New Warhammer 40,000 Christmas Battleforces Previewed
October 20, 2026 by brennon
Christmas is rolling around once again (like death and taxes, it is inevitable) and that means Christmas Battleforces from Games Workshop. The Warhammer 40,000 ones have been previewed and there are some winners and some, well, losers.
Indomitus Task Force // Warhammer 40,000
We start with the Indomitus Task Force, which is a seriously hefty Space Marine offering that would be very helpful to someone starting out in Warhammer 40,000. It comes with core troops like the Intercessors and the Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs, plus the elite Terminators and a Redemptor Dreadnought. A Chaplain will give you some punch in close combat and the Captain in Terminator Armour isn't going anywhere!
Sticking with Space Marines, we have possibly the best of the Battleforces (yes, already!) with the Champions of Fenris.
Champions of Fenris // Warhammer 40,000
The Champions of Fenris box locks in on one of the great Detachment options for the Space Wolves focused around Logan Grimnar and the Wolf Guard. With that in mind, you get the fearsome Logan Grimnar himself alongside Arjac Rockfist, his right hand man, and fifteen Wolf Guard Terminators. A hard-hitting and elite option for a Space Wolves collector.
We then have the forgotten and the unfortunate in the form of the Angelus Assault Force for the Blood Angels.
Angelus Assault Force // Warhammer 40,000
Not only is this a pitiful set of miniatures for a Battleforce but it's just a bit meh! You get Commander Dante and then three Sanguinary Guard who, whilst elite, are considered to be some of the worst-looking Blood Angels for a long time. You then have Death Company Marines with Jump Packs, a Death Company Brutalis Dreadnought and then the Upgrade Frames to turn them into Blood Angels. You also have an old, Firstborn (yep...) Blood Angels Chaplain with Jump Pack. A new one is right there for the taking and they put that in the box. Eeek.
Wash that bad taste away with some followers of Chaos instead and the Cult of Destruction for the Chaos Space Marines.
Cult of Destruction // Warhammer 40,000
This is a very Iron Warriors-themed box, which should be another good starting point for someone diving into Chaos. You get a Warpsmith, Defiler, Venomcrawler (because it has to be in all of these boxes), Obliterators, Havocs and Mutilators. A solid pick for someone going down this route with Chaos Space Marines and possibly a cheaper way to get your hands on a Defiler and a bit more for your army.
Going big, Games Workshop also has the Helhunt Lance.
Helhunt Lance // Warhammer 40,000
Perfect for Chaos Knights, this comes with a Knight Ruinator, which can also be built as an Abominant, Rampager and Desecrator. You also get the four War Dog Stalkers, which can also be built as Brigands or Karnivores. Again, this could be a solid way for you to start with the Chaos Knights in Warhammer 40,000 or bolster an existing army.
Moving to Xenos, we have two offerings. Orks have featured heavily at the start of 11th Edition, and so they are getting themselves a Battleforce.
Armoured Blitzmob // Warhammer 40,000
The Armoured Blitzmob gives you a clanking collection of options for your Orks. You get a Warboss in Mega Armour alongside three Meganobz and ten Ork Boyz. They are then backed up by a Battlewagon and the classic Deff Dread. You're going to need a lot more lads to finish off your Ork army in Warhammer 40,000 but this could be a good start, especially with the elite options.
Last but not least, we have the Necrons and the Disciples of the Nekrosor.
Disciples of the Nekrosor // Warhammer 40,000
Another themed force, this comes with some really cool options for someone crafting the Destroyer Cult in games of Warhammer 40,000. Get your hands on the impressive new plastic C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer alongside the terrifying Nekrosor Ammentar. You also get Ophydian Destroyers, the Canoptek Doomstalker, Canoptek Scarab Swarms, and the Necron Warriors. This is generally quite a nice set, although I don't see the need to include the Necron Warriors. I think you could have replaced that with another set of Ophydian Destroyers and it would have been perfect.
All of these Battleforces will be available to pre-order soon alongside more for Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
Does one of these take your fancy?
"The Champions of Fenris box locks in on one of the great Detachment options for the Space Wolves focused around Logan Grimnar..."
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OK, I don’t get it. Has 40k changed that much? Orcs used to be a horde army. Orcs, Tyranids and Imperial Army where the ones with the highest model count and somehow this box has 14 minis, 1 walker and 1 vehicle? oO They get outnumbered by SMfkaP? (Space Marines formerly known as Primaris) Huh?!
You do get way more Orks in an actual Ork army in 40K, it’s just that these Battleforces aren’t “armies”. They are “what do we have a lot of that people aren’t buying that we can put into a big set to sell”
Occasionally, you’ll get gems like the Space Wolves one but otherwise they tend to be very loosely based around some kind of theme for adding to an army rather than starting it
But weren’t the Battleforce boxes of “yesteryear” not proper army starters? The ones in the square shaped boxes. From early 2002. The orc one had 16 boys, 5 bikes, 1 buggy, 1 trukk, terrain. Add one nob and boom, army.
The Battleforces of yesteryear WERE indeed proper starter armies, you could build a 1k (ish) from them and they were a way of getting people into the hobby, this has now been replaced by Combat Patrols and sadly the people who put these boxes together clearly did so with zero concept of the points values, between the 7 it goes from 585pts (Orks) up to 945pts (Chaos Space Marines) add in the fact that the model counts for some as you’ve pointed out are a paltry sum and it really shows that GW is trying to make a “fast buck” and not a good product with these Battleforces
Prioritising making money over producing a useful product that is value for money… yeah that sounds about right… capitalism…
It’s like royal mail prioritising delivering tracked parcels that make them money and letting letters build up because it costs them to deliver. My advice… if you are posting xmas cards in the UK this year… post in early november… especially if sending them second class.
if they gave people viable armies in a box then they wouldn’t be buying anything.
just think of the poor shareholders.
how would they ever live without their golden toilets and diamond encrusted poop scoopers?
Genuinely if I worked as part of the team that put these boxes together I’d be ashamed of myself for clearly not having enough of a spine to stop the Orks, Blood Angels & even the Necrons boxes from being published, They clearly made these without thinking about the points values or even with the notion of setting a minimum points cap when designing them, CSM has 945pts worth of minis and feels like a solid “starter for 10” Chaos Knights, Space Wolves, Space Marines all feel similar but the 3 I mentioned first are WOEFULLY assembled, dreading the Age of Sigmar releases
These are… let’s call it: poo. 💩
plastic poo in a box.
good for some very expensive spare parts 😉
This what a lump of coal in your stocking looks like. Thanks, Nan.
Some of these do feel like GW have an internal competition to see who can come up with the product that extracts the most urine but still sells.
Cause I fail to see how anyone makes this offering earnestly