Introduction
If you’re not sure how to start an army in 40K, it’s always good to check what starter boxes are available for the faction you want to play. Games Workshop doesn’t do sales or discounts in general, with very few but notable exceptions: The army boxes that are released for Christmas each year (which are seasonal and therefore not covered here) and the Start Collecting!/Combat Patrol boxes. These two box set types often offer quite a good discount on units and characters that you would want to pick for your army anyway, so most often, they’re a no-brainer for a player starting a new faction.
However, how much you actually save, and how essential the miniatures included in the boxes are to your army, varies from box to box. That’s why we’ve assembled this overview of the Start Collecting!/Combat Patrol boxes to help you figure out if it’s worth buying the box available for your faction. The entry for each box in this article covers what miniatures are in the box, what the box costs, how much you save by buying the box rather than buying the units/characters in the box separately, and whether any models are exclusive to the box.
If you are wondering if there is a new box coming out for your favorite faction, just look at our list of upcoming 40k releases.
Also, note the new Boarding Patrol boxes are out. We have listed all of them in the bottom of this article.
Daemons of Slaanesh Start Colllecting
The Daemons of Slaanesh Start Collecting is a bit of a weird one: You’re barely saving money by buying the box, and you have plenty other HQ options in the army than the Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh included in this box. You might want to buy a bunch of Daemonettes and some other units instead of starting with this box. A good thing is that the miniatures can be used for both 40k and Age of Sigmar
- Miniatures: 10 Daemonettes of Slaanesh, 5 Seekers of Slaanesh, 1 Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
- Price: £57.5
- How much do you save?: £4.5
Militarum Tempestus Start Collecting Box
If you want to run a pure Tempestus Regiment army for Astra Militarum, there’s no reason not to buy this Militarum Tempestus start collecting box, since it contains your only Troops choice, which can also be assembled as an Elites choice and an HQ, as well as your only Transport.
- Miniatures: 10 Tempestus Scions, 1 Taurox/Taurox Prime and an Officio Prefectus Commissar
- Price: £65
- How much do you save?: £37,5
Daemons of Tzeentch Start Collecting Box
The Daemons of Tzeentch Start Collecting box is a diverse starting box with an HQ choice that can also be assembled as a Heavy Support choice, a Troops choice, an Elites choice and a Fast Attack Choice. It covers a large part of the Daemons of Tzeentch model range, but beware that the Pink Horrors can split into Blue Horrors, which can split into Brimstone Horrors, and all of those have to be purchased separately. The miniatures can also be used in Age of Sigmar.
- Miniatures: 10 Pink Horrors, 3 Screamers of Tzeentch, 3 Flamers of Tzeentch and 1 Burning Chariot of Tzeentch/Fateskimmer
- Price: £57.5
- How much do you save?: £19,5
Combat Patrol: Astra Militarum
The new Combat Patrol: Astra Militarum is the first with the new price tag of £95. It consists of 20 Cadian Shock Troops, a Field Ordnance Battery, an Armored Sentinel and a Cadian Command Squad. It’s the same as the contents of the original Cadia Stands Army Set, and generally a really great starter set. You can’t go wrong with 20 Shock Troops.
- Miniatures: 20 Cadian Shock Troops, Field Ordnance Battery (2 models), Armored Sentinel, Cadian Command Squad (5 models).
- Price: £95
- How much do you save? £20, but the savings might be higher when general prices increase in March 2023, and Combat Patrol boxes probably don’t.
Combat Patrol: Leagues of Votann
The Combat Patrol: Leagues of Votann box features Hearthkyn Warriors, which is a the Leagues’ only Troop choice, the Hernkyn Pioneers which are popular in many lists for the army, a unit of Cthnonian Beserks (but sadly no Sagitaur to transport them) and a Kahl, which can also be built as Uthar the Destined. 3 out of 4 units are also in the limited army set for the Leagues of Votann, so if you were an early adopter, this isn’t the best addition to your army, but otherwise, it’s a great place to start if you buy a couple of these and some transports, and the Votannic Council rules mean you can have two Kahls with different rules in your army anyway.
