Poll: SCE in every starterbox set?

[Gitzdee]

Asking the real questions this week.

Do you like SCE to be in every starterbox?

I have to be honest, i actually like it. As a starterbox faction i like having the generic good guys vs random bad guy composition. I can grab a box and ask someone what side they like to play. 

If i had to pick another faction that could replace SCE i think i would say CoS. I can picture them as the hard to paint army in the box vs GSG or OBR that are more forgiving to paint.

 

[Gailon]

I also like generic good vs evil looking factions. But I’m ready for CoS to be in a starter. This seemed like the release for it too. 
 

I play Stormcast as one of my armies and it’s too much. Although I do think their design in 3e was really good for a starter or beginner faction. 

[Baron Klatz]

Yes. They’re excellent starter forces that are elite & huge smooth armored Goliaths so very easy to paint and collect for beginners.

And we only have to look at Lumineth, Gloomspite, DoK or Soulblight to know it doesn’t matter if you’re a starter faction if you get lots of love in an edition, if anything the Starter forces get a bum deal after the first half-year is over and they go on the backburner.

Plus now that we got Hallowed Knights we can properly see Stormhosts themed down the editions like Anvils of Heldenhammee vs Death, Astral Templars vs Destruction, Celestial Vindicators vs Chaos, etc to mix things up.

[Swamp Trogg]

Yes. 

SCE are meant to attract new players, which is good for the game and the other armies that compose it. 

I could not care less for them, but I'm glad they're here to assure the health of AoS and, in the end, allow armies that are more niche to exist. 

[Big Kim Woof-Woof]

I'm utterly ambivalent to their presence. I find the Stormcast bland, and have no interest in collecting them... but then I have no interest in buying a starter set anyway (unless by some dark miracle the Hedonites end up in a starter set!) 

But, like others have said, their ubiquitous presence is probably good for getting new players in, which is never a bad thing. 

[Beliman]

A new large range of new miniatures every 3 years means a lot of miniatures for just one faction. Just remember that AoS is a game with lot's of factions, some of them were removed in the first or even in the second purge, others are micro-armies inherited for early AoS philosophy, others are just waiting to be renewed and there are rumours that other armies are going to be cut from the game with a new 3rd purge. That's somethig that needs to be adressed and starter sets are the best way to deal with that.

I get the point that a "starter box" needs to have an easy to pain/ play army, but any long-term box (updated after 5 or 6 years after a new SCE renovation) or something like that would be enough for new players.

[Souleater]

Yes. 
 

I only play Xenos armies in 40K. One of the big reasons for picking SCE as my main AoS army was the near-guarantee of regular updates to both models and rules.

Plus, I like their background; the skew on being chosen to fight by the gods.

[EonChao]

1 hour ago, Beliman said:

A new large range of new miniatures every 3 years means a lot of miniatures for just one faction. Just remember that AoS is a game with lot's of factions, some of them were removed in the first or even in the second purge, others are micro-armies inherited for early AoS philosophy, others are just waiting to be renewed and there are rumours that other armies are going to be cut from the game with a new 3rd purge. That's somethig that needs to be adressed and starter sets are the best way to deal with that.

I get the point that a "starter box" needs to have an easy to pain/ play army, but any long-term box (updated after 5 or 6 years after a new SCE renovation) or something like that would be enough for new players.

I mean aside from updating older sculpts to the new Thunderstrike style, plus the odd new unit, we're probably reaching a stable point for Stormcast similar to what Space Marines had from 2nd-7th edition. I think they'll get more as time goes on but it'll be much more restrained compared to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd launches. Even with 8th and 9th edition adding a lot of new Marines, 10th was incredibly restrained with mainly updates to existing models. Take away the new Terminators, Sternguard and characters and they got a new Apothecary type, a "new" Dreadnought, and a single new infantry unit. Tyranids on the other hand got both new exciting things, updates to resin kits, and the return of long removed weapon options.

From what we've seen in the trailer it looks like the 4oS launch is mainly updating older Stormcast units to Thunderstrike with a few new units and characters for the Ruination chamber, and the Skaven are get a similar update to Tyranids in terms of scope then that's ideal. We keep the Stormcast relevant to help attract new players and a neglected faction gets its long over due glowup

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

A lot to consider with this question.

