Get more value from the upcoming Age of Sigmar Holiday Battleforce bundles with these Army lists that maximize your savings!
Ah snow on the ground, cheerful music on the radio, the smell of chestnuts roasting over an open fire…. Well, probably not the last part, but the holidays are arriving ready to battle the evil that is your bank account. GW is here to make sure that they get their piece of that pie! So while we have already covered the cost savings for the AoS holiday bundles, let’s look at what you can do with them.
Gloomspite Gitz: Caveshroom Loonz
This is a great box set for starting to collect Gloomspite Gitz in that it really is the only starter set available to them. (Unless you got lucky and nabbed a Looncurse Box.) So let’s pick up two of these and see where it gets us as well as the Bad Moon Loonshrine because that makes this army tick.
- Loonboss on Mangler Squigs: 280 Points, Behemoth 1 of 4, Leader 1 of 6
- Loonboss on Mangler Squigs: 280 Points, Behemoth 1 of 4, Leader 2 of 6
- Loonboss: 70 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Loonboss: 70 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- 10 Squig Hoppers: 180 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Squig Hoppers: 180 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 5 Loonsmasher Fanatics: 140 Points
- 5 Loonsmasher Fanatics: 140 Points
- 3 Rockgut Troggoths: 140 Points
- 3 Rockgut Troggoths: 140 Points
Total 1620
This army is kind of all over the place in terms of taking in some Troggoths, some squigs, and some of support heroes. To add onto this army, I would probably add another unit of 10 Squig Hoppers to get your third battle line though this makes your army model count light. Then add in a Fungoid Cave Shaman and Madcap Shaman, along with the Scuttletide endless spell to get you to 2000 points.
This army is one where you are going to hit hard turn 1 and 2 and if you don’t take out your opponent by then you might be in trouble. The Squigs and Fanatics can dish out some massive damage, but you lack the model count to really hold down objectives with them. If you can get your Rockguts and Loonboss models to hold down middle objectives while the squigs bounce around the table you might be able to pull out a win.
Without a big block of Gitz though it’s going to be difficult, though squigs make everything more fun. It’s also probably the cheapest way to get into Gloomspite Gitz right now as there is no start collecting box, so you can always buy two and maybe sell the Rock Guts in order to get that big block of goblins you need to make this list more competitive. Or just collect them all!
Nighthaunt: Court of the Craven King
I absolutely love this bundle and think it pairs perfectly with the AoS starter set (Soul Wars), which you can either split with a friend wanting Stormcast or a lot of times find on eBay for pretty cheap. Together your army will look like this (note convert your stalkers to grimghast reapers by cutting the spear blade off and making it curved)
- Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King: 200 Points, Leader 1 of 6
- Lord Executioner: 80 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Guardian of Souls: 140 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Spirit Torment: 120 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: 120 Points, Leader 5 of 6
- 30 Chainrasp Horde: 240 Points (80 for 10), Battleline 1 of 3
- 19 Grimghast Reapers (4 are converted stalkers): 320 Points (160 for 10), Battleline 2 of 3
- 5 Hexwraiths: 140 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- 10 Dreadscythe Harridians: 160 Points (80 for 5)
- 10 Bladegheist Revenants: 180 Points, (90 for 5)
Total: 1700
That is incredibly solid right there for half a starter box and a holiday bundle in that you are incredibly close to 2000 points. I would add one more leader with Reikenor the Grimhailer as he is by far the best hero in the army with his +3 to casting rolls. Then add another unit of 10 Chainrasp Horde to get that unit to the max and get the horde discount. After that add in another unit of 5 Bladegheist Revenants and you’re at 2000 points. (don’t forget to buy a single converted stalker or grimghast reaper to get that unit to 20)
Generally, the playstyle would be to take a lot of small units with this force (outside of the horde) and try and get those 10+ charges in order to get the free swings. Its not going to win you many top tiers but the models are amazing (I have painted an army over the course of this year) and you’re going to have a lot of fun with them. You can also branch off and build a Legion of Grief around them as well.
