During another conversation in another thread the subject of starter army boxes came up. So I thought i'd start a new thread to get your views on the subject.

If it's viable to do so would you like to see starter army boxed sets available through Vanguard Miniatures. These would be basic sets of miniatures to give a good starter force for new players and old hands alike. Nothing fancy well not yet anyway but just a useful way to get going with a playable force. Also a two army set could be packaged to give an opposing forces starter set too, both DiD and Onslaught miniatures could be used for these sets. These would be boxes with the correct ratio of miniatures in them to make viable game units to a set army list, probably EA. I don't see being able to include anything else but the minis and bases in a plain box at this time but the concept could be expanded on in the future.

Your thoughts please.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Certainly a GW style "one click order" which gives a valid starting force in each of your ranges would be a great idea. Not sure if they actually need to be "boxed" as such. Just a slight discount or discount or free postage.

Keeping it single race boxes is probably less limiting, but maybe off a further discount for 2/3/4 sets...?

Including a "beginners" sheet (or page on your website ) explaining all the various epic (and other compatible 6mm) out there with links would also be a very fine idea.

One question here, if making a starter army, would you consider splitting any of the packs?
Skinnerz Gobblers and Leaders are the thing I'm thinking of here. 80 Gobblarz and 100 leaders is a LOT for a starting force. If they could be split in two that would make things more manageable for a starter army. E.g. 40 Gobblarz, 50 leaders.

Here's a list of packs that could make a range of organisations:

1/2 x Leaders (50 models)
1/2 x Gobblars (40 models)
1 x Infantry (100 models)
1x Beasts (2 models)
1x Crusher (1 model)
1x Shuttle (1 Model)
2x Fighter (4 models per pack)
1x Flamer Vector (10 models)
1x Helicopter (10 models)
1x Tanks (4 models)
1x Tramplers (6 models)
1x Bases (80 bases)

Can put this together in different ways, but here's a 3K example that uses everything except 1 Helicopter, 1 Flame Vector, and 2 stands of infantry leaders (and the spare head and arm from Crusher pack!):

Incompertus, 2995 POINTS
Ghazgkhull Thraka's War Horde (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
==================================================

MEKBOY STOMPAMOB (BIG) [675]
6 Stompa, Supa Stompa

WARBAND [270]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Warlord, 2 Nobz

WARBAND [250] (Goes in Landa)
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, 2 Boyz + Grotz

WARBAND [490]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Battlefortress, Gunfortress, Oddboy

BLITZ BRIGADE [200]
4 Gunwagon, Oddboy

KULT OF SPEED [225]
9 Skorcha

BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [285]
9 Deth Kopta

FIGHTA SKWADRON [200]
4 Fighta Bomba

FIGHTA SKWADRON [200]
4 Fighta Bomba

LANDA [200]


Remove half the packs and you have a 1500 point small starter army.

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http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

Beginner Boxes are a nice idea....but....I just ordered some minis from you for my lost and damned army to start and i picked minis from differend factions. Hellborn as Cultists and Stygian Succubi as Daemonettes. So if u do premade armies its maybe worth to look not only at single lines but put them together?

What I like is the way Kallistra is working it out for their 12mm ranges.....they have premade armies and a buy 5 get 6 pax deal, what makes it great to save some money and buy that extra pack u normally would not do just to get the freeby.

And btw maybe u should talk to the guys from
Trolls Under the Bridge http://trolls.myshopify.com/
and get their tanks .....and infantry......

cheers from germany
chris

Yes. This sounds like a good idea. I managed to persuade a friend to get a marine army just before SG closed shop, and that would have been far easier if there would have been a pack available.

And I concur that you might have to mix manufacturers to get a full offering and make sure that you get something manageable painting wise. It is probably easy to become overwhelmed.

Why not do one set of boxes for the standard 3K NetEA and one for minigeddon?

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

Minigeddon is the way to start for me....And its maybe possible to pack a copy of the corerules in the armypack. This way the armypacks shoulld only be inf and tanks, but that would be a good basis to start.

Guys thanks for the feedback.

Yes i'd consider splitting packs and mixing ranges if needed and they could contain the exact amount of units required with no odd models left over. I can put odd models aside until I have enough to make a pack up again.

