List Building 101

List building 101

Overview

This article is intended to help players build effective army lists in 40K. Each codex has a multitude of options in it and I often see new players simply taking units because they like them for subjective reasons (such as for the way the unit looks or its background) and are disappointed when they underperform. This first article will focus on the basics of conceptual list building and will be followed by articles with more advanced list building strategies. Please note that this article will often reference army strategy as in this game strategy predominantly takes place during list building. Tactics, the actual unit by unit decisions you make in game, will not be covered. Also, as player skill is not a quantifiable, it will not be considered for the sake of this article.

Any good army list will ultimately have one goal: to win games. Even a themed, fluff list still has one purpose on the table top and that is to defeat the other player, unless of course the fluff of your army is to lose. So, any army, even an army that is not designed for tournament play, should still be able to win games with a reasonable degree of consistency or it will not be enjoyable to play and that defeats the purpose of the game: to have fun. In order to do this a player must first understand the basic principles of list building in order to construct an effective list.

Basics

The first and most important question you should ask yourself with any list is: how will it win the game? To answer this question you must look at the conditions for victory. In 5th edition standard missions you win 2/3’s of games by scoring more objectives than your opponent and 1/3 of games by destroying more of his units than he destroys of yours.

With that basic knowledge in place you can now begin to determine which units you will take to achieve these ends. Each army in the game is significantly different from the others but when boiled down to their most basic elements each army has three basic types of units in the context of 5th edition basic missions: scoring units, damage dealing units, and support units.

These types of units can appear in different force organization slots, and often times a unit may be a hybrid of the two or even all three, but these are essentially the roles all of the units available to you will fill.

Scoring units have the following priorities in order of greatest to least importance:

1.Scoring Objectives. 2.Surviving. 3.Preventing enemy scoring units from scoring. 4.Destroying enemy units.

Damage dealing units have the following priorities:

1.Destroying enemy units. 2.Preventing enemy scoring units form scoring. 3.Surviving.

Note: There is a sub category of the damage dealing unit that also fulfills the same basic function but is different enough to warrant note. This is the super unit, or Deathstar unit as it is sometimes called. These units primary function is to destroy enemy units but they are powerful and hard enough to kill that they require special attention or they can theoretically win games on their own if not dealt with. Their downside is that typically they are very expensive and neutralizing or destroying them often means you will win the game. Examples of this are Nob Bikers, full Thunder Hammer Assault Terminator squads, Swarmlord with full Tyrant Guard, etc.

Support units have the following priorities:

1.Enabling other units to perform their functions to a greater degree. 2.Preventing enemy scoring units from scoring. 3.Surviving. 4.Destroying enemy units.

You can then place each unit in your codex into one of these categories and its function on the table top will become clear. In order to achieve victory, you must choose units that best fulfill the requirements for their unit type. In a fluff oriented list or non optimized list you may have self imposed restrictions against taking the most efficient unit which is fine, but you must still try to achieve these objectives with your units or you will have very serious weaknesses in your list.

Overall List Strategy

The next step to designing an effective army is to decide what your overall strategy is going to be. This is important because an army with units that all function under the same overarching concept can support one another and increase redundancy. A controlling strategy means that units work in concert with one another and create synergy, as opposed to a collection of random units that operate independently, do not support one another and are easily destroyed. Again, there are a multitude of different types of builds, but in general what you have are the following:

•Assault list. Whether through close combat or close range firepower, the army advances with the majority of its units to engage the opponent at close range. •Shooty list. This army destroys enemies at range and tends not to advance if possible, only doing so late game if necessary. •Hybrid list. This army can shoot and assault well, or contains a mix of both types of units. This army can advance if needs be, or sit back and shoot.

No matter which type of list you take you need to be able to do a number of things if you want to be able to take on all comers with your list.

•Score objectives •Stop your opponent from scoring objectives •Destroy hordes of infantry •Destroy monstrous creatures and heavy tanks •Destroy large numbers of transport vehicles

If you can do all of the five things listed above, your army will be able to go toe to toe with any other and have at least a reasonable chance of achieving victory. The rest of this article will be focused on doing just this.

