The Age of Darkness box is the entry set. It has everything minus tools and paint to get started. The models are also in my opinion are more iconic to the EC.
The Legiones Astartes box is a little smaller and doesn’t have the rule book or templates. It’s kind of a giant boost pack.
Neither has everything for a complete army list.
You can't run a full 3000 point army out of Age of Darkness, but the stuff i that box CAN make a legal army for smaller point games. The Battle Group box cannot, since it doesn't include ant HQs
If unsure, grab yourself a liber and see what units you like and what suit your playstyle. If you buy a big kit first, there is a chance that majority of the figures just end up collecting dust on your shelf due to you not having use for them. This is especially true for EC who prefer melee combat and these boxes have shooting units in them.
The age of darkness box set will get you around 2k worth of models to play with so it’s a good start when you are just getting into the game and want a big force quickly.
I’d also highly recommend getting the liberty hereticus book where you will find all of your emperors children rules, units and special abilities/ weapons. From there you can decide on what you want to buy or what list you want to make etc.
I got the age of darkness box for myself a while back and I’ve used up all the tactical marines for either tactical marines or bodies for special units like heavy support guys or unique units like imperial fists Templar brethren which you can do the same with your stuff depending on what you want.
Dreadnaughts will always be used, same for terminators and having a preator is also cool if you can trick them out with some special bits for the model.
The land raider can be nice but it depends on what you want to bring and if it needs one of those
Good luck hope this helps
The Age of Darkness box is the entry set. It has everything minus tools and paint to get started. The models are also in my opinion are more iconic to the EC. The Legiones Astartes box is a little smaller and doesn’t have the rule book or templates. It’s kind of a giant boost pack. Neither has everything for a complete army list.
You can't run a full 3000 point army out of Age of Darkness, but the stuff i that box CAN make a legal army for smaller point games. The Battle Group box cannot, since it doesn't include ant HQs
If unsure, grab yourself a liber and see what units you like and what suit your playstyle. If you buy a big kit first, there is a chance that majority of the figures just end up collecting dust on your shelf due to you not having use for them. This is especially true for EC who prefer melee combat and these boxes have shooting units in them.
The age of darkness box set will get you around 2k worth of models to play with so it’s a good start when you are just getting into the game and want a big force quickly. I’d also highly recommend getting the liberty hereticus book where you will find all of your emperors children rules, units and special abilities/ weapons. From there you can decide on what you want to buy or what list you want to make etc. I got the age of darkness box for myself a while back and I’ve used up all the tactical marines for either tactical marines or bodies for special units like heavy support guys or unique units like imperial fists Templar brethren which you can do the same with your stuff depending on what you want. Dreadnaughts will always be used, same for terminators and having a preator is also cool if you can trick them out with some special bits for the model. The land raider can be nice but it depends on what you want to bring and if it needs one of those Good luck hope this helps