On Monday, Games Workshop revealed three new battalion box sets for Warhammer 40k, themed around the Imperial forces leading the fight in the upcoming Eye of Terror narrative expansion. There are deals to be had for the Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Knights, and the Space Marines – but which bundle offers the best value for money? Let’s dive in.
According to the Warhammer Community article that revealed the sets, they’ll release at the same time as the Eye of Terror book set, but there’s no official word on when that will be. Given that we predict Warhammer 40k 11th edition to release some time this summer, we expect the Eye of Terror book, battalions, and other releases to drop during April – and that they’ll be the last wave of releases for this edition of Warhammer 40k.
The battalion sets that came out alongside the last two narrative expansions, 500 Worlds and Maelstrom, all had MSRPs of $170 / £105. Since the components in the Space Marines Eye of Terror battalion are worth $385.50, we have to assume that this batch of battalions will have a variety of price points, which GW has not yet revealed.
Eye of Terror Battalion: Sons of Dorn
- Repulsor Executioner x 2 – $230 / £143
- Ballistus Dreadnought – $73.50 / £44.50
- Redemptor Dreadnought – $82 / £49.50
- Total – $385.50 / £237
Including two Repulsor Executioners in this battalion is a weird choice. It’s a heavy tank with very strong ranged firepower and some light transport capabilities as well: putting a squad of marines into it means committing an awful lot of eggs to a single (admittedly very sturdy) basket. It’s common to have to choose between using it to push an objective or shooting a priority target.
So this set looks like it’s designed for the Apocalypse game mode coming in the Eye of Terror supplement. It’s a game mode with massive armies and plenty of Titanic units: in that context, upgrading some Impulsors to Executioners makes a lot more sense, as you need the survivability and damage output.
Eye of Terror Battalion: Adeptus Mechanicus
- Onager Dunecrawler – $84 / £52.50
- Sydonian Dragoon / Ironstrider Ballistarius – $65 / £40
- Skorpius Dunerider / Skorpius Disintegrator – $84 / £52.50
- Total $233 / £145
If you’ve finished painting your Ad Mech Combat Patrol and want to add some heavier units to your list, this sample platter of vehicles is a great way to expand. There are so many weapon loadout options and alternate builds in the kits that, if you’re committed to establishing a motorised Ad Mech army, buying multiple sets won’t hurt.
Eye of Terror Battalion: Imperial Knights
- Armiger Warglaives / Armiger Helverins x 2 – $100 / £60
- Knight Valiant / Knight Castellan – $195 / £118
- Total – $295 / £178
Imperial Knight bundles are always weird, because the range has so few models, and the models are so expensive to start with. Competitive players (or those hoping to join the tournament scene) may want to skip this set, as the Valiant or Castellan are not currently super viable. But with 11th edition on the Horizon, that might easily change – it’s hard to balance really big units, and these massive knights swing back and forth between being sub-par and over-tuned.
Are you planning to pick up any of these sets when they drop? Do you have price point predictions for the Knights and Space Marines battalions? Come and chat about it with the Wargamer team in our free Discord community.
Source: Wargamer