Note on redundancy and efficiency

Before we dig into the nuts and bolts of unit selection, this is a concept that is important to understand. Redundancy is sometimes referred to as spamming, which has negative connotations. In reality, unit redundancy is hugely beneficial for a number of reasons. If you have multiples of a critical unit, the loss of one won’t devastate your force. For example, if you are facing an army heavy with Armor value 14 vehicles and you have only one unit capable of destroying them at range, the loss of that unit puts you at a tremendous disadvantage. Having two of these units makes them twice as destructive and twice as resilient, therefore you increase your effectiveness against their target unit four fold. Redundancy also means that you can achieve what is called critical mass. If you have more of a certain unit type than your enemy has tools to destroy that unit, then you will achieve your goals without giving him the ability to stop you. For example, if you take an all infantry list, and your opponent has only a limited number of effective anti infantry units, he will be unable to destroy your units before your units destroy his ability to hurt them. Another example is taking more AV14 vehicles than your enemy has anti heavy tank weapons. He cannot possibly destroy them all in one turn thereby ensuring you have the ability to take away his ability to hurt you. You never want to have a situation in which a single unit is the lynch pin for your list strategy if you can avoid it. By having multiples of key units you ensure that your army will function even if it takes damage. Counter to this is the concept of efficiency. Frequently new players will take too many upgrades available to a unit, bloating their points cost. More often than not, it is better to have more units than to spend points making units marginally better. Design units to fulfill a function in your army and then spend only enough points on them to achieve that end. For example, in a foot Eldar list it is usually better to have three units of Dire Avengers with no upgrades than to take three squads with an Exarch and Bladestorm. Why? Because four units means more bodies, another scoring unit, and they put out eighty shots a turn as opposed to the ninety every other turn that three units with Bladestorm put out.

Scoring Units

Choose scoring units first, as they are the most critical units to achieving victory in 2 out of 3 games. You must look to what you have available to you and then purchase units that fulfill the requirements of your army type (unless you play an army with only one troop type; sorry Necron players).

The two objective missions are quite dissimilar from each other in that one of them only has two objectives, one of which you may place in your own deployment zone; the other having up to five objectives. You must take enough scoring units to ensure that you hold more than your opponent. Theoretically this number can be one, but in practice if you have only two scoring units, unless they are extremely durable, you will have a serious weakness as a canny opponent will focus on killing those units first in an objective mission and ensure that the worst outcome for himself will be a draw.

Therefore, you need to take enough scoring units—or scoring units durable enough— to score at least one more objective than your opponent. Each army is different in what it has to offer, but this is a good rule of thumb to go by when choosing your scoring units. Since in seize ground missions the maximum number of objectives is five, a good rule is to not take less than three scoring units (allowing you to control the majority of the objectives on board). The exception to this is if you are playing a small points level game or your scoring units are extremely durable, such as those available to armies like Orks. That said, in almost no cases is having an excess of scoring units a bad thing.

Assault List Scoring Units

There are many types of assault scoring units and are characterized by the desire to get into close range and attack the enemy. They typically fulfill the dual role of scoring unit/damage dealer. In some armies these units are very effective at both, such as Ork Boyz and Nobz, Chaos Space Marine cult troops, Space Wolf Grey Hunters, Black Templar Crusader squads, Tyranid Genestealers, etc. When you have a situation such as this, you can make a very powerful army by simply taking a large number of these units. This gives you the triple advantage of multiple scoring options, effective damage dealing units and redundancy to ensure that you will be able to win games even when sustaining heavy casualties.

These units usually function best when used en masse to engage the enemy at close range and hit them hard with close range firepower or in assault. This also has the benefit of an army that likes to be mobile and engage the enemy, meaning that you will be coming for him and his objectives. With this type of list, you want to place all objectives as close to one another as possible and usually in center board or in your opponent’s deployment zone as you will be coming at him. You can make an excellent list by taking 4 to 6 scoring units, such as with Grey Hunters, or Ork Boy Mobs for example, and then filling out the other roles specifically to support this core.

