40K Starter Sets - What Next?

[TheArtilleryman]

First, a quick run-down of all the 40K starter sets:

 

2nd edition (the first ever starter box and the one that got me into 40K):

 

 

3rd edition, coinciding with the launch of the dark Eldar:

 

4th edition (possibly my least favourite):

 

5th edition (loved this one but never got a copy ):

 

6th and 7th edition, because they just updated the Rulebook instead of doing a whole new edition:

 

8th edition:

 

9th edition:

 

10th edition: 

 

 

So space marines are generally a given, but on the opposing side we’ve had orks twice, the ‘Nids twice, chaos twice, dark eldar once and Necrons once.

 

I know there have been some other limited release sets, but in the main edition box, we’ve never had: Astra Militarum, Eldar, T’au, Mechanicus, Battle Sisters or Leagues of Votann. We’ve never had genestealer cults either, but we have had genestealers.

 

Which one so far was your favourite? What do you think will be next?
What do you want to be next?
 

Personally I think T’au would be awesome and could coincide with a new sphere expansion as they are able to use the rift to get about more.

Edited December 17, 2023 by TheArtilleryman

[Lexington]

They’ve pretty much all got a certain appeal to me, though plenty of that is probably nostalgia more than anything else. I’ll even stick up for 4th Ed’s otherwise uninspiring starter because of the cool Aquila Lander terrain - you could get that stuff by the bucket-full right after 5th Ed released, which is something I wish I’d taken more advantage of…

 

Hard to pick a definitive favorite, but it’s probably a contest between 3rd and 8th, which were both big, big relaunches of the game with some iconic miniatures that really proved their core concepts, at least for the Space Marine side of things. 9th’s probably got the better miniatures overall (3rd’s incredibly ugly Dark Eldar were quite a letdown, even at the time), but 3rd had that gorgeous rulebook that’s still the best thing GW’s ever published, IMO.

 

What’s next? I dunno, quite honestly. 11th probably wouldn’t be awful timing for the Emperor’s Children release, so maybe that? Utterly silly speculation, but I could see GW going completely buck wild on that set, including both a plastic Fulgrim and a revamped Robby G, just to show off. Who knows, tho. Personally, I’m rooting for Orks in the next box, but I would do that, wouldn’t I?

[Burni]

Ahhh that 5th Ed one was amazing. My fav by a country mile.

 

It’s got to be Tau next surely? Or are they and Eldar deemed ‘good guys’ and therefore don’t work for new players coming in who don’t get the ‘nobody is a good guy here’-ness of 40K just yet?

 

It has been two boxes since chaos though, so maybe that? Expanded Khorne or standard chaos?

[Casual Heresy]

Black Reach was my first proper dive into 40k so I have a special place in my heart for the marines from that but I generally love all the models from starter boxes since, even the forces I don’t collect. 
 

As to the future, I feel we are overdue for a chaos antagonist, so could see the next one being Emperor’s Children. Though part of me hopes they take the chance to expand on Vashtorr and introduce a machine demon and Chaos Marine faction. 

[TheArtilleryman]

I would actually love to see them do multiple big box releases each edition. One per year with different armies in would be amazing. If you look at, say, Mantic with Kings of War, they have a whole bunch of different starter boxes containing two different armies each time. Sure make marines the main one, but imagine a second box coming out in year 2 with guard and tau, or eldar and votann. That would be cool. Not everyone wants marines.

[Doghouse]

5th was my favourite starter set by a mile, even over modern sets. All the models were amazing, even for monopose and I had a great time building and painting them.

 

I'm sure there was a rumour going around recently that 4th was getting a MTO? Not sure that would be true though.

[Urauloth]

I wish they'd MTO the crashed lander, that's the only starter I never got anything from.

Dark Imperium was my favourite, purely because it brought us the current Death Guard range (and because of the plaguemarine sculpts that are unique to the set, which are really fantastic)

I really love Kranon and the cultist champions from Dark Vengeance, too.

 

As for next edition's launch/starter sets, they're going to run out of varieties of space marine eventually aren't they? Back in the day a starter set would always include tacticals, but they're not repeating units in launch boxes any more at the moment. It'll be interesting to see what happens next edition, certainly.
I'd love to see another chaos starter, of course, but if we get xenos instead I think there's something to be said for giving Orks another run. There's plenty of scope for revitalising units like bikes or lootas with new kits, and they're a faction that tends to do well in "buy several boxes and split them" kinda deals.

