List Design for Beginners - Part 2 - Even more choices.

Carrying on from this article.

This will be a very quick overview as unlike HQ's and Troops the other slots vary tremendously in what they include so I'll get into specifics tomorrow when I start giving examples.

So you've decided on a theme, picked the HQ that suits your army and made sure you don't auto-lose objective missions by picking troops that survive.

So what's next then?

Well actually killing shit might be a start ;-)

Generally most of your 'killing stuff that's close' will be found in the Elite section, 'Killing stuff that's far away' will be in the Heavy Support section.

And stuff that's quick should generally be in the Fast Attack section, though there is the occasional fuck-up like Chaos Spawn which are slow and purposeful...in the Fast Attack slots...Thanks again Mr Gav 'Can't write anything worth a shit' Thorpe.

ELITES

Here you'll find things like Terminators, Dreadnoughts, Fiends and some of the armies support elements like Tech Marines/Priests, Sanguinary Priests etc.

Some books have a variety of effective units in these slots (Pretty much all the Marine Books) unfortunately many have either too much competition for a space on your roster (Fiends, Flamers and Bloodcrushers from the Daemons Codex) or contain certain essential purchases which push the others to the sidelines (Hive Guard in the Tyranid Codex).

These will most likely be the units doing the brunt of the killing and therefore need to be thought about carefully. Synergy is very important here as it is everywhere when designing a list. Sternguard for example are an awesome Marine unit but if you've gone down the 'gunline' path then Rifleman Dreadnoughts will obviously be more useful even though Sternguard are probably a 'cooler' choice. If they bring nothing to the army take something else that does, or failing that write a list that they work in ;-)

HEAVY SUPPORT

Its rare to find a competitive army that hasn't filled all three Heavy support slots almost instantly. At the risk of sounding like a broken record these must compliment your armies overall structure. If the rest of your army is filled with anti-tank then take units that destroy infantry and vice versa.

Imperial Guard players obviously have the best time of it here with virtually any weapon type you can imagine available and due to the ability to squadron they can have pretty much any amount of fire-power they like. They also have access to the Hydra which is bordering on the most under-pointed unit in any codex...Fortunately they can still only fire at one target per slot so it's not all bad, lol.

Marines also have a nice cross section of options but more often than not the Predator is the best choice with 2 S7 and 6 S5 shots at AP4 for a measly 85 points.

Tyranids only have one real choice and that is the pricey but effective Tyrannofex with Rupture Cannon, a choice made all the simpler due to the (imo) over-costing of the Carnifex.

FAST ATTACK

Pretty self explanatory really, Assault Troops, Beasts, Fast Skimmers, Bikes etc. all fit into this category.

What's worth noting is that several of the codices have surprisingly shooty units in the Fast Attack section that can be used to add to the weight of fire coming from your army but on a usually more mobile platform. Landspeeders, Attack Bikes, Harpies and of course the Vendettas and Valkyries of the Imperial Guard are all units that fit this category.

The other type of units in this section will be the ones who's job it is too get amongst the enemy quickly and neutralise whatever elements of it they can. Jump Pack Marines (excepting obviously the Blood Angels who get these guys as troops), Raptors, Storm Boyz and Gargoyles are all units that fit this sort of use. Either they move up fast and due to there proximity force your opponent to pour firepower into them rather than something else or even better actually reach that thing and destroy it before it gets a chance to start killing things you need to stay alive (like troops for example).

Despite what many people think, taking the killiest unit from each section isn't always the best idea. The whole army needs to work together with enough redundancy to enable you to survive the odd disaster with enough anti-tank to de-mech your opponent while still being able to kill the guys that fall out ;-)

Tomorrow we'll look at building specific types of lists from the ground up and how to configure squads for the roles you need them to perform.

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.