Assault on Black Reach will always have a special place in my heart as my first kit

i Feel like Leviathan is How Games Workshop should Start A New edition and i really like how they’ve been taking that direction after Indomitous, Lots of Production, a great deal and A story to go with it

I only began playing 6 months ago. Leviathan and Combat Patrols both set me up with the foundations for a couple of armies.

2nd edition box will always be my favourite. It came out a few months after I got into the hobby and it blew me away. It, more than anything, truly started my love of 40K.

I still love the 2nd edition set, I spent hours as a kid pouring over the art and content of the books that came with it and that cardboard scenery I still think is neat. Yes the mono-pose models are dated now, but 40 Gretchen (Grots) and 20 boys was a great bulk starting set.

My big box collecting started with Dark Vengeance, those sculpts blew my mind at the time. Even today they remain top notch, only suffering from size discrepancy with Primaris.

I loved the 2nd ed set, and I don't think anything has offered quite as much via rules, minis and accouterments then that set did.

I know im mainly alone in this, but i always morn the loss of terrain in the starter boxes, i think just 1 or 2 peices can really make the table feel so much more interesting and can really set the theme of a box. Plus its hard to otherwise justify buying terrain over more units.

I started in 2nd Ed and had that box set when I was 9. I still have a few pieces but it was my introduction and back then it came with pretty much everything you needed to have some epic counter top battles. Seeded my love for this game.

Assault on Black Reach was tremendous value for money. My local store sold it for $60 after discount, and it contained enough stuff where you could split a couple with friends. Especially if you paired it with the battle forces from back then. Far superior to combat patrols for value

Found a place a few weeks ago still selling Leviathan, and it was on clearance for 200$ CAD.

Missed the poll, been playing since 2nd edition. Loved the 2nd edition box. Still my favorite. So much nostalgia.

dark eldar in the 3rd edition box made perfect sense actually, given it was the factions introduction hot on the heels of the huge success of dark elves in fantasy

2nd edition was my first boxed set. It holds a special place in my heart however it’s not the best boxed set. My personal favourite was assault on black reach but the latest editions have had superb boxed sets too.

Imho Dark Vengeance is still the best launch box for me to this day. So many goodies inside especially for the time and price.

I think Black Reach was the best Starter Set, rly unique options for the time (Claw on Warboss, Multimelter for Dread and the Koptas) and was suprisingly "cheap" and an all around amazing deal and selection of units too, you had something of everything, beside a real tank and swarms for the time.

Have the spacemarine ever been at a disadvantage? I remember when I started in 3rd, the Dark Eldar had no chance. I also feel like the Tyarnids in Leviathan also have a hard time.

Dark Vengeance super underrated, only one that lasted 2 editions and basically the style of CSM models from that kit shaped the way GW designed CSM models from then on to this day…

The blue column for so many of the "older" sets just reminds me I'm an old man yelling at clouds

I missed the poll before you made the video. For me the 40K journey started shortly before the 2nd edition box set was released. That time this box was amazing for me. As far as I remember it was the first time you got plastic mark 7 marines, before that there were only the rogue trader mk 6 marines and the mk 7 metal ones. Furthermore you got a lot of, admittedly simple, terrain. However, that time there was not much terrain available at all to buy from GW. At least not where I lived. And those terrain sets which were available consisted of mostly paper too. So it took a lot of the best at that time for a more or less reasonable price. In addition you got a lot of lore and rules for not only space marines, but for all factions. The codizes stuff was coming after this box for the first time. In my opinion still the best box from what you have got for your money to play the game with 2 players and terrain. (except primaris stuff, as far as I heared the indomitus box was a big deal, but this happened during my long hobby break).

Got the Indomitus box for the necrons. Just buying the royal court alone is £75, which is too expensive in it own right.

Dark Vengeance was my first set bought for me by my dad, and yep I loved it, and have never stopped being a Dark Angels fan boy, everything I paint is green and all my successors are dark angels too 😂

I remember being so excited putting together my black reach box as a boy, ah the good times.

Despite starting in 5th edition, my first starter box was a used set of Battle for Macragge. As a Tyranid player, I absolutely loved it and still have the terrain pieces. They got me by for the first several years of garagehammer.

BfM was rejected in my gaming group as it went back to monopose marines. We played through the monopose era and the multipart advancements through 3rd ed were huge and so going back to monopose felt like a step backwards. The mini rulebook was sought after though. 3rd Edition was a huge change in rules so it was heavily bought but the dark eldar models were crap, the land speeders were often warped and the rulebook spine glue was poor quality so covers often fell off.

