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I wonder if the lack of character model is partly to encourage folks to buy multiples of it?

The Skavenblight box goes the opposite route (at least for the. Stormcast) by having several characters that I don’t want duplicates of.

The legion astartes battlegroup with the Mk III and Deredeo doesn't have an HQ either. I feel like that's the idea GW is going with - Age of Darkness is a starter, the battlegroups are boxes to get a lot of the elements of an army at a decent deal.

Betting the HQ and castellax will be the next round of releases.

 ScarletRose wrote:

Betting the HQ and castellax will be the next round of releases.

Magos and Thanatar. Though of course they will sell the parts of the box seperately later.

 Dryaktylus wrote:

 ScarletRose wrote:

Betting the HQ and castellax will be the next round of releases.

Magos and Thanatar. Though of course they will sell the parts of the box seperately later.

Thanks, I don't play mechanicum so I got the names switched around. The big stompy one

ScarletRose wrote:The legion astartes battlegroup with the Mk III and Deredeo doesn't have an HQ either. I feel like that's the idea GW is going with - Age of Darkness is a starter, the battlegroups are boxes to get a lot of the elements of an army at a decent deal.

Difference being that Age of Darkness includes HQs for Astartes, amirite?

Betting the HQ and castellax will be the next round of releases.

If it follows the pattern of Solar Auxilia, it'll be about a month before those items release individually, alongside of the Mars book.

Then it will be another month before the remaining previewed items come out. For Solar Auxilia, the Hermes & Basilisk/Medusas came out two or three months after the main Battlegroup dropped.

Dryaktylus wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

No HQ in the battlegroup is a miss.

Um... no. I can live without a character model when buying such a box.

That's great for you.

I'd rather see items being billed as "starting points for an army" go to people that are actually starting the army.

It's funny that you're against the character, by the by, but no mention is made of the overpriced transport that's bulking up the pricetag significantly for these sets!

 Kanluwen wrote:

No separate Castellax is a miss.

Why?

I can see people moaning about the thralls, but maybe they get some better rules or other models get better rules to use them.

Castellax and Thallax can be taken by other factions as well.

Those being locked into this set basically guarantee it initially selling out and getting split out for parts, flooding the secondary space with cheap Thralls and possibly transports.

Is the double Knight box expected to be a discounted thing?

 Prometheum5 wrote:
Is the double Knight box expected to be a discounted thing?

Yes. They don't tend towards posting these things unless there's a discount built in.

Considering those bastards are $210, I wonder what we'll see on the double box price. $300 would be around 30% discount.

I'm looking forward to tons of cheap thralls on ebay...gimme gimme gimme

$270-$275 on the low end, $300 on the high end I think.

AFAIK, you can't really magnetize or anything for it. There's a built-in "savings" for the kit just not being full of extra parts.

 Tastyfish wrote:

SamusDrake wrote:
Given the requirement to field a Knight, would it not have been better to have had a Knight and two Armigers? Its pretty cool mind, but just odd.

Oddly it's the same configuration for the LI box for that pair as well. I guess they must share some parts of sprues?

Not as far as I know. They contain some sprues the same, but otherwise different.

wrong thread?

Huh?

Sorry, I posting in the wrong browser tab...

 Kanluwen wrote:

That's great for you.

I'd rather see items being billed as "starting points for an army" go to people that are actually starting the army.

It's funny that you're against the character, by the by, but no mention is made of the overpriced transport that's bulking up the pricetag significantly for these sets!

They don't say it's a starter set. You just get your (more or less) important troops choices in plastic instead of resin. That's a relief, though I already have those units in resin.

And I don't mind the Triaros, it's not that bad - it's actually better to have more than one. Not so for a HQ - and that's the Mechanicum's least problem as they have special characters and can use the 40k models too.

 Kanluwen wrote:

Castellax and Thallax can be taken by other factions as well.

Those being locked into this set basically guarantee it initially selling out and getting split out for parts, flooding the secondary space with cheap Thralls and possibly transports.

They will get out separately soon enough. If people can't wait and buy the box and think they'll get much money for the units they don't want, it's their fault. And of course the fault of GW's rules, if they don't sell that much thralls later. I just hope they somehow fix it - thralls have bad stats and low points, that's okay. But it's hard to make them do anything useful as unlike the zombies they just run away.

It's just Kan being grumpy that the releases weren't exactly how he'd've done things.

I'd've probably released the Archmagos alongside this big box, if I'm honest, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 Kanluwen wrote:
It feels like they just barely keep missing the mark with these non-Astartes releases for HH.

No HQ in the battlegroup is a miss. No separate Castellax is a miss.

Not sure what you mean, the SA box had an HQ.

Seems a nice mix of core, useful units to me.

