs and Stormcast are solid boxes, the rest is not really that exiting.

Great to see the seasonal Christmas bundles though.

they all look like good boxes if you look at them from the perspective of buying one of these to go along with a combat patrol or vanguard box.

Of course there's 14 Plague marines in the Death Guard box. Couldn't be be asked to add the two groups of 3 they made especially for this reason

I like the khain one, but not for aos but for 8the edition warhammer fantasie battles

Quasistellar wrote:
they all look like good boxes if you look at them from the perspective of buying one of these to go along with a combat patrol or vanguard box.

Pretty much this. Tempted to get the Custodes as it is one of the forces I don't have and am interested in starting.

 skeleton wrote:
I like the khain one, but not for aos but for 8the edition warhammer fantasie battles

*Khaine, 2/5 of it was not a thing in *Fantasy, so that's actually terrible if you think about it.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
The sisters one could have been interesting. If it had anything other than Vell in it.

Damnit GW. I actually need everything in this box. It's not like you can have enough Battle Sisters.

Just looking at the AOS boxes reminds me just how hit or miss AOS is for me in general, to perfectly honest it's mostly miss. I don't think that I've been a fan of many of the armies specifically released for it, especially Sigmarines or the army of bedsheets. Not making a regular human army was a big mistake IMHO.

RE 40k, I might pick up the Custodes, or even the Imperial Fists if I decide that I don't quite have enough piles of shame in the house

I get rather unreasonably excited waiting for these boxes to reveal any year, given that they're just a bit of a saving on kits that you can already buy anyway. Still, it's a nice thing to wait for and speculate on. They've really taken me by surprise by including so many named characters, that's a bit out of the ordinary from previous years. I wonder if that's a deliberate strategy to aim them more at people starting a new army, rather than existing collectors looking to expand their army on the (relative) cheap, since I can't imagine many Death Guard players don't have Mortarion, etc.

Largely I was hoping for an Eldar box, so I'm rather disappointed, but practically it's probably a good thing given I'm trying to work my way through my shame pile rather than adding to it. Might be tempted by Knights, but I shall try to resist.

As ever, I'm sure they're all a good deal if you happen to want the selection of minis they've included!

With the big character figures in the 40K one I thought for a few miniutes a Vampire Courts set with the minis needed for the Cursed City expansions might actually be viable after all, but nope.

If the knight one doesn't have the sprues to make 4 of either variant, it just got a lot worse.

I think the IF upgrade box only has enough for 15 marines right, it’s a shame if thats the reason we only got the heavy intercessors in it.
Since I really think a full unit of normal ones would have help the box a lot :9

 Egyptian Space Zombie wrote:
If the knight one doesn't have the sprues to make 4 of either variant, it just got a lot worse.

Most models are made to go on one casting block. Even if there are 2 or 3 sprue in the box, you can often see the gates on the sides of the sprue where they connect together into one object and its just divided into parts to fit into the box in a sane way. So when GW casts a model you get all the bits of that model which all go into the box; otherwise GW would have to waste resources casting parts and then have those parts broken up and recycled. Which they can do at their factory, but its still a waste over just putting all the parts in the box

Apple fox wrote:
I think the IF upgrade box only has enough for 15 marines right, it’s a shame if thats the reason we only got the heavy intercessors in it.
Since I really think a full unit of normal ones would have help the box a lot :9

Worse, it only has 6 pads for Gravis armor(4 regular and 2 sgts) vs the 18 Gravis models in the box.

 Overread wrote:

 Egyptian Space Zombie wrote:
If the knight one doesn't have the sprues to make 4 of either variant, it just got a lot worse.

Most models are made to go on one casting block. Even if there are 2 or 3 sprue in the box, you can often see the gates on the sides of the sprue where they connect together into one object and its just divided into parts to fit into the box in a sane way. So when GW casts a model you get all the bits of that model which all go into the box; otherwise GW would have to waste resources casting parts and then have those parts broken up and recycled. Which they can do at their factory, but its still a waste over just putting all the parts in the box

It's separate weapon sprues, like the two Deimos Predators. Used to come in separate boxes, were combined last update cycle as a stealth price hike.