From my own perspective as a selfish player: Please put two of the factions I already play in the starter so I can get their models for cheap. Awaiting Cities vs. OBR for 5th, please and thank you. But of course, that's not what the question is really about.

I don't know that Stormcast have to be in every starter box like Space Marines have to be. AoS is not quite that polarized. For what it's worth, I think they have been doing a good job making Stormcast cooler with every starter, to the point that I will probably get into the army in 4th. So I don't feel the releases have been a waste. But it's a well known problem that the Stormcast range is bloated right now. Let's see if the upcoming index can fix that. But even if, I think that is a problem to be conscious of, and I think the AoS guys at GW are conscious of it. They are redoing some old kits this time around, after all.

I will defend Stormcast as being the best "default starter" faction out of all the factions that are currently in the game. It makes sense, since they were purpose-built for it. Big dudes, elite, easy to paint (getting easier, in fact, compared to the old Fatcast). Overall pretty cool guys, especially if you are into the superhuman divine warrior trope. But their fluff is actually interesting beyond that, as well.

I play Cities and I love them. They are currently my favourite AoS army. But they would be a bad starter faction. Too intricate models, of which you need too many to field an army. Cool in a downtrodden way, which not everyone likes. And the army rules are really atypical, too.

In my opinion, until they design another easy to paint, elite faction with wide appeal, Stormcast need to stick around in the starter. But I don't think that faction necessarily needs to be GA: Order. I could imagine something like Slaves to Darkness taking the spot. However, that still leaves open the question of who to pair them with, if not Stormcast. Certainly not Cities, IMO, unless the next Cities release looks quite different from the current one. And the other Order factions don't really have main-character energy.

 

[Flippy]

Couldn't care less. I don't really get the universal appeal of these starter boxes - they only make sense if you want to actually start a new army. As for the good guys that could potentially replace SCE in a box... for now it would have to be either CoS or Lumineth (if GW would decide to push the Vanari vibe more and sideline the nonsense Aelementiri).

[EonChao]

19 minutes ago, Flippy said:

Couldn't care less. I don't really get the universal appeal of these starter boxes - they only make sense if you want to actually start a new army. As for the good guys that could potentially replace SCE in a box... for now it would have to be either CoS or Lumineth (if GW would decide to push the Vanari vibe more and sideline the nonsense Aelementiri).

People like feeling like they're getting a good deal. With the launch boxes, for a reasonable price, you get two decent starting points for two armies that you know are going to get some love in the next few months with lots of hot new kits. Those might not both be your preferred choices for armies but with the hype around the new edition, if you're vaguely interested in one then you're likely to consider that enough to pick up the box and either resell/start collecting the other half. And that's part of the reason for having a consistent "hero" faction. If I'm getting into AoS in 3rd edition and just brought Dominion then I have a nice little force of both Stormcast and Kruleboyz. 4th ed comes along with a Stormcast vs Skaven launch box, and I'm already starting to picture how I'll use half of that box when I've not even seen the models and at some point I'll build and paint the Skaven half.

Now for some people, mainly those with a stable interest in the hobby and a focus on a few specific factions, those boxes are rarely going to hit the mark. But they're also not the target demographic for them. If you only collect Soulblight then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th ed starters and launch boxes won't hold much interest for you. But if the 5th ed box is a big faction update for them... well you might consider buying it and figuring out what to do with the Stormcast later.

[The Lost Sigmarite]

People who voted "no", with what would you replace SCE in the starter ? You need a good guy Order faction (so no DoK or IDK). Explain with which factions you would replace SCE with and why.

[Gaz Taylor]

I voted yes as Stormcast are the poster boys for the game. The game is called "Age of Sigmar" so it would be a bit weird that you don't have the warriors of Sigmar in the starter set!

 

[Greyshadow]

Great question! And tricky to answer too. I have grown fond of the Stormcast and am planning on adding a few units to my Cities army. Stormcast are designed to be perfect for starters sets. I could see others though: Kharadron Overlords, Warriors, Sylvaneth could all work really well as starter set factions.

Il’ll vote no. 😁

Edited April 4 by Greyshadow

[Flippy]

57 minutes ago, The Lost Sigmarite said:

People who voted "no", with what would you replace SCE in the starter ? You need a good guy Order faction (so no DoK or IDK). Explain with which factions you would replace SCE with and why.