- Miniatures: 10 Hearthkyn Warriors, 3 Hernkyn Pioneers, 5 Cthonian Beserks, 1 Kahl
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £39
Combat Patrol: Chaos Daemons
The Combat Patrol: Chaos Daemons box isn’t entirely what it says on the box, since it is most definitely a Chaos Daemons of Khorne box – daemons sent by other gods will still have to stick to their Start Collecting! boxes. That being said, if you’re going for a Khorne army, it’s a pretty good starter set with its two sets of Bloodletters, some Bloodcrushers (even though, like the old Start Collecting! set, it’s only half a pack of them!), tons of Flesh Hounds and the reasonably new Bloodmaster.
- Miniatures: 10 Flesh Hounds, 20 Bloodletters, 3 Bloodcrushers and a Bloodmaster
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £73,5 (if we pretend that you can actually buy Bloodcrushers in packs of 3 at half the price of the original set)
Combat Patrol: Adeptus Custodes
The Adeptus Custodes Combat Patrol box has a surprisingly high model count for this ultra-elite army, due to the inclusion of the 10 Sisters of Silence Prosecutors. Apart from that, the box is made up of two different kits, but the list looks like there’s a lot more because it suggest you build 2 out of the 5 Guard as a Shield-Captain and a Vexilius Praetor. The box also contains a Burning of Prospero transfer sheet, which is otherwise out of production, so we’re not counting that when calculating savings for this Combat Patrol box.
- Miniatures: 10 Sisters of Silence Prosecutors, 1 Shield-Captain, 1 Vexilius Praetor, 3 Custodian Guard (5 if you don’t build the two characters), 3 Vertus Praetors (1 can be built as a Shield-Captain on Dawneagle jetbike)
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £47
Combat Patrol: Genestealer Cults
The Genestealer Cults Combat Patrol is a great source of infantry for a GSC player, even though its HQ choice might be a bit less universally useful than the rest of the box. Two of the kits in the box can also be built as two different units, which means this one box covers an impressive amount of all the options available to the army. The box also takes the price as the best value for money on this list, clocking in at 14 pounds short of half price.
- Miniatures: 20 Neophyte Hybrids, 1 Magus, 5 Aberrants, 5 Acolyte Hybrids/Hybrid Metamorphs, 1 Goliath Rockgrinder/Goliath Truck
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £76
Combat Patrol: Chaos Space Marines
The Chaos Space Marines Combat Patrol contains 19 miniatures, and apart from the big Helbrute, it consists mostly of recently released miniatures. Unlike the previous Start Collecting! version of the box, the Chaos Space Marines troops in this box are the actual multipart models with all weapon options rather than the Shadowspear monopose ones.
- Miniatures: 10 Chaos Space Marines, 1 Helbrute, 5 Havocs, 1 Dark Apostle, 2 Dark Disciples
- Price: £90
- How much do you save? £41,5
Combat Patrol: Tyranids
The Tyranids Combat Patrol box takes first place for most miniatures in a Combat Patrol box with 43 miniatures, due to it containing a full 3 boxes of Termagaunts with Ripper Swarms as well as a Hive Tyrant and Tyranid Warriors.
- Miniatures: 36 Termagaunts, 3 Ripper Swarms, 3 Tyranid Warriors, 1 Hive Tyrant
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £44
Combat Patrol: Adepta Sororitas
The Adepta Sororitas Combat Patrol Box is weird: There’s 1 Penitent Engine instead of the two that usually come in a box, 4 Sisters Repentia and 1 Repentia Superior rather than the 9 and a Superior you usually get, 3 Arco-Flagellants rather than the usual 9 and… you get the picture. This is all because most of the stuff in the box was originally part of the Adepta Sororitas limited army set, and is thus placed on the same sprues rather than being the actual multipart plastic kits, so you shouldn’t buy this box if you have a specific 2000 points competitive list in mind.
If you just want to paint the army, play it casually and have a bit of everything, the models are still very impressive and it’s a good price for such a big variety of units, representing many different tactical aspects of how the army works.
- Miniatures: 10 Battle Sisters, 4 Sisters Repentia, 1 Repentia Superior, 1 Canoness, 1 Penitent Engine, 5 Seraphim, 3 Arco-flagellants, 1 Rhino
- Price: £90
- How much do you save? hard to calculate since most of the models in the box are monopose versions of the actual kits you would buy if you were assembling the army for a matched play list, but £90 is still fair for this much diversity in an army box.
