BA Battleforce - worth it?

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**Swordwind**

After building up my Eldar army a bit more, I'm planning to buy AoBR to add to my one tactical squad from the old Battle for Macragge to start a BA army. After that, I plan to buy a battleforce, however, I have heard that the BA battleforce might not be worth it's cost. Which one would you say is best for someone starting BA, the vanilla bf or the BA one?

**Mannahnin**

$100 gets you...

Rhino: $33
10 Tacs: $37.25
5 AMs: $29.75
5 DC: $33

So, strictly speaking, that's $133 worth of kits for $100, or basically a free box of DC or Rhino.

The issue with Battleforces is that they usually come with at least one kit that you don't actually want. I suspect that the reason folks criticize the BA BF is because it comes with Tacs, which a lot of players don't bother using. If you plan to take a squad of Tac Marines, it's quite a decent deal.

Do you actually need anything else from the AoBR box?

**Swordwind**

Well I do need the 5th edition rulebook as I don't have my own copy, the orks would make a nice side project and I just see the SM part of it as a nice cheapish starting point for me to get into BA. I guess I would use a tactical squad or two as I'd have 3 either way.

I think I'd now go for the BA battleforce, seeing as I'd use DC and assaults more than scouts and another combat squad.

**Mannahnin**

The AoBR box is a good buy for the little rulebook and the templates, as well as the minis. You can pick up TH/SS & Lightning Claw bits online and turn the terminators into assault terminators. You can also sell or trade off stuff you don't need.

**AlexHolker**

Swordwind wrote:I think I'd now go for the BA battleforce, seeing as I'd use DC and assaults more than scouts and another combat squad.

The BA battleforce also costs 10 pounds more.

**tavoittamaton**

I hope you won't mind if I repost an answer I gave to a similar question awhile back.

Spoiler:

tavoittamaton wrote:First, welcome to the noble Blood Angels.

I'd recommend against buying the BA or the vanilla battleforces. Sure, the cost for the box is much less than the cost of the units inside, but buying plastic models you won't end up fielding doesn't make it a good buy. So let's break it down:

Vanilla Battleforce wrote:10 Man Tac Squad
5 man Combat Squad
Rhino
5 man Scout Squad
5 man Assault Squad

Cost $90

Good Stuff: Assault Squad (your bread and butter as a BA player)
Okay Stuff: Rhino (if you run a mech BA list, or field DC, you'll want one)
Bad Stuff: Scouts, Combat Squad, Tac Squad (they just aren't used in BA lists. scouts probably the most of the 3)

BA Battleforce wrote:10 Man Tac Squad
Rhino
5 man Death Company
5 man Assault Squad

Cost $100

So, you lose a Combat Squad and a Scout Squad, and you gain 5 Death Company troops, for $10 more. The DC will get you more mileage than what you lost, as they're used in some BA lists, but more for fun than anything (because the Rage USR makes them unwieldy).

---

Now, it's worth pointing out a few things you might not have considered:

(1) You could always use the DC bits from a BA battleforce to mix and match with the Assault Squad pieces and make them all Assault Marines with extra BA bling on their armor. That makes the BA box a little bit of a better buy, but not much.

(2) You shouldn't ever buy a rhino. As I'm sure you realize, the Rhino chassis is the basis for most of the SM vehicles. That means, through the wonders of magnetism, you could invest money in a Baal Predator (which is awesome) instead. Turret on = Baal, turret off = Rhino. This makes the battleforce a slightly worse buy because you have a single-purpose vehicle instead of a multi-purpose one.

(3) Some people will be quick to tell you that you can take your Tac Squads, buy Jump Packs, Chainswords and Bolt Pistol arms off eBay and turn them into Assault Squads. If you buy the battleforce planning to do this, and add in the shipping costs/expense/hassle of finding those bits on eBay, you're suddenly not saving as much as you thought you were...

Do you have a list in mind already? Maybe it would help if we knew how you were planning on running the Angels, to know how good a buy it would be for you.

**Samus_aran115**

No, it's basically horrible. There's never any reason to take Tac marines in a BA army, and BA don't need as many rhinos when you can take a lasback for assault marines.

A better one for BA would be...
x2 units of Assault marines
x1 Death Company
Furioso dreadnought
Something else.. Maybe a third assault unit