The Space Marines: Honoured of the Chapter kit is one of the oddest products in the Warhammer 40,000 range. It contains three hero models, two elite units, and costs a hefty $170 from the official Warhammer webstore - or you can buy it bundled in as part of the Dawn of War board game for just $49.99 from Target.
That's a $120 saving, and you actually get more for your money than buying the model's separately because, y'know, it's a board game. And no, this isn't a scam product with recast miniatures - it's just a by-product of the weird economics of manufacturing plastic Warhammer 40k kits.
The Honoured of the Chapter are push-fit monopose models: a Primaris Chaplain, a Bladeguard Ancient, a Justicar, plus three elite Bladeguard Veterans, and three melta-rifle armed Eradicators. It's a slightly odd cross-section of ranks from within a Space Marine chapter, with spiritual leaders, veterans, and anti-tank specialists all in one kit - an elite core that will go well with any of the Combat Patrols.
Why is there such a huge price gap between the Warhammer webstore and the board game? I can speculate some possible reasons. The Honoured of the Chapter set sold on the Warhammer webstore costs as much as buying the standalone, multipart kits for the Bladeguard Veterans and the Eradicators, and a hero or two, combined - so it may have been priced to prevent it cannibalising sales of those products.
This may also be quite a slow selling kit (for reasons beyond its high price). The kit was originally part of the Warhammer 40k 9th edition launch box set, Indomitus, which huge numbers of people bought, reducing demand. Likewise, people don't really want duplicates of the character models from the kit. Keeping a slow-selling product in stock is effectively a cost, because it eats up warehouse space that could be filled with kits that sell through rapidly.
The economics are very different when GW makes models for board games. Rather than stocking the kit for unpredictable direct to customer sales, GW is signing deals to consign stock with massive retail partners. It's selling in bulk, and it has assurances that the product isn't going to hang around in its own warehouse for a long time.
As for the choice of these particular models, GW's board games have to introduce the miniature building hobby to people who may never have seen a Warhammer store. They need to contain easy to build push-fit models that also look really cool, and ideally don't have a home in any other GW products like 40k starter sets. Only so many kits fit that bill - and the Honored of the Chapter are really sweet.
Whatever the reason, the Dawn of War board game is currently the cheapest way to bulk up your chapter with Bladeguard Veterans and Eradicators. If you're in the UK, look out for it in Game, which often gets these titles.
Have you snagged this or any other GW board games as a way to grab some cheap miniatures? Did you play any of the games, or throw the board game components away like an empty chip packet? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community!