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Here's a vote for Space Marines vs. Chaos Space Marines...I mean, isn't that the basis of the game?

I'd be happy if they just threw one of the soft rulebooks into each of the Battleforce boxes...most of them aren't too bad.

It would be cool if GW did something like a starter discount....like, with every purchase of a new codex, get 10% off 2 Troop Choices and an HQ....something like that.

You mean like dark vengence?

Yes, they got their own codex, but its not THAT much different.

Orks vs Tyranids. There was that whole story about how the imperials tricked the tyranids into attacking an ork world at one point and they could have the campaign based around that.

One where all the models in it are useful and are for armies I play

Unbound vs Unbound
A Khornebine, a IK, a Wraithknight, a Riptide, a Baneblade, and a Stompa.

 Thokt wrote:
I second DZC.

'40k General Discussion'
If you want to talk about Drop Zone Commander go and make a Drop Zone Commander thread.

My perfect Starter Set would be one where not everything is complete, unusable crap, like the multi power-weaponed chosen, the Lord with a Power Sword (who takes those anyway?) or the Cultist with a Shotgun. Things like these can ruin entire stater set factions.

Death Guard and Nurglich Daemons vs. Thousand Sons and Tzeentchian Daemons . Or World Eaters and Khornate Daemons vs. Emperor's Children and Slaaneshii Daemons.

Actually, I 'd just be happy if FW made a 'Isstvan V Drop Site Massacre' starter.
Not gonna happen, tho.

 YFNPsycho wrote:
Death Guard and Nurglich Daemons vs. Thousand Sons and Tzeentchian Daemons . Or World Eaters and Khornate Daemons vs. Emperor's Children and Slaaneshii Daemons.

Actually, I 'd just be happy if FW made a 'Isstvan V Drop Site Massacre' starter.
Not gonna happen, tho.

How many armies do you want in these starter sets? The first has 4 and the second has 11. These would be indescribably costly starter sets...

AM- something like
Commissar
Psyker ML2
Troop blob (x2?)
2xAutocannon HW

CW Eldar -
Foot Farseer
Warlock
Storm Guardians w/ Flamers
Rangers
Banshees w/ Exarch

How would those match up?

I'd like to see them do something like a line of "Greatest Rivalries", or "Famous Battles" starter sets. The idea would be to have smallish starter sets along the lines of the size of what you got in the Stormclaw box but with the theme that each set represents a pivotal moment in the 40k storyline.

You would of course also get a stripprf down rule book, a small scenario book that has a mini-campagin for the minis in the box as well as some fluff that explains the background, some cheap scenery (could even be like the cardboard set from the 2nd ed box) and of course dice and templates and a measuring device.

Some ideas would be:
Thrakka vs Yarrick at Armageddon
Crimson Fists vs Orks at Rynns world
Space Wolves vs the Inquisi .... uh ... I mean Demons at Armageddon
Ultramarines vs 'Nids on Ultramar

Honsou's Iron Warriors vs Ventris and some Ultras as a reference to the BL books ... etc. You guys get the idea I think. lol

Inquisition vs. genestealer cult with a limo.

Total win.

I like the current mini rulebook, I didn't expect it to be a full color mini reproduction of the BRB.

A good starter should include
Rulebook
Dice
Templates
2 battleforged Armies (Each with 1 HQ, 2 Troops, 1 of something else)

Space Marines are always the TOP army, but honestly, I think them always being in the starter has something to do with it.
It would be nice to have a different imperial army in the box, that could be used as allies, if they still decided to go with Marines afterwards.

Sisters of Battle
1 HQ model, 2 Sisters Squads, 1 Penitent Engine

Necrons
1 Lord, 1 squad Warriors, 1 squad of scarabs, 1 canoptek Spider

AOBR actually was a pretty awesome starter from an ork's viewpoint. It gave you:
1 HQ which had very decent equipment
1 Troops choice
1 Fast attack choice, which also had a good loadout

The only dud was the nobz unit, which was sadly carried over to the stormklaw box.

A perfect ork starter army would be:
1 Warboss, just like the AOBR one or Grukk
1 Unit of 20 boyz like in AOBR, but add nob with pk and boss pole (show now people how important squad leader are, how challenges work)
3 Koptaz just like in AOBR
1 Unit of 3 Mega-Armoured Nobz (because it's one of the few units useful in small numbers)
Adds up to about 500 points.
The opposing force could be anything, but it needs a way to handle MANz without completely hosing them. The AOBR terminators come to mind, or a model sporting a lascannon, lance or equivalent. Something that puts out multiple AP2 shots or similar would be overdoing it.