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:
Just looking at the AOS boxes reminds me just how hit or miss AOS is for me in general, to perfectly honest it's mostly miss. I don't think that I've been a fan of many of the armies specifically released for it, especially Sigmarines or the army of bedsheets. Not making a regular human army was a big mistake IMHO.

RE 40k, I might pick up the Custodes, or even the Imperial Fists if I decide that I don't quite have enough piles of shame in the house

Complains about not having a regular human army, buys two non-regular non-human armies. SMH.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 alextroy wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
The sisters one could have been interesting. If it had anything other than Vell in it.

Damnit GW. I actually need everything in this box. It's not like you can have enough Battle Sisters.

I don't really NEED anything out of it. I still have several boxes of unbuilt BSS, haven't built my original suits, already have a pretty decently painted Morvenn Vahl, and don't really use sacresants that much anymore.

Absolutely getting the box though.

 Platuan4th wrote:

Apple fox wrote:
I think the IF upgrade box only has enough for 15 marines right, it’s a shame if thats the reason we only got the heavy intercessors in it.
Since I really think a full unit of normal ones would have help the box a lot :9

Worse, it only has 6 pads for Gravis armor(4 regular and 2 sgts) vs the 18 Gravis models in the box.

Why would they do that!
It’s just adding a bunch of extra cost then.

That Sisters box is pretty much tailor made for me, I have no Nundams, I didn't get Vahl yet, and can use more of everything else.

I feel bad about the Raven Guard box though. Reivers? Blech.

 KidCthulhu wrote:
Hmm, that Legion of Grief boxed set is pretty tempting for a painting project. Lots of fun stuff in there that I could probably bang out in a week.

Is this how GW gets me to finally abandon Oldhammer and finally try AOS?

Why abandon oldhammer? Why not just ADD Aos to your games list?

 John Prins wrote:
That Sisters box is pretty much tailor made for me, I have no Nundams, I didn't get Vahl yet, and can use more of everything else.

I feel bad about the Raven Guard box though. Reivers? Blech.

I think the reivers are due to some fell pact GW made with the ruinous powers. If they don’t include some at least once a year as part of a bundle deal, the board’s souls are forfeit.

Little surprised there isn’t a nid box with some genestealers. Did they already fulfill their bargain on them this year?

Apple fox wrote:
Why would they do that!
It’s just adding a bunch of extra cost then.

What cost? These things are pretty much free. Small upgrade sprue costs very little to cast, I still remember grabbing old terminators because Deathwatch box of these came with three DW sprues to fit all termies giving you a small mountain of pads for regular PA. They really should have gone and included 6 of them (or 7, if they treated idiotic 'wrong pad' nonsense they slap Phobos with seriously) to not look greedy...

 John Prins wrote:
I feel bad about the Raven Guard box though. Reivers? Blech.

Meh, at least converting them to Infiltrators is trivial. 5 old SM helmets and you're good to go. Still sad seeing one of the best SM models of the last 15 years hobbled by incompetent rule writers though

And if you want to feel bad for RG, note these apparently don't come with upgrade sprue - just because Phobos arm is slightly different and we can't have people using wrong parts, eh? Same reason why Phobos kits in SC/CP boxes don't have them, even though Phobos in fluff is the exact same thing as Mk X, only with different plate configuration

I was legit going to buy everything in the Stormcast ones expect the dragons, so its a easy yes from me! The AoS offerings have blown 40k out of the water this year!

That Skaven box has a load of our WHFB players eyeing it up for both 6th ed WHFB and AoS on base converters

ERJAK wrote:

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:
Just looking at the AOS boxes reminds me just how hit or miss AOS is for me in general, to perfectly honest it's mostly miss. I don't think that I've been a fan of many of the armies specifically released for it, especially Sigmarines or the army of bedsheets. Not making a regular human army was a big mistake IMHO.

