The nights are closing in, the weather is getting colder and that means only one thing; this year’s battleforces are drawing near. As always, Games Workshop have announced several new boxes of sprues, and as always we’re bringing you our 40k battleforce value breakdown and an analysis of how good they are. This year sees a nice range and of forces and some interesting configurations. The box prices have been priced at £140 or $230, which is what we predicted given the price rises we’ve seen through 2023!
There’s obviously different build options for some units which may effect final points values, but for the sake of the value breakdown we’re just using the box contents as advertised by Games Workshop.
If you aren’t a fan of the 41st millennium don’t worry – we’ve also broken down the Age of Sigmar battleforces for you!
Leagues Of Votann: Defenders Of The Ancestors
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 1 Einhyr Champion | £25/$40 | 60 |
| 1 Grimnyr | £27.50/$45 | 65 |
| 10 Einhyr Hearthguard | £75/$120 | 300 |
| 1 Hekaton Land Fortress | £70/$115 | 225 |
| 1 Sagitaur | £40/$65 | 100 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £237.50/$385 | |
| Saving | £97.50/$155 | |
| Discount | 41.05%/40.26% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 750 | |
| Cost per point | £0.19/$0.31 |
The first battleforce of 2023 comes, predictably, from the new kids on the block. The Leagues of Votann have proved extremely formidable foes on the tabletop, as well as a popular nostalgia hit as a returning faction. We predict these boxes will be super popular, especially as they offer the best savings of all this years battleforces, excellent value even at 750 points. They give you some serious punch and two HQ choices to base your army around – our advice would be to combine one (or even two) of these boxes with a combat patrol for a seriously good start to a Votann army.
Orks: Beast Snagga Stampede
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 1 Mozrog Skragbad | £35/$60 | 195 |
| 1 Painboss | £25/$40 | 60 |
| 1 Nob of Smasha Squig + 3 Squighog Boyz | £40/$65 | 170 |
| 10 Beast Snagga Boys | £35/$60 | 105 |
| 1 Psyker-Strapped Kill Rig | £85/$140 | 200 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £220/$365 | |
| Saving | £80/$135 | |
| Discount | 36.36%/36.99% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 730 | |
| Cost per point | £0.19/$0.32 |
The Beast Snagga Stampede is a bit of a marmite box – you either love it or hate it. Since their introduction they’ve definitely divided Ork fans. Obviously if you’re a fan then a Beast Snagga focused box is amazing. The unit’s themselves perform well on the table, so it could be appealing to players following the meta, but with a new codex on the horizon that might not be the case for long. There’s certainly solid foundations that you could build on in a number of ways, and the savings are decent, but this 40k battleforce has zero value if you don’t want to run Beast Snaggas.
Astra Militarum: Cadian Defence Force
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 5 Cadian Command Squad | £27.50/$45 | 65 |
| 20 Cadian Shock Troops | £60/$100 | 120 |
| 2 Rogal Dorn Battle Tanks | £120/$200 | 520 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £207.50/$345 | |
| Saving | £67.50/$115 | |
| Discount | 32.53%/33.33% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 705 | |
| Cost per point | £0.20/$0.33 |
This is a bit of a tough one. Obviously Games Workshop are loving the new tank, and we can’t deny it’s cool. Infantry spam isn’t a bad option to have either. But it definitely feels like it’s far from complete. To us it feels like it’s almost planned to be brought alongside the Astra Militarum combat patrol, which gives you a much more functional army. If you want to go that way then great, if you love your mechanised guard forces then great, but otherwise it feels like this needs a lot of additional units to work well on the tabletop.
Space Marines: Spearhead Force
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 1 Captain With Jump Pack | £25/$40 | 85 |
| 15 Jump Pack Intercessors | £105/$180 | 255 |
| 3 Outriders | £37.50/$60 | 95 |
| 1 Invader ATV | £30/$50 | 70 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £197.50/$330 | |
| Saving | £57.50/$100 | |
| Discount | 29.11%/30.30% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 505 | |
| Cost per point | £0.28/$0.46 |
Right. We aren’t sure what we feel about this. First up, it has the worse savings of any box, and is a mere 505 points. The jump pack intercessors have kind of split opinion – there isn’t much customisation in the sprues, but they’re always rule of cool. The value of this 40k battleforce is that it fits a super specific niche; a need for speed. Given the point value it could really be built into any list you like, though it obviously lends itself to fast moving lists (looking at you White Scars). To be honest we really wish they’d been bold enough to scrap the bikes and ATV in favour of something else that flies and really lent into the meme of the list.
Tyranids: Onslaught Swarm
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 1 Norn Emissary | £70/$115 | 290 |
| 1 Winged Hive Tyrant | £37.50/$60 | 210 |
| 20 Hormagaunts + 2 Ripper Swarms | £60/$100 | 170 |
| 10 Genestealers | £32.50/$55 | 170 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £200/$330 | |
| Saving | £60/$100 | |
| Discount | 30.00%/30.30% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 840 | |
| Cost per point | £0.17/$0.27 |
Lots of hungry (or very hungry) little bugs and a pair of hungry big bugs. What more can a Tyranid player want? We’re loving the mass of melee in this battleforce and there’s loads of the new designs in here, so it’s probably best for new players. It definitely gives you some great foundations to go an army on.
World Eaters: Exalted Of The Red Angel
| Unit | Cost (£) | Points |
| 1 Angron, Deamon Primarch of Khorne | £100/$170 | 415 |
| 6 Exalted Eightbound | £75/$120 | 300 |
| 10 Khorne Beserkers | £40/$65 | 200 |
| TOTAL VALUE | £215/£355 | |
| Saving | £75/$125 | |
| Discount | 34.88%/35.21% | |
| TOTAL POINTS | 915 | |
| Cost per point | £0.15/$0.25 |
The final 40k battleforce in our value breakdown is the Angron World Eaters box. We aren’t saying this box isn’t good value. It’s far and away your pound-for-points winner. But we are saying it’s basically Angron and some pals out for a hyper-violent jolly. They will kill anything they come into contact with on the battlefield, but to be a functional army you need to source some transports and support options. They are a very fun place to start though.
Are you planning to pick up one of these boxes? What are you thoughts about them? We’d love to hear it in the comments!
Want even more value? Why not check out all these boxes and more on Element Games for up to 15% off, and even bigger discounts on any other Warhammer you fancy. If you’d like to support us more directly you could always buy the author a coffee (or something stronger) on our Ko-Fi page.
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