Shooty List Scoring Units

Some armies or build strategies do not use effective assault scoring units and as such they must be built using different guidelines. Examples of this are Eldar Guardians, Eldar Rangers/Pathfinders, Tau Fire Warriors, Necron Warriors, Imperial Guard Infantry Platoons (in most cases, they can be built to be effective in combat), Space Marine Sniper Scouts, etc. These units want to engage their targets at medium to long range as they usually do not want to be in assault. Therefore they must be able to maximize the amount of time they can sit and shoot, but they must also be mobile enough to go and get objectives, or at the least have support units that can contest enemy objectives. This type of army plays a more defensive game, preferring to castle and defend their own objectives while destroying the enemy as they come in.

Therefore, you must consider several factors when building this type of army. Can you shoot an assault army enough to defeat them before they get to you? Can you outshoot another shooty list? Can you reach out and at the least contest enemy objectives while keeping them off of your own?

If you answer no to any of the above questions, you will find yourself regularly losing. Why? Because if you are unable to shoot up an assault army enough before it gets to you then those armies will defeat you. If you cannot outshoot another shooty army, then you will obviously be defeated as you will either stand and get shot to death or turn into a pseudo assault army and try to rush across the board to engage. If you cannot score objectives or at least contest them, then even if you shoot the pants off of your opponent and he has more objectives than you do, you still lose.

In order to build an effective list of this type, you can get away with taking less scoring units than in an assault list as you will typically be playing defensively and holding only one to three objectives and looking to contest the rest and in Kill Points your damage dealing units will be doing the heavy lifting. Although if your scoring units put out the same or better damage as your damage dealing units, then by all means, maximize them as this improves your redundancy and ability to win games. You should therefore take a core of shooting units that can survive what the enemy throws at them. For different armies, this means different things. Some units like Space Marine Scouts and Eldar Pathfinders are very difficult to destroy due to cover save benefits. Other units, such as Imperial Guard Infantry Platoons, can be made very numerous and difficult to shake with leadership upgrades or similar abilities. No matter the list though, you need to be able to defend your objectives for seven turns while still adding the unit’s firepower to your army’s total output.

Hybrid List Scoring Units

A hybrid list can take many forms. It can be an army built of scoring units that are good in both assault and shooting such as Grey Knights, Grey Hunters, Shoota Boys, Plague Marines, etc. or it can be made of equal parts assault units and shooting units. Lastly, it can be a combination of units that allow them to function in either role, such as putting an assault unit in a transport vehicle that shoots well as with Bladestroming Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with anti tank weapons.

These types of armies have the benefit of being very flexible. However, that flexibility usually comes with a hefty price tag and at the expense of specialization. You will typically find that a dedicated assault army will defeat you in combat while a dedicated shooting army will outshoot you.

Therefore, in order to win with this type of army you will have to take one of two paths in most cases. You will either have to swarm your opponent with numbers or take units that are very resilient. Examples of this are a shooty Ork foot army, an Eldar foot list, Monstrous Creature heavy lists or a heavy tank based list, such as a Land Raider, Battle Wagon or Eldar Skimmer list. All of these lists get over their short comings by eliminating a portion of the other player’s army. An Ork horde ignores anti tank weapons, rendering those points wasted, and a Monstrous Creatures or heavy tank list ignores most if not all of the other player’s anti infantry weapons. You therefore level the playing field.

Scoring units in these types of lists must be able to either perform both an assault and shooting role or be complimented by a unit that does what they do not. Typically these types of lists will rely on their scoring units to fulfill multiple roles, typically that of scoring unit and as damage dealing unit. You therefore need to take a large number of these multi role units as they will need to be able to engage the enemy and survive with enough numbers to still score objectives.