[TheArtilleryman]

15 hours ago, EnsignJoker said:

Nostalgia-wise, 3rd edition was my favorite; I’d love to see a new starter set with Black Templars and Dark Eldar expanded out with more models and including the scenery that set came with. 
 

For what came in the box, I’d have to say Indomitus or Dark Vengeance. The new CSM and the DA sculpts were awesome for the time, and the Indomitus models are still some of my favorite in the range. The Death Guard were obviously a massive favorite of mine as well. 
 

I’ll give a shout out to the 7th ed BRB release; that book was split out into a rule, lore, and hobby section and remains the best way the BRBs can be done in my opinion. 
 

FWIW, I think I’d rather terrain pieces be included in these sets at the expense of more models that are only available in these boxes. Could have done with a squad or two less in Leviathan and Indomitus if it meant we got a cool piece of unique terrain. 

I agree about the terrain. This time though they did release the ultimate starter set which gave people the option of buying a set with terrain. Only problem is this jacked the price up considerably, which made this particular set a bit off-putting. Would be good to see this though. I know they were cardboard but the original 2nd edition set gave you enough ruins for a whole battlefield; it would be nice to have enough basic stuff to do something similar. 

[gideon stargreave]

Given the nostalgia market, I wouldn’t be surprised to see blood angels vs orks again (despite the recent ultra focus). I’d also love to see another chaos set. The dark vengeance box was a game changer for me in terms of quality. The helbrute is tonnes better than the multipart one, the characters had tonnes of flavor, the cultists were chef’s kiss good and the ravenwing and death wing looked so dynamic. 

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

Ah. The second edition. It would be nice for GW to release something like this so that a buyer has enough terrain for a game. Cardboard terrain is not bad for starting off. Its cheaper to produce than solid plastic terrain. I recall battletech starter boxes coming with terrain and it was decent. I dont recall the name of starter set. 

 

3rd edition MTO i would have ordered if they actually included the terrain with the set. 

 

5th edition starter was nice and i missed out on that set.

 

8th was a great set. I bought the space marine half and liked the models.

 

As for guessing what next starter set would be, my guess would be marines vs chaos. It is not backup by anything. Just a guess.

 

 

 

 

[TheArtilleryman]

2 hours ago, Brother Navaer Solaq said:

Ah. The second edition. It would be nice for GW to release something like this so that a buyer has enough terrain for a game. Cardboard terrain is not bad for starting off. Its cheaper to produce than solid plastic terrain. I recall battletech starter boxes coming with terrain and it was decent. I dont recall the name of starter set. 

 

3rd edition MTO i would have ordered if they actually included the terrain with the set. 

 

5th edition starter was nice and i missed out on that set.

 

8th was a great set. I bought the space marine half and liked the models.

 

As for guessing what next starter set would be, my guess would be marines vs chaos. It is not backup by anything. Just a guess.

 

 

 

 

Totally. After all, they gave us that silly upturned shallow box as a piece of terrain in the last edition. It wouldn’t take much to put some punch out card scenery in the box as it would lay flat and take up no space. I would be totally happy with that.

[Boytoy]

i think they/ll do an update for dark eldar with 11th edition. theyre the only range that really needs updating for its basic line troops. while i love the current range, kabalites and wyches are what, 15 years old now? theyre due an update to bring them in line with modern sculpting tech, and a whole host of the DE range is still in resin. this would also lead to the release of vect, who's been sorely missed on the tabletop. the only challenger i can realistically see is either emperor's children if we're going the chaos route, or a completely new faction

[Special Officer Doofy]

The 3rd edition one is full of nostalgia for me but I couldn't fully grasp or appreciate the game back then like I could when I was older. It came with terrain also, which I don't like in boxsets as it inflates the cost for something I'll personally never use. We always made our own terrain, even before 3d printers. I learned how to play in my parents basement, my older brothers would take the score keepers off of a Foosball table that had high sides and lay down a sheet of plywood over it and we would make Lego forts and use those for terrain. Silly looking back but I thought it was so cool as a kid.

 

The 8th edition one is my favorite and got me back into the hobby after taking 7th off. As someone who never will play loyalist marines I don't mind that they are in every launch box. Makes sense, and if you play the faction opposite of marines at the launch, you hit a gold mine of cheap minis being sold off. I didn't buy the 8th starter technically, but I bought two Death guard half's new on sprue for about $40 each. Can't beat that value.

