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I was curious as to the perceived best, in terms of the game itself, out of the battleforce boxes gw are releasing this year. There is pretty good info in terms of the savings value of the boxes but I am curious as to the quality of the unit selections in each box.

Until Chapter Approved changes things, it's going to be speculation.
I'll be keeping an eye on this page though, as all info can throw up good points.

The IG set looks very good

Also there's this -> https://spikeybits.com/2018/11/gws-best-battleforce-boxes-2018-vs-2017.html

Anyway i agree that is best to wait for the CA for more info

currently I would say mechanicus. but as said, depends on what CA brings. if points go down for intercessors the marine boxes will sell like hot cakes (well they will sell like hot cakes in either case because people keep buying primaris by the truckload.

 G00fySmiley wrote:
currently I would say mechanicus. but as said, depends on what CA brings. if points go down for intercessors the marine boxes will sell like hot cakes (well they will sell like hot cakes in either case because people keep buying primaris by the truckload.

AFAIK most people don't aim for competitive play when they buy primaris.

The Death Guard one is pretty good. The Surgeon might be the weakest character/elite choice, but everything else in the box is strong. And against Marines even the surgeon is quite a killer in CC. Some people argue about Plague Marines but so far I had more success with them than with any other troop choice.

 tokugawa wrote:

 G00fySmiley wrote:
currently I would say mechanicus. but as said, depends on what CA brings. if points go down for intercessors the marine boxes will sell like hot cakes (well they will sell like hot cakes in either case because people keep buying primaris by the truckload.

AFAIK most people don't aim for competitive play when they buy primaris.

that is fair but i was responding to the OP and took this "I was curious as to the perceived best, in terms of the game itself," to mean which is the gameplay wise best.

also primaris are not terrible but not great. hopefully rumours of early next year a primaris only codex with new models to round them out turn out to be true and they are competitive.

Relative to the overall quality of Necrons their box is pretty good. The only bad sprue is the tomb spyder, the rest are units that you would probably find a use for in a Necron army.

Seems like the craftworlds box got a lot of points drops, it's definitely a good selection of units that saw good improvements in terms of points.

I think going in reverse order of value works pretty well. Death Guard has some nifty choices definitely, but you're not saving as much money, but if power is your main concern, that'd be what I'd go for.

I wish they'd made an Ork Battleforce that actually makes sense.

Maybe they counted speed freaks as a proxy battleforce? Would have made sense to get a battleforce out for the hot new codex.

kingheff wrote:
Maybe they counted speed freaks as a proxy battleforce? Would have made sense to get a battleforce out for the hot new codex.

I'm sure you're correct that GW's thought process was 'They've got Speed Freeks so don't need another box'. The problem is that Speed Freeks is rather underwhelming - especially if you're starting out a new army. It contains no HQ or troop choices. It's buggies and bikers are competitively considered 'average' at best. You get 8 models for £90 (+scenery and board and separate game rules than people who play 40k don't really care about). Compare this to some of the 2018 Battleforce boxes, such as the Imp Fists / Primaris, where you get ~25 models, including HQ+troops+nice centre piece (repulsor / redemptor) and are set to actually build a well rounded 40k list.

I know Orks also have the 'Start Collecting' box, which isn't as bad as 'Speed Freeks' but again contains no HQ only a Painboy.

As you said it would have been great to have a new box with the new codex. Just smacks of a missed opportunity, which kinda sums up the whole 'Orktober' thing. I've noticed that 'Kult of Speed' 2017's Ork Battleforce is out of stock almost everywhere? One could hope this is because they are putting together a better set that makes sense (i.e. Using the Trike Boss as a HQ, filling with units that compliment each other and actually allows someone who buys it to play a legal game of 40k!) but is probably just re-basing or removing it as an option to try to sell Speed Freeks, because surely they would have released the new Battleforce at same time as the others?

crzylgs wrote:

kingheff wrote:
Maybe they counted speed freaks as a proxy battleforce? Would have made sense to get a battleforce out for the hot new codex.

I'm sure you're correct that GW's thought process was 'They've got Speed Freeks so don't need another box'. The problem is that Speed Freeks is rather underwhelming - especially if you're starting out a new army. It contains no HQ or troop choices. It's buggies and bikers are competitively considered 'average' at best. You get 8 models for £90 (+scenery and board and separate game rules than people who play 40k don't really care about). Compare this to some of the 2018 Battleforce boxes, such as the Imp Fists / Primaris, where you get ~25 models, including HQ+troops+nice centre piece (repulsor / redemptor) and are set to actually build a well rounded 40k list.

I know Orks also have the 'Start Collecting' box, which isn't as bad as 'Speed Freeks' but again contains no HQ only a Painboy.

As you said it would have been great to have a new box with the new codex. Just smacks of a missed opportunity, which kinda sums up the whole 'Orktober' thing. I've noticed that 'Kult of Speed' 2017's Ork Battleforce is out of stock almost everywhere? One could hope this is because they are putting together a better set that makes sense (i.e. Using the Trike Boss as a HQ, filling with units that compliment each other and actually allows someone who buys it to play a legal game of 40k!) but is probably just re-basing or removing it as an option to try to sell Speed Freeks, because surely they would have released the new Battleforce at same time as the others?

This is because orks have one single plastic HQ choice atm. It's "big mek with shokk attack gun" or nothing - unless you buy the 30$ kill team set to get a plastic warboss.

the_scotsman wrote:

This is because orks have one single plastic HQ choice atm. It's "big mek with shokk attack gun" or nothing - unless you buy the 30$ kill team set to get a plastic warboss.

I get what you're saying. I've always been a fan of the classic 'See the solution, not the problem' saying and this seems like a problem with a few easy solutions?

1) Use an existing model such as TWFNAG - The Warboss Formerly Known As Grukk as potential HQ choice. (Also there is the Meganobz set, which technically allows you to make a BigMek with KFF... Although it is problematic if you split these 3 in to BigMek and 2*Megaz because then the Megaz are not legitimate. Imagine if someone had thought of this at GW and made the set 4 instead of 3?)

2) Use the new Trike Boss as potential HQ. Am sure this would have been a very popular addition.

3) OR someone at GW notices 'lads, we don't really have many plastic Ork HQs do we? Shall we make a couple new ones as part of Orktober?' Plastic Biker Boss, Biker Mek for example to go with Speed Freeks thematic would have been popular options.

I've pulled the trigger on the Imperial fist box for my crimson first army!