I got my older brother 5th and 6th edition 40k box sets for Christmas/ his birthday at the time though my brother started in 2nd edition - we still play with the cardboard ruins to this day. I only got into 40k myself midway through 9th edition but that was after the launch boxset - though I did dable in warhammer fantasy when I was in grades 3-8 for a time. Thank you AT for your videos - so consistent, informative and interesting.

I started back in Edition 2 and bought 2nd edition, 5th 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th edition box set. Huge marines player here Collecting, mainly Dark Angels, Some Ultramarines and my homebrew chapter

I started during the early days of 4th edition, and have purchased at least one copy of every starter set. I found the 2nd and 3rd edition sets on eBay cheap during my early days. I loved how the tactical squad in the third edition set was the full kit compared to the mono-pose squatters from the second Edition set. My favorite was probably Assault on Black Reach as you got lots of useful models and I ended up with 4 or 5 of that set in the end. I still have some of the models from that set ready and waiting for a project that needs them. Kinda wish they still added dice to the launch boxes. I used them as loaners for newbies and sometimes gave them away to wargamers in need.

Ahh, the 2nd Ed. launch box. My brother and i picked it up. He played Orks, i was Space Marines. Loved all the templates.

Great content, I really appreciate the data being provided. Interesting to see the trends shifting. Thank you.

Actually the best 40K starter may not be obvious and that is Age of Darkness for HH: It gives you massive force of 2 armies (or 1, nothing stops you at painting them one color), which can be played as most Marines (Primaris squads are literally Legion troops if you squint hard enough, especially with upgrade sprues) or CSM (and it is great conversion fodder, in fact I use Deimos Rhinos in CSM because models are newer and cheaper than old Rhino with CSM sprue). You get a lot of Marines (40 guys+2 leaders), a lot of Terminators (10, both "basic" Fist+gun and 2 LC assault variant), Land Raider Spartan (a freaking LAND RAIDER on steroids) and Contemptor (it was playable in 9th when it came out, still have Legends rules). Models are full kits (bar Contemptor, who get only half of weapon options, still multipart model), not monopose. You can buy heavy/special sprues to expand into more specialized squads (again, most Primaris units in Mk X armours are reskinned Tactical Support/heavy weapons Squads). You also get HH Rulebook, unlike 40k GW did not publish it's rules for free, so it is useful.

More balance between the two armies in the boxes = more love from the community.

I got into WH40K in early 2020 with the Dark Imperium box, so I’m unfamiliar with the majority of the older box sets - other than the few that have been re-issued recently. My top choice was the Indomitus box because it was an ideal expansion for my Dark Imperium SM army, as well as a great Necrons starter army. I wasn’t a fan of Death Guard (at the time), whereas the Necrons resonated with me because of my Classical Studies background. Leviathan was my #2, mostly because I used it as my Tyranids starter army. The SM half was decent with the Terminators and characters, but I didn’t like the Infernus squad and Ballistus dread. I know the VALUE of Leviathan was the best, but getting units I didn’t like for cheap wasn’t as appealing as getting everything I wanted in Indomitus. My #3 was Dark Imperium, which had a great SM starter army, but I didn’t like Death Guard. I can understand how the older starters appealed to long-time WH40K players, but I prefer my Primaris miniatures and newer Tyranids and Orks.

2ed box was great for a painting point of view all them models I recall it being £50 at Argos and 3ed what a box also

got into 40k in 4th, and i got the Battle of macragge and it where part to start my main 40k army of nids. :) also got the Dark Vengence as i started CSM got Indomitus when i started Necrons in 9th. where Lucky to find a Dark Imperium box when i started DG. and ofc i got the Leviathan for 10th as my main army is Nids. and with all those SM, yes i also play a bit of SM as Iron Hands.

Black Reach was probably my favorite gift I ever got as a kid. It is 100% the reason I still love Warhammer.

First ever was 3rd edition for me. Split it with my best friend. Years later, restarting the game, the know no fear box gave me a fantastic base for my marines. With a good top up from indomitus.

oh the nostalgia. I still havent finished thoes dark elves from my first box. Only picked up Macragge because of the crashed ship, looked so cool on my local shops table.

Thanks for making me feel old 😂

Leviathan was my first starter boxset i purchased. Buddies begged me to get into the hobby and i finally caved. Now i assembled and painted the Leviathan box, onslaught swarm box, a few vehicles, and a few marine packs. Im waiting but i just got my age of sigmar dominion box that came in im stoked to start

Dark Vengeance was a sensational box. All the minis still look so good

Only just started watching but I'm calling it, 2nd edition boxed set was the best. 😁 Edit: It's surprising to see how many of the respondents are new players.