[Halandaar]

On 12/15/2023 at 5:04 PM, TheArtilleryman said:

I would actually love to see them do multiple big box releases each edition. One per year with different armies in would be amazing. If you look at, say, Mantic with Kings of War, they have a whole bunch of different starter boxes containing two different armies each time. Sure make marines the main one, but imagine a second box coming out in year 2 with guard and tau, or eldar and votann. That would be cool. Not everyone wants marines.

 

Arguably this does already happen to an extent with the "Battleboxes" that come out each edition with two armies and a short campaign book, usually from year 2 onwards. 9th Edition had 5 such boxes, 8th Edition had 6. 

 

Sure they aren't push fit models so you don't get anywhere near as many, and crucially they don't come with a full rulebook anymore, but they do come with the unit rules so in combination with the free downloadable core rules they can be used to get started in 40K with different armies from the starter box. It's not quite the same thing but they have been used a few times to launch significant amounts of new kits. Eldritch Omens for example the entire Eldar side was new, and Shadowspear in the previous edition was fully new kits for both sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheMawr]

On 12/15/2023 at 4:56 PM, TheArtilleryman said:

 

So space marines are generally a given, but on the opposing side we’ve had orks twice, the aids twice, chaos twice, dark eldar once and Necrons once.

 

Thats a bit harsh to call the poor hivefleet bugs out like that  :p ( since i type this on my phone i might get similar autocorrect problems )

 

But on a serious note :

I mostly expect either Dark eldar or Dark mechanicum as next box opponent.. altough I  could see dark eldar being this editions really large release instead ( SoB/CSM in 8th, Orks/Guard in 9th ) though its also possible that its all more spread out over more factions this edition..

 

I think seeing Tau or Eldar as the marine opponent is slimmer than having no ultramarines in the starter box. Imperium vs Marines definitely wont happen in 40k.

 

I think people overthink the rotation between chaos and xenos. From the designers POV those are not equal groups. They are "factions" just for the store categories (etc) and part of the fanbase, including their community team that interact and react to said fanbase.

 

However for "dark mechanicum" being a likely candidates id say this :

aos khorne -> 40k nurgle 

aos death (nighthaunt) -> 40k necron

aos Orks -> 40k tyranids 

( two recently neglected classic horde armies )

aos Skaven -> 40k ???

 

I dont really believe in perceived patterns.

But to be honest if there is a pattern there then 40k 11th would be even more likely dark mechanicum/vashtor army ( its chaos, weird sciency and led by a horned 5th chaos God)

 

but then skaven - dark eldar ... neglected jes goodwin brainchilds that are into slaves and bodyhorror science and shadow realms that gnaw at the foundations of reality... there is something to be said for that link too.

 

Other candidates :

- Deamons 

I think an undivided group of 40k focused daemons is a big gap... basically ruinstorm, But daemons seem to me to be a bit of a side thing when it comes to 40k. Lots of untapped and maybe never tapped potential there.

 

- Emperors children

I think they are more imminent than that. 

 

- Orks 

While in theory i could see it, the big releases orks got and the nature of those releases make this less likely to me in the near future. At least not regular orks. Something focused like beast snaggas ( and kruleboyz in aos) maybe. ( examples : expanded versions of hybrid Orks, freebooterz, cyborks/tinboyz )  
 

-------------------------------

 

But more so i do agree that eventually GW should change their pattern somewhat. I dont think spacemarines have the infinite potential for instant sales GW thinks they have... especially in such short succesion. And it doesnt really help the game either.

Switching to a 5-6 year plan for the new edition starterbox with spacemarines. Codexes etc in the first half And then have a similar box ( everything new and etb) in the middle that focuses on other imperium/spacemarine subfaction  vs something. With a more campaign, supplement and special game modes second half of the edition would improve things on all sides. ( creative, rules, customer attrition/satisfaction)

 

[TheArtilleryman]

@TheMawr Great spot! I absolutely hate autocorrect and always find myself scouring my posts over and over afterwards. Usually I edit them three or four times before the first reply!

[Noserenda]

There certainly seems to be a long term plan to boot strap the older ranges right now, and i guess its paying off because they have been doing it for years now, arguably since the last Dark Eldar reboot :D With rumours implying Emperors Children are due this edition at some point id expect one of the more neglected Xenos to get the spot, and that leaves pretty much just Dark Eldar or Tau? Outside chance of Votaan? 

I guess it could be Kroot, Orks or Eldar but both of those have had some sporadic attention relatively recently.

[crimsondave]

As far as box sets, I think the miniature quality went up big time with 5th, then again with 8th.  I’d say 8th forward have all been great boxes with 10th being my favorite with the big boy Terminators.