Nonconforming Scoring Units

Some lists are built around an unconventional concept that does not exactly comply with the archetypes listed above. These lists will still fit into one of the three basic list types; however they will utilize scoring units in a different role. Typically they use scoring units to only score objectives and then to engage enemy units only if necessary. Examples of this are armies that rely on small, fast scoring units to pounce on objectives late game such as Eldar Jetbikes, or 5 man Chaos Lesser Daemon squads. Another example of nonconforming scoring units are filler squads that are chosen only to allow the use of a dedicated transport such as a 5 man Black Templars Crusader Squad in a Land Raider Crusader or a 5 man Dire Avenger Squad in a Wave Serpent. All these units do is make their transport vehicle scoring and typically play almost no part in the battle themselves.

These types of lists rely on their damage dealing and support units to do all the heavy lifting and only have scoring units to achieve victory. They have the advantage of focusing points on sheer kill power, but they have the weakness of scoring units that are easily destroyed which means easy kill points or a lack of scoring ability. These types of lists require skill to keep the scoring units alive but can be very powerful. Support Units

These are the units that make the rest of your army perform at a higher level and are often referred to as force multipliers. Every army has them to varying degrees, and often these units are what take a list from good to great. However, they must be wisely chosen as often it is better to take more units than to make the units you have, better. In most cases simply doing a points analysis (comparing how much your unit is improved by the support unit for its points cost versus what you get by simply taking another unit) will often tell you which is better, but not in all cases. Experience will be your best guide.

The most obvious example of this type of unit is the Eldar Farseer. A Farseer will greatly increase the effectiveness of units in an Eldar Army. You in effect get more than the unit’s points worth when they are affected by a Farseer buff or when an enemy unit is made easier to destroy. However, many other armies have similar units such as an Ork Mekboy with a Kustom Force Field, a Space marine Techmarine, Space Marine Chaplain, Tau Markerlights, Necron Lords, Tyranid Vnomethropes, Tyranid Hive Tyrant, etc.

The key to selecting these units is to find those whose abilities mesh with your overall list archetype. If you are creating an assault list, then chose support units that will enhance this aspect of your army. For example, if you are creating an assault oriented Eldar foot list, two characters that will dramatically enhance your ability to perform this function are a Farseer and an Avatar. The Avatar is a potent assault unit on his own, but he also makes your units near him fearless. The Farseer then adds to this by being able to enhance your units or weaken your opponent’s. Either of these two makes for a great force multiplier but the two combined elevates all of the units near them to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Look for these combinations in your codex such as the Space Wolves’ Ragnar Blackmane who gives any unit he is attached to an Enormous boost in assault (Furious assault and +D3 attacks to himself and his squad). Attaching him to a squad will make them deadly plus he is a powerful damage dealing unit himself. Read the special rules for all of your units and see how they will enhance what you are trying to accomplish with your overall strategy then choose those support units that will fulfill this role best. This can be as simple as a distraction unit or a screening/tar pitting unit for some lists (such as shooty lists), or as little as a fast unit capable of reaching out and contesting an objective for others.

Some examples of this are using an Ork Mekboy with a Kustom Force Field to make an Ork horde far more resilient than it would otherwise be. It is tempting to take a Warboss for sheer kill power, but when you consider that a cleverly placed Mekboy can give literally hundreds or Orks 33% better durability, he is suddenly an amazing addition to a list. Another example is using Imperial Guard officers to bolster the effectiveness of a shooty Imperial Guard list or using a Psyker Battle Squad to lower a target unit’s leadership to 2, then shooting that unit with pinning weapons. Now those are fairly obvious examples, but no less effective for being obvious. What they do is give you more bang for your buck with the units they are able to enhance.

The best support units to take in many lists, especially shooty lists, are units that increase the durability of your scoring units such as those that improve your units’ leadership abilities or make them harder to kill such as a Space Marine Techmarine or Master of the Forge. Also, those units that improve your shooting such as Tau Pathfinders (or any marker light equipped unit), Imperial Guard Officers, Eldar Farseers, etc. Support units that give you defense against outflanking or deepstriking are also very useful as many armies, particularly shooty armies, are very vulnerableto these types of attacks. Units such as Daemonhunter Inquisitors with Mystics, Imperial Guard Officers of the Fleet, etc. fill this role well.

