How many times have you rolled into
your LFG with a list that you have been dying to play only to find out that
getting into a game requires you to shave of 250 or even 500 points off of
it? How about that RTT that is only 1750
after you have been playing 2000 point list for the past couple months and you
know the ins and outs of. How do you
deal with this? Cut a squad out, drop
all your cool gadgets and war gear, or shave squads down to where they barley
are able to function?
Here is a little trick I have found
to make it work. It follows a formula
for getting the most out of your points and never having to cut out the stuff
you don’t want to or need to.
1. Find a core function for the list.
2. Compliment the list with additions that
support the core.
3. Don’t create lynch pins in your list; I
explain this one later on.
Now let’s look at how to accomplish
this. Every army has a base that has to
be fielded you can easily draw the parallels to whatever army you choose to
play. One HQ and Two troops… Easy enough
though for most games at 1500pnts you should have three, approximately one troop
for every 500 points you are building towards. Most HQs at this level should be some type
of force multiplier, They should buff a unit they are with or add something special to your
whole army. This allows you to
capitalize on the basics that are associated with your core and buff them at
the same time. In turn this makes your
list more effective in the long run.
Armies that have weak troops will need to compensate with more of them
to overcome their weaknesses.
Sixth Edition leans very heavily towards
objective based games and has moved away from the kill point denial lists associated with Fifth Edition. So to
cover the spread of having more Objective based missions its essential to put
more boots on the ground. A typical list
of mine will be based around three troop type selections. Recently I have shifted to large blocks of
infantry models to help with the attrition battle associated with a lot of guns
on the field. At the same time troops
should be able to deal with anything on the board and when I say anything I
mean anything, from 30 Boyz to the AV 14 of a Landraider. Why you might ask. If you play competitively you never should
never list tailor to a specific build, be this just my humble opinion, because that is going to be the time that
you run into what we call meta breaker lists.
What is a Meta breaker list? Most of the time these are the lists that you
look at and say “Why did you bring that?”.
Another way to look at it is if you’re anticipating a lot of infantry
you build your list around killing infantry, high volume shooting most of the
time with low strengths. And everyone
assumes that at the next event there will be tons of infantry that they will
have to deal with so they all build similar lists to what you have built. Here is where the Meta Breaker comes into
play. To counter large blocks of
infantry I decided to bring 2 God Hammers and 3 Crusader Landraiders… Your army
has nothing that will pen AV 14 because you brought 20 heavy bolters… Who’s
going to win this match up? Now what are
your chances that you will even face that list… 1 in about 1000, that’s why it
is considered a meta-breaker.
Balance is the key to winning, more times
than not. Having the tools to do the job
is what’s important. Can you have
specialized units? Yes of course you can but always have another tool in your
belt just in case a vindicator decides to drop a large blast on their heads.
Complementing the core is much easier than
you think. These units usually add an
extra amount of fire power or fill a gap that hasn’t been filled with redundant
units inside your core list. This is
where you would take extra scoring units if you want, multiple heavy support
units or a hit and run style element.
Your core should be right around 700 to 1000 points. If you were looking at a 1500 point list you
would have 800 to 500 points to place relevant support elements into it. This is where you put in your fun stuff. The 1500 point mark is something most people
just build right past but none the less should not be ignored, if you play a
lot of team games it makes for a manageable game when you have four 1500 points
list instead of four 2000 points list on the table.
The next level should be 1750. With an established 1500 point list this 250
points should consist of elements that bolster the main 1500 point list. Adding an extra troop unit here is optional
as for the most part at this level you will be seeing three to four troop units
if not more. If your troops have a
higher durability than most then the addition of another troop unit might not be beneficial. The big thing about this
area is that a lot of RTTs get run at this level so it’s nice to know exactly
what you need to add to your 1500 pnt list that doesn’t change how you play
the original list. Repeating the process
for your 1850 and 2000 points lists.
Each one should just build onto your 1500 point list. That way you always know how 1500 points of
your army should work, and the “play stuff” can be expendable for the most
part.
Lynch
pins, what are they? Ever have all your anti-tank weapons get killed off and
your still looking at 6 tanks on the field? Or how about having 8 melta guns
staring at 60 Boyz and not a flamer in sight. Yeah those become your lynch
pins. When only one unit has the proper
tools to deal with one specific kind of threat, this will more than likely
cause you to lose a game. Should every
unit be a Swiss Army knife? No it’s just not possible for every unit to be
everything, if that was the case this would be a very boring game. What I'm talking about here is making sure that
you have multiple levels of overlapping units that can deal with all different
types of problems. Melta bombs on a
Tactical squad gives it the ability to just destroy a dread that decided to wade
in to tie them up. Flamer/ Melta
combos are still some of the best over all performers out there. Melta can punch a
vehicle, the unit that just got blown out now cant assault next turn bust them
with a flamer or heavy flamer in the following round of shooting. My
suggestion here is just be smart about your special weapon and heavy weapon
selections so that you’re not facing 10 tanks with 2 Las cannons.
Like I said simple, build a core, compliment it and don't create lynch pins... Good lists make for great games and that is the way it should be.
Like I said simple, build a core, compliment it and don't create lynch pins... Good lists make for great games and that is the way it should be.
