How do you feel about the Christmas box?

[DemonGSides]

No bottoms on the Dorn. Just built one yesterday with a box I bought a month ago. It is a shame but I'm not worried about it.

[sairence]

22 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

1. Yes GW has said these boxes are meant to get parents to buy these for kids as Christmas gifts to get them into the hobby.

2. When you invoke them and the CP boxes together you’re implying starter/beginner box

3. a castellan and a sentinel is a valid force, so being a valid force isn’t a justification.

4. Yes a value box that seems to have fairly little appeal to people who may want to expand their collections.

 

I do sometimes wonder why you open a topic l, when you reply to basically anyone that doesn't sign up to your initial opinion with "yeah, but here's why you're wrong", even on a topic that is absolutely subjective, such as this. 

 

It's perfectly alright that you don't find value in this box! Really! It's also great that reddit agrees with your view on it. But as you can see from some of the replies here, others find this to be a good deal. And that's great for those people. There's no right or wrong here, just "i like this" and "it's not for me". 

[FashaTheDog]

For me it is a make or break as I have been on the fence about adding more tanks to my regiment of Guard, especially with wanting to add more artillery; this just gives the artillery the winning vote.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have used wobbly model syndrome to raise my tank up so the infantry right in front of it look like they are about to become splattered tread grease.

[DemonGSides]

Still plenty of bottom do just that. Just the middle parts got a hole in it. 

[crimsondave]

I bought a 3rd party bottom for like $10 US.  Maybe it's stupid but it made me hate the model.  I really like it now so the 10 bucks was worth it to me.

[TheArtilleryman]

To be honest I struggle to use the term “good value” to describe any GW product these days. For me the prices are getting a bit much, like forty quid for five terminators ???? The Leviathan box and the middle tier starter set are the only things I’ve seen this year that approach good value. These Christmas boxes all seem a bit meh to me. I mean, 20 space marine models for £140? That’s 7 QUID PER MODEL….

 

Collecting a guard army has always been expensive due to the sheer number of models. The best time for collecting guard was in the “Start Collecting” era, where you could buy 3 boxes for fifty each and  build 3 Russes, 3 squads, a heavy weapon squad and 3 commissars. That was decent value. 
 

£50 for a box to start an army was just about ok. £90 for a combat patrol now is a bit much. Each time they change up the army starter boxes it’s just an excuse to raise the price and give less.

Edited November 13, 2023 by TheArtilleryman

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

16 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

To be honest I struggle to use the term “good value” to describe any GW product these days. For me the prices are getting a bit much, like forty quid for five terminators ???? The Leviathan box and the middle tier starter set are the only things I’ve seen this year that approach good value. These Christmas boxes all seem a bit meh to me. I mean, 20 space marine models for £140? That’s 7 QUID PER MODEL….

 

Collecting a guard army has always been expensive due to the sheer number of models. The best time for collecting guard was in the “Start Collecting” era, where you could buy 3 boxes for fifty each and  build 3 Russes, 3 squads, a heavy weapon squad and 3 commissars. That was decent value. 
 

£50 for a box to start an army was just about ok. £90 for a combat patrol now is a bit much. Each time they change up the army starter boxes it’s just an excuse to raise the price and give less.

I guess it comes down to how you define ‘less’

 

the start collecting boxes required you to buy two to have a valid army from them.

 

at £50 how much was a box of infantry at the time, in order to have the bare minimum for a legal army? £25? So for £75 you got a commissar, 2 infantry squads, an HWT, and a leman Russ. That’s 22 infantry models, and a tank.

 

with the CP for £90 you get a command squad, 2 squads of infantry, a sentinel, and a FOB.

thats 25 infantry, 1 vehicle, and 2 artillery models.

 

as much as I hate the price increases we have to remember that inflation is a thing they need to keep up with as well, so it’s quite possible this is an even better deal than when the start collecting box was first dropped.

[FashaTheDog]

On 11/13/2023 at 2:35 PM, crimsondave said:

I bought a 3rd party bottom for like $10 US.  Maybe it's stupid but it made me hate the model.  I really like it now so the 10 bucks was worth it to me.

 

That will be my solution when I do decide to grace my regiment with another tank company, but as of right now I have a binary choice of more artillery or the box.  The lack of an included bottom was what the narrow margin that decided I should add artillery.  If I had not gone in on the Battletech Mercenaries Kickstarter I might of opted for both.

[TheArtilleryman]

Lol I never knew that the Dorn had no bottom before I read some of these posts … I know it seems a silly reason but that would put me off buying them completely, especially when Russes are so readily available fairly cheap at the FLGS and eBay. Don’t understand why they would do this when they have literally never done it with any other kit.

[Trokair]

2 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Lol I never knew that the Dorn had no bottom before I read some of these posts … I know it seems a silly reason but that would put me off buying them completely, especially when Russes are so readily available fairly cheap at the FLGS and eBay. Don’t understand why they would do this when they have literally never done it with any other kit.

 

Fairly certain both the Marine ATV and the Mechanicus Skorpius also have incomplete undersides.

[sairence]

2 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Lol I never knew that the Dorn had no bottom before I read some of these posts … I know it seems a silly reason but that would put me off buying them completely, especially when Russes are so readily available fairly cheap at the FLGS and eBay. Don’t understand why they would do this when they have literally never done it with any other kit.

 

The Space Marine ATV is the same, though apparently its much less controversial for the Mario Kart buggy. :D

 

Anyway, the reason, I'm almost certain, is because it would have required a whole extra 4th sprue, and for one reason or another GW didn't want that. Whether that's because of logistics, packaging, pricing or something else only they could know for sure.

