Combat Patrol Might Be the Best Way to Start Warhammer 40,000 Right Now

A couple of weeks ago Games Workshop released a 184 page hardback for Combat Patrol. Six brand new missions, updated rules, app support, and loads of new content came with it, and I might even go as far as saying it is probably one of the biggest Combat Patrol launches Games Workshop has ever done. And yet if you have spent any time watching Warhammer content lately, you would be forgiven for thinking it never happened, because everyone is talking about balance changes and arguing about points instead.

What I find genuinely strange is that even Games Workshop did not seem all that interested. Thinking back to all the previews leading up to 11th edition, there were weeks of reveals, faction focuses, new detachments and balance discussions, but Combat Patrol barely got a mention. That feels a little odd to me because Games Workshop currently sells Combat Patrol boxes for, correct me if I am wrong, maybe well over 20 different factions covering the Imperium, Chaos and Xenos armies. This is not a niche side project. It is an entire wall in pretty much every Warhammer shop in the country.

Why I think this is the best version of Combat Patrol yet

I have advocated for Combat Patrol for a long time, and honestly I think this is probably the best version this format has ever been. Not because it is perfect, it definitely is not, it is still Games Workshop after all, and they can make a fantastic game and then explain the rules in a way that makes IKEA furniture instructions feel like bedtime reading. But for the first time it feels like they actually know what Combat Patrol is supposed to be, particularly for beginners.

When I first got into Warhammer, Combat Patrol was the box everyone recommended buying, and then nobody seemed to actually play it. It was always bought as a start collecting box or as an army booster to bulk something out you already owned, but never as its own game. The conversation immediately jumped to needing another 300 pounds worth of models, which felt overwhelming when you were still trying to work out the difference between a lieutenant, a captain and a Primaris lieutenant with a power sword. Combat Patrol always felt like the starter course everyone skipped because they were already ordering dessert, but this actually feels like a complete game.

One box, no list building, no research spiral

Combat Patrol is basically Games Workshop saying here is one box, play with it. You buy one Combat Patrol, you build what is in the box, and that is your army. No spending three weeks watching videos trying to work out whether you should take a plasma, a melta or lascannons, no list building, no needing another six boxes because someone online told you your army is suboptimal.

One of the hardest parts of getting into Warhammer is not learning the rules, it is the fear of buying the wrong thing, saving up for a unit because everyone says it is amazing and then having Games Workshop release a balance dataslate three weeks later that makes it about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Combat Patrol sidesteps that entirely. Almost every faction has its own box with its own rules written specifically for the format, not just normal 40K datasheets chopped in half. Games Workshop have rebalanced everything so that, in theory at least, allegedly, any Combat Patrol can have a decent game against any other, because if you threw Adeptus Custodes at somebody who has just painted their first Guardsmen, that game would be ending before the poor Guardsman even remembered his own name.

The one rule that actually matters, and free app support

There are six missions built specifically for Combat Patrol, but if you have played normal 40K before you will pick them up quickly. There is really only one rule worth pointing out, which is Battleline units. They can secure an objective at the end of your command phase, and that objective stays under your control even after they move away. It does not sound like much, but it changes the whole game, because suddenly you are not just thinking about whether you can kill a unit, you are thinking about whether leaving an objective now means losing in two turns.

Someone in the Discord community told me about his first game using the new companion missions. He pushed his Battleline unit onto an objective early, felt clever enough to wander off and grab a drink, and then spent the next two turns desperately trying to stop his opponent doing exactly the same thing on the other side of the board. That was the moment the mission clicked for him and he realised positioning mattered far more than he expected. It also means you will occasionally realise you have made a terrible decision about four seconds after moving a unit, and yes, ask me how I know.

Every Combat Patrol has an official PDF that Games Workshop keeps updated, and the free app has the rules, keeps score, tells you the missions and has all the terrain layouts. From what I understand, Games Workshop are actually looking to keep those Combat Patrol datasheets free even after a faction gets its full codex, and if that holds it is a genuinely good sign of how seriously they are treating this as an entry point rather than a taster designed to expire.

