How much discount in the battlegroups?

Usually one of the constituent sets is “free” in the battle groups.

This is around a 34% discount, which is slightly better than normal. GW must really want to hook new customers.

Two battlegroup boxes are pretty close to filling out a full 3000pt list.

I feel like these FOMO battle group boxes aren't really worth vs the "combat forces" they released a few weeks ago? Like its mostly the same contents, just with one set of vehicles swapped out and an extra kit thrown in.

Part of the issue is that for "core models" you really don't have many choices with LI to pick from. Infantry is basically 2 boxes and that's it.

Meanwhile you don't want to include too many exotics otherwise there's nothing to encourage buying after getting the discount box.


They also do all feel like great "new game" sets which makes sense. This scale of game is notorious in sci-fi and fantasy for being really hard to grow (as shown by the fact that most of the competition in this scale is literal garage companies often still casting in metal).

So GW going REALLY hard on FOMO starter themed sets makes sense in trying hard to grow it.

The other thing is get a Combat Force box or a Battle Group box and you have basically 1500 points which is more than enough for a good game. The Battle Group even have aircraft and anti-air units for the full combined arms feel. Put a Combat Force and a Battle Group together, maybe grab an infantry box and you have a full 3,000 point army. By GW standards that’s good.

LI is a weird game when it comes to purchases.

Getting started isn’t as cheap as Epic used to feel. For instance, I’m now on 8 boxes worth of Space Marine Infantry. Given Infantry is super cheap in the game? That’s a not insignificant £260.00 RRP. Discounts are of course available and vary.

Now, I do get a veritable horde of tiny wee dudes for that. And I for one don’t see anything wrong with using fewer models per base to stretch your money further.

But your tanks represent much better value, because they tend to be points intensive. And as ever, I’ll doff my cap to GW for providing lots of turrets for the Marine tanks. Gives options without further cost. So that’s nice of them.

Do you need as much infantry as I have? Almost certainly not, no. But an all infantry army, because it’s so points cheap, is not a cheap army.

Yet…once you’ve got your core force assembled? After that initial investment? It begins to feel like Old Epic in the purchase department. That is, a single box and I’ve a decent amount of stuff to swap in and out. So a refresh is fairly cost effective, as only rarely do you need more than a single box.

Exception there is the Legion Support, where I feel you really want a couple. The Dreads are fine as small units of four, because Dreads are Dreads. But the Rapiers and Tarantulas just feel puny as two bases.

These combined boxes do represent decent value for someone looking to start a new army (either a second force, or someone entirely new to the game). Two of the Legion Combat Force gives a pretty solid backbone, and you’re up and running with good variety for £210 RRP. Or if like me you shop at Element Games a shade under £180.

I’m not affiliated with Element, but my mate does run their London Store. Crystal Code is ROS9227

I don't play LI - I bought a few of the tanks just to see what they were like, and felt that they are too labour-intensive to justify the end result (and a bit fragile as well). I think if I was going to get into it, I would be picking up the Saturnine battle group; the Saturnine models look pretty good in epic scale, and fill the bases better than the 'normal' troops.

Quite a bit of cool stuff there!

The other thing that strikes me is that LI kind of needs to grow up fairly fast to work. Armies right now feel very "small" and you can't fit many regular ground units in and have space for much in the way of titans.

So pushing lots of starter sets is not only going to encourage people to join in fairly quick; but if two purchases gets you to 3K points that's really going to encourage the market to push for higher and higher unit counts.

Win for GW as that means more sales; win for gamers as that means more to field.

As an early adopter? If these collected sets were available from the beginning, I’d of course have made use of them.

The other potentially unsung thing about Epic is the hobby side is very beginner friendly.

Sure, people with Witchcraft level painting skills can churn out absolutely stunning Epic Scale Models. But it takes a fraction of the skill and effort needed for 28mm to get a pretty decent looking fully painted Epic Army.

For my Dark Angels? Get the model assembled/sprue broken down for infantry. Spray Mech Std Grey. Light drybrush the upper half in a gun metal. Then on with the Black Contrast type paint. Pick out the weapons in gun metal. Blob of dark red on a shoulder pad/spot colour, with a lighter red on top for tanks.

And you’re done. Little effort, and a pretty decent looking result, especially across an entire army.

Yet another variation on the battlegroup/combat force discount box seems a bit odd. I'm not complaining per se, but why not just keep the previous versions in stock over making a new minor variation on the theme?

The new ones are quite clearly diminishing returns for established players, given there is a limit on how many infantry sets the average person is going to want (MDG excepted) and they don't include any of the latest kits for that to be a driver either.

So if they're aimed at new players - that's a great idea, I just don't get the continual relaunching of them with a slightly different spread of kits. That said, the latest ones having aircraft is definitely a really good idea.

Whilst I definitely have some Fellblades in my future, going to wait for the rules to be out/previewed before getting any of them. Similarly be curious to see the rules for the Araknae given the odd numbers you can build from a box.

This is going to absolutely murder my wallet... I'll probably try to grab 4 of the new Saturnine Battlegroups (2 for UMs, 2 for WBs) which are limited, so the super-heavies will have to wait for another time.

I’m always excepted.

But never exceptional ??

I might have to get the saturnine armours but I kind of have enough of the standard infantry sprues right now. I wouldn't mind some specialist ones though; an assault sprue with tartaros termies, MkII jump packs, and some boarding and destroyer squads would be nice.