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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.