RE 40k, I might pick up the Custodes, or even the Imperial Fists if I decide that I don't quite have enough piles of shame in the house

Complains about not having a regular human army, buys two non-regular non-human armies. SMH.

That's right, because 40K and AOS are exactly the same thing aren't they?

And I definitely said that I was only interested in "regular human" armies, didn't I?

And Custodes and Space Marines don't look anything like human beings do they?

I mean, what was the point in your comment? Utterly, utterly bizarre.

I mean, it's a touch odd to pick up the custards and then say you don't like the Stormcast when if you paint them both gold, they're not a massive stones throw away from each other visually.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
I mean, it's a touch odd to pick up the custards and then say you don't like the Stormcast when if you paint them both gold, they're not a massive stones throw away from each other visually.

Is it?

You think that everybody who likes Custodes must also like Stormcast?

Have you seen my Custodes?

Do you understand that a person can have different tastes for a fantasy setting compared to a sci fi setting?

Sure, just seems odd when they're reasonably close visually and pure human. Probably more so than marines/custards.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Sure, just seems odd when they're reasonably close visually and pure human. Probably more so than marines/custards.

Maybe there are some crossed wires here.

I never said anything about only liking human armies, I just lamented the lack of a new human army in AOS. Erjak inferred something very different from my comment.

I don't like Stormcast for many reasons, those reasons don't include armour in general or the colour of it.

I feel like we are getting off-track, so I'll leave it there.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Sure, just seems odd when they're reasonably close visually and pure human. Probably more so than marines/custards.

I play 40k...and back in the day loved my WFB armies too.

Often thought about buying AOS...if nothing else for painting and maybe a game here and there.

Something about those Humans (stormcast are they?) just turn me off the game so much. Always thought they were horrible....but each to their own. Feel like some kind of Superhero army...bit like Wonder Womans amazon lot to me.

Not a patch imo on the old world stuff. This AOS setting setting does absolutely nothing for me....takes me away from it feeling like a fantasy 'real' setting.

Apple fox wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

Apple fox wrote:
I think the IF upgrade box only has enough for 15 marines right, it’s a shame if thats the reason we only got the heavy intercessors in it.
Since I really think a full unit of normal ones would have help the box a lot :9

Worse, it only has 6 pads for Gravis armor(4 regular and 2 sgts) vs the 18 Gravis models in the box.

Why would they do that!
It’s just adding a bunch of extra cost then.

Since apparently it comes with one copy of the upgrade set, which is to say two sprues and two transfer sheets, you'll have six sculpted chapter badges, ten infantry transfers and four vehicle transfers that are small enough to fit a shoulder pad. So twenty chapter badges for your eighteen Marines.

At a guess GW wants to push the discount of the box by throwing in the upgrade set for easy comparison, as people wouldn't value transfer sheets alone and would therefore arrive at a smaller discount than the other boxes. And they want to cheap out and not throw in enough plastic upgrades for the whole force because the upgrade sprue was conceived at a time when Gravis was three man supplementary units instead of five man mainstays, and you would need six of them if you don't care about the Sergeant pads going on normal Marines, or seven if you do. Which would then invite a comparison to the individually sold upgrade set and give the Imperial Fists box a larger discount than the other boxes that don't make use of upgrade sets.

For comparison, GW provided enough upgrade sprues for the Supremacy Force a couple of years back as that had fifteen regular Marines and three Gravis (and a Captain, not sure if the model takes other shoulder pads but if it does, there are enough leftovers for him as well), so there was a lot less waste than the couple of dozen shoulder pads you'd have left over if GW wasn't cheap with this year's box.

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

I never said anything about only liking human armies, I just lamented the lack of a new human army in AOS.

Should be one coming next year with the Dawnbringer Crusades!

 judgedoug wrote:

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

I never said anything about only liking human armies, I just lamented the lack of a new human army in AOS.

