Intro to Warhammer 40K: List Building

We’re back with another installment in the Intro to 40K series!  Today, we’re talking about list building.  Now that you’ve had a chance to look at the armies of good and evil, we’ll take the next step and look at the process of building lists for a game.

First things first you’ll have to decide on how many points (how large) you will be playing. For the sake of simplicity we’ll be looking at an average game size of 1500 pts. The game can be played at small skirmish levels of 200 pts, but average game size runs around 1500, 1750, 1850, 2000, or 2500 pts.

The first thing you need to know about preparing for a game is there are a few different kinds of lists you can make.  There is the “All Comers” which is an army list built around the assumption you don’t know what you’ll be facing at any given game.  This is a popular build for casual gamers that play frequently at clubs or FLGS’ (friendly local game store).  A good “all comers” will have means to handle most any situation, hordes, mechanized, psykers, etc.  The biggest challenge a player using this list will face is the “Jack of all Trades, Master of none” syndrome.  While it may do many things decently it may not do them all well, especially when faced with a highly specialized competitive list.

The second kind of list is the “Themed” list which is built around a story or “fluff” that may exclude more competitive units or models in lieu of only taking units that support the intended theme of the army.  Themed lists are commonly seen in campaigns, escalation leagues, or friendly games, and occasionally some brave soul will venture into the competition circuit wielding one of these lists.  Themed lists can be built with a competitive edge, but then not all themes will have the necessary components to deal with the “punch up in the face” builds.  That being said these types of lists can also be some of the most challenging and fun to play if you enjoy the fluff side of 40K.

Finally the third kind of list is the “Competitive” list which focuses on beating face on the tournament scene, or in the words of the great philosopher Conan, “Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.”  These lists typically start at 1850 as the US standard for most competitions is that point value.  Often times competitive builds are accused by non-tourney players of being “spam” lists where the same, highly effective units are taken in multiple.  Repetition in unit composition and inter-unit synergy is essential for success on the tournament scene.

So moving quickly along, the next thing you need to be aware of is the basic FOC (force organization chart) that requires in standard mission games, regardless of point size, you have to take 1 HQ and 2 Troops choices in every army.  After the minimum requirements are met you can take up to a total of 2 HQ, 6 Troops, 3 Fast Attack, 3 Elite, and 3 Heavy Support.  Certain 40K expansions (Planetstrike, Apocalypse), and a couple of Codecies allow different FOC, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll look at examples of all three list styles and the tactics associated with their use.  For now, what style of play appeals to you and what type of lists do you see most often used in your metagame?