Add a book that contains all rules necessary for playing those orks, including both basic and special rules.

I'll also echo the call for a single starter for each army that can be mixed and matched. I was lucky for having someone who wanted to start crimson fists back when I got my first AOBR orks, but two other people who started eldar and imperials were simply out of luck.

I have to agree that AOBR was awesome. I bought 4 of them for the army building potential.

Tycho wrote:
I'd like to see them do something like a line of "Greatest Rivalries", or "Famous Battles" starter sets. The idea would be to have smallish starter sets along the lines of the size of what you got in the Stormclaw box but with the theme that each set represents a pivotal moment in the 40k storyline.

You would of course also get a stripprf down rule book, a small scenario book that has a mini-campagin for the minis in the box as well as some fluff that explains the background, some cheap scenery (could even be like the cardboard set from the 2nd ed box) and of course dice and templates and a measuring device.

Some ideas would be:
Thrakka vs Yarrick at Armageddon
Crimson Fists vs Orks at Rynns world
Space Wolves vs the Inquisi .... uh ... I mean Demons at Armageddon
Ultramarines vs 'Nids on Ultramar

Honsou's Iron Warriors vs Ventris and some Ultras as a reference to the BL books ... etc. You guys get the idea I think. lol quote

This is exactly what I would think to be perfect about starting with a Starter Box. Something that helps new players "forge the narrative right from the get-go". The 2nd edition set steered you the 2nd war for Armageddon.

If GW really wants to forward their storyline, a new starter box with the 2 main agents of that front would be critical.

I wish they'd do ~500pt 'formations' for each army, with an HQ + troop or two. Kind of like Warmahordes battle boxes.

Bonus points if they included a 'dataslate' that made it playable without needing the codex. Just think how easy it would be to start. The the codex is "one more" purchase, instead of part of the initial buyin. Then another unit. Then another. Might see a lot more players that way. And existing players would be more likely to pick up another army.

Battle of sanctuary 101.

Cannoness
2x 5 sister squads one with flamers one with meltas
5 girl squad of seraphim
Immoloator

vs

Necron Lord
10 Warriors
5 Immortals
Scarabs

Terrain would be made up small church ruins to provide cover.

 BrotherOfBone wrote:

 Thokt wrote:
I second DZC.

'40k General Discussion'
If you want to talk about Drop Zone Commander go and make a Drop Zone Commander thread.

Good lord, some folks.

How about this - I'd like a 40k starter box as good as the DZC starter box. Something that includes a rulebook, terrain, a play surface, dice, tape, templates, and enough useable models from two separate forces to have a fairly engaging game. On top of that, I'd love for all those models to be useful in game as well. Let's say this box was less than 100 smackeroos too.

Now that the comparison has been made blatantly obvious, are all the haters happy?

 MrFlutterPie wrote:
Battle of sanctuary 101.
Cannoness
2x 5 sister squads one with flamers one with meltas
5 girl squad of seraphim
Immoloator
vs
Necron Lord
10 Warriors
5 Immortals
Scarabs

Terrain would be made up small church ruins to provide cover.

I don't think they will ever include a vehicle as large as an immolator in a starter set. Sisters on Bikes would be awesome, and on par with what they've some with marines.

I fully support plastic sisters in a starter set. They could serve as allies for any Imperial force, for those unwilling to play sisters, and those who wan't to field sisters would be buying up starter boxes to bulk up their forces.

Dark Vengence gives us the following
2 Marine HQ models
15 marines (3 squads of 5)
3 Bikes
2 Chaos Hq Models
6 Chaos Marines
20 Cannon Fodder Cultists
1 Dread sized model

so trading those out for comparable models.. remembering that they include dread and bikes

1 Cannoness, 1 preacher (replacing 2 Chaos Hq Models)
5 Seraphim ( replaces 6 Chaos Marines)
10-20 Sisters (replaces 20 Cultists)
1 Penitent Engine (replaces Dread sized model)

1 Necron Lord with ressurection orb (replaces 1 Marine HQ model)
1 Cryptek - The Necron range needs another Cryptek sculpt (replaces 1 Marine HQ model)
10 Necron Warrios (replaces 2 squads of 5 marines)
5 Lychguard or Triarch Praetorians (replaces 5 terminators)
3 Tomb blades (replace 3 marine bikes / deffkoptas)


Alternatively, I would gladly sacrifice some head count to get choices that better serve repeat buying of starter

1 Cannoness (instead of 2 Chaos Hq Models)
5 Seraphim ( instead of 6 Chaos Marines)
20 Sisters (instead of 20 Cultists and 3 bikes)

1 Cryptek - The Necron range needs another Cryptek sculpt (instead of 2 Marine HQ model)
10 Necron Warriors (replaces 2 squads of 5 marines)
10 Scarab Swarms (replaces 5 terminators)
1 Canoptek Spider (replaces Dread sized model)

6 Objective Markers - Since objectives are such a big part of the game, objective Markers should be included in the starter, even if they are just 25mm plastic coins/markers

AOBR had my favorite theme of Orks vs. Space Marines.