@ Markconz, you have laid out just exactly what I would need information wise to create these packs. An army list to pick models for and an organisational template for guidance, great stuff.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

I've been planning a TMG Steel Legion army since I backed the plastics - something like this:

Incompertus, 3000 POINTS
Steel Legion (NetEA Army Compendium v20120208)
==================================================

REGIMENTAL HQ [550]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Hydra

MECHANISED INFANTRY COMPANY [450]
Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Hydra

INFANTRY COMPANY [300]
Commander, 12 Infantry, Hydra

INFANTRY COMPANY [250]
Commander, 12 Infantry

TANK COMPANY [700]
9 Leman Russ, Vanquisher, Hydra

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]

ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]

MARAUDER BOMBERS [250]
2 Marauders


Built from

1x Novan Churchillian Squadron
1x Novan Lancastrian Squadron
Some Army Boxes (from wave 1)
A few Heavy Guns set (from wave 1)
A few Anti-aircraft sets (from wave 1)

I am of course still waiting for those plastics to arrive...

A nice army that would be.

Well the plastics um it looked like the project had finally born fruit with the dispatch and arrival in the UK of 5k of sprues. Upon examination of those sprues however it was spotted that a majority of the vehicles on them had major flaws thus the entire batch has been rejected as not up to standard. Ben has requested a replacement batch free of charge but so far has received no reply.

The saga continues.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Trouble is Steel Legion list kind of depends on those plastic vehicles. Having metal sculpts of them available would be good!

Death Korp of Kreig is ok though, here's a starter army that has a bit of variety, though very infantry heavy as these armies tend to be.

3x Novan Winter Infantry (300 models)
1x Novan Winter Specialists (126 models)
1x Novan Rorqual Squadron (4 models)
1x Novan Marksmen Squadron (3 models)
1x Novan Winter Cavalry (36 models)
1x Novan Spitefire (4 models)
1x Novan Lancastrian (2 models)
1 1/2 x Bases (120 bases - list below needs 90 of them)

Once again, can be organised in different ways (though not as many as orks). Here's a list that uses everything except some of the specialists, 1 Marksman and 1 Lancastrian.

Incompertus, 2975 POINTS
Death Korps of Krieg (NetEA Tournament Pack 2014)
==================================================

REGIMENTAL HQ [525]
Death Korps Supreme Commander, 19 Death Korps Infantry units, Gorgon Siege Transporters (2 Gorgons)

INFANTRY COMPANY [425]
Death Korps Commander, 19 Death Korps Infantry units, Gorgon Siege Transporters (2 Gorgons)

INFANTRY COMPANY [375]
Death Korps Commander, 19 Death Korps Infantry units, Fire Support Battery (4 Fire Support)

DEATH RIDER COMPANY [250]
12 Death Korps Rough Rider units

DEATH RIDER SCOUT PLATOON [150]
6 Death Korps Rough Rider units (with 'scout' ability)

LIGHT SUPPORT BATTERY [200]
4 Quad Launchers

LIGHT SUPPORT BATTERY [200]
4 Heavy Mortars

SUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200]
Shadowsword

SUPER-HEAVY TANK PLATOON [200]
Shadowsword

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

MARAUDER HEAVY BOMBER [150]


Also note the NetEA army list is about to be updated in next few weeks by looks of things, so best to wait until that is done with this particular list.

_________________
http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

Thanks again Markconz great stuff.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Is it weird that one of the best ways to make a Space Marine army is with Onslaught Sisterhood models? Brings a whole new meaning to the word heresy… I can whip up a sample list later today.

Might it be better to start players with 2,000 point lists that don’t have aircraft or war engines? That’s a frequent recommendation for new players, and it worked for me. It also means there’ll be more variety once people get to 3,000 points.

On the other hand, if this is more of a one-click-package rather than a box then we can write quite a few lists and might as well go to 3,000 points. You’d still want to limit their number. I’d be hesitant to give Imperial Guard players more than, say, three options: infantry-heavy, tank-heavy, and artillery-heavy (or another tank list, but heavily superheavy-heavy). They’d have to be differentiated from each other in just two or three words.

Ideally, a boxed set would include dice (including a scatter die) and markers. If only you could get Litko on board.

Also a good idea.

_________________
http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

Not sure if you would go direct to Litko or a UK distributor:
http://www.figuresincomfort.net

Not anything like a complete range, but some blast markers, order tokens (double-sided for overwatch and broken?), damage & shield tokens would be great addon sets.

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Kyrt's Battle Result Tracker (forum post is here)
Kyrt's trade list

More locally (Newquay UK) our mole / epic convert inside Troll Trader has convinced their laser department to offer blast markers (as well as other genetic markers they already make.) sold via eBay user TT Combat :

Acrylic blast markers £2 for 12 : http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/311480015401

They are looking at buildings etc too...