Combat Patrol: Thousand Sons
The Thousand Sons Combat Patrol Box is missing the Rubric Marines that are one of three Troops choices for the army. Instead, it features 20 Tzaangors, which is two full boxes worth of them. Those are also a Troops choice, but they fit a more close combat-oriented, fast playstyle than the one you might imagine when the Thousand Sons first catch your eye, and the box doesn’t have much variety in it.
- Miniatures: 20 Tzaangors (with their 40k upgrade sprues), 1 Infernal Master, 5 Scarab Occult Terminators
- Price: £90
- How much do you save? £66, especially due to 4 Tzaangor 40k upgrade sprues in the box, so if you’re going for a Tzaangor list for your Thousand Sons, this box is great.
Combat Patrol: Orks
The Orks Combat Patrol box is one of the surprisingly few Combat Patrol boxes that’s actually a good place to start your army for the faction. The 20 Ork Boyz are very new sculpts, but Ork Boyz have been the staple of Ork armies for decades.
- Miniatures: 20 Ork Boyz, 1 Warboss in Mega Armour, 3 Deffkoptas, 1 Deff Dread
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £66.5
Combat Patrol: Aeldari
This new Combat Patrol for the updated Aeldari features a combination of new sculpts such as the reimagined Guardians, and older sculpts such as the Wraithlord and the Wraithriders. If you want to start an army using mostly updated models from the faction’s model range, you’re better off buying a couple of boxes of Guardians and the rest of the models you need rather than this box.
- Miniatures: 10 Guardians, 1 Wraithlord, 6 Windriders, 1 Farseer
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £60.5
Combat Patrol: Grey Knights
This Combat Patrol box features most of the unique models you can build for a Grey Knights army, but none of the named characters, and the Strike Squad is only half of what you would get in a separate box, making this one of the least attractive Combat Patrol boxes from a value for money perspective.
- Miniatures: 5 Grey Knights Strike Squad Marines, 5 Grey Knights Brotherhood Terminators, 1 Nemesis Dreadknight, 1 Librarian in Terminator Armour
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £22.5
Combat Patrol: T’au Empire
This new Combat Patrol box for the T’au Empire features two characters, the all-purpose Fire Warriors kit that can be built as either a Breacher or Strike Team, as well as Stealth Battlesuits, a Ghostkeel and a bunch of Drones. If you’re starting a T’au army, there’s plenty of useful stuff in the box, even though it’s not among the biggest savings you can make in a Combat Patrol box.
- Miniatures: 10 Fire Warriors with 2 Drones and 1 Support Turret, 3 XV25 Stealth Battlesuits with 1 Homing Beacon and 1 Drone, 1 XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit with 2 Drones, 1 Cadre Fireblade, 1 Ethereal
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £53
Combat Patrol: Black Templars
The Combat Patrol box for the Black Templars is a very good way to start a Black Templars army, with a couple of the newest kits included.
- Miniatures: 5 Intercessors, 1 Primaris Crusader Squad, 1 Primaris Marshal, 1 Primaris Impulsor, 1 Black Templars Upgrade Frame
- Price: £90
- How much do you save: £55
Combat Patrol: Necrons
The Necrons Combat Patrol box for the Necrons contains exactly none of the new models the army got for 9th edition, but there’s still plenty of firepower, and units for the Troops, Elites, Fast Attack, HQ and Flyer slots in your army, so it’s an interesting supplement to whatever 9th edition units you’ve picked up (and a nice way for GW to clear out old Necron boxes from their warehouse shelves).
- Miniatures: 10 Necron Immortals/Deathmarks, 3 Tomb Blades, 1 Night Scythe/Doomscythe, 1 Necron Overlord
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £52.5
Combat Patrol: Space Marines
This Space Marines Combat patrol box is a Combat Patrol of Vanguard Space Marines that used to be the Start Collecting: Vanguard Space Marines box, with an added Impulsor as a Transport for those Infiltrators. Note that the Suppressors and the Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour in this box are unique to the box.
- Miniatures: 1 Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour, 10 Primaris Infiltrators, 3 Eliminators, 3 Suppressors and an Impulsor
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: It’s tricky to calculate because of the unique units in the box.