 

As far as which edition was my favorite…

Probably 8th.  Feel like it was simpler than it is now.  8th got my interest back as I despised 6th and especially 7th.

 

For the next box, no divergent chapter besides DA have made one so I’d say if Russ is really coming back at the end of 10th, Space Wolves and Emperor’s Children would work.  If Fulgrims boys come back sooner than that throw in Dark Eldar instead for the refresh.  Some cool, non Wolfy McWolferson SW’s would be awesome.

[Cleon]

I'd say there's an outside chance of genestealer cult, they are so model heavy having more models out there from all the starters would help them keep going.

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Cleon said:

I'd say there's an outside chance of genestealer cult, they are so model heavy having more models out there from all the starters would help them keep going.

 

GSC also have a very small non character unit count, with a lot of typical unit roles missing.. the main reason i dont see them appearing as a starterset enemy ( nor tau,  eldar, votann etc ) is that GW likes their "the Galaxy is in danger" level threats for startersets. GSC are fluffwise way too subtle for such an angle.  And i think we have to face that the attitude is as baked in as the inescapability of marines being the heroic good guys in those sets.

 

This is not my preference btw, but thats another thing. I always like a "escalation" matchup/narrative.. Where neither side is explicitly wrong or evil in my scifi/fantasy war stories...

And 40k has that flavor behind the shell.. but the front ( including starters ) does not, and im not sure it ever had.

 

As for my favorite set.. I really like the way they build up the sprues by now.  Dark vengeance and dark imperium have the problem that things are stuck to the core game forever, and making seperate kits for stuff already in the box is heavy on resources while not necessarily good for sales... some DV and DI options still arent available seperately ( chaos lord with sword, lord of contagion with the axe and selfrespect ) while you can get every Tyranid kit from the starter set seperately now/soon.

 

However i found both leviathan and indomitus a bit random in terms of content, even if the content was in all ways better.. two sampler armies facing each other whereas DV and DI immediately give a "oh there's a deeper story there" vibe and charm to me personally.

 

[lhg033]

5th is probably one of my favorites for the models just for the orks. Though I have liked all the Primaris released versions too.

2nd was my gateway and I think I somehow ended up with some duplicates of this but all i can find these days are the books and a random ork or two.

3rd, I only got the rulebook and not the starter set - didnt like the DE.
4th I missed out entirely which is a shame as like many i want the terrain. I do not need any more genestealers though!

 

The worrying thing for me is how many of these still have a large number of sprues in my pile of shame because I got distracted with other projects

 

[TheArtilleryman]

2 hours ago, lhg033 said:

 

The worrying thing for me is how many of these still have a large number of sprues in my pile of shame because I got distracted with other projects

 

Hey, if anyone out there wants help reducing their pile of shame, I take donations ;) :p

Edited December 18, 2023 by TheArtilleryman

[Progenitor]

I've really enjoyed building the stuff out of Leviathan, which is the only set I've bought myself since Dark Vengeance got me some new DA. That being said, looking at the second edition starter which is what got me into 40k all those years ago still brings such a wave of happy teenage nostalgia that I'd be hard-pressed to say that wasn't my favourite despite that over 30 years on I'm a much better painter and gamer and the models have improved astronomically. 

[TheArtilleryman]

15 minutes ago, Progenitor said:

I've really enjoyed building the stuff out of Leviathan, which is the only set I've bought myself since Dark Vengeance got me some new DA. That being said, looking at the second edition starter which is what got me into 40k all those years ago still brings such a wave of happy teenage nostalgia that I'd be hard-pressed to say that wasn't my favourite despite that over 30 years on I'm a much better painter and gamer and the models have improved astronomically. 

The nostalgia is real … it’s amazing though when you look through the photos in that rulebook just how bad some of the sculpts were. It’s incredible that it grabbed our interest so much when you look at the difference in quality today. 

[Karhedron]

On 12/17/2023 at 5:18 AM, Boytoy said:

i think they/ll do an update for dark eldar with 11th edition. theyre the only range that really needs updating for its basic line troops. while i love the current range, kabalites and wyches are what, 15 years old now? theyre due an update to bring them in line with modern sculpting tech, and a whole host of the DE range is still in resin. this would also lead to the release of vect, who's been sorely missed on the tabletop.

 

Yes, Vect was ahead of his time as both a Character and a Vehicle. I just don't think they quite knew what to do with him so they dropped him when they updated the Raider/Ravager kit.

 

Now of course you have huge Characters like the Silent King floating about, Vect would fit right into 10th.