'Best Of' Lists - A Brief Introduction

You quite often see the phrase 'Best Of' thrown around on Blogs and Forums. I'm reasonably sure it was originally coined by Stelek of YTTH back in the beginnings of 5th Ed. when variations of a particular Space Marine list of his started to appear everywhere.

Basically it means a list that uses the optimum selection from each Force Organisation Chart slot, with each of those choices optimised to the nth degree.

These lists don't rely on a single 'Death-Star' unit winning the game on it's own or some 'broken' unit that managed to slip through GW's play-testing unseen. Rather they rely on the concepts of Balance, Redundancy and Duality. They don't 'Win' automatically, they do however have the tools to win any game rather than hope for the Rock, Paper, Scissors matches and/or 1st turn/2nd turn (as applicable) to be in their favour all the time *cough* 'Leafblower *cough*

An example of some kind is probably now in order...

The version I used of that aforementioned early 'Best Of' was pretty much identical to that first list of Steleks.

1750 Pts - Original 'Best Of' Space Marine list

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

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

Troops: Scout Squad (6#, 163 pts)

5 Scout Squad @ 163 pts (Camo Cloaks; 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: 1748

It's showing it's age a bit now but at the time it was (imo) an awesome example of efficient list building. Every unit can handle both Infantry and Vehicles, there are Flamers and Meltas everywhere and it has plenty of bodies for objective taking.

Times have changed. Every man and his dog now has learned the value of mechanisation, how to use cover and the necessity of bringing both Melta and Flamers to pretty much every game that you actually want to win.

However there is still a lot of shit out there...

Over the next few days/weeks/months (depending on how busy I am with my Tyranids as that 'Project' is nowhere near finished) I'll be posting a few lists that I consider to be optimised versions of what the various Codices are capable of.

As with all things I'm sure as many people will disagree with me as agree (probably more 'disagrees' as your an argumentative bunch at the best of times, lol).

First one should be up later today/early tomorrow. I'll be looking forward to your feedback ;-)