Make The 40k Christmas Battleforces Into 2000 Points Army Lists

By Travis Pasch | January 18th, 2023 | Categories: Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Mechanicus, Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, Games Workshop, Imperial Knights, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer 40k Rumors

Spikey Bits » Warhammer 40k » Make The 40k Christmas Battleforces Into 2000 Points Army Lists

Here is what to buy next for your Warhammer 40k Christmas Battleforces to make full 2000 points army lists for the New Year!

It is the holiday season, and if you’re lucky enough to get one of the 40k battleforces from the goblin in red (or a loved one), you are in for a treat this year. A good new year’s resolution would be to expand that battleforce box into a 2000 points 40k army lists and get it painted!

Let’s look at what we can add to get you there in what to buy next for your 40k Battleforces. Get the latest on all the new Warhammer Christmas Battleforces for 2022 by clicking below!

How To Make The Warhammer 40k Christmas Battleforces Into 2000 Points Army Lists

Table of Contents & Article Summary show

In this article, we will look at the Imperial Knights, Adeptus Custodes, Adeptus Mechanicus, and Death Guard boxes and try to expand them as cheaply as possible.

Death Guard: Council of the Death Lord

Let’s look at how many points you get in the box:

Mortarion, Daemon Primarch of Nurgle 450 points
5 Blightlord Terminators 200-210 Points
14 Plague Marines 294 points
Total: 954

So, you’re about halfway to a full army with this. The box also gives you a decent starting point with Morty, some Plague Marines, and Terminators. Now, Death Guard is a little harder to take to 2,000 points than some armies, as the combat patrol has been ragged on a bit, but you get a lot of models inside.

Plus, if you haven’t already bought Pox Walkers, it’s a good value. To start, we’re going to add in a couple of tanks, as they are great to have, and a Bloat Drone, but you will have to buy them separately. Then, for cost purposes, we’ll add in a combat patrol (even though some people aren’t super happy with it) and finish it off with a Malignant Plaguecaster.

Mortarion, Daemon Primarch of Nurgle 450 points
5 Blightlord Terminators 200-210 Points
21 Plague Marines 441 points
30 Pox Walkers 150 points
2 Plagueburst Crawlers 290 points
Foetid Bloat-drone 120 points
Malignant Plaguecaster 90 points
Typhus 165 points
Biologus Putrifier 65 points
Total: 1971-1981

This is going to be a fairly slow and plodding army, but you should be super tough, be able to take all the objectives, and wade through the enemy. Obviously, if you wanted to, you could easily spend a little more money and pass up the extra Plague Marines and Pox Walkers. Still, this is a pretty cheap way to build out a full army with a ton of models.

If you drop the combat patrol, you actually have about 400 points you can spend on whatever you want, so whether you want more specialized units or more firepower, you could.

Just know, it will cost you more in the end (as just even one bloat drone is $55 and a Plagueburst Crawler is $70).

Adeptus Custodes: Watchers of The Gate

1x Captain-General Trajann Valoris 200 points
3x Vertus Praetors 255 points
3x Allarus Custodians 180 points
15x Custodian Guards 675 points (base)
Total: 1310

This box is amazing in terms of value! You get nearly all the way to a full army with just this. So, considering we’re going to try and do this as cheaply as possible, let’s just add in a combat patrol.

That would get you basically all the way there to 2000 points, plus it gives you some Sisters of Silence who are great for taking objectives (as they aren’t a billion points a model) and can really deny those enemy psykers.

Plus, with the ability to build a shield captain out of the Custodian Guard box, you are basically there already!

1x Captain-General Trajann Valoris 200 points
6x Vertus Praetors 510 points
3x Allarus Custodians 180 points
17x Custodian Guards 765 points (base)
1x Shield Captain 115
1x Vexilius Praetor 105
10x Prosecutors 120
Total: 1995

You will have a giant army full of Custodian Guards and Sisters of silence, but as we said, this is a cheap way to do it. You could easily skip the combat patrol and go the route of more terminators or even some Forge World models.

However, with this army, you’ll have more models on the field than usual for a Custodes army. You’ll be able to lurch forward with your bikes, have a second wave of Custodian Guards coming in and maybe even send your terminators in through deepstrike.

As we said, this might be the cheapest way to build a Warhammer 40k army! For $360, you will have a full 2k-point army that’s nearly impossible to beat in terms of price.

