# The dullest battalion box ever!



## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

I've just seen the contents of the Beastman battalion box and to be honest I'm not inspired.
You get 20 gors, 10 ungors and 10 bestigors.
Now given that the new beastman book focusses on big monsters surely putting in some mino's would have made more sense the only thing that makes the box value for money is the stupid cost of the bestigors and if you bought these same models before the book came out and the troops were redone would have cost about the same as it does now even with 10 metal models so its not really a saving.
Whoever decides the contents of the battalion boxes needs a slap as the last few have been useless, Greatswords, Bestigors all units that will rarely see the tabletop only the Skaven was half decent although I wouldn't buy more than 1 box as I doubt I'd use that many ratogres.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

I seriously doubt that this box will sell alot. Minotaurs would defo had been a reasonable unit to have inside it.

The Bestigors should have been replaced with them for sure....


Sadly Im not that impressed with the Beastmen on any scale. I was hoping that they would get me interested in WHFB again, but Im more and more "meh" over them as a whole. They used to be an interesting skirmishing army, now they are a dull Orc army with hooves:cray:


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

your saving £15, why even contemplate complaining?, heck get it from gifts for geeks and your saving £26, which you can use to buy the damned ugly minotaurs.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

Its only a saving when compared to the new reboxed beastmen, If you bought your beastmen 2 months ago you'd have more beastmen and ungors than you get in this battalion and still have nearly £20 in your pocket to buy something you might actually use rather than the overpriced bestigors.
Money aside though the real problem is the content, With a little thought replacing the bestigors with a unit that might be useful like the mino's would sell far more boxes to more than offset the £2 price difference when buying them seperately.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Wow, that seriously is a dull box... only 3 units straight up infantry total to start with, and nothing special about them. Even including a Minotaur would have made the box a little bit more interesting, or just something to make the box look a bit more diverse, some point of interest...

Yeah, I really can't see this selling too well. People will get it based on weather they want to have bestigor in their army or not. If you do want them, then it's an ok saving to get a box to fill out your ranks, if you don't want them then you'll never bother with it, unless you could find another player to flog them off to. It really doesn't seem like a good starter set for an army at all though, if you just started off with this, it's be boring as all shite.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

minotaurs would ahve made it a really cool box, but at £27 for minotaurs or £50 for the battalion there would be very little else in there... sure they would make it shiny and all butit would still seem like nothing.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

neilbatte said:


> Its only a saving when compared to the new reboxed beastmen, If you bought your beastmen 2 months ago you'd have more beastmen and ungors than you get in this battalion and still have nearly £20 in your pocket to buy something you might actually use rather than the overpriced bestigors.


if you already brought your beastmen army 2 months ago why do you even need to consider buying it and in the same vein moan about it?, you don't need it then, but a beginner might.

if I wanted to start beastmen I know I would jump at a box that can save me £26, even if I don't use the bestigors I could sell them for £10 and save even more money, heck I might get it just for Mordheim since it saves so much money from buying all the beastmen separately, even if I only use a handful I can sell the rest and still come out making a big profit.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

I cant see the logic in this argument, GW dont release battalions based on a cool factor or even whats useful, they are a business so the contents are based on profit margins and such, they didnt choose to put the beastigors in the box because the Minotaurs cost more as the production cost for both kits will be about the same, but the beastigors look better in terms of unit count which to the target market is important, IE the box has 40 models in it rather than 33 ,not to mention the models are similar in size so would allow for some kit bashing options accross the three unit types. 

Plus to be fair if i was in the market for a beastmen army the battalion would be a great place to start, bestigors are a viable unit and nice models, plus even if your not a fan you should have them as an option for your army, i cant grasp this building an army to a list and then not having anything else to throw into the mix or to experiment with, if your playing 2000 points you should have atleast 4000 points of models to choose from, stops things going stale and allows you to chuck out units best capable of beating different opponents? would you use the same army list for fighting a skaven hoard as you would empire?I wouldnt


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Really? I'm pretty sure you'll use all those units. 

Gors are the backbone of a "balanced" beastman army. While there are viable builds that include nothing but big monsters or minotaurs, they can't really make a Battallion out of stuff for what are ultimately "alternate" play styles. So 20 Gors are a good thing to have in there. 

By a similar vein, Ungors are an excellent unit. The difference between them and Gors is that you'll use them in a monster army as a skirmish screen. Ten Ungor raiders with short bows add a vital element to the army in the form of a shooting unit and skirmish screen. Shooting is actually quite important to a balanced beastman army, since you have to make sure that combats only last one round. By killing even one enemy model at range, you're cutting down a rank bonus, and that single point of combat resolution matters quite a bit.