You’ve got your Automata and Thallaxi for hurting stuff, and the Tech Thralls for clogging up objectives. Couple of boxes of this and you’ve what looks to be a solid core of stuff to flesh out with fancier toys later.

40k has like 4 models that can used, it's not like options aren't there unless your some sort of weird purist who will only buy HH branded boxes.

 Dysartes wrote:
It's just Kan being grumpy that the releases weren't exactly how he'd've done things.

I'd've probably released the Archmagos alongside this big box, if I'm honest, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

In the case of the Knight battlegroup, I'd have to agree with Kan's principle; to use both of those very large and expensive models one would need four Armigers to use them - at least two Armigers for every Knight. While Armigers are one of GW's best value models in their range, thats still £115 as an additional purchase if you haven't already got them.

Had this been for 40K there would be no problem as one can have an army with a single Armiger present. But here it might as well have been a Castigator and at least two Armigers.

 Kanluwen wrote:
$270-$275 on the low end, $300 on the high end I think.

AFAIK, you can't really magnetize or anything for it. There's a built-in "savings" for the kit just not being full of extra parts.

- I'd bet on the $299 price point they had for Necromunda Ash Wastes.

- I wouldn't be shocked if it was $265 like Skaventide.

- If it was a 40K product, I'd guess they'd price it at the $230 battleforce price point and produce 37 copies, all of which will be claimed by scalpers.

 Dysartes wrote:

 Moopy wrote:

 Matrindur wrote:
Those all sound nice but can we see the melee weapons first?

Emperor please yes. HTH armies need this more than we need YET MORE TANKS. asdfasdfasdrfajhpioreapoerfjap[esoir

What's that, you want more tanks? Good man!

Begone marketing department! I cast you out! D:


The Mechanicus box looks VERY solid. All very useful and will probably crash the GW website on 10:02 next Sunday.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Not sure what you mean, the SA box had an HQ.

Solar Aux are an exception though as you need the command squad to run as a Tercio command for the Infantry squads. It's like how the Imperial Guard used to used to work for 40k.
Sure you *could* use it as a HQ Command squad, but that's not its intended role in relation to the battlegroup box.

According to Auspex Tactics the Mechanicum Battlegroup will be $210 / £125 / 160€ which is surprisingly cheap as its less than the SA Battlegroup and that one was before the price increase.

The Knight Battelgroup is $310 which would be around £190 / 245€ so about 26% discount or one of the two knights at half price

 Snrub wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Not sure what you mean, the SA box had an HQ.

Solar Aux are an exception though as you need the command squad to run as a Tercio command for the Infantry squads. It's like how the Imperial Guard used to used to work for 40k.
Sure you *could* use it as a HQ Command squad, but that's not its intended role in relation to the battlegroup box.

Tercios can have a Command, it's not required. They're 0-1. The only requirement is at least 1 Lasrifle section.

 Platuan4th wrote:
Tercios can have a Command, it's not required. They're 0-1. The only requirement is at least 1 Lasrifle section.

Ah so it is. I stand corrected.
Still, I maintain that's why they put it in there, to help form a core block of troops.

 Snrub wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:
Tercios can have a Command, it's not required. They're 0-1. The only requirement is at least 1 Lasrifle section.

Ah so it is. I stand corrected.
Still, I maintain that's why they put it in there, to help form a core block of troops.

I think the important difference is that the "character", in the form of the Marshal, is simply coincidental to the sprue. The Marshal is on a sprue which also features some of the upgrades for the basic Lasrifle Section.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Snrub wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:
Tercios can have a Command, it's not required. They're 0-1. The only requirement is at least 1 Lasrifle section.

Ah so it is. I stand corrected.
Still, I maintain that's why they put it in there, to help form a core block of troops.

I think the important difference is that the "character", in the form of the Marshal, is simply coincidental to the sprue. The Marshal is on a sprue which also features some of the upgrades for the basic Lasrifle Section.

Only one, the Augury Scanner. The Vexilla and Vox are on the basic sprue.

Seconding that these force boxes are much better when they do NOT have a character in them.

Makes their marketing far better in terms of buying multiple and then getting everything on the table.

It also (arguably) makes it a better dollar value, as characters tend to be the most overpriced things GW sells at roughly 45$ for what is usually an infantry model with bigger hands and a scenic rock. And while there’s an argument for it not mattering, because then someone will have to turn around and buy it anyway, characters are also the thing most likely to be kitbashed / converted in an army, so it’s a win/win regardless of how any does it, imo

Yeah, if it had an HQ I'd get the box once, since it doesn't have one I consider two.

As a reasonably established Mechanicum player (loves resin armies and thus hates money), I can attest that all those units are useful. I have painted 2 triaros, 40 thralls, 12 Thallax and I think 9 castellax and all see the battlefield. Add a character or two and sone Thanatar and you’re set.

Eehh wrong thread