Another one like that but with wickeder awesomer bosser sculpts would be wicked awesome boss.

I vote starter sets that have only OP units inside it.
EG:
Eldar VS Inquisition or Necrons
Eldar has
Autarch
Wave serpent + 5 dire
Wave serpent + 5 dire
Wraithknight just because

Inquisition (Forgive me if this isn't actually considered OP but a knight below 600 is pretty fun )
Commando inquisitor with nothing on him XD
Razorback + 3 acolytes and MAYBE an astropath
Razorback + 3 acolytes
Imperial Knight

Necrons (I don't play em so from netlists...)
Some lord with orb
5x warrior
5x warrior
Cron air spam
Done!

Basically any combination that both sides have some OP-ish units that can hurt each other. Makes for interesting games and realization that half the units of most codexes contain crap units compared to this.

In the end, everyone wins because you just keep buying starter sets since they are all min-maxed and ready for high level tournament play! Never enter a friendly game anymore with less than 5 Wave serpents GW shares will skyrocket after the release.

We must all strive to teach all newcomers the glory of the min-max L337 playstyle

All jokes aside (the above should be considered a joke but I will still say that it isn't a bad idea) I really wish that they didn't always use Spess mahreens vs something in their starters. The imperial guard/ equivalents do make up the majority of the less glorious but more crucial armies of 40k.

Better still, they could use the new fancy website to manually select units to form a starter set.

A. Say they have a subpage that says "Build your own starter" on their website

B. Consumer goes to that page and is presented with the option to choose 2 armies to make a starter

C. Consumer will choose two armies from the list presented

D. Consumer will then be presented with the option to pick and choose a selected set of HQ/Troop/Other in the ratio of 1:2:1 (Not all options will be present, more on this below)

E. Repeat for 2nd army

F. You get a 5%-10% discount (needs to compete with retailers so a policy will probably be imposed) off the bat for additional purchases for either army from either "Army picks of the month or from the entirety of army options" or any binge offers that they want consumers to see. This is in addition to the discount you will get from buying the "custom starter". I believe this method will allow GW to rid the slower moving stocks at a faster rate with minimal loss (discounted products that are bought are still products that are bought and this sits well with anyone trying to clear stuff like biovores or equivalent"

G. Codexes are maybe 15% off if bought with starter (again depends on FLGS prices so GW should be either the same or slightly lower/higher)

H. All Custom starter boxes are priced slightly higher than say an AOBR or DV set but less than if you buy everything off the bat. The reason for this is to allow fluffy-story driven campaigns or starter kits to tell a story rather than become a generic starter set. All GW starter sets so far have a good yet simple story behind them which other companies don't seem to utilize. IE: Warmachine starter kits are mostly just faction starters but, without a simple story to show two forces duking it out and a basic description of how the warmachine world works, some players may feel overwhelmed at what to buy when they want to join warmachine. The above "custom starter" is for people who have maybe bought the Initial starter set from GW but are on the fence about purchasing additional products from different armies due to the higher price point
* GW Specific starter sets like DV or AOBR should still contain special minis to entice the vets to buy them compared to the vanilla "Custom starter"

I. If able, GW should include printed sample lists with each starter set sold. This must be written in a simple but formal way so that new players will be more akin to making army lists when they want to venture forth on their own. Sure you can tell people how to do it in a rulebook but without sample lists connected to the models in the sets, players may be dumbfounded at what goes where. I find that the best army list building guide belongs to the later versions of FOW. This is because without even looking at a rulebook, you can build your own FOW force without any help. GW or Warmachine on the other hand... I can clarify this if need be (though this can vary from person to person)

So, what do you guys think?

I'd like to see multiple versions of starter sets at different price ranges. Basically start with something very low cost like the Battle for Macragge set. Basically you get one troop choice for each army, a set of trimmed down rules, and 6 dice. It would be low costed say 45-50 dollars.

Next have a mid range option which might throw in 2 troops and 1 HQ for both sides and essentially give you enough for a small game for each size. They could throw in more dice, a cheap measuring tape (death to the awkward sticks), and maybe a bit of lore for the set. This would be around 75 dollars.

