Battletome Skaventide is just around the corner and it’s bought with it a new Vanguard box to replace the old Start Collecting offering. It’s due to be closely followed by the Daughters of Khaine and the Nighthaunt, coinciding with their new tomes. The Vanguard and Start collecting boxes are great ways to start an Age of Sigmar army, and usually come with a decent saving over buying the contents individually. Lets go through all of them to see how much value GW have packed into these £80 boxes.
The Maggotkin of Nurgle, Idoneth Deepkin, and Fyreslayer all had new boxes earlier in the year, so first we’ll catch up with some releases we missed.
Vanguard: Maggotkin of Nurgle
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Spoilpox Scrivener | £21.00 | 120 | |
| 10 Plaguebearers | £24.00 | 150 | Yes |
| 5 Putrid Blightkings | £36.00 | 250 | Yes |
| 2 Pusgoyle Blightlords | £42.50 | 220 | Conditional |
| TOTAL VALUE | £123.50 | ||
| Saving | £43.50 | ||
| Discount | 35.22% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 740 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.11 |
This is an interesting box. It contains everything you might want for the core of a Maggotkin army with a saving that’s more than the cost of the Pusgoyle Blightlords alone. A second one of these or just a second Pusgoyle Blightlords kit can be built with a Lord of Afflictions to beef up your hero options. Games Workshop started strong with this one.
Vanguard: Fyreslayers
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Battlesmith | £21.00 | 150 | |
| 5 Hearthguard Berzerkers | £30.00 | 160 | |
| 10 Vulkite Berzerkers | £37.00 | 170 | Yes |
| 10 Vulkite Berzerkers | £37.00 | 170 | Yes |
| TOTAL VALUE | £125.00 | ||
| Saving | £45.00 | ||
| Discount | 36.00% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 650 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.12 |
The Fyreslayers vanguard box isn’t very exciting but does come with a high 36% discount. It would have been nice to get a lizard for a bit of variety but this gives you a decent hero and two battleline so is a good base to build an army from.
Vanguard: Idoneth Deepkin
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Isharann Soulscryer | £18.00 | 150 | |
| 1 Akhelian Allopex | £30.00 | 165 | Conditional: Enclave Fuethan |
| 3 Akhelian Morrsarr Guard | £32.50 | 195 | |
| 10 Namarti Thralls | £32.50 | 130 | Battleline |
| TOTAL VALUE | £113.00 | ||
| Saving | £33.00 | ||
| Discount | 29.20% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 640 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.13 |
Vanguard Idoneth Deepkin looks a little confused. It covers all the flavours of Idoneth with Isharann, Akhelian, Namarti, and big fish all making an appearance. As a result you only get two battleline if you elect to use the Fuethan enclave, in which case the Allopex becomes battleline, or if you add a Akhelian hero to the list, in which case the Morrsarr become battleline. You might find more value in buying a more focused army piecemeal if you’re trying to plan a competitive list but if you want a Soulscryer and any two of the three £30+ units in the box this is still good value.
Vanguard: Skaventide
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Grey Seer | £16.00 | 140 | |
| 3 Stormfiends | £42.00 | 315 | |
| 1 Warp Lightning Cannon | £24.00 | 185 | |
| 20 Clanrats | £26.00 | 130 | Yes |
| TOTAL VALUE | £108.00 | ||
| Saving | £28.00 | ||
| Discount | 25.93% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 770 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.10 |
This box is interesting. The Skaven come in with the lowest overall discount of all the sets in this review but the value is heavily loaded in the inclusion of Stormfiends (Who alone would cost more than half of this boxes £80 value). If you’re looking to buy Stormfiends you don’t have to want much more from this box to make it worth a look. It’s worth mentioning that players looking to start an army with this box will need to pick up some additional battleline units, or pick up a second vanguard.
Vanguard: Daughters of Khaine
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Melusai Ironscale | £21.00 | 115 | |
| 5 Doomfire Warlocks | £26.00 | 145 | |
| 5 Melusai Blood Stalkers | £35.00 | 180 | Conditional: Melusai Leader |
| 10 Witch Aelves | £36.00 | 115 | Yes |
| TOTAL VALUE | £118.00 | ||
| Saving | £38.00 | ||
| Discount | 32.20% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 555 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.14 |
The Daughters of Khaine are difficult to build a Vanguard for since they’re a faction that likes to specialise. Having a Melusai leader means you can use the Blood Stalkers as battleline and makes this a good way to start a snake focused army. Unfortunately Doomfire Warlocks are a bit of a miss at the moment, but that could change with the new battletome. We’ll have to wait and see.
Vanguard: Nighthaunt
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points | Battleline |
| 1 Knight of Shrouds | £21.00 | 135 | |
| 10 Chainrasp | £26.00 | 110 | Yes |
| 10 Chainrasp | £26.00 | 110 | Yes |
| 10 Grimghast Reapers | £30.00 | 165 | Yes |
| 3 Spirit Hosts | £18.00 | 125 | Yes |
| TOTAL VALUE | £121.00 | ||
| Saving | £41.00 | ||
| Discount | 33.88% | ||
| TOTAL POINTS | 645 | ||
| Cost per point | £0.12 |
With a massive four possible battleline units this box is chock full of ghosts, and you’re unlikely to be unhappy to have any of them if you’re starting a Nighthaunt army. A more powerful hero choice should probably be your first upgrade but this is a solid core that you might even want two of.
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