Finally, the Bestigors... I don't see a problem here. Bestigors are excellent. They're a fast moving, relatively skilled unit with great weapons. The models are rather pricey, sure, but they're something you're likely to bring. I know I'd certainly run a unit of them to break up cavalry formations and elite infantry. Since Beastmen are, on average, faster than other infantry in the game, they'll be charging most of the time-- so the fact that they've got great weapons seems to be a moot point in arguments for or against bringing them. Like all other Beastman units, they can't take return hits, and if anything, the great weapons will make sure the combat only lasts one round.

While it may seem dull, the contents are useful. Would you prefer there be a bunch of shiny things that you'd only use one of in the box? Packaging like that actually costs you more money to build the army since there's no point in buying more than one. If you bought two of the Beastman boxes, for example, you'd have two units of Gors, two units of Ungor skirmishers, and a unit of Bestigors at a strength they're excellent at. Throw in a couple characters, a monster or two, and a unit of minotaurs, and you've got a very playable army. It might not be "competitive" but it's very much in the spirit of the army, I think. But really, if you're one of those "competitive" types who just *can't* lose, you're probably playing Vampire Counts or Chaos Daemons, and netdeck your army list anyway... so it doesn't really matter what they do with Beastmen, does it?


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Its a solid selection for building an army, but it is a bit dull. I think if they had upped the price to £65 and included couple of characters or two (like a bray shaman or a beastlord). If you had a single limited edition character then it would massively increase the desirability of the boxed set (the old ogre boxed set limited edition character is now going for £50+ second hand all by itself).
I kinda get the feeling that they were trying to force the set to be £50 and they have lost something from it- some of the boxed sets are a little more expensive.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

I think the biggest problem for me is all through the beastman book the running theme is "Look at all these cool monsters" then the battalion box gives you a few core troops.
Now with any other army I'd bite your hand off for a few big boxes of infantry without all the other crap that I don't need more than 1 of (I'm looking at you Empire knights) The fact that along with the Ogre box and maybe the Skaven this is only other box that I'd buy more than 1 of still doesn't make it exciting as I need at least 1 unit that makes me want to paint the others.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

neilbatte said:


> then the battalion box gives you a few core troops.


which you need to take the "cool" monsters, so its perfect for beginners, if you already have a beast army you can ignore the battleforce completely.


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## Azkaellon (Jun 23, 2009)

Stella Cadente said:


> which you need to take the "cool" monsters, so its perfect for beginners, if you already have a beast army you can ignore the battleforce completely.


Which is pretty much the reason the box exists....To help out new player's. All the new battle force's\ Battalions are focused on core troops and not the cool killer monster's. (nids for example)


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Witch King of Angmar said:


> Which is pretty much the reason the box exists....To help out new player's. All the new battle force's Battalions are focused on core troops and not the cool killer monster's. (nids for example)


It's always been a bit different for fantasy though. Look at most box sets and what do you see? a good mix of troops to start you off, an interesting base to start an army from, and usually a special model for a centre piece. The standard battalion box contains a solid unit of rank'n'filers, a missile unit (or light infantry of some sort), a unit of cavalry and a special unit (something a bit different, like a warmachine or monster). Holds true for most armies out there, gives a good selection of unit types to start you off with and they're usually playable as mini-armies straight out of the box (with a couple of characters added or converted). Only some boxes don't go for this formula, but they always have something more interesting than just plain infantry - skaven gets rat ogres and giant rats to go along with their 3 ranked infantry units, Undead were previously the most boring, and even they get a plague cart and 20 extra infantry.

Now, before people start complaining, I'm not saying its terrible value, you save a little cash on basic troops, great, that's fine. It's just that it's uninspiring, especially for beginners looking to get into the hobby. They'll look at that, and then see all the others with larger and more impressive and more diverse models (and more of them usually too) that come with other armies, and they'll pass right by. It's not a mini-army, it's a few core choices that you get a few bucks cheaper. Fine yes, but boring.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Its meant to either start you off, or be a useful addition to your force. Hence the two troops/core units that you get in every battleforce or battalion.

Now with the Beastmen, a donkeyload of gors is standard fare because they're the core units, however since Games Workshop are planning to stop all battleforces and batallions soon, you don't have anything to worry about.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

The worse thing about the box is simply a result of the "hidden" GW price hike for them. Since they have started to repackage the sets, you get less and less for your money. Personally i think all the newer beastmen stuff is way overpriced, even when compared to the older metal kits. 

I think the core of the problem is simply that the set is uninspiring, and theres nothing there that screams start collecting these guys like other battalions have


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