Finally my resolve crumbled and I picked up the new Battle For Skull Pass set from Games Workshop.

I must say the initial impression was a bit of a disappointment. It says "over 100 miniatures" on the box, and that's what you get -- I've no beef there. But mere count of miniatures is not everything. The box is smaller, lighter and flimsier than previous basic set boxes for WFB or 40K (excluding the Macragge set, which started this trend).

I guess I just should have guessed from the look that it just couldn't contain the same weight of raw plastic that the old boxes did.

Don't get me wrong here. I think the new starter box is a swell set and excellent value. But it is also cheaper than the old ones, and it looks cheaper too.

All the minis are contained in four largish sprues, specifically made for the Skull Pass set and probably won't be available separately. The mere fact that they can afford to make two sets of plastic moulds for basically the same things is testament to Games Workshop's position in the industry -- but I digress. The miniatures are so-called one-pose wonders, basically no assembly besides sticking them on bases.

Usually the impression on opening one of the GW boxes has been "Whoa, look at all this stuff!" Now it was more of "Is this all there is to it?"

On the positive side, the introductory booklet teaches you to play with the real rules using real stats, unlike Macragge. True, the rules are slightly simplified, but theoretically you could replace the box troops with any other as long as you have their statlines.

To close this, I think the Skull Pass set is actually better than Macragge. The forces you get resemble real armies more and the sheer amount of figures makes the box worth buying over and over again (buying just the goblins separately will cost you roughly twice as much as the entire Skull Pass box).

Oh, the actual rules? Haven't read those yet. But it's cheap enough to buy even if you don't care for the rules.

Verdict: Recommended

maxxon