So I've been reading a lot of Ard Boyz lists at the moment and I'm sat here thinking how lucky American 40k players are to have such a high points limit.
I certainly find that the bigger the points the easier it is to write a list. For apocolypse games I never agonise over what I take, maybe thats because its not like the result matters but more likely its just a case of not having to make the hard decisions over what I want in my list.
Writing my summer skirmish list was difficult but not too bad because I expect to see a majority of troops there and in grey hunters we have the best troop choice in the game but writing a 1500 points list for the first company vets tournament is a nightmare.
To write a smaller list than you normally use you have two options, either rewrite from scratch or try and tone down a larger list to fit the points total.
Every list I write has the same core, larg(er) grey hunter squads, long fangs and at least a rune priest and its the same for 99.9% of Space Wolf tournament armies out there.
The problem is getting sucked into listening to others all the time and losing what you enjoy to play with. There are some excellent list writers on the internet but these ideas then get repeated so much that they stop people trying something a little differen't.
My question to you readers is how do you go about writing a list and what points level do you most prefer?
I'm used to playing in the 1,750 - 2,000 range. As for writing lists, I write them specific for the point level. I've tried taking a larger list and scaling it down but the problem is you often end up losing what make that particular list work. So, I build from the ground up each level so that it's as effective as possible and not a watered down version of something else.
ReplyDeleteI think 1750 is fine. At least for IG. They would also work very well at 2000 points too. But it's a bit crumped for BA BoA to be honest, 2k points would be much better.
ReplyDeleteIn every kind of points limit I just try to fit anti-infantry, anti-tank and some scoring unit trying to scale up each time. Have to think what people could bring at the said point limit every time and figure out how you can counter that with your available points. There are no hard rules to it of course and it's hardly a sciense.
I usually start with a 1250 list just to play test my overall core and scale up as necessary. I try to keep the same general purpose for each squad and not change my actual core too much with each point change. Often instead of adding more stuff I will upgrade
ReplyDeletewargear, unit sizes, transports, etc. For instance my Librarian/Chaplain/Honor
Guard at 1500 may all get terminator armor at 2k.
I try to build and paint a 400, 1250, 1500, 1850, 2k, 2500 point list for every army I play. This creates a very flexible model collection and hits all the major tournament levels so I never find myself having to paint up something last minute.
I personally prefer 1850 for tournaments but 2k for fun.
Always start from scratch. The biggest problem I had when I started was trying to make the jump from 1500 to 1750. All I did was try to add a couple of units and it affected the overall balance of the army.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Wolves, we've seen Tony win a couple of big tournaments in the States with what look, on paper, like sub-optimal lists. To me that proves that it's more about understanding how the list works rather than just blindly copying something from the 'net.
That's why Rune Priest, Grey Hunters & Long Fangs are popular - it's very easy to get the hang of those units. Thunderwolves and Loganwing require a bit more subtlety and aren't as easy to play initially.
Always start from scratch. The biggest problem I had when I started was trying to make the jump from 1500 to 1750. All I did was try to add a couple of units and it affected the overall balance of the army.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Wolves, we've seen Tony win a couple of big tournaments in the States with what look, on paper, like sub-optimal lists. To me that proves that it's more about understanding how the list works rather than just blindly copying something from the 'net.
That's why Rune Priest, Grey Hunters & Long Fangs are popular - it's very easy to get the hang of those units. Thunderwolves and Loganwing require a bit more subtlety and aren't as easy to play initially.