A Detailed Discussion

Transcript*

Intro

Hey there. Welcome to the Sunward Hobbies YouTube channel and welcome to 11th edition. That’s right, Armageddon time. Uh it’s about what a month into Armageddon. Last week, Games Workshop released a bunch of intro sets, getting started with sets, uh and all these sets that’s meant to bring new people into the hobby. So, for this quick review, we will be discussing which of these kits are worth it or not. And to be honest, the hobby, especially Warhammer, is expensive. Before we get started, let’s discuss the elephant in the room.

If you have no interest in Warhammer, none of these kits are worth it. That’s not even a joke. Don’t justify to yourselves like maybe I have some interest in Warhammer. Don’t. Warhammer is too expensive to play about like that. It’s not called 40k for nothing. Once you’ve cleared the hurdle of actually, you know what? I do like Warhammer and you’ve introspected, then yes, we will now determine whether or not some of these kits are worth it depending on your needs, right? But otherwise, stay away. Go uh build a tank, car, plane, and we have all that and more, plus all the products shown in this video at sunwardhobbies.ca.

Space Marines & Orks

Because we’re already here, let’s talk about the two new getting started with sets. We have the getting started with Space Marine set and the getting started with Orcs set. These are the two factions that’s represented in the starter sets and intro sets for 11th edition Armageddon, which in itself is a reference to the third edition launch of Armageddon. That’s right. third edition was Space Marines and Orcs also and the box art for 11th today is a throwback to that. So yes, what you have here are two getting started with that are both individually combat patrol ready. So you can grab one of these boxes and play immediately.

Point System

Yeah, Paul, you should probably explain what the heck points are before you start explaining what the heck a combat patrol is because for this video, a lot of your viewers are new. Right, you are Paul 2. Paul one here. He is correct. Uh points are something that we do have to explain. But simply put, points are a way to keep balance. Simply put, each individual miniature, not unit, but individual miniature like this one right here. This is the Intercessor Space Marine from the new Armageddon box. That’s worth around eight points at the moment. And each individual miniature in all of 40k, doesn’t matter the faction, have a points total attached. I’m going to give you a brief example on the opposite spectrum of things.

This is the Norn Emissary, a pretty significantly big miniature. It is around 6 to 7 in tall. And this is it compared to the new Space Marine Intercessor. The guy’s going to get eaten. Now again, this is worth eight points individually. A Norn Emissary is individually worth 260ish points. That’s around 16 or 15 to 16 intercessors. So in theory, you’re like, well, to get to 2k points in the cheapest possible way, I just fill my army up with big dudes. But if one of your big dudes dies or gets destroyed, you just lost a significant portion of your army.

Now, the base game, the most common Warhammer 40k experience, uh the total for all armies, for both armies involved, is 2k points, 2,000. So, that’s a lot of space marines, and that’s why people go broke. But Games Workshop is kind enough to make a game mode called Combat Patrol Games or they used to be called 500 point games. These boxes are the fastest way to get to it. Now, not all of them are 500 points. They That’s why they used to be called 500 point games. Now they’re just called Combat Patrol. You and your friend will go to a shop like ours, Sunward Hobbies. You grab these from the shelf, you build them, you paint them, and you play immediately.

The best part about it, Combat Patrol rule sets, a special kind of rule set, is completely free. PDFs are on Games Workshop’s own website. Download them. They’re free and they only last about 45 minutes the game, maybe an hour. With all of that being said, are these boxes worth it from a pure points perspective? Yes. Spinning. They are both combat patrol boxes in disguise. You guys wouldn’t know that, but they are. They both clock in points wise at around 415 to 430, maybe 440 depending on load out, spells, rules that you attach, etc., etc., but it’s around that level. So, yes, it is absolutely worth it.

What’s Included?

This is a really good deal because both boxes come with specifically one starter brush, one texture spreader. That’s for the texture paint that you apply on the bases of the mini. So you spread it around like butter essentially or like peanut butter more specifically with the chunks. Uh and then when it dries you have dried ground. It looks great. Um so that’s one of the 11 paints uh that it comes with as well. Plus a 36 introductory booklet. The booklet is really good not only to introducing new players to 40k and Warhammer in general with lore and rules but provides incredible illustration and art. It’s beautiful.