Combat Patrol: Drukhari
The Drukhari Combat Patrol Box seems like a good starting point for a Drukhari Kabal force with an HQ, a Troop and Elite choice as well as a Ravager for your Heavy Support slot and a Raider transport.
- Miniatures: 10 Kabalite Warriors, 5 Incubi, 1 Archon, 1 Ravager, 1 Raider
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £54.5
Combat Patrol: Death Guard
The Death Guard Combat Patrol box is a Troops-heavy starter box if there ever was one: 30 Poxwalkers is at least two units of them, and then you add 7 Plague Marines on top of that. You don’t need multiples of Typhus, and perhaps not the Putrifier, either, but for you main force of infantry, it’s definitely worth it buying multiples of this box.
- Miniatures: 30 Poxwalkers, 7 Plague Marines, 1 Typhus and 1 Biologus Putrifier
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £49,5
Combat Patrol: Space Wolves
The Combat Patrol: Space Wolves box has a unique model in it, the Space Wolf Primaris Lieutenant, as well as all you need to assemble the Hounds of Morkai, a special Space Wolf version of the Primaris Reivers. Add to that the fact that it’s one of the only Combat Patrol boxes to contain 10 Intercessors, and you’ve got a pretty good chapter-specific box.
- Miniatures: 1 Primaris Lieutenant (in a Space Wolves version that’s only available in this box at the moment), 10 Primaris Intercessors, 5 Reivers (that can also be assembled as Hounds of Morkai), an Invictor Tactical Warsuit and 2 Primaris Space Wolves Upgrade Sprues.
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £43,5, assuming the Primaris Lieutenant would cost the same as other faction-specific Lieutenants if it was to be sold separately.
Combat Patrol: Dark Angels
The Combat Patrol box for Dark Angels is the only one of the Space Marines to include the Primaris Chaplain so far, as well as two Core units, the Intercessors and Inceptors that can get +1 to ranged hit rolls from one of the Chaplain’s litanies, and the ever-fearsome Redemptor Dreadnought. Beware that this is another Combat Patrol box with 5 rather than 10 Intercessors.
- Miniatures: 5 Primaris Intercessors, 3 Inceptors, 1 Redemptor Dreadnought, 1 Primaris Chaplain and 2 Dark Angels Primaris Upgrade Sprues
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £46, but beware that you only get 5 Intercessors here as opposed to the 10 in a regular Primaris Intercessors box.
Combat Patrol: Deathwatch
This Deathwatch Comat Patrol starter box is one of those boxes that’s useful for most Space Marine chapters, with its inclusion of a Primaris Lieutenant, a Primaris Apothecary and a full squad of 10 Primaris Intercessors.
- Miniatures: 10 Primaris Intercessors, 3 Aggressors, 1 Primaris Lieutenant and 1 Primaris Apothecary and 2 Deathwatch Upgrade Frames
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £42,5
Combat Patrol: Blood Angels
There’s no units or characters in this box that can only be taken by a Blood Angels force, so it should be seen as one of several Space Marine Combat Patrol boxes just as much as it should be seen as a dedicated Blood Angels box. So, if you want to run Incursors rather than Infiltrators, this box is better than the generic Combat Patrol Space Marines box which only includes the monopose Infiltrators. So if you want to run smaller squads of Primaris Marines (the units in this box are made up of 5 rather than 10), this is a great starter box.
- Miniatures: 5 Primaris Intercessors, 5 Primaris Incursors/Infiltrators, 3 Primaris Aggressors, 1 Primaris Librarian, 1 Impulsor, 2 Blood Angels Primaris Upgrade Frames
- Price: £90
- How much do you save?: £69 – be aware that the Incursor and Intercessor squads in this box are half the size (5 models) of the ones you get in their respective £36 boxes.
Combat Patrol: Adeptus Mechanicus
In addition to the classic Skitarii and an Tech-Priest Enginseer, this Adeptus Mechanicus Combat Patrol box opts for some heavy firepower from the Onager Dunecrawler and some hideous but tough Kataphron Destroyers/Breachers.
- Miniatures: 10 Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard (Troops), 3 Kataphron Destroyers/Breachers, 1 Onager Dunecrawler, 1 Tech-Priest Enginseer (HQ)
- Price: 90£
- How much do you save?: 44,5 £