Started with Dark Imperium and got every "new edition" box from that point simply because it was a great start to forces I loved (Death Guard, Necron, Tyranids). Same for AoS starting Soul Wars. Nighthaunt and Kruleboyz may not be the strongest, but I greatly loved them.

I missed out on the indominus box, but was able to get the Leviathan one and was super happy with it

That Dark Vengeance Helbrute is still super cool and I wish they kept the pose for it

I have a lot of appreciated for 2nd and 3rd edition since they included army lists, even if basic ones. So you had the ability to expanded your armies with models without having to buy books. 4th edition Battle for Macragge + the expansion book Battle Rages On (Which wasn’t sold in the US) is one amazing starter set. The Battle Rages On expands on the missions included in the scenario book and incorporates new units such as the Dreadnought, Assault squad, Command squad, Tyranid Warriors and so on. It’s a great book and the 4th Edition is the only edition GW gave this kind of treatment to. The models for 5th are great, but the starter includes no scenarios to get a new player started. It’s just: here’s some models enjoy the rulebook. 6th was pretty cool. Had some nice models and scenarios to start with. The Novella that was released at the time covering the events the story is based around was pretty cool too. My least favorite is 7th edition since it didn’t really offer much more than 6th already did. Have always been annoyed by that. 8th, 9th, and 10th are impressive enough sets to get a lot of mileage from just the contents without having to buy anything else but terrain. While not a launch set, I do give props to the 8th Edition First Strike set. The small units are cool and a nice change and the armies can be expanded on if you can get some index cards. Pretty cool little set.

2nd edition I bought in about '96 when I started collecting. I played 3E and 4E but I bought the rulebooks separately, so 2E was the only box set I bought. For its time it was amazing.

Bought the entire Assault on Black Reach box on Ebay for AU $85 end of 2019 (there was a typo in the listing title and it was pick up only), such a fantastic box, price and great way to boost my ork army, and build/paint a bunch of space marines with my 5 year old son back then :D

RT and the old RTB0x "regiment" boxes, Marines, Orks, Squats, and Imperial Guard and a few blisters. They were under $20 a "regiment" box if I remember correctly. Second Edition was great on how much it expanded on RT, everyone was playing it at the local store along with Space Hulk and Tyranid Attack. Third Edition and the Space Marine and Dark Eldar battle boxes. Then took a break until 9th came out and I couldn't get a Indomitus box so I got the recruit and the next size up. Then they did the re-release and I got Indomitus. Got 10th but haven't even opened it yet, been only playing combat patrol games and I have the Necrons and Space Marine CP models already.

The 3rd edition box set is pure nostalgia can remember seeing it on the shelves at Christmas

I think y'all are sleeping on the 2nd box, or at least looking at it with modern eyes. The value back then was insane. 2 squads of marines was basically a dread and 1-2 characters away from being a full army, and the army book covered the entire game, so if you wanted to skip buying codexes, you could. Sure, your experience compared to that guy playing Herohammer with his broken Eldar Exarchs was going to be much different, but the starter was a couple purchases away from being everything you needed for the entire edition. If your friend split the box and took the orks, you could easily cover the entire hobby cost for about $60, until 3rd edition. Also, an entire table worth of terrain. Now, is the terrain cheesy and the figures ugly compared to modern gaming? Sure. But it was so easy to get into the hobby back then it really makes modern pricing look (even more) insane. It's like if a modern Combat Patrol came with your codex, 1500 points, a free index of everyone else plus all the weapon stats in the entire game, a full table of terrain, dice, rulers, and, oh yeah, a second army's combat patrol.

I missed out on indomitus cause I started 9th Edition around mid 2022. But didn't fully get into 40k till about early 2023 when I finally got more time to play. Jumped in the leviathan box and have been slowly getting all my armies painted since.

Started Warhammer and Dark Angels with 9th. I'm not so patiently waiting for a rerun of Dark Vengeance 😂

8th is probably my favourite box because the Death Guard referesh was pretty cool. Too bad I wasn't collecting then.

My ork army started with two secondhand copies of the Black Rach set. Gooood times.

I still think Dark Imperium was one of the best boxes, because of the mixture of units and you could still use a lot of them today.

I remember 2e coming out. We were blown away, because we'd never had anything like that before. Full squads! Terrain! Rules! You could play the game straight out of the box. 3e was also great at the time. Sure, they look _less impressive_ when compared to Leviathan etc, but at the time, it was really exciting stuff. Dropped out when 4e got launched, came back towards the end of 9th, but Leviathan was truly something special compared to what i'd been used to "back in the old days".