A critical support unit in nearly any list is something fast to reach out and contest enemy objectives. Unless your army is able to incapacitate your opponent in the first three to four turns of a game and then move onto objectives in the final turns, or advances towards the enemy en masse, you need to be able to reach out and contest. The best units for this are fast movers such as skimmers, bikes, out flankers and deep strikers. Typically you will want to keep these types of units off board for as long as possible so that they will not be destroyed before they can fulfill their mission.

Hybrid lists need support units that fill the same role as in assault or shooty lists. Focus on what you need the most support in and take support units accordingly.

The skill of using support units comes in knowing when they will benefit your list enough to be worth their points cost and when you would be better off with simply taking more units of another type.

Damage Dealing Units

These are typically the fun units in a codex and exist to do the hard work of actively engaging and destroying the enemy. It is easy to get carried away with these units and just pack in all the power units you like as opposed to those that will compliment your list best. That is why I always choose my scoring and support units first as these are the units that will win you the game. With the points left over you should then choose the damage dealing units. Remember, a lot rides on these units and they must compliment your list’s overall strategy. All kill power and no scoring ability is fine in Kill Points but a serious liability in 66.6% of your other games.

If you have an assault list most often your damage dealing units will fill the role of adding a super unit to be the backbreaker in assault, or as a long range damage dealer to cover your units as they move to engage. Look at your list and think about where the gaps are. If you have no way of dealing with monstrous creatures or heavy tanks at range, then it may be prudent to take several damage dealing units that are capable of taking on these types of units. If your scoring units also double as damage dealers but have no way of taking on super units, then you may want to take a super unit of your own, or a support tar pit unit to take that Deathstar threat out of the game. For example, if you have a Space Wolf Army built around a core of Grey Hunters, who can take on most units in assault with no problem, but see that you have no way of dealing with the most powerful assault units, taking Thunderwolf Calvary will be a good way to compliment your Grey Hunters. In a Daemon list, if you have units that can shred all types of infantry and monstrous creatures, but has trouble with heavy tanks and transports, take units capable of engaging those units such as Screamers or Soul Grinders to fill that gap.

A shooty list will often have its teeth in its damage dealing units. This is where a shooty list needs to pack in the kill power and must address comes the question of whether or not to include counter assault capability at the expense of more firepower. This is a double edged sword though as every point spent on a counter assault unit is a point not spent on more firepower. You will be glad you have them when facing an assault army but they will be a liability in most cases against a shooty or hybrid list. If you have a cheap counter assault unit available to you, such as Imperial guard Rough Riders, or Tau Kroot (who are basically a necessity in most Tau lists), or a unit that can reliably get into combat such as fast moving out flankers, then they can be a good choice in certain builds.

You should take units which also compliment the shooting of your scoring units. If your scoring units excel at destroying infantry, take damage dealing units which can destroy monstrous creatures, heavy tanks and super units. Determine which units provide the most firepower for you and take multiples of them to ensure that those guns are firing all game. For example, if you have a Witch Hunter list built around a core of Battle Sister Squads and see that you have a lack of long range anti tank punch, taking two or three Exorcists allows you to fill that gap in your list.

A hybrid list will often supplement their scoring units with a blend of shooting and assault units here. Typically if your scoring units are better at one aspect of the game than another, your damage dealing units will fill the other role. For example, if you play Grey Knights who are effective at both shooting and assault, but poor against Heavy Tanks, you should look to take some ranged tank killing units such as Land Raiders and Las Cannon, Missile Launcher Dreadnoughts.

As always, look to compliment the weaknesses left by your other units and be mindful of the five things a good list must be able to do. Review your list and see where you fall short and rearrange your units to make sure that you have no glaring weaknesses.

Example Lists at 2,000 points

Please note that the lists below are not meant to be my idea of the end all by all lists that will never lose (such a list does not exist). These are all three examples of the concepts presented above and are solid, reliable armies that will be able to take on nearly any other list and have very good odds of winning although a list tooled to defeat them specifically can cause trouble, obviously. In a blind tournament setting, any of these three lists will perform admirably. Practice and fine tuning will be the best way to build a list that fits you and your play style in your gaming environment. There is no substitute for experience.

