AB40k Maintainers

   OK, been awhile since I've done one of these, we've seen Tomb Kings, Ogres and even Grey Knights pass without one of these articles. We've also seen one Price Adjustment pass (actuallly we can now call them what they are, Price Increase), with of course, the promise of another on the horizon as another year comes to an end. So, time to restart these articles in an effort to put the magnifying glass to the new model range and in particluar the propaganda advertisment which is known as White Dwarf these days...

Army of Mandragora, pg 48, US WD 382 - 1999 point list

Model	Cost US	Cost UK
Imotek	18.25	10.50
Vagard Drakonekh (Necron Lord)	15.25	9.50
Two Crypteks (the Hrabingers)	31.00	19.00
Trazyn the Infinite	18.25	10.50
5 Lynchguard	33.00	20.50
5 Flayed Ones	45.00	25.50
5 Deathmarks	33.00	20.50
10 Immortals	66.00	41.00
8 Necron Warriors + 3 Scarab Bases	35.00	20.50
Ghost Ark	49.50	31.00
3 Heavy Destroyers	75.00	45.00
Monolith	66.00	41.00
Doomsday Ark	49.50	31.00
Annihilation Barge	33.00	20.50
Total Cost	567.75	346.00

Now given the above list, the possibility of finding an old Necron Battleforce, and some (or alot) of counts as - that doesn't save you too much as the first counts as of destroyers instead of the heavy destroyers would be the closest thing in terms of a savings. Perhaps when the new Battleforce comes out it will either have a bigger selection of models not available at the moment (Doom Blades?) or add a transport unit in with a restructured box. Overall going in with the basic 500 bucks for a new "playable" army has slowly crept upwards by more than 10% - the Finecast effect in action?!?

The Army of Zederon, pg 48, US WD 382 - 1990 point list

Model	Cost US	Cost UK
Necron Overlord	18.25	10.50
Catacomb Command Barge	33.00	20.50
10 Deathmarks	66.00	41.00
5 Triarch Praetorians	33.00	20.50
6 Lynchguard	66.00	41.00
10 Immortals	66.00	41.00
10 Necron Warriors	35.00	20.50
Ghost Ark	49.50	31.00
10 Necron Warriors	35.00	20.50
Ghost Ark	49.50	31.00
3 Destroyers	60.00	37.50
Monolith	66.00	41.00
Total Cost	577.25	356.00

   The above could save you some bucks if you were to get a hold of a Battleforce box - the warriors and the destroyers would combine to 130.00, which could yield a 40 to 25 savings as I'm not quite sure if the restructured Necron battleforce was 90 or 105. Also note that it does have one "money grab" built in with the 6 Lynchguard unit. As there are no other units with any extra models available, the one model would "force" you to double their total cost. Better choice would be to go to 1950 points cost or find some way to convert a Necron Warrior than spend the money...
   I may be following up this series with a representation of the other armies in the article - I admit I would find it interesting in these days of Finecast.

shaggai / Lead Maintainer AB40K files.

Try doing it for a Sisters army when every squad may cost 100+ dollars.

NOTE: Now with UK pricing!!!

 OK, your wish is my demand! Actually the Sisters are my one great love right there with the Eldar. And with the recent changes to the Necrons, they are really the only other models which have a 3+ save among nearly all of model range - no one other than the GWs beloved Space Marines can say that....

So let's see how much GW would want us to spend...

Army of the Argent Shroud, pg 95, US WD 382 (NOV) - 1372 point list

Model	Cost US	Cost UK
Canoness	15.00	8.20
6 Arco-flaggelants	36.75	23.10
2 Crusaders	20.00	12.30
5 Heavy Flamer Sisters	70.00	43.50
Confessor Kyranov	17.00	10.25
2 Immolators	70.00	41.00
2 Flamer Sisters	19.80	12.30
2 Meltagun Sisters	19.80	12.30
3 Simulacrum Imperials Sisters	39.75	24.60
3 Sister Superiors	36.75	23.10
12 Basic Sisters	69.00	43.00
3 Preachers	34.50	21.60
2 Seraphim w/ Hand Flamers	28.00	17.40
Seraphim Superior	12.25	7.70
2 Basic Seraphim	28.00	15.40
1 Dialogus	12.25	6.15
1 Hospitalier	9.90	7.70
3 Celestians	17.50	10.75
Total Cost	556.25	340.35

   You can go back through a few posts to check this, but basically this seems to boil down to a HUGE money sink. Not even a "legal" army in terms of points cost and with the Necrons for 10 or 20 dollars more you'd have 2000 points to play with. And to use something that I was thinking of using, but decided against it as it really isn't representative with options, this list comes out with a 40 cents per point ratio (so every game point costs you 40 cents). With the Necrons in the previous posting they come to 28 cents per game point.*

Apart from that, you can call it what you like, but I can't see anyone playing sisters now that didn't have a great collection to begin with or has amazing access to OOP boxes at their last listed price...

(NOTE: The reason why the points / money ratio doesn't quite work is for somethjing like melta bombs. 5 games points does not necessarily cost you 2 dollars, See what I mean. However if we were to built point tabulation in AB sans options...)

Also note that the above is sort of a mish mosh rather than a unit by unit listing mainly as there are no boxed sets anymore for the Sisters of Battle - but the previous posters point is still sort of valid in that the 10 model battle sister squads retail for about 80.00 per squad...

OK, going to work on theEldar listing of the WD article. Note that the interesting part of the article, which is the pricing before Finecast may be a little hard to figure especially with a Price Increase hidden in there somewhere. So until that point, we can see how the typcial army list (in terms of points) looks now.

The Army of Zederon, pg 48, US WD 382 - 1990 point list

Model	Cost US	Cost UK
Farseer	15.00	10.50
Avatar	38.00	20.50
5 Fire Dragons	35.50	41.00
6 Fire Dragons	35.50	20.50
5 Striking Scorpions	35.50	41.00
10 Dire Avengers	37.25	41.00
6 Dire Avengers	37.75	20.50
10 Guardians	35.00	31.00
10 Guardians	35.00	20.50
5 Pathfinders*	33.00	31.00
3 Vypers	90.00	37.50
5 Dark Reapers	35.50	41.00
Wraithlord	44.50
Falcon	49.50
Total Cost	557.00	356.00

*There is still the blister of 3 metal Rangers for 15 than the box of 5 Finecast rangers for 33.00 - the savings for what you need is 3.00, whether that's worth it compared to the total cost of the army, I'll leave that up to you...