Warhammer AoS: Arena of Shades – Price, Value & Savings Breakdown
Last Updated on April 2, 2022 by FauxHammer
Here we are again, It’s Age of Sigmar’s Turn to release just two new character models and package them alongside 2 small forces. Until about 3 months from now when you’ll be able to buy these new units individually. In the meantime (now that the price increased dust has begun to settle). let’s look at the price value and savings for the upcoming Arena of Shades.
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Arena of Shades – Price, Value & Savings Summary
Whilst many of us are still getting over the March 7th price hike from GW, this first full battlebox release since that date appears to be jam-packed with value. (based on the new individual pricing).
in that yes it costs more, but the perceivable savings are far greater in buying this box (versus previous boxes) when comparing the new battlebox prices
| GBP | USD | CAD | EUR | AUD | |
| Nighthaunt Value | £121.00 | $196.50 | $243.00 | €158.75 | $239.00 |
| Daughters of Khaine Value | £118.00 | $197.00 | $234.50 | €153.50 | $265.00 |
| Total Value | £239.00 | $393.50 | $477.50 | €312.25 | $504.00 |
| Arena of Shades Battlebox Price | £115.00 | $199.00 | $239.00 | €150.00 | $320.00 |
| Total Saving | £124.00 | $194.50 | $238.50 | €162.25 | $184.00 |
| Percentage Saved | 52% | 49% | 50% | 52% | 36% |
So essentially 50% saved here. the only way to get that kind of discount usually would be to work for GW. Or you could steal from Gw and for some reason make an anonymous donation to them for half your stolen goods value. (don’t do that, it was just an attempt at a partially humorous analogy).
Whilst the Australian market appears to be short-changed with only 36% saved! This is likely because Australia (along with New Zealand, Japan and China) has not had a price increase on the individual models. But the battlebox (as they are new releases) has gone up in line with the rest of the world.
Historically the Battleboxes only tended to average around a 35%-40% saving per box, So having near/dead-on 50% does help to soothe the sting a little bit.
Arena of Shades Price
It’s already been leaked in several places that the Arena of Shades will release at £125. This was completely wrong and the battlebox price has only gone up by £10 to £115. How do these leaks happen? Well, all of the independent retailers out there will get the pricing info in advance of the release. All it takes is for one of them to tell an unreliable friend and for that person to tell two friends and so on.
But if the rumour mill is not enough for you, just take a look at the pricing history of these battle box releases.
Previous Battlebox Release prices
Going back to 2020 with Shadow & Pain (because this is the first one we reviewed).
| Set | Release Date | GBP | USD | CAD | EUR | AUD |
| Eldritch Omens | February 2022 | £125.00 | £199.00 | $239.00 | €155.00 | $290.00 |
| Fury of the Deep | January 2022 | £105.00 | £170.00 | $210.00 | €140.00 | $290.00 |
| Shadow Throne | December 2021 | £105.00 | $170.00 | $210.00 | €140.00 | $290.00 |
| Hexfire | August 2021 | £105.00 | $170.00 | $210.00 | €140.00 | $290.00 |
| Piety and Pain | March 201 | £105.00 | $170.00 | $210.00 | €140.00 | $290.00 |
| Shadow & Pain | November 2020 | £105.00 | $170.00 | $210.00 | €140.00 | $290.00 |
So it follows a rather clear pattern of pricing with Eldritch Omens last month paving way for the new Battlebox price. Arena of Shades just follows suit. So we now have a 15%-17% (based on locale) price increase on battleboxes.
But yeah, it’s still a rough pill to swallow when in recent hobby memory we had both Indomitus and Dominion for £125. The 50% saving shown above is that spoonful of sugar to help it go down.
What are your thoughts on this? I know I’m seeing an impact. We do;t have a direct market insight, but we do have affiliate links throughout the site. it’s how we make money. And almost immediately since that price increase earlier this month, we’ve seen a 30% drop in earnings across the board (multiple affiliates and various locales).
Could the price hike really have put that many hobbyists off buying new releases? If so then the dust is certainly still settling.
But honestly, with what is going off in the world right now, causing utility and fuel prices to hit record highs. I think that is having more of an impact and the price hike is just unfortunate timing.
Arena of Shades Value
Right, let’s take a look at the value breakdown in this set. Thankfully we can now base everything on the new prices. My last breakdown was well off the mark, but I had to guess almost all of it.