Skaven: Corrupting War Swarm
This is a fantastic add on to a Start Collecting Skaven Pestilens Box Set, and a great value for the money in terms of what models your getting in both boxes. Let’s look at what you have if you buy both this Holiday Bundle and a Start Collecting Pestilens.
- Verminlord Corruptor: 280 Points, Behemoth 1 of 4, Leader 1 of 6
- Grey Seer: 140 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Grey Seer on Screaming Bell: 220 Points, Behemoth 2 of 4, Leader 3 of 6
- Plague Priest: 80 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Plague Priest on Plague Furnace: 200 Points, Behemoth 3 of 4, Leader 5 of 6
- 20 Clan Rats: 120 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 40 Plague Monks: 280 Points
- Plague Claw: 160 Points, Artillery 1 of 4
Total 1480
Together this fills up almost all your leaders and gives you a ton of bodies to put on the battlefield, unfortunately, because your mixing different clans with the grey seers and the clan rats you can’t field the plague monks as a battleline. So, your only solution is to add in a unit of 10 Stormvermin and then another unit of 40 Clanrats, along with the warp lightning vortex endless spell because it is amazing.
For this army, you are fielding a ton of furry bodies so you should have no problem pushing your screaming bell or plague furnace forward and taking those all-important middle objectives. You might need to use your command points to keep your troops on the battlefield though as you don’t have many options in terms of making your units immune to battleshock. Still, if you don’t mind painting a whopping total of 130 horde like troops and 6 character/war machine models than this army is for you! Also, not a bad value either, though the Stormvermin are a little expensive and you will want to buy the terrain for this army as well.
Stormcast Eternals: Exorcism Soulstrike
This is another great buy to go with the AoS starter set (Soul Wars), seriously if you and a friend want to get into AoS quickly and relatively cheaply then split this starter set and each buy the respective holiday bundle. If you have the starter set and the holiday bundle this is what you are getting.
- Lord Exorcist: 120 Points, Leader 1 of 6
- Lord Arcanum on Gryph Charger: 220 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Knight Incantor: 140 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- 8 Evocators: 440 Points (220 for 5)
- 5 Castigators: 160 Points (80 for 3)
- 18 Sequitors: 440 (with horde discount, but 130 for 5): Battleline 1 of 3
- 6 Evocators on Celestial Dracolines: 600 Points (300 for 3)
- Cellestar Ballista: 110 Points, Artillery 1 of 4
Total 2490 Points.
This is an insane amount of points for money, given you will need to hit ebay and do some conversion to fill in the missing guys but still. Almost 2500 points (it will be over this without Sequitors horde discount) for half a starter set and a single holiday bundle.
If I were to start this army I would begin with filling in the missing pieces (2 Sequitors, 2 Envocators) and then piecing out my Sequitors into two groups of 10. Then I would potentially modify my 5 Castigators so that they are armed with bows rather than the crossbows because castigators are not very good in the game right now and judicators could be your third battleline. By doing that and taking the Lord Aracnum on Gryph Charger you have your three battleline units. See if you can dig up the White Dwarf that released with the Knight Incantor awhile back, that is a good way to get another hero model for under 10 dollars (some FLGS might still have some copies) Either way this is a hero lite force but the Evocators hit like hammers to your Sequitors (who also hit with big hammers) anvil.
There you have it my take on all the start collecting boxes this holiday season. Personally, I think it’s a perfect opportunity to split a starter set with someone and each of you buy the holiday bundle (Nighthaunt and Stormcast). The skaven one is solid as a stand-alone box or added to the Skaven Pestilens start collecting so I could see someone who isn’t looking for the starter set armies getting one of those. The Gloomspite Gitz one is interesting, and you get a lot of great models, I just wish they would have maybe taken out the troggoths and instead added some of the goblin units.
Regardless it is the best start collecting box for that army because it is the only start collecting box so a great way to get into collecting.
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