[TheArtilleryman]

1 hour ago, sairence said:

 

The Space Marine ATV is the same, though apparently its much less controversial for the Mario Kart buggy. :D

 

Anyway, the reason, I'm almost certain, is because it would have required a whole extra 4th sprue, and for one reason or another GW didn't want that. Whether that's because of logistics, packaging, pricing or something else only they could know for sure.

 

Ah didn’t know that. Probably less controversial cos nobody wants the ATV  (cue someone saying they like it lol).

 

In that case they should have designed the sprues better XD

[DemonGSides]

Having just put one together, there really isn't room on the sprues and I'd rather have more bits and bobs than a flat piece of plastic.  Give me more wrenches, bedrolls, boxes of ammo. If I need a bottom that bad, plasticard is extremely cheap. 

 

It's not noticeable. 

[FashaTheDog]

The Mario Kart ATV not having a bottom actually makes sense so it can drop banana peels or store the shell it will shoot at other ATVs.

 

(Not mine, but relevant)

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

9 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

 

Ah didn’t know that. Probably less controversial cos nobody wants the ATV  (cue someone saying they like it lol).

 

In that case they should have designed the sprues better XD

I kinda like them, but I feel the speeders look and perform the same role better lol.

[TheArtilleryman]

The box is a good deal if you are used to buying at GW prices. Much better though if you buy it at a discount through third party sellers.
 

Other issue for me though is my guard army is in the style of the previous Cadians, so if I want more troops I’m limited to eBay really. I recently sold a bunch of 2e metal Cadians and doubled down on the plastic because I wanted the army to be unified, so the new guys are never going to get a place in my collection.
 

This is the thing with collecting an army for a long time; when they change the style and things don’t match anymore, it triggers that slightly OCD part of my brain (you know, the part that annoys my wife because it makes me want to line up books and models exactly but lets the house be a mess )!

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

9 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

The box is a good deal if you are used to buying at GW prices. Much better though if you buy it at a discount through third party sellers.
 

Other issue for me though is my guard army is in the style of the previous Cadians, so if I want more troops I’m limited to eBay really. I recently sold a bunch of 2e metal Cadians and doubled down on the plastic because I wanted the army to be unified, so the new guys are never going to get a place in my collection.
 

This is the thing with collecting an army for a long time; when they change the style and things don’t match anymore, it triggers that slightly OCD part of my brain (you know, the part that annoys my wife because it makes me want to line up books and models exactly but lets the house be a mess )!

Not going to lie, this is weird to me.

 

I’ve got Cadians, Catachans and new Cadians.

[FashaTheDog]

43 minutes ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

Not going to lie, this is weird to me.

 

I’ve got Cadians, Catachans and new Cadians.

I know what you mean, I have Necromunda Spiders (the Rogue Trader Guard), metal Cadians, metal Catachans, metal Praetorians, metal Tallarns, metal Valhallans, metal Steel Legion, plastic Cadians, plastic Catachans, plastic Dark Vengeance cultists painted as Mechanicus Guard, resin Krieg, resin Elysians, plastic Krieg, resin Final Fantasy minis, the old plastic Storm Troopers, metal Ogyrns and Commissars across the ages, and I am forcing Yarrick to be a legal choice by building the Fortress of Arrogance he will never disembark from and daring GW to take that away.  To make all of these into a coherent regiment I blame the Inquisition for having their own person regiment with metal and resin Inquisitors.  As far as I can tell, they all catch bullets or explode equally so more guys with a different aesthetic just means the Inquisitors running the show declared a bunch of new guys dead and loaded them on to their ship.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

35 minutes ago, FashaTheDog said:

I know what you mean, I have Necromunda Spiders (the Rogue Trader Guard), metal Cadians, metal Catachans, metal Praetorians, metal Tallarns, metal Valhallans, metal Steel Legion, plastic Cadians, plastic Catachans, plastic Dark Vengeance cultists painted as Mechanicus Guard, resin Krieg, resin Elysians, plastic Krieg, resin Final Fantasy minis, the old plastic Storm Troopers, metal Ogyrns and Commissars across the ages, and I am forcing Yarrick to be a legal choice by building the Fortress of Arrogance he will never disembark from and daring GW to take that away.  To make all of these into a coherent regiment I blame the Inquisition for having their own person regiment with metal and resin Inquisitors.  As far as I can tell, they all catch bullets or explode equally so more guys with a different aesthetic just means the Inquisitors running the show declared a bunch of new guys dead and loaded them on to their ship.

I also had orlocks for my veterans until they nuked that unit.

[FashaTheDog]

Losing Veterans was sad.  Many of my Elysian are toting shotguns. At least the Squats still make for great Heavy Weapons Teams, but I wonder if they will take those away too for no reason.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

1 hour ago, FashaTheDog said:

Losing Veterans was sad.  Many of my Elysian are toting shotguns. At least the Squats still make for great Heavy Weapons Teams, but I wonder if they will take those away too for no reason.

They just released a whole new kit for HWSes they’re not going anywhere anytime soon 

[FashaTheDog]

Tell that to all those awesome ruins kits that came out between 8th and now.

 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

11 minutes ago, FashaTheDog said:

Tell that to all those awesome ruins kits that came out between 8th and now.

 

Terrain kits are very different from unit kits.

mostly because the majority of people won’t be buying more than 2 or 3 of a single terrain kit, like they will a unit that’s been an integral part of an army for 30 years.

[FashaTheDog]

I know, I know.  I am just bummed that I got a Sector Imperialis Realm of Battle board just in time for the matching terrain to disappear.