New Chaotic deals are on the horizon for Warhammer players as 4 new Chaos Battleforces are set to hit the shelves soon. Today I'll be breaking down my thoughts on each of the box sets as well as providing a monetary breakdown of each box if you were to purchase the kits within individually.
To set some expectations the 4 Chaos factions receiving a battleforce this time around are the 4 "Cult" Chaos Marine factions: Death Guard, Emperor's Children, Thousand Sons & World Eaters.
(Click the name of any Battleforce to purchase them from Ettin Games while they last!)
MSRP: $250
Total Retail Cost of Individual Kits: $371
Total Discount: $121
For me, this is one of the boxes that GW has hit a homerun with this time! The contents of the box are all not only competitively viable options for any Death Guard list, they are MUST-HAVES. This box contains a Lord of Contagion, 3 Blightlord Terminators, 3 Deathshroud Bodyguards, 2 units of Poxwalkers and 3 Foetid-Bloat Drones.
Since the Death Guard Codex release the heavy blight launcher drones have been pretty difficult to obtain in the wild, and for good reason. They're a consistent shooting platform with the common S10 // AP -2 // DMG 3 gun that most armies wish they had. The Deathshroud are no slouches either, being able to deepstrike just outside of 6" of any unit that is currently in Contagion Range of your Death Guard units. This makes them a consistent pressure piece that can punish aggresive plays from the opponent.
Poxwalkers round out the box as an amazing objective holding unit that has the bonus feature of Infilitrating up the board and projecting your Contagion Range further, earlier in the game.
This box is such an amazing value for anyone looking to expand their Death Guard collection or start the army, (which I'll personally be doing, because of this box).
Recommended purchases to compliment this box: Myphitic Blight-Haulers, Mortarion, and Plagueburst Crawlers.
EMPEROR'S CHILDREN: LORDS OF EXCESS
MSRP: $250
Total Retail Cost of Individual Kits: $367
Total Discount: $117
One of the things I appreciate about this box set is how well it combines with the December 2025 Emperor's Children Battleforce. The box that released in December had the armies Primarch: Fulgrim, 6 Noise Marines and 6 Flawless blades. If you had purchased the December box and felt that you were lacking in total unit count, oh boy this new box has you covered. This 2026 Battleforce contains 12 Noise Marines, 20 Infractors/Tormentors and a Daemon Prince. This means that combined with the 2025 Battleforce you'd own all of the Noise Marines you can legally play and a good mix of Tormentors/Infractors considering they're most often ran in units of 5.
How competitive is this box? VERY. Infractors and Tormentors are often used early in the game to initiate small trades & hold objectives without exposing the bulk of your army too early. Noise Marines are one of the only shooting platforms this melee-centric army has access to and their sonic weapons that ignore cover put in solid work to chew through armor. Last, but certainly not least, the Winged Daemon Prince has been a staple of the armies' gameplan. He's quick with a 14" movement and can Advance & Charge because of the factions core army ability. Moreover he is pesky to deal with, considering his ability for -1 Damage from attacks and his mortal wound ability when he completes a charge.
If you're looking to get into Emperor's Children at a discount I highly recommend not only purchasing this box set, but seeking out the 2025 Battleforce as a great way to nearly complete the army at a massive discount.
Recommended purchases to compliment this box: Chaos Rhino, 2025 Emperor's Children Battleforce, Chaos Spawn, Lord Exultant, Maulerfiend
MSRP: $250
Total Retail Cost of Individual Kits: $334.50
Total Discount: $84.50
We've arrived at the most puzzling of the Battleforces releasing for 2026 and I think the vexing nature of the boxe's contents fits Thousand Sons so well. This box contains 10 Scarab Occult Terminators, an Infernal Master, 3 Exalted Sorcerers and a Mutilith Vortex Beast! The terminators have, as of recently, become a welcomed addition in Grand Coven lists as attached a Sorcerer in them and giving the Sorcerer the Umbralefic Crystal for a once per game teleport is quite strong on a durable yet slow unit. The Infernal Master is great for joining into Rubric Marines with bolters, giving them Sustained Hits to push through more damage onto medium/light targets.
The real winner of the box is the Mutalith Vortex Beast, an online only model that has been frequently difficult to even obtain. The Mutalith slots in as a durable tech piece in any detachment that will buff your ability to cast spells and provide a nice varied shooting profile.
On the whole the box is good, but perplexing in its composition as it contains pieces you'll want as an existing Thousand Sons player, but may have someone puzzled on next steps if it is their first purchase.
Recommended purchases to compliment this box: Rubric Marines, Chaos Sorcerer in Terminator Armour, Magnus the Red, and Tzaangor Enlightened.
WORLD EATERS: KHORNE DAEMONKIN
MSRP: $250
Total Retail Cost of Individual Kits: $370
Total Discount: $120
This box is all violence and I'm absolutely here for it. A lot of these boxes for 2026 seem to be giving you a solid foundational mixed bag of units but the World Eaters box excels at giving you necessary pieces for the Khorne Daemonkin detachment. Each "cult" marine faction recently had their preferred Daemon allies folded into a single detachment available in their codex. Khorne Daemonkin is one of the few of them that does not dissapoint when it comes to playability.
This box contains 2 units of Bloodletters, 1 Lord on Juggernaut, 6 Bloodcrushers, 10 Khorne Berzerkers and a single Master of Executions. Khorne Daemonkin brings back Blood Tithe Points which means as your army kills things the Daemon portion gets extra abilities and eventually your Blessings of Khorne. The Disciple of Khorne enhancement allows the Juggernaut lord to attach to the Bloodcrushers found in the box. This will help the mobility and output of the unit tremendously and will allow you to deliver the Bloodcrusher Charge mortals more consistently. Berzerkers are always a fantastic own as well as Bloodletters, the bread and butter of this detachment.
On the whole I think this is the most likely box that people can purchase twice and feel great about. Khorne Daemonkin is such an exciting detachment and it's nice to have a box come out that gets you most of the way there.
Recommended purchases to compliment this box: Kharn the Betrayer, Skarbrand, Bloodthirster, Chaos Spawn and Forgefiend
This concludes our 2026 Chaos Battleforce review! I'm impressed by these Battleforces and I think these are the kind of boxes people will be kicking themselves over missing out on. Personally I'll be trying out a Mortarion's Hammer list and the Death Guard box is going to get me most of the way there. Here's the list:
hammer time (2000 points)
