Karhedron

Although UMs can already use Ventris to teleport in a squad that does not normally have the DS ability.

I disagree, I think melee was overpowered in 8th/9th editions. 10th edition is better in that both shooting and melee are viable. If anyone thinks melee is underpowered, my Space Wolves took on Tau last night. The Headtakers with Wolf Priest were definite MVPs as they carved their way through a Ghostkeel, a Crisis Team and Enforcer Commander and delivered the killing blow to a Riptide (although it had been softened up by shooting). Now don't get me wrong, the Tau shooting was good but with careful use of cover and a good charge roll, a well delivered charge from the Headtakers was brutal and carved their way through the entire Tau flank.

The Deep Strike rules say that every model in the unit must have the ability to use it. The DS ability is separate from the Terminator keyword. Therefore I am pretty sure Calgar does not give DS to any unit he joins. Rather it allows him to DS along with any Terminator unit he joins.

Overcharged plasma will wound most Tanks/Monsters on a 4+ when combined with the +1 for shooting at isolated targets. They look quite good. They hit slightly harder than Reivers in melee and have much better shooting as well as better movement. They also get a Haywire mine which is very tasty (free Mortals). The Skjald is underwhelming and the lack of rules for the Fang Bearer (apothecary-lite) is disappointing but I can't really complain at the price point.

BGVs, SangGuard, Headtakers etc have a 4++ Invuln save. 4 Wounds is in line with Company Heroes Overcharged plasma is quite a threat to these guys. Not saying that they are not good or competitive, just that they do not seem especially out-of-line.

I feel the need for a few spare Reiver bodies to top up the KT to the full 10-man size and go max-plas.

105/210 points does not look bad for 5/10 man units. More expensive than Reivers but pack a significantly better punch with all that plasma and can chuck a Haywire mine too which is handy. They also have the SPACE WOLVES keyword which opens up useful interactions with the stratagems and abilities in the SW Detachments. The downside is that there appears to be no rules for the Fangbearer (Apothecary-lite) despite him being pictured on the data card. I see the Wolves as bullet-catchers for heavy weapon shots.

Overcharged Plasma Pistols with +1 to Wound, very tasty!

The other thing to consider with the value of the boxes is the age of the sculpts. The Tau set has a lot of fairly old models in there which have been available for some time, in other boxes and can often be picked up second hand. The Emperor's children in contrast are all new and shiny and this is largely the first opportunity to pick them up cheaply after the launch box.

My mother-in-law won pretty big on the Premium Bonds some years ago. After covid she developed dementia and the money all got eaten up by care home costs as she had too much in savings to qualify for free care.

Spikeybits have a breakdown for each box but each one is a separate article. https://spikeybits.com/warhammer-40k/

Unfortunately Apothecaries cannot join Bladeguard. The data sheet lists which squads an Apothecary can join.

I rarely use Deep Strike for dedicated melee unit. I usually use Transports or Jump Packs. I tend to use Deep Strike for short-ranged Shooty units or for snagging Objectives.

Maybe the opening mission will cover it in the same way that opening mission of SM2 covers his crossing of the Rubicon Primaris. Then the rest of the game will proceed to tell a new story.

Possibly because pretty much everything in the Kreiger box is new I think. The Slaaneshi one is all less than a year old too, I wonder what the total discount is like on that.