I would like a box that came with 3 plastic salamanders and the handlers and cost £30. Chameleon Skins 20 for £30 I want box of 6 Kroiqors for £40 I want seperate skink start collecting box that came with 3 rippadatyls, 1 start priest, 20 skinks and 1 steggadon or bassiladon.
It's friggin' high time that GW got rid of ALL their finecast. They missed a huge opportunity to clean house in the last two years, they should have reworked all resin models for a given faction when that faction's 40k 8E / AoS 2.0 codex/battletome came out. That would have given lots of positive buzz for a lot of people. But no, that would have been too easy and made too much sense.
Plastic models would be great. It is a ton of work that goes into making them though. It has been nice to see GW revamp more of their old lines into newer kits though. Fortunately we have been getting a lot of new plastic sculpts for older models. The Loonboss on Giant Cave-squigg, a new Ogre Tyrant, the new Keeper of Secrets, and Masques; all these models are great examples of what the rest of the line will hopefully be one day.
Pretty sure the next box will be Tomb Kings Vs Ogres based off the Fest of Bones and Tithe of Bones videos.
I think a summoning focused start collecting would be nice. A plastic slann, 20 skinks, and 3 plastic kroxigors would be sweet. At about $140 in value using current prices, this should be in line with most of the other start collecting boxes. Another alternative could be a Stegadon, skinks, and some number of plastic razordons w/ handlers.
I dunno if it's out of the realm of possibility. I think the slann one is less likely since most folks only need 1 generally. We also need plastic updates, and GW haven't been terribly averse to putting good value in their various boxed sets. I don't see it as too far fetched. I mean, if you told folks that there was a boxed set that included a Bastiladon ($60), a Troglodon ($85), 3 Terradon Riders ($60), 20 Skinks ($35), 3 Ripperdactyl Riders ($60) and a Skink Starpriest ($20) all for the low price of $170, it would have also been pegged as wishful thinking. Yet, that's the battleforce we got last year Edit: our current start collecting box has ~$145 in models. So, if we got a new boxed set whenever our new tome drops, something like what I have listed doesn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility.
Like I said above, it's not about not getting good value out of boxed sets, it's about GWs inability to clean up their effin' Finecast (TM) mess. They didn't manage to switch over a single model from Finecast to plastic during the whole release cycle of 8E 40k, which has seen a truckload of new releases. Several models were just scrapped (poor Orks), but no new ones presented. Looks like it's just not on their agenda. At this point in time it's pretty embarrasing, honestly. Same with their handling of Forgeworld.
I think I am just hoping that the reason we have not seen an update yet is because they are updating some of our finecast kits. They have done a few updates, as LizardWizard has pointed out, and I am hoping that these updates are why we havent seen an update yet. I can't imagine that they would hold off on a new tome for us for so long just because they are throwing in a few endless spells and a terrain piece. At least, this is what I keep telling myself
The edition switch didn't see any major models remade. However, the remake of Deathguard saw a new a Typhus. Chaos Space Marine got a new Abaddon. Gloomspite got a new Loonbose on Giant Cave Squigg. I think there is president to release fine cast models as plastic. It does generally take a long while before it happens though.