Should be one coming next year with the Dawnbringer Crusades!

Oh really? That sounds interesting

I hadn't heard about that, I hope it's something that leans into the more traditional fantasy human style of Brets/Empire rather than Stormcast.

They've previewed some gubbinz from it (skulls, adornments, other decorative stuff) and weapons. Looks very Empire (except the guns look like they backstepped the tech), though not sure what the uniforms or armor will look like yet.

Its a ways off yet- they've compared the previews to the way they did the ~18 months or so of Sisters of Battle previews.

Bits first, then weapons:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/05/05/revealed-the-massive-project-to-put-mortals-back-into-mortal-realms/
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/09/16/dawnbringer-previews-your-first-look-at-the-arsenal-of-the-cities-of-sigmar/

Thanks, I have no idea how I missed those weapon previews.

The weapons do look very nice, definitely a step in the right direction

Think I'll get an Imperial Guard Army Box instead

Super tempted by the Imperial Knights box...I need more Armigers, and I suppose I could use a 4th Knight...

But also the Daughters of Khaine box...I already have way too many of them, but it is a good deal.

On the AoS side, the Stormcast one is tempting, but for the fact that Vigilors are trash. The models are cool though, and they might get an adjustment to make them not trash in the future. The other stuff is all pretty good for me; I don't currently own any Vanquishers or a Knight-Relictor, and I only have 2 dragon riders, so those would all be good adds (don't have any Vigilors either, so they are, at least, new to me), and I could always use a few more Grandhammer Annihilators.

I also find the Sisters battleforce to be useful. I have plenty of the other kits, and no Paragons. I was going to just buy three Paragons, should I be talked out of getting six?

Are these usually direct only or third party too?

Third Party two. My local FLGS still has holdovers from previous years.

Not too bad a deal at third party prices.
Though I will not start anything new, I must not.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Third Party two. My local FLGS still has holdovers from previous years.

Do they have an online store?

Yeah, my locals sat on most of the ones from last year so long, they started an ongoing rotating clearance table to get rid of them.

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Third Party two. My local FLGS still has holdovers from previous years.

Do they have an online store?

Just as a heads up, All four of the AoS battleforces from last year were all available in high quantities until about six weeks ago on Amazon and Miniature Market, which are the two of the bigger online discounters in the US. The Ork battleforce hung around until late summer. You can still get the Slaanesh Mortals box for 20% off.

It varies by year, but the AoS boxes always hang around longer. Not sure how many they're going to produce this year, but I'd heavily wager that the Skaven box will be available this time next year.

40K boxes go much faster as does anything that presents an absurdly good value. Good luck!

For anyone who finds it interesting in 40K The Ad Mech, Imperial Fists and Raven Guard boxes are still available in the UK.
Interesting as we all sort of expected the marines to go first. The Death Guard and Thousand Sons boxes with the primarchs have both gone.
For AoS Orruks, Stormcast and Gitz have gone, rest still available, which makes more sense, the first two being the poster boys for this edition.

The Gitz box went super fast.

That said sometimes you can find even those gone boxes at local stores and GW stores on the highstreet.

Not sure anyone expected the Raven Guard box to sell quickly, to be honest. I'm not getting the impression that the Phobos side of Primaris is that popular.

Although the answer in case of Marines may be that because GW knows Marines are popular, they made more Marine boxes than other factions.

 Overread wrote:
The Gitz box went super fast.

That said sometimes you can find even those gone boxes at local stores and GW stores on the highstreet.

My local still has everything AoS but Kruleboyz, Stormcast(both bought by me), and Skaven left.

There’s only two primaris upgrade sprues with the Fists battleforce is this correct?

zanzibarthefirst wrote:
There’s only two primaris upgrade sprues with the Fists battleforce is this correct?

GW has consistently said so. Not great, but that's all there is apparently.

