This is a review of the Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts: a perfect starting point for this army of lunatics believing to be noble knights. Including one leader option on foot or on behemoth, an elite unit and a battleline is all that you need to start collecting this crazy army.
If you do not know anything about what a Start Collecting box is, here is a short introduction.
The Start Collecting boxes are a very convenient way to get started playing Warhammer or start a new army with a specific faction.
You will usually get at least 1 character, 1 sort of “basic unit” (many times a battleline unit) and 1 unit that is a bigger elite/monster type sort of deal.
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Which models are included in the Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts Box?
The box advertises:
- 1 Terrorgheist
- 3 Crypt Horrors
- 10 Ghouls
However, the Terrorgheist and the Crypt horrors have different build options.
1 Terrorgheist
The Terrorgheist is a huge necrotic flying beast that can be assembled alternatively as a Zombie Dragon. Both options can be ridden by an Abhorrant Ghoul King, your staple as a leader or by a Vampire Lord.
If you assemble it with the Vampire Lord however this behemoth becomes a more suitable unit for the Legions of Nagash or a Soulblight army.
If you choose to not put any knight on your beast, then the Abhorrant Ghoul King can be set up on foot and the mount used as a separate unit.
In general, the Ghoul King on Terrorgheist is a very good option, so if in doubt go with that.
3 Crypt Horrors
From the Crypt Horrors kit, you can get a variety of units mixing and matching the various components, those have all in common the keyword “Knight” and can be divided in 2 versions: with or without wings.
With wings there are 2 different variants: the Vargheists are the wild vampire usable in a Soulblight or a Legions army while the Crypt Flayers are an extremely useful and powerful flying unit.
The other more ghoulish version is the Crypt Horrors, the elite unit of Flesh-eaters.
The leader of the Horrors and the Flayers can be further customized transforming it into a hero: either the Crypt Haunter Courtier or the Crypt Infernal Courtier.
There’s a catch however: creating either hero would make the rest of the unit of illegal size (3 being the minimum unit size).
To get all possible combinations you would need at least 3 boxes as you can make only one leader from a single box (without extreme kit bashing).
10 Ghouls
The Crypt Ghouls are your basic infantry and even if you choose an elite army you may want few of them around.
There are different ways to summon them too, so they come handy anyway, even if you do not put them in your army.
The leader of this unit can be set up on a 25mm base for a simple unit leader, or on a 32mm base to become a Crypt Ghast Courtier, another hero option for this army able to bring back slain Ghouls while in range.
Since the unit size is 10, if you choose the leader option you are left with 9 ghouls and you need to find another one to complete the unit.
Points cost in the Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts Box
So many options are available from this box, but not all will make a viable unit in Age of Sigmar so you will need to plan them carefully.
- The General Handbook 2019 errata for Flesh-Eater Courts places the Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist at 420 points Royal Zombie Dragon is at 440. The on-foot option of the Ghoul King is now at 160.
- The Haunter Courtier and the Infernal Courtier are at 120, while the Ghast Courtier is at 60. A unit of 3 Crypt Horrors is 150, while 3 Crypt Flayers are at 170.
- 10 Ghouls are 100 points.
- Both the Royal Terrorgheist and Royal Dragon are 300 points and can be used as battleline if the Grand Court (a sub-faction that you can choose to further specialize your army) is Gristlegore.
The Crypt Ghouls are the only traditional battleline option for Flesh-Eater, but both “Knight” units can become battleline if certain conditions are met: for Horrors if the general is a Haunter Courtier or the Grand Court is Hollowmourne, for the Flayers instead if the Infernal Courtier is a general or the Grand Court is Blisterskin.
For Legions of Nagash you have: Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440 points) and Prince Vordrhai (a named vampire lord on zombie dragon), both leaders and behemoths, and Vargheists (unit of 3 for 150 point).
Terrorgheist and Zombie Dragon have same points as their Royal counterpart.
If you assemble the box as GW have done on the art on the box, you will get 3 Crypt horros for 150, 1 Ghoul king on Terrorghiest for 420 and 10 ghouls for 100 giving you a total of 670 points.
Note: this article was made prior to the December 2019 points update, so some points could have changed there.
Value of the Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts box
The value of the box is not straightforward to calculate as the dragon model can be found only directly via GW for 37.5£, while a box of Crypt Flayers is 30£ for 3.
The Crypt Ghouls however are sold in a box of 20, so double the amount in the Start Collecting box, making the total at 92.5£ but with 10 ghouls more.
If you are starting a Flesh-Eater Courts army you may want at least 2 of these boxes to get both variants of mounted beasts, 20 ghouls and 6 “Knights” to assemble whichever way you prefer.
The discount on 2 boxes is then around 31%.
Overall verdict on the Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts box
Considering the entire Flesh-Eater Courts army (meaning all units possilbe to have in the army) is assembled from this box, this is hardly a miss.
How many to buy really depends on how many big beasts you can afford in your army, but you will need many “Knights”. If you specialise in only Ghouls or “Knights” you may want to buy the individual kits separately sooner, but in a mixed army few boxes may help to build up to 2000 points rapidly.
Outside of these boxes there is only the Varghulf Courtier, not really used but a nice model, and the Archregent that was a Carrion Empire exclusive and has not been released individually by GW yet. Keep an eye for it.Order your Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts
Also, take note that most of what you get in this box can be used in Warcry, so if you are looking to start a new army and a Warcry warband, this is not a bad pick for you.
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