Razordons/salamanders sold in actual units would be great so we don't have to buy them one at a time for way too much and be stuck with a gazillion handlers for no apparent reason. Preferably even a kit that could build both of em. As for boxed sets the following would be interesting combinations that could be used to flesh out armies more easily and give an easy starting point. A skink focused start collecting box that'd look something like this: - 10-20 Skinks - A newly introduced skink hero - 3 kroxigor - 1 bastiladon or stegadon (perhaps both?) The reason I'm listing a new skink hero is cuz I wouldn't want the priest or starpriest in the box as they're so easy to kitbash anyway you'l very quickly end up swimming in them. A flyer based start collecting box that'd look like: - 10-20 Skinks - A newly introduced skink hero on a flyer - 6 Rippers/Terradons - A newly introduced big flying model Rippers don't really fit in thematicly with the rest for a start collecting box unless you literally just make shadowstrike a start collecting box. And that just seems lame. Hence, give us some extra flyer models, we've been longing for those for ages anyways . An heavy infantry box: - 15 guard - 6 kroxigor - Eternity warden - Sunblood - Oldblood on foot This one would be a brilliant supplement to the existing start collecting box. At the very least from a collector's point of view. Bonus points if they get rules updates to actually be good in game
One thing to keep in mind is that most start collecting boxes usually contain a centerpiece model, an elite/cavalry unit and a battleline unit, and the goal price is usually around $140ish worth of models for $90ish. So, for the Flying one, I could see a box containing 10 skinks ($18), 3 fliers ($60), and an EotG ($60). This one would be good as their are several configurations available for all 3 units and it hits right around that $140 mark (Javs vs Boltspitters, Terradon vs Rippers, EotG vs Stegadon) For the skink based one Canas mentioned you can take the above box and swap out the fliers for Kroxigor, although I suspect that would be a less popular option. Maybe bump the skinks to 20 if the Kroxigor are included over the fliers, since the Kroxigor are slightly cheaper. For an Elite infantry one, I could see 15 guard ($55), an eternity warden ($25), and 3 Kroxigors ($55). The downside to this one is that you won't really need more than 1 EW, and currently Kroxigor aren't very popular. Also, this box would be lacking a large centerpiece model, which is something they tend to like to include.
I would like the starhost sets again, but this time including the numbers commonly seen in lists. Like a shadow strike with 6 ripper, star priest and 2 skink units. Or a thunder quake with eotg, 3 razordons with handlers, and 2 bastilidons.
Ah right, forgot about Typhus and Failbaddon... still a pretty poor track record. Isn't the new plastic Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig still exclusive for the Looncurse box? We just had this discussion in my local store today, these time-limited deals are a really poor business strategy, and super annoying to boot.
I think there just was an announcement for the loonboss to be sold seperatly. Taking 1 unit of ambush-focused flyers alongside 1 big hulking dinosaur just doesn't work thematicly. They need to come either in a proper flying box (with a nice new flyer hero and nice new centerpiece flying monster), in a shadowstrike box (which would just be lame) that accentuates the ambush focussed nature, or in a much larger box like last year's battleforce where they fullfill the role of light cavalry for a proper army. The thematic consistency of these boxes seems fairly important as they're supposed to form the core of your army. And although rippers + EoTG might make sense in-game they don't make a whole lot of sense in-fluff as a stand-alone force. Imho, boxed sets should include some of the less popular options. It helps with keeping the (local) meta alive, as it ensures those less popular options actually get bought. And since people have them anyway they're bound to end up using them occasionally, even if it's only to experiment. And every so often that'l cause a shift in the (local) meta as someone discovers a near trick using those unpopular models. Also, if you don't include unpopular models in boxed sets on account of them being unpopular you're all but guaranteeing they'l remain unpopular. And including them has the benefit that a significant chunk of your playerbase will have them, so if at some point they end up being absolutly crucial to your army the playerbase won't accuse you of changing the rules just to sell a bunch of impopular models as they don't need to go out and buy a bunch of them just to keep their army relevant That's why I suggested the 3 heroes to form a centerpiece. Making up for the size with quantity Also, not all boxes have particularly large centerpiece models. Ironjawz and idoneth are probably the most similar to what I suggested. With the biggest models being 3 cavalry-ish sized creatures. SCE similarly don't have particularly large centerpieces, though their hero tends to stand out due to its mount being very dynamic compared to the rest of the models in the box. As for not needing multiple heroes, that goes for most start collecting boxes. Loads of em have heroes that can only really be used in 1 loadout and you don't really want multiple of. At least we have summoning so we can relativly easily fit in 2 of the same hero if we felt so inclined compared to other factions.
A plastic Slann, Stegadon, some (24?) skinks (completable as regular Skinks or as Handlers), six Razordons. With some alternate build options designed in. Parts options to allow the Stegadon to be the mount for the Slann. Parts options to allow the Greatbow/Ballista to be mounted as siege equipment with handlers converted pressed into service as crew.