Imperial Knights: The Chainbreaker Lance

2x Armiger Warglaive 300 points
2x Armiger Helverin 320 points
Canis Rex 440 points
Total: 1060

This is a decent box, as you always need smaller knights along with bigger ones! Unfortunately, they don’t really have any other box sales, so you will have to buy everything separately. So, we’re going to go with one more big knight and a few more small ones!

4x Armiger Warglaive 600 points
3x Armiger Helverin 480 points
Canis Rex 440 points
Knight Errant 470 points
Total 1990

This will leave you with one extra armiger-sized knight, but not a huge deal. Overall, you have a decently sized force with the two big knights and seven smaller ones. Many of the more competitive lists just go with one big knight.

However, to us, it seems more fun to field two big knights! Considering you have to buy everything separately, it’s really up to you whether you want a big knight or three more small ones!

40k Christmas Battleforces 2000 Points: Adeptus Mechanicus: Elimination Maniple

Belisarius Cawl 180 points
2x Kastelan Robots and Cybernetica Datasmith 230 points
6x Kataphron Destroyers 240 points
10x Skitarii Rangers 100 points
Total 750

This one doesn’t get you a ton of points (at least compared to the other boxes we have looked at), so to keep the cost somewhat low, we’re going to start by adding a combat patrol.

Considering you generally don’t want just one Dunecrawler, we’ll add another one. To finish this off, you need some Vanguard, and even though they are not cheap, Dragoons because they are so cool!

Lastly, we’ll finish off with some Electro-Priests. There are really a lot of ways you can take this, as the main box doesn’t give you a ton of points. One bad thing about Ad Mech is they are a really expensive army. So we tried to go in the middle of cost and efficacy.

Belisarius Cawl 180 points
2x Kastelan Robots and Cybernetica Datasmith 230 points
9x Kataphron Destroyers 360 points
20x Skitarii Rangers 200 points
20x Vanguard 180 points
Tech-Priest Enginseer 55 points
2x Onager Dunecrawler 245 points
Marshal 55 points
10x Electro-Priests 140 points
3x Dragoons 210 points
Dunerider 95 points
Total 1985

This will give you a decent all-comers list without being the most expensive army you can build. It’s not going to be cheap, but you should be able to take on most armies for a fun game.

Some armies will be hard to deal with, but you have enough units on the ground to score points and some decent firepower. Plus, the Dragoons and Electro-Priests will give you some power in melee.

Bastion Strike Force: Imperial Fists

Tor Garadon 135 points
3 Primaris Aggressors 135 points
15 Heavy Intercessors 420 points
Total points 690 points

This doesn’t give you many points to start, but it has good value for the money. So, considering we’re trying to keep this cheap, we’re going to add a combat patrol and then add some tanks for extra fire support and more Aggressors.

Tor Garadon 135 points
6 Primaris Aggressors 270 points
15 Heavy Intercessors 420 points
1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 80 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 250 points
3x Suppressors 100 points
3x Eliminators 75 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 110 points
2 Repulsors 560 points
Total points 2000 points

This army is all about shooting your enemy down! Just as the fists would want to, however, it’s not optimized, but because we’re going cheaper, this will have to do. With two Repulsors and six Aggressors, you should have plenty of weaponry to bring most enemies down.

You will suffer a little from a lack of combat, but you’ll have enough basic troopers to capture plenty of objectives.

Court of the Crimson King: Thousand Sons

Magnus the Red 420 points
3 Exalted Sorcerers 325 points
20 Rubric Marines 430 points
Total points 1175

Getting Magnus and 3 Sorcerers really rack up the points in this box. Again, since we’re going the cheap route, we’re going to add a combat patrol (even though some people aren’t too hot on Tzaangors). Then, we really don’t have too many points left, but you could fill out your army from there how you want.

However, we’ll add a couple more specialized units to round out the force.

Magnus the Red 420 points
3 Exalted Sorcerers 325 points
20 Rubric Marines 430 points
10 Scarab Occult Terminators 400 points
20 Tzaangors 160 points
Forgefiend 175 points
Rhino 80 points
Total points 1990

Obviously, you don’t have to go with the Combat Patrol, but this will get you a decent force with a lot of magic, a giant monster in Magnus, and plenty of Tzaangors to hold objectives. Your army will be pretty slow, but that’s T Sons for you!

Sanctorum Guard: Sisters of Battle

Morvenn Vahl 280 points
6 Paragon Warsuits 490 points
5 Celestian Sacresants 70 points
Battle Sisters Squad (10) 120 points
Total points 890

This gets you a decent starting force with almost 900 points, and you guessed it, once again, we’ll add a combat patrol (which means we’ll also have to add more to make full squads). However, after that, we need some serious firepower, so we’ll be adding Exorcists and some more fire support for the warsuits and Vahl so they can run up and get into the thick of it.