Better than the zero in the Raven Guard box

 Geifer wrote:
I'm not getting the impression that the Phobos side of Primaris is that popular

It's vastly more popular than garbage rules* would allow. In fact, I wonder if they are not popular enough to sell (though funnily enough, a lot of phobos I saw went straight into conversions, not intended units, gee, I wonder why) in numbers that causes GW management to ignore the issue and skip big buffs they usually slap on xeno gak on book revision. But then again, said management listens to clowns who think 20% winrate most SM chapters have is due to them being picked by new players and not thanks to incompetent rule writing, so maybe not

Then there is the fact phobos box got hurt by GW just cheapening out (come on, if that is supposed to be RG army because you included RG locked character that can't be made generic due to yet more incompetent rule writing, at least throw in frakking pads to make it more appealing, if not 5+ more models to bring it up to par with other boxes!) and it is what it is. I just hope if it fails, GW will finally give the boot to team responsible for sabotage and bring a competent rule writer in

*and if anything, they just got WORSE over the years, they were bad in 8th before stupid 2W uglysquat buff (that trashed game balance pretty much to this day) made them suck in comparison, never mind later inflated gak like orkstodes, custodaemons, and the taudar got ruined them and balance completely...

deano2099 wrote:
F
Interesting as we all sort of expected the marines to go first. The Death Guard and Thousand Sons boxes with the primarchs have both gone.

I would have not expected the Raven Guard or Imperial Fist boxes to go quickly. They're both niche, but unlike Death Guard or Thousand Sons having cool primarch painting models, or possibly decent-ish reselling prices. The named characters with RG and IF are just kinda kit bash fodder.

The Raven Guard is a mismash of Phobos stuff that long time players would have their limit of Reivers, Eliminators and Battlesuits. Even if a marine player was looking to add some more Phobos to their army, the extra battlesuit and Shrike basically eat the box's savings. At least to me. I'm a big fan of Primaris and especially Phobos, but I barely want the battlesuit I already have. I have no interest in two or three of them. I feel this set would have done much better if a set of Infiltrators/Incursors replaced one of the battlesuits. Giving the box a better across-the-board addition of Phobos to a marine collection.

As for the Imperial Fist one, I was tempted to get it as I'd like another 15 Heavy Intercessors. So I can have 30 Heavy Intercessors. However, I seriously doubt even with my themed lists, I'll run 30 Heavy Intercessors. It's currently way too many points for what they do, and if they somehow become good; they are likely to be oppressively spammed at 30 anyway. The other issue is I don't really need more Aggressors. I could get a full 6 flamer squad with this, but I had all the time that the ETB ones were around to do that, and never did. And I don't want to bother kitbashing to have another Gravis Captain. So I decided on waiting until I want to get more Heavy Intercessors, as I probably will only pick up 10 more at most. So Aggressors half-off and a free kit bash fodder Gravis Character wasn't enough savings for me to bother.

Which I think is why the marine boxes are sticking around. The bonus stuff (whatever the particular customer thinks it is) just isn't desirable enough to pick up the whole box. Whether a long time collector or new, I don't think either box offers much for a faction that, let's be frank; is often spoiled with discount box sets.

And like the annual thing it is... GW Xmas battleboxes...
In stock maybe long enough for a few whales to snatch up multiple boxes for the savings, but none will ever find their way to under a kids Christmas tree.

Supply and demand. Customers demand lots, GW don't supply enough.
Keep that FOMO rolling.

#sigh

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
And like the annual thing it is... GW Xmas battleboxes...
In stock maybe long enough for a few whales to snatch up multiple boxes for the savings, but none will ever find their way to under a kids Christmas tree.

Supply and demand. Customers demand lots, GW don't supply enough.
Keep that FOMO rolling.

#sigh

And yet the Sybrite Carnival is still up for sale https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/chaos-grand-alliance-faction-box/87889-hedonites-sybarite-blade-carnival

The online order sell out fast from GW; then from the 3rd parties, then local stores can often still have shelf stock. But limited production run discount sets sell out from all manufacturers all the time; its nothing new. Plus you can get all the very same models from GW anyway or from 3rd parties. You've not missed out.