I think what people forget about the battle for maccrage box was that it was the early way to get the new sculpted genestealers. BFM was a tyranid release more than a starter box

2nd was by far the most popular for those where were playing at them time.

Black reach and also 5th edition were peak 40k. I miss that edition.

My Black Reach Warboss still takes pride of place leading my Waaagh! to this day, I do have an older metal Warboss as well that I got many years before but he's not painted nearly as well

Dark vengeance was my favourite box set out of the lot even though I’m a necron player and loved Indomitus, I just feel it had the best spread of models for it’s time

the 2nd ed was my first really big 40k purchase , before that i had the rouge trader book and a box of beakies

I took a break from mid 5th until ealry 9th... I loved the 3rd edition box set and still have my bright red blood angels from way back then!

I started recently and bought the tyranid half of the leviathan box + a Parasite of Mortex and a Lictor for around 90$...so I think I got a great deal to start out with. But I was already eyeing 40k with Indomitus and the Imperium magazine...well have a lot of plastic to paint

I’ve got so many of that destroyed flyer ! Legit get full sets of it in some many bulk buys

I fell like having a cardboard dreadnought for the orks wouldn't be to far of in lore. I could definitely imagine the orks thinking that a cardboard dreadnought would work.

I started near the end of 5th and paid under $100 for AOBR boxset. Was my favorite for the nostalgia. The more recent boxes, though more expensive, are definitely worth the price. I purchsed 3 of the leviathan and 2 of the indomitus.

Started not long after Assault on Black Reach hit. Love that set. Still have all the orks from it (though I need to fix the Koptas...). It was awesome. Dark Vengeance was cool with rad minis but a little too specific tbh... ...but honestly the launch boxes for 8th, 9th, and 10th have been a slam dunk for me. Tons of minisi with lots of flavorful/characterful sculpts plus you get either a meaningful start to an army or a big expansison to one. I really hope 11th is far on the horizon, but I hope they keep up the trend of the launch boxes. So good. Maybe I'llg et lucky and it'll be da Orks again!

Well it seems I DID pick the vest time ti jump back in if we all agree Leviathan is great! Macragge was 2004...mad, but it does fit into my fuzzy child timeline haha. Even then the Macragge set was pretty under whelming for 10 year old me, my eccentric friend sold me on big monsters and Carnifexes. Then the box comes with egg sacks, a crashed plane and no real gravitas, I figured it would be a nostalgia pick but hey ho, seems most people thought it sucked haha. I remeber setting up a "game" on my Nan's dining table, looking over it once it was done and not having the slightest clue how to play!! I left shortly after that and now got flung back in with 10th, a bit gutted I missed Indomitas for the Necrons but there may yet be a chance!

Only recently got back into 40k this year and got the Tyranid half of Leviathian down to the new Norn annouced. Liking the new models alot specially the screamer ,Norn

2nd feels like it got short changed just due to age. Bunch of models, good price, and it's what started it all. But Black Reach was my first and holds a special place for me. But it had great value especially to split with a friend and it was iconic. So much so that it got reused for Battle for Vedros

I think second Ed was one of the best.

The only Games Workshop starter box I've ever bought was the 4th edition Fantasy box. Truly, I get where they stopped putting the terrain in the boxes; most of it was pretty dorky besides the crashed ship.

The terrain in the 3rd edition box set is still a staple of some game stores I play at.

Was looking to get into Tabletop as 'Nids for a while when Leviathan boxset dropped, and couldn't have been happier! Sadly other current deals are nowhere near as good.

The terrain in battle for macragge was awesome. Solidly constructed crashed ship. I am biased for it cuz it was my first set

I joined near the end of 8th, so Indomitus was the first launch I was around to get hyped for and buy. Sold off my Marines just before the announcement of 10th, so was not in the market for Leviathan.

I may be wrong in my recollection, but I remember Assault on Black Reach being sold for only $50 at launch. The price was up to $75 within a year, however.

Dark Vengeance was my first starter set, and man did I have a hard time painting the detailed minis as a beginner

Dark Vengeance will forever be my favorite box

I agree with most of these although I must have a soft spot for Dark Vengeance. I bought two copies of it and it stands out in my mind. Indomitus was a big deal and Leviathan actually won me over. I wasn’t planning on buying it but the models finally got me. I also realized that I completely memory holed Dark Imperium. It was a good box but I completely forgot about it.