Morvenn Vahl 280 points
6 Paragon Warsuits 490 points
5 Celestian Sacresants 70 points
3 Battle Sisters Squads 360 points
Canoness 95 points
3 Penitent Engine 150 points
Seraphim 60 points
Arco-flagellants 39 points
Rhino 80 points
2 Exorcists 330 points
Immolator 110 points
Total points 1994

While the Arco-flagellants are annoying at just three, we did buff up the Penitent Engines with another box and added some serious firepower in the way of 2 Exorcists. This army is fairly combat-oriented as both the starter sets focus on it.

So, you’ll still have some firepower from the back with the Exorcists and some Sisters of Battle to take objectives; however, with so many warsuits, you’re going to want to get that blood for the Emperor in combat!

Ravenstrike Battle Force: Raven Guard

Kayvaan Shrike 135 points
Librarian in Phobos Armour 100 points
10 Primaris Reivers 190 points
2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits 320 points
3 Eliminators 75 points
Total points 820

Once again, this takes you close to the 850 points mark, which isn’t too bad for the price! And for the last time, we’re going to add a combat patrol to fill out the force and add a lot of points for cheap.

Then, we’re going to add some Inceptors for more maneuverability and then fill out with some more trickery, just the way they would want it. Finally, we’ll end with some extra firepower.

Kayvaan Shrike 135 points
Librarian in Phobos Armour 100 points
Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 80 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 250 points
19 intercessors 385 points
3x Suppressors 100 points
10 Primaris Reivers 190 points
2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits 320 points
6 Eliminators 150 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 110 points
Total points 2000

Bastion Strike Force: Imperial Fists

Tor Garadon 135 points
3 Primaris Aggressors 135 points
15 Heavy Intercessors 420 points
Total points 690 points

Tor Garadon 135 points
6 Primaris Aggressors 270 points
15 Heavy Intercessors 420 points
1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 80 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 250 points
3x Suppressors 100 points
3x Eliminators 75 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 110 points
2 Repulsors 560 points
Total points 2000 points

You will suffer a little from a lack of combat, but you’ll have enough basic troopers to capture plenty of objectives.

Court of the Crimson King: Thousand Sons

Magnus the Red 420 points
3 Exalted Sorcerers 325 points
20 Rubric Marines 430 points
Total points 1175

However, we’ll add a couple more specialized units to round out the force.

Magnus the Red 420 points
3 Exalted Sorcerers 325 points
20 Rubric Marines 430 points
10 Scarab Occult Terminators 400 points
20 Tzaangors 160 points
Forgefiend 175 points
Rhino 80 points
Total points 1990

Sanctorum Guard: Sisters of Battle

Morvenn Vahl 280 points
6 Paragon Warsuits 490 points
5 Celestian Sacresants 70 points
Battle Sisters Squad (10) 120 points
Total points 890

Morvenn Vahl 280 points
6 Paragon Warsuits 490 points
5 Celestian Sacresants 70 points
3 Battle Sisters Squads 360 points
Canoness 95 points
3 Penitent Engine 150 points
Seraphim 60 points
Arco-flagellants 39 points
Rhino 80 points
2 Exorcists 330 points
Immolator 110 points
Total points 1994

Ravenstrike Battle Force: Raven Guard

Kayvaan Shrike 135 points
Librarian in Phobos Armour 100 points
10 Primaris Reivers 190 points
2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits 320 points
3 Eliminators 75 points
Total points 820

Then, we’re going to add some Inceptors for more maneuverability and then fill out with some more trickery, just the way they would want it. Finally, we’ll end with some extra firepower.

Kayvaan Shrike 135 points
Librarian in Phobos Armour 100 points
Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 80 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 250 points
19 intercessors 385 points
3x Suppressors 100 points
10 Primaris Reivers 190 points
2 Invictor Tactical Warsuits 320 points
6 Eliminators 150 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 110 points
Total points 2000

There you have it; all the 2022 Warhammer 40k Christmas Battleforces expanded to be an army of 2000 points with your wallet in mind! None of these lists are made to win a GT, more to get a decent force on the table that could do well against most other armies.

Iron Hands: March of Iron Strike Force Battleforce

2 Redpemtor Dreadnoughts 370 points (185 each)
Primaris Techmarine 85 points
Feirros 130 points
10 Intercessors 180 points
Total Points 765

This doesn’t have many points overall, so we’re still quite a ways off from getting to 2k! So, we will still try to do this cheaply, but you’re going to have to spend some extra cash to get there.