I would not. But, again, only humans united (CoS) and good wise elves (LRL) have the gravitas to pull this off.

[Sarouan]

TBH, the concept of "starter boxes" has evolved a lot since WHFB. GW did launch other sets in the past during a game edition's life, like the box of daemons of Khorne vs daemons of Slaanesh. "New edition launch box" would be more appropriated in that case. I mean, with the new Spearhead mode akind to 40k's battle patrols and the way they put core rules "for free download" online, couldn't we also consider these as "starter boxes" ?

As for me, I don't mind Stormcast Eternals being in the new edition launch box every time. They're pretty much the Space Marines of AoS, after all. It's part of their Warhammer brand (given there is always at least one miniature with warhammer weapon in each box so far, it's even more than fitting ).

Edited April 3 by Sarouan

[Skreech Verminking]

1 hour ago, The Lost Sigmarite said:

People who voted "no", with what would you replace SCE in the starter ? You need a good guy Order faction (so no DoK or IDK). Explain with which factions you would replace SCE with and why.

Having seen stormcast getting their models edition in and out.

I think it would be just far to give another faction the chance.

personally my idea wouldn’t be to choose a single specific faction that replaces the stormy marines, but rather having a different faction each edition that would represent the good and evil side.

maybe even have two armies that are neither fighting for the grand allegiance of order.

 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

7 minutes ago, Skreech Verminking said:

Having seen stormcast getting their models edition in and out.

I think it would be just far to give another faction the chance.

personally my idea wouldn’t be to choose a single specific faction that replaces the stormy marines, but rather having a different faction each edition that would represent the good and evil side.

maybe even have two armies that are neither fighting for the grand allegiance of order.

 

It always feels to me like this kind of thing would be more exciting for established players, but given that we are talking about starter sets here, I am not sure that's the most relevant perspective.

[The Lost Sigmarite]

38 minutes ago, Flippy said:

I would not. But, again, only humans united (CoS) and good wise elves (LRL) have the gravitas to pull this off.

Collecting CoS, from my experience they would make a bad starter faction. The minis have a lot of intricate details that make them hard to paint quickly. And they're a numerous army too. LRL have all of these problems plus being fragile because of their graceful elf aerial poses. Which is a problem Nighthaunt had too when they were in the starter sets, but at least NH are very easy to paint.

[Vasshpit]

1 hour ago, The Lost Sigmarite said:

People who voted "no", with what would you replace SCE in the starter ? You need a good guy Order faction (so no DoK or IDK). Explain with which factions you would replace SCE with and why.

I would say CoS with an alternate city design for said troops with a much simpler design. 

So like steelhelms as basic troops but a different city and a different and simpler model design. 

[Lord Krungharr]

Cities-humans, KO or Fyreslayers, Sylvaneth, those are all good guy Order factions that could start people off.  Stormcast has plenty of details to paint just like all of them.  KO and Fyreslayers aren't too bad to assemble for modeling noobs.  Stormcast is the most Space Marine like but there are so many other factions stirring the lore-pot these days.

[Souleater]

Why does the other army have to be a ‘good guy order faction’?

 

Ironjawz look cool, are elite and simple to paint.

[Skreech Verminking]

And not to mention mixed daemons of chaos!

(I’m not joking we genuinely have 5 new people (quite young even) who started aos with daemons of slaanesh and khorne mixed together

[Howdyhedberg]

7 hours ago, Gaz Taylor said:

I voted yes as Stormcast are the poster boys for the game. The game is called "Age of Sigmar" so it would be a bit weird that you don't have the warriors of Sigmar in the starter set!

 

But cities of sigmar have "sigmar" in the name ;)!

 

Edit: I voted no because I think it would be better if the starter armies changed so other factions would get new miniatures. We have way to many Space Marines and stormcasts. 

 

Two examples:

Ogres vs Idoneth - Battle of the hungry souls.

Ossiarch bonereapers vs slaves to darkness - both could be really easy to paint.

 

Edited April 3 by Howdyhedberg

[Faerromagnetic]

I would have said Ossiarchs would be a cool Starterbox, but I do get that it's harder to paint segments of bone than plain single pieces of metal