Gaming on a Budget: Mega Savings

Having set out on the quest of proving that the short run holiday Megaforces and Army Boxes released last weekend from GW definitively prove that GW's sales of WFB are very slack compared to those of 40K for my blog Dick Move, I whipped up some quick charts on their pricing.  The proof would be simple.  All I'd need to do is show that the discount % for the WFB boxes was far greater than the 40k ones and that would be the end of that.  Unfortunately, that's not how shit shook out at all.  You'll see below that the discounts versus retail price are nearly the same across all of the boxes- running an average, median, and mode discount of 35%.  Seems GW put some serious thought into the pricing, if not playability, of these sets.

Well, there goes the entire premise for an article.  With my chart already Exceled up and ready to go, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to talk about my other favorite subject (my favorite subject being acting like a dickhead)- saving money.


It would be a simple matter to figure out that you're getting a good deal with these box sets and this is a subject I've covered before in this series.  I'm going to dig a little deeper today, though, to prove which sets provide not the best discount, but the best value.  The concept of value is an important one.  It's all well and good to save a lot of money, but sometimes that's just not enough.  Sure that 5 gallon tub of mayonnaise looks like it's going to be cheaper, but can you really use it all before it expires?  Buying something that is priced well and usable is a far better idea.

Drawing a direct comparison between all of the sets is a little tricky.  Comparing a WFB box to a 40k one is difficult since the points costs aren't the same. We all know that generally speaking, a fantasy army will require more models than a 40k one, but comparing model count is devoid of value.  Doing that would assume that a Marine = a Reaver = a Screaming Bell- so much for that.  I would gladly compare them by weight, but sadly don't have access to that info.  If anybody reading this has access to all 4 sets and a postal scale, let me know.

On the whole, the fantasy armies seem to be a bit more playable, but I'm not 100% up on my Dark Eldar tactics, admittedly, so that's not a completely fair assessment.  I can with certainty, however, say that the Skaven set is fairly well balanced and that the Marine Megaforce is the biggest clusterfuck since the last orgy in Heff's grotto.

Let's look at each set, shall we.

Skaven

This set includes, by far, the largest number of models.  Not surprising for a horde army, but kind of exciting just the same. 

The model count notwithstanding, however, this set is far from being playable out of the box.  At only 1357 points (including full command for 2x 20 units of stormvermin and clanrats, and shields for the clanrats), this set falls well short of the 2,000 plus points typically needed for for WFB.  Adding a few magic items and other upgrades could up this total a bit, but you're still going to find yourself about 500 points short and lacking any supporting characters.  Grey Seers are great, but you'll probably need to invest in some Warlocks too. 

Thankfully, Skaven are also included in the Island of blood boxed set (to the tune of about 500 points), the two could be combined to make a nearly workable 2,000 point force.  We mustn't also forget that you're getting a lot of extra parts with the screaming bell, so if you're savvy about converting, you should be able to salvage a plague priest and 3 or so additional plague monks. 

High Elves

Though the model count is low, the points values are high, making this the best deal of the Fantasy boxes.  It's not a bad army either. 

Weighing in at 1,836 points, this army is damn near playable out of the box.  Changing the Lord on the dragon to a sorcerer would push this total up a bit and give you some extra utility.  Adding in some of the models from the Island of Blood box set will easily put you in the neighborhood of a damn good 2,500 point army. 

My points values are calculated here with no upgrades, but full command on all units.  I also split the Archers and spearmen into 2 units, for flexibility. 

All things considered, this set is easily the best value of the bunch, providing good, core unit choices that are formed into an army that is almost playable out of the box.

Space Marines

Where to begin on this one?  You're really not getting much out of this box.  I have to really fault the unit choices here, since they include the worst transport, the worst hq, and the worst fast attack choice available to marines and include no rhino/razorbacks at all. 

Moreover, there is little or no synergy between the units in the box.  That single drop pod is totally going to help you dominate the backfield.... or not.  Seriously, by the time you're done filling out the meagre 1130 points (if you paint your marines blue and not red, black, green, or gray) in the set out into a working 1,500+ points army, you're likely to be dropping a fair amount of what comes in this box anyway. 

To pad out the force you could add some extra points using AoBR models, but it still leaves you with such a fucked up unit selection that I'm not even going to bother discussing it.

I'd still recommend this Megaforce if it has models you're looking for or you think you can sell off the pieces you don't need from it, but if you're looking for a playable army out of the box, you might as well just keep moving. 

Dark Eldar

Even though you're getting a pretty low amount of points in this set, it's probably the better value of the two megaforces, although I'm still a bit on the fence over the inclusion of Reavers.  Not sure that I've really seen those being played much. 

Combining two of these boxed sets together would be pretty handy and get you close to a full working army.  Your Fast attack slots are going to be pretty full, though, given the curious absence of any Elite models.  You're also not going to have an HQ.  Seriously, this is the only box set that isn't legally playable at any points level right out of the box.  Looks like GW didn't want to include any non-plastic models in these, so you'll have to add in some finecast of your own.  ... Actually, I just checked and there aren't any plastic Elites either, so that pretty much explains that one.

Not being an AoBR army, there is no cheap way to fill in the points total, so even with the steep discount on this Megaforce, you're looking at a total investment of $450 or more to get your army up and running.  That's pretty steep, but if you're dead set on going with Dark Eldar, snagging one or two of these is going to be the most economical way to get started.