With that in mind, we’ll start with a Combat Patrol, as it has great value, even if it won’t make the best army possible. Then, we’ll add some more firepower and one more unit of Intercessors!

2 Redpemtor Dreadnoughts 370 points (185 each)
Primaris Techmarine 85 points
Feirros 130 points
20 Intercessors 360 points (180 each)
1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 90 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 200 points
3x Suppressors 90 points
3x Eliminators 75 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 100 points
2x Repulsor Executioner 500 points
Total Points 2,000

You will have a decent amount of long-range fire support with the Repulsors, a decent mid-range with your dreads and Intercessors, and the Impulsor to drive around a unit and get your objectives. While you’ll lack some in melee, this should be decent against most armies.

Salamanders: Warforged Strike Force

20 Intercessors 360 points (180 each)
3 Eradicators 135 points
3 Aggressors 90 points
Adrax Agatone 120 points
Total points 705

This one actually has even fewer points than the Iron Hands box. So, we have quite a long way to go with this one. Again, the best bang for your buck will be a Combat Patrol; from there, we need to start filling out the rest of the units. Adding in some dreads, more Aggressors, and finish it off with more

20 Intercessors 360 points (180 each)
3 Eradicators 135 points
6 Aggressors 180 points
Adrax Agatone 120 points
1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 90 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 200 points
3x Suppressors 90 points
3x Eliminators 75 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 100 points
2 Redpemtor Dreadnoughts 370 points (185 each)
Repulsor 220 points
Total points 1940

You’ll have a few points to move around with here, and you could always just replace the Repulsor with a slightly more expensive tank. Either way, this is a powerful mid-range army with a ton of shots and, hopefully, enough beef to survive a lot of shots. You should be able to score a lot of objectives, and with the Impulsor, you should be able to run up when needed.

White Scars: Storm of Chogoris

Six Primaris Outriders 210 points
Two Invader ATVs 140 points
Primaris Chaplain on Bike 115 points
Kor’sarro Khan 100 points
Total points 565

This one is much harder to bring to the 2,000 points. Bikes and ATVs are expensive money-wise, but they aren’t that many points. So, to get there and keep the theme of fast attack, we can’t really add the Combat Patrol. So, this one will be more expensive as we try to keep the theme.

6 Primaris Outriders 210 points
3 Invader ATVs 210 points
Primaris Chaplain on Bike 115 points
Kor’sarro Khan 100 points
2x Bike Squad of 6 with attack bike 420 points
Land Speeder Tempest 110 points
2x repulsor 440 points
20 Intercessors 360 points
Total points 1985

You’ll have a ton of bikes in this army, with plenty of speed and a lot of firepower. However, this is going to be an expensive army! Just keep that in mind, if you ever want a main bike army, you’re going to pay for it.

With the two squads of Intercessors, they should be able to sit back, hold objectives, and perform actions if needed. The Repulsors will hopefully soak up a ton of fire and eliminate things the bikes can’t kill.

Lastly, then, your bikes should be able to wreak havoc everywhere else!

Space Marines: Scions of Macragge

10 Intercessors 180 points
10 Hellblasters 300 points
3 Bladeguard Veterans 105 points
Marneus Calgar and Victrix Guard 220 points
Chief Librarian Tigurius 120 points
Total points 925

While this didn’t have the highest dollar value, it does have the most points! So, this would make sense to add a Combat Patrol, so we will. That gets us close to the 2k number, so we really don’t have to add much to that!

20 Intercessors 360 points
10 Hellblasters 300 points
3 Bladeguard Veterans 105 points
Marneus Calgar and Victrix Guard 220 points
Chief Librarian Tigurius 120 points
1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour 90 points
10x Primaris Infiltrators 200 points
3x Suppressors 90 points
3x Eliminators 75 points
1x Primaris Impulsor 100 points
Redemptor Dreadnought 185 points
Predator Destructor 135 points
Total points 1980

This list has a lot of firepower when you combine the Hellblasters, the Suppressors, Eliminators, and Predator. Then, you have a decent number of troops hanging out, securing objectives, and being the mid-range. After that, you’ll have plenty of psychic power, and to finish things off, you have a decent little core of combat troops.

While this isn’t the most competitive army ever, it’s actually pretty cheap, as after you add the Combat Patrol, you just need two more boxes!

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About the Author: Travis Pasch

Travis Pasch

Job Title: Head Writer & Editor

Socials: @paschbass

About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.

Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.

Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!