Price

Now are they worth it in terms of pure value? Now we will split the value commentary in two ways. First is pure money at least compared to old 10th and 9th and 11th future 11th edition combat patrol boxes 100%. Ding. Basically the combat patrol boxes in Canadian is 174.25. Both these boxes 174.25. That’s right. Whereas this box doesn’t come with anything else but the minis. These come with the aforementioned paints, booklet, texture spreader, and the brush. It is a really good deal. I cannot emphasize that enough. These boxes are insane. Now, what about pure plastic value? Are they worth it? Yes, but it gets a little trickier because there’s a lot more orcs on that side compared to how many marines there are.

But Games Workshop considers this an even fight. And why is that? Because Orcs can die from anything. In fact, if you roll badly, their gun might just explode, killing them. That’s why there’s 33 of them in the box compared to the 13 in the space marine box. Just means that it because the uh individual marine is worth more points, they are cheaper in the long run compared to the orcs. Orcs are notorious for having terrible points to dollar conversion ratios. They’re 10 out [snorts] of 10 boxes. What can I say? Ah, that’s my seal of approval.

Introductory Sets

Now, for the next sets, if you’re thinking of using these sets for army building, stop it. the most inefficient thing you can possibly do. So, in that regard, not worth it. I’m going to say that right now. The first of these non army building sets is the introductory set. Again, released the same time last week as of the filming of this video. Uh, it comes with 12 miniatures, six space marines, six Orcs, six dice, six paints, and one brush. You can see it right there. There’s a lot of sixes. The best thing I can say about the set is that it comes with a game mat that included in the box. Now, it’s not regulation size. The regulation size for Games Workshop 40k games are enormous.

This is about maybe 60% the size, 60 65. Um, and it comes with albeit cards stock terrain, high quality card stock, but it is still card stock terrain that you have to assemble yourself in a very crisscross sort of manner. And it comes with six dice. Now, the dice are unfortunately the smaller variety that they recently released. If you aren’t aware, Games Workshop about 3 months ago released dice that were a lot smaller than their normal, very expensive dice to be honest. They’re like 50 bucks. But yeah, these are the small dice. And to be honest, that’s all the positives I think overall. Is it worth it? I would say for the price, which is $70 essentially, yeah. Yeah, it’s worth it because it comes with cute but pretty nice looking actually card stock terrain.

Now, uh it is cheap looking, but at the same time, they did put a pretty decent amount of effort into each terrain piece if nothing else is to get you used to the shooting rules of 40k, and it does an incredible job at that. The terrain are line of sight blockers, right? And the simple dice is just there to get you used to shooting. For the price, it is worth it there. I just have a really big annoyance with this box. Really big. My only annoyance with this box is that all 12 miniatures, both Marine and Orc sides, are completely unique. They are new sculpts. You’re like, “Well, Paul, that’s good, right? That’s good. They’re new sculpts. They look great.” You’re right. If not for the fact that you can only find these sculpts for both sides in this box. You can’t even find these sculpts on the launch Armageddon set where all the front-loaded new sculpts would be. They’re not there. They exclusively reserve them for this box only.

Paint Sets

The other two of the non army building sets are even smaller. These guys more focus on what is essentially the kids of the hobby, right? They truly do want to get started in the hobby, but you know, they don’t have any painting experience go for the intro set or the getting started with. But these two, however, do provide decent value for the paints and uh brush that they include because they not only do they come with the miniatures, they also come with the manual right there. Each miniature is push fit, so there’s no need for glue. Again, catering towards the needs of the kids, right?

And they come with six paints, six paint uh sets that are basically just customized for the needs of both the Space Marines and the Orcs, right? So, they’re different per box. Here comes the negatives. I do understand that they’re for kids, but why didn’t they provide like a miniaturized bottle of primer? I know that would require another bottle and they don’t have maybe the facilities for that because it’s a completely new thing. Because painting water-based acrylics on a surface that is not primed is slightly challenging. Uh even if it does stick, which Games Workshop uh is one of the paints that does successfully stick, the odds of it chipping is quite high. So the issue is without the the primer foundation, the paint will eventually just maybe even just wear away right over time and touch if it doesn’t chip or crack. Negative number two is the fact that they remove a space marine.

