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Hey guys,
how do you rate the official Battle Boxes?
Cryx - 14 points, top notch caster, usefull arcnodes => awesome starter

Khador: 11 Points, good caster (with rising popularity), only 3 models, Destroyer is not very common in lists. => not very Khador-y gameplay but ok value

Circle - 11 Points, strange composition. Noone plays the Argus twice (tbh not even once), the Feral is good and pKaya is rather weak herself. => weak starter imo

These are the ones I have experience with and I´d say that the Cryx one is by far the best.
What about the others? I´m especially interested in your view on the Cygnar & Retribution of Scyrah boxes.

The Cygnar box is a great starter. I don't *love* the lancer with pstryker, but it's a decent 'jack, and is very durable with arcane shield.
PStryker himself is probably one of the most boring casters to play, since his spell list doesn't lend itself to any shenanigans other than the pop n' drop, but by the same token, he's got a little something for every sort of list and is very easy to learn.
The ironclad is a solid 'jack, and finds it's way into a lot of my lists still.
The charger is godlike in battlebox games. He can take out both the shredders in the legion box if he rolls well (with all 3 focus), and can put serious hurt on deathchickens. It becomes less useful the higher points you play, but they can be very threatening if positioned well, and function great when paired with a JWC.

The circle one is really weak, I sometimes field a single argus mainly just for the pathfinder animus, after that, they are pretty useless besides delivering a single decent attack. The khador box is pretty weak as well, destroyers are weak, juggarnaughts arent bad though if you are running a infantry heavy list at lower points and dont have the points for a more expensive jack. I have used a jugg on many occasions in 25 points or less and that POW19 axe always pulls it's weight. pSorscha is a good starter caster but she is a one trick pony and people pick up on that trick really fast and figure out how to minimize it. Its not like kreoss' KD feat where he does not need LOS and the KD models dont block LOS so you can screen your critical models against sorscha's.

Skorne - 11pts, great warlock provides a strong assassination threat, great spells that assist the beasts in the group and an awesome feat that will shut down warmachine battle boxes for a round and greatly increase the chance for assassinations on hordes armies. Gladiator is a beast I take every game. Rush is a must have, grand slam and follow up have won me many games and 2 open fists for double handed throws are great. Savages are great too especially when abused, wish it was a savage and a brute but double savages can see some play with certain casters. With the ability to abuse all 3 beasts and access to rush on the Gladiator against other battle boxes this army should be getting first strike and with abuse and pushing these guys to full fury especially with future sight with the savages they can lay down a good beating and not have to worry too much about retaliation with no doubt some broken systems or destroyed warbeasts. As much as a Brute would be nice if you are doing battle box games the extra damage a Savage can lay down might be better. However save some fury on Morg for when Quake gets him knocked down so he can still transfer.

Skorne - Good Fast Paced Assault list, Gladiator is insanely common, Savages not so much. The box is considered worth it just for the Gladiator

3/5

Convergence of Cyriss: 4.5/5.

Very strong starting point with a dedicated 'Jack Caster, 2 light Vectors (one that can repair other Vectors and one that can knockdown anything that it's ranged AOE hits which also does 1HP to anything directly hit) and a very versatile Heavy.

With the rules that the CoC have, very few other battleboxes can keep up.

It's also only 10 points for the three Vectors and Syntherion.

Only downside is that the plastics are not good casts the majority of the time and you will have a lot of mould lines and cleaning up to do before putting your battlebox together.

The Khador I would rate a 4/5.

While the caster is a great learner while still being a great caster in general (she has some decent support spells too) and the Juggernaut is a very solid beefstick warjack that still stands as one of my go-to 'jacks.

The only issue I have is with the Destroyer. With the Destroyer's RAT, you need to put more focus than pSorscha can reliably afford to hit decently, and it takes away from the melee capabilities (only 1 melee weapon).

I think another caster might be a lot more suited to the Destroyer, and I'm not saying it's a weak 'jack, but when you only have 3 models and your caster's support spells are all for getting into melee and avoid ranged fire, it's a takes more than it adds to the force.

 Elector wrote:
The Khador I would rate a 4/5.

While the caster is a great learner while still being a great caster in general (she has some decent support spells too) and the Juggernaut is a very solid beefstick warjack that still stands as one of my go-to 'jacks.

The only issue I have is with the Destroyer. With the Destroyer's RAT, you need to put more focus than pSorscha can reliably afford to hit decently, and it takes away from the melee capabilities (only 1 melee weapon).

I think another caster might be a lot more suited to the Destroyer, and I'm not saying it's a weak 'jack, but when you only have 3 models and your caster's support spells are all for getting into melee and avoid ranged fire, it's a takes more than it adds to the force.

Also to mention with only 3 models, you get outnumbered easly if the Destroyer is not lucky on dice to hit something (the majority of the time). With his low RAT and pSorcha with only 6 focus, it's very common to get in Melee before being able to wreck or damage suffisantly any jacks of your opponent. At least your Juggernault eat other warjacks for breakfast. You have to watch "caster kill" scenario, the Juggernault might be busy fighting in melee, your Destroyer is good POW, but only one attack... so once he is engaged it left a wide open space for your opponent to run to your warcaster. I would say the strategy with the Khador BattleBox are limited.

At BB level pSorcha is pretty good at caster kill herself. Wind Rush up to charge range, pop feat and, with 4 focus it's pretty much a dead opponent.

 Qcbob wrote:

 Elector wrote:
The Khador I would rate a 4/5.

While the caster is a great learner while still being a great caster in general (she has some decent support spells too) and the Juggernaut is a very solid beefstick warjack that still stands as one of my go-to 'jacks.

The only issue I have is with the Destroyer. With the Destroyer's RAT, you need to put more focus than pSorscha can reliably afford to hit decently, and it takes away from the melee capabilities (only 1 melee weapon).

I think another caster might be a lot more suited to the Destroyer, and I'm not saying it's a weak 'jack, but when you only have 3 models and your caster's support spells are all for getting into melee and avoid ranged fire, it's a takes more than it adds to the force.

Also to mention with only 3 models, you get outnumbered easly if the Destroyer is not lucky on dice to hit something (the majority of the time). With his low RAT and pSorcha with only 6 focus, it's very common to get in Melee before being able to wreck or damage suffisantly any jacks of your opponent. At least your Juggernault eat other warjacks for breakfast. You have to watch "caster kill" scenario, the Juggernault might be busy fighting in melee, your Destroyer is good POW, but only one attack... so once he is engaged it left a wide open space for your opponent to run to your warcaster. I would say the strategy with the Khador BattleBox are limited.

I agree completely, so while it's a decent to great jumping-off point, it's not great at all at just the BB level.

pSorscha is great at caster kills, but setting it up can be tough. To match her effectiveness while still keeping the points-cost and keeping to plastic warjacks, I'd switch the Destroyer out for a Spriggan. Or a Kodiak if it can go metal. Both would have a lot more synergy while meshing with the 'caster a lot better. Still have the outnumbering issue, but you aren't tying all of your combat effectiveness to the Juggernaut that way.

Wishful thinking though, it would probably be leaning towards the unbalanced with that setup