Then you would have something like DV or AoBR which fleshes out the armies with more options for the armies, a piece of terrain, a dice cube, measurement tape, and priced close to how currently is.

Last have a massive set with a pair of 1500 point armies and should also include a few pieces of terrain, a dice cube, measurement tape, and maybe a small warzone booklet with cut down codexes.
This last option obviously would be more expensive than DV.

I think that providing different levels of entry would be a great way to attract new players. A small starter kit doesn't take as much commitment and you don't sink too much into an army you don't want. Where as the larger one let's you make one giant purchase and be ready to play.

As for armies, I would have each one be the imperium vs another force. For the small one I would say Space Marines Vs Choas Space Marines. For the 500 point one I would say AM Vs Orks. For the DV equivalent I'd say Space Marines vs Eldar or Tau. Last for the big one I'd say go for Sisters of Battle vs Tyranids or Necrons (I would however expect a new line of fully fleshed out SoB with a proper codex and plastic minis).

There are certainly a good number of settings to choose from. Personally, I'd like them to choose some of the black library books for the settings. Who wouldn't want a battle set on Pavonis, or the Sabat Worlds, or Armageddon?

4 half size armies to be played FFA, 2v2, 1v1 or 1v1 with allies.

Space Marines + Imperial Guard
Tau + Eldar (or CSM + Daemons)

Good way to start clubs and get mates into the game by having 2-4 players. Smaller armies also means quicker games which is good to start with and could be played with kill team rules (if they don't suck, I haven't tried it... but am skeptical)

 adamsouza wrote:

1 Cannoness, 1 preacher (replacing 2 Chaos Hq Models)
5 Seraphim ( replaces 6 Chaos Marines)
10-20 Sisters (replaces 20 Cultists)
1 Penitent Engine (replaces Dread sized model)

1 Necron Lord with ressurection orb (replaces 1 Marine HQ model)
1 Cryptek - The Necron range needs another Cryptek sculpt (replaces 1 Marine HQ model)
10 Necron Warrios (replaces 2 squads of 5 marines)
5 Lychguard or Triarch Praetorians (replaces 5 terminators)
3 Tomb blades (replace 3 marine bikes / deffkoptas)

That...would actually be a pretty good set. and gives the intresting spin-off that this time its the humans who find themselves nderwhelmed by a stronger alien.

The sisters would probably be best set as 3 teams of 5, one with flamers, one with meltas and one with storm bolters-that way you even cover up model needs for the three special weapons, while teams still makes sense. and 15 is a good number given that a sister model is slightly more than a cultist model in terms on modeling (and alot more in terms of actual ingame power level and use. and far better equipped.)

Equipment-wise I'd have all necrons gun as gauss, and the lychguads as sword and board guys. not sure about what cryptek and lord to give them in the scenario rules though.
Maybe wraiths instead of tomb blades, not sure there.

SM vs Tyranids

elite vs horde

good vs evil

Perfect starter set? Every Codex and Supplement, IA and HH book included, minirules, 1 5000pt army made for each Codex (including Chapter Tactics), Supplement, HH Legion and AdMech and IA force including all SM Chapters. Large bucket of dice, tape measure, blast markers that float on magic and scatter perfectly in line with the scatter dice automatically and laser pointers built into the models that show you exactly true line of sight, with rules that cause no arguments ever. Price £5. That is pretty perfect.

 Insurgency Walker wrote:
Inquisition vs. genestealer cult with a limo.

Total win.

Aim higher! Squats vs. Genestealer Cult.

I'd like the starter sets to include the softback, rules only, codexes in the price.

A.M. vs. Orks. or Black Templar Vs. Orks (The Third Battle of Armageddon) Or even do A.M. and Black Templar Vs. Orks.


I would like to see the starter sets add up to about 1000 pts a side.

We already have battleforce options but i would like to see GW have sets done in a standardized fasion for all armies.

Starter kit (like dark vengence): $100 range
Should contain 1 hq, 1 elite, 2 different troops/w 1 transport for both armies. Should be points equivilent to a 750point army and contain eveything you need to play (mini rules, dice, and templates).

BattleForce: $100 range
Should contain 2 troop/w transport, 1 fast attack, 1 heavy support. Should be points equiv to 750-800 points.

Mega Force: $160 range
Should contain 1 HQ, 2 troops, 1 elite, 1 fast attack, 1 heavy, and 1 limited edition figure. Should be points equiv to 1200-1300 points.

Honsou's Iron Warriors vs. Ventris so much.