Assault List

Army: Orks

HQ

Warboss: Bike, Cybork Body, Attack Squig, Power Klaw, Boss Pole

Big Mek: Kustom Force Field

Elites

Lootas x 5

Lootas x 5

Lootas x 11

Troops

Slugga Boyz x 30, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw, Rokkits x 3

Slugga Boyz x 30, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw, Rokkits x 3

Shoota Boyz x 30, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw, Big Shootas x 3

Shoota Boyz x 30, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw, Big Shootas x 3

Shoota Boyz x 20, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw

Grotz x 10, Runt Herd

Fast Attack

Stormboyz x 20, Nob, Boss Pole, Power Klaw

A typical Ork horde to be sure, but also a good list to study because it is effective. So what makes this list good? A number of things. First of all it has numerous scoring units that are very hard to kill because they are fearless until nearly destroyed and have a huge number of bodies on the table (194 to be exact). This means that all of the anti tank weapons taken by the other player will be wasted points as there is not a single vehicle in this list. These scoring units will also be very effective at stopping the enemy from scoring as once they reach an objective it will take a fierce effort to remove them. This army is almost a hybrid list as it shoots fairly well too, but in almost every game it will be advancing to close range and looking to finish things with a massive assault.

The list is weak against heavy tanks at long range, having very little able hurt armor value 14 outside of close combat, but once the list gets into assault their power klaws will make short work of any tank or monstrous creature (or pretty much anything for that matter). With power of the WAAGH! They will be able to cross the board in no more than three turns (usually two), four tops in a dawn of war mission.

The list is also capable of dealing with numerous transport vehicles with their Lootas and assault power. It will also have no problem dealing with infantry hordes as it will typically outnumber them and be able to pour out a phenomenal amount of flakk fire and engage nearly any units in assault and win.

The list has 12 kill points which is not excessive for 2,000 points, and most of those kill points apart from the Lootas and Grotz will be very difficult to earn. This is further exacerbated by the Big Mek with Kustom Force Field. With clever positioning of him, you should be able to cover all of your advancing foot squads with his protective field, thereby making your Boyz much more difficult to destroy. The Grotz are there solely to babysit your objective and hide. They may never kill anything but they will win you the game. In kill point missions put them in reserve and then hide them in a corner of the board where they won’t get killed.

Lastly, the Warboss and Stormboyz are fast damage dealing units that exist to actively seek and destroy the biggest threats to your army. The Stormboyz are blazingly fast as is the Warboss. The Warboss has the added benefit of being able to hide in a Boyz Mob where he can wait to either scare off enemy units or to detach from them to seek out and destroy important units once they have advanced into his assault range.

Shooty List

Army: Imperial Guard

HQ

Company Command Squad: Flamer x 4, Chimera with hull Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor

Troops

Veterans: Melta Gun x 3, Chimera with hull Heavy Flamer

Veterans: Melta Gun x 3, Chimera with hull Heavy Flamer

Veterans: Melta Gun x 3, Chimera with hull Heavy Flamer

Veterans: Las Cannon, Plasma Gun x 3, Chimera

Veterans: Las Cannon, Plasma Gun x 3, Chimera

Fast

Vendetta

Vendetta

Vendetta

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Executioner: Las Cannon, Plasma Cannon Sponsons

Leman Russ Demolisher: Las Cannon, Plasma Cannon Sponsons

Manticore

Mechanized Imperial Guard. As with the Horde Ork list above there is nothing new about this, but that is fine because it serves as a good list to study to see what makes it so effective.

Again, going back to the five basic principals a list needs to succeed in 5th edition, this list fulfills all of them. It has the ability to score objectives as it has five mobile scoring units. These units also double as damage dealing units that can put out significant fire power. The three melta gun equipped units are meant to advance across the field and engage enemy units at close range and aggressively seize objectives, whereas the las cannon, plasma gun units are meant to act as gunships, protecting friendly objectives and adding fire support were necessary. They can also advance if needs be.