One thing worth knowing is that units inside your Combat Patrol do not always work exactly the same as they do in full 40K. The datasheets have been simplified and tweaked to keep everything balanced, so do not panic if six months down the line your favourite unit suddenly has a different ability in a full army. Think of Combat Patrol like learning to drive in your instructor's Ford Fiesta before someone hands you the keys to a Ferrari. You are learning the same fundamentals, you are just much less likely to accidentally drive through somebody's living room, allegedly.

The money side: Blood Angels versus Adeptus Mechanicus

Combat Patrols currently sit somewhere around the 100 pound mark, and prices will obviously vary elsewhere. On paper Games Workshop usually builds in a saving compared to buying the kits separately, genuinely around 30 to 50 pounds worth of extra value, but that value is not the same across every faction.

The Blood Angels Combat Patrol, slightly biased as I am, is a really solid buy, with a good saving over buying the kits individually, beginner friendly units, and a sensible foundation if you decide to grow into a full Space Marine army later. The Ultramarines Combat Patrol used to be my go to example here, but it is not distributed by Games Workshop any more and is out of stock, so you would probably have to grab it on eBay, which makes Blood Angels the safer year round example of the same kind of value.

Compare that to the current Adeptus Mechanicus Combat Patrol, which is not a bad box, but you are going to get fewer points on the table for your money and it is much harder to expand from naturally. That tracks, because Mechanicus is one of the most expensive armies to collect full stop, so it is not a shock its Combat Patrol reflects that. Do not just buy the box with the coolest artwork on the front, spend a little time looking at what is actually inside. If half the box is going to sit on a shelf gathering dust, it is not really saving you any money.

Skipping the buying spiral of traditional 40K

I like building armies I am actually going to use rather than having cupboards full of unopened grey plastic, mainly because I cannot afford to, and I think that has forced me to think about every purchase. Combat Patrol fits that mindset because you buy one box and you have a complete game. Compare that to starting traditional Warhammer, where you buy a character, then a squad, then realise you need anti tank, then a transport, then another HQ, then somebody online tells you your army needs a unit that has been out of stock for years, and before you know it you have spent several hundred pounds and still cannot put a legal army on the table.

Here is a tip I do not hear many people mention: you do not actually have to buy the Combat Patrol box. Jump onto the free app or the website, see exactly what is included, then keep an eye on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, local gaming groups or your local hobby shop for those exact units second hand or still on the sprue for less. If you are patient you can sometimes build the same Combat Patrol for less than buying the official box, though that will not always be the case, so it is worth checking before you hit buy now.

Why nobody seems to be talking about it

If Combat Patrol is this good, why does it feel like not that many people talk about it? There are creators covering it and communities that love the format, but compared to everything else happening in Warhammer, it does feel strangely quiet, especially given Games Workshop have just released the biggest Combat Patrol update the format has ever had.

Part of the reason is Games Workshop's own marketing. During the 11th edition previews there were weeks of reveals, new detachments, rules and faction focuses, and Combat Patrol barely felt part of the conversation. Not because it was ignored, given the companion book and updated rules, but Games Workshop never stood up and said this is an important way to play Warhammer. Compare that to Age of Sigmar, where Spearhead launched with real excitement, videos, stores running events, and a message that this is a proper way to play, not just another starter set, backed by a genuine event scene rather than marketing spin. Combat Patrol has never quite had that same energy, though from what I am hearing that is something Games Workshop is looking to change.

The second reason is about the game itself. Warhammer 40K is a very shooty game, with long weapon ranges and big guns, so shrinking the battlefield means everything is in range of everything, and one bad deployment or one unlucky first turn can snowball much faster than in a full size game. Earlier versions of Combat Patrol did not come with proper terrain or map guidance to fix that, so games genuinely became standstill shootouts a lot of the time. Age of Sigmar does not have quite the same problem because it is more focused on combat, moving towards each other before the real damage starts. That does not make Combat Patrol bad, I have really enjoyed the games I have played, but it is one of the reasons designing a brilliant small format version of 40K is harder than it looks.

Then there is Boarding Patrol, which is not quite the direct comparison people assume it is. It came out of the boarding actions game mode at the tail end of 9th edition's Arks of Omen campaign, small squads fighting room to room inside a space hulk, basically Space Hulk the board game with a 40K skin on it. Everyone was excited, it felt like a fresh new way to play smaller games, stores ran events, and then it just sort of disappeared, not because it was awful but because it never became the thing people regularly played, and everyone drifted back to full size 40K. I do wonder if Combat Patrol risks falling into exactly the same trap.

