List Design for Beginners - Part 4 - List Analysis - Marine 'Best-Of'.

Before we get down to individual concepts lets take a look at a few nicely balanced lists that tick all the appropriate boxes as examples.

Though there are a lot of different lists I could have used as our first example I've picked what is (imo) the first truly 5th Edition list to hit the internet...Namely Stelek from YTTH's 'Best-Of' list. My own mechanised Marine list at the time was very close to this one but I have to admit that this one was better and therefore was how my list inevitably ended up.

First we'll look at the list as a whole and then we'll break it down,

1750 Pts - Original 'Best-Of' Marine list

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 120 pts)
   1 Master of the Forge @ 120 pts (Converison Beamer)

Troops: Scout Squad (7#, 161 pts)
   6 Scout Squad @ 161 pts (Sniper Rifle x5; Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells; Sergeant Telion)
      1 Sergeant Telion

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)
   2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)
   2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1746

Now first let me say that truly balanced competitive lists should't rely on single 'rock' units to carry the weight. For every game won by such lists there's another where the unit in question is torrented to death, tar-pitted into uselessness or any number of other disasters ;-)

Okay now back to that list,

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 120 pts)

   1 Master of the Forge @ 120 pts (Converison Beamer)

Troops: Scout Squad (7#, 161 pts)

   6 Scout Squad @ 161 pts (Sniper Rifle x5; Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells; Sergeant Telion)

      1 Sergeant Telion

An objective holding unit needs a number of factors, amongst which are survivability (either through inherent toughness, high armour saves or weight of numbers) and if at all possible something to do while it's sitting there.

We've bundled these together because 'together' is exactly how they work.  The Master of the Forge uses his 'Bolster Buildings' rule to up the cover save of a building by one and Tellion's Stealth rule ups the units save by one effectively giving the Scouts a 2+ Save against anything with the exception of Template weapons and the odd rarity with cover ignoring special rules. The unit is armed appropriately for it's role (which is sit at the back and shoot at things while not dying). Originally the Scouts would have had Camo Cloaks but they became unnecessary when the recent main rule book FAQ/Errata stated that 'Stealth' was passed on to the unit that the person with the ability was in. 

So we have a unit with decent survivability to sit on our objective while the rest of the army gets shit done. This unit also retains it's usefulness in Kill Point missions as it's fairly safe at the back but still has the weapon range to kill things itself.

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)

   1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

I like Dreadnoughts, however even taking that into account the 105 point upgrade-less Dreadnought is exceedingly useful. It scares vehicles with it's Mult-Melta, Heavy Infantry by virtue of being S10 and ignoring armour saves, normal Infantry by being pretty much invulnerable to most of them once it's in combat and can even worry Monstrous Creatures (if only a little). With three of these marching into midfield along with the Tactical Squads you give your opponent the problem of what to prioritise. If nothing in your army is essential and most of it can threaten both infantry and vehicles then you have both Duality and Redundancy covered as well as making your opponents target priority something he needs to be extremely careful about.

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)

   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)

      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

What certain portions of the internet refer to as a 'Melta-Bunker'. It has survivability (Metal Box + Bodies) can threaten vehicles with it's Multi-Melta, Infantry with it's Flamer and you still have 10 Marines to annoy people with. Three units of these parked in mid-field with 3 Dreadnoughts along side them is a lot of mid-range threats to everything all sitting in your opponents way ;-)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 140 pts)

   2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 140 pts (Multi-Melta x2; Heavy Flamer x2)

Nothing quite screams 'Duality' like a fast moving platform with a Multi-Melta and a Heavy Flamer. They also work wonderfully as 'movement blockers' as the last thing that a Land Raider want's near it is a pair of Melta Weapons.

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

   1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

2x S7, AP4 shots and 6x S5, AP 4 shots for 85 points. Autocannon threatens medium tanks, Autocannon + Heavy Bolters can easily torrent a few wounds onto Monstrous Creatures and Daemon Princes with ease and put holes in Infantry by the same method. Armour 13 on the front makes it pretty survivable while it's doing it as well.

So it's an old idea but like all true classics it isn't really showing it's age as much as you'd imagine.

See what I mean ;-)

Anyway,

10 Multi-Melta's,

4 Heavy Flamers and 3 Flamers,

6 Autocannons shots,

18 Heavy Bolter shots,

Some Sniper Rifles,

and 2 Small Blasts that will be wounding most things on 2's (Conversion Beamer) or everything on 2's (Hellfire Round).

It also has 4-7 Scoring units and can afford to lose almost any unit to a dice disaster without compromising the list in any appreciable way.

So a list written at the very beginning of 5th Edition that can still compete in today's mechanised environment because it has all the necessary ingredients to do so....

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.