The Company Command Squad is an expendable counter assault, anti horde unit.

The real punch of this list lays in the fast attack and heavy support slots. The three vendettas ensure your ability to destroy transports, heavy tanks and monstrous creatures. Their ability to outflank and scout gives them added flexibility. They can also pick up units whose transport is destroyed or have units start in them if it is beneficial to do so. Lastly, they can move flat out and contest objectives late game.

The tanks in heavy support have the role of destroying infantry hordes. The Demolisher and Executioner have the added benefit of being able to destroy light or heavy infantry. All three can also destroy vehicles and monstrous creatures if needed to.

The army has no counter assault capability but since it is entirely mechanized it cannot be locked in combat. Any unit that is charged in the open field is probably going to die, therefore allowing the enemy assaulting unit to be destroyed with shooting in the following turn. Another benefit to a mechanized list is that unlike the horde list above, this army makes the opponent’s small arms fire wasted points as everything facing most of the enemy will be armor value 12+.

The army does have a large number of kill points, 19, but they are not easy to get and this army puts out so much firepower that it will typically earn at least as many back. Unless playing a Kill Point denial list, this army should not have many problems.

Hybrid List

Army: Space Wolves

HQ

Rune Priest: Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane

Troops

Grey Hunters x 9: Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino, Flamer

Grey Hunters x 10: Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino, 2 x Flamer

Grey Hunters x 10: Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino, 2 x Melta Gun

Grey Hunters x 10: Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino, 2 x Melta Gun

Grey Hunters x 10: Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino, 2 x Plamsa Gun

Fast

Thunderwolf Calvary x 4: Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Melta Bombs

Heavy Support

Long Fangs x 6: 5 x Missile Launcher, Razorback with Las Cannon and Twin Linked Plasma Gun

Long Fangs x 6: 5 x Missile Launcher, Razorback with Las Cannon and Twin Linked Plasma Gun

Long Fangs x 6: 5 x Missile Launcher, Razorback with Las Cannon and Twin Linked Plasma Gun

A mechanized Space Wolf list. This list is a hybrid because it both shoots and assaults well and can engage the enemy at any range. The list has five mobile scoring units that are fairly durable and can engage a wide variety of targets at range or in close combat. With forty nine Grey Hunters that have two attacks each plus a rending upgrade character to throw into assault supplemented by the Thunderwolf Clavary, they can be relied on to defeat most units in melee. Those units they do not want to engage in combat they can typically outshoot with the large amount of flak the unit can put out with its bolters. This supplemented by their special weapons and Rhino transports makes these units very versatile and mobile.

The Rune Priest rides with the 9 man Space Wolf unit, provides Psyker defense and the ability to snipe characters and Monstrous Creatures or to slow down and destroy infantry with his psychic powers.

The Thunderwolf Clavary are a fast assault unit capable of going toe to toe with nearly any other assault units and contest objectives. The Thunder Hammer gives them the ability to insta kill many units and to destroy tanks and monstrous creatures. The Storm Shield allows them the ability to absorb some incoming heavy weapons fire. This unit operates best lurking behind the Rhinos and then assaulting only where they are most needed or when they are in range to cover ground without getting stuck in the open.

The Long Fangs are the long range heavy hitters. With fifteen missiles a turn they can shred light infantry, transports and monstrous creatures easily as well as having good odds to damage heavy tanks. Their Razorbacks add anti heavy tank, monstrous creature and heavy infantry firepower as well as helping to overcome the set back of a Dawn of War deployment.

This list can take objectives, has a number of mobile units to prevent the enemy from scoring and can engage threats at any range, plus it is mobile. It can destroy all types of enemy units as well. It also has a great deal of redundancy to ensure that you have the firepower you need to get you through the game.

Closing

So that is the basics of list building and a good place to start for a new player or for a veteran looking to tighten up his list building strategies. Following this article will be some dealing with more specific list building strategies and how to plan for a local meta environment as well as some tactics articles to help tighten up your game.

Categories: Old Warhammer 40,000 tactics