So this is the exact same box from 10th edition, but they remove the space marine. Same paints, same brush, just one less marine. Why? Same price, too, by the way. That’s disappointing. And that that is an extreme negative. Uh moving on to the orcs. This is less egregious, but only because Orcs haven’t been properly introduced. So, it’s a little bit harder to quantify. Still bad value, of course, because orcs have a terrible dollar to points conversion ratio. They’re all in favor of Games Workshop, but this definitely is in favor of Games Workshop. So, if you’re trying to buy this for someone who’s marginally interested in Warhammer, especially if they’re a kid, I guess it’s well worth it. They they will never forget that experience. Otherwise, this is a solid three out of 10, maybe even two, saved by the fact that they’re directed for kids.

Paints & Tools Set

Last, but certainly not least, is this paints and tools set. This honestly is incredible, and unlike the other sets where I practically avoided saying, you know, the prices in case they change drastically in the future, this one I’m proud to say is $46.75. Incredible value. Yes, that’s $46 Canadian. Meaning, if you’re American, it’s actually even cheaper. What you’re getting is 13 paints. You’re getting a nipper. You’re getting uh a file and you’re getting a brush. Incredible value. I pulled out two of Games Workshop’s biggest competitors in the painting scene.

Vallejo on the left with the Squidmar specialty sets, the Dark Future one specifically, but they’re all the same price. And AK Third Gen Panzer Grenadier Division paint set. That one comes with 10 colors plus a miniature actually. uh $454.99 and then the Squidmar on the left uh comes with 12 plus a mini. So, it depends on what you value the most. If you like the miniatures, go either or if you’d like the tools, if you’re a beginner, I’d actually go uh Citadel, believe it or not, it’s cheaper. That’s crazy to say, by 10 fold dollars. So, yeah. [laughter] Otherwise, good value all around to be honest. And finally, after 50,000 years, we’re here.

Starter Set

The final set because they’ve released so many is the aptly named starter set. Wow, can you believe that? Uh, very creative Games Workshop. So, this is what is essentially a bonus version of the Armageddon launch box. They’ve done this with 9th, 10th, and now 11th. They always release a slightly smaller, slightly cheaper box about a month or two after the initial launch of the edition. Right. And what differentiates it is well first of all uh there are miniatures that are stuck in that launch box that is not part of this. The most notable one would be for the Space Marine side the Jump Pack Chaplain the new sculpt. So while it does miss out on a couple of miniatures what it does gain in return for that is two things.

One regulation sized battlefield that is the mat itself so you don’t have to draw borders on your own table. Uh, it comes with a pretty immersive, dusty Battlefield Mattage. So, if that sense, this is actually better value for immediately playing than the Armageddon Launch box. Insane to say, cuz you know, the Armageddon box is 306 Canadian, which is crazy money. This is much cheaper. At 255 Canadian, basically $60 cheaper. You’re missing out on what, a couple of miniatures. I’d rather have this, to be honest. So, I guess a negative would be the 10 dice. Uh the 10 dice themselves are the ones from four months ago. I had ragged on it earlier. Cheap, terrible dice. Uh Games Workshop of course releases dice that are premium quality, but they’re so expensive. Incredibly expensive. Not worth it. Uh that’s why they didn’t include them, and that’s why they included 10 of the garbage ones here.

Paul’s Conclusion

And that’s it for me today. Thank you guys so much for watching. What’s your favourite set of the bunch? And yes, this is the largest and longest uh quick reviews ever. It’s not really quick. It’s just reviews. But hopefully the annotations that we’ve set up helped you along. Uh so yeah, thank you guys for watching. Uh this has been Paul and by the time this video is posted, hopefully we’re about to hit 19K. We’re uh on track to hit 20K prior to the end of summer perhaps, maybe just in the beginning of fall. Who knows? We’re trying to hit 20K. So that being said, if you enjoy this video, please like and subscribe. Uh, and of course follow us on socials, links in the description down below. And never forget that our websites, the real time inventory, links to sunwardhobbies.ca down below as well. Name’s Paul. Bye-bye.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by
Daniela Castellano and Leo Nguyen
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano