The Blood Angels Christmas Box Is Thin, but Warhammer Is Still Meant to Be Fun

Games Workshop has announced its Christmas Battle Force boxes, the big boxes of Warhammer miniatures it puts together for Christmas. If you're a Blood Angels player, Christmas is cancelled. I collect, paint and play Blood Angels, I've had a look at the box, and I can understand why people aren't blown away by it. There's not exactly a mountain of models in it.

But I don't think it's quite as bad as people are making out. What bothers me more is why everyone seems so miserable about Warhammer at the minute. I don't mean only this box. I feel like every time something new gets announced, there's now another reason for everyone to be annoyed.

Why so much of the Warhammer conversation feels miserable

I was doom scrolling through Reddit, various articles and YouTube comments, and it left me annoyed. Every other post feels like somebody is annoyed about something, and I'm sat there thinking that this is supposed to be a hobby. I appreciate the irony of complaining about people complaining. I'm aware of that.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a moan about Games Workshop myself, about the constant releases, the prices and all of that. I think some of those complaints are completely fair. But I do wonder if we get so caught up in everything that's wrong that we're beginning to forget all of the bits we enjoy, and that hobbies are supposed to be fun.

I like Warhammer. My Blood Angels army came off eBay secondhand, and it's hardly been the most glamorous collecting experience. I think that's partly why I'm looking at this slightly differently to everybody else. This isn't a breakdown of all seven boxes. Plenty of people are doing a far better job of that than I ever could.

A newcomer looking at the Blood Angels box would see it torn to pieces

I always try to picture what it's like for someone new. I wasn't new that long ago myself, at least in terms of painting, and I'm very new to playing, only in the last few years. So imagine you've never played before and you've seen this Blood Angels box. You have no idea who Commander Dante is, but he looks cool, and you think maybe you'll ask for it for Christmas.

Then you go online to find out more, and everyone is tearing it to pieces. You'd probably wonder whether you should even bother. I feel like that's a bit sad, because I think you might love it. I'm using Blood Angels here because it's the army I know best.

If something is genuinely poor value, we should say so. But I also think there's a difference between saying something isn't worth the money and acting like the world is ending because a box of Space Marines isn't quite what you wanted. If you're new, I'd be interested to know whether anything has nearly put you off getting into Warhammer, and if you've been in the hobby for years, what got you hooked in the first place.

The Blood Angels lore is what got me into Warhammer

I have a soft spot for the Blood Angels. I got into Warhammer through the lore when I was at university, and it was the Blood Angels that got me interested. I remember reading about Sanguinius and the Black Rage and thinking it was brilliant.

And I love Dante. The poor man has been fighting for over a thousand years, he's completely fed up with everything, and he just wants someone to let him have a rest. I can relate to that. For years I was reading the books and watching lore content, and I didn't get into painting until lockdown.

At some point after that, I ended up buying this secondhand army, and I've been slowly chipping away at it ever since. I do mean slowly. It's been a long time since I painted anything. I strip the paint off, repaint bits, and do a squad here and there wherever I can slot it into life.

My worst painted Death Company are among my favorite models

Some of the models are something. I've got one dreadnought that looks like it was painted by a six year old on a sugar rush. To be fair, I can't really say anything. My other dreadnought, bought for me brand new for Christmas, ended up with one of its legs on backwards, and I didn't notice until I'd almost finished it.

One of my favorite things I've painted is my Death Company, and they're probably the worst of my painted models. That's why I like them. When I first painted them, I was hyped, the kind of excitement where you're up until 2 in the morning. I had no clue what I was doing. I didn't watch 15 tutorials, worry about how much paint I needed or compare them to somebody else's army. I just had a go.

They're far from brilliant. They're questionable. But I like them, and I probably enjoyed painting them way more than the models I've spent ages trying to get right since I learned about paint on the brush, edge highlighting and recesses. I think sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be. I've somehow ended up with about 17 different shades of red, and I still can't decide which one I like.

There's no rush to finish my army. I did put pressure on myself at one point, and then I ignored it for months because of the pressure. Nobody is waiting for me to turn up at a tournament with it, and I'm never going to be at that level. I like the casual side of gameplay, and sitting down for a couple of hours with something on in the background.

The fair criticisms: 11 models and the lowest points of all seven boxes

When I saw the Christmas Blood Angels box, I was interested and thought there was some cool stuff in there. This is where I find the reaction a bit weird. We'll compare points, work out how much everything costs separately and argue about whether one unit is worth taking over another. All of that does matter, especially when you're spending this sort of money. But sometimes I just look at a model, think it's cool and that I'd like to paint it, and that's enough for me.

Some of the complaints are fair, and I do understand why people are disappointed. There are 11 models in it. Put it next to some of the other Christmas boxes and it does look underwhelming. It also has the lowest points value of all seven boxes, and many people are saying it looks more like a Combat Patrol than a Christmas Battle Force box. I can see that.

It also includes the older Chaplain model, which seems to have annoyed many people. Personally, it doesn't bother me. I quite like some of the older sculpts, and given the state of my own army, I'm hardly going to turn my nose up at an older model. I do think they maybe could have been a bit more generous. A few people suggested giving Dante six Sanguinary Guard rather than three, and I'm not against that idea. So it's a bit thin, but I don't think it's quite as bad as people are making out.

Dante, the Sanguinary Guard and the Death Company are why I like it

Dante is in it for a start. He's one of my favorites, so I'm not mad. I'm biased, but I'm not mad. I love the idea of the gold armored Sanguinary Guard alongside my red Space Marines, although knowing me, I'd spend three weeks trying to work out which gold paint to use and then not paint them at all. And the Death Company look great.

I'm not looking to start another army from scratch, but I can see the appeal of adding a few of these more interesting units. I'm even hesitant to say something positive, which is ridiculous. I think the narrative many creators are going down at the minute is rage bait, to the point where saying something mildly positive gets treated as surprising.

Take the 11 models. It isn't particularly generous. But looked at positively, it's 11 models I have a chance of painting. We've all got stuff going on and 101 other things before we get a spare hour to ourselves. The idea of buying another 30 or 40 models and adding them to the pile I still need to paint doesn't excite me. I could probably manage 11, eventually.

I won't buy it, but it might go on my Christmas list

Am I going to buy one? No. That's because I'm broke, and financially this time of year, with bills, winter and Christmas, is never fun. But I might stick it on my Christmas list and see what happens. Or I might carry on my little tradition of asking family members for a dreadnought for Christmas, and maybe this year I'll put both legs on the right way round.

I like the lore, and I sometimes like painting the models even if I'm not particularly good at it. I've painted an orc for Orktober with the people who sent me the box. It's the 20th of October, they sent me the box at the back end of September, and that's how long one model has taken me. I tried hard on it, and I'm beyond nervous about sharing it, because I don't usually share my painted models.

The people are the best part of the hobby

One of the best things about getting into all of this has been the people. I have a great online community, particularly my little Discord group. Half the time we're not even talking about Warhammer. We chat about random stuff, cheese, somebody's burger, or granny's. Don't ask. There's a worrying amount of discussion about granny's.

We've also started meeting up at conventions. One of my favorite memories is from the Tolkien festival in the summer, sat on the grass with everyone, eating pizza and batting off flies. Nothing particularly exciting happened. We were just having a laugh, and I remember thinking, "This is really nice." These are people I've met because we all happen to like the same stuff.

That's what I love about it. You're allowed to criticize Games Workshop, and I'll probably be doing it again myself soon. But we don't need to be miserable about everything. And if you're genuinely not enjoying it anymore, give yourself a break. You can always come back.