My theory that Games Workshop just wants it as a gateway, not a competitive format

This is probably the most cynical thing I will say here: I do not actually think Games Workshop needs Combat Patrol to become a massive competitive format. If somebody walks into a Warhammer shop today and buys a Combat Patrol, are they planning to play it every week for the next five years? Maybe some people will, but I reckon most people are buying it because it is the easiest way to start collecting an army. They build it, paint it, play a few games, and then start adding more units, before long playing 1,000 points, then 2,000 points, and buying another tank because somebody told them it is an auto include.

From Games Workshop's perspective that is probably not a bad outcome, because the Combat Patrol has done exactly what it was supposed to do, introduced someone to the hobby. My feeling, and it is just my opinion, is that Games Workshop sees Combat Patrol primarily as an entry point into Warhammer, a brilliant gateway rather than a format they are trying to build into the next big competitive scene. That is okay. I do not think Combat Patrol needs to replace full 40K, I do not even think it should, I just think it deserves a bit more attention than it is currently getting.

Which Combat Patrol to actually buy

My answer probably is not the one you will hear from most Warhammer channels: just buy the one that makes you smile. Forget the meta and forget tier lists entirely, and I mean that more literally here than I would for full 40K, because Combat Patrol is already balanced around itself. There is not really a meta to chase since every list is basically predefined for you. The only thing that does not change is whether you still enjoy looking at your army on the shelf, because you are going to spend far more time building and painting those models than chasing whatever happens to be the strongest army this month.

If you genuinely have no idea where to start, buy based on what your Combat Patrol's force disposition and army rule actually does rather than faction vibes, because that determines how the game plays far more than which faction looks the coolest. If you like getting stuck straight into combat, look for a Combat Patrol running Purge the Foe as its force disposition, which currently covers Chaos, Imperial Agents and Space Wolves, rewarding a front foot, kill everything approach. If you are more patient, Necrons fit that reputation, though it is worth knowing why rather than just accepting it, since their Doomstalker literally is not allowed on the table until round three, so part of their army rule is built around making you wait before leaning on your best piece. If your idea of a good time is covering the table in claws and teeth and far too many models to paint, Tyranids are exactly the swarm army you would expect. Space Marines are still the safest choice for total beginners regardless of any of that, the poster boys for a reason, with endless painting tutorials, loads of online support, and pretty much every Warhammer player knowing how they work.

None of that matters if you do not actually want to look at the models. Do not buy an army because somebody online told you it wins games, buy the one that makes you walk past your shelf and stop and think that looks cool, because if you are excited to build it you will enjoy painting it, and if you finish it you will play more games, which is the whole point of the hobby.

My verdict on whether this is the best way into Warhammer 40,000

Is Combat Patrol the best way to get into Warhammer 40,000? I think it is one of the best things Games Workshop has ever made. That is bold, not because it is the cheapest, not because it is the most competitive, and not because it is going to replace full 40,000, but because it removes almost everything that makes this hobby intimidating in the first place. When you have been in Warhammer for years it is easy to forget how overwhelming it looks from the outside, with hundreds of kits, thousands of rules, endless opinions online, and every thumbnail shouting that your favourite faction is either completely broken or completely useless.

Combat Patrol finally gives people an answer to that. It is not the only way in, and other routes will genuinely suit some people better, but for most people asking where do I start, it is probably the strongest answer going right now. Whether Games Workshop ever pushes it as a proper standalone format, I am not convinced, but I still think they see it primarily as a gateway into the wider hobby, and maybe that is exactly what it should be, because gateways are important.

My own start was not Combat Patrol. Someone who features regularly on my content and manages our Discord server found me a second hand army, spent hours cleaning and re priming every single model himself, met me at Warhammer World and walked me through the app, and then we played a couple of rounds, and that was my real start in this hobby. Somewhere in one of those first games I still managed to snap Dante's iron halo clean off before I had even worked out what half my own army did.

Where did your own start in this hobby happen, and if you are new, which Combat Patrol are you thinking of picking up?