The reason people didn't pick up as much dark vengeance was simple, you either ran dark angels or didn't the other sets were mostly generic units while that box sets marines had chapter insignia built into the models. Not to say the other half wasn't a good set of chaos models the hellbrute and chosen were wild but there's a reason GW haven't made a box without marines yet.

I was only around for Leviathan (and didn't buy it, because it didn't have orks, but I'm happy for the Tyranid players!), but I really wish I could get my hands on Assault on Black Reach. I fell in love with those deffkoptas the instant I saw them.

“Looking forward to anything they could look forward to”. Oof, yeah, the Rona times were dark times. It’s been easy to forget how close it felt to just the end of the world.

I'm saddened that my fellow fans would put 2nd Edition so low on the list, but will agree about Macragge, as much as I do love the terrain.

Hi, I’m new to the hobby and together with my son we want to start learning and hopefully playing warhammer. Do you suggest picking up the Leviathan set or the Ultimate starter set? Which one offers shorter gameplay? Thanks

I jumped from 2nd to 9th when it came to starter sets. Wasn't the riches kid so I stuck with 2nd even though by the time I left it was almost the time of 4th edition and then during lockdown I found myself with a ton of spare time so I kinda got back into the hobby.

Watching this its funny to realise I've never picked up one of the starter two army boxes in the 20+ years I've been collecting. Although my first sets were the Battle Force and Mega Force boxes from around 3rd edition.

Excited for the new ones

Some of the early starter sets were available through Argos in the UK. I wonder how many Christmas lists they were put on or randomly bought by parents in the years before easy internet and flgs access?

The Leviathan box is what got me started, I still look at it and the minis and think wow what value. Still dont know whether to go DA or BT hmmmmm

Seeing the 2nd and 3rd edition boxes so low is funny since those are the two I got before dropping the hobby for around 23 years. xD

I've picked up 8 starters/launches, and partials of 3 more, over the years. At inflation adjusted, I'd be willing to get a copy of ANY, so long as it was the whole kit.

Ah shoot I missed the poll. Well, late polling for me (as somebody who joined in 5th edition) #1 Leviathan box set, did not buy purely because I have too many space marines at it is (although I did buy 2 scalped ballistus dreadnoughts to add to the dread army) #2 Dark Imperium: What else is there to say, it's just that amazing. Purchased 2 of these bad boys. #3 Assault on Black Reach, my first kit, that beautiful box, it was amazing! This is purely biased, and I believe it deserves the tied ranking with Indomitus, but this was just such a great box! Purchased 2x (1 back then, 1 years later second hand) #4 Indomitus box set, another great value box, purchased 3x... Don't ask... #5 Dark Vengeance box set, picked one up but later sold the minis because the Dark angels theme didn't look great in ultramarine blue, so I stripped them and sold them. #6 Battle for Macragge, terrain was dope, but if you didn't like the terrain this is bottom, never got the chance to buy one. #7 2nd edition starter set, solid, came out after macragge, had the chance to pick em up second hand, chose not to. #8 3rd edition starter set, really don't see the appeal, ruins can't compare to the crash site, and you trade the amazing terrain for a land speeder (gross) chose not to buy one (given the opportunity at a 35% discount when a store was closing down)

I was actually a bit torn when I was filling out this survey, as my earliest years in the hobby was before I had my own full time job and I couldn't afford the sets that I wanted. :') A part of me wished that there would have been an option to distinguish between "Chose not to buy" and "Wanted a whole bunch, but didn't have the money at the time." In my case, I thinnk it was the 6th edition starter set that I really wanted but couldn't afford at the time. Either way, very interesting study indeed. ^^;

I collect Dark Vengeance marines as the core of my Fallen army. The embossed shoulder pads mean I can avoid freehanding the chapter and squad symbols, which I'm very unpracticed at. It's just the tacticals and HQ units so far, as they're easy to come by at a discount. I've held off getting the Ravenwing bikes and Deathwing terminators simply because they cost more on the secondary market. Someday. I've also considered starting to collect the CSM side of Dark Vengeance, simply for completion's sake. Painted as Night Lords rather than Crimson Slaughter. Ave Dominus Nox. (On the subject, I'd be interested to know how many people were put off from that launch box, simply because a new and niche warband was the face of CSM in 6th/7th edition. Rather than more recognizable traitor marines, like Black Legion or Death Guard.)

Indomitus was my first ever Warhammer product. I did pick up leviathan as well. We’ll just have to see what comes out in 2026 if I continue with the big boxes or not

Second edition was my starter set into the world of 40k :D

Fun fact: my first ever introductory game was on the day Leviathan came out, my friend was getting it so we met up in a store and he showed me how to play (with another of his armies) while learning 10th