Arena of Shades Value – Total Value
So here’s the quick summary, but if you want to see my breakdown and justification, including the models I’ve based the unknown prices on then keep scrolling.
| GBP | USD | CAD | EUR | AUD | |
| Nighthaunt Value | £121.00 | $196.50 | $243.00 | €158.75 | $239.00 |
| Daughters of Khaine Value | £118.00 | $197.00 | $234.50 | €153.50 | $265.00 |
| Total Value | £239.00 | $393.50 | $477.50 | €312.25 | $504.00 |
It’s nice to see that the value of the forces here is quite evenly split. so close that you will save more on a particular faction based on where you live in the world.
Arena of Shades Value – Nighthaunt Value
here’s a breakdown of the Nighthaunt units in the box. New units are in bold
- Scriptor Mortis
- Craventhrone Guard
- Bladegheist Revenants
- Crawlocke the Jailor
- Myrmourn Banshees
And here we have the breakdown of the unit prices.
| GBP | USD | CAD | EUR | AUD | |
| Scriptor Mortis* | £24.00 | $38.00 | $48.00 | €31.50 | $60.00 |
| Craventhrone Guard** | £30.00 | $50.00 | $60.00 | €40.00 | $77.00 |
| Bladegheist Revenants | £30.00 | $50.00 | $60.00 | €40.00 | $77.00 |
| Crawlocke the Jailor | £26.00 | $42.00 | $53.00 | €34.00 | $70.00 |
| Myrmourn Banshees | £11.00 | $16.50 | $22.00 | €13.25 | $25.00 |
| Total Value | £121.00 | $196.50 | $243.00 | €158.75 | $239.00 |
**based on typical Nighthaunt unit price
I did have to guess a bit on the Scriptor Mortis. there are more expensive character level models in the Nighthaunt army, but everything other than Krulghast Cruciator is quite large. I think this is a fair comparison
There are arent really any 5-model night haunt units available. So all I could do is compare this to the average unit size. it may not be worth quite as much as I’ve estimated here when released.
What do you think is a more comparable unit/price? let me know in the comments
Arena of Shades Value – Daughters of Khaine Value
Here we have 4 units for the Daughters of Khaine (vs the Nighthaunt’s 5 units types). the only new unit is the High Gladiatrix
- High Gladiatrix
- Doomfire Warlocks
- Khinerai Lifetakers
- Sisters of Slaughter
The model price breakdown is below
| GBP | USD | CAD | EUR | AUD | |
| High Gladiatrix* | £21.00 | $35.00 | $41.50 | €27.00 | $55.00 |
| Doomfire Warlocks | £26.00 | $42.00 | $53.00 | €34.00 | $50.00 |
| Khinerai Lifetakers/Heartrenders | £35.00 | $60.00 | $70.00 | €45.00 | $90.00 |
| Sisters of Slaughter/Witch Aelves | £36.00 | $60.00 | $70.00 | €47.50 | $70.00 |
| Total Value | £118.00 | $197.00 | $234.50 | €153.50 | $265.00 |
I think it’s fair to compare the High Gladiatrix to Melusai Ironscale. whilst it’s a command/character tier unit, it’s still quite a small model. If you disagree, please let me know.
Arena of Shades – Final Thoughts
I suppose it is what it is, am I happy there was a price increase? No. Are you? No. Nobody is going to say I love paying more for the same thing/ But it’s a smart move from GW in that whilst this is priced higher, the value appears to be greater than its forebears.
But on the other hand, it’s Nighthaunt and Daughters of Khaine. So… Do you even care?
I like both armies. But after 2-years of Mortal Realms Magazines, I’m just exhausted by Nighthaunt in General.
What do you think of the new box? will you be picking it up? Or save your money for the (apparently £240, OUCH!) Horus Heresy box (apparently called “Age of Darkness” or “Heta-Gladius”) coming in June. Rob’s coverage of this on Spikey Bitz is starting to get confusing.
Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
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Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.
Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores
- UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
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- Germany: Taschengelddieb
- Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
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It’s worth noting that for less than this set you can still pick up all 10 Revenant models and the Jailer character for a combined price of £24 from Hachette. The Banshees are about £8 from any discount store. The Shadow and Pain box is still available for RRP 20% discount at £84 which has 10 melusai units, a melusai character and the 5 Khinerai units available in this set. I guess this set provides slightly different options & some new units (the turnaround on release is much faster than it used to be) but you can get all that for £116 and either sell or keep the extra Slaanesh stuff.
Honestly I kind of suspect GW is devaluing the AoS stuff quite a bit. There are still mountains of AoS battleforces available from Christmas, Shadow & Pain is still easy to find and Fury of the Deep is widely available. Now they have this new AoS magazine coming out devaluing their starter set. It’s a weird situation to be sure when these used to be snapped up in hours.