Grain of salt:
The Ebay store I tried to buy the Imperial Knight box from messaged me to say they weren't getting any from GW in the intial release. However, they were told that there would be a second production run of them in a month. We'll see if that holds true, and, if so, how big this second run will be.

My local couldn't get in any of the Knight box because allocations had sold through before he could place his weekly order.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
And like the annual thing it is... GW Xmas battleboxes...
In stock maybe long enough for a few whales to snatch up multiple boxes for the savings, but none will ever find their way to under a kids Christmas tree.

Supply and demand. Customers demand lots, GW don't supply enough.
Keep that FOMO rolling.

#sigh

To be fair to GW, I think they've come a long way with these spot release boxes.

It used to be that they'd sell out within minutes, now, the most popular last at least a day or so. Many stick around for months. Some for the better part of a year.

It seems they've really stepped up production levels. My concern now is that retailers are left holding the bag for hyped releases that don't sell through terribly well. E.g. the Black Templar boxes are for sale at 50% off on Amazon and Ebay. I think the Votann box will be steeply discounted soon.

While GW sold through quickly, even the in-demand boxes like Squigs are in-stock at Ebay today.

Anecdotal, but I popped into my local FLGS today and they had 3-5 units of each 40K box. They still had at least 2 of each box, except for the Squigs.

GW gets a lot of criticism, but I'm impressed with how they've tried to make all parties happy.

Honestly I didn't think that the Thousand Sons or Deathguard boxes would be that great on sales because most people who play those armies have their center piece models. Also there would be not much use in buying two of each of those due to the fact you can only use one named character. I picked it up because I have a crap ton of Death guard from when they were in the box set release. It complemens the original army box. Plus the Mortarian model is just awesome and i don't own it.

angel of death 007 wrote:
Honestly I didn't think that the Thousand Sons or Deathguard boxes would be that great on sales because most people who play those armies have their center piece models. Also there would be not much use in buying two of each of those due to the fact you can only use one named character. I picked it up because I have a crap ton of Death guard from when they were in the box set release. It complemens the original army box. Plus the Mortarian model is just awesome and i don't own it.

"who play those armies".

Well boxes are aimed for those　starting the army.

I was surprised that Sisters were the second one to sell out (in the store I use). Local players really hated the inclusion of the special character Paragon suit. Everybody knew Knights would be first.

I got 2 stormcast, 2 sisters (one is for the girlfriend), 1 AdMech and 1 Gloomspite box. Trying to work some angles to get 2 Imperial Knight and 2 Kruleboyz boxes.

I ordered 1 Knight box, dunno if I will get it.

Liked the look of Sisters and Sylvaneth but couldn't justify a new faction.

The Imperial Knight boxes sold out immediately here and not everyone who ordered was able to get a box.

Personally I got myself a Custodes box. A Battleforce with 1300 points worth of an army is a nice deal.

I'm half tempted by the Imperial Fists box for some discounted heavy intercessors and aggressors. There's just the right number of each. But the saving is minimal because I don't collect Fists so the bits and the character would be surplus to requirements.

If there are some floating about in 3 months I'll take another look at my pile of shame and see if I can justify it then.

I put in for 2 of the Imp Fist boxes, got confirmed, and then could only get 1.

Had to get a 2nd from another site.

Y'all act as though there aren't hole in the wall game stores out there that order in inventory and then fail to sell it. I can still get most of last years holiday battleforces off the shelves locally lol.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Y'all act as though there aren't hole in the wall game stores out there that order in inventory and then fail to sell it. I can still get most of last years holiday battleforces off the shelves locally lol.

Plus, following a short period to allow Local Gamers to buy from Local Stores, the Loot Group will be including Army Boxes in our definition of Loot.

I just stopped by a couple local stores - all boxes, including the Knights box, available in quantity...

My local indie shop had 3x of each, except the